Constitutional Law Commons^™

Protecting America’S Children: Why An Executive Order Banning Juvenile Solitary Confinement Is Not Enough, Carina Muir

Pepperdine Law Review

Despite its devastating psychological, physical, and developmental effects on juveniles, solitary confinement is used in juvenile correctional facilities across the United States. This Comment posits that such treatment violates the Eighth Amendment’s Cruel and Unusual Punishment Clause, the United Nations’ Convention on the Rights of the Child, and the Convention Against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman, or Degrading Treatment or Punishment. It likewise argues that that President Obama’s recent Executive Order banning juvenile solitary confinement is simply not a powerful enough remedy and discusses why it must be paired with Congressional legislation or Supreme Court jurisprudence if it is to …

A Taxonomy Of Independent Electoral Reapportionment Systems, James Ruley

Indiana Journal of Constitutional Design

This paper addresses a means of checking legislative gerrymandering, which I have called the Independent Electoral Reapportionment Commission (IERC). Its purpose is to prevent self-interested politicians from drawing biased constituency lines. While scholars have researched gerrymandering, few scholars have researched commissions designed to limit such gerrymandering, and no comprehensive work details the global means of accomplishing this goal.

Thus, the purpose of this paper is not to normatively prescribe the best practices for composing and empowering an IERC, but rather to descriptively show how different countries conduct this process. While Part II makes some determinations about which commissions may conceptually …

Violating Equal Protection: Lynch V. Morales-Santana And The Ina’S Sex Discriminatory Physical Presence Requirement, Courtney Magnus

Duke Journal of Constitutional Law & Public Policy Sidebar

In Lynch v. Morales-Santana, the Supreme Court will consider whether the Immigration and Nationality Act’s physical presence requirement scheme violates the Fifth Amendment’s equal protection guarantee. Under 8 U.S.C. §§ 1401(a)(7) and 1409(c) (1952), an unwed U.S. citizen father wishing to convey citizenship at-birth to his child born abroad cannot do so unless he has been physically present in the United States for ten years prior to the child’s birth. In contrast, an unwed citizen mother only needs to be physically present for one continuous year. This commentary argues that because §§ 1401 and 1409 facially discriminate against unwed …

Newsroom: Order Violates Roger Williams' Principles 01-30-2017, Roger Williams University School Of Law

Life of the Law School (1993- )

No abstract provided.

Rwu First Amendment Blog: Jared A. Goldstein's Blog: Trump's Order Violates Bedrock Principles Of Roger Williams And Ri 01-30-2017, Jared A. Goldstein

Law School Blogs

No abstract provided.

Emerging Constitutional Conflicts And The Role Of Courts, John M. Greabe

Law Faculty Scholarship

[Excerpt] "When a court exercises judicial review, it tells Congress, the executive branch or a state to refrain from action that is under way or to take some action that is not being taken. Either way, a democratically accountable institution is told that it cannot do what the people (presumably) want it to do, or that it must do what the people (presumably) do not want it to do."

January 27, 2017: Now The Markets Will Fall, Bruce Ledewitz

Hallowed Secularism

Blog post, “Now the Markets Will Fall“ discusses politics, theology and the law in relation to religion and public life in the democratic United States of America.

Arbitrary Detention? The Immigration Detention Bed Quota, Anita Sinha

Duke Journal of Constitutional Law & Public Policy

When President Obama took office in 2009, Congress through appropriations linked the U.S. Department of Homeland Security’s (DHS) funding to “maintaining” 33,400 immigration detention beds a day. This provision, what this Article refers to as the bed quota, remains in effect, except now the mandate is 34,000 beds a day. Since 2009, DHS detentions of non-citizens have gone up by nearly 25 percent. To accommodate for this significant spike over a relatively short period of time, the federal government has relied considerably on private prison corporations to build and operate immigration detention facilities.

This Article takes a comprehensive look at …

Rethinking Children's Advertising Policies For The Digital Age, Angela J. Campbell

Georgetown Law Faculty Publications and Other Works

This article describes major changes in how video content and advertising is delivered to consumers. Digital technologies such as broadband allow consumers to stream or download programming. Smart phones and tablets allow consumers to view screen content virtually anywhere at any time. Advertising has become personalized and integrated with other content.

Despite these major changes in the media markets, the framework for regulating advertising to children has not changed very much since the 1990s. This article argues that the existing regulatory framework must be reinvented to protect children in the digital age. It uses Google’s recently introduced YouTube Kids app …

Coventry Health Care, Inc. V. Nevils: Brief Of Amici Curiae Constitutional And Administrative Law Scholars In Support Of Respondent, Nina A. Mendelson

Appellate Briefs

Amici law professors (listed in Appendix A) are leading scholars and teachers of constitutional and administrative law who submit this brief in their individual capacities, not on behalf of their institutions. They study and write on federal preemption of state law, including the ways in which courts can and should discipline agencies to consider federalism values. Amici have an interest in promoting judicial review that requires agencies to take state regulatory interests seriously when their rules would preempt state law. Amici submit this brief to demonstrate that Petitioner's view of judicial deference to agency preemption would encourage agencies to ignore …

Don’T Expect The First Amendment To Protect The Media, Ronnell Anderson Jones, Sonja R. West

Popular Media

Op-ed in the New York Times about the limits on the protection of the press under the First Amendment.

Trending @ Rwu Law: Deborah Gonzalez's Post: Why I Marched... 1-25-2017, Deborah Gonzalez

Law School Blogs

No abstract provided.

