Constitutional Law Commons^™

Mucho Ruido Y Pocas Nueces? Rethinking Mexico's Judicial Reform In Comparative Perspective, Oscar Serratos

Notre Dame Journal of International & Comparative Law

Mexico's 2024 judicial reform, which made it the first country to elect all judges by popular vote, has generated widespread criticism for allegedly threatening judicial independence and democratic governance. This Article challenges the prevailing narrative by arguing that many of these concerns overstate the reform's practical effect. Through a comparative analysis of Mexico's new constitutional framework and judicial electoral systems in the United States, the Article demonstrates that the reform incorporates structural safeguards—including balanced nomination powers, nonpartisan elections, restrictions on campaign financing, and continued judicial training—that set it apart from comparable American models. While acknowledging legitimate concerns regarding implementation and …

The Intertemporal Law Doctrine's Application To The Acquisition Of Colonies In The Americas, Kent Mcneil

Notre Dame Journal of International & Comparative Law

No abstract provided.

The Ten Commandments Cases And The Move Towards The Concrete In Establishment Clause Jurisprudence, Eric Rassbach

Journal of Catholic Legal Studies

(Excerpt)

First of all, thank you very much, Professor Movsesian, the Mattone Center, and St. John’s for inviting me here to speak today on what I believe is a very important issue. I will also say that I share Chris’s opinion that it’s great to work with him. He actually wrote a very compelling brief in our case at the Supreme Court called Hosanna-Tabor Evangelical Lutheran Church and School v. EEOC back in 2012. That was the only brief mentioned by Justice Breyer during the argument, and it was also the only one cited in the Court’s unanimous decision. So, …

Religious Liberty And The New Ten Commandments Cases, Christopher C. Lund

Journal of Catholic Legal Studies

(Excerpt)

Thanks for having me. I’m grateful to St. John’s, the Mattone Center, and Professor Movsesian for the invitation. I’m glad to be here with Eric, whom I admire greatly. I’ve worked with Eric and Becket on several projects, and we see some things quite similarly. But on these issues, we see things differently, which I hope will make for good conversation.

Religious liberty is one of America’s great contributions to the world. Centuries ago, religious liberty brought an end to the war of religion. And in our modern society, religious liberty enables people to live together with fundamentally different …

Soft Establishment, Religious Education, And Stone V. Graham, Christopher C. Lund

Journal of Catholic Legal Studies

The Supreme Court has said the Establishment Clause should be interpreted in light of history and tradition. This Essay adds to the historical conversation by highlighting an overlooked dimension of religious establishment. Many recent decisions and commentary treat coercion as the central feature of establishment, often drawing on Michael McConnell’s identification of six common features of religious establishments. But McConnell’s categories were never meant to be exhaustive, and coercion alone cannot explain important parts of the historical record.

Religious education was central to religious establishment. Established religions took deliberate measures to secure the intergenerational transmission of the faith, a task …

Review Of Gautam Bhatia’S The Indian Constitution: A Conversation With Power, Aishwarya Singh

National Law School of India Review

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Procedural Drift: How Judicial Restraint Enables Legalized Backsliding, Dessie Otachliska

Washington and Lee Law Review

This Article introduces Procedural Drift, a new theory of constitutional erosion in which legality itself enables democratic decline. Legal forms remain intact, but their constraining force quietly recedes as procedural doctrines withdraw courts from sites of contestation. Executive power expands not by defying law, but by strategically complying with it—exploiting judicial restraint to evade review.

