During their first year of law school, students are taught some eternal verities. One of them is that America’s federal system consists of fifty states, each governed only by its own law and not by the law of any other state. Overlying this state law tapestry is a system of… Read More »
What is environmental law? When we describe a factual pattern, case, or rule as arising within environmental law, what associations do we mean to convey by that designation? What, if anything, unifies environmental law? Is environmental law a legal field, or just an amalgamation of laws arranged under a general… Read More »
Is it constitutional for a state to issue a “Say Yes to Jesus” automobile license plate? May it refuse to issue an “Aryan Nation” license plate? May it deny a “pro-choice” license plate when it has allowed a “pro-life” one? Under current free speech jurisprudence, the answer depends on whether… Read More »
This Article is about consistency in adjudication. I explore why consistency matters, what its determinants are, and whether it can be substantially achieved at a price that is worth paying.
This Article is also about the United States asylum adjudication system. Asylum challenges the national conscience in distinctive ways. It… Read More »
For the last several decades, the primary divide in American constitutional theory has been between those theorists who label themselves as originalists and those who do not. It is widely understood that the side that does not embrace originalism is populated by proponents of a vast array of disparate constitutional… Read More »
For many decades in United States tax policy debate, fundamental tax reform was identified primarily with adopting a comprehensive income tax base. In the last ten or so years, it has increasingly come to denote instead replacing the income tax with a consumption tax. This shift has been as unmistakable… Read More »
Existing uses occupy a special place in property and land use law. A use, once established, is imbued with an expectation that it may continue to exist, even in the face of regulatory change. For example, once built, a building becomes all but immune from subsequently enacted zoning rules. As… Read More »
By allowing the condemnation of private homes to make way for a “more attractive” private development, the U.S. Supreme Court in Kelo v. City of New London roused the fury of the libertarian legal academy and much of the public. In Kelo, the Court held that a plan for private economic… Read More »
In 2008 in United States v. Santos, the Supreme Court addressed the meaning of the term “proceeds” as used in 18 U.S.C. § 1956, part of the Money Laundering Control Act. Efrain Santos and a co-defendant were charged with operating an illegal lottery, which involved payments to runners, collectors, and… Read More »
The Supreme Court’s 1971 decision in Bivens v. Six Unknown Named Agents of Federal Bureau of Narcotics plays a central role in our system of constitutional remedies. Yet critics have long questioned the Bivens Court’s decision to fashion a federal common law right of action to enforce the Fourth Amendment. While… Read More »