Preface.

• Author: Taylor, Amber Dale

The first issue of Volume 28 of the Harvard Journal of Law & Public Policy includes a variety of perspectives from the participants in the Federalist Society National Student Symposium. Hosted at the Vanderbilt University School of Law, this year's symposium discussed the development of private law in tort, corporate regulation, environmental protection, and international trade regulation, as well as the effect of civil litigation on freedom and personal autonomy. We are very pleased to have the opportunity to publish essays by the distinguished scholars who took part in the panel discussions and thank the Federalist Society for giving us this chance.

This issue also contains articles on a number of subjects currently debated in legal and political circles. The continuing struggle to cope with the power of the filibuster is illuminated by Martin B. Gold and Dimple Gupta's The Constitutional Option to Change Senate Rules and Procedures: A Majoritarian Means to Overcome the Filibuster. Mr. Gold and Ms. Gupta present a comprehensive historical analysis of the Senate's rulemaking process with respect to filibusters and offer possible solutions to the deadlock.

Mr. Alex Kreit sheds light on another pressing issue, this time relating to the progress of the federalism revolution and Congressional regulation of noncommercial activity. As the Supreme Court considers the state of such regulations in Ashcroft v. Raich, Mr. Kreit's discussion of the tangled state of Commerce Clause jurisprudence in the lower courts is educational and timely.

Recent criminal justice jurisprudence has repeatedly redefined the scope of constitutional punishments under the Eighth Amendment. Professor Laurence Claus offers a different perspective in The Antidiscrimination Eighth Amendment, arguing that the purpose of the Amendment is to prevent discrimination in punishment, not excessive punitive measures.

We also have an essay by Professor Steven G. Calabresi, a member of our Board of Directors and constant supporter of the...