Courts Commons^™

Constitutionalization, Girardeau A. Spann

Georgetown Law Faculty Publications and Other Works

Students of constitutional law tend to suspect pretty early on that the Constitution simply means whatever the Supreme Court says that it means. Rather than fight that intuition, I think it is best to treat the student insight as one of the basic starting assumptions when teaching a course in Constitutional Law. The goal then becomes to help students figure out how best to maneuver and feel comfortable in a legal universe where the Constitution has only contingent meaning.

What the Supreme Court does when it clothes its political policy preferences in the garb of constitutional law can be described …

Altmann V. Austria And The Retroactivity Of The Foreign Sovereign Immunities Act, Carlos Manuel Vázquez

Georgetown Law Faculty Publications and Other Works

In Republic of Austria v. Altmann, the U.S. Supreme Court decided that the Foreign Sovereign Immunities Act of 1976 (FSIA) generally applies to claims based on events that occurred before the Statute's enactment. To decide the retroactivity question, the Court had occasion to consider the essential nature of foreign sovereign immunity: is it merely a procedural immunity providing foreign states with present protection from the inconvenience and indignity of a lawsuit, or is it something more than that? The Court's examination of this question was brief and unsatisfying. Its analysis would have been enriched by a recognition that foreign …

Medellin V. Dretke: Federalism And International Law, Curtis A. Bradley, Lori Fisler Damrosch, Martin Flaherty

Faculty Scholarship

This is an edited version of a debate held at Columbia Law School on February 21, 2005.

The Promise Of Equality: Reflections On The Post-Brown Era In Virginia, Robert R. Mehrige Jr.

University of Richmond Law Review

No abstract provided.

Re-Mapping Equal Protection Jurisprudence: A Legal Geography Of Race And Affirmative Action,, Reginald Oh

Law Faculty Articles and Essays

Oh argues that when the United States Supreme Court decided Richmond v. Croson in 1989 and imposed strict scrutiny on state and local government affirmative action programs, it marked a critical moment and turning point in the evolution and development of public and legal discourse on race, racism, and race relations in America. Although many scholars have critically examined the Croson opinion, curiously, scholars have yet to recognize its full ramifications and implications. Aside from the technical doctrinal changes made to equal protection law, the Croson decision is also important because of the way the Court produced and mapped a …

Supreme Court Statistical Overview, October Term 2003, Georgetown University Law Center, Supreme Court Institute, Liz Hollander

Supreme Court Overviews

No abstract provided.

Military Detention And The Judiciary: Al Qaeda, The Kkk And Supra-State Law, Wayne Mccormack

San Diego International Law Journal

This Article touches on the choice of whether to use the language and tools of war or the language and tools of law enforcement in responding to terrorism. The principal focus, however, is on the limited issue of judicial review and military detentions. The Article reviews the case law created on this subject during the Civil War and World War II. Historical considerations are found by the author to be relevant and helpful in solving the incoherency of current legal responses to terrorism. For instance, indefinite military detention is not coherent with either the international law concept of violations of …

Supreme Court Watch, Reginald Oh

Law Faculty Articles and Essays

Discusses the Supreme Court decision Lawrence v. Texas, 123 S. Ct. 24 72 (2003). Writing for the majority, Justice Anthony Kennedy held that the Texas anti-sodomy statute, by criminalizing adult consensual sexual conduct, violated the petitioners' vital interests in liberty and privacy as protected by the substantive due process doctrine under the Fourteenth Amendment.

Resorting To External Norms And Principles In Constitutional Decision-Making, Alvin L. Goldman

Law Faculty Scholarly Articles

Given the very significant role of constitutional law in the American political system and the fact that Supreme Court Justices are appointed through a political process, it is understandable that the appropriate judicial approach to resolving constitutional issues often is the subject of political commentary. Unfortunately, discourse by politicians concerning this issue seldom rises to the deserved level of wisdom. One of President George W. Bush's public mantras is illustrative of political commentary respecting federal judicial appointments: "I'm going to put strict constructionists on the bench." On its face, and as understood by politically naive audiences, the statement appears to …

Putting The Supreme Court Back In Place: Ideology, Yes; Agenda, No, Steven H. Goldberg

Elisabeth Haub School of Law Faculty Publications

This essay is about the permanent damage to the Supreme Court and to the country that may occur if the current approach to judicial appointments continues, and offers an approach to the nomination and confirmation of Supreme Court justices that will help put the Court back in its proper place - out of the eye of the elective political storm.

