In an important recent decision, U.S. v. Cannon (2014 WL 1633160), the United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit relied heavily upon the work of Notre Dame Law School Professor Jennifer Mason McAward in interpreting the scope of Congress’s power to enforce the Thirteenth Amendment to the Constitution. Section Two of the Thirteenth Amendment empowers Congress to enforce the prohibition on slavery and involuntary servitude by addressing the “badges and incidents of slavery.” The court used Professor Mason McAward’s article, Defining the Badges and Incidents of Slavery (published in the University of Pennsylvania Journal of Constitutional Law), to understand the scope of that constitutional provision.

Read More

Professor Randy Kozel  has published a review essay, "Institutional Autonomy and Constitutional Structure," in the Michigan Law Review. The essay -- which discusses Paul Horwitz's book, "First Amendment Institutions" -- considers the role of institutions such as churches, universities, and the media as components of the structural framework of the U.S. Constitution.…

Read More

Gerry Bradley was quoted in the several news sources this week on the Hobby Lobby Supreme Court decision.

• National Catholic Register article Supreme Court Rules in Favor of Hobby Lobby, Conestoga Wood
…

Read More

US News and World Report recently ranked Notre Dame Law School 8th among all law schools in the percentage of employed 2012 graduates who secured federal judicial clerkships.

Read More

NDLS Professor A.J. Bellia Jr. has been honored by the Virginia Law Review for co-authoring (with George Washington University Law Professor Bradford R. Clark) one of the most influential articles published by the Virginia Law Review in the past 100 years.

Bellia’s article, The Law of Nations as Constitutional Law, 98 Va. L. Rev. 729 (2012), explores the history and role of international law in U.S. courts under the Constitution.

Read More

U.S. Supreme Court Associate Justice Samuel A. Alito Jr. visited Notre Dame Law School April 10 as the Judge James J. Clynes Visiting Chair.

In the afternoon the Justice participated in a fireside chat with NDLS Professor William Kelley, an event that was sponsored by the NDLS Program on Constitutional Structure, the Federalist Society, and the Department of Political Science’s Potenziani Program in Constitutional Studies.

Read More

Welcome to the Constitutional Structure Program Newsletter. This new electronic newsletter is aimed at keeping you up-to-date on news items, announcements, upcoming events, and faculty and student accomplishments.

Read More

Shortly after taking the phone call from Associate Justice Samuel A. Alito Jr., Megan Dillhoff became the second NDLS graduate to accept a Supreme Court judicial clerkship for the October 2014 Supreme Court term. Earlier this term, G. Ryan Snyder accepted his clerkship offer from Chief Justice John G. Roberts, Jr.

Ryan and Megan are the third and fourth NDLS grads to be named Supreme Court judicial clerks in the past decade. Last year, according to data reported to the American Bar Association, Notre Dame stood in a tie for 10th place among all U.S. law schools for its rate of placing students in federal judicial clerkships.

Read More

Under the terms of a new agreement between the University of Notre Dame and the Constitutional Court of Ecuador, Professor Paolo Carozza, Director of the Center for Civil and Human Rights (CCHR), and Professor Amy Barrett will conduct an intensive week-long seminar with Ecuadorian justices in Quito later this month.

With the enactment of a new national constitution in 2008, Ecuador’s Constitutional Court has adopted some aspects of a common law model. Professors Carozza and Barrett have been asked to assist the Court by providing a foundation in both the procedural and theoretical aspects of precedent-based law.

Read More

Chief Justice John G. Roberts, Jr. has invited NDLS alum G. Ryan Snyder (J.D. ’12) to join his chambers as a judicial clerk for the October 2014 Supreme Court term. Ryan is the third NDLS grad to be named a Supreme Court judicial clerk in the past decade.

Read More

D.C. Circuit Judge Brett M. Kavanaugh gave the keynote address for the 2013 Notre Dame Law Review Symposium on November 1 in the Patrick F. McCartan Courtroom.The Symposium, The Evolution of Theory: Discerning the Catalysts of Constitutional Change, examined the factors of constitutional doctrinal shifts, focusing on the question of whether the evolution of constitutional theory is driven by external pressures—such as economics, politics, culture, and social movements—or by an internal dialectic about constitutional meaning. 

Read More

On October 18, leading scholars from the United States and United Kingdom gathered at the Notre Dame London Law Centre for a conference addressing “International Perspectives on Public Law.”

The two-day conference, which was sponsored by the London Law Centre and the Notre Dame Program on Constitutional Structure, included wide-ranging discussions of institutional design, constitutional theory, and relationships among the instrumentalities of government.

Read More

Professor Kurt Lash of the University of Illinois College of Law spoke to NDLS faculty and students on September 27. In his lecture, Professor Lash addressed three major periods of constitutional development in the United States: the Founding, Reconstruction, and the New Deal.

Read More

U.S. Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito joined prominent judges and scholars from the U.S. and Italy to discuss Notre Dame research that is forging the field of U.S.-Italian comparative constitutional law.

Read More

On October 18 and 19, 2013, leading constitutional scholars from the U.S. and U.K. will gather at the Notre Dame London Law Centre to consider “International Perspectives on Public Law.”
 

Read More