Constitutional Law Prof Blog

Check it Out: Robson on Positive Rights in a Pandemic

Check out ConLawProf Blog's own Prof. Ruthann Robson's (CUNY) outstanding and timely piece, Positive Constitutionalism in a Pandemic: Demanding Responsibility from the Trump Administration, in the U. Akron ConLawNOW Symposium on Pandemics and the Constitution.

Robson argues for positive rights to health and life in the current crisis--"a Constitution that protects our survival"--and not just the negative rights under existing doctrine. (But she also notes that the Administration's mis-handling provides plenty of fodder even for negative rights claims.)

Read it!

CFP: Nevada Law Journal on Race, Gender, and Policing

CALL FOR PAPERS

We are pleased to announce a call for papers for a special issue of the Nevada Law Journal on “Race AND Gender AND Policing.”  Guest-edited by the faculty board of UNLV Boyd School of Law’s Program on Race, Gender & Policing, this issue will bring together scholars of Law, Criminology, and related fields for an interdisciplinary conversation centered on the simultaneous analysis of race and gender and policing.  We construe this topic broadly as encompassing all forms of surveillance and control, including but not limited to aspects of local law enforcement, national immigration policies, and school discipline rules that reflect or construct assumptions about both race and gender.  

Interested parties should submit abstracts of at least 375 words (we encourage longer abstracts and draft papers are permitted) to [email protected] with the heading “Call For Papers.”  Submissions may be Essays of approximately 6,250 words or Articles of significantly greater length.  Abstracts are due on or before May 5, 2020.  We will notify people of their acceptance by May 20, 2020.  Complete first drafts of Essays will be due August 20, 2020.  Submissions will be published in Volume 21, Issue 3 of the Nevada Law Journal, which will print in April 2021.  

The Program on Race, Gender & Policing explores the relationship between race, gender, and the ways people are policed.  Policing refers to not only the activities of law enforcement officers, but also the ways that other actors, such as immigration officials, prison officials, schools, and private civilians, participate in surveillance and control.  The Program seeks to foster interdisciplinary research and concrete reforms in Nevada, the nation, and beyond.  Our goal for this symposium is nothing less than to produce an issue that becomes the best statement of how race and gender and policing come together.  

Potential paper topics include, but are in no way limited to, the following:  

• Analyses of how police officers view both race and gender;
• Constitutional issues surrounding policing of both race and gender;
• Criminalization of Latinx identities;
• Police assaults against women of color;
• Policing of LGBTQ+ in Asia; 
• Differential race and gender effects of private patrolling of space; 
• Policing of Native women; 
• Racial profiling and masculinities;
• Disappearances of women in Mexico, the U.S., Canada, or elsewhere;
• Disparities in policing in schools;
• Differential racial effects of low rape clearance rates;
• [Anything else addressing a form of policing and both race and gender].

We also encourage activists and practitioners to write accounts of their activities and cases that bring together issues of race and gender and policing.  Regardless of an author’s topic, the editors will carefully review all proposals and make selections based on quality and relevance.  We encourage both veterans of this topic and emerging scholars to submit proposals.  

 

 

CFP: ACS at Barry Law School

FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 28, 2020                 Orlando, FL

 

The student chapter of the American Constitution Society and Law Review at Barry University School of Law and Texas A&M University School of Law are hosting the Fifth Annual Constitutional Law Scholars Forum at the Barry University Dwayne O. Andreas School of Law Campus in Orlando, FL.

The Constitutional Law Scholars Forum invites scholarly proposals on constitutional law at any stage of pre-publication development, from the germination of an idea to editing with a journal.  The Forum provides an opportunity for scholars and educators to vet their work-in-progress in a welcoming, supportive environment.  (The Forum is not accepting proposals from students at this time.)

The deadline to submit proposals is December 1, 2019. 

