Constitutional Commentary articles from June 2006

Constitutional Commentary archives from June 2006

Constitutional curiosities: a twenty-one question scavenger hunt.
June 22, 2006... This exercise is intended to make reading the Constitution a little livelier. All answers to the questions below may be had by consulting the text of the United States Constitution. 1. Of which state are you a citizen? 2. Are you...

Compelled speech.
June 22, 2006... At Christmas, I, a lapsed Jew, attended mass with my wife, a devout Catholic, as I usually do. And, as usual, I stood when the congregation stood but did not kneel when the congregation knelt. When the congregation recited the Nicene Creed, I...

Justice Iredell, choice of law, and the constitution - a neglected encounter.
June 22, 2006... I. INTRODUCTION In cases governed by state law, federal courts are supposed to apply state law consistent with the state courts' elaboration of it. So says the Rules of Decision Act--originally section 34 of the 1789 Judiciary Act (1)--at...

Hamdan v. Rumsfeld: the functional case for foreign affairs deference to the executive branch.
June 22, 2006... Handed down on the last day of the 2005 Term, the Supreme Court's decision in Hamdan v. Rumsfeld (1) was the most eagerly anticipated decision of the year. The Court's decision garnered banner headline treatment in The New York Times and...

Fundamentally wrong about fundamental rights.
June 22, 2006... INTRODUCTION If there is one phrase that every student of constitutional law learns, it is that fundamental rights trigger strict scrutiny. As Justice William Brennan Jr. wrote, "a government practice or statute which restricts...

"Modest expectations"? Civic unity, religious pluralism, and conscience.
June 22, 2006... DIVIDED BY GOD: AMERICA'S CHURCH-STATE PROBLEM--AND WHAT WE SHOULD DO ABOUT IT. By Noah Feldman. (1) Farrar, Straus & Giroux. 2005. Pp. 306. $25.00. THE RIGHT TO BE WRONG: ENDING THE CULTURE WAR OVER RELIGION IN AMERICA. By Kevin Seamus...

Silent Covenants: Brown v. Board of Education and the Unfulfilled Hopes for Racial Reform.(Book review)
June 22, 2006... SILENT COVENANTS: BROWN v. BOARD OF EDUCATION AND THE UNFULFILLED HOPES FOR RACIAL REFORM. By Derrick Bell. (1) Oxford University Press. 2004. Pp. 230. Hardback, $25.00, Paper, $14.95. I INTRODUCTION In April 2006, the Nebraska state...