Originalism And Its Tools: A Few Caveats,
2015
The University of Akron
Originalism And Its Tools: A Few Caveats, David T. Hardy
ConLawNOW
In District of Columbia v. Heller, the United States Supreme Court adopted original public understanding as an interpretative tool. While this approach has the virtue of establishing meaning independent of a court’s personal values and preferences, this article explores some hazards which courts should try to avoid. First, one must resist the temptation to see historians as invariably objective; some are apt to push a personal agenda, or get a reputation as a “debunker,” at the cost of distorting, overlooking, or even inventing the historical record. Historical studies of this type have misled the Ninth Circuit, and a dissent …
On Marriage, Religious Freedom, Equality And Homosexuality: A Reply To Professor Huhn,
2015
The University of Akron
On Marriage, Religious Freedom, Equality And Homosexuality: A Reply To Professor Huhn, George W. Dent Jr.
ConLawNOW
As Professor Huhn says, there is much on which we agree. I concur that the Free Exercise Clause gives citizens no power to override an Equal Protection decision by the Supreme Court (his answer to his Question 1), or a decision of a state supreme court to compel legal recognition of same-sex “marriage” (SSM) (his answer to his Question 2). We part company, though, over the meaning of equality and its application to marriage.
Ten Questions On Gay Rights And Freedom Of Religion,
2015
The University of Akron
Ten Questions On Gay Rights And Freedom Of Religion, Wilson R. Huhn
ConLawNOW
I have prepared a series of ten questions that will progressively narrow the issues concerning gay rights and free exercise rights until we come to the principal point upon which Professor Dent and I disagree – the definition and application of the principle of equality.
Six Degrees Of Separation: Attribution Under The Foreign Sovereign Immunities Act In Obb Personenverkehr Ag V. Sachs,
2015
Duke Law
Six Degrees Of Separation: Attribution Under The Foreign Sovereign Immunities Act In Obb Personenverkehr Ag V. Sachs, Daniel R. Echeverri
Duke Journal of Constitutional Law & Public Policy Sidebar
The Foreign Sovereign Immunities Act (FSIA) generally prevents foreign sovereigns from falling within the jurisdiction of U.S. courts, subject to exceptions the FSIA lists. This commentary analyzes BB Personenverkehr AG v. Sachs, a case before the Supreme Court on the question of whether the commercial activities exception of the FSIA applies when only one element of a plaintiff's claim is based upon commercial activity occurring in the United States and whether that sale can be attributed to a foreign sovereign. In this case, the plaintiff purchased a rail pass through an online, third-party travel agent. While traveling abroad and …
Constitutional Law-Aliens-Equal Protection Clause Does Not Require Extension Of Special Immigrant Status To Aliens From Non-Contiguous Countries,
2015
University of Georgia School of Law
Constitutional Law-Aliens-Equal Protection Clause Does Not Require Extension Of Special Immigrant Status To Aliens From Non-Contiguous Countries, Laurie C. Gregory
Georgia Journal of International & Comparative Law
No abstract provided.
Religion And Social Coherentism,
2015
Brooklyn Law School
Religion And Social Coherentism, Nelson Tebbe
Notre Dame Law Review
Today, prominent academics are questioning the very possibility of a theory of free exercise or non-establishment. They argue that judgments in the area can only be conclusory or irrational. In contrast to such skeptics, this Essay argues that decisionmaking on questions of religious freedom can be morally justified. Two arguments constitute the Essay. Part I begins by acknowledging that skepticism has power. The skeptics rightly identify some inevitable indeterminacy, but they mistakenly argue that it necessarily signals decisionmaking that is irrational or unjustified. Their critique is especially striking because the skeptics’ prudential way of working on concrete problems actually shares …
The Fixation Thesis: The Role Of Historical Fact In Original Meaning,
2015
Georgetown University Law Center
The Fixation Thesis: The Role Of Historical Fact In Original Meaning, Lawrence B. Solum
Notre Dame Law Review
Part I begins by examining the role of the Fixation Thesis in contemporary originalist constitutional theory. The next step, in Part II, is to state the affirmative case for the Fixation Thesis. This is the heart of this Article and readers who are looking for the gist might limit themselves to the discussion here. Part III explores a variety of objections to the Fixation Thesis and clarifies the content of the thesis in light of the answers to these objections. Several theoretical views that reject (or seem to reject) the Fixation Thesis are examined in Part IV. Part V applies …
Before There Were Mouseholes: Resurrecting The Non-Delegation Doctrine,
2015
Brigham Young University Law School
Before There Were Mouseholes: Resurrecting The Non-Delegation Doctrine, Joel Hood
Brigham Young University Journal of Public Law
No abstract provided.