Committee To Evaluate Judicial Conduct And Disability Act, Carl Tobias

Law Faculty Publications

In late May, Chief.Justice William H. Rehnquist appointed the Judicial Conduct and Disability Act Study Committee to analyze how the federal judicial system has implemented the Judicial Councils Reform and Judicial Conduct and Disability Act of 1980 (28 U.S.C. §§ 351-54). That legislation authorizes anyone to file a complaint alleging that a federal appellate, district, magistrate, or bankruptcy judge has "engaged in conduct prejudicial to the effective and expeditious administration of the business of the courts" or is mentally or physically unable to perform the judicial officer's duties. The statute neither prescribes ethical standards nor applies to the United States …

The Supreme Court's Labor And Employment Decisions: 2002-2003 Term, Maria O'Brien

Faculty Scholarship

This article summarizes U.S. Supreme Court cases from the October 2002 term that related directly or indirectly to labor or employment law or have implications for labor and employment practitioners. Of particular interest are the University of Michigan affirmative action cases' and the Texas criminal sodomy case. ² Although not nominally "labor and employment" cases, these cases will profoundly affect labor and employment issues. Lawrence v. Texas has already altered the lenses through which society views homosexuality and altered public discourse related to homosexuality and same-sex relationships. ³ The reasoning of the Court shows how far issues of sexuality have …

Reconcilable Differences: The Supreme Court Should Allow The Marriage Of Brady And Plea Bargaining, Andrew P. O'Brien

Indiana Law Journal

No abstract provided.

The Stateless Corporation Finds A Home: Alienage Jurisdiction And Dependent Overseas Territories - J.P. Morgan Chase Bank V. Traffic Stream (Bvi) Infrastructure Limited, Michael Cornell Dypski

San Diego International Law Journal

The purpose of this Article is to discuss the evolution of the alienage jurisdiction statute and the status of overseas dependent territories in light of the recent Supreme Court decision. Part I of this Article will provide a brief historical background of 28 U.S.C. § 1332 and its purpose. Part II will discuss the concepts of the state and statelessness, as well as the role of dependent territories in international affairs. Part III will discuss and analyze the various federal decisions seemingly at loggerheads with each other on the issue of federal jurisdiction over dependent territories. Finally, Part IV will …

The Federal Court System: A Principal-Agent Perspective, Tracey E. George, Albert H. Yoon

Vanderbilt Law School Faculty Publications

Professor Merrill ably demonstrates that Supreme Court decisions should be examined as the product of an inherently political institution. Observers who assert that Justices are best understood as prophets of the law are practicing an intellectual sleight of hand that allows them to ignore the non­ doctrinal factors that affect judicial behavior. Such an effort is understandable. The Court is a much more complicated subject if its rulings reflect nonlegal factors as well as legal ones. The desire, however, to ignore the true character of the Court produces accounts of its behavior that are inadequate, incorrect, or wholly without content. …

Electing The Supreme Court, Barry Friedman, Anna Harvey

Indiana Law Journal

Symposium: Congressional Power in the Shadow of the Rehnquist Court: Strategies for the Future held at Indiana University Law School, February 1-2, 2002.

Environmental Law, Congress, And The Court's New Federalism Doctrine, Christopher H. Schroeder

Indiana Law Journal

Symposium: Congressional Power in the Shadow of the Rehnquist Court: Strategies for the Future held at Indiana University Law School, February 1-2, 2002.

Congruence And Proportionality For Congressional Enforcement Powers: Cosmetic Change Or Velvet Revolution?, Elisabeth Zoller

Indiana Law Journal

Symposium: Congressional Power in the Shadow of the Rehnquist Court: Strategies for the Future held at Indiana University Law School, February 1-2, 2002.

