16885 research outputs found
Sort by
An Interview with J. R. Zepkin
Get PDFBut it\u27s [being a judge] not anywhere near the satisfaction of teaching and seeing these folks getting the material and taking the bar exam and passing and going out. I mean, it\u27s one of those gifts that keeps giving as you see them being successful out there. -- J. R. Zepkin
------------------------------------
J.R. Zepkin was interviewed on February 22, 2024 in the production studio of William & Mary’s Media Center. He describes moving from Newport News, VA to undergrad at Duke University before switching to William & Mary to pursue law. Zepkin describes the facilities, faculty, and small student body at the law school in the 1960s. He discusses the Williamsburg bar and practicing after graduation. Zepkin then reflects on his time as a judge before turning to his teaching career and the changes in the law school and its community through the years.https://scholarship.law.wm.edu/oralhist_all/1011/thumbnail.jp
Summer Reading
Get PDFOn display in the Wolf Law Library June - August 2024.https://scholarship.law.wm.edu/libdisplays/1008/thumbnail.jp
Memory, Resistance, and Doubt
Get PDFThe Burroughs Court did not identify any enumerated power that warranted the Corrupt Practices Act, I suggest, because the Burroughs Court did not subscribe to the enumeration principle. The Justices did not believe—or at least, did not consistently believe— that every federal law must be grounded in some enumerated power. As I have explained at length elsewhere, the text of the Constitution does not actually prescribe the enumeration principle: it can be read to support that idea, but it need not be. And at various moments in American constitutional history, judges and other people have taken the view that Congress has non-enumerated powers as well as enumerated ones.
In a way, this potential explanation is the most straightforward of all possible explanations. The Court did not identify an enumerated power because it did not think it was required to. So it is worth thinking about why twenty-first century lawyers would be unlikely to proffer that explanation—and indeed, likely to resist it when offered.
This abstract was taken from Part I of the article
Reproductive Injustice, Feminist Resistance, and the Uses of History in Constitutional Interpretation
Get PDFPart I examines the erasure of constitutional memory about reproductive injustice and feminist mobilizations and the benefits of recovering these histories. Part II explores how cases involving women’s subordination provide particularly effective illustrations of the anti-democratic, even absurd, results the current supermajority’s approach to history-and-tradition is designed to produce. Part III concludes with a brief discussion of some sites for the expansion of constitutional memory about reproductive control and freedom.
This abstract has been taken from the author\u27s introduction
Follow the Bloody Brick Road: Bleeding Kansas and the Emancipation Proclamation
Get PDFTo help illuminate Balkin’s project of Memory and Authority, this brief Essay considers a slice of American memory from Kansas’ historical archives and other primary sources, and examines its unique role in the Civil War. Specifically, it excavates the influence of Kansas’ leaders as advisors to President Abraham Lincoln. Prior to and during the Civil War, Lincoln relied upon the guidance of senior leaders from Kansas on matters ranging from guarding the White House, war strategies, the recruitment of former enslaved persons to the war effort, and the issuance of the Emancipation Proclamation as a part of an effective war mobilization campaign. This process of examining these tensions—idealism and realism—through first-person narrative further unmasks interferences and obstacles to fulfilling fundamental constitutional aspirations, such as the compromises and conflicts that gave rise to the Civil War.
This Essay proceeds in three Parts. Part I excavates the memory of Isaac Goodnow, one of the founders of Manhattan, Kansas, and Kansas State University, and his relationship with Lincoln. It contextualizes the bond between Goodnow and Lincoln within the historical era referred to as “Bleeding Kansas” or “Bloody Kansas.” Bleeding Kansas describes years of bloodshed resulting from violent conflicts between warring anti-slavery and pro-slavery factions within Kansas and at the Kansas-Missouri border. Part II discusses the memory of Senator James Lane, the first Kansas Senator, and Lincoln’s reliance on Lane’s counsel during the Civil War. Part III explores historical records and memories of Lincoln and Kansas, and the Emancipation Proclamation.
This abstract has been taken from the author\u27s introduction
Masking Identity at Public Protests
No full textAs masks have become increasingly popular at public protests, government officials, college administrators and law enforcement are struggling with how to handle masked protesters who evade responsibility for violence and intimidation. While some wear masks to safely engage in anonymous speech, others wear them to avoid accountability for violence and intimidation.
This Article will explore these issues to assist those seeking to enact constitutionally valid mask policies. To situate today’s mask regulation challenges in the context of American history, Part I reviews events that led to enactment of anti-mask laws many years ago. Part II explains when the First Amendment protects the right to wear a mask in public and when such permission may be lawfully abridged. The section explains the importance of analyzing whether wearing a mask in public is sufficiently expressive to merit First Amendment protection. When it is, the next challenge is to identify the constitutional standard for reviewing government action that impacts this kind of symbolic speech. Part III reviews judicial precedent on the constitutionality of mask legislation, identifies state interests that may justify regulating masks, and explains why some anti-masking laws were upheld while others were found unconstitutional. Drawing from history and precedent, the Conclusion sets forth a framework for civic leaders seeking to enact constitutional masking policies and legislation that protect anonymous speech while keeping citizens safe and holding unlawful actors accountable.
This abstract has been taken from the author\u27s introductory paragraphs
Center for Legal Aid and Regional Development in Pristina, Kosovo
No full textKatie Smart [1L] will contribute to CLARD’s work facilitating legal assistance for marginalized groups while advocating for and promoting just legal systems that improve their economic and social lives