Constitutional

In Ruthenberg v. Michigan, Supreme Court Justice Louis Brandeis LL.B. 1877 first formulated the principles surrounding the exercise of free speech that would appear in his later opinion in Whitney v. California (1927). The Louis D. Brandeis Papers held by the Harvard Law School Library include seven folders of drafts written by Brandeis for Ruthenberg, which have now been digitized and are available on the law school website.

The title of Professor Mark Tushnet’s “Why the Constitution Matters” is something of a misnomer.

On May 20, the European Court of Human Rights ruled that blanket disenfranchisement of people with disabilities is contrary to the European Convention of Human Rights.

“Rating the Raters,” by HLS Professor Lucian Bebchuk LL.M ’80 S.J.D. ’84, appeared in Project Syndicate on May 24, 2010. It is the latest installment of his monthly column for the publication. Bebchuk is a professor of law, economics, and finance, and director of the Program on Corporate Governance at Harvard Law School.

The Committee on Capital Markets Regulation (CCMR), which is led by Harvard Law School Professor Hal S. Scott, sent Congressional leaders a letter on June 14 urging them to consider its positions on six “critical points” as they begin the final task of reconciling the two financial reform bills passed by the House and the Senate.

As Congress considers legislation to reform Wall Street, Harvard Law School Professor Elizabeth Warren remains on the front lines of the fight as chair of the Congressional Oversight Panel. In a June 7 interview with NPR On Point host Tom Ashbrook, Warren said that lawmakers could end up with a bill that has “no real impact.”

In a Commencement Day speech to Harvard’s newest graduates, former U.S. Supreme Court Justice David Souter ’66 said Thursday (May 27) that judges have no choice but to interpret the U.S. Constitution beyond its plain language, and he criticized those who argue that its meaning “lies there … waiting for a judge to read it fairly.”

The op-ed “Health care law’s enemies have no ally in Constitution” was written by Harvard Law School Professor Charles Fried. It appeared in the May 21, 2010, edition of the Boston Globe.

Harvard Law School Professor John C. Coates IV testified before the Committee on House Administration yesterday regarding the Disclose Act (H.R. 5175), legislation that was created in the wake of the Citizens United v. FEC Supreme Court ruling.

 The following op-ed by Professor Mark Roe, “Derivatives Clearinghouses are No Magic Bullet,” appeared in the May 6, 2010, edition of the Wall Street Journal. Roe looks at the Senate financial overhaul bill, part of which is built around an emerging Washington consensus that a clearinghouse for derivatives could stem a financial crisis such as that which we just experienced.  Roe argues that while a clearinghouse can be a useful step in the right direction, it's incomplete, with other legal improvements needed to make it work well.

"How to sober up Washington," an op-ed co-written by HLS Professor Lawrence Lessig and Daily Beast contributor Mark McKinnon, appeared in the Apr. 6 edition of the online publication. 

HLS Professors Jack Goldsmith and Lawrence Lessig  co-wrote “Anti-counterfeiting agreement raises constitutional concerns,” an op-ed that appeared in the March 26 edition of the Washington Post. Goldsmith is co-author of "Who Controls the Internet?" Lessig is the author of "Remix: Making Art and Commerce Thrive in the Hybrid Economy."

Harvard Law School Dean Martha Minow and four other law school deans have urged key lawmakers on Capitol Hill to end the military’s “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” policy. “The effects of ‘Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell’ are marginalization, exclusion, and denigration,” wrote the law school deans in a March 18 letter to the Armed Services committees in the House and Senate.

“The conventional wisdom is that the Supreme Court is an heroic defender of the rights of racial minorities … I want to argue to the contrary. The Supreme Court has been a foe, rather than a friend to racial minorities in general, and African Americans specifically.” That was the opening message delivered by Harvard Law School Professor Michael Klarman in a lecture titled “The Supreme Court and Race” at the American Academy of Arts & Sciences on March 10.

Harvard Law School has awarded prizes for outstanding written work to Cassandra Barnum ’10, Jonathan Bressler ’10 and Ryan Park ’10.

The Supreme Court’s 2008 ruling in Caperton v. A.T. Massey was the main focus of the Harvard Law Review’s Supreme Court forum this year. Held annually, the Supreme Court Forum focuses on the Law Review’s Supreme Court issue, which is published in November.

The American Constitution Society of HLS sponsored “The Constitution in 2020,” a panel discussion in November featuring Harvard Law School Professors Yochai Benkler ’94, Frank Michelman ’60, Mark Tushnet, and Noah Feldman, all contributors to a recently published book of the same title. The book’s goal is to contest the conservative idea that constitutional law should not be influenced by contemporary understandings of law and the political landscape.

In the three-day Holmes Lecture entitled “Dignity and Defamation: The Visibility of Hate” at Harvard Law School this October, New York University Professor Jeremy Waldron argued for the regulation of hate speech to reinforce society’s collective commitment to uphold one another’s personal dignity.