US Supreme Court Doctrine in the State High Courts challenges theoretical and empirical accounts about how state high courts use US Supreme Court doctrine and precedent. Michael Fix and Benjamin Kassow argue that theories that do not account for the full range of ways in which state high courts can act are, by definition, incomplete. Examining three important precedents - Atkins v. Virginia, Lemon v. Kurtzman, and DC v. Heller/McDonald v. Chicago - Fix and Kassow find that state high courts commonly ignore Supreme Court precedent for reasons of political ideology, path dependence, and fact patterns in cases that may be of varying similarity to those found in relevant US Supreme Court doctrine. This work, which provides an important addition to the scholarly literature on the impact of Supreme Court decisions, should be read by anyone interested in law and politics or traditional approaches to the study of legal decision-making.

The fight of my life... For the first time, a blistering, highly charged account from the man known as 'Marine A' who was at the centre of the controversial murder of a wounded Taliban fighter. His case led to an unprecedented wave of public support which raised over GBP800,000 to fund his appeal. The nerve-shredding situations Sgt. Blackman operated within, under sustained attack for long periods, living in the unrelenting horror of a theatre of war, took their toll mentally and physically. 'This book chronicles my young life, my recruitment and training, my first deployments, and then my experiences in the Middle East, where I fought first in Iraq, and later completed two tours of duty in Helmand, Afghanistan - before finally confronting the final moment of my 2011 tour, and the killing of the Afghan insurgent which led to my conviction for murder. 'I confront this moment in a spirit of total honesty, chronicling the weeks and months of a hellish tour that led up to it, the mental frailties the tour exposed - and, without seeking to make excuses, reclaim at least some of that experience for myself. 'This is a searingly honest look at the brutal realities of life in the military.'

Who governs Britain? Is Parliament sovereign? Who chooses the Prime Minister? And who enforces the rules? The United Kingdom is in the throes of political and constitutional conflict. Tensions between different Westminster and Holyrood, and between the UK and the European Union, are part of a wider picture of constitutional flux. The United Kingdom is one of only three nations that does not have the principal provisions of the organs of state, nor is how they relate to one another and to the citizen embodied in a single document. Devolution and Brexit have given rise to calls for a codified constitution, but the debate has taken place against a background of confusion and uncertainty as to existing constitutional arrangements. We must first understand what already exists and how our constitution works today. This deeply informed and elegantly written book addresses the problems that have arisen in the context of the greatest political crisis our country has faced in decades. -- .

The European Union is a supranational organisation with a set of circumscribed powers. Although these powers do not include an all-encompassing fundamental rights' mandate, today's existential challenges - from economic to refugee crisis, via concerns for compliance with the rule of law in some of its Member States - increase the pressure on the EU to develop tools for protection and promotion of such rights. One way of addressing the tension between the lack of a general mandate and vivid calls for protection is for the EU to focus on selected fundamental rights which it has competence to regulate. One such example is EU law on the fundamental right to equal treatment that has blossomed since the late 1990s. In developing selected fundamental right policies that can be imposed on domestic actors, as EU law does, supranational intervention needs to be carefully tailored to the plural landscape where they are intended to flourish. This monograph calls for a nuanced use of the infrastructure of EU law to convey shared values at domestic level across Europe.

This volume deals with the law governing the administrative implementation of European Union public policy. Much of this law is specific to individual policy sectors. The volume provides a study of such specialized admininstrative law for more than twenty sectors. This cross-sectoral approach allows for detailed comparisons of EU administration in diverse policy fields. It identifies situations where legal structures and approaches may be unnecessarily duplicated, thus indicating where a comprehensive, general system could be advantageous for both Union law and policy achievement. The comparative nature of the study also draws attention to policy fields which have proven to be testing grounds for approaches adopted subsequently in other areas. In addition, the work highlights the distinctive, highly networked, and strongly cooperative character of EU administration, as a reflection of, and a foundation for, the operative nature of the European Union as a whole.

