Constitutional Commentary articles from June 2000

Constitutional Commentary archives from June 2000

Casey at the Court.(Poem)
June 22, 2000... The outlook wasn't brilliant for the D.C. nine that term. Support for Roe v. Wade looked like it still was holding firm. And when Akron reaffirmed it, and Webster died at four, It looked like Roe v. Wade would rule the land...

Looking for a model answer: may Congress prohibit sex-selective abortions?
June 22, 2000... I have put what I think are the best student answers for my Constitutional Law exam on reserve, but my students are still not satisfied: What's the right answer to Question 1, Professor Paulsen? Alas, the question itself shows that I am a...

The parsimony of libertarianism.
June 22, 2000... I want to begin by congratulating Randy Barnett on writing The Structure of Liberty,(1) one of the most radical and provocative works of political and legal theory that I have ever read. I consider myself to be a liberal who prizes liberty....

The canon(s) of constitutional law: an introduction.
June 22, 2000... Any discipline has a canon, a set of themes that organize the way in which people think about the discipline. Or, perhaps, any discipline has a number of competing canons. Is there a canon of constitutional law?(1) A group of casebook authors...

Sovereignty studies in constitutional law: a comment.
June 22, 2000... Constitutional law casebooks are based on an unstated, and perhaps unrecognized, set of assumptions that link constitutional law to a strong conception of the nation-state. This is the explicit message of the periodicization of constitutional...

Aim globally.
June 22, 2000... INTRODUCTION Recently, the Hong Kong judiciary dealt with a case that could not be more foreign nor more familiar. In HKSAR v. Ng Kung Siu, two dissidents were convicted of, among other things, desecrating the national flag in violation of...

A comparative constitutional law canon?
June 22, 2000... I. INTRODUCTION Some ten years ago we began to put together a coursebook in American constitutional law for senior undergraduates. In the initial proposal we sent to West Publishing, we wrote, "It takes a measure of audacity to produce yet...

The constitutional canon: the challenge posed by a transitional constitutionalism.
June 22, 2000... How does a transitional constitutionalism challenge the constitutional canon? My recent book, Transitional Justice (Oxford University Press, 2000), discusses constitutional theory in periods of radical political upheaval, and offers a...

Why the canon should be expanded to include insular cases and the saga of American expanionism?
June 22, 2000... I. INTRODUCTION: THE "CANON" All disciplines are constituted by their canons--that series of "set texts" that comprises the core materials of any given academic area. As Jack Balkin and I have written elsewhere, debates about the canon are...

The canon and the Constitution outside the courts.
June 22, 2000... What would it mean for "the canon of constitutional law" if we were to take seriously "the Constitution outside the courts"? What would happen to the canon if we were to distinguish (as Cass Sunstein and Larry Sager do) between the partial,...

The canons of constitutional law: teaching with a political-historical framework.
June 22, 2000... In my writings on constitutional law, I make an effort to provide a broad context so that readers and students can better appreciate and understand a court decision. I want them to understand the conditions that give rise to a court case and...

On casebooks and canons or why Bob Jones University will never be part of the constitutional law canon.
June 22, 2000... Here is a hard sell: making a plausible--let alone convincing--case that Bob Jones University v. United States(1) is one of the canons of constitutional law. As a matter of constitutional doctrine, Bob Jones was never that important to begin...

Democracy, anti-democracy, and the canon.
June 22, 2000... Democracy is the Banquo's ghost of American constitutionalism. Appearing evanescently in vague discussions of process-based theories of judicial review, or in isolated First Amendment cases involving political speech, or in momentary Equal...

The case for including Marks v. United States in the canon of constitutional law.
June 22, 2000... I. INTRODUCTION A. THE PROPOSAL In this essay, I would like to suggest adding a single case, with appropriate commentary, to the canon of constitutional law, as presented in introductory casebooks. Specifically, I suggest including...

Does "practicality" have a place in the "canon of constitutional law"?
June 22, 2000... In this article, I talk about a hodge-podge of things that I do in my constitutional law classes and books. I am not sure that they rise to the lofty title of "The Canon of Constitutional Law," but I view them as worthwhile and worth...

Capturing the canon.
June 22, 2000... INTRODUCTION In this paper I have reflected on the nearly twenty-five years I have been involved in editing a constitutional law casebook. In the process of examining the various editions of the casebook to the present, I realize, more...

The integration of theory and practice in teaching structural issues in constitutional law.
June 22, 2000... For fifteen years and four editions, our casebook(1) has differed from the mainstream canon(2) in two respects. First, we give relatively greater emphasis to the structure of government issues of federalism and separation of powers....

Chasing the cannon: a tail's view of, and requests to, the dog.
June 22, 2000... My admiration for the late Fred Rodell gives me an excuse, if not a reason, for keeping the number of footnotes in this document as small as possible.(1) Otherwise I would, of course, have footnote references to the other articles in this...

Constitutional law's loose canon: are we running software without the operating system?
June 22, 2000... The canon of constitutional law, like any fundamental principle, is a function of the values that inspire it. If a meaningful learning experience is the overarching concern, the common denominators of constitutional law casebooks should reveal...

The canon of constitutional law for undergraduate teaching: the melding of constitutional theory, law and interpretive empirical political science.
June 22, 2000... As a teacher of undergraduates, I want to make the argument that courses in American Constitutional Law should emphasize a wide range of topics, including constitutional theory, the process of Supreme Court decision-making, and how the Supreme...

Is there a canon of constitutional history?
June 22, 2000... My contribution to this discussion is purely empirical. I ask whether a canon exists, not among constitutional law casebooks, a question addressed elsewhere,(1) but rather in documentary collections in American constitutional history.(2) I...

Rights and Responsibilities.(Review)
June 22, 2000... RIGHTS AND RESPONSIBILITIES. By Leon Trakman(1) and Sean Gatien.(2) University of Toronto Press. 1999. Pp. 286. $24.95. There is a widespread perception that America is obsessed with rights. Leftists and conservatives both decry a culture...

American Constitutional Law, vol. 1.(Review)
June 22, 2000... AMERICAN CONSTITUTIONAL LAW, THIRD EDITION, VOLUME I. By Laurence H. Tribe.(1) The Foundation Press, Inc. 1999. Pp. 1381. $47.50. It has been a little more than ten years since Professor Laurence Tribe published the Second Edition of...