Constitutional Law Commons^™

Autonomy Isn't Everything: Some Cautionary Notes On Mccoy V. Louisiana, W. Bradley Wendel

St. Mary's Journal on Legal Malpractice & Ethics

The Supreme Court’s May 2018 decision in McCoy v. Louisiana has been hailed as a decisive statement of the priority of the value of a criminal defendant’s autonomy over the fairness and reliability interests that also inform both the Sixth Amendment and the ethical obligations of defense counsel. It also appears to be a victory for the vision of client-centered representation and the humanistic value of the inherent dignity of the accused. However, the decision is susceptible to being read too broadly in ways that harm certain categories of defendants. This paper offers a couple of cautionary notes, in response …

The Depravity Of The 1930s And The Modern Administrative State, Steven G. Calabresi, Gary Lawson

Faculty Scholarship

Gillian Metzger’s 2017 Harvard Law Review foreword, entitled 1930s Redux: The Administrative State Under Siege, is a paean to the modern administrative state, with its massive subdelegations of legislative and judicial power to so-called “expert” bureaucrats, who are layered well out of reach of electoral accountability yet do not have the constitutional status of Article III judges. We disagree with this celebration of technocratic government on just about every level, but this Article focuses on two relatively narrow points.

First, responding more to implicit assumptions that pervade modern discourse than specifically to Professor Metzger’s analysis, we challenge the normally unchallenged …

Conspiracy: Contemporary Gang Policing And Prosecutions, Keegan Stephan

Cardozo Law Review

Part I of this Note reviews gang policing before Morales, explains the vagueness, equal protection, and policy and custom doctrines that helped shape gang policing, and details the practices of contemporary gang policing. Part II argues that contemporary gang policing violates equal protection under the innovative showing of discriminatory intent found in Floyd v. City of New York, and that contemporary gang policing violates both prongs of the vagueness doctrine when viewed in its totality-at least where it is proscribed by statute. Part III notes that the vagueness doctrine has historically been applied only to statutory law and …

Dialing It Back: Why Courts Should Rethink Students’ Privacy And Speech Rights As Cell Phone Communications Erode The ‘Schoolhouse Gate’, Nicholas J. Mcguire

Duke Law & Technology Review

The ubiquity of cell phones in today’s society has forced courts to change or dismiss established, but inapplicable analytical frameworks. Two such frameworks in the school setting are regulations of student speech and of student searches. This Article traces the constitutional jurisprudence of both First Amendment off-campus speech protection and Fourth Amendment search standards as applied to the school setting. It then analyzes how the Supreme Court’s ruling in Riley v. California complicates both areas. Finally, it proposes a pragmatic solution: by recognizing a categorical First Amendment exception for “substantial threats” against the school community, courts could accommodate students’ constitutional …

Tbeish V. Attorney General, Yosef Elron, David Mintz, Isaac Amit

Translated Opinions

The Petitioner claimed that he was tortured in the course of interrogation by the Israel Security Agency (ISA) (formerly the General Security Service (GSS)), and petitioned the Court to order the Attorney General to rescind his decision not to open a criminal investigation of the interrogators, and to annul the Attorney General’s guidelines entitled: “ISA Interrogations and the Necessity Defense – Framework for the Attorney General’s Discretion” (hereinafter: the AG’s Guidelines) that provide the basis for the Internal Guidelines of the ISA (hereinafter: the Guidelines). The Petitioners argued that the Guidelines unlawfully permit interrogators to consult with more senior officials …

November 24, 2018: Letter About Kornacki's Book, Bruce Ledewitz

Hallowed Secularism

Blog post, “ Letter about Kornacki's book“ discusses politics, theology and the law in relation to religion and public life in the democratic United States of America.

November 23, 2018: Thanksgiving 2018, Bruce Ledewitz

Hallowed Secularism

Blog post, “Thanksgiving 2018“ discusses politics, theology and the law in relation to religion and public life in the democratic United States of America.

November 21, 2018: Is The New York Times Right About China?, Bruce Ledewitz

Hallowed Secularism

Blog post, “Is the New York Times Right About China?“ discusses politics, theology and the law in relation to religion and public life in the democratic United States of America.

