Duncan's Con Law Course Blog

The web log for Prof. Duncan's Constitutional Law Classes at Nebraska Law-- "[U]nder our Constitution there can be no such thing as either a creditor or a debtor race. That concept is alien to the Constitution's focus upon the individual. In the eyes of government, we are just one race here. It is American. " -----Justice Antonin Scalia If you allow the government to take your liberty during times of crisis, it will create a crisis whenever it wishes to take your liberty.

Sunday, April 07, 2024

Summer Reading and Film for Summer 2024

“Every record has been destroyed or falsified, every book rewritten, every picture has been repainted, every statue and street building has been renamed, every date has been altered. And the process is continuing day by day and minute by minute. History has stopped. Nothing exists except an endless present in which the Party is always right.” --George Orwell 1984

Sound familiar? Please re-read 1984 over the summer break!

And here is a link to A Man for All Seasons, an Oscar-winning play/movie about compelled speech affirming the King's divorce and re-marriage. "Bake the cake or lose your head, Sir Thomas!" Also a great film for summer.

And one more recommendation for summer reading: CS Lewis, The Screwtape Letters. I will be re-reading Screwtape myself this summer.

Finally, a little bit of legal wisdom from Grant Gilmore, The Ages of American Law:

“Law reflects but in no sense determines the moral worth of a society. The values of a reasonably just society will reflect themselves in a reasonably just law. The better the society, the less law there will be. In heaven there will be no law, and the lion shall lie down with the lamb. The values of an unjust society will reflect themselves in an unjust law. The worse the society, the more law there will be. In hell there will be nothing but law, and due process will be meticulously observed.”

So, where are we in 2024? And where do you want us to be in 2034?