Building on Bruce Ackerman’s theory of constitutional moments and Kim Lane Scheppele’s concept of autocratic legalism, this Article develops a U.S.-specific account of democratic backsliding that is lawful, gradual, and institutionally embedded. It traces how judicial restraint—operating amid partisan alignment and epistemic fragmentation—erodes legal checks …

Mapping Minority Investigative Powers In Congress, David Rapallo

Georgetown Law Faculty Publications and Other Works

“Shut down the Senate . . .” “Roll over and play dead . . .” In the first hundred days of President Donald Trump’s second term, these were the rallying cries of two far ends of a debate among Democrats about how to respond to the administration’s unprecedented actions. This debate, which rages on today, has been marked by a lack of specificity about the various oversight tools available to members of the minority party in Congress, particularly when they investigate whether the Executive Branch is faithfully executing the laws Congress passes. Scholarship too has focused little on the full …

Abortion (Re)Federalization, Gerald S. Dickinson

Utah Law Review

 This Article examines how the U.S. Supreme Court’s Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization decision has opened an unconventional pathway for the development of a new form of “bottom-up constitutionalism” that could reshape federal abortion rights in the future. Traditionally, federal constitutional law has exerted a dominant influence over state laws and state court jurisprudence. The uniformity in abortion protections nationwide for decades was a product of the Roe v. Wade era of federal supremacy. However, Dobbs reversed this dynamic by dramatically curtailing federal constitutional authority over abortion, thereby leaving states as primary rights regulators. This Article focuses on the …

Classical Liberalism And Property, Thomas W. Merrill

Faculty Scholarship

Classical liberalism is characterized by several key attributes. Its central normative criterion is the well‑being of the individual, not some aggregate like society or the nation‑state. Individuals are presumptively regarded as responsible actors, capable of judging their own best interests and accountable for their actions that interfere with the well‑being of others. Because individuals are presumptively regarded as responsible actors, there is a strong preference for imposing only minimal obligations on them through the power of the state, and these usually involve general negative duties that are universal in character, chiefly to forbear from using force or fraud to interfere …

Presidential Immunity: Before And After Trump, Thomas P. Schmidt

Faculty Scholarship

“All the officers of government,” the Supreme Court said long ago, “from the highest to the lowest, are creatures of the law, and are bound to obey it.” Despite that ringing and categorical language, however, the Court has held that the President — the “highest” and most powerful of all government officers — is “immune” from judicial oversight in several respects. Indeed, when the Court held last Term that former presidents are presumptively immune from criminal prosecution for officials acts, the dissenters warned: “In every use of official power, the President is now a king above the law.”

This Article …

The Contested Contingent Constitution: Plutocrats, Right-Wing Populists, And Labor Rights In The U.S., Kate Andrias

Faculty Scholarship

Constitutional labor rights have long been negligible in the United States. Now, with the ascendance of Donald Trump’s right-wing authoritarianism, even statutory labor rights are under threat. Yet there is an apparent paradox: While the Trump Administration seeks to declare the NLRB unconstitutional and has decimated federal workers’ rights, Trump’s “Make America Great Again” (MAGA) movement rose to power in part by invoking the plight of the American worker. The more populist wing of the American Right does not expressly challenge the constitutionality of labor law. Indeed, some right-wing populists urge an expansion of labor rights, emphasizing such goals as …

Other People's Poverty, Emmanuel Hiram Arnaud, Shaun Ossei-Owusu

Faculty Scholarship

Puerto Ricans have a relationship with the United States that is historically unparalleled. They have been citizens of the United States since 1917, served in every major conflict since World War I, and have been influential members of American culture, politics, and society. Yet, Puerto Rico is not fully part of the United States. The island of 3.2 million people— more than the population of eighteen states—is a U.S. territory. This means the federal government wields its complete and largely unrestrained plenary power over the Island, often treating Puerto Ricans differently than the rest of the United States. This differential …

Dari Coattail Ke Midterm Check: Pergeseran Patologi Presidensialisme Dan Rekayasa Baru Keserentakan Pemilu, Fitra Arsil