Barry University School of Law is located within close proximity to recreational activities: Universal Studios, Disney World, Epcot Center, Sea World, world class golf courses, and beaches.  Orlando offers an average temperature of 72-78°F in February/March. 

There are no conference fees and meals are provided.

 Abstract Submissions:

Email proposals to Professor Eang Ngov, [email protected], with “Constitutional Law Scholars Forum” in the subject line.  Submissions should include a short abstract (300 words maximum) and biography (150 words maximum).  Please include abstract and biography together on one page in Word format.

Conference Organizers: 

Professor Eang Ngov, [email protected], office (321) 206 -5677, cell phone (571) 643-2691

Professor Meg Penrose, [email protected]

CFP: CUNY Law Review Democracy and Voting Symposium

“Democracy At Your Fingertips: Your Voice, Your Vote, Make It Count”

CALL FOR PAPERS FOR PUBLICATION

2020 CUNY Law Review Symposium

April 3, 2020

City University of New York School of Law

CUNY Law Review (CUNYLR) will host its Spring Symposium at City University of New York (CUNY) School of Law in Long Island City on issues of democracy. The symposium is an opportunity for an interdisciplinary gathering of legal scholars, practitioners, and community advocates to engage in dialogue on contemporary legal issues.

Since its foundation, voting power in the United States was exclusively reserved for educated white men who owned property. A century of progress, where communities that were barred from suffrage saw gains in their access to the ballot box, continues to be threatened by concerted efforts to deny them their right to vote.

By bringing together legal scholars, practitioners, and community advocates working on the front lines of the movements for voter rights, we hope to raise awareness of these issues and develop innovative solutions to address the disenfranchisement of marginalized communities. We will use the theme of accessibility to ground our discussion, focusing on how marginalized communities can continue to gain access to the ballot and ensure that unjust laws and policies do not strip away their rights.

CUNY Law Review invites scholars, legal practitioners, advocates, and organizers to submit articles for consideration for publication in an upcoming volume of CUNY Law Review, dedicated to the symposium. We are particularly interested in publishing works that discuss the following areas:

• 2020 Census
• Voter disenfranchisement
• Election security/hacking
• Lack of oversight over ballot counting technology

Please send one-page proposals via email to mirian.albert@ live.law.cuny.edu and [email protected]. The editors will review the submitted proposals on a rolling basis, final deadline is  December 16, 2019. Please include “CUNYLR Symposium 2020 Publication Submission” in the subject line. Articles not selected for inclusion in the symposium volume may be considered for publication through the Law Review’s digital platform, Footnote Forum.

Proposals should contain the following information: 

• Name and affiliation of the authors
• Working title
• An article abstract, no longer than 500 words
• Expected article length
• Whether attendance at the symposium is contingent on travel reimbursement

Please note that the due date for article drafts for selected articles is March 3, 2020 for the April 3 Symposium.

 

 

Call for Papers: ACS Junior Scholars Public Law Workshop at AALS

Check it out: The American Constitution Society is seeking paper proposals for its Junior Scholars Public Law Workshop at the 2020 AALS. The deadline is October 18, 2019. Click the link below for more specifics.

Here's the call:

To further its mission of promoting the vitality of the U.S. Constitution and the fundamental values it expresses — individual rights and liberties, genuine equality, access to justice, democracy and the rule of law — ACS is pleased to announce a call for papers for a workshop on public law to be held on Friday, January 3, 2020, in connection with the 2020 AALS Annual Meeting in Washington, D.C. A committee composed of members of ACS’s Board of Academic Advisors will select approximately 10 papers, and each selected author will have the opportunity to discuss his/her paper, as well as the paper of another author, in depth with two experienced scholars from the ACS network, which includes Erwin Chemerinsky, Pamela Karlan, Bill Marshall, Reva Siegel, Mark Tushnet, and Adam Winkler, among others. Papers can be in any field related to public law, including but not limited to: constitutional law, administrative law, legislation, antidiscrimination law, criminal law, election law, environmental law, family law, federal courts, financial regulation, health law, public international law, social welfare law, and workplace law.

