Law and Philosophy Commons^™

Debt Stigma And Social Class, Michael D. Sousa

Seattle University Law Review

For as long as creditors have been extending credit to consumer debtors, Western society has stigmatized those individuals who failed to repay their financial obligations or who found themselves swamped by unmanageable debt. Over the past three decades, scholars have studied whether the stigma surrounding indebtedness and bankruptcy has declined or increased in American society, mainly due to the sharp spike in consumer bankruptcy filings during the 1990s. These studies have resulted in a general debate over whether debt stigma still exists in society. Absent from the scholarly literature to date is an exploration of whether debtors from different social …

Why Won't Free Speech Save Us?, Bruce Ledewitz

Ledewitz Papers

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

June 11, 2018: The Nakba, Bruce Ledewitz

Hallowed Secularism

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

June 5, 2018: Yes, The President Can Pardon Himself And This Court Is Going To Vote For Religious Believers, Bruce Ledewitz

Hallowed Secularism

Blog post, “Yes, the President Can Pardon Himself and This Court is Going to Vote for Religious Believers“ discusses politics, theology and the law in relation to religion and public life in the democratic United States of America.

The Internal Morality Of International Law, Evan Fox-Decent, Evan J. Criddle

Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

When At Loggerheads With Customary International Law: The Right To Run For Public Office And The Right To Vote, Thompson Chengeta

Brooklyn Journal of International Law

Many populist demagogues in America and Europe have spoken; and continue to speak; against human rights in their campaigns for political office. This article discusses the factors that have contributed to the current wave of populism; and the nature of the challenges that are presented by populism to democracy; human rights; and constitutionalism from an international human rights law perspective. It also focuses on President Donald Trump; who was voted President of the United States; even after he clearly and publicly indicated his support for torture and his intentions to approve it in the United States. To that end; the …

May 24, 2018: “The Policy May Be Debatable, But The Law Is Clear”, Bruce Ledewitz

Hallowed Secularism

Blog post, “The policy may be debatable, but the law is clear” discusses politics, theology and the law in relation to religion and public life in the democratic United States of America.

Using The Master’S Tool To Dismantle His House: Derrick Bell, Herbert Wechsler, And Critical Legal Process, William Rhee

Concordia Law Review

This Article retells the life stories of Derrick Bell, a founder of Critical Race Theory, and Herbert Wechsler, a founder of the Legal Process School, to suggest a synthesis of their often conflicting paradigms—Critical Legal Process. Critical Legal Process’s fundamental question is whether the Master’s tool, the so-called rule of law, can be considered—in the words of Wechsler’s most famous article—a genuine “neutral principle.” Can the Master’s favorite tool be repurposed to dismantle the very house it built? Can the same rule of law that was abused to build the racist Jim Crow system not only dismantle that explicitly racist …

Death In America Under Color Of Law: Our Long, Inglorious Experience With Capital Punishment, Rob Warden, Daniel Lennard

Northwestern Journal of Law & Social Policy

No abstract provided.

May 11, 2018: Another Mistake By President Trump, Bruce Ledewitz

Hallowed Secularism

Blog post, “Another Mistake by President Trump“ discusses politics, theology and the law in relation to religion and public life in the democratic United States of America.

Interpretation As Statecraft: Chancellor Kent And The Collaborative Era Of American Statutory Interpretation, Farah Peterson

Maryland Law Review

No abstract provided.

May 3, 2018: “They Were Never Going To Let Me Be President”, Bruce Ledewitz

Hallowed Secularism

Blog post, “They Were Never Going to Let Me Be President” discusses politics, theology and the law in relation to religion and public life in the democratic United States of America.

May 1, 2018: How About A Hand For President Trump?, Bruce Ledewitz

Hallowed Secularism

Blog post, “How About a Hand for President Trump?“ discusses politics, theology and the law in relation to religion and public life in the democratic United States of America.

The Limits Of Natural Law Originalism, Mikolaj Barczentewicz

Notre Dame Law Review Reflection

In Enduring Originalism, Jeffrey Pojanowski and Kevin C. Walsh outline how originalism in constitutional interpretation can be grounded in modern natural law theory as developed by John Finnis. Their argument to that effect is powerful and constitutes a welcome addition both to natural law theory and to originalist theory. However, the authors chose to present their account as a superior alternative to, or modification of, the “positive” (“original law”) originalism of Stephen Sachs and William Baude. It is that aspect of the paper that I focus on in this short Essay. Contrary to their strong claims in that direction, …

Fiction In The Code: Reading Legislation As Literature, Thomas J. Mcsweeney

Georgia State University Law Review

One of the major branches of the field of law and literature is often described as “law as literature.” Scholars of law as literature examine the law using the tools of literary analysis. The scholarship in this subfield is dominated by the discussion of narrative texts: confessions, victim-impact statements, and, above all, the judicial opinion. This article will argue that we can use some of the same tools to help us understand non-narrative texts, such as law codes and statutes.

Genres create expectations. We do not expect a law code to be literary. Indeed, we tend to dissociate the law …

A Philosophical Defense Of Judicial Minimalism, Cory A. Evans

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

This dissertation analyzes, criticizes and ultimately defends judicial minimalism, a contemporary theory of judging that has come to the forefront of American jurisprudence in the early part of the 21st Century. In this dissertation I offer the first formal definition of judicial minimalism, apply that definition to case law and the literature, refute many objections to judicial minimalism including objections based on tough case counterexamples, offer a new version of the argument of epistemic humility and offer a new argument in support of judicial minimalism from the perspective of law and economics.

What Can We Learn From Vulnerability Theory?, Phillip Rich

Honors Projects

Martha Albertson Fineman frames philosophies of justice, freedom, equality, and human nature alongside original insights about the role of vulnerability and institutions in people’s lives to argue for increased government intervention. The conglomeration of these ideas form vulnerability theory, an emerging legal theory providing a loose framework for evaluating and creating public policy. The following article can be broken down into two parts. The first part defines vulnerability theory by identifying, evaluating, and discussing the interaction among the five major components of vulnerability theory: the rejection of the liberal subject in favor of a vulnerable subject, the universality and constancy …

April 25, 2018: It’S The Stupid Tax Cut, Bruce Ledewitz

Hallowed Secularism

Blog post, “It’s the Stupid Tax Cut“ discusses politics, theology and the law in relation to religion and public life in the democratic United States of America.

April 20, 2018: Acts Of Legislative Hatred, Bruce Ledewitz

Hallowed Secularism

Blog post, “Acts of Legislative Hatred“ discusses politics, theology and the law in relation to religion and public life in the democratic United States of America.

April 14, 2018: “No Pardon For Trump”, Bruce Ledewitz

Hallowed Secularism

Blog post, “No Pardon for Trump” discusses politics, theology and the law in relation to religion and public life in the democratic United States of America.