This edited collection provides a comprehensive, insightful, and detailed study of a vital area of public policy debate as it is currently occurring in countries across the world from India to South Africa and the United Kingdom to Australia. Bringing together academics and experts from a variety of jurisdictions, it reflects upon the impact on human rights of the application of more than a decade of the "War on Terror" as enunciated soon after 9/11. The volume identifies and critically examines the principal and enduring resonances of the concept of the "War on Terror". The examination covers not only the obvious impacts but also the more insidious and enduring changes within domestic laws. The rationale for this collection is therefore not just to plot how the "War on Terror" has operated within the folds of the cloak of liberal democracy, but how they render that cloak ragged, especially in the sight of those sections of society who pay the heaviest price in terms of their human rights. This book engages with the public policy strand of the last decade that has arguably most shaped perceptions of human rights and engendered debates about their worth and meaning. It will be of interest to researchers, academics, practitioners, and students in the fields of human rights law, criminal justice, criminology, politics, and international studies.

What explains the explosive growth of school vouchers in the last two decades? In America's Voucher Politics, Ursula Hackett shows that the voucher movement is rooted in America's foundational struggles over religion, race, and the role of government versus the private sector. Drawing upon original datasets, archival materials, and more than one hundred interviews, Hackett shows that policymakers and political advocates use strategic policy design and rhetoric to hide the role of the state when their policy goals become legally controversial. For over sixty years of voucher litigation, white supremacists, accommodationists, and individualists have deployed this strategy of attenuated governance in court. By learning from previous mistakes and anticipating downstream effects, policymakers can avoid painful defeats, gain a secure legal footing, and entrench their policy commitments despite the surging power of rivals. An ideal case study, education policy reflects multiple axes of conflict in American politics and demonstrates how policy learning unfolds over time.

From "the most important voice to have entered the political discourse in years" (Bill Moyers) and the journalist who broke the story on NSA spying programs comes a scathing critique of the two-tiered system of justice that has emerged in America

From the nation's beginnings, the law was to be the great equalizer in American life, the guarantor of a common set of rules for all. But over the past four decades, the principle of equality before the law has been effectively abolished. Instead, a two-tiered system of justice ensures that the country's political and financial class is virtually immune from prosecution, licensed to act without restraint, while the politically powerless are imprisoned with greater ease and in greater numbers than in any other country in the world.

Starting with Watergate, continuing on through the Iran-Contra scandal, and culminating with Obama's shielding of Bush-era officials from prosecution, Glenn Greenwald lays bare the mechanisms that have come to shield the elite from accountability. He shows how the media, both political parties, and the courts have abetted a process that has produced torture, war crimes, domestic spying by the NSA, and financial fraud.

Cogent, sharp, and urgent, this is a no-holds-barred indictment of a profoundly un-American system that sanctions immunity at the top and mercilessness for everyone else.

About this Publication: Human Dignity: Lodestar for Equality in South Africa provides an in-depth analysis of human dignity and its relationship to equality in South African law. The author argues that human dignity is the attributive key that unlocks the constitutional meaning of equality and unfair discrimination. Equality cannot be usefully debated without first asking the vital question 'Equality of what?' The answer, it is contended, must be 'human dignity'. The philosophical and Abrahamic religious roots of these constitutional concepts of dignity and equality are investigated, then further explored and illustrated in the comparative context of South African, German and Canadian constitutional jurisprudence. Clashes and tensions between rights inevitably occur when the equality and non-discrimination rights of a Bill of Rights are applied horizontally, that is between subjects of the state themselves. The human dignity of the contestants plays a vital role in resolving such tensions and conflicts. Human dignity moreover has a determining function when applying constitutionally mandated restitutionary (compensatory) equality and when determining what the legitimate extent and duration of such restitution is. These issues are also considered in a comparative constitutional context. Peer Reviews: 'Retired Justice Laurie Ackermann was one of the giants of the "Mandela Constitutional Court" appointed in 1994. His new book on human dignity matches the weight and the profundity of his judicial writing on the subject. It is an authoritative, lawyerly and commanding exposition of the value that is the key to South Africa's constitutional future-the dignity of all its peoples.' Justice Edwin Cameron, Justice of the Constitutional Court of South Africa 'In this work, the claim that it is the inherent dignity and worth of every human person that must inform the interpretation and enforcement of the constitutional right to equality is backed up, inter alia, by a useful exposition of the Kantian concept of dignity and an illuminating and context-sensitive engagement with comparative constitutional law. The author's argument is systematically developed within a range of contexts, including anti-discrimination law, disputes over the scope and limits of measures designed to remedy past injustices, and conflicts over the appropriate balance between equality and freedom in cases involving the horizontal application of the Bill of Rights. Throughout, the author presents a well-argued and robust defence of a constitutional vision which places the dignity of the individual at the heart of the Constitution's transformative project. This is an important contribution which is certain to stimulate further analysis and debate.' - Prof Henk Botha, University of Stellenbosch Law Faculty 'The most systematic, theoretically rich, and intellectually provocative treatment in the academic literature to date on the subject of human dignity in South Africa's evolving equality jurisprudence.' Prof Sandra Liebenberg, HF Oppenheimer Professor of Human Rights Law, University of Stellenbosch Law Faculty

