Constitutional Law Commons^™

May It Please The Senate: An Empirical Analysis Of The Senate Judiciary Committee Hearings Of Supreme Court Nominees, 1939-2009, Lori A. Ringhand, Paul M. Collins Jr.

Scholarly Works

This paper examines the questions asked and answers given by every Supreme Court nominee who has appeared to testify before the Senate Judiciary Committee since 1939. In doing so, it uses a new dataset developed by the authors. This database, which provides a much-needed empirical foundation for scholarship in emerging areas of constitutional law and political science, captures all of the statements made at the hearings and codes these comments by issue area, subissue area, party of the appointing president, and party of the questioning senator. The dataset allows us to quantify for the fist time such things as which …

The Substantive Independence Of The Judiciary Under The Constitutions Of Bangladesh And Malaysia : A Comparative Study., M. Ehteshamul Bari

Student Works (2010-2019)

The present research work, a comparative study as to the existing systems of appointment of judges in Malaysia and Bangladesh which is undertaken to examine its strengths and understrengths and to recommend a suitable mode for appointing judges of the superior courts for excluding patronage appointment and ensuring the appointment of men ‘of stern stuff and tough fibre, unbending before power’ in the higher judiciary, is divided into five chapters. The essence of each of the chapter is as follows: Chapter I deals with the ‘Introduction’ in which role of the judiciary, development of the concept of the independence of …

January 30, 2011: Amy Chua And The Mommy Wars, Bruce Ledewitz

Hallowed Secularism

Blog post, “Amy Chua and the Mommy Wars“ discusses politics, theology and the law in relation to religion and public life in the democratic United States of America.

Staub V. Proctor Hospital: Cleaning Up The Cat’S Paw, Hannah Banks

Duke Journal of Constitutional Law & Public Policy Sidebar

No abstract provided.

January 27, 2011: It Is Not Pro-Life To Kill A Woman, Bruce Ledewitz

Hallowed Secularism

Blog post, “ It is not Pro-Life to Kill a Woman“ discusses politics, theology and the law in relation to religion and public life in the democratic United States of America.

January 22, 2011: Americans United For Separation Of Church And State, Bruce Ledewitz

Hallowed Secularism

Blog post, “Americans United for 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.

January 20, 2011: Religion Dispatches Publishes Ledewitz Piece On The Free Exercise Clause, Bruce Ledewitz

Hallowed Secularism

Blog post, “Religion Dispatches Publishes Ledewitz Piece on the Free Exercise Clause“ discusses politics, theology and the law in relation to religion and public life in the democratic United States of America.

The Incredible Shrinking Free Exercise Clause, Bruce Ledewitz

Ledewitz Papers

Published scholarship collected from academic journals, law reviews, newspaper publications & online periodicals.

January 18, 2011: So, Is This The Post-Secular Age Or Not?, Bruce Ledewitz

Hallowed Secularism

Blog post, “So, is this the post-secular age or not?“ discusses politics, theology and the law in relation to religion and public life in the democratic United States of America.

Harrington V. Richter: Aedpa Deference And The Right To Effective Counsel, Kara Duffle

Duke Journal of Constitutional Law & Public Policy Sidebar

No abstract provided.

January 14, 2011: The Atheist Wars, Bruce Ledewitz

Hallowed Secularism

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

January 9, 2011: The Violence Of The Secular, Bruce Ledewitz

Hallowed Secularism

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

Snyder V. Phelps: First Amendment Boundaries On Speech-Based Tort Claims, Michael Villeggiante

Duke Journal of Constitutional Law & Public Policy Sidebar

No abstract provided.

January 6, 2011: So Why Isn’T The Food Bill Unconstitutional?, Bruce Ledewitz

Hallowed Secularism

Blog post, “So Why Isn’t the Food Bill Unconstitutional?“ discusses politics, theology and the law in relation to religion and public life in the democratic United States of America.

Ragen V. Ministry Of Transport, Elyakim Rubinstein, Salim Joubran, Yoram Danziger

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.]

This Petition concerns bus lines operated by the Second and Third Respondents, where segregation between men and women had become customary. It was argued that these arrangements violate the principle of equality, the constitutional right to dignity and to freedom of religion and conscience and that they have been put in place without lawful authorization. Against the First Respondent (hereinafter: the Respondent) it was …

January 3, 2011: The Incredible Shrinking Free Exercise Clause, Bruce Ledewitz

Hallowed Secularism

Blog post, “The Incredible Shrinking Free Exercise Clause“ discusses politics, theology and the law in relation to religion and public life in the democratic United States of America.

Resolving The Qualified Immunity Dilemma: Constitutional Tort Claims For Nominal Damages, James E. Pfander

Faculty Working Papers

Scholars have criticized the Court's qualified immunity decision in Pearson v. Callahan on the ground that it may lead to stagnation in the judicial elaboration of constitutional norms. Under current law, officers sued in their personal capacity for constitutional torts enjoy qualified immunity from liability unless the plaintiff can persuade the court that the conduct in question violated clearly established law. Pearson permits the lower courts to dismiss on the basis of legal uncertainty; it no longer requires the courts to address the merits of the constitutional question. This essay suggests that constitutional tort claimants should be permitted to avoid …

The Oberlin Fugitive Slave Rescue: A Victory For The Higher Law, Steven Lubet

Faculty Working Papers

This article tells the story of the Oberlin fugitive slave rescue and the ensuing prosecutions in federal court. The trial of rescuer Charles Langston marked one of the first times that adherence to "higher law" was explicitly raised as a legal defense in an American courtroom. The article is adapted from my book -- Fugitive Justice: Runaways, Rescuers, and Slavery on Trial -- which tells this story (and several others) in much more detail.

In the fall of 1859, John Price was a fugitive slave living in the abolitionist community of Oberlin, Ohio. He was lured out of town and …

The Many Faces Of Iqbal, Rosalie Berger Levinson

Law Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

Illegal Aid: Legal Assistance To Immigrants In The United States, Geoffrey Heeren

Law Faculty Publications

There is an enormous unmet need for immigrant legal aid in the United States. This is partly due to regulations that bar federally funded legal services organizations from representing many types of immigrants. The possible repeal of these restrictions is rarely discussed as a means to expand immigrant access to counsel. Federal funding for immigrant legal aid appears to have become taboo, despite the fact that for much of its history, legal aid was deeply connected to immigration. This forgotten history reveals that there was once broad national consensus in favor of immigrant legal aid; it became contentious and faced …