Constitutional Commentary was founded in 1984 and is one of the few faculty-edited law journals in the country. It enjoys a wide following among legal scholars, historians, political scientists and others interested in constitutional law and history. Part of its popularity is due to the editors’ preference for “shorter and less ponderous articles” as opposed to the more lengthy and heavily footnoted articles found in traditional law reviews.

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Submissions from 1999

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The Oxymoron Reconsidered: Myth and Reality in the Origins of Substantive Due Process, James W. Ely Jr.

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Shocking the Conscience: Pragmatism, Moral Reasoning, and the Judiciary. Book Review of the Problematics of Moral and Legal Theory. by Richard A. Posner, Daniel A. Farber

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The Trouble with Tarble's: An Excerpt from an Alternative Casebook, Daniel A. Farber

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Would You, Could You, Change a Thing?, Barry Friedman

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Civil Liberties During War: History's Institutional Lessons. Book Review Of: All the Laws but One: Civil Liberties in Wartime. by William H. Rehnquist, Margaret A. Garvin

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Book Review: Grand Inquests: The Historic Impeachments of Justice Samuel Chase and President Andrew Johnson. by William H. Rehnquist, Michael J. Gerhardt

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Hey, Christians, Leave Your Kids Alone! a Review Essay Of: Religious Schools V. Children's Rights. by James G. Dwyer, Stephen G. Gilles

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Law and Sports Officiating: A Misunderstood and Justly Neglected Relationship, Mark A. Graber

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Farewell Madison Avenue, Marci A. Hamilton

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The Akhil Reed Amar Bill of Rights. Review Essay of : The Bill of Rights: Creation and Reconstruction. by Akhil Reed Amar, Edward A. Hartnett

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The Second Amendment in Historical Context, Don Higginbotham

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The School Prayer Decisions, William P. Marshall

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Justice Without Justices, John O. McGinnis

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What If ... Buckley Were Overturned?, Alan B. Morrison

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Pickup Basketball, Peter L. Olson

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Did Sir Edward Coke Mean What He Said?, John V. Orth

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Nonjudicial Constitutional Interpretation, Authoritative Settlement, and a New Agenda for Research, Bruce G. Peabody

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So Help Me God: Religion and Presidential Oath-Taking, James E. Pfander

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The Myth of Superiority, William B. Rubenstein

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If the States Had Been Sovereign, Edward L. Rubin

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Must Joe Robinson Die?: Reflections on the 'Success' of Court Packing, Robert A. Schapiro

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5 U.S. (1 Cranch) 137, 175, Eric J. Segall

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To Keep and Bear Arms in the Early Republic, Robert E. Shalhope

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Plus Ìàa Change ... or If Hard Cases Make Bad Law, What Do Bad Cases Make?, Suzanna Sherry

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The Trial of Charles 1: A Sesquitricentennial Reflection, Louis J. Sirico Jr.

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Commas, Constitutional Grammar, and the Straight-Face Test: What If Conan the Grammarian Were a Strict Textualist?, Peter Jeremy Smith

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The Remand that Made the Court Expand, Maxwell L. Stearns

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The Future of an Illusion: Reconstituting Planned Parenthood V. Casey, Nadine Strossen and Ronald K. L. Collins

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Two Phone Calls, Cass R. Sunstein

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Book Review: Cardozo. by Andrew L. Kaufman, Lynn D. Wardle

Submissions from 1998

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Impeachment and Accountability: The Case of the First Lady, Michael J. Broyde and Robert A. Schapiro

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A Very New Lawyer's First Case: Brown V. Board of Education., John J. Cound

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Book Review: Separating Powers: Essays on the Founding Period. by Gerhard Casper., Robert J. Delahunty

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The First Amendment Freedoms, Civil Peace and the Quest for Truth, Murray Dry

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If at First You Don't Succeed, Ignore the Question Next Time? Group Harm in Brown V. Board of Education and Loving V. Virginia, John Hart Ely

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Book Review: Free Speech in Its Forgotten Years. by David M. Rabban, Daniel A. Farber

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Book Review: The Constitution in Congress: The Federalist Period, 1789-1801. by David P. Currie, John Harrison

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A "Uniform and Entire" Constitution; Or, What If Madison Had Won?, Edward A. Hartnett

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Truth or Consequences? the Inadequacy of Consequentialist Arguments Against Multicultural Relativism: A Review Essay Of: Beyond All Reason: The Radical Assault on Truth in American Law. by Daniel Farber & Suzanna Sherry., Roderick M. Hills Jr.

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Coeur D’Alene, Federal Courts and the Supremacy of Federal Law: The Competing Paradigms of Chief Justices Marshall and Rehnquist, Vicki C. Jackson

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Commandeering, the Tenth Amendment, and the Federal Requisition Power: New York V. United States Revisited, Erik M. Jensen and Jonathan L. Entin

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Inculcating Constitutional Values: A Review Essay Of: Constitutional Law. by Gerald Gunther & Kathleen M. Sullivan and Constitutional Law. by Geoffrey R. Stone, Louis M. Seidman, Cass R. Sunstein, & Mark V. Tushnet., William K. Kelley

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Unenumerated Constitutional Rights and Unenumerated Biblical Obligations: A Preliminary Study in Comparative Hermeneutics, Samuel J. Levine

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The Ten Commandments in Alabama, Steven Lubet

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The Most-Cited Federalist Papers, Ira C. Lupu

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Another Chat with the Lady in the Grocery Line: Clinton V. Jones, John B. Mitchell

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Where, but for the Grace of God, Goes He? The Search for Empathy in the Criminal Jurisprudence of Clarence Thomas, Eric L. Muller

