Academic

Tsesis on Congressional Authority to Interpret the 13th Amendment

By Lawrence Solum

Alexander Tsesis (Loyola University Chicago School of Law) has posted Congressional Authority to Intrepret the Thirteenth Amendment on SSRN. Here is the abstract:

Most scholars of the Thirteenth Amendment have argued that Section 2 grants Congress broad powers to pass civil rights legislation. In a welcome contrarian article, Jennifer Mason McAward has taken the opposite tact. She argues for a more constrained perspective of congressional enforcement power. There have been few recent Supreme Court decisions on the Thirteenth Amendment for her and other scholars to draw upon; therefore, McAward?s understanding is informed by the Rehnquist Court?s Fourteenth Amendment jurisprudence. This article investigates the validity of McAward?s claims about the historical lessons of the Amendment and the possibility that the Court will superimpose its Fourteenth Amendment conservatism unto the more liberal Thirteenth Amendment jurisprudence.

And here is a link to Jennifer Mason McAward, The Scope of Congress?s Thirteenth Amendment Enforcement Power after City of Boerne v. Flores, 88 Wash. U. L. Rev. 77 (2010). Both Tsesis and McAward are recommended.

Full post as published by Legal Theory Blog on February 03, 2011 (boomark / email).