L. A. Powe

Bio: L. A. Powe is an academic researcher from University of Texas at Austin. The author has contributed to research in topics: Supreme court & Constitution. The author has an hindex of 5, co-authored 14 publications receiving 97 citations. Previous affiliations of L. A. Powe include Washington and Lee University.

Mass Speech and the Newer First Amendment

Abstract: Our mass society has produced a problem in freedom of speech that appears to be without precedent. Many individuals and organizations that wish to communicate to and to influence others choose to do so through the mass media. These speakers have little or no interest in speaking individually to a handful of people. Instead their First Amendment is one that looks to mass speech, that is, speech where either a broadcasting station or a newspaper is used in order to reach thousands of potential-and often accidental-listeners. Mass speech differs from the paradigm First Amendment situation, that of the lone dissenter, in a number of respects. By definition, the idea of a limited audience is absent. The speech itself wholly lacks spontaneity. What is said is carefully constructed and presented to specification either in a written form

Go Geezers Go: Leaving the Bench

Abstract: The dust jacket of David N. Atkinson's Leaving the Bench: Supreme Court Justices at the End has the same picture of Thurgood Marshall on the front and back. The picture, taken by ex-Marshall clerk Deborah Rhode, is a chiaroscuro to a very important person's picture: traditionally a VIP is centered and well lighted, shoulders squared and eyes focused on the public viewers. The Atkinson-Rhode Marshall is literally slipping off the corer of his own picture, overwhelmed by towering rows of Supreme Court Reports. The picture's theme is exhaustion-an undone shirt collar, an unfocused gaze. It is of a man who has had it, as indeed was the case. Marshall was, he brusquely told admiring reporters at a retirement press conference, "old and coming apart" (p. 158).

The Second Amendment as Teaching Tool in Constitutional Law Classes

Abstract: Basic con law classes are meant to teach students some fundamental legal skills: Considering contentious moral questions from all sides, even those sides for which one has a visceral revulsion. Using the various modalities of interpretive argument -interpretation focused on text, original meaning, the interplay of political structures, changed circumstances, precedent, and the the implications of "fundamental," though unwritten, values within the American ethos. Thinking about how law can check power. Arguing articulately about the clash between solemn constitutional guarantees and eminently worthy countervailing government interests.

The Supreme Court in American Democracy: Unraveling the Linkages between Public Opinion and Judicial Decision Making

Abstract: There is wide scholarly agreement that the frequent replacement of justices has kept the Supreme Court generally attuned to public opinion. Recent research indicates that, in addition to this indirect effect, Supreme Court justices respond directly to changes in public opinion. We explore the two causal pathways suggested to link public opinion directly to the behavior of justices and the implications of the nature and strength of these linkages for current debates concerning Supreme Court tenure. The recent increase in the stability of Court membership has raised questions about the continued efficacy of the replacement mechanism and renewed debates over mechanisms to limit judicial tenure. Our analysis provides little evidence that justices respond strategically to public opinion but provides partial support for the idea that justices' preferences shift in response to the same social forces that shape the opinions of the general public. Our analysis offers preliminary evidence that—even in the absence o...

Social Media, Echo Chambers, and Political Polarization

Abstract: A popular argument that is commonly put forth as an explanation linking digital technologies to political polarization is related to their ability to foster the emergence of echo chambers where extremist ideas are amplified. Sunstein (2018), a leading proponent of this view, argues that the main characteristic of social networking sites is that they allow politically like-minded individuals to find one another. In this environment, citizens are only exposed to information that reinforces their political views and remain isolated from other individuals with opposing views, in part due to the filtering effects of ranking algorithms that generate filter bubbles (Pariser, 2011) and create incentives for publishers to share clickbait and hyperpartisan content (Benkler et al, 2018). The outcome of this process is a society that is increasingly segregated along partisan lines, and where compromise becomes unlikely due to rising mistrust on public officials, media outlets, and ordinary citizens on the other side of the ideological spectrum.

Controlling Administrative Power: An Historical Comparison

Abstract: This wide-ranging comparative account of the legal regimes for controlling administrative power in England, the USA and Australia argues that differences and similarities between control regimes may be partly explained by the constitutional structures of the systems of government in which they are embedded. It applies social-scientific and historical methods to the comparative study of law and legal systems in a novel and innovative way, and combines accounts of long-term and large-scale patterns of power distribution with detailed analysis of features of administrative law and the administrative justice systems of three jurisdictions. It also proposes a new method of analysing systems of government based on two different models of the distribution of public power (diffusion and concentration), a model which proves more illuminating than traditional separation-of-powers analysis.

Measuring media concentration and diversity: new approaches and instruments in Europe and the US:

Abstract: Debates about media concentration and its adequate handling are not coming to an end. This paper stresses the dual character of media goods, the underlying ideological ideals, and the attendant institutional setting as source of value conflict in communications policy making. It discusses this value conflict and gives examples of where it surfaces and how it is confronted. It is particularly evident in cases of media concentration. Newly introduced communications laws and policies within Europe and the USA aim to reduce (ownership) regulation, promote competition and cope with the challenges posed by convergence. This quest is coupled in part with protections of media pluralism through custom-developed indices for measuring concentration in media markets and tests for assessing media plurality in merger cases. The paper describes and discusses such new methods and instruments as novel but imperfect attempts by policy makers to respond to the various challenges in communications such as value conflict, convergence, the need for empirical proof and claims for non-economic ways of assessing media diversity. It concludes by stressing the need to re-emphasize normative claims as essential guiding elements of communications policy making.