Showing posts with label extra credit. Show all posts
Showing posts with label extra credit. Show all posts
Monday, May 9, 2011
Tuesday, November 23, 2010
The Decline and Fall of the American Republic
Fitting subject matter, considering our recent class discussions. Ackerman wonders if the republic can survive the growing powers of the presidency. He isn't the first to worry about this. A review.
Scorpions
Another extra credit option. A book detailing the personalities FDR placed on the court. A review from Slate.
Wednesday, October 27, 2010
Revising our Attitudes about Habeas Corpus
Grits for Breakfast points out a provocative book that might revise the way we understand the evolution of the writ of habeas corpus and what it means constitutionally.
Here's a scholarly review.
From Grits: Halliday argues provocatively that “what constituted liberties was the result rather than the starting point of judicial decision-making,” and that the British Parliament's role was mainly to limit habeas authority rather than establish it.
Ironically, despite Justice Stevens' claim that the status of the "Great Writ" in 1789 provides the floor for its authority, Vladek says "perhaps the most radical way in which American practice has diverged from England’s has been the evisceration ... of the common law as a basis for habeas jurisdiction." Justice John Marshall in 1807 was the first to withdraw habeas authority from its more robust and wide-ranging common law roots to insist that “the power to award the writ by any of the courts of the United States, must be given by written law.” Writes Vladek, "In other words, the Article III federal courts—including the Supreme Court—were powerless to issue common-law writs of habeas corpus, and could only act pursuant to express statutory jurisdiction." The reviewer concludes that "Whether he misunderstood English history or misrepresented it, Marshall thereby perpetuated critically incorrect assumptions about the scope of common-law habeas corpus at the Founding."
I'll be honest, I can't completely follow what's going on here, but it seems that John Marshall may have misunderstood the proper basis of habeas corpus and our subsequent interpretation of habeas corpus has in turn been wrong.
Here's a scholarly review.
From Grits: Halliday argues provocatively that “what constituted liberties was the result rather than the starting point of judicial decision-making,” and that the British Parliament's role was mainly to limit habeas authority rather than establish it.
Ironically, despite Justice Stevens' claim that the status of the "Great Writ" in 1789 provides the floor for its authority, Vladek says "perhaps the most radical way in which American practice has diverged from England’s has been the evisceration ... of the common law as a basis for habeas jurisdiction." Justice John Marshall in 1807 was the first to withdraw habeas authority from its more robust and wide-ranging common law roots to insist that “the power to award the writ by any of the courts of the United States, must be given by written law.” Writes Vladek, "In other words, the Article III federal courts—including the Supreme Court—were powerless to issue common-law writs of habeas corpus, and could only act pursuant to express statutory jurisdiction." The reviewer concludes that "Whether he misunderstood English history or misrepresented it, Marshall thereby perpetuated critically incorrect assumptions about the scope of common-law habeas corpus at the Founding."
I'll be honest, I can't completely follow what's going on here, but it seems that John Marshall may have misunderstood the proper basis of habeas corpus and our subsequent interpretation of habeas corpus has in turn been wrong.
Tuesday, October 19, 2010
For Possible Extra Credit -- Fall 2010, Continued
For 2301, and the extent of civil liberties in a time of war.
For 2302, specifically for our discussion of the federal financial bureaucracy.
Extra Credit -- Fall 2010
I'm receiving questions about extra credit, and I've made posts about it below. I want you to thoroughly review a book which covers some aspect of whatever class you are taking. I've posted a few, but feel free to run others by me. I'm linking you to Amazon so you can buy them there. Some might be in the ACC library, but our budget is rather low. You might find others in a local bookstore, but buying them used on Amazon might be your best bet.
Click on the "extra credit" tag below to link to the other posts.
Click on the "extra credit" tag below to link to the other posts.
Thursday, October 14, 2010
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