Constitutional Law. State Sovereign Immunity. Fifth Circuit Holds That Eleventh Amendment Bars Qui Tam Suits against States When the Department of Justice Does Not Intervene. United States Ex Rel. Foulds v. Texas Tech University, 171 F.3d 279 (5th Cir. 1999)

2000 ◽  
Vol 113 (4) ◽  
pp. 1057 ◽  
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Constitutional Law ◽  
Department Of Justice ◽  
Sovereign Immunity ◽  
Texas Tech University ◽  
Eleventh Amendment

Litigation of Sovereign Immunity before a State Administrative Body and the Department of State: the Japanese Uranium Tax Case

1977 ◽  
Vol 71 (3) ◽  
pp. 438-460 ◽  
Author(s):  
Charles N. Brower
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Atomic Energy Commission ◽  
The United States ◽  
Property Taxes ◽  
Department Of Justice ◽  
Sovereign Immunity ◽  
Commercial Property ◽  
Department Of State ◽  
Oak Ridge ◽  
Enriched Uranium

When President Nixon and Prime Minister Tanaka of Japan, held a summit meeting in Hawaii on August 31-September 1, 1972, doubtless no one expected they were laying the foundation for one of the most curious sovereign immunity cases in the annals of American jurisprudence. The resulting communique, however, which placed the leaders' seal of approval on extensive Japanese purchase commitments in the United States, became the basis for a Japanese claim that half a billion dollars worth of enriched uranium subsequently purchased by ten Japanese utilities from the Atomic Energy Commission (AEC) and stored on its reservation in Oak Ridge, Tennessee enjoyed sovereign immunity from local commercial property taxes. The Japanese claim, apart from posing a diplomatic issue between Japan and the United States, embroiled the Department of State and the AEC (and its successor, the Energy Research and Development Administration (ERDA)) with each other and with the Department of Justice, threatened controversy between Tennessee and Washington, and eventually resulted in the Japanese utilities’ settling the matter for $4.5 million. Although the settlement deprived posterity of a decision on the issue, this unique case remains not simply an entertaining episode but also a useful lesson in defense against claims of sovereign immunity. While the Foreign Sovereign Immunities Act of 1976 was intended substantially to eliminate the role of the Department of State in sovereign immunity disputes, the Act could not have been successfully invoked in this case, even had it been in effect, as related below.

James Bryce and the Australian Constitution

2015 ◽  
Vol 43 (2) ◽  
pp. 177-200
Author(s):  
Stephen Gageler
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Judicial Review ◽  
Constitutional Law ◽  
The United States ◽  
United States Constitution ◽  
Constitutional Development ◽  
Practical Operation ◽  
Responsible Government ◽  
Shed Light

James Bryce was a contemporary of Albert Venn Dicey. Bryce published in 1888 The American Commonwealth. Its detailed description of the practical operation of the United States Constitution was influential in the framing of the Australian Constitution in the 1890s. The project of this article is to shed light on that influence. The article compares and contrasts the views of Bryce and of Dicey; Bryce's views, unlike those of Dicey, having been largely unexplored in contemporary analyses of our constitutional development. It examines the importance of Bryce's views on two particular constitutional mechanisms – responsible government and judicial review – to the development of our constitutional structure. The ongoing theoretical implications of The American Commonwealth for Australian constitutional law remain to be pondered.

International Agreements and U.S. Foreign Relations Law

2019 ◽  
pp. 155-171
Author(s):  
Jean Galbraith
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Foreign Relations ◽  
Constitutional Law ◽  
Comparative Law ◽  
The United States ◽  
International Agreements ◽  
Constitutional History ◽  
Administrative Reforms ◽  
Administrative Efficiency ◽  
International Commitments

Over its constitutional history, the United States has developed multiple ways of joining, implementing, and terminating treaties and other international commitments. This chapter provides an overview of the law governing these pathways and considers the extent to which comparative law has influenced them or could do so in the future. Focusing in particular on the making of international commitments, the chapter describes how, over time, the United States came to develop alternatives to the process set out in the U.S. Constitution’s Treaty Clause, which requires the approval of two-thirds of the Senate. These alternatives arose partly from reasons of administrative efficiency and partly from presidential interest in making important international commitments in situations where two-thirds of the Senate would be unobtainable. These alternatives have had the effect of considerably increasing the president’s constitutional power to make international commitments. Nonetheless, considerable constraints remain on presidential power in this context, with some of these constraints stemming from constitutional law and others from statutory, administrative, and international law. With respect to comparative law, the chapter observes that U.S. practice historically has been largely but not entirely self-contained. Looking ahead, comparative practice is unlikely to affect U.S. constitutional law with respect to international agreements, but it might hold insights for legislative or administrative reforms.

Constitutional Law of the United States

1936 ◽  
Vol 23 (1) ◽  
pp. 102 ◽  
Author(s):  
F. D. G. Ribble ◽  
Hugh Evander Willis
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Constitutional Law ◽  
The United States
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