[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1ffBXm7kJkk[/youtube] A wonderful song at all times, and especially around Independence Day, especially this year. “The Battle Cry of Freedom” was written during the Civil War, and sung by Union troops going into battle. This video pays tribute to Ulysses Grant, the General most responsible for winning the war for the Union. Elected President of […]
Archive | Fourteenth Amendment
“Justice Souter’s Bad Constitutional History”
By Jonathan H. Adler on June 14, 2010 8:23 pm in Constitutional History, Constitutional Law, Fourteenth Amendment, Racial Discrimination, Supreme Court
Last month, retired Justice David Souter delivered the commencement address at Harvard. His speech was a veiled challenge to proponents of originalism. Some commentators, such as Washington Post columnist E.J. Dionne, Slate‘s Dahlia Lithwick, and TalkLeft’s Big Tent Democrat were impressed. Others, not so much. In today’s WSJ, Northwestern University’s John McGinnis and USD’s Michael […]
Advice to Rand Paul re: Civil Rights Act of 1964
By Randy Barnett on May 21, 2010 2:24 pm in Civil Rights, Constitutional History, Fourteenth Amendment, Originalism
Read David Bernstein’s excellent blog post. Unfortunately, because the title of David’s post referred to Bruce Bartlett and not Rand Paul, some seeking a “libertarian” take on this issue may overlook his analysis. To David’s libertarian analysis I would add the following considerations pertaining to the original meaning of the Constitution: (1) The problem of […]
Kurt Lash on Privileges or Immunities
Part 2 of 3-part series. This installment, “The Origins of the Privileges or Immunities Clause, Part II: John Bingham’s Epiphany,” has a very detailed analysis of changes in the drafts of the 14th Amendment. Lash argues that the drafting history shows that the Fourteenth Amendment was intended to protect every part of Amendments I through […]
Destroying the Constitution’s Structure is not Constitutional
By David Kopel on April 2, 2010 3:38 am in Constitutional History, Constitutional Theory, Federalism, Fourteenth Amendment, Health Care, Militia, Taxes
Thus far, the argument among law professors over the constitutionality of Obamacare has been well represented by scholars who have made pro and con arguments over particular clauses in the constitution, such as the interstate commerce clause, or the tax power. In this post, I would like to examine an insight by Jonathan Turley, which […]
A Message from/to Rick Hills
By Randy Barnett on March 28, 2010 7:18 pm in Commerce Clause, Constitutional Theory, Federalism, Fourteenth Amendment
I thought Volokh readers might enjoy an email exchange I had earlier today with NYU lawprof Roderick Hills earlier: Hi Randy — I thought I’d send along a recent blog post at Prawsblog that gives you, Cato, Ilya, etc some flak in a good-natured way. (Brian Galle also has a post on health care federalism […]
Married Women’s Property Rights and the Privileges or Immunities Clause
In the McDonald oral argument, Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg implied that an originalist approach to the Privileges or Immunities Clause might justify protecting property rights for men, but not for married women. She claimed that “a large portion of the population at that time [1868] didn’t have those rights” and asked McDonald’s counsel Alan Gura […]
Hamburger’s “Rough Draft” on Privileges or Immunities
By Randy Barnett on February 27, 2010 1:52 am in Constitutional History, Fourteenth Amendment, McDonald v. City of Chicago, Supreme Court, Uncategorized
As Jim Lindgren has noted, on the eve of the argument in McDonald v. Chicago, Philip Hamburger has posted on SSRN what is labeled a “rough draft” of a new paper entitled, Privileges or Immunities. This timing is unfortunate. Given that this is a serious work of scholarship by a serious scholar, it demands serious […]
Federalism and the Akaka Bill
The House of Representatives recently passed the Akaka bill, H.R. 2314, which would give native Hawaiians the power to establish a new “tribal” government modeled on that of Indian tribes. Most of the debate over the bill has focused on the racial aspect, since it apparently seeks to create a government entity under the exclusive […]
Goodwin Liu on the Second Amendment
By David Kopel on February 25, 2010 8:58 pm in Congress, Constitutional Theory, Fourteenth Amendment, Guns, Judicial Nominations, Legal Professor
Boalt Hall Associate Dean Goodwin H. Liu has been nominated to serve on the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals. Some readers and Senators may be interested in his viewpoint on Second Amendment and other constitutional issues related to firearms policy. So here’s an excerpt from his article Separation Anxiety: Congress, The Courts, And The Constitution, 91 Georgetown Law […]
Whence Comes Section One? (Second Notice)
By Randy Barnett on January 26, 2010 2:42 pm in Civil Rights, Constitutional Theory, Fourteenth Amendment, History, Originalism
Last week, when I posted a link to my new article, Whence Comes Section One? The Abolitionist Origins of the Fourteenth Amendment, I received several messages telling me that SSRN was inaccessible. Presumably, it is working now, so if you were unable to download it, you should try again. Here is the link, and here […]
Cardozo Law Rev. symposium on McDonald v. Chicago
Cardozo De Novo, the online companion to the Carodozo Law Review, has a symposium issue on firearms law and policy, with a focus on McDonald v. Chicago. Articles include The Second Amendment in the Living Constitution, by me; a critique of the Stevens dissent in Heller, by David Hardy; and a proposal by Michael Anthony […]
Privileges or Immunities Extravaganza
By David Kopel on December 21, 2009 3:45 pm in Constitutional History, Constitutional Theory, Fourteenth Amendment, Guns, Supreme Court
On March 2, the Supreme Court will hear oral argument in McDonald v. Chicago, a challenge to the handgun bans in Chicago and Oak Park. The Question Presented by the Court asked if the bans should be considered unconstitutional under the Fourteenth Amendment’s Due Process clause, or under the Privileges or Immunities clause. There’s been […]
The Right to Arms in the Living Constitution
By David Kopel on December 19, 2009 1:55 pm in Congress, Constitutional History, Fourteenth Amendment, Guns, Popular Culture, Registration, Supreme Court
That’s the topic of my new article, for a forthcoming issue of Cardozo Law Review de Novo (the on-line supplement to Cardozo’s printed journal). The article will be part of a symposium issue on McDonald v. Chicago. Here’s the abstract for my Cardozo article: This Article presents a brief history of the Second Amendment as […]
Stephen Halbrook Christmas Special
By David Kopel on December 17, 2009 6:34 pm in Constitutional History, Criminal Law, Fourteenth Amendment, Guns, Supreme Court
A fifty-three minute podcast interview with Stephen Halbrook. Over the last three decades, Halbrook has been the greatest legal champion of Second Amendment rights. As a scholar, as an attorney (with a 3-0 record in the Supreme Court), and as a public advocate, Halbrook has done tremendous work in saving the Second Amendment from nullification, and in putting the […]