Constitutional Commentary articles from June 1997

Constitutional Commentary archives from June 1997

Someone should have told Spiro Agnew. (the US Constitution seems to specify the Vice President preside over his own impeachment)
June 22, 1997... Let's assume that I am elected Vice President of the United States and am an evil, diabolical man. I behave badly, even criminally, in office. The House of Representatives impeaches me. I solemnly march into the Senate chamber for my trial. My...

Cousin Humphrey. (cousin of John Marshall)
June 22, 1997... Chief Justice John Marshall is known for his celebration of a strong national voice for the early Supreme Court, and so it is hardly surprising that we tend to overlook the philosophical cuckoo in his family nest. Not all Americans willingly...

Desperately ducking slavery: Dred Scott and contemporary constitutional theory.
June 22, 1997... Contemporary constitutional theory rests on three premises. Brown v. Board of Education was correct, Lochner v. New York was wrong, and Dred Scott v. Sandford was also wrong. A few intrepid souls question whether Brown was correctly decided...

The legislative veto in times of political reversal: Chadha and the 104th Congress.
June 22, 1997... More than a decade after it was decided, the Supreme Court's decision in INS v. Chadha(1) had perhaps its greatest impact. The impact is seen in the absence of a legislative veto from the Contract With America Advancement Act of 1996.(2) The...

Taking from A and giving to B: substantive due process and the case of the shifting paradigm.
June 22, 1997... The Fifth Amendment prohibits the federal government from depriving any person of "life, liberty, or property, without due process of law," and the Fourteenth Amendment extends that prohibition to the states. State constitutions say the same...

A colloquy with Jack Greenberg about Brown: experiences and reflections.(Interview)
June 22, 1997... This colloquy draws from conversations with Jack Greenberg about this experiences with and the significance of Brown v. Board of Education. The discussion between Greenberg and Richard Sobel took place during class in March 1995, as Part of a...

Foreordained Failure: The Quest for a Constitutional Principle of Religious Freedom.
June 22, 1997... One hallmark of successful scholarship is its ability to take a seemingly outrageous proposition and make it seem obvious. By this standard, Steven D. Smith's Foreordained Failure: The Quest for a Constitutional Principle of Religious Freedom...

Justice in Immigration.
June 22, 1997... Immigration law reduces to a few basic but difficult questions. Should we restrict entry by outsiders? If so, what principles guide those restrictions? And after a newcomer arrives, when is she no longer a "newcomer," but one of "us"? These...

The Federal Impeachment Process: A Constitutional and Historical Analysis.
June 22, 1997... In an age in which special prosecutors proliferate and in which journalists stumble over each other in their competition to see who can bring down the largest number of politicians, it would be plausible to ask whether the impeachment and...

Securing Religious Liberty: Principles for Judicial Interpretation of the Religion Clauses.
June 22, 1997... I. INTRODUCTION In his book, Securing Religious Liberty, Jesse Choper articulates a "comprehensive thesis for adjudication of all significant issues that arise under the Religion Clauses of the Constitution." (p. 1) Choper gets off to...

Explicit and Authentic Acts: Amending the U.S. Constitution, 1776-1995.
June 22, 1997... Of all the innovations of the U.S. Constitution, the process of providing for formal constitutional change through an amending process may be one of the most underappreciated. When properly functioning, such a mechanism renders violent...