This book explores the implications of freedom as a non-domination-oriented view for understanding EU security regulation and its constitutional implications. At a time when the European borders are under pressure and with the refugee and migration crisis, which escalated in 2015, the idea of exploring a constitutional theory for the 'Area of Freedom, Security and Justice' (AFSJ) might seem to be a utopian project. This appears especially true in the light of the increased threat of terrorism in Europe (and on a global scale) and where the expanding EU security agenda is often advanced through the administrative law path, in contrast to the constitutional trajectory. Add to this the prolonged financial crisis, which continues to cast a long shadow on the future development of EU integration, and which suggests that Europe needs to 're-invent itself' beyond the sphere of economics. Therefore, it is precisely because of the current uncertainties regarding the progress of the EU and the constitutional law project that a constitutional take on the AFSJ is of particular importance. The book investigates the meaning of non-domination and the idea of justice and justification in the area of EU security regulation. In doing so, it focuses on the development of an AFSJ, what it means, and why it represents a fascinating example of contemporary constitutional law with interacting layers of security regulation, human rights law and transnational legal theory at its core.

This book compares and contrasts the administration of the Post-9/11 Veterans Educational Assistance Act of 2008 enacted as Title V of the Supplemental Appropriations Act, 2008 and Federal Pell Grants, as authorized by Title IV-A-1 of the Higher Education Act (HEA). The Post-9/11 GI Bill provides educational assistance payments to eligible servicemembers and veterans, and their dependents. One of its primary objectives is readjustment of veterans to civilian life and the workforce. The federal Pell Grant program provides grant aid payments to eligible and financially needy undergraduate students, regardless of military service record. One of its primary objectives is to increase postsecondary education access of low-income individuals. This book investigates whether the administrative processes supporting Pell Grants can provide lessons for achieving more timely, efficient, and student-friendly administration of the Post-9/11 GI Bill, thus ensuring that it achieves its policy objectives with respect to educational achievement of the target population. Furthermore, the book examines the extent of overpayments made in the Post-9/11 GI Bill; how effectively VA has addressed their causes; and the effectiveness of VAs collection efforts.

This book explores new thinking on constitutionalism, governance and regulation. This new thinking is emerging against the backdrop of constitutional restructuring in the UK and elsewhere as well as in the context of European Union developments. There are important issues emerging about regulation and democracy in all the other various sites of power - the European post-state arrangements, the "nation" state in its splintering forms, regions and cities, public and private space, the economy and the corporate world, and both formal and informal politics. This book seeks to engage with many of these.

The focus of the work is beyond the formal agenda of reform, looking instead at how ideas of constitutionalism and governance are undergoing a transformation and being expanded beyond traditional notions of the control of government and the liberal project of translating universal principles into common standards for the establishment of agreed functional institutions. The book brings together a number of authors who have, through their work, attempted to understand the multiple meanings of such changes for the future of constitutionalism and governance. In an environment of rapid change to formal constitutions, of new voices entering the continuing dialoge about constitutionalism and governance, these essays aim to recognize the complexity and fragmentation typical of modern times and emphasize the multi-layered nature and future development of cosmopolitan governance.