For more information: https://www.acslaw.org/get-involved/awards-and-competitions/junior-scholars-public-law-workshop/

Call for Papers: Barry Con Law Scholars Forum

The Barry University School of Law American Constitution Society Student Chapter and Law Review and the Texas A&M University School of Law just issued a Call For Papers for their 2020 Constitutional Law Scholars Forum.

The full call is here.

The Forum is on Friday, February 28, 2020, in Orlando. The proposal deadline is December 1, 2019.

CFP: The Nineteenth Amendment at AALS

Call for Papers for
Section on Constitutional Law Program
at the 2020 AALS Annual Meeting

 

The Section on Constitutional Law is pleased to announce a Call for Papers from which one or two additional presenters will be selected to participate in the Section’s program with Professors Steven Calabresi and Reva Siegel and Dean Julie Suk at the AALS 2020 Annual Meeting in Washington, DC.

Form and length of submission: The panel is titled “The Nineteenth Amendment at 100 – Its Contribution and Legacy,” and will explore the Nineteenth Amendment’s role in constitutional interpretation both inside and outside of the courts in the century after suffrage. The Section welcomes relevant submissions. Submissions may take the form of abstracts or more complete drafts, but preference will be given to more developed projects.

Submission method and due date: Submissions should be anonymized. They should include a cover page with the author’s name and contact information. The cover page should be the only part of the submission that includes any identifying information for the author. Submissions should be sent electronically to Professor Lou Virelli at [email protected]. The due date for submissions is Friday, August 30, 2019.

Submission review: Papers will be selected after review by members of the Executive Committee of the Section. The Committee’s review will consider scholarly excellence, as well as new and diverse perspectives on the interpretation of the Nineteenth Amendment. The author(s) of the selected paper(s) will be notified by Friday, September 13, 2019. The Call for Papers presenters will be responsible for paying their conference registration fee and hotel and travel expenses.
Inquiries or questions: All inquiries should be submitted to Lou Virelli at Stetson University College of Law.

Call For Papers: Junior Equality Scholars

A terrific opportunity for "relatively junior scholars (untenured, newly tenured, or prospective professors) in the U.S." working in equality issues.

The Third Annual Equality Law Scholars’ Forum will be held on March 13-14, 2020 at the University of San Francisco School of Law.

Deadlines: Junior scholars are invited to submit abstracts of proposed papers, 3-5 pages in length, by August 1, 2019. Full drafts of papers must be available for circulation to participants by February 28, 2020.

More details over at Feminist Law Professors Blog here.

 

[image via]

Call for Proposals: Loyola Chicago Health Law Symposium

The Beazley Institute for Health Law and Policy at Loyola University Chicago School of Law and the Annals of Health Law & Life Sciences invite original submissions for presentations at the Thirteenth Annual Health Law Symposium: Addressing the Health Care Needs of Justice-Involved Populations, at Loyola Chicago, on Friday, November 15, 2019.

The full call is here.

The call specifically includes "constitutional issues relating to the medical treatment [or lack thereof] of justice-involved populations."

Proposals (1,000 words or less) are due by June 15, 2019, to [email protected].

Brooklyn Law Review to Host Symposium on Incitement

The Brooklyn Law Review will host a symposium titled Incitement at 100--and 50--and Today: Free Speech and Violence in the Modern World on Friday, April 12, at Brooklyn Law School. Very impressive line up. RSVP at the link by April 10.

UNLV Symposium: Dignity, Tradition, & Constitutional Due Process

Check out this exciting symposium next month at UNLV: Dignity, Tradition, & Constitutional Due Process: Competing Judicial Paradigms. The two-day event runs from March 14 to 15. The event is free, but you have to register. (Click the link above.)

The line-up is truly impressive; here are the presenters and their presentations.

