Missing Canons of Construction in Ali v. Federal Bureau of Prisons?
This past Monday, October 29, the Supreme Court heard oral arguments in a little-noticed case that raises fascinating questions of statutory interpretation: Ali v. Federal Bureau of Prisons . Ali is a...
View ArticleEarly Reflections on the Roberts Court and Legislative History
The Roberts Court undoubtedly still is in its infancy when it comes to matters of statutory interpretation. Despite this shortage of extrapolation-material, I think it possible to hazard a few...
View ArticleInterlocking Statutes, Statutory Anomalies and Legislative Purpose
More on the statutory interpretation front: The Supreme Court last week heard oral arguments in Logan v. United States, a case involving the interplay between multiple federal criminal statutes, state...
View ArticleStatutory Stare Decisis in John R. Sand & Gravel Co. v. United States
This past Tuesday, November 6, the Supreme Court heard head-spinningly complicated but (perhaps for this reason) thoroughly entertaining oral arguments in a case called John R. Sand & Gravel Co. v....
View ArticleImpending Budget Battle Reminiscent of 1995-96 Budget Showdown?
The Washington Post ran an interesting piece yesterday, November 14, by Peter Baker titled, Bush Veto Sets Up Clash on Budget, Democrats Make War-Funds Threat. The article begins: A budget dispute...
View ArticleAn Overlooked Legacy of Lochner v. New York
I recently came across an article by David Bernstein called Lochner v. New York: A Centennial Retrospective. The article, which has been blogged about both on Legal Theory and on the Volokh Conspiracy...
View ArticleTrust Law Meets Statutory Interpretation
For my final guest post, I want to talk about a case argued before the Supreme Court on Monday (November 26): LaRue v. DeWolff, Boberg, & Assoc. The case involves the appropriate interpretation of...
View ArticleDejá-Vu in Begay v. United States
Last month, the Supreme Court issued an opinion in a little-discussed but methodologically intriguing statutory interpretation case called Begay v. United States. Begay addresses the range of predicate...
View ArticlePredictions for United States v. Rodriguez
Many thanks to Doug Berman over at Sentencing Law and Policy for his kind words about my last post discussing Begay v. United States. Doug ended his post by noting that “the only thing missing” from my...
View ArticleRehnquist Parody Uncovered
More on the statutory interpretation front to come soon, but in the meantime, I want to direct readers’ attention to an entertaining article by my colleague, John Barrett, titled, A Rehnquist Ode on...
View ArticleA Reverse Clear Statement Rule?
Last week the Supreme Court issued an opinion in a seemingly straightforward statutory interpretation case, Gonzalez v. United States. At issue was whether the Federal Magistrates Act (FMA) permits...
View ArticleThe “Mischief Rule” Rule and the VRA in Riley v. Kennedy
Election law experts have been quick to speculate about what the Supreme Court’s decision in Riley v. Kennedy, handed down this past Tuesday, means for the future of Section 5 (the preclearance...
View ArticleConfusion in United States v. Santos
The Supreme Court this past Monday handed down its decision in United States v. Santos, a case that turns on whether the phrase “proceeds of some form of unlawful activity” in the federal...
View ArticleThe Passive Voice in Statutory Interpretation
Thanks to Dan et al. for the opportunity to guest-blog this month. For my first guest post, I want to highlight a little-noticed tool of statutory construction that has reared its head in a handful of...
View ArticleCan There Be An “Undeclared” Canon of Statutory Interpretation?
How do canons of statutory interpretation come into being? What qualifies a court’s method of reasoning in a statutory case as a rule or canon of construction? Last week, I wrote about the Supreme...
View ArticleThe Roberts Court (Thus Far) and the Rule of Lenity
In their Legislation casebook, William Eskridge, Philip Frickey, and Elizabeth Garrett observe that between 1984 and 2006, the Supreme Court cited the rule of lenity in just over one-fourth of its...
View Article“Practical Consequences” in Hertz Corp. v. Melinda Friend
Two weeks ago, the Supreme Court heard oral arguments in a case called The Hertz Corporation v. Melinda Friend, et al. At issue in the case is the appropriate test for determining which State...
View ArticleCRS Lobbying Report
Last week, the Congressional Research Service issued a report titled, Lobbying the Executive Branch: Current Practices and Options for Change. The report summarizes how lobbyist registration...
View ArticleThe Importance of Other Statutes in Statutory Interpretation
In one of the few decisions it has handed down thus far this term, Union Pacific Railroad Co. v. Locomotive Engineers and Trainmen, the Supreme Court relies heavily on a statutory interpretation...
View ArticleBook Review: Cross’s The Theory and Practice of Statutory Interpretation
Frank B. Cross, The Theory and Practice of Statutory Interpretation, Stanford University Press, 2009. True to its title, Frank Cross’s ambitious book seeks to bridge the gap that long has existed...
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