Collateral Consequences And The Preventive State,
2015
University of Pennsylvania Law School
Collateral Consequences And The Preventive State, Sandra G. Mayson
Notre Dame Law Review
Approximately eight percent of adults in the United States have a felony conviction. The “collateral consequences” of criminal conviction (CCs)—legal disabilities imposed by legislatures on the basis of conviction, but not as part of the sentence—have relegated that group to permanent second-class legal status. Despite the breadth and significance of this demotion, the Constitution has provided no check; courts have almost uniformly rejected constitutional challenges to CCs. Among scholars, practitioners and mainstream media, a consensus has emerged that the courts have erred by failing to recognize CCs as a form of additional punishment. Courts should correct course by classifying CCs …
December 1, 2015: What Really Fuels Isis?,
2015
Duquesne University
December 1, 2015: What Really Fuels Isis?, Bruce Ledewitz
Hallowed Secularism
Blog post, “What Really Fuels ISIS?“ discusses politics, theology and the law in relation to religion and public life in the democratic United States of America.
A Critique Of Hobby Lobby And The Supreme Court's Hands-Off Approach To Religion,
2015
Jewish Law Institute, Touro Law Center
A Critique Of Hobby Lobby And The Supreme Court's Hands-Off Approach To Religion, Samuel J. Levine
Notre Dame Law Review Reflection
Part I of this Essay provides a brief overview for analyzing the Supreme Court’s hands-off approach to religious doctrine. Specifically, this Part presents a summary of problems posed by the hands-off approach, followed by a brief taxonomy of different forms of judicial inquiry into religion. This Part aims to clarify which forms of inquiry are permissible—and typically necessary—for adjudication of a case involving a religious claim, and which forms of inquiry are precluded under the hands-off doctrine. Part II of this Essay applies the hands-off framework to the Hobby Lobby decision, considering the taxonomy of forms of judicial inquiry into …
Hunting And The Second Amendment,
2015
Duke Law School
Hunting And The Second Amendment, Joseph Blocher
Notre Dame Law Review
Debates about the meaning and scope of the Second Amendment have traditionally focused on whether it protects the keeping and bearing of arms for self-defense, prevention of tyranny, maintenance of the militia, or some combination of those three things. But roughly half of American gun-owners identify hunting or sport shooting as their primary reason for owning a gun. And while much public rhetoric suggests that these activities fall within the scope of the Second Amendment, some of the most committed gun-rights advocates insist that the Amendment “ain’t about hunting” and that, no matter their heritage and value, such activities are …
Applying Citizens United To Ordinary Corruption: With A Note On Blagojevich, Mcdonnell, And The Criminalization Of Politics,
2015
Boston College Law School
Applying Citizens United To Ordinary Corruption: With A Note On Blagojevich, Mcdonnell, And The Criminalization Of Politics, George D. Brown
Notre Dame Law Review
Federal criminal law frequently deals with the problem of corruption in the form of purchased political influence. There appear to be two distinct bodies of federal anticorruption law: one concerning constitutional issues in the prevention of corruption through campaign finance regulation, and one addressing corruption in the form of such crimes as bribery, extortion by public officials, and gratuities to them. The latter body of law primarily presents issues of statutory construction, but it may be desirable for courts approaching these issues to have an animating theory of what corruption is and how to deal with it. At the moment, …
Equal Access In Cyberspace: On Bridging The Digital Divide In Public Accommodations Coverage Through Amendment To The Americans With Disabilities Act,
2015
Notre Dame Law School
Equal Access In Cyberspace: On Bridging The Digital Divide In Public Accommodations Coverage Through Amendment To The Americans With Disabilities Act, Laura Wolk
Notre Dame Law Review
This Note will proceed in three Parts. Part I will trace the development of the case law on this issue, which has culminated in a circuit split. It will also discuss the influence of the Department of Justice (DOJ), which has not exercised its regulatory authority on the subject but which has initiated enforcement actions consistent with an interpretation that includes freestanding websites. Part II will argue, based on the text, congressional silence, and the statute’s dual principal purposes, that private commercial websites do not fall within the purview of Title III. Part III will propose that disability rights advocates …
Constitutionalizing Fetal Rights: A Salutary Tale From Ireland,
2015
Birmingham Law School
Constitutionalizing Fetal Rights: A Salutary Tale From Ireland, Fiona De Londras
