Constitutional Law Commons^™

April 22, 2011: Conservative Christians Discover The Separation Of Church And State, Bruce Ledewitz

Hallowed Secularism

Blog post, “Conservative Christians Discover the Separation of Church and State“ discusses politics, theology and the law in relation to religion and public life in the democratic United States of America.

O.P.P.: How "Occupy's" Race-Based Privilege May Improve Fourth Amendment Jurisprudence For All, Lenese C. Herbert

Seattle University Law Review

This Article submits that Occupy’s race problem could, ironically, prove to be a solution if protesters grow more serious about exposing the injury of political subordination and systems of privilege that adhere to the criminal justice system. Privilege is a “systemic conferral of benefit and advantage [as a result of] affiliation, conscious or not and chosen or not, to the dominant side of a power system.” Accordingly, now that police mistreatment affects them personally, Occupy may finally help kill a fictitious Fourth Amendment jurisprudence that ignores oppression through improper policing based on racial stigma. Occupy may also help usher in …

Slavery Revisited In Penal Plantation Labor, Andrea C. Armstrong

Seattle University Law Review

This Article argues that society must critically examine the types of labor we require our inmates to perform and prohibit the imposition of slavery, even when the enslaved is an inmate. Part II focuses on the text and history of Section 1 of the Thirteenth Amendment11 and argues that the Amendment’s exception allowing forced inmate labor is not as broad as it first appears. Part III examines the Eighth Amendment and how the imposition of slave status on inmates should be considered cruel and unusual punishment. Lastly, Part IV applies these concepts to the history and operation of one such …

April 18, 2011: Church, State, And The Crisis In American Secularism Video Comes To Youtube, Bruce Ledewitz

Hallowed Secularism

Blog post, “Church, State, and the Crisis in American Secularism Video Comes to YouTube“ discusses politics, theology and the law in relation to religion and public life in the democratic United States of America.

April 16, 2011: The Importance Of Objective Morality, Bruce Ledewitz

Hallowed Secularism

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

Jurisprudence Of A Fledgling Federation: A Critical Analysis Of Pakistan’S Judicial View On Federalism, Umer Akram Chaudhry

Cornell Law School Inter-University Graduate Student Conference Papers

Although the impediments in development of federation in Pakistan can be explored from different facets, this paper aims to critically analyze the constitutional history and judicial interpretation of federalism in Pakistan against the scholarly and conceptual debates over the idea. The paper argues that Pakistan’s judiciary, despite recognizing federalism as cornerstone of the Constitution, has not upheld the principle as strongly as other salient features of the Constitution. The superior judiciary has strengthened the official discourse of a unitary national identity leaving little room for ethnical pluralism and participatory nationalism. The paper shall also review measures introduced by the recent …

Can Popular Constitutionalism Survive The Tea Party Movement?, Jared A. Goldstein

NULR Online

The sudden emergence and prominence of the Tea Party movement raises important questions about the role of the Constitution in popular politics. More than any political movement in recent memory, the Tea Party movement is centrally focused on the meaning of the Constitution. Tea Party supporters believe that the nation is facing a crisis because it has abandoned the Constitution, and they seek to restore the government to what they believe are its foundational principles.

April 13, 2011: John Rawls’ Juvenile Conception Of God, Bruce Ledewitz

Hallowed Secularism

Blog post, “John Rawls’ Juvenile Conception of God“ discusses politics, theology and the law in relation to religion and public life in the democratic United States of America.

April 10, 2011: Islam, Judaism, And The Murder Of Children, Bruce Ledewitz

Hallowed Secularism

Blog post, “Islam, Judaism, and the Murder of Children“ discusses politics, theology and the law in relation to religion and public life in the democratic United States of America.

April 9, 2011: Mixing Church And State, Bruce Ledewitz

Hallowed Secularism

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

Conference Program

CYBERBULLYING: Policy, Prevention and Intervention (2011)

No abstract provided.

Bar-On V. Knesset, Dorit Beinisch, Elyakim Rubinstein, Miriam Naor, Uzi Vogelman, Edna Arbel, Eliezer Rivlin, Asher Grunis

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.]

Is it possible to circumvent a constitutional principle enshrined in a temporary provision set to remain in effect only for the duration of the current government’s administration term?

Background: on June 22, 2010 Basic Law: The State Budget (Special Provisions) (Temporary Provisions) (Amendment) (hereinafter: “Basic Law Temporary Provision” or “the Law”) was passed to set the budget for years 2011 and 2012, as a …

Bullcoming V. New Mexico: Revisiting Analyst Testimony After Melendez-Diaz, Alex Herskowitz

Duke Journal of Constitutional Law & Public Policy Sidebar

No abstract provided.

The Tea Party, The Constitution, And The Repeal Amendment, Randy Barnett

NULR Online

No abstract provided.

Leveling Localism And Racial Inequality In Education Through The No Child Left Behind Act Public Choice Provision, Erika K. Wilson

University of Michigan Journal of Law Reform

School district boundary lines play a pivotal role in shaping students' educational opportunities. Living on one side of a school district boundary rather than another can mean the difference between being able to attend a high-achieving resource-enriched school or having to attend a low-achieving resource-deprived school. Despite the prominent role that school district boundary lines play in dictating educational opportunities for students, remedies formulated by the federal judiciary-the institution frequently looked upon to address issues of school segregation and inequality-are ineffective in ameliorating disparities between school districts. They are ineffective because the federal judiciary evidences a doctrinal preference for localism …

April 3, 2011: The Legal Background Of Burning The Qur’An, Bruce Ledewitz

Hallowed Secularism

Blog post, “The Legal Background of Burning the Qur’an“ discusses politics, theology and the law in relation to religion and public life in the democratic United States of America.

April 2, 2011: The Great Separation, Bruce Ledewitz

Hallowed Secularism

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

Disgust And The Problematic Politics Of Similarity, Courtney Megan Cahill

Scholarly Publications

No abstract provided.

When A Door Closes, A Window Opens: Using Preemption To Challenge State Medicaid Cutbacks, Martina Brendel

Chicago-Kent Law Review

Following the Supreme Court's 2002 decision in Gonzaga University v. Doe, several circuit courts of appeal have disallowed enforcement of key Medicaid provisions under § 1983. Notably, courts have placed no similar restrictions on the enforceability of these provisions under the Supremacy Clause. This article discusses Lankford v. Sherman and Independent Living Center v. Shewry, two recent appellate decisions in which plaintiffs succeeded in preventing Medicaid cuts under a preemption theory. It then addresses the limits of the Supremacy Clause, which applies to a narrower range of state action than § 1983. It argues that Medicaid reimbursement rates are "laws" …

Review Of Canada's Indigenous Constitution. By John Borrows., Signa A. Daum Shanks

Great Plains Research: A Journal of Natural and Social Sciences (through 2013)

This text's major thesis, that "Canada cannot presently, historically, legally, or morally claim to be built upon European-derived law alone," has been mentioned before. Yet in those earlier musings by Borrows and others, such a statement has never been documented so well as it is here. Borrows contemplates that others, besides those sympathetic with Indigenous perspectives, might just admit such a thesis is the case. Moreover, they might also support the creation of social and economic policies that demonstrate such a belief. But observing it in Canada's current legal system-really? Keenly aware of skeptics, Borrows has thought as much about …