The Harvard Law Review today published its annual Supreme Court issue, featuring discussion and analysis of the Court’s 2014–15 Term. Following a tradition dating back over a half century, the issue provides a definitive look at the state of constitutional law.
In the annual Supreme Court Foreword, Does the Constitution Mean What it Says?, University of Chicago Law Professor David Strauss ’78 demonstrates how constitutional law develops in a common law manner largely removed from the constitutional text. The issue also features faculty commentary on three major cases from the past Term: Yale Law School Professor Abbe Gluck demonstrates how the latest Obamacare case might mark a new era in statutory interpretation, Harvard Law School Professor Jack Goldsmith shows how the Court provided the executive branch with powerful arguments to deploy in future standoffs with Congress, and New York University Law Professor Kenji Yoshino situates the historic gay marriage decision in the context of the Court’s earlier jurisprudence.
The issue also contains student-authored analysis of twenty cases from the past Term and statistical analysis of the Court’s docket.
“The Harvard Law Review’s thorough and well-informed treatment of the recent term of the U.S. Supreme Court is especially welcome and important given the significance and complexity of the recent Court decisions,” said Martha Minow, Harvard Law School’s Morgan and Helen Chu Dean and Professor of Law.
“The Supreme Court issue engages with some of the most pressing issues in American law,” said Law Review President Jonathan Gould ’16. “This was a banner year at the Court, and we are proud to feature analysis of its work. In tackling the topics of statutory interpretation, executive power, and fundamental rights, the issue is one example of the relevance of legal scholarship in the modern era.”
The Law Review, founded in 1887 by future Supreme Court Justice Louis D. Brandeis, LL.B. 1887, is an entirely student-edited journal with the largest circulation of any law journal in the world. It is published monthly from November through June.