10 Misconceptions About the Constitution--and a Test

One of the best items to be posted in honor of Constitution Day 2015 (September 17) was an ABA Journal news article, "10 Misconceptions About the Constitution."  If you think you know a lot about the drafting and significance of the U.S. Constitution, think again. This compendium of interesting and surprising Constitution facts was compiled by Robert J. McWhirter, author of the recently published book, Bills, Quills, and Stills: An Annotated, Illustrated, and Illuminated History of the Bill of Rights. (Yes, we have a copy in the Law Library.)  Even if you were aware of some of these lesser-known facts, you'll find the Constitution Quiz at the end of the article to be quite a challenge. Take a break from studying and give it a try.

Ernster, the Virtual Library Cat

Constitutional Law Prof Blog

Returning 2Ls are diving into Constitutional Law textbooks as the semester begins.  Here's a good way to get out of the case book, see what some other Con Law professors are saying about the latest court decisions and other developments, and get some informational background and perspectives for class discussion: read Constitutional Law Prof Blog. The blog features posts written by Professors Steven Schwinn (John Marshall Law School, Chicago) and Ruthann Robson (CUNY School of Law), along with comments by other professors in the field and links to media commentary.  It is part of the Law Professor Blogs Network, "the nation's only network of legal blogs edited primarily by law professors." One or more blogs in the network may cover subjects of special interest to you.   

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Cats and the Commerce Clause

Last week, while law students around the country studied Commerce Clause cases for finals, a federal appeals court decided a case on my favorite related subject, feline law. More precisely the court expounded on legendary author Ernest Hemingway's cats--about 50 of them, all descendants of the author's six-toed polydactyl cat, Snowball--and their relation to federal power and the Commerce Clause. 

The cats live in and around the Hemingway Home & Museum in Key West, Florida.  You can read more about them and the case in this article (with video) from the Christian Science Monitor.  In short, after a visitor complained to the U.S. Department of Agriculture about how the cats were being cared for, the Department's Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service issued demands that the Museum obtain an animal exhibitor's license and maintain the cats in specific types of enclosures.  The Museum then challenged the Department's jurisdiction to regulate it as an animal exhibit under the Animal Welfare Act (AWA) (7 U.S.C. Section 2131 et seq.).

In a unanimous opinion affirming the district court, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit stated: "The exhibition of the Hemingway cats is integral to the Museum's commercial purpose, and thus, their exhibition affects interstate commerce. For these reasons, Congress has the power to regulate the Museum and the exhibition of the Hemingway cats via the AWA."  The opinion refers to this page on the Museum website as an example of the "purposeful marketing" of the cats.

Only one question remains.  Will there be an appeal? 



Ernster, the Virtual Library Cat

Icelanders approve a crowdsourced Constitution

Social media is slowly but surely making its way into every aspect of our lives.  Now, Iceland, who has been soliciting "crowdsourcing" to make changes to its Constitution, has just approved their collaborative approach to the law of the land. 

Crowdsourcing has become a buzzword of sorts lately, to describe the use of a large, inexpensive and temporary workforce to create new content, solve problems and innovate.  This is especially revolutionary in the legal community, where social networking is often looked at askance and with great suspicion.

The Iceland Constitution, the embracing of crowdsourcing, and  the government's willingness make it an official document...it's a bit revolutionary.  The rest of the global legal community, most importantly legislators, letting anyone, trained or untrained in the law, comment and participate in the drafting of legislation seems impossible now, but could be in our future.

Read more about crowdsourcing here at CBS news.

