Category Archives: statutory interpretation

“Beyond Severability”

May 17, 2016, 9:43 amstatutory interpretation, Supreme CourtRick Hasen

I just had a chance to read Lisa Manheim’s excellent article, forthcoming in the Iowa Law Review. Here is the abstract: Severability is a wrecking ball. Even the most cautious use of this doctrine demolishes statutes in contravention of… Continue reading

“Originalist Methodology”

April 29, 2016, 7:32 amstatutory interpretationRick Hasen

Larry Solum has posted this draft on SSRN: This essay sketches an originalist methodology using ideas from legal theory and theoretical linguistics, including the distinctions between interpretation and construction and between semantics and pragmatics. The Essay aims to dispel a… Continue reading

“The Power Canons”

April 15, 2016, 4:53 pmstatutory interpretation, Supreme CourtRick Hasen

Lisa Heinzerling has posted this draft on SSRN (forthcoming, William and Mary Law Review). Here is the abstract: With three recent decisions – UARG v. EPA, King v. Burwell, and Michigan v. EPA – the Supreme Court has embraced a… Continue reading

“Protean Statutory Interpretation in the Courts of Appeals”

March 25, 2016, 8:56 amstatutory interpretationRick Hasen

Jim Brudney and Larry Baum have posted this draft on SSRN. Here is the abstract: This article is the first in-depth empirical and doctrinal analysis of differences in statutory interpretation between the courts of appeals and the Supreme Court. It… Continue reading

“Mending the Legislative Process”

February 23, 2016, 11:31 amstatutory interpretationRick Hasen

Interesting new symposium issue in The Theory and Practice of Legislation. You can read Ittai Bar Siman Tov’s substantive introduction to the symposium at this free-access link. Looks great!

“The Sherlock Holmes Canon”

February 16, 2016, 11:14 amstatutory interpretation, Supreme CourtRick Hasen

Anita Krishnakumar has written this article for the George Washington Law Review. Here is the abstract: Many of the Supreme Court’s statutory interpretation cases infer meaning from Congress’s failure to comment in the legislative record. Colorfully referred to as the… Continue reading

“Reconsidering Substantive Canons”

February 12, 2016, 8:07 amstatutory interpretation, Supreme CourtRick Hasen

Anita Krishnakumar has posted this draft on SSRN. Here is the abstract: This paper provides the first empirical study of the Roberts Court’s use of substantive canons in its statutory interpretation cases. Based on data from 295 statutory interpretation cases… Continue reading

“The New Chevron Skeptics”

January 9, 2016, 9:34 amlegislation and legislatures, statutory interpretationRick Hasen

You can now watch the video of this panel at the Federalis Society Annual faculty conference: Panel: The New Chevron Skeptics – Event Video Moderator: Prof. John McGinnis, Northwestern University School of Law Prof. Michael Herz, Yeshiva University Benjamin… Continue reading

“Chevron is Dead — Long Live Chevron”

January 6, 2016, 7:36 amlegislation and legislatures, statutory interpretation, Supreme CourtRick Hasen

Michael Herz has posted this draft on SSRN (forthcoming, Columbia Law Review). Here is the abstract: The Supreme Court’s decision in Chevron U.S.A. Inc. v. NRDC continues to obsess academics and courts alike. Despite all the attention, however, the “Chevron… Continue reading

Must Read: Richard Re on “The New Holy Trinity”

December 21, 2015, 8:01 amstatutory interpretation, Supreme CourtRick Hasen

Back in September I flagged a forthcoming article by Richard Re, in The Green Bag. The piece is now out, and it is brilliant. This is one of those things that you read and you say, “Damn, why didn’t… Continue reading

“A ‘view’ from the Courtroom: Committee of the Whole”

December 8, 2015, 8:57 amlegislation and legislatures, statutory interpretation, Supreme CourtRick Hasen

Mark Walsh @SCOTUSBlog: On Monday at the Supreme Court, Justices Stephen G. Breyer and Antonin Scalia engaged in a skirmish over one of their favorite topics: using committee reports and other legislative history to help interpret a statute (Breyer)… Continue reading

“Justice Kagan on Textualism’s Success”

December 7, 2015, 8:03 amstatutory interpretation, Supreme CourtRick Hasen

Insightful post from Richard Re.

“In Scalia lecture, Kagan discusses statutory interpretation”

November 30, 2015, 7:02 amstatutory interpretation, Supreme CourtRick Hasen

Report and video (via How Appealing).

Judge Posner Offers “Simpler and Cruder” “Cynical” Response to Abbe Gluck on CJ Roberts in King v. Burwell

November 11, 2015, 10:19 amstatutory interpretation, Supreme CourtRick Hasen

Harvard Law Review Forum: Pofessor Abbe Gluck is far more steeped in the scholarly literature on statutory interpretation than I, and far more familiar with the workings of Congress than I, including the specific legislative process that generated the… Continue reading