The Catholic University of America Columbus School of Law
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A Bibliography of Faculty Scholarship
Full text linkThe purpose of this bibliography is to record in one place the substantial body of scholarship produced by the current faculty at the Catholic University, Columbus School of Law. From its humble beginnings under the tutelage of founding Dean William Callyhan Robinson, through its adolescent period when, like so many other American law schools, it was trying to define its pedagogical niche, to its eventual merger with the Columbus University Law School in 1954, the law school at Catholic University has always retained a scholarly and remarkably productive faculty. The sheer quantity of writing, the breadth of research and the impressive list of law journals that include our faculty among their authors are exemplary. The publishing houses which regularly engage our faculty as authors are likewise impressive. One can certainly appreciate why the Columbus School of Law has been, and continues to be, a leader among law schools in scholarly research and writing
Judicial Clerkship Opinion Writing Conference
No full textThe Catholic University of America Columbus School of Law (Catholic Law) proudly hosted its fifth annual Judicial Clerkship Opinion Writing Conference from February 20-22, 2025. This prestigious event brought together distinguished judges and rising judicial law clerks from across the nation to explore the intricacies of crafting well-reasoned judicial opinions.
After reviewing a large number of competitive applications, 35 rising judicial law clerks were selected to participate in this year’s program. These clerks, who will soon begin their roles in the chambers of federal circuit courts, federal district courts, or state appellate courts, gained invaluable insights from the conference’s unique mentorship opportunities with sitting judges. The program provided a rare chance to analyze and master the skills needed to write thoughtful and effective legal decisions
Staffer: Life On, Off, and After Capitol Hill
No full textCatholic Law\u27s Law and Public Policy (LPP) Program recently hosted an engaging discussion titled Staffer: Life On, Off, and After Capitol Hill. The event featured LPP Director Brian Svoboda in conversation with Jim Papa, a partner at the Global Strategy Group in Washington, D.C. With a wealth of experience in both public service and the private sector, Papa shared insights from his career, which included serving as a special assistant in the Obama White House and as a senior advisor to House Democratic Caucus Chair Rahm Emanuel
The Analytical Compass: A Study of State Voter Identification Requirements and Combatting Election Fraud
No full textCatholic Law\u27s Student Scholars Series presented its first installment on January 27 with a presentation by Abby DiOrio (3L). Her scholarship, entitled The Analytical Compass: A Study of State Voter Identification Requirements and Combatting Election Fraud, examined laws governing photo-ID mandates and the presence of additional statutes encumbering access to the ballot box. Troy McCurry, Esq., Director of Government Relations Compliance at The Pew Charitable Trusts, provided the response to DiOrio\u27s presentation.
In her abstract, DiOrio analyzes states in the 5th and 9th Circuit and their efforts to prevent voter fraud. The Note emphasizes the exponential gravity of voter laws as elections become increasingly polarized, narrow, and controversial. With this magnitude in mind, “The Analytical Compass,” synthesizes key traits: (1) photo identification stringency, (2) additional voting obstacles, and (3) election-related convictions. The Analytical Compass reflects a linear regression, modeling a strong relation between stringent ID requirements and presence of other regulatory obstacles. However, it also depicts a consistent ratio of election fraud convictions, despite the varying severity of each state law. This suggests that harsher voting laws are not necessarily more successful in preventing voter fraud.