What does it mean for education to be a fundamental right, and how may children benefit from it? Surprisingly, even when the right to education was added to the Indian Constitution as Article 21A, this question received barely any attention. This book identifies justiciability (or, more broadly, enforceability) as the most important feature of Article 21A, meaning that children and their parents must be provided with means to effectively claim their right from the state. Otherwise, it would remain a "right" only on paper. The book highlights how lack of access to the Indian judiciary means that the constitutional promise of justiciability is unfulfilled, particularly so because the poor, who cannot afford quality private education for their children, must be the main beneficiaries of the right. It then deals with possible alternative means the state may provide for the poor to claim the benefits under Article 21A, and identifies the grievance redress mechanism created by the Right to Education Act as a potential system of enforcement. Even though this system is found to be deficient, the book concludes with an optimistic outlook, hoping that rights advocates may, in the future, focus on improving such mechanisms for legal empowerment.

The world has undergone a revolution in assisted reproduction, as processes such as in vitro fertilization, embryonic screening, and surrogacy have become commonplace. Yet when governments attempt to regulate this field, they have not always been successful. Canada is a case in point: six years after the federal government created comprehensive legislation, the Supreme Court of Canada struck it down for violating provincial authority over health. In Assisted Reproduction Policy in Canada, Dave Snow provides the first historical exploration of Canadian assisted reproduction policy, from the 1989 creation of the Royal Commission on New Reproductive Technologies to the present day. Snow argues the federal government's policy failure can be traced to its contradictory "policy framing," which sent mixed messages about the purposes of the legislation. In light of the federal government's diminished role, Snow examines how other institutions have made policy in this emerging field. Snow finds provincial governments, medical organizations, and even courts have engaged in considerable policymaking, particularly with respect to surrogacy, parentage, and clinical intervention. The result-a complex field of overlapping and often conflicting policies-paints a fascinating portrait of different political actors and institutions working together. Accessibly written yet comprehensive in scope, Assisted Reproduction Policy in Canada highlights how paying attention to multiple policymakers can improve our knowledge of health care regulation.

For all the diversity of views within the animal protection movement, there is a surprising consensus about the need for more severe criminal justice interventions against animal abusers. More prosecutions and longer sentences, it is argued, will advance the status of animals in law and society. Breaking from this mold, Professor Justin Marceau demonstrates that a focus on 'carceral animal law' puts the animal rights movement at odds with other social justice movements, and may be bad for humans and animals alike. Animal protection efforts need to move beyond cages and towards systemic solutions if the movement hopes to be true to its own defining ethos of increased empathy and resistance to social oppression. Providing new insights into how the lessons of criminal justice reform should be imported into the animal abuse context, Beyond Cages is a valuable contribution to the literature on animal welfare and animal rights law.

Each year, a number of youth who migrate alone and clandestinely from China to the United States are apprehended, placed in removal proceedings, and designated as unaccompanied minors. These young migrants represent only a fraction of all unaccompanied minors in the US, yet they are in many ways depicted as a preeminent professional and moral cause by immigration advocates. In and beyond the legal realm, the figure of the ""vulnerable Chinese child"" powerfully legitimates legal claims and attorneys' efforts. At the same time, the transnational ambitions and obligations of Chinese youth implicitly unsettle this figure. Youths' maneuvers not only belie attorneys' reliance on racialized discourses of childhood and the Chinese family, but they also reveal more broad uncertainties around legal frameworks, institutional practices, health and labor rights-and cause lawyering itself. Based on three years of fieldwork across the United States, Lawyering an Uncertain Cause is a novel study of the complex and often contradictory rights, responsibilities, and expectations that motivate global youth and the American attorneys who work on their behalf.

