Document Type

Article

Publication Date

11-2006

Publication Title

Iowa Law Review

Publication Title (Abbreviation)

Iowa L. Rev.

Volume

92

Issue

1

First Page

1

Last Page

40

Abstract

The U.S. has often been imperiled by the competing interests of individual states, and while past threats have most frequently assumed economic or political form, this article addresses a different threat: state efforts to limit where ex-offenders (those convicted of sex crimes in particular) can live. The laws have thus far withstood constitutional challenge, with courts deferring to the police power of states. This deference, however, ignores the negative externalities created when states jettison their human dross, and defies Justice Cardozo's oft-repeated constitutional tenet that the “the peoples of the several states must sink or swim together.” The article discusses the continued need for this tenet in the face of state expulsionist tendencies and invokes in support the Court's decisions invalidating state laws barring entry of the poor and solid waste. In both instances, the Court, while acknowledging the exigencies motivating states, invalidated the laws because they betrayed the national imperative of dealing with challenges faced by all states. As the article establishes, a kindred understanding and resolve is now necessary as states seek to isolate themselves from the shared national responsibility of offender reentry.

Rights

© 2006 Wayne A. Logan

Comments

First published in Iowa Law Review.

Faculty Biography

http://law.fsu.edu/our-faculty/profiles/wlogan

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