CategoryDiscourse

This Essay provides analysis and some criticism of the argument that international human rights treaties should focus more on development and welfare and less on basic negative rights. It argues that “welfarist” treaties that completely ignore human rights concerns will in theory harm heterogeneous societies with significant minority populations. In focusing only on development goals—for example...

The case of Bush v. Gore stands out as the seminal decision that decided the disputed presidential election of 2000. For legal researchers, it was a herald of a different sort. With the citation in the per curiam opinion to an online newspaper article, Bush v. Gore fired the first salvo in the death of twentieth-century authority. While courts in the past relied on a select group of print...

On December 9, 2009, the Knesset voted to advance legislation requiring that the handover of any land under the administrative and judicial authority of the State of Israel pass a national referendum. The legislation—termed the Golan Heights and Jerusalem Referendum Bill—passed its first reading by a margin of sixty-eight to twenty-two (with one abstention). It now returns to committee for...

An irony of American free speech law is that it provides more protection for ranting on a street corner than speaking out at a public meeting. This is partly a quirk of the United States Supreme Court’s complicated First Amendment jurisprudence and partly a recognition that such meetings are venues for administrative business and not just citizen engagement. And yet all across the country, city...

For much of the twentieth century, corporations pursued a simple strategy: maximize shareholder wealth. This strategy led to significant gains for shareholders, but too often came at the expense of the public. This dynamic was on display in the past two years, as high-risk financial instruments brought down the global economy. These instruments, including credit default swaps and mortgage-backed...

A response to Getting the Framers Wrong: A Response to Professor Geoffrey Stone Professor Samuel Calhoun insists that my thesis is “wrong,” that I “overstate” the evidence, present “a misleading view,” “distort” the authorities, argue by “assertion,” offer “no convincing corroborating evidence,” “mislead my readers,” and defend a “historically indefensible” position. In short, Professor Calhoun...

A response to The World of the Framers – A Christian Nation? Professor Geoffrey Stone’s Essay, The World of the Framers: A Christian Nation?, seeks to state “the truth about . . . what [the Framers] believed, and about what they aspired to when they created this nation.” Doing so will accomplish Professor Stone’s main objective, helping us to understand what “the Constitution allows” on a host of...

A response to Muneer I. Ahmad, Interpreting Communities: Lawyering Across Language Difference, 54 UCLA L. Rev. 999 (2007).

On April 16, 2008, the author received the UCLA School of Law’s Rutter Award for Excellence in Teaching. This Essay consists of a revised and extended version of the remarks he gave on that occasion. In it, he addresses both his progression from frustrated Socratic teacher to happy lecturer and his aspirations for incorporating new technologies into his teaching. He also reflects on the subject...

A response to Priceless? The Economic Costs of Credit Card Merchant Restraints In Priceless?: The Economic Costs of Credit Card Merchant Restraints, Adam Levitin argues that credit card systems violate the U.S. antitrust laws by prohibiting merchants from surcharging credit card transactions and refusing to accept high-priced reward cards. If merchants could engage in these practices, he...