Questions? Contact Prof. Peter B. Bayer.

Join ACS and SALT on SCOTUS Reform at AALS

Check out the American Constitution Society/SALT workshop on The Possibility & Potential of SCOTUS Reform at the AALS Annual Conference, on January 3, 2019, at 6:00 pm. Reception to follow.

Call for Papers: Michigan Junior Scholars Conference

Michigan Law posted this announcement and call for papers for its Fifth Annual Junior Scholars Conference.

Submissions (600-word abstract, plus a CV) are due by January 12, 2019. From the call:

The conference provides junior scholars with a platform to present and discuss their work with peers, and to receive detailed feedback from senior members of the Michigan Law faculty. The Conference aims to promote fruitful collaboration between participants and to encourage their integration into a community of legal scholars. The Junior Scholars Conference is intended for academics in both law and related disciplines. Applications from postdoctoral researchers, lecturers, fellows, SJD/PhD candidates, and assistant professors (pre-tenure) who have not held an academic position for more than four years are welcomed.

 

CFP: Kavanaugh Nomination

CFP from Journal of Civil Rights and Economic Development at St. John's University School of Law.

An America Divided: The Kavanaugh Nomination

The nomination and subsequent appointment of Brett Kavanaugh to the Supreme Court of the United States have sparked turmoil, outrage, and even more conflict to an already extremely divided America. Many agree, on the right and left, that the Senate hearings featuring Dr. Blasey Ford and Judge Brett Kavanaugh were historic, shocking and yet also affirming of deep-seated beliefs and fears. The hearings and subsequent events have revealed fundamental disagreement about fair and effective treatment of sexual violence survivors, about due process for those accused of sexual violence and about our collective expectations of the role, the demeanor, temperament and moral conduct of judges. . . .

We welcome full-length traditional law review articles with a maximum of 75 pages, as well as shorter essays and commentaries with a minimum of 10 pages. Authors will be selected based on brief abstracts of their articles, essays or commentaries. We aim to ensure an array of perspectives, methodologies and expertise.

SUBMISSION DEADLINES:
Abstract Deadline: November 12, 2018
Selected Authors Notification Date: November 30, 2018
Final Manuscript Submission Deadline: January 15, 2019

full call and submission details here

 

 

CFP: Women and the Law

 

2019 Detroit Mercy Law Review Symposium: Women and the Law

Call for Papers and Presentations

Deadline: November 9, 2018

The Law Review at University of Detroit Mercy School of Law will be hosting its 103rd annual symposium: Women and the Law.

Call for Proposals

The Detroit Mercy Law Review is accepting proposals for the 2019 Symposium: Women and the Law. The Detroit Mercy Law Review Symposium will take place on Friday, March 8, 2019 (International Women’s Day) in Detroit, Michigan. Possible topics include, but are not limited to: the history of women in the law, how women have impacted the law, how the law impacts women today, how future legal decisions could affect women’s rights (e.g. if Roe v. Wade, 410 U.S. 113 (1973) were to be overturned), what challenges women still face in the legal profession, the role of gender in the law, and any other topic regarding women and the law.

Proposals should be approximately 250-500 words, double-spaced, and detail the proposed topic and presentation.

Submission Procedure

The deadline to submit proposals is Friday, November 9, 2018 at 5PM EST. All proposals should be submitted to Samantha Buck, Symposium Director, at bucksl AT udmercy.edu. Please indicate whether your proposal is for a presentation only or if you would also like to publish an article with the Detroit Mercy Law Review on your presentation topic. If you are interested in submitting an article, it will be due to the Law Review on Friday, March 15, 2019. Please submit a current CV or resume along with your proposal. We will notify chosen speakers by November 30, 2018. Preference will be given to those willing to submit an article for publication.

CFP: ACS Constitutional Law Scholars

The student chapter of the American Constitution Society at Barry University School of Law and Texas A&M University School of Law are hosting the Fourth Annual Constitutional Law Scholars Forum at the Dwayne O. Andreas School of Law Campus, 6441 East Colonial Drive, Orlando, FL 32807. 

