Constitutional Law Commons^™

Standing Outside Article Iii, Tara Leigh Grove

Faculty Publications

The U.S. Supreme Court has insisted that standing doctrine is a “bedrock” requirement only of Article III. Accordingly, both jurists and scholars have assumed that the standing of the executive branch and the legislature, like that of other parties, depends solely on Article III. But I argue that these commentators have overlooked a basic constitutional principle: federal institutions must have affirmative authority for their actions, including the power to bring suit or appeal in federal court. Article III defines the federal “judicial Power” and does not purport to confer any authority on the executive branch or the legislature. Executive and …

The Future Resists Control, Richard A. Primus

Reviews

Bruce Ackerman long ago persuaded me that Article V has not been the only route—or even the normal route—to legitimate constitutional change. Volume 3 admirably adds nuance to Ackerman’s account of what happens instead. But nuance can be a vice of a theory as well as a virtue, depending on whether the goal is to understand a phenomenon in its complexity or to provide an actionable program for the future. We The People aims to do both: it is, after all, a grand project, probably the most important in constitutional thought in the last thirty years. But in spite of …

The New Constitution Of The United States: Do We Need One And How Would We Get One?, Jack M. Beermann

Faculty Scholarship

Government in the United States has some serious problems. At the federal level, is the problem of gridlock. The United States Congress seems unable or unwilling to do anything about anything (although it must have done something to run up more than $16 trillion in debts). Forget about addressing problems such as global warming, income inequality, failing schools, economic stimulus or you name it. How bad is it, really? Has the United States become ungovernable, and is the Constitution to blame? In my view, it’s a mixed bag. Some aspects of the United States government work very well, others are …

Book Review/Response: Maartje De Visser And Laurent Pech On Comparative Constitutional Review In Europe, Laurent Pech, Maartje De Visser

Research Collection Yong Pung How School Of Law

Laurent Pech reviews Maartje de Visser’s recent book on Constitutional Review in Europe: A Comparative Analysis. Maartje de Visser then responds to the review.

Constitutional Venue, Peter L. Markowitz, Lindsay C. Nash

Articles

A foundational concept of American jurisprudence is the principle that it is unfair to allow litigants to be haled into far away tribunals when the litigants and the litigation have little or nothing to do with the location of such courts. Historically, both personal jurisdiction and venue each served this purpose in related, but distinct ways. Personal jurisdiction is, at base, a limit on the authority of the sovereign. Venue, in contrast, aims to protect parties from being forced to litigate in a location where they would be unfairly disadvantaged. The constitutional boundaries of these early principles came to be …

Constitutional Exaptation, Political Dysfunction, And The Recess Appointments Clause, Jay D. Wexler

Faculty Scholarship

The so-called Recess Appointments Clause of the Constitution provides that: “The President shall have Power to fill up all Vacancies that may happen during the Recess of the Senate, by granting Commissions which shall expire at the End of their next Session.”1 As of only a few years ago, I considered this clause so minor and quirky that I included it in a book about ten of the Constitution’s “oddest” clauses, right alongside such clearly weird provisions as the Title of Nobility Clause and the Third Amendment.2 Though I recognized that the Recess Appointments Clause was probably the least odd …

Presidential Inaction And The Separation Of Powers, Jeffrey A. Love, Arpit K. Garg

Michigan Law Review

Imagine two presidents. The first campaigned on an issue that requires him to expand the role of the federal government-—maybe it was civil rights legislation or stricter sentencing for federal criminals. In contrast, the second president pushes policies—-financial deregulation, perhaps, or drug decriminalization—-that mean less government involvement. Each is elected in a decisive fashion, and each claims a mandate to advance his agenda. The remaining question is what steps each must take to achieve his goals. The answer is clear, and it is surprising. To implement his preferred policies, the first president faces the full gauntlet of checks and balances-—from …

The Civil Rights-Civil Liberties Divide, Christopher W. Schmidt

All Faculty Scholarship

Contemporary legal discourse differentiates “civil rights” from “civil liberties.” The former are generally understood as protections against discriminatory treatment, the latter as freedom from oppressive government authority. This Essay explains how this differentiation arose and considers its consequences.

