The Treaty Power and the Necessary and Proper Clause
Mike Rappaport
In my previous post, I argued that the Treaty Power should be interpreted as allowing the President and the Senate to make treaties that involve intercourse with foreign nations, but not simply domestic matters. In this post, I discuss the second constitutional issue raised by the decisions in Bond v. US – whether Congress has the […]
John McGinnis on Noel Canning
Michael Ramsey
At Liberty Law Blog, John McGinnis: Noel Canning, Liberty, and the Coase Theorem. From the introduction: Conservatives have been celebrating Noel Canning, the recent Supreme Court decision on recess appointments, because President Obama lost 9-0. But in reality the case was a loss both for liberty and the rule of law. While the result was […]
Federalism and the Treaty Power: A Response to Mike Ramsey
Mike Rappaport
In a prior post, I defended Justice Thomas’s position in Bond that treaties can only extend to matters involving intercourse with other nations. Mike Ramsey, who unlike myself is an expert regarding the Treaty Power, disagrees with this position, but I am not persuaded. Justice Thomas had argued in Bond that the Treaty Power is limited by the […]
Federalism and the Treaty Power: The Scope of the Treaty Power
Mike Rappaport
Last week, the Supreme Court decided Bond v. US, which raised the issue whether a federal statute, justified as an attempt to give effect to a treay, could reach local behavior. While the Court held that the statute did not reach the local conduct based on the federalism canon of statutory contruction, I am interested in […]
Reader Contributions on Natural Born Citizens (Part 1): Citizens and Subjects
Michael Ramsey
My periodic posts on the eligibility clause have generated quite a bit of substantive response from readers. I'll continue to share some of them. As I've discussed, my working hypothesis is that the founding-era baseline for the meaning of "natural born" in the eligibility clause was the English law meaning in the phrase "natural born […]
More on Kurt Lash’s Theory of the Privileges or Immunities Clause and the New Orleans Riot
Mike Rappaport
Recently, I blogged about Kurt Lash’s own blogging about his new book on the 14th Amendment. I wrote: Kurt argues that the Privileges or Immunities Clause merely incorporates the Bill of Rights; it does not protect equality as to state privileges or immunities (as in John Harrison’s theory) or substantive rights as to state and natural […]
The New York Times and Randy Barnett on the Origination Clause
Michael Ramsey
The New York Times editorial board on the origination clause challenge to the Affordable Care Act: More Specious Attacks on Reform. The conclusion (none too subtle): The opponents of health care reform are making desperate arguments that defy common sense and the purpose of a law that was approved by the political process and is […]
Anthony Bellia & Bradford Clark: Two Myths About the Alien Tort Statute
Michael Ramsey
Anthony J. Bellia Jr. (Notre Dame Law School) and Bradford R. Clark (George Washington University Law School) have psoted Two Myths About the Alien Tort Statute (Notre Dame Law Review, Vol. 18, No. 1609, 2014) on SSRN. Here is the abstract: In Kiobel v. Royal Dutch Petroleum Co., the Supreme Court applied the presumption against extraterritorial […]
Is There a Misrepresentation of History in Greece v. Galloway?
Michael Ramsey
Via Brian Leiter, there is a suggestion that a major work by a prominent law professor is "misrepresented" in Justice Kennedy's majority opinion in Greece v. Galloway. From the Baltimore Sun (linked by Brian Leiter): It's not every day that a law professor has his book quoted by the Supreme Court, and so the University of […]
Andrew Johnson and the New Orleans Riot
Mike Rappaport
Over at the Volokh Conspiracy, Kurt Lash has been guest blogging his new book on the Privileges or Immunities Clause of the 14th Amendment. Kurt has brought forward a host of new materials and arguments that are of significant interest. Kurt argues that the Privileges or Immunities Clause merely incorporates the Bill of Rights; it does not […]