The Columbus School of Law Student Scholars Series was instituted in 2009 to recognize notable legal scholarship produced by members of the student body during the academic year and to foster the skills associated with presenting and defending that scholarship in a professional conference-style setting
Informing Choice: The Role of Adoption in Women’s Pregnancy Decision-Making
Full text linkIn the wake of the Supreme Court’s opinion in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization, the authors of this Article offer a practical, collaborative response to a seemingly intractable, divisive issue. Kirk and Hanlon draw on their academic expertise in law and social science, respectively, to address the paradox of the general esteem for the institution of adoption alongside the rarity with which adoption is chosen. In this Article, they examine social science data and literature on women’s pregnancy decision-making in order to explain the need for laws and policies that promote informed choice. They introduce never-before-published survey data and analysis from the largest study on birth mothers’ decision-making and coercion experiences and aggregate and analyze existing social science studies of pregnancy decision-making regarding adoption. Finally, they conducted a comprehensive fifty-state survey of abortion-specific informed consent laws and propose a reform, consistent with the principles of autonomy and self-determination, recommending that states require disclosure of information about adoption so that women receive accurate and sufficient information in order to make a fully informed, free decision
The Final Frontier of Federal Power: Understanding, Defining, and Enforcing “Necessary and Proper” to Enhance the General Welfare and Limit Federal Power
Full text linkThis comment explores the long and inconsistent history of the Necessary and Proper Clause and its unique role as both a grant of power to Congress and a limit on the outer reach of the federal government. The federal government is in theory one of limited powers; however, this promise of the Constitution cannot be truly recognized without developing a robust framework for applying the Necessary and Proper Clause as a reliable source of federal power. After establishing the need for a framework, this comment provides five judicial decision rules that can be applied by trial and appellate courts to further the development of case law in this novel approach to the Necessary and Proper Clause
The Human Dimension of Home
Full text linkAll societies provide a legal framework that protects the pivotal functions of home and family. None provide a clear legal definition of “home”. Nor, this article argues, can they. “Home” is a concept rooted in the lived experience of human persons. In this article, the second in a series, the author employs the “human dimension” [HDIM] concept, initially developed by the U.S. military and later adopted by the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe, as the lens through which one can examine the “human element” of human rights. The framework for this analysis is the “four clusters of value-types” described by Professor Lorna Fox O’Mahoney: home as a physical structure, home as a center for self-identity, home as a social and cultural unit, and home as a territory. It concludes by observing that unpacking the concept of “home” is the logical starting point for a much broader effort to examine the “human dimension” of human rights law and policy in general
The Limits of Tradition: \u3ci\u3eCounterman\u3c/i\u3e, True Threats, and the Categorical Approach to Free Speech
Full text linkTradition is in vogue.[1] Across a wide variety of areas, the Supreme Court has embraced “history and tradition” as its primary methodology for determining the meaning of constitutional provisions.[2] Recently the Court has even suggested that a restriction on the use of names in trademarks could rest entirely on its traditional status,[3] but nowhere has this move toward tradition been as robust or longstanding as in the speech context. Since the 1940s, the Supreme Court has invoked tradition to defend content-based or categorical restrictions, and more recently, it has purported to rely exclusively on tradition.[4] The language The Court has used to the Supreme Court uses to describe its reliance on tradition as a justification for categorically prescribing some forms of expression is unequivocal: “From 1791 to the present . . . [w]e have recognized that ‘the freedom of speech’ referred to by the First Amendment does not include a freedom to disregard these traditional limitations.”[5]
[1] See Marc O. DeGirolami, Something Other Than Originalism Explains This Supreme Court, N.Y. Times (Mar. 29, 2024), https://www.nytimes.com/2024/03/29/opinion/supreme-court-originalism-tradition.html [https://perma.cc/66A4-E26R].
[2] See id; see generally N.Y. Pistol & Rifle Ass’n v. Bruen, 597 U.S. 1, 17 (2022) (holding that a history and tradition methodology would be utilized in Second Amendment cases); Mallory v. Norfolk Southern Ry., 600 U.S. 122, 140 (2023) (holding that traditional methods of establishing personal jurisdiction are not displaced by the minimum contacts framework); Vidal v. Elster, 602 U.S. 286, 301 (2024) (holding that “history and tradition is sufficient to conclude that the names clause—a content-based, but viewpoint-neutral, trademark restriction—is compatible with the First Amendment.”).
[3] Vidal, 602 U.S. at 301.
[4] Chaplinsky v. New Hampshire, 315 U.S. 568, 571-73 (1942); United States v. Stevens, 559 U.S. 460, 468 (2010).
[5] R.A.V. v. City of St. Paul, 505 U.S. 377, 382-83 (1992) (quoting Roth v. United States, 354 U.S. 476 (1957))
What Mother Teresa Taught Me About Life and Being a Lawyer
No full textOn September 17, Catholic Law welcomed Jim Towey, Founder and CEO of Aging with Dignity, for an insightful Faith-in-Action discussion. The Faith-in-Action lecture series is an initiative of Catholic Law’s Center for Law and the Human Person. It is designed to offer students living examples of lawyers who witness to their faith through their vocation to law.
In his lecture, What Mother Teresa Taught Me About Life and Being a Lawyer, Towey shared lessons from his time as a trusted legal advisor to St. Teresa of Calcutta.
Jim Towey was legal counsel and close advisor to Mother Teresa of Calcutta for 12 years and did the first reading at her Mass of Canonization in St. Peter’s Square. He has been pro bono legal counsel to the Missionaries of Charity for 40 years. He previously headed the White House Office of Faith-Based and Community Initiatives under George W. Bush for four years and served on his senior staff