Executive Privilege: A Constitutional Myth

Capability Myths Demolished

We address three common misconceptions about capability-based systems: the Equivalence Myth (access control list systems and capability systems are formally equivalent), the Confinement Myth (capability systems cannot enforce confinement), and the Irrevocability Myth (capability-based access cannot be revoked). The Equivalence Myth obscures the benefits of capabilities as compared to access con...

The Lifespan of Written Constitutions

How long do constitutional systems persist and what explains their demise? This paper introduces a new set of data on the chronology and content of constitutions that facilitates a test of expectations about constitutional mortality and its associated risk factors. We develop a theory of constitutional longevity, in which executive ambition poses a principal threat to the constitutional order. ...

Evidentiary Privileges and the Defendant's Constitutional Right to Introduce Evidence

Constitutional Law: Parole Status

In Rose v. Haskins,' the Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit reiterated the orthodox view that since a prisoner parole system is not constitutionally compelled, parole status is merely a "privilege" regulated by statute and not circumscribed by either the specific constitutional guarantees applicable to a criminal proceeding nor the traditional safeguards of procedural due process. However, ...

Daniel Defoe and the Written Constitution

INTRODUCTION . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 73 R I. DEFOE AS MYTH-MAKER, COGNATE, AND PRECEDENT . . . . . . 79 R II. FROM THE PROMISE TO THE TEXT . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 85 R A. A Serious Inquiry . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 86 R B. Party-Tyranny . . . . . . . . ...