General Business Law Jurisprudence

Posted at 10:03pm on Mar. 16, 2008 The Supreme Court And Business Cases

By Pejman Yousefzadeh

An interesting analysis from Jeffrey Rosen on the shape and tenor of the Court's jurisprudence in cases affecting business. What is striking is the degree to which the pro-free market side has a number of people supporting it who are associated with the Democratic Party; Stephen Breyer, Walter Dellinger and Cass Sunstein are not members of the Vast Right Wing Conspiracy, after all. For the record, I oppose efforts on the part of the Federal Government to define punitive damage awards in state courts; as clear a violation of the principles of federalism as any that could possibly exist. But I certainly support efforts to demand a greater showing that alleged corporate wrongdoing actually led to damages--the last thing that the country needs is to have the Martin Act afflicting us on a national scale. And while I favor originalism as a method of judicial analysis over the law and economics school, the latter school is absolutely the best one to look to for inspiration in designing legislation either on the federal or the state levels.

Redstate