Eminent scholar Saikrishna Prakash offers the first truly comprehensive study of the original American presidency. Drawing from a vast range of sources both well known and obscure, this volume reconstructs the powers and duties of the nation's chief executive at the Constitution's founding. Among other subjects, Prakash examines the term and structure of the office of the president, as well as the president's power as constitutional executor of the law, authority in foreign policy, role as commander in chief, level of control during emergencies, and relationship with the Congress, the courts, and the states. This ambitious and even-handed analysis counters numerous misconceptions about the presidency and fairly demonstrates that the office was seen as monarchical from its inception.

(B)ordering Britain argues that Britain is the spoils of empire, its immigration law is colonial violence and irregular immigration is anti-colonial resistance. In announcing itself as postcolonial through immigration and nationality laws passed in the 60s, 70s and 80s, Britain cut itself off symbolically and physically from its colonies and the Commonwealth, taking with it what it had plundered. This imperial vanishing act cast Britain's colonial history into the shadows. The British Empire, about which Britons know little, can be remembered fondly as a moment of past glory, as a gift once given to the world. Meanwhile immigration laws are justified on the basis that they keep the undeserving hordes out. In fact, immigration laws are acts of colonial seizure and violence. They obstruct the vast majority of racialised people from accessing colonial wealth amassed in the course of colonial conquest. Regardless of what the law, media and political discourse dictate, people with personal, ancestral or geographical links to colonialism, or those existing under the weight of its legacy of race and racism, have every right to come to Britain and take back what is theirs. -- .

During the last 50 years interest in human rights has grown dramatically. Whilst newspapers focus mainly on dramatic issues: unlawful killing, torture, disappearances, or violations of freedom of speech; institutions charged with the implementation of human rights (as set out in international conventions and covenants) most frequently deal with allegations of human rights violations during criminal proceedings. The increasing internationalization of the administration of criminal law means that such cases are likely to become ever more important. In this book, the case-law of the international bodies dealing with such cases is presented and critically examined by an author who has contributed to its creation for almost a quarter of a century. The European Commission and European Court of Human Rights, in particular, have accumulated a considerable quantity of case-law, which is particularly interesting because it is intended to be valid in both Anglo-Saxon and Continental systems of criminal procedure.The law of the European Convention is emphasized because of its advanced procedures and the quality and quantity of its case-law. The book will be of interest to all scholars, practitioners, and students of international criminal law.

Border enforcement is a core element of the Department of Homeland Security's effort to control unauthorised migration, with the U.S. Border Patrol (USBP) within the U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) as the lead agency along most of the border. Border enforcement has been an ongoing subject of congressional interest since the 1970s, when illegal immigration to the United States first registered as a serious national problem; and border security has received additional attention in the years since the terrorist attacks of 2001. This book reviews efforts to combat unauthorised migration across the Southwest border in the nearly three decades since IRCA initiated the modern era in migration control. In reviewing such efforts, the book takes stock of the current state of border security and considers lessons that may be learned about enhanced enforcement at U.S. borders. Furthermore, the title discusses key statutory authorities and requirements governing DHS's construction of barriers along the U.S. borders. It also includes appendixes listing federal laws that have been waived by DHS in furtherance of border construction projects.

Constitutional Amendments: Making, Breaking, and Changing Constitutions is both a roadmap for navigating the intellectual universe of constitutional amendments and a blueprint for building and improving the rules of constitutional change. Drawing from dozens of constitutions in every region of the world, this book blends theory with practice to answer two all-important questions: what is an amendment and how should constitutional designers structure the procedures of constitutional change? The first matters now more than ever. Reformers are exploiting the rules of constitutional amendment, testing the limits of legal constraint, undermining the norms of democratic government, and flouting the constitution as written to create entirely new constitutions that masquerade as ordinary amendments. The second question is central to the performance and endurance of constitutions. Constitutional designers today have virtually no resources to guide them in constructing the rules of amendment, and scholars do not have a clear portrait of the significance of amendment rules in the project of constitutionalism. This book shows that no part of a constitution is more important than the procedures we use change it. Amendment rules open a window into the soul of a constitution, exposing its deepest vulnerabilities and revealing its greatest strengths. The codification of amendment rules often at the end of the text proves that last is not always least.