The Constitutional Law Scholars Forum invites scholarly proposals on constitutional law at any stage of pre-publication development, from the germination of an idea to the editing stage.  The Forum provides an opportunity for scholars and educators to vet their work-in-progress in a welcoming, supportive environment.  (The Forum is not accepting proposals from students at this time.)

 

The deadline to submit proposals is December 1, 2018.

 There are no conference fees and meals are provided.

 

Abstract Submissions:

Email proposals to Professor Eang Ngov, [email protected], with “Constitutional Law Scholars Forum” in the subject line.  Submissions should include a short abstract (300 words maximum) and biography (150 words maximum).

Conference Organizers: 

Professor Eang Ngov, [email protected], office (321) 206 -5677, cell phone (571) 643-2691

Professor Meg Penrose, [email protected]

Call for Participation: UNLV Symposium on Dignity, Tradition, and Constitutional Due Process

The UNLV William S. Boyd School of Law is calling for presenters and commenters for this exciting symposium, Dignity, Tradition, & Constitutional Due Process: Competing Judicial Paradigms, March 14-15, 2019, in Las Vegas.

The Court's determination regarding which paradigm to apply [a "deeply rooted" historical paradigm, or a "dignity" paradigm] depends, of course, on which receives at least five affirmative votes in any given appeal. Until his recent retirement, Justice Anthony Kennedy usually was the deciding vote. The probable confirmation of Hon. Brett Kavanaugh to Kennedy's seat may portend severely limited use of the dignity paradigm, if not its effective demise.

Our symposium . . . explores which of these two seemingly irreconcilable standards is correct, or whether there are one or more alternative approaches the courts should use.

Here's the full call; proposals are due by October 8, 2018, to Professor Peter B. Bayer, [email protected].

CFP: Junior Scholars

Call for submissions for Junior Scholars (1-7 years) from Yale/Stanford/Harvard Junior Faculty Forum to be held June 13-14, 2018, Harvard Law School

deadline: March 1, 2018

Yale, Stanford, and Harvard Law Schools are soliciting submissions for the 19th session of the Yale/Stanford/Harvard Junior Faculty Forum, to be held at Harvard Law School on June 13-14, 2018. Twelve to twenty junior scholars (with one to seven years in teaching) will be chosen, through a blind selection process, to present their work at the Forum. One or more senior scholars will comment on each paper. The audience will include the participating junior faculty, faculty from the host institutions, and invited guests. The goal of the Forum is to promote in-depth discussion about particular papers and more general reflections on broader methodological issues, as well as to foster a stronger sense of community among American legal scholars, particularly by strengthening ties between new and veteran professors.

TOPICS: Each year the Forum invites submissions on selected topics in public and private law, legal theory, and law and humanities topics, alternating loosely between public law and humanities subjects in one year, and private law and dispute resolution in the next. For the upcoming 2018 meeting, the topics will cover these areas of the law:

• - Administrative Law
• - Constitutional Law—theoretical foundations
• - Constitutional Law—historical foundations
• - Criminal Law
• - Critical Legal Studies
• - Environmental Law
• - Family Law
• - Jurisprudence and Philosophy
• - Law and Humanities
• - Legislation and Statutory Interpretation
• - Public International Law
• - Race/Gender Studies/Antidiscrimination
• - Workplace Law and Social Welfare Policy

A jury of accomplished scholars, not necessarily from Yale, Stanford, or Harvard, will choose the papers to be presented. There is no publication commitment. Yale, Stanford, or Harvard will pay presenters' and commentators' travel expenses, though international flights may be only partially reimbursed.

