Browse Items (8 total)

The Supreme Court has recently caused controversy by citing international legal authorities in decisions that interpret the United States Constitution. Many commentators have claimed that this is a new development, but they overlook a significant…

Late last year Scalia told an audience at Catholic University that it is “absolutely plain there is no constitutional right to die.” It’s not that judge should keep their opinions to themselves; they should keep their minds open. A judge should truly…

Independent state constitutionalism is a venerable tradition in New York. Safeguarding fundamental rights and liberties based on New York law–regardless of the federal law–is at least as old as the state’s highest tribunal. Currently, with William H.…

This essay demonstrates how the the development of the law of religious freedom in the United States helps to define the nation's history. Professor Bonventre uses religious liberty as a perspective from which to view America's history generally.…

The inaugural State Constitutional Law Review triggered considerable reaction. Some in high places, including current and former members of the Court, were quite upset. They apparently took offense at the author’s observations that the Court under…

New York has a long and proud tradition of state constitutionalism. With state constitutional law enjoying a “renaissance” throughout the nation in response to the retrenchment in civil rights and liberties at the Supreme Court during the…

This article decries the changed role of the Supreme Court in American national governance over the past quarter century. The traditional, cherished, loftiest role of the Court has historically been accepted as being the ultimate guardian of…

Justice Sotomayor appeared before students at Albany Law School on April 3, 2017 to receive the Kate Stoneman Award, which honors the first woman to graduate from Albany Law School. The theme to which she returned to throughout her remarks is…