Ernster, the Virtual Library Cat

Constitution Day 2012

Monday is the 225th birthday of the U.S. Constitution, or more accurately, of its signing by the Constitutional Convention delegates before it went out for ratification by the states.  In 2004, Congress passed legislation requiring that "[e]ach educational institution that receives Federal funds for a fiscal year shall hold an educational program on the United States Constitution on September 17 of such year for the students served by the educational institution." (P.L. 108-447, Section 111(b)).  This year, Hofstra Law is presenting a panel of constitutional experts at a timely program on the Supreme Court's recent health care decision.  As explained on the Department of Education's web site, "because September 17 falls on a religious holiday (Rosh Hashanah), educational institutions receiving Federal funding may celebrate Constitution Day during the preceding or following week" this year.  So be sure to join Professors Robin Charlow, Eric Freedman, Leon Friedman, and Julian Ku, with attorney expert Deborah Misir, on Wednesday, September 19, for this special Constitution Day program on the impact of a landmark case.
Ernster, the Virtual Library Cat

Maples v. Thomas: A Cautionary Tale

Today the United States Supreme court decided a case that is both high profile and right on point for aspiring law students, at the intersection of constitutional law and professional responsibility.  Maples, an  Alabama death row inmate challenging his murder convictions on constitutional grounds (ineffective assistance of counsel) , was represented pro bono at the state level by two lawyers from a prominent New York Law firm. When the lawyers left that firm without notifying the Alabama court, the notice of the court's decision against their client ended up in the New York firm's mail room, where it was marked "Return to Sender." When it was returned, the Alabama court took no action.  Neither did the client's local Alabama attorney, so the filing date for a Notice of Appeal just passed by. After the attorneys and the courts shared the blame in the oral arguments presented to the Supreme Court justices, the often divided Court decided 7-2 that Maples had suffered "abandonment" by his attorneys and that his procedural default must be excused.  The opinion, which makes for good reading, is found here.  The briefs and case analysis can be found at SCOTUSblog.     

Ernster, the Virtual Library Cat

Constitutions

After hearing the House of Representatives read our Constitution, I started thinking about other countries constitutions.

One great resource for exploring the world's constitutions in HeinOnline's new database World Constitutions Illustrated . It includes the current constitution for every country in its original language format and an English translation, as well as substantial constitutional histories for many countries. It also includes constitutional periodicals and books as well as links to scholarly articles and online resources, and bibliographic references.

Ernster, the Virtual Library Cat

Constitutional Law--Web Resources

For those absorbed in Constitutional Law this semester, there are some good background resources out on the Web. One of my favorites is "The American Constitution - A Documentary Record." Part of Yale Law Library's Avalon Project, it gathers the state constitutions from the founders' era, delegates' notes from the Constitutional Convention, ratification documents, and other early compacts, charters and resolutions on which the U.S. Constitution was built. Another good source for background and review is the annotated U.S. Constitution found on Cornell University Law School's Legal Information Institute (LII) site. For each section and amendment, there is a link to a discussion of the text in historical and theoretical context, with case citations, prepared by the Congressional Research Service (CRS), which provides objective, nonpartisan research and analysis to Congressional committees and members of Congress.
Ernster, the Virtual Library Cat

Constitution Finder

Need to find the constitution of a particular country? Look no further than the Constitution Finder.
This handy site allows you to search by country and links to the country's constitutional text. It is a nice place to keep in mind when doing foreign law research.

Ernster, the Virtual Library Cat

Constitutional Sources Project

The Constitutional Sources Project is a collection of letters, speeches and journals of our nation's founders. The goal is to create and maintain the first, free, fully- indexed, comprehensive online library of constitutional sources. The collections include:

Constitutional Precedents
The United States Constitution
James Madison's Notes of the Constitutional Convention
The Federalist Papers
Anti-Federalist and Pro-Federalist Papers
State Ratification Debates
Bill of Rights Legislative History
State Constitution and Charters
The Papers of George Washington
Documents by Author

Truly a treasure trove and the project is still adding documents.



Ernster, the Virtual Library Cat

Library of Congress on Constitutional Law

The Law Library of Congress is offering PDF downloads of books and articles on three of the more contentious subjects in constitutional law: executive privilege, war powers, and presidential inherent powers. All are by Louis Fisher.



Ernster, the Virtual Library Cat