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Ackermania or Uncomfortable Truths?: Review Essay Of: We the People: Transformations. by Bruce Akerman, L. A. Scot Powe

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Unoriginalism's Law Without Meaning. Review Essay Of: Original Meanings: Politics and Ideas in the Making of the Constitution. by Jack N. Rakove, Saikrishna B. Prakash

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The Chemical Weapons Convention: Political and Constitutional Issues., Ronald D. Rotunda

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A Century Lost: The End of the Originalism Debate, Eric J. Segall

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Ducking Dred Scott: A Response to Alexander and Schauer., Emily Sherwin

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Is a Coherent Theory of Religious Freedom Possible?, Steven D. Smith

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Diversity and Meritocracy in Legal Education: A Critical Evaluation of Linda F. Wightman's "The Threat to Diversity in Legal Education"., Stephan Thernstrom

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Through a Different Lens: A Reply to Stephan Thernstrom., Linda F. Wightman

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The New Sovereignty and the Old Constitution: The Chemical Weapons Convention and the Appointments Clause., John C. Yoo

Submissions from 1997

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Discrimination by Proxy., Larry Alexander and Kevin Cole

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Democracy as Meaningful Conversation., Robert W. Bennett

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The World War Ii German Saboteurs' Case and Writs of Certiorari Before Judgment by the Court of Appeals: A Tale of Nunc Pro Tunc Jurisdiction., Boris I. Bittker

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Campaign Finance, the Parties and the Court: A Comment on Colorado Republican Federal Campaign Committee V. Federal Elections Commission., Richard Briffault

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The Concept of Corruption in Campaign Finance Law., Thomas F. Burke

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Book Review: American Constitutionalism: from Theory to Politics. by Stephen M. Griffin., Daniel O. Conkle

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Review Essay: Interpretation and Philosophy: Dworkin's Constitution., Edward B. Foley

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Types., Charles Fried

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Musings on a Constitutional Mystery: Missing Presidents and "Headless Monsters"?, Scott E. Gant and Bruce G. Peabody

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Desperately Ducking Slavery: Dred Scott and Contemporary Constitutional Theory., Mark A. Graber

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Legal Liberalism at Yale: A Review Essay of the Strange Career of Legal Liberalism. by Laura Kalman., Stephen M. Griffin

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The Legislative Veto in Times of Political Reversal: Chadha and the 104th Congress., Michael Herz

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Book Review: Religion in Public Life: A Dilemma for Democracy. Ronald F. Thiemann., Scott C. Idleman

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Book Review: Foreordained Failure: The Quest for a Constitutional Principle of Religious Freedom. by Steven D. Smith., Steffen N. Johnson

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The Supreme Court's Approach to the First Amendment in Cyberspace: Free Speech as Technology's Hand-Maiden., Mark S. Kende

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Book Review: Justice in Immigration. Edited by Warren F. Schwartz., Hiroshi Motomura

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The Global Dimension of RFRA., Gerald L. Neuman

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Taking from a and Giving to B: Substantive Due Process and the Case of the Shifting Paradigm., John V. Orth

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Counting Heads on RFRA., Michael Stokes Paulsen

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Book Review: to Secure These Rights: The Declaration of Independence and Constitutional Interpretation. by Scott Douglas Gerber., Stephen B. Presser

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Book Review: The Federal Impeachment Process: A Constitutional and Historical Analysis. by Michael J. Gerhardt., Frederick Schauer

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RFRA-Vote Gambling: Why Paulsen Is Wrong, as Usual., Suzanna Sherry

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A Colloquy with Jack Greenberg About Brown: Experiences and Reflections., Richard Sobel

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Book Review: Securing Religious Liberty: Principles for Judicial Interpretation of the Religion Clauses. by Jesse H. Choper., J. Matthew Szymanski and Stephen M. Clarke

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Book Review: Explicit & Authentic Acts. by David Kyvig., John Vile

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Cousin Humphrey, Ruth Wedgwood

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Review Essay: Who's Afraid of Henry Hart?, Michael Wells

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Book Review: Learned Hand: The Man and the Judge. by Gerald Gunther., John Wertheimer

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Book Review: The Constitution and Criminal Procedure: First Principles. by Akhil Reed Amar., Ronald F. Wright

Submissions from 1996

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Jurisprudence Without Moral Consensus: Constitutional Arguments in IDD for Driving on the Right or Left Side of the Road., Nathan A. Adams IV

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Are Smith and Hialeah Reconcilable?, Larry Alexander

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Banning Hate Speech and the Sticks and Stones Defense., Larry Alexander

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Constitutional Wish Granting and the Property Rights Genie., Alan E. Brownstein

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Albion Tourgì©E: Remembering Plessy's Lawyer on the 100th Anniversary of Plessy V. Ferguson., Michael Kent Curtis

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The Attorney General's First Separation of Powers Opinion., Walter Dellinger and H. Jefferson Powell

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Book Review: Executive Privilege: The Dilemma of Secrecy and Democratic Accountability. by Mark J. Rozell., Viet D. Dinh

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The Pariah Principle., Daniel A. Farber and Suzanna Sherry

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Conflicting Representations: Lani Guinier and James Madison on Electoral Systems., Mark A. Graber

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Book Review: Responding to Imperfection: The Theory and Practice of Constitutional Amendment. Edited by Sanford Levinson., Eric Grant

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Equality, Race Discrimination, and the Fourteenth Amendment., John Harrison

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The Political Implications of Amending Clauses., Sanford Levinson

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Anecdotage., Leonard W. Levy

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Originalism and the Desegregation Decisions-A Response to Professor Mcconnell., Earl M. Maltz

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Segregation and the Original Understanding: A Reply to Professor Maltz., Michael W. McConnell