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8.19.2006
As I Implied in the Post Below
I have taken some notes on what has happened in the time elapsed between the previous 3 posts or so, but they are in the car so I will not share them now. The time will come at some point.
For now, I will briefly share that I spent Thursday and Friday in Law Review orientation, thinking of writing topics, learning some cite-checking techniques, and otherwise becoming acquainted with the LR process. Yesterday I got my third floor cubicle and in two weeks I have to submit a thesis. I am leaning toward either (1) a much more rigorous version of the paper I wrote for ConLaw at Carletong, attempting to set forth a more objective test for determining the constitutionality of religious displays on public property than former Justice O'Connor's reasonable person endorsement test, or (2) if I can swing the arguments, demonstrating that even if the recent same-sex marriage decision handed down by the 8th Circuit was properly evaluated at a rational basis (about the lowest) level of scrutiny, there is no rational basis for the decision. This would be very difficult given the language surrounding rational basis analysis, as my burden would be basically mathematically impossible (which means that I will try to find some statutes that have been struck down under rational basis analysis and see how they swung it).
Also I should mention that the director of the Honors Program just released the information yesterday that, during Spring Semester, a (significant enough) group of us (that I will likely be included regardless of registration process) will have the opportunity to head down to DC, meet Justice Alito, sit in on Supreme Court arguments, and meet some attorneys from the Justice Department and private firms that argue in front of the Supreme Court. Whatever tier U.S. News claims my school falls within, the school treats us right.
Hmm that does it for now. Time for the triumphant return to Johnny B's!
For now, I will briefly share that I spent Thursday and Friday in Law Review orientation, thinking of writing topics, learning some cite-checking techniques, and otherwise becoming acquainted with the LR process. Yesterday I got my third floor cubicle and in two weeks I have to submit a thesis. I am leaning toward either (1) a much more rigorous version of the paper I wrote for ConLaw at Carletong, attempting to set forth a more objective test for determining the constitutionality of religious displays on public property than former Justice O'Connor's reasonable person endorsement test, or (2) if I can swing the arguments, demonstrating that even if the recent same-sex marriage decision handed down by the 8th Circuit was properly evaluated at a rational basis (about the lowest) level of scrutiny, there is no rational basis for the decision. This would be very difficult given the language surrounding rational basis analysis, as my burden would be basically mathematically impossible (which means that I will try to find some statutes that have been struck down under rational basis analysis and see how they swung it).
Also I should mention that the director of the Honors Program just released the information yesterday that, during Spring Semester, a (significant enough) group of us (that I will likely be included regardless of registration process) will have the opportunity to head down to DC, meet Justice Alito, sit in on Supreme Court arguments, and meet some attorneys from the Justice Department and private firms that argue in front of the Supreme Court. Whatever tier U.S. News claims my school falls within, the school treats us right.
Hmm that does it for now. Time for the triumphant return to Johnny B's!
posted by Max Greene at 10:03 AM
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1 Comments:
That sounds like a cool trip! I'm jealous!
As for rational basis and gay marriage, our supreme court here in Washington (which is probably not noted for rigorous constitutional analysis) just upheld our Defense of Marriage act using that test. You might look at the case (Andersen et al. v. King County et al., on courts.wa.gov), and perhaps its dissents, for some debate over rational basis. Also, I remember in Linda Greenhouse's book about Justice Blackmun, she has a chapter about cases during his tenure on sex discrimination, and rational basis was used to strike down some of those laws (even if a more rigorous level of scrutiny might have been applied). If you look up those cases, that might be another starting point. I think Ginsburg was even a lawyer for the "liberal" side in several of them.
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