The rise of the New Judicial Federalism movement in the 1970s marked a sea-change in the history of state constitutional law by shifting the focus of power away from the central government in ways that had not occurred since the Equal Protection Clause was enacted in 1868. With New Judicial Federalism, many states rediscovered that they were empowered to enact their own constitutions and to interpret them as they saw fit, which enabled states to recognize civil rights and liberties beyond those recognized under the Federal Constitution. Equality and Liberty in the Golden Age of State Constitutional Law closely examines the evolution of the rights of liberty and equality under state constitutions from both a historical and jurisprudential perspective. In it, Professor Jeffrey M. Shaman explains that as New Judicial Federalism gained ground, state constitutional law became an important source for the protection of individual rights and liberties. States have since expanded the right of the citizen well beyond the limits of federal law by striking down laws that led to de facto segregation in public schools, discriminated against women, or allocated public benefits inequitably. State courts were the first to recognize a right of intimate association, spurring the U.S. Supreme Court to follow suit. Equality and Liberty in the Golden Age of State Constitutional Law is essential reading for anyone interested in this manifestation of law that has developed beyond the purview of national attention and in the resulting evolution of power in U.S. constitutional law.

Equality and Liberty in the Golden Age of State Constitutional Law

Shaman, Jeffrey M.

Administrative Law

Oxford University Press

This study analyzes the process of constitutional interpretation, that is, the methodology by which the Supreme Court goes about interpreting the Constitution, and offers a comprehensive view of constitutional law through the lens of history, political science, and jurisprudence. Shaman examines the practice of creating meaning for the Constitution, the dichotomy of legal formalism and realism, the levels of judicial scrutiny, the perception of reality, and the puzzle of legislative motive. While the book traces the historical development of constitutional law, its main focus is on modern jurisprudence, including analyses of the major themes of constitutional interpretation developed by the Warren, Burger, and Rehnquist Courts.
Shaman details the Warren Court's move to a more realistic jurisprudence and its development of a multi-level system of judicial review that has become increasingly more complex under the Burger and Rehnquist Courts. He critiques the Supreme Court's reversion in recent years to an old-fashioned formalistic jurisprudence and the growing tendency of the Court to look to the past rather than to future to interpret the Constitution. The book also includes discussion of recent major doctrinal developments such as constitutional theory underlying Supreme Court decisions on gender discrimination, discrimination on the basis of sexual preference, the right to die, abortion, and freedom of speech.

Constitutional Interpretation: Illusion and Reality (Contributions in Legal Studies)

Rules & Procedures

Praeger

Judicial Conduct and Ethics

Lubet, Steven

Alfini, James J.

Reference

Lexis Pub.

Judicial conduct & ethics curriculum

American Judicature Society

The study examines factors affecting judicial disqualification decisions, and provides a legal analysis of a wide range of ethical dilemmas arising from the personal relationships, possible conflicts of interest, and allegations of bias often confronting judges.

Judicial disqualification: An empirical study of judicial practices and attitudes (Studies of the justice system)

In this, the second edition of State Constitutional Law: The Modern Experience, the authors present cases, scholarly writings, and other materials about our ever-evolving, ever-more-relevant state charters of government. The casebook starts by placing state constitutions in context―in the context of a federal system that leaves some powers exclusively with the States, delegates some powers exclusively to the Federal Government, and permits overlapping authority by both sovereigns in many areas. The resulting combination of state and federal charters―what might be called American Constitutional Law―presents fruitful opportunities for give and take, for exporting and importing constitutional tools and insights between and among the different sovereigns. The casebook often addresses the point by explaining how the U.S. Constitution deals with an issue before discussing how the state constitutions handle an identical or similar issue. At other times, the casebook explains and illustrates how the state constitutions contain provisions that have no parallel in the U.S. Constitution. A central theme of the book, explored in the context of a variety of constitutional guarantees, is that state constitutions provide a rich source of rights independent of the federal constitution. Considerable space is devoted to the reasons why a state court might construe the liberty and property rights found in their constitutions, to use two prominent examples, more broadly than comparable rights found in the U.S. Constitution. Among the reasons considered are: differences in the text between the state and federal constitutional provisions, the smaller scope of the state courts’ jurisdiction, state constitutional history, unique state traditions and customs, and disagreement with the U.S. Supreme Court’s interpretation of similar language. State constitutional law, like its federal counterpart, is not confined to individual rights. The casebook also explores the organization and structure of state and local governments, the method of choosing state judges, the many executive-branch powers found in state constitutions but not in their federal counterpart, the ease with which most state constitutions can be amended, and other topics, such as taxation, public finance and school funding. The casebook is not parochial. It looks at these issues through the lens of important state court decisions from nearly every one of our 50 States. In that sense, it is designed for a survey course, one that does not purport to cover any one State’s constitution in detail but that considers the kinds of provisions found in many state charters. Like a traditional contracts, real property or torts textbook, the casebook uses the most interesting state court decisions from around the country to illustrate the astonishing array of state constitutional issues at play in American Constitutional Law. It is difficult to overstate the growing significance of state constitutional law. Many of the ground-breaking constitutional debates of the day are being aired in the state courts under their own constitutions―often as a prelude to debates about whether to nationalize this or that right under the National Constitution. To use the most salient example, it is doubtful that there would have been a national right to marriage equality in 2015, see Obergefell v. Hodges, without the establishment of a Massachusetts right to marry in 2003, see Goodridge v. Department of Public Health. In other areas of constitutional litigation―gun rights, capital punishment, property rights, school funding, free exercise claims, to name but a few―state courts often are the key innovators as well, relying on their own constitutions to address individual rights and structural debates of the twenty-first century. The mission of the casebook is to introduce students to this increasingly significant body of American law and to prepare them to practice effectively in it.

State Constitutional Law: The Modern Experience (American Casebook Series)

Holland, Randy J.

Sutton, Jeffrey S.

McAllister, Stephen R.

Constitutional Law

West Academic Publishing

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Books by Shaman, Jeffrey M.