John Mikhail: Emoluments and President Trump
Michael Ramsey
John Mikhail (Georgetown University Law Center) has posted The 2018 Seegers Lecture: Emoluments and President Trump (Valparaiso University Law Review, forthcoming) (56 pages) on SSRN. Here is the abstract: The topic for my 2018 Seegers Lecture at Valparaiso University Law School was the original meaning of “emolument” and its implications for President Trump. In this […]
Abandoning Originalism Wouldn’t Be Very Conservative
Mike Rappaport
In recent years, a number of conservative legal scholars have expressed skepticism about modern originalism. The idea is that modern originalism has been greatly influenced by libertarians and even liberals such that it is no longer congenial to traditional conservatism. Jesse Merriam’s Liberty Forum essay is in part an example of this view. Those who hold […]
Adam Carrington on Scalia’s Influence
Michael Ramsey
At the American Spectator, Adam Carrington (Hillsdale College, Politics): Reading Law: Justice Scalia’s Other Legacy. From the introduction: Since his death in February of 2016, Scalia’s influence of course continues through his three decades of judicial opinions. But he still exerts great influence in another, less-discussed way. In 2012, he co-authored the book Reading Law: The […]
John McGinnis Responds to Jesse Merriam on Conservatism and Originalism
Michael Ramsey
At Law & Liberty, John O. McGinnis: Originalism, the U.S. Constitution, and the Continuity of Fusionism (responding to Is Legal Conservatism as Accomplished as It Thinks It Is? by Jesse Merriam). Here is the introduction: Jesse Merriam has written a bracing, well-argued, and contrarian Liberty Forum essay, contending that conservatives should not celebrate the rise of the […]
Neal Goldfarb on Corpus Linguistics and “Bear Arms”
Michael Ramsey
At LAWnLinguistics, Neal Goldfarb: Corpora and the Second Amendment: “bear arms” (part 3). From the introduction: As I’ve previously explained, the court held in Heller that at the time of the Framing, bear arms ordinarily meant ‘wear, bear, or carry … upon the person or in the clothing or in a pocket, for the purpose of being armed and ready for offensive […]
Mark Pulliam Responds to George Will
Michael Ramsey
At Law and Liberty, Mark Pulliam, George Will’s Libertarian Turn. From the introduction: As flattered as I was to attract George Will’s attention—in his 4th of July column, no less—being criticized by a Pulitzer Prize-winning essayist left me somewhat perplexed, for several reasons. Allow me to explain. First, although I have engaged Will directly in the past, he […]
Michael Greve on Originalism and Conservatism
Michael Ramsey
At Law and Liberty, Michael Greve: Originalism: A Unitarian Church for the Legal Profession? (commenting on Jesse Merriam, Is Legal Conservatism as Accomplished as It Thinks It Is?). An excerpt: Concerns about accomplishments [of legal conservatism] and potential problems on the horizon begin with the question of what the program of “legal conservatism” actually is. […]
Why the Word “Expressly” was Omitted From the Tenth Amendment
Andrew Hyman
Professor Kurt Lash recently wrote a blog post titled, On the Omission of the Term ‘Expressly’ from the Tenth Amendment. My co-bloggers Michael Ramsey and Mike Rappaport replied here and here respectively. I would like to add a few thoughts. The particular reason why the word “expressly” was omitted from the Tenth Amendment is […]
Judges Thapar and Stranch on Corpus Linguistics
Michael Ramsey
In Wilson v. Safelite Group, Inc., decided yesterday, Sixth Circuit judges Amar Thapar and Jane Stranch debated the use of corpus linguistics. (The issue was whether the company's retirement plan qualified as an employee pension benefit plan under ERISA, which turned on whether it was a plan that "results in a deferral of income by […]
Lash on the Tenth Amendment
Mike Rappaport
Kurt Lash has an interesting post up, based on his earlier law review article, arguing that the 10th Amendment should be understood to protect against inferring federal powers that are not expressly delegated to the federal government. The language of the 10th Amendment provides that “The powers not delegated to the United States by the […]