Michigan Journal of Gender & Law
In 1983, Ireland became the first country in the world to constitutionalize fetal rights. The 8th Amendment to the Constitution, passed by a referendum of the People, resulted in constitutional protection for “the right to life of the unborn,” which was deemed “equal” to the right to life of the “mother.” Since then, enshrining fetal rights in constitutions and in legislation has emerged as a key part of anti-abortion campaigning. This Article traces the constitutionalization of fetal rights in Ireland and its implications for law, politics, and women. In so doing, it provides a salutary tale of such an approach. …
Historians And The New Originalism: Contextualism, Historicism, And Constitutional Meaning,
2015
Fordham University School of Law
Historians And The New Originalism: Contextualism, Historicism, And Constitutional Meaning, Martin S. Flaherty
Fordham Law Review
Toward that end, this Foreword addresses three matters. First, it considers why the use of history in constitutional interpretation is inescapable. Next, it suggests that the Essays in this forum do not go far enough in debunking the idea of “public meaning” originalism as a serious alternative to previous approaches. Finally, the balance of this Foreword reviews the also perhaps inescapable misuses of history that constitutional interpretation invites and considers the type of misuse that public meaning originalism represents.
Historicism And Holism: Failures Of Originalist Translation,
2015
Stanford University
Historicism And Holism: Failures Of Originalist Translation, Jonathan Gienapp
Fordham Law Review
For as long as the U.S. Constitution has existed, Americans have appealed to the history of its creation to interpret its meaning. But only since the advent of originalism—the well-known constitutional theory that requires interpreting the Constitution today in accordance with its original meaning—has historical study been so immediately implicated by constitutional interpretation. Despite potential, though, for meaningful exchange between originalists and historians, little has taken place. That originalism plays an ever-growing role in contemporary political culture only makes the lack of dialogue all the more unfortunate.
Outsourcing The Law: History And The Disciplinary Limits Of Constitutional Reasoning,
2015
Sydney Law School
Outsourcing The Law: History And The Disciplinary Limits Of Constitutional Reasoning, Helen Irving
Fordham Law Review
Debates about the use of history in constitutional interpretation find their primary nourishment in the originalism debate. This has generated a vast amount of literature, but also narrowed the terms of the debate. Originalism is a normative commitment wrapped in a questionable methodological confidence. Regardless of the multiple forms originalism takes, originalists are confident that the meaning (in the sense of intention) that animated the framing of the Constitution can be ascertained and, indeed, that they can ascertain it. The debate has largely focused, then, on whether modern-day scholars and jurists can ascertain original historical meaning or, alternatively, whether they …
The Federalist Provenance Of The Principle Of Privacy,
2015
University of Maryland Francis King Carey School of Law
The Federalist Provenance Of The Principle Of Privacy, Elvin T. Lim
Maryland Law Review
The right to privacy is the centerpiece of modern liberal constitutional thought in the United States. But liberals rarely invoke “the Founding” to justify this right, as if conceding that the right to privacy was somehow a radical departure from “original meaning,” perhaps pulled out of the hat by “activist” judges taking great interpretive liberties with the constitutional text. Far from being an unorthodox and modern invention, I argue here that privacy is a principle grounded in the very architecture of the Constitution as enumerated in its Articles, perhaps even more so than in particular sections of the Bill of …
The Seeds Of Change: Popular Protests As Constitutional Moments,
2015
Marquette University Law School
The Seeds Of Change: Popular Protests As Constitutional Moments, Juliano Zaiden Benvindo
Marquette Law Review
Bruce Ackerman’s influential theory of “dualist democracy” posits that in American history some extraordinary moments of constitution- making are “constitutional moments,” distinguishable from other periods of ordinary lawmaking. What is missing from the Ackermanian account of constitutional moments, however, is a deeper appreciation of the nature of popular protests, specifically that they may sometimes constitute the core of a constitutional moment, but on other occasions, they may serve as a very different inflection point in the evolution of a constitutional democracy. Up until now, the legal literature has not devoted much attention to such application of Ackerman’s theory. In this …
