Logan on Contingent Constitutionalism

Wayne Logan (Florida State) has published Contingent Constitutionalism: State and Local Criminal Laws and the Applicability of Federal Constitutional Rights at The Legal Workshop. An excerpt:

Although federal constitutional law nominally serves as the nation’s connecting sinew, its application, as this Article makes clear, hinges on state and local legal norms, which are highly variable and create a functionally irregular rights regime.  Police authority to search and seize individuals, regulated by the Fourth Amendment, for instance, hinges on state and local decisions to criminalize particular acts or omissions, which can be variously defined.  Consequently, one’s Fourth Amendment freedom from search and seizure in California differs from that enjoyed in Florida, Texas, Maine, and the Dakotas.  It also differs within states themselves, as a result of the significant criminal lawmaking authority of local governments.