The Colorado State Constitution


Book Description

The Colorado State Constitution provides an outstanding constitutional and historical account of the state's governing charter, with an overview of Colorado's constitutional history, offering an in-depth, section-by-section analysis of the entire constitution. The second edition includes an updated history of the constitution focusing on events and amendments that have transformed the state in recent years including the state's extensive provisions for direct democracy, the initiative, veto referendum, and recall of elected officials.




Colorado Legal Research


Book Description

Colorado Legal Research guides researchers through the resources and methods of Colorado legal materials. It describes the organization of the Colorado legal system, including the type of law that each branch creates and where it is published. Readers will learn how to find current and historical Colorado statutes; locate Colorado case law; use Colorado's online database to find Colorado regulations; research local government law; and formulate searches to efficiently and effectively locate law in databases. Researchers will also learn how to use Colorado practice materials and other resources to understand the law. The second edition builds upon the foundation of the first edition by expanding the coverage of research topics and methods. In Part I, researchers will find a new chapter on citator research and expanded and revised chapters on Colorado regulatory research and legislative history research, both of which are particularly challenging in Colorado. In Part II, readers will find step-by-step guides with illustrations on researching primary and secondary authority. The text covers all of the major legal database providers including Bloomberg Law and Casemaker, the legal research database of the Colorado Bar Association. It also shows how to use Colorado government websites to find the law. Colorado Legal Research goes beyond resources and methods to present an overall framework through which to carry out legal research assignments. The framework provides suggestions on how to analyze and conceptualize legal research problems, and offers pointers on how to understand legal research concepts and publishing techniques to identify and navigate the underlying legal research system. The clear explanations of resources and methods coupled with illustrations will make Colorado Legal Research useful for all researchers of Colorado law. This book is part of the Legal Research Series, edited by Tenielle Fordyce-Ruff, Director of the Legal Research and Writing Program, Concordia University School of Law.




Ways of Necessity


Book Description




The Colorado State Constitution


Book Description

The Colorado State Constitution provides an outstanding constitutional and historical account of the state's governing charter. It begins with an overview of Colorado's constitutional history, and then provides an in-depth, section-by-section analysis of the entire constitution, detailing important changes that have been made since its drafting. This treatment, which includes a list of cases, index, and bibliography, makes this guide indispensable for students, scholars, and practitioners of the Colorado constitution. The second edition includes an updated history of the constitution that focuses on events and amendments that have transformed the state in recent years including population growth, background and interpretations of Colorado's complex and unique tax revolt, known as TABOR, the state's extensive provisions for direct democracy, the initiative, veto referendum, and recall of elected officials. The Oxford Commentaries on the State Constitutions of the United States is an important series that reflects a renewed international interest in constitutional history and provides expert insight into each of the 50 state constitutions. Each volume in this innovative series contains a historical overview of the state's constitutional development, a section-by-section analysis of its current constitution, and a comprehensive guide to further research. Under the expert editorship of Professor Lawrence Friedman of New England Law School, Boson, this series provides essential reference tools for understanding state constitutional law. Books in the series can be purchased individually or as part of a complete set, giving readers unmatched access to these important political documents.




51 Imperfect Solutions


Book Description

When we think of constitutional law, we invariably think of the United States Supreme Court and the federal court system. Yet much of our constitutional law is not made at the federal level. In 51 Imperfect Solutions, U.S. Court of Appeals Judge Jeffrey S. Sutton argues that American Constitutional Law should account for the role of the state courts and state constitutions, together with the federal courts and the federal constitution, in protecting individual liberties. The book tells four stories that arise in four different areas of constitutional law: equal protection; criminal procedure; privacy; and free speech and free exercise of religion. Traditional accounts of these bedrock debates about the relationship of the individual to the state focus on decisions of the United States Supreme Court. But these explanations tell just part of the story. The book corrects this omission by looking at each issue-and some others as well-through the lens of many constitutions, not one constitution; of many courts, not one court; and of all American judges, not federal or state judges. Taken together, the stories reveal a remarkably complex, nuanced, ever-changing federalist system, one that ought to make lawyers and litigants pause before reflexively assuming that the United States Supreme Court alone has all of the answers to the most vexing constitutional questions. If there is a central conviction of the book, it's that an underappreciation of state constitutional law has hurt state and federal law and has undermined the appropriate balance between state and federal courts in protecting individual liberty. In trying to correct this imbalance, the book also offers several ideas for reform.




