In this Article we make the case for movement law, an approach to legal scholarship grounded in solidarity, accountability, and engagement with grassroots organizing and left social movements. In contrast to law and social movements—a field that studies the relationship between lawyers, legal process, and social change—movement law offers a methodology to scholars across substantive…
At the center of contemporary debates over public law lies administrative agencies’ discretion to impose rules. Yet for every one of these rules, there are also unrules nearby. Often overlooked and sometimes barely visible, unrules are the decisions that regulators make to lift or limit the scope of a regulatory obligation through, for instance, waivers,…
As the federal government has come to rely increasingly on private companies to perform government functions, more businesses are testing the power of the resulting contractual relationships to shield themselves from liability, regulation, and oversight. Such nongovernmental entities seek the benefit of what we call the federal government’s sovereign shield by exploiting three doctrines: preemption,…
Due to the complex and often troubled history of relations between the United States and Native nations, special rules apply when courts interpret Native treaties. For example, when interpreting the scope of treaty rights, courts apply a unique set of canons of construction generally favoring the Native nations. Further, before courts will allow Congress to…
