Preface.

AuthorOberman, Irina

If there has been a watchword in the federal government in the last several years, it has been this: regulation. The Obama Administration's hallmark pieces of legislation, including the Dodd-Frank Act and the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, mark a shift toward a stronger administrative state in which the federal government has an ever stronger presence in the lives of American citizens. Whether such an administrative state can coexist with the rule of law, separation of powers, and innovation, though, remains an open question. This issue includes ten essays from scholars who discussed these questions at the Thirty-First Annual Federalist Society National Student Symposium.

In an age of increasing proliferation of administrative regulations, the meaning of the term "the law" deserves renewed attention. In his Essay, adapted from a lecture last spring, Professor Harvey Mansfield suggests that the law should be thought of as a whole, not merely the individual parts of which it is constituted, and should be respected as a whole.

We also are pleased to publish three Articles on important and timely topics. Ms. Emily Bremer analyzes the regulatory practice of incorporation by reference and its implications for public access to the laws that govern a large portion of our daily lives. Professor Andy Olree offers a glimpse into the underlying foundations of the First Amendment's Religion Clauses through his examination of the formative religious experiences of the man behind their creation, James Madison. Finally, Ms. Lorianne Updike Toler and Mr. J. Carl Cecere, with the assistance of Justice Don Willett of the Texas Supreme Court, offer a ground-breaking statistical analysis of the Supreme Court's historical use of Originalism in its interpretation of cases of constitutional first impression.

Lastly, our student authors consider two recent developments from the Court's last Term...

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