Author Archive | Randy Barnett

As she did yesterday, Sotomayor asserted that a right is “fundamental” if it is “incorporated” against the states via the 14th Amendment rather than that a right is incorporated against the states if it is fundamental. She then claimed that Supreme Court precedent established that that the Second Amendment is not incorporated. This too is […]

On The Best of the Web, James Taranto questions the wisdom of the Senate Republicans’ tactic of calling firefighter Frank Ricci as a witness in the Sotomayor hearing: [H]aving a litigant testify against a judge who ruled against him is a political stunt that is likely to come back to haunt Republicans. Stuart Taylor of […]

I have never inspired poetry before but now Gerson Hepner, has posted on the Huffington Post a poem inspired by my Wall Street Journal article, The Seinfeld Hearings. It is called Islands of Rights, Seas of Powers, so I suppose it is actually inspired by Princeton Professor Stephen Macedo who coined that memorable imagery. The […]

On the Federalist Society Online Debate on the Sotomayor hearings (click here and scroll down), my Georgetown Law colleague Mike Seidman–a cofounder and intellectual leader of the Critical Legal Studies movement in the 1980s–is brutally candid in his opinion of Judge Sotomayor’s testimony today: Speaking only for myself (I guess that’s obvious), I was completely […]

I have posted the following on the WashingtonPost.com’s “Topic A” commentary on today’s hearings: One of the things we hope to learn during confirmation hearings is a nominee’s approach to the constitutional protection of liberty. But in her exchange with Sen. Orrin Hatch (R-Utah) about the second amendment and its potential application to the states, […]

Law Professors Allen Rostron and Nancy Levit have posted “Information for Submitting Articles to Law Reviews & Journals” for downloading on SSRN. Here is the Abstract: This document contains information about submitting articles to law reviews and journals, including the methods for submitting an article, any special formatting requirements, how to contact them to request […]

That is the question I addressed in my B. Kenneth Simon Lecture at the Cato Institute last September on Constitution Day. I have now posted the article by the same name that will appear in the Cato Supreme Court Reporter here on SSRN for downloading. Here is the abstract: Ever since Justice Holmes famously asserted […]

Senator Feinstein just referred to Planned Parenthood v. Casey as a “Super Precedent.” Here is a link to my brief Minnesota Law Review essay, “It’s a Bird, It’s a Plane, No, It’s Super-Precedent”

In my Wall Street Journal op-ed today, The Seinfeld Hearings, I urge the Senators to ask her about the meaning of the Constitution, not how she would rule in particular cases. The Journal added a very nice sub-head: “How Senators could, but probably won’t, make the Sotomayor confirmation a show about something.” Here is how […]

This blog post is guaranteed to amuse those of our loyal readers sweating over the bar review course (or your money will be cheerfully refunded).

The Motorhome Diaries visits Lysander Spooner’s grave in Boston. I have to admit I was hoping for visits like this when I helped arrange for the new monument on Spooner’s grave. BOSTON, MA

The New York Times reports that the witness lists for the Democrats and Republicans on the Senate Judiciary Committee have been released and they include 2 VC bloggers. (H/T Josh Blackman via FB). For the Democrats: Mayor Michael Bloomberg of New York; Chuck Canterbury, president of the Fraternal Order of Police; David Cone, former Major […]

The oration by Frederick Douglass (Kevin McIlvaine) today at his home in Anacostia was marvelous. I found out they do not do this every year so I am very glad I took the opportunity to go. I recommend visiting the home and signing up for a free tour in advance. There is ample parking and […]

Tomorrow I am hoping to attend a recreation of Frederick Douglass’s Independence Day oration at his home in Anacostia, DC. FREDERICK DOUGLASS SPEECH Sunday at 1. Reenactor Kevin McIlvaine delivers the speech, originally given by the abolitionist on July 5, 1852, that focused on the failure of the Declaration of Independence to fulfill its promise […]

Over on Legal History Blog, my Georgetown colleague Dan Ernst heralds the publication of The Yale Biographical Dictionary of American Law (Yale Law Library Series in Legal History and Reference) edited by Roger K. Newman. According to the publisher’s description: This book is the first to gather in a single volume concise biographies of the […]