Note: Removing the Judicial Gag Rule: A Proposal for Changing Judicial Speech Regulations to Encourage Public Discussion of Active Cases
By Michael D. Schoepf. Full text here. The judiciary may be the oft-forgotten third-branch of government, but judges still face ample criticism from the media and the public just like their colleagues in the legislative and executive branches. Unlike their colleagues however, judges cannot respond with glossy public relations campaigns because of judicial rules that severely…
Continue ReadingNote: The Gift That Keeps on Taking: How Federal Banking Laws Prevent States from Enforcing Gift Card Laws
By Y. Angela Lam. Full text here. Every year, consumers purchase about $80 billion in gift cards, only to lose $8 billion loaded on those cards because of expiration dates and service fees that deplete the value of the cards. State legislators have tried to protect consumers by passing laws that would prohibit or limit the…
Continue ReadingNote: Gagging on the First Amendment: Assessing Challenges to the Reauthorization Act's Nondisclosure Provision
By Kyle Hawkins. Full text here. In September, 2007, a federal court struck down the nondisclosure provisions of the Electronic Communications Privacy Act (ECPA), which governed the use of national security letters (NSLs). While civil liberties groups praised the decision, the FBI mourned the loss of a crucial tool in its antiterrorism investigations. Indeed, the FBI…
Continue ReadingThe Quiet Revolution Revived: Sustainable Design, Land Use Regulation, and the States
By Sara C. Bronin. Full text here. Thirty-seven years ago, a book called The Quiet Revolution in Land Use Control argued that states would soon take over localities’ long-held power over land use regulation. In the authors’ view, this quiet revolution would occur when policymakers and the public recognized that certain problems—like environmental destruction—were too big…
Continue ReadingGenerous to a Fault? Fair Shares and Charitable Giving
By Miranda Perry Fleischer. Full text here. Charities play a vital role in our society. In addition to enhancing pluralism, they meet many societal needs more efficiently, creatively, and effectively than government alone. Charities aid our poor, teach our youth, improve our health, comfort us spiritually, and enrich our cultural lives. Given the charitable sector’s importance…
Continue ReadingFighting Women: The Military, Sex, and Extrajudicial Constitutional Change
By Jill Elaine Hasday. Full text here. The Supreme Court in Rostker v. Goldberg (1981) upheld male-only military registration, and endorsed male-only conscription and combat positions. Few cases have challenged restrictions on women’s military service since Rostker, and none have reached the Supreme Court. Federal statutes continue to exclude women from military registration and draft eligibility,…
Continue ReadingThe Rules Enabling Act and the Procedural-Substantive Tension: A Lesson in Statutory Interpretation
By Martin H. Redish & Dennis Murashko. Full text here. For more than seven decades since the passage of the Rules Enabling Act, courts and commentators have struggled to define the boundaries of what rules the Supreme Court can and cannot promulgate. We undertake here to explain that lack of success and at the same time…
Continue ReadingEssay: The Constitution in the National Surveillance State
By Jack M. Balkin. Full text here. During the last part of the twentieth century the United States began developing a new form of governance that features the collection, collation, and analysis of information about populations both in the United States and around the world. This new form of governance is the National Surveillance State. In…
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