Jurnal Konstitusi & Demokrasi

This article offers a reinterpretation of the concurrent election practice in a multiparty presidential system. Traditionally, concurrent elections were designed as a constitutional mechanism to prevent political deadlock by aligning executive power with legislative support. However, the dynamics of contemporary presidentialism have raised a new problem: the threat to democracy now often comes from a president who is too powerful because he or she has succeeded in drawing nearly all political forces into an oversized coalition. This massive coalition ultimately becomes a tool of executive domination that legally narrows the space for opposition and undermines the oversight function of parliament. …

Konstitusionalitas Kebijakan Penanaman Modal Asing Sebagai Penerapan Konsep Hak Menguasai Negara Menurut Uud Nri 1945, Rico Novianto, Satya Arinanto, Fatmawati Fatmawati

Jurnal Konstitusi & Demokrasi

This article analyzes how the state position in foreign investment as an instrument for realizing public prosperity. Throughout the history of Indonesian governance, foreign capital has been a tool that can be used and has its own constitutional basis. However, if it is too large and the lack of adequate regulation of foreign investment to maintain the investment climate, it has become one of the causes of the economic and multidimensional crisis, especially around 1998 in Indonesia. In fact, the constitution has mandated an economic system based on the concept of state control, the principles of economic democracy, and the …

Syarat Usia Presiden Dan Wakil Presiden Dalam Perspektif Konstitusi Dan Konstitusionalisme: Makna Dan Kriteria, Ardhes Blandhivay Leuanan, Mei Susanto

Jurnal Konstitusi & Demokrasi

In order to investigate the inconsistent interpretations of the Constitutional Court regarding the age requirements for presidential and vice-presidential candidates, this study will analyze the dynamics of determining age requirements from the perspective of the 1945 Constitution and the principles of constitutionalism. A socio-legal approach is used in the normative research method to analyze the Constitutional Court's decisions in light of the social and political factors that shaped them. According to the results, Constitutional Court Ruling No. 90/PUU-XXI/2023 marks a turning point in the evolution of Indonesian constitutional law. Initially, there was no strict interpretation of the age limits for …

Penolakan Penghapusan Kolom Agama Pada Kartu Tanda Penduduk: Krítík Terhadap Putusan Mahkamah Konstitusi Nomor 146/Puu-Xxii/2024, Krisna Bagas Purwopangestu, Nicholas Gerard Felix Simeone

Jurnal Konstitusi & Demokrasi

This article examines the Constítutíonal Court (MK) Decisíon No. 146/PUU–XXII/2024 which rejected the request to delete the religion column on the Identity Card (KTP). The Decision affirms that every Indonesian citizen must declare their religion or belief in God as expected by Pancasila and the constitutional mandate. The Constitutional Court stated that “not having a religion or belief in God cannot be considered as freedom of religion”. The Constitutional Court Decision has revived the dispute on the urgency of including religion identity on the KTP, especially about the relation between administrative requirements, the legal system of Indonesia, and protection of …

Reorientasi Kebijakan Pelindungan Anak Terhadap Adiksi Internet Dalam Perspektif Pemenuhan Hak Konstitusional Di Indonesia, I Kadek Agus Aditya Firmantara, Bagus Hermanto

Jurnal Konstitusi & Demokrasi

This article examines the paradigm shift in child protection policy in the digital environment through Government Regulation Number 17 of 2025 concerning the Governance of Electronic System Providers for Child Protection (PP TUNAS) from the perspective of fulfilling children's constitutional rights in Indonesia. The study is motivated by the increasing use of the internet by children, which not only exposes them to risks such as harmful content, sexual exploitation, and misuse of personal data, but also creates the risk of internet addiction that may adversely affect children's health, education, and overall development. Despite these concerns, internet addiction has not been …

A Legal Comedy Of Errors: Foia’S Judicial Drama Over Who Controls The Oversight Script, Caroline Savini

Villanova Law Review (1956 - )

No abstract provided.

Lessons From Eugenics: Safeguarding Autonomy In Procreation, Claire Bass

Villanova Law Review (1956 - )

No abstract provided.