QUALIFICATIONS: Authors who teach at a U.S. law school in a tenured or tenure-track position and have not have been teaching at either of those ranks for a total of more than seven years are eligible to submit their work. American citizens or permanent residents teaching abroad are also eligible provided that they have held a faculty position or the equivalent, including positions comparable to junior faculty positions in research institutions, for fewer than seven years and that they earned their last degree after 2008. International scholars are not eligible for this forum, but are invited to submit to the Stanford International Junior Faculty Forum. We accept co-authored submissions, but each of the coauthors must be individually eligible to participate in the JFF. Papers that will be published prior to the Forum are not eligible. There is no limit on the number of submissions by any individual author. Junior faculty from Yale, Stanford, and Harvard are not eligible. 

PAPER SUBMISSION PROCEDURE:

Electronic submissions should be sent to Rebecca Tushnet, rtushnet AT law.harvard.edu with the subject line “Junior Faculty Forum.” The deadline for submissions is March 1, 2018. Remove all references to the author(s) in the paper. Please include in the text of the email and also as a separate attachment a cover letter listing your name, the title of your paper, your contact email and address through June 2018, and which topic your paper falls under. Each paper may only be considered under one topic. Any questions about the submission procedure should be directed both to Rebecca Tushnet and her assistant, Andrew Matthiesen, amattjiesen AT law.harvard.edu.

Daily Read: The Pentagon Papers Case, Prior Restraint, and Fire and Fury

Professor Ruthann Robson, City University of New York (CUNY) School of Law

Today brings the news that the President is contemplating litigation to halt the publication of Fire and Fury:Inside the Trump White House by Michael Wolff.  This followed a reported cease and desist letter to former White House "chief strategist" and insider Steve Bannon for talking with Wolff in alleged violation of a nondisclosure agreement.

The letter to the book's publisher is reportedly based on a claim of defamation:

“Actual malice (reckless disregard for the truth) can be proven by the fact that the Book admits in the Introduction that it contains untrue statements. Moreover, the Book appears to cite to no sources for many of its most damaging statements about Mr. Trump. Also, many of your so-called ‘sources’ have stated publicly that they never spoke to Mr. Wolff and/or never made the statements that are being attributed to them. Other alleged ‘sources’ of statements about Mr. Trump are believed to have no personal knowledge of the facts upon which they are making statements or are known to be unreliable and/or strongly biased against Mr. Trump.” 

But behind the obvious relevance of New York Times v. Sullivan (1964) which set the doctrine of actual malice for defamation under the First Amendment, lurks another case involving the New York Times: New York Times v. United States (1971), often called the "Pentagon Papers Case." 

It is the Pentagon Papers Case that solidified the disfavor for prior restraint. 

The brief per curiam opinion in the 6-3 decision stated that there is "a heavy presumption against its constitutional validity," and the government "thus carries a heavy burden of showing justification for the imposition of such a restraint."  While it is certainly the United States government that is a party to the Pentagon Papers Case, most commentators and scholars believe that it was President Nixon who was at the forefront of the attempt to stop publication of the papers. Arguably, the Pentagon Papers involved "state secrets," but President Trump, like Nixon, has been criticized as conflating his own interests with that of the government.

It's thus a good time to reconsider the continuing relevance of the case and its litigation. One perspective is available in the movie The Post involving the Pentagon Papers and starring Meryl Streep as Katharine Graham, the publisher of The Washington Post.

Another good perspective is a recent conversation between James C. Goodale, author of Fighting for the Press: the Inside Story of the Pentagon Papers and Other Battles and Jeremy Scahill, one of the founders of The Intercept and author of Dirty Wars: The World Is a Battlefield, which I moderated at CUNY School of Law. 

Here's the video:

 

 

Symposium: The Supreme Court and American Politics at Chicago-Kent

Chicago-Kent's Institute on the Supreme Court of the United States and the Law Review are hosting a symposium on Tuesday, October 17, titled The Supreme Court and American Politics. The program includes three terrific panels and Rick Hasen as keynote. For more information, and to register, click here.