November 17, 2018: The Matthew Whitaker Appointment, Bruce Ledewitz

Hallowed Secularism

Blog post, “The Matthew Whitaker Appointment“ discusses politics, theology and the law in relation to religion and public life in the democratic United States of America.

11th Marine Law Symposium: Legal Strategies For Climate Adaptation In Coastal New England 2018, Roger Williams University School Of Law

Marine Affairs Institute Conferences, Lectures, and Events

No abstract provided.

The Theory And Practice Of Contestatory Federalism, James A. Gardner

William & Mary Law Review

Madisonian theory holds that a federal division of power is necessary to the protection of liberty, but that federalism is a naturally unstable form of government organization that is in constant danger of collapsing into either unitarism or fragmentation. Despite its inherent instability, this condition may be permanently maintained, according to Madison, through a constitutional design that keeps the system in equipoise by institutionalizing a form of perpetual contestation between national and subnational governments. The theory, however, does not specify how that contestation actually occurs, and by what means.

This paper investigates Madison’s hypothesis by documenting the methods actually deployed …

Lincoln, Presidential Power, And The Rule Of Law, Daniel A. Farber

Northwestern University Law Review

Every era has its unique challenges, but history may still offer lessons on how law empowers and restrains presidents. This Essay examines how President Lincoln negotiated the tension between crisis authority and the rule of law. This analysis requires an appreciation of the wartime imperatives, institutions, and political forces confronting Lincoln, as well as the legal framework in which he acted. Similar issues unexpectedly arose in our times in the aftermath of the 9/11 attacks, providing a new point of comparison with Lincoln’s era. We need to better understand how political actors and institutions, the media, and public opinion can …

Book Review: Dershowitz On Presidential Impeachment: An Analysis Of The Case Against Impeaching Trump, Michael Conklin

ConLawNOW

This is a review of Alan Dershowitz’s 2018 book, The Case Against Impeaching Trump. Because the Constitution provides little guidance on presidential impeachment, the issue is often interpreted based on political party affiliation. Dershowitz, a strong Hillary Clinton supporter, provides a neutral examination of the issue. This review contains analysis of the current state of impeachment efforts, Dershowitz’s arguments against impeachment, and a critique of his proposed “shoe on the other foot” test.

Lockett Symposium: Recollections On The Lockett Case In The U.S. Supreme Court, Joel Berger

ConLawNOW

Recollections of an NAACP Legal Defense Fund attorney who worked with Professor Amsterdam on the Lockett case.

Lockett Symposium: Lockett As It Was, Is Now, And Ever Shall Should Be, Karen A. Steele

ConLawNOW

Lockett made clear what was constitutionally unacceptable in capital sentencing statutes (limiting the range of mitigating factors to be considered) while affirmatively heralding the significance and breadth of mitigating factors unique to the defendant that must be affirmatively and independently considered by jurors, courts and counsel; the inverse correlation between mitigating factors and disproportionate sentencing; and the interrelationship between mitigating factors and narrowing—all in an effort to provide a “meaningful basis for distinguishing the few cases in which the death penalty is imposed from the many cases in which it is not.” The threatened and actual use of “double-edged” aspects …

November 9, 2018: The Electoral College, Bruce Ledewitz

Hallowed Secularism

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

In Defense Of Hearth And [Foster] Home: Determining The Constitutionality Of State Regulation Of Firearm Storage In Foster Homes, Joseph G. Duchane

Washington and Lee Law Review

No abstract provided.

November 4, 2018: The God Construct, Bruce Ledewitz

Hallowed Secularism

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

November 3, 2018: A Society Without A Soul, Bruce Ledewitz

Hallowed Secularism

Blog post, “A Society Without a Soul“ discusses politics, theology and the law in relation to religion and public life in the democratic United States of America.

Executive Authority And The Take Care Clause, Colleen E. O'Connor

Notre Dame Law Review

Part I of this Note will discuss the Department of Homeland Security’s authority to regulate immigration and focuses on DACA and DAPA. Part II will address the U.S. Department of Justice’s Office of Legal Counsel Opinion on DAPA’s legality. Part III will turn to the lack of judicial constraints on or legislative responses to the executive branch’s enforcement discretion. Part IV will propose that the executive branch should take a more active role in ensuring that the President remains faithful to the Take Care Clause when exercising prosecutorial discretion. Expounding upon the Office of Legal Counsel’s multifactor framework is a …