Constitutional Interpretation – Page 30 – Marquette University Law School Faculty Blog

Interstate Travel and Marriage

Post author:Susan Barranco
Post published:January 20, 2011
Post category:Constitutional Interpretation Wisconsin Law & Legal System

As Professor Idleman alerted our Constitutional Law course last year, there’s nothing like the posture of a criminal defendant challenging a law’s constitutionality. Compare Bowers v. Hardwick, 478 U.S. 186 (1986) (plaintiff who was charged but not indicted under Texas’ sodomy laws unsuccessfully sues attorney general in action seeking to declare laws unconstitutional) with Lawrence v. Texas, 539 U.S. 558 (2003) (criminal defendants’ charges expunged when sodomy laws declared unconstitutional). Sure the passage of time had more than a little to do with the diverging outcomes in Bowers and Lawrence — but the criminal defense posture didn’t hurt.

A criminal defendant and a plaintiff encounter necessarily inconsistent judicial receptions. Put simply, the claim of one who faces the cruel stigma of criminality — where his or her prospective jail time flows in part from a voter-initiated constitutional amendment — will receive a more exacting hearing than a civil complaint filed by an unjailed plaintiff, disgruntled on the losing side of that same amendment’s enactment.

Because Lawrence declared unconstitutional all sodomy laws, however, how could a gay American be criminalized?

Most Important Election Law Decision: It’s Not Citizens United

Post author:Richard M. Esenberg
Post published:December 6, 2010
Post category:Constitutional Interpretation Election Law First Amendment

In late October, I had the privilege of speaking at Chapman University’s Nexus Symposium on Citizens United – article to follow. For the four of you that haven’t heard, Citizens United held that corporations may use general treasury funds to finance independent communications that expressly advocate the election or defeat of a candidate – even during times proximate to the election.

The response to Citizens United has been, in my view, overstated.

Erwin Chemerinsky to Speak in Milwaukee December 8

Post author:Edward A. Fallone
Post published:November 29, 2010
Post category:Constitutional Interpretation U.S. Supreme Court

Erwin Chemerinsky — Dean of the University of California, Irvine School of Law and a noted constitutional law scholar — will speak in Milwaukee on December 8 at the Pfister Hotel. The event is sponsored by the Milwaukee Lawyer Chapter of the American Constitution Society (ACS). Doors open at 5 pm.

Dean Chemerinsky is expected to speak on the impact of the Roberts Court and on the future of constitutional law. More information is available at the website of the American Constitution Society: http://www.acslaw.org/node/17692.