In an article for The Recorder, ALI Council member Goodwin Liu of the California Supreme Court examines the interaction between judicial federalism and state constitutionalism, guided by Justice William Brennan’s Harvard Law Review article, “State Constitutions and the Protection of Individual Rights.”
An excerpt:
“There is no dispute that in our federal system, state high courts have the final word on state law, just as the U.S. Supreme Court has the final word on federal law, and that federal constitutional law sets a floor that state courts must respect. There is also no dispute that state courts have authority to interpret individual rights provisions in state constitutions more expansively than U.S. Supreme Court interpretations of analogous provisions in the federal Constitution. But under what circumstances should state courts do so?”
Justice Liu will address the topic of state constitutionalism at the IJA's 23rd Annual Brennan Lecture on State Courts and Social Justice at NYU School of Law on March 23.
Full article here (subscription may be required)