Michael Dorf and Josh Blackman on Zivotofsky v. Kerry
Michael Ramsey
At Dorf on Law, Michael Dorf: Zivotofsky May Be Remembered as Limiting Exclusive Presidential Power. From the conclusion: … [O]ver the long run, I suspect that Zivotofsky will come to be seen as a relatively narrow ruling. Even Justice Jackson in Steel Seizure recognized that there could be cases in which an Act of Congress invalidly interferes with the […]
Heidi Hurd: Why Would Anyone Care About Original Intent?
Michael Ramsey
Heidi Hurd (University of Illinois College of Law) has posted Why Would Anyone Care About Original Intent? on SSRN. Here is the abstract: Not all originalists are intentionalists. But all intentionalists are originalists. And certainly many originalists are intentionalists, for the impulses that lead scholars to embrace originalism in constitutional and statutory interpretation also often […]
John Mikhail: The Constitution and the Philosophy of Language
Michael Ramsey
John Mikhail (Georgetown University Law Center) has posted The Constitution and the Philosophy of Language: Entailment, Implicature, and Implied Powers (Virginia Law Review, Vol. 101, No. 4, 2015) on SSRN. Here is the abstract: The main purpose of this Article is to begin to recover and elucidate the core textual basis of a progressive approach […]
Michael Dorf on Congressional Powers and the Dormant Commerce Clause
Michael Ramsey
At Dorf on Law, Michael Dorf: Congressional Power to Authorize Dormant Commerce Clause Violations. From the introduction: My most recent Verdict column discusses the dissents of Justices Scalia and Thomas in Monday's SCOTUS decision in Comptroller of the Treasury of Maryland v. Wynne. They argue there that the Dormant Commerce Clause (DCC) "is a judicial […]
Jack Balkin Interviews David Sehat on “The Jefferson Rule”
Michael Ramsey
At Balkinization, Jack Balkin: The Jefferson Rule: An Interview with David Sehat. From the introduction: I recently spoke with historian David Sehat about his new book, The Jefferson Rule: How the Founding Fathers Became Infallible and Our Politics Inflexible (Simon & Schuster 2015). JB: Your last book was about religious freedom. Why did you decide […]
Jack Balkin et al. on Fidelity and Change in Constitutional Interpretation
Michael Ramsey
At Balkinization, Jack Balkin: Here's the video of a panel at Boston College's Clough Center on Fidelity and Change in Constitutional Interpretation, featuring Katharine Young (Boston College), Lawrence Solum (Georgetown) and myself, moderated by James Fleming (Boston University), and introduced by Richard Albert (Boston College). The discussion ranges widely– from the debate over originalism in […]
David Gray: Dangerous Dicta
Michael Ramsey
David Gray (University of Maryland Francis King Carey School of Law) has posted Dangerous Dicta (Washington and Lee Law Review, Vol. 72, 2015 (forthcoming)) on SSRN. Here is the abstract: In United States v. Heller, the Court held that individuals have a Second Amendment right to keep and bear arms apart from their associations with state […]
J. Richard Broughton: The Snowden Affair and the Limits of American Treason
Michael Ramsey
J. Richard Broughton (University of Detroit Mercy School of Law) has posted The Snowden Affair and the Limits of American Treason (Lincoln Memorial University Law Review, 2015, Forthcoming) on SSRN. Here is the abstract: The revelations about Edward Snowden’s leak of American national security information helped to reinvigorate public rhetoric about the crime of treason, […]
Jack Balkin: Constitutional Interpretation and Change in the United States
Michael Ramsey
Jack Balkin (Yale University – Law School) has posted Constitutional Interpretation and Change in the United States: The Official and the Unofficial on SSRN. Here is the abstract: This lecture, given at the Institut Villey in Paris, describes the processes of constitutional change in the American political and legal system. The first part of the lecture […]
Keith Whittington: State Constitutional Law in the New Deal Period
Michael Ramsey
Keith Whittington (Princeton University – Department of Politics) has posted State Constitutional Law in the New Deal Period (Rutgers Law Journal Forthcoming) on SSRN. Here is the abstract: The 1930s is generally understood to be a period of constitutional revolution in the United States, with a restrictive conservative U.S. Supreme Court giving way to a latitudinarian […]