Oct

7

Searching for Negative Space in the Constitution

Posted by: Edward A. Fallone | October 7, 2009 | 3 Comments

Some people dislike the game of soccer.  They observe the players running around on the field and it all seems like random chaos.  Soccer aficionados, however, are not focusing on the players.  They are watching the spaces in between the players.  These empty spaces ebb and flow, like waves in the ocean, creating momentary opportunities [...]

Sep

20

A Republican Form of Government

Posted by: Edward A. Fallone | September 20, 2009 | 2 Comments

On September 17, I participated in the Constitution Day program at the Law School.  All of the presenters were asked to discuss one part of the United States Constitution that is often overlooked.  My choice was the “republican form of government” clause, Article IV Section 4, which reads as follows: “The United States shall guarantee [...]

Sep

17

A Good Crisis and an Opportunity: The Lessons of Catholic Social Teaching

Posted by: Richard M. Esenberg | September 17, 2009 | 7 Comments

In conjunction with some papers that I am completing, I have been thinking a lot about the Catholic notion of subsidiarity and what how it may inform our thinking about proposed expansions of the state in response to various “crises,” e.g., the financial seizure, global warming and perceived flaws in the delivery of health care.
Subsidiarity [...]

Feb

26

McCormick on the Persistence of Ex Parte Young

Posted by: Paul M. Secunda | February 26, 2009 | Leave a Comment

The faculty at Marquette Law School welcomed Professor Marcia McCormick of the Samford University’s Cumberland School of Law to a faculty workshop this past Tuesday.  Professor McCormick, who focuses on the law of federal courts and employment discrimination, among other areas, discussed her new paper on the persistence of the case of Ex Parte Young [...]

Jan

26

Health Care Magnet?

Posted by: Richard M. Esenberg | January 26, 2009 | 1 Comment

Last January, I published a piece in WI Interest, the journal of the Wisconsin Public Policy Research Institute, arguing that the drafters of Healthy Wisconsin — or any similar program purporting to enact a universal entitlement to health care in a single state — could not constitutionally impose a residency requirement, creating the risk of [...]

Dec

29

Hills on Local Democracy and ERISA Preemption

Posted by: Paul M. Secunda | December 29, 2008 | Leave a Comment

Rick Hills (NYU), one of the more thought-provoking and provocative thinkers over at PrawfsBlawg, has an interesting post on the interaction between the democratic process and the law of ERISA preemption.
His post takes off from the recent ERISA preemption case of Golden Gate Restaurant Association, in which the Ninth Circuit recently held that a [...]

Nov

14

Laboratories of Democracy at the Local Level

Posted by: Michael M. O'Hear | November 14, 2008 | Leave a Comment

Matt Parlow has a thought-provoking new article in print: Progressive Policy-Making on the Local Level: Rethinking Traditional Notions of Federalism, 17 Temp. Pol. & Civ. Rts. L. Rev. 371 (2008).  (A draft can be downloaded here.)  Matt contends that the oft-quoted argument of Justice Brandeis (pictured to the left) that states may appropriately serve as laboraties for “novel social and economic [...]

Oct

25

Seventh Circuit Week in Review (With a Brief Digression on Criminal Justice Federalism)

Posted by: Michael M. O'Hear | October 25, 2008 | Leave a Comment

The Seventh Circuit issued only one new criminal opinion in the past week.  In United States v. Robinson, the defendant’s ex-girlfriend (Evans) reported to a Milwaukee police officer that Robinson had a gun in his home, a charge that was later confirmed after the officer obtained a warrant to search Robinson’s residence.  Robinson was then convicted in federal [...]

Sep

21

Protecting Workers in a Federal System

Posted by: Michael M. O'Hear | September 21, 2008 | 1 Comment

Paul Secunda has a new pair of working papers on SSRN, entitled “The Ironic Necessity for State Protection of Workers” and “More of Less: The Limits of Minimalism and Self-Regulation.”  These are his opening and closing statements in a debate with Jeffrey Hirsch for PENNumbra.  Paul takes the position that the federal government is doing a poor [...]