Comments for Constitutional Law

Comment on Two Ways to Be Bound by 12 axes

12 axes — Fri, 30 Oct 2026 02:01:00 +0000

The distinction between formalism of authority and formalism of method is really clarifying, especially as a way to explain why textualism now seems to produce as much leeway as the purposivism it replaced. It makes sense that Scalia could assume the two would always point the same way until cases started pulling them apart. I run 12 axes, a free political values test, and I find it useful when a single label turns out to hide two separate commitments.

Comment on The War on Drugs as a Constitutional Failure by Fusionism and its Limits – Business Review America

Fusionism and its Limits – Business Review America — Thu, 15 Oct 2026 01:36:15 +0000

[…] administration most exemplified fusionism – promoted a major expansion of the War on Drugs, a federal policy that massively curtails liberty by killing or imprisoning hundreds of thousands peo… merely because they have used, possessed, or distributed substances the government considers too […]

Comment on The Paranoid “Fringe” in American Politics by Rick Perlstein

Rick Perlstein — Thu, 17 Sep 2026 17:43:02 +0000

I was very grateful to stumble upon this searching for an article of mine for the endnotes to my next book. Thank you. It is so gratifying to learn one has an influence.

Comment on Star Wars, Science Fiction and the Constitution by Lordyam

Lordyam — Sun, 09 Aug 2026 03:29:04 +0000

Lucas does have paternalistic ideas but saying that Leia is in charge of the rebels is a bit…..simplistic. It’s a coalition from what we can tell. Moreover, Lucas also acknowledges that power corrupts so when looked at in full it’s “It would be nice if one person could handle all that power without being corrupted but that’s wishful thinking.” He has also spoken positively about democracy in 2012

Comment on The War on Drugs as a Constitutional Failure by The Fatal Contradiction at the Heart of Socialist Prison Abolition – Smart Investment Today

Tue, 21 Jul 2026 15:04:21 +0000

[…] Nozick famously called them) that socialists want to ban. This problem is an additional reason to get rid of the War on Drugs, which accounts for much of our current mass incarceration. About 43% of federal prison inmates and […]

Comment on The War on Drugs as a Constitutional Failure by Contradictions of Socialist Prison Abolitionism – iftttwall

Contradictions of Socialist Prison Abolitionism – iftttwall — Mon, 20 Jul 2026 22:27:02 +0000

[…] called them) that socialists want to ban. I would add that this problem is an additional reason to get rid of the War on Drugs, which accounts for much our current mass incarceration. About 43% of federal prison inmates and […]

Comment on Federalism, Originalism, and Immigration by My New Jotwell Review of Anna Law’s Book “Migration and the Origins of American Citizenship” – iftttwall

Fri, 17 Jul 2026 17:01:32 +0000

[…] the Jotwell website (to which I am a regular contributor) published my review of Anna Law’s important new book Migration and the Origins of American Citizenship: African […]

Comment on Criminal Fines and the New Debt Peonage for Poor Fathers by Steve Landreth

Steve Landreth — Mon, 22 Jun 2026 05:49:09 +0000

The whole “Child Support” system is rigged in the name of children. The question is … who’s children.
Our 13 th amendment was thrown out the window. Where does all these fines go ? Inevitability, in the pockets of local
“Authorities” , judges and lawyers. There are no watch dogs guarding the hen house. Like they told me .. “we can do whatever we want.”

Comment on Doctrine by the Numbers by ‘Doctrine by the Numbers’ | Private Law Theory - Obligations, Property, Legal Theory

Sat, 23 May 2026 06:35:17 +0000

[…] Lewis Graham, ‘Interpreting the Interpretive Obligation: Empirical Insights into the Use of Section 3 of the Human Rights Act 1998’, Oxford Journal of Legal Studies (14 March 2026). It is not difficult to think of constitutional rules that are criticized, defended, or often both, on normative grounds that are more or less fact-free – not for what they actually are, but for what their critics or defenders believe they are or ought to be. In the United States, the Citizens United decision comes to mind. In the United Kingdom, Lewis Graham argues, a similar fate has befallen section 3 of the Human Rights Act 1998 (‘HRA’), which provides that ‘[s]o far as it is possible to do so, primary legislation and subordinate legislation must be read and given effect in a way which is compatible with the … rights’ protected by the European Convention on Human Rights … (more) […]

Comment on Robby The Robot vs. The Little Platoons by Pat Gudridge

Pat Gudridge — Fri, 24 Apr 2026 14:20:25 +0000

This is a test. Are all your writers as wonderfully smart as Paul H? Do you treat him as the treasure he is?

Is it possible to search across the universe of jots, across all jots on all topics? Your accumulation is a corpus of sorts that might be sorted in revealing and thoughtful ways. If you are worried about the larger world doing whatever it might want with your conjunctions you could restrict access to editors, authors, and UM folks however defined.