Volume 109 / Issue 5

A Clash of Constitutional Covenants: Reconciling State Sovereign Immunity and Just Compensation

When two bedrock constitutional guarantees come in conflict, which one prevails? This Note explores the clash between state sovereign immunity and the right to just compensation in inverse condemnation actions. When a state physically invades …

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Volume 109 / Issue 5

Second-Order Decisions in Rights Conflicts

How should judges decide hard cases involving rights conflicts? Standard debates about how to answer this question are usually framed in jurisprudential terms. Legal positivists claim that the law is sufficiently “open textured” that it will not …

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Volume 109 / Issue 5

The New Major Questions Doctrine

This Article critically analyzes significant recent developments in the major questions doctrine. It highlights important shifts in what role the “majorness” of an agency policy plays in statutory interpretation, as well as changes in how the Court …

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Volume 109

Catalyzing Judicial Federalism

In response to a U.S. Supreme Court that is retrenching many important civil rights, some advocates are turning to state courts and constitutions as alternative means of protection. The Court’s regression follows a recent ideological change, a …

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Volume 109

Chronic Nuisance Ordinances, Impossible Choices, and State Constitutions

When Lakisha Briggs’s partner attacked her in April 2012, her daughter called the police. Their response ensured that neither Ms. Briggs nor her daughter would ever take that risk again. Once officers arrived at Ms. Briggs’s home, they told her …

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ONLINE EDITION

Catalyzing Judicial Federalism

In response to a U.S. Supreme Court that is retrenching many important civil rights, some advocates are turning to state courts and constitutions as alternative means of protection. The Court’s regression follows a recent ideological change, a …

By Adam B. Sopko
109 Va. L. Rev. Online 144

Chronic Nuisance Ordinances, Impossible Choices, and State Constitutions

When Lakisha Briggs’s partner attacked her in April 2012, her daughter called the police. Their response ensured that neither Ms. Briggs nor her daughter would ever take that risk again. Once officers arrived at Ms. Briggs’s home, they told her …

By Sean Gray
109 Va. L. Rev. Online 124

The Animal Crushing Offense Loophole

The Preventing Animal Cruelty and Torture (“PACT”) Act of 2019 established the first federal criminal penalties targeting the most extreme forms of animal abuse. Hailed by humane groups as a watershed moment in the development of animal welfare law, …

By Ben Buell
109 Va. L. Rev. Online 99
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