NDLS Professor’s Work Cited in Recent US Court of Appeals Case

Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito Visits NDLS

Professor Jeff Pojanowski Analyzes Statutory Interpretation and the Common Law Tradition

Professor A.J. Bellia Examines Questions of Federal Judical Power

Professor Randy Kozel Explores the Scope of Judicial Precedent

Notre Dame Law Students Thrive in Summer Clerkships

Upcoming Events

This summer Notre Dame Law School students held over 50 federal and state summer clerkships or internships. Twenty-seven students worked with federal judges, and the rest worked with state or local judges. Law students gained experience with judges throughout the country in district, circuit, appeals, trial, and bankruptcy courts. Read more

October 15
Chief Judge Alex Kozinski, U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit

November 14
2014 Law Review Symposium
This year's symposium will focus on the Supreme Court's recent decision in Bond v. United States. The symposium will examine the Treaty Power, addressing both structural constitutional concerns and the practical ramifications of the Court's decision for treaty interpretation and implementation. Learn more

February 6, 2015
US-UK Conference in London—The Common Law in an Age of Regulation
Learn more

In an important recent decision, U.S. v. Cannon (2014 WL 1633160), the United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit relied heavily upon the work of Notre Dame Law School Professor Jennifer Mason McAward in interpreting the scope of Congress’s power to enforce the Thirteenth Amendment to the Constitution. Section Two of the Thirteenth Amendment empowers Congress to enforce the prohibition on slavery and involuntary servitude by addressing the “badges and incidents of slavery.” The court used Professor Mason McAward’s article, Defining the Badges and Incidents of Slavery (published in the University of Pennsylvania Journal of Constitutional Law), to understand the scope of that constitutional provision.

Supreme Court Justice Samuel A. Alito Jr. visted Notre Dame Law School on April 10 as the Judge James J. Clynes Visiting Chair.

Professor A.J. Bellia Examines Questions of Federal Judical Power

In a forthcoming article, Professor A.J. Bellia examines important questions surrounding the powers of federal courts under the Constitution. The article—entitled The Process Act and the Alien Tort Statute—confronts the question whether federal courts have power to adjudicate causes of action that neither Congress nor state law has created. Courts and scholars have long debated whether federal courts enjoy the power to hear such actions—commonly called “federal common law” causes of action—or whether they only have power to hear actions that Congress or a state has authorized through its regular lawmaking processes. In debating such questions, judges and scholars usually presume, as a historical matter, that early federal courts had power to find causes of action in general common law. Read more

Professor Jeff Pojanowski Analyzes Statutory Interpretation and the Common Law Tradition

In his new article, Reading Statutes in the Common Law Tradition (forthcoming Virginia Law Review), Professor Jeff Pojanowski examines the role common law tradition plays in statutory interpretation. Jurists and scholars concur that the common law points away from formalist interpretive approaches like textualism and toward a more creative, independent role for courts. Professor Pojanowski notes that they simply differ over whether the common law tradition is worth preserving. Contemporary debate offers a choice between continuing with common law tradition or formalist interpretation that breaks with that heritage. Read more

Professor Randy Kozel Explores the Scope of Judicial Precedent

In a new article, The Scope of Precedent, (forthcoming in Michigan Law Review), Professor Randy Kozel examines the relationship between interpretive theory and the strength of judicial precedent and analyzes the process for defining a judicial decision’s scope of applicability for futures cases. Read more

NDLS Professor’s Work Cited in Recent US Court of Appeals Case

Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito Visits NDLS

Professor Jeff Pojanowski Analyzes Statutory Interpretation and the Common Law Tradition

Professor A.J. Bellia Examines Questions of Federal Judical Power

Professor Randy Kozel Explores the Scope of Judicial Precedent

Notre Dame Law Students Thrive in Summer Clerkships

Upcoming Events

This summer Notre Dame Law School students held over 50 federal and state summer clerkships or internships. Twenty-seven students worked with federal judges, and the rest worked with state or local judges. Law students gained experience with judges throughout the country in district, circuit, appeals, trial, and bankruptcy courts. Read more

October 15
Chief Judge Alex Kozinski, U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit

November 14
2014 Law Review Symposium
This year's symposium will focus on the Supreme Court's recent decision in Bond v. United States. The symposium will examine the Treaty Power, addressing both structural constitutional concerns and the practical ramifications of the Court's decision for treaty interpretation and implementation. Learn more

February 6, 2015
US-UK Conference in London—The Common Law in an Age of Regulation
Learn more

In an important recent decision, U.S. v. Cannon (2014 WL 1633160), the United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit relied heavily upon the work of Notre Dame Law School Professor Jennifer Mason McAward in interpreting the scope of Congress’s power to enforce the Thirteenth Amendment to the Constitution. Section Two of the Thirteenth Amendment empowers Congress to enforce the prohibition on slavery and involuntary servitude by addressing the “badges and incidents of slavery.” The court used Professor Mason McAward’s article, Defining the Badges and Incidents of Slavery (published in the University of Pennsylvania Journal of Constitutional Law), to understand the scope of that constitutional provision.

Supreme Court Justice Samuel A. Alito Jr. visted Notre Dame Law School on April 10 as the Judge James J. Clynes Visiting Chair.

Professor A.J. Bellia Examines Questions of Federal Judical Power

In a forthcoming article, Professor A.J. Bellia examines important questions surrounding the powers of federal courts under the Constitution. The article—entitled The Process Act and the Alien Tort Statute—confronts the question whether federal courts have power to adjudicate causes of action that neither Congress nor state law has created. Courts and scholars have long debated whether federal courts enjoy the power to hear such actions—commonly called “federal common law” causes of action—or whether they only have power to hear actions that Congress or a state has authorized through its regular lawmaking processes. In debating such questions, judges and scholars usually presume, as a historical matter, that early federal courts had power to find causes of action in general common law. Read more

Professor Jeff Pojanowski Analyzes Statutory Interpretation and the Common Law Tradition

In his new article, Reading Statutes in the Common Law Tradition (forthcoming Virginia Law Review), Professor Jeff Pojanowski examines the role common law tradition plays in statutory interpretation. Jurists and scholars concur that the common law points away from formalist interpretive approaches like textualism and toward a more creative, independent role for courts. Professor Pojanowski notes that they simply differ over whether the common law tradition is worth preserving. Contemporary debate offers a choice between continuing with common law tradition or formalist interpretation that breaks with that heritage. Read more

Professor Randy Kozel Explores the Scope of Judicial Precedent

In a new article, The Scope of Precedent, (forthcoming in Michigan Law Review), Professor Randy Kozel examines the relationship between interpretive theory and the strength of judicial precedent and analyzes the process for defining a judicial decision’s scope of applicability for futures cases. Read more