Although there is a certain inherent logic to the civil rights-civil liberties divide, it in fact is the product of the unique circumstances of a particular moment in history. In the early years of the Cold War, liberal anticommunists sought to distinguish their incipient interest in the cause of racial equality from their belief that national security required limitations on the speech …

April 29, 2014: The Fight Over The Personhood Of Animals, Bruce Ledewitz

Hallowed Secularism

Blog post, “The Fight Over the Personhood of Animals“ discusses politics, theology and the law in relation to religion and public life in the democratic United States of America.

April 25, 2014: The Progressive/Religious Alliance, Bruce Ledewitz

Hallowed Secularism

Blog post, “The Progressive/Religious Alliance“ discusses politics, theology and the law in relation to religion and public life in the democratic United States of America.

Treading Water: Can Municipal Efforts To Condemn Underwater Mortgages Prevail?, Michael S. Moskowitz

Pepperdine Law Review

No abstract provided.

Preserving Home Rule: The Text, Purpose, And Political Theory Of California’S Municipal Affairs Clause, Brett A. Stroud

Pepperdine Law Review

No abstract provided.

The Rapid Rise Of Delayed Notice Searches, And The Fourth Amendment “Rule Requiring Notice”, Jonathan Witmer-Rich

Pepperdine Law Review

This article documents the rapid rise of covert searching, through delayed notice search warrants, and argues that covert searching in its current form presumptively violates the Fourth Amendment’s “rule requiring notice.” Congress authorized these “sneak and peek” warrants in the USA Patriot Act, in 2001, and soon after added a reporting requirement to monitor this invasive search technique. Since 2001, the use of delayed notice search warrants has risen dramatically, from around 25 in 2002 to 5,601 in 2012, suggesting that “sneak and peek” searches are becoming alarmingly common. In fact, it is not at all clear whether true “sneak …

Doe V. Doe, Noam Sohlberg, Miriam Naor, Salim Joubran

Translated Opinions

[This abstract is not part of the Court's opinion and is provided for the reader's convenience. It has been translated from a Hebrew version prepared by Nevo Press Ltd. and is used with its kind permission.]

An appeal on a judgment of the District Court, granting the Respondent's motion for the issuance of a permanent injunction to prohibit the Appellant from publishing and distributing a book written by him, which unfolds the intimate relationship between the parties. The Appellant was further charged to pay damages to the Respondent for her non-pecuniary damages. The main question deliberated was the proper balance …

Videoconference Technology And The Confrontation Clause, Russell Kostelak

Cornell Law School J.D. Student Research Papers

No abstract provided.

April 20, 2014: A Joyous Easter To All Christians—And Go See Particle Physics, Bruce Ledewitz

Hallowed Secularism

Blog post, “A Joyous Easter to All Christians—and Go See Particle Physics“ discusses politics, theology and the law in relation to religion and public life in the democratic United States of America.

April 17, 2014: Cowardice And Hypocrisy At Brandeis, Bruce Ledewitz

Hallowed Secularism

Blog post, “Cowardice and Hypocrisy at Brandeis“ discusses politics, theology and the law in relation to religion and public life in the democratic United States of America.

April 14, 2014: Ross Douthat's Magical Thinking, Bruce Ledewitz

Hallowed Secularism

Blog post, “Ross Douthat's Magical Thinking“ discusses politics, theology and the law in relation to religion and public life in the democratic United States of America.

April 11, 2014: More Secular Yearning For God, Bruce Ledewitz

Hallowed Secularism

Blog post, “ More Secular Yearning for God“ discusses politics, theology and the law in relation to religion and public life in the democratic United States of America.

Carbon Outlasts The Law: States Walk The Constitutional Line, Steven Ferrey

Suffolk University Law School Faculty Works

State carbon policies to control climate warming and our energy future are under legal attack. A successful barrage of litigation now invokes the dormant Commerce Clause and the Federal Power Act as interpreted through the Filed Rate Doctrine, as well as the Supremacy Clause of the U.S. Constitution, to challenge the legal validity and sustainability of these state carbon-based laws. California and other states have survived these legal challenges sparingly, and then often only by prevailing with procedural defenses that dismiss the case before a decision on the legal merits of their state energy regulation. This Article examines and analyzes …