Prohibition, the Constitution, and States' Rights


Book Description

Colorado’s legalization of marijuana spurred intense debate about the extent to which the Constitution preempts state-enacted laws and statutes. Colorado’s legal cannabis program generated a strange scenario in which many politicians, including many who freely invoke the Tenth Amendment, seemed to be attacking the progressive state for asserting states’ rights. Unusual as this may seem, this has happened before—in the early part of the twentieth century, as America concluded a decades-long struggle over the suppression of alcohol during Prohibition. Sean Beienburg recovers a largely forgotten constitutional debate, revealing how Prohibition became a battlefield on which skirmishes of American political development, including the debate over federalism and states’ rights, were fought. Beienburg focuses on the massive extension of federal authority involved in Prohibition and the passage of the Eighteenth Amendment, describing the roles and reactions of not just Congress, the presidents, and the Supreme Court but political actors throughout the states, who jockeyed with one another to claim fidelity to the Tenth Amendment while reviling nationalism and nullification alike. The most comprehensive treatment of the constitutional debate over Prohibition to date, the book concludes with a discussion of the parallels and differences between Prohibition in the 1920s and debates about the legalization of marijuana today.




State Constitutional Law


Book Description




The Massachusetts State Constitution


Book Description

In The Massachusetts State Constitution, Lawrence Friedman and Lynnea Thody present a comprehensive and accessible survey of Massachusetts constitutional history and constitutional law. The Massachusetts Constitution is the oldest state constitution and has remained essentially unchanged since it was drafted in 1780. It served as a model for the United States Constitution and many of the state constitutions that followed. The Massachusetts State Constitution provides an outstanding constitutional and historical account of the state's governing charter. It begins with an overview of Massachusetts's constitutional history, and then provides an in-depth, section-by-section analysis of the entire constitution, detailing important changes that have been made since its drafting. This treatment, which includes a list of cases, index, and bibliography, makes this guide indispensable for students, scholars, and practitioners of the Massachusetts constitution. The Oxford Commentaries on the State Constitutions of the United States is an important series that reflects a renewed international interest in constitutional history and provides expert insight into each of the 50 state constitutions. Each volume in this innovative series contains a historical overview of the state's constitutional development, a section-by-section analysis of its current constitution, and a comprehensive guide to further research. Under the expert editorship of Professor G. Alan Tarr, Director of the Center on State Constitutional Studies at Rutgers University, this series provides essential reference tools for understanding state constitutional law. Books in the series can be purchased individually or as part of a complete set, giving readers unmatched access to these important political documents.




The Federalist Papers


Book Description

Classic Books Library presents this brand new edition of “The Federalist Papers”, a collection of separate essays and articles compiled in 1788 by Alexander Hamilton. Following the United States Declaration of Independence in 1776, the governing doctrines and policies of the States lacked cohesion. “The Federalist”, as it was previously known, was constructed by American statesman Alexander Hamilton, and was intended to catalyse the ratification of the United States Constitution. Hamilton recruited fellow statesmen James Madison Jr., and John Jay to write papers for the compendium, and the three are known as some of the Founding Fathers of the United States. Alexander Hamilton (c. 1755–1804) was an American lawyer, journalist and highly influential government official. He also served as a Senior Officer in the Army between 1799-1800 and founded the Federalist Party, the system that governed the nation’s finances. His contributions to the Constitution and leadership made a significant and lasting impact on the early development of the nation of the United States.