Supreme Court Section 1983 Decisions: (October 2001 Term), Martin A. Schwartz

Scholarly Works

No abstract provided.

Sovereignty And Democracy: The States' Obligations To Their Citizens Under Federal Statutory Law, Lauren K. Robel

Indiana Law Journal

Symposium: Congressional Power in the Shadow of the Rehnquist Court: Strategies for the Future held at Indiana University Law School, February 1-2, 2002.

Judicial Independence, Judicial Accountability, And The Role Of Constitutional Norms In Congressional Regulation Of The Courts, Charles G. Geyh

Indiana Law Journal

Symposium: Congressional Power in the Shadow of the Rehnquist Court: Strategies for the Future held at Indiana University Law School, February 1-2, 2002.

Getting Off The Dole: Why The Court Should Abandon Its Spending Doctrine, And How A Too-Clever Congress Could Provoke It To Do So, Lynn A. Baker, Mitchell N. Berman

Indiana Law Journal

Symposium: Congressional Power in the Shadow of the Rehnquist Court: Strategies for the Future held at Indiana University Law School, February 1-2, 2002.

Thayerian Deference To Congress And Supreme Court Supermajority Rule: Lessons From The Past, Evan H. Caminker

Indiana Law Journal

Symposium: Congressional Power in the Shadow of the Rehnquist Court: Strategies for the Future held at Indiana University Law School, February 1-2, 2002.

Thermal Imaging And The Fourth Amendment: The Role Of The Katz Test In The Aftermath Of Kyllo V. United States, Gregory Gomez

NYLS Law Review

No abstract provided.

Federalism And The Public Good: The True Story Behind The Religious Land Use And Institutionalized Persons Act, Marci A. Hamilton

Indiana Law Journal

Symposium: Congressional Power in the Shadow of the Rehnquist Court: Strategies for the Future held at Indiana University Law School, February 1-2, 2002.

Jon O. Newman And The Abortion Decisions: A Remarkable First Year, Andrew D. Hurwitz

NYLS Law Review

No abstract provided.

Jon Newman’S Theory Of Disparagement And The First Amendment In The Administrative State, Edward L. Rubin

NYLS Law Review

No abstract provided.

The War On Terrorism And The Constitution, Michael I. Meyerson

All Faculty Scholarship

Discussion of civil liberties during wartime often omit the fact that there can be no meaningful liberty at all if our homes and offices are bombed or our loved ones are killed or injured by acts of terror. The Government must be given the tools necessary to accomplish its vital mission. The first priority must be to win the war against terrorism. There are, however, other priorities. The United States, in its just battle for freedom, must ensure that freedom is preserved during that battle as well. Moreover, care must be taken so that an exaggerated cry of “emergency” is …

The Rehnquist Court, Structural Due Process, And Semisubstantive Constitutional Review, Dan T. Coenen

Scholarly Works

Semisubstantive review, as I use that label, entails four key features. First, the subject matter of judicial inquiry is not the process applied in adjudicating a discrete dispute; rather, the matter at hand is the constitutionality of a statute or other generalized expression of legal policy. Second, some procedural omission by the lawmaker -- rather than an incurably substantive flaw in the end product of its work -- lays the groundwork for a judicial intervention that invalidates the challenged rule or negates how that rule otherwise would operate. It may be, for example, that a federal statute read as a …

The Unhappy History Of Civil Rights Legislation, Fifty Years Later, Jack M. Beermann

Faculty Scholarship

Seldom, if ever, have the power and the purposes of legislation been rendered so impotent.... All that is left today are afew scattered remnants of a once grandiose scheme to nationalize the fundamental rights of the individual.

These words were written fifty years ago by Eugene Gressman, now William Rand Kenan, Jr. Professor Emeritus, University of North Carolina School of Law, as a description of what the courts, primarily the Supreme Court of the United States, had done with the civil rights legislation passed by Congress in the wake of the Civil War. Professor Gressman's article, The Unhappy History of …