January 22, 2017: Deadpool Is Awesome, Bruce Ledewitz

Hallowed Secularism

Blog post, “Deadpool is Awesome“ discusses politics, theology and the law in relation to religion and public life in the democratic United States of America.

January 20, 2017: Welcome, President Trump, Bruce Ledewitz

Hallowed Secularism

Blog post, “Welcome, President Trump“ discusses politics, theology and the law in relation to religion and public life in the democratic United States of America.

Trending @ Rwu Law: David Logan's Post: Reliving The Civil Rights Movement With Rep. John Lewis 1-17-2017, David Logan

Law School Blogs

No abstract provided.

January 16, 2017: President Obama’S Accomplishments, Bruce Ledewitz

Hallowed Secularism

Blog post, “President Obama’s Accomplishments“ discusses politics, theology and the law in relation to religion and public life in the democratic United States of America.

Domicile, Student Voters And The Constitution, John M. Greabe

Law Faculty Scholarship

[Excerpt] "The wisdom of using the Electoral College to choose our president is a hot topic. For the second time in 16 years (and the fifth time in our history), the "winner" of the national popular vote lost the presidential election in the Electoral College. To many, this "undemocratic" outcome seems wrong."

Same-Sex Parents And Their Children: Brazilian Case Law And Insights From Psychoanalysis, Helena Campos Refosco, Martha Maria Guida Fernandes

William & Mary Journal of Race, Gender, and Social Justice

This Article argues that maternal and paternal functions can be performed by same-sex parents from a psychological point of view. Consequently, the legal recognition of their relationship with their children meets the principle of human dignity pursuant to the Brazilian Federal Constitution.

To Kill Or Not To Kill: (When) That Is The Question? A Legislative Treatise On Battered Israeli Women Facing A Dead End Road, Hava Dayan

William & Mary Journal of Race, Gender, and Social Justice

This Paper seeks to examine the legal framework in which the self-defense exception is applied in Israel in circumstances of domestic violence. The Paper scrutinizes the issue with reference to recent amendments to the Israeli Penal Code pertaining to the ‘castledefense’ which grants a person defending his home and property-wide protection from criminal liability. In light of these amendments, the lack of legislative harmony between the exception to criminal liability applied when defending property and the deficient protection afforded to victims of ongoing, severe domestic violence, is striking. Aside from a critical review of Israeli legislation on the issue, this …

Newroom: Yelnosky: Future Of Public Sector Union 'Dues' 01-14-2017, Roger Williams University School Of Law

Life of the Law School (1993- )

No abstract provided.

January 13, 2017: "The Way It Is Nowadays, Unless I See Positive Proof, It's All A Lie", Bruce Ledewitz

Hallowed Secularism

Blog post, "The way it is nowadays, unless I see positive proof, it's all a lie" discusses politics, theology and the law in relation to religion and public life in the democratic United States of America.

January 10, 2017: The Public Trust Litigation, Bruce Ledewitz

Hallowed Secularism

Blog post, “The Public Trust Litigation“ discusses politics, theology and the law in relation to religion and public life in the democratic United States of America.

January 5, 2017: Why Law Matters, The Presidential Transition, Bruce Ledewitz

Hallowed Secularism

Blog post, “Why Law Matters, the presidential transition“ discusses politics, theology and the law in relation to religion and public life in the democratic United States of America.

January 4, 2017: Is Secularism A Nonnegotiable Aspect Of Liberal Constitutionalism?, Bruce Ledewitz

Hallowed Secularism

Blog post, “Is Secularism A Nonnegotiable Aspect of Liberal Constitutionalism?“ discusses politics, theology and the law in relation to religion and public life in the democratic United States of America.

Realizing An Opportunity: Limiting The Power Of The Executive In The Iraqi Constitution, Cory Kopitzke

Indiana Journal of Constitutional Design

In the summer of 2015, Iraqi citizens took to the streets in protest. After going without essential services, such as electricity, in the sweltering heat and after enduring corruption that undermined Iraqi forces battling the Islamic State, these citizens called for meaningful changes in the management of the Iraqi government and for the fulfillment of “democratic aspirations” enshrined in the Iraqi Constitution. In response to these protests, Iraqi Prime Minister, Haider al-Abadi, proposed sweeping reform measures to combat the decisive divides in the current administration. These reforms called for drastic change—including the elimination of the vice-president and deputy prime minister …

Newsroom: Logan On Trump And Libel Law 01-03-2017, Roger Williams University School Of Law

Life of the Law School (1993- )

No abstract provided.

Rwu First Amendment Blog: David Logan's Blog: Moguls And The Media 1-2-2017, David A. Logan, Roger Williams University

Law School Blogs

No abstract provided.

Has Nihilism Politicized The Supreme Court Nomination Process?, Bruce Ledewitz

Ledewitz Papers

Published scholarship collected from academic journals, law reviews, newspaper publications & online periodicals

Employer Liability For Non-Employee Discrimination, Dallan F. Flake

Law Faculty Scholarship

No abstract provided.

Quacking Like A Duck? Functional Parenthood Doctrine And Same-Sex Parents, Katharine Baker

All Faculty Scholarship

Part I of this article introduces the tension between constitutionally protected parental autonomy rights and functional parent doctrine by examining the constitutional rights of parents. This examination demonstrates how the marital status of a parent has a substantial impact on the strength of that parent's constitutional rights. In cases in which there are two unmarried (never married or divorced) parents, neither parent has particularly robust constitutionally protected autonomy rights because both parents have competing constitutional rights that must be balanced against each other. Each parent has the right to invoke a court's jurisdiction in vindication of his or her own …