2014 – Page 58 – Marquette University Law School Faculty Blog

Stare Decisis for Interpretive Methods?

Post author:Bruce E. Boyden
Post published:March 4, 2014
Post category:Judges & Judicial Process Legal Scholarship Public U.S. Supreme Court

Although the Supreme Court decides dozens of cases every year, it has never decided how to decide those cases. That is, the Court has never adopted a governing approach to constitutional interpretation. Instead, the justices seem to bounce from one method to the next, even when considering the same subject matter. What explains this methodological pluralism? Why doesn’t the Court consider itself bound under the doctrine of stare decisis not only to follow the substantive results of earlier constitutional cases, but also the methodological tools it used in getting there?

Chad Oldfather has a new paper on SSRN that explores the answers to these questions, Methodological Pluralism and Constitutional Interpretation. Here is the abstract:

Welcome, March Blogger

Post author:Bruce E. Boyden
Post published:March 3, 2014
Post category:Public

lion Our March guest blogger will be 2L Danielle Nardick. Danielle is originally from Salem, Wisconsin and is interested in business and commercial law.

Third Annual ERISA, Employee Benefits, and Social Insurance National Conference

Post author:Paul M. Secunda
Post published:February 28, 2014
Post category:Labor & Employment Law Marquette Law School Public

This has been a busy semester for the Labor and Employment Law Program at Marquette University Law School. In addition to the Speaker Series I wrote about yesterday, we are also honored to be hosting the Third Annual ERISA, Employee Benefits and Social Insurance National Conference (program at this link) on March 28, 2014 (this follows wonderful ERISA conferences at Washington University Law and Michigan Business the two previous years).

To say we have an embarrassment of riches does not quite capture the remarkable array of papers that are to be presented. When you add a terrific luncheon keynote speaker in the person of Assistant Secretary of Labor for the Employee Benefit Security Administration Phyllis Borzi, the cool factor (even for ERISA) is off the charts.

Panels include papers on ERISA claim and plan issues, the Affordable Care Act and ERISA, the future of public pension plans and other non-ERISA pension plans here and abroad, bankruptcy issues surrounding pensions and other legacy costs, and emerging challenges for social insurance and pension programs.

Should be a great program!