Constitutional Law

Constitutional Courts vs. Supreme Courts: Two Models of Constitutional Review When people hear the terms constitutional court and supreme court, they often assume they describe the same institution. They do not. A constitutional court is generally a specialized judicial body whose principal responsibility is to determine whether laws, governmental acts, Read more

Constitutional Law and the Electoral Process The electoral process is one of the principal mechanisms through which constitutional democracy operates. Elections determine who will exercise public power, but the process itself is governed by constitutional rules concerning voting rights, representation, candidacy, political expression, election administration, federalism, and judicial review. In Read more

Constitutional Protection of Elections and Democracy Elections are the mechanism through which citizens participate directly in representative government. They determine who exercises legislative and executive power, allow citizens to replace public officials, and provide the central democratic connection between the people and their government. But the United States Constitution does Read more

Federalism in Practice: Who Has the Power? One of the most important questions in American constitutional law is deceptively simple: Who has the power to do this? Can Congress regulate it?Can a state regulate it?Can both?Can the federal government prohibit a state from doing something?Can a state refuse to participate Read more

The Supremacy Clause and Federal Constitutional Hierarchy The Supremacy Clause is one of the central structural provisions of the United States Constitution. Found in Article VI, Clause 2, it establishes that the Constitution, valid federal laws enacted pursuant to it, and treaties made under federal authority constitute the supreme Law Read more

Constitutional Conventions and Unwritten Constitutional Rules Constitutional conventions are established political practices and understandings that govern how constitutional institutions are expected to exercise their powers, even though those practices may not be written into a legally enforceable constitutional text. Unwritten constitutional rules can influence how governments form, how officials exercise Read more

The Counter-Majoritarian Difficulty: Why Unelected Courts Can Override Democratic Decisions The counter-majoritarian difficulty is the constitutional and philosophical problem created when courts invalidate laws or government actions adopted by democratically elected institutions. The difficulty is straightforward: in a democracy, political decisions are ordinarily made by representatives chosen by the people, Read more

Judicial Restraint, Judicial Activism, and the Proper Role of Courts Judicial restraint and judicial activism describe competing approaches to the exercise of judicial power. Judicial restraint generally emphasizes limited judicial intervention, respect for precedent, constitutional text and structure, and deference to the elected branches when the Constitution does not clearly Read more

Constitutional Avoidance and Constitutional Interpretation: How Courts Read the Constitution Without Going Too Far Constitutional interpretation is the process through which courts determine the meaning of constitutional provisions and apply them to concrete legal disputes. Constitutional avoidance is a related but distinct principle: when a case can reasonably be resolved Read more