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Teresa Collett

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Teresa Collett, J.D. is professor at the University of St. Thomas School of Law, where she serves as director of the school's Prolife Center. As a well-known advocate for the protection of human life and the family, Collett specializes in the subjects of marriage, religion, and bioethics in her research. Collett has published numerous legal articles on parental involvement laws and has testified before committees of the U.S. Senate and House of Representatives, as well as before legislative committees in several states on this topic. She is an elected member of the American Law Institute, and is a member of the Federalist Society's Executive Committee on Religious Liberties.

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Papers by Teresa Collett

Family Law: Natural Law, Marriage and the Thought of Karol Wojtyla

Family Law: Natural Law, Marriage and the Thought of Karol Wojtyla

Heads, Secularists Win; Tails, Believers Lose—Returning Only Free Exercise to the Political Process

University of Arkansas at Little Rock Law Review, 1998

acted as sounding boards for many of the ideas in this article, and Elisa Ugarte also provided he... more acted as sounding boards for many of the ideas in this article, and Elisa Ugarte also provided helpful criticism of earlier drafts. 1. See Rigdon v. Perry, 962 F. Supp. 150 (D.D.C. 1997) (overturning order precluding military chaplains from encouraging members of their congregation to urge Congress to override the presidential veto of the Partial-Birth Abortion Bill). 2. See Hartmann v. Stone, 68 F.3d 973 (6th Cir. 1995) (overturning military regulations prohibiting on-base family child care providers from engaging in religious practices during day care). 3. See Goldman v. Weinberger, 475 U.S. 503 (1986) (military regulation forbidding the wearing of head covering indoors held constitutional due to military's claim of necessity). Congress responded by enacting 10 U.S.C. § 774 permitting the wearing of "neat and conservative" religious apparel while in uniform. These events are critically evaluated in

Concurrent Panels - Panel I -"Working With Children And Families

Should the Government Recognize Same-Sex Marriage? Session Two: Legal, Equitable, and Political Issues

The University of Chicago Law School Roundtable, 2000

Brief Amicus Curiae of the Prolife Center at the University of St. Thomas in Support of Petitioners in Dobbs v. Jackson Women's Health Center

Social Science Research Network, 2021

Saints, Sinners, and Scoundrels: Catholic Law Faculty and A Light Unseen: A History of Catholic Legal Education in the United States

Journal of Catholic Legal Studies, 2019

As a faculty member at a Catholic law school for the past seventeen years, I have often been frus... more As a faculty member at a Catholic law school for the past seventeen years, I have often been frustrated with the inability of many professors and administrators at Catholic law schools to describe what makes a law school "Catholic." As Professors Breen and Strang report in A Light Unseen: A History of Catholic Legal Education in the United States, too often the description is limited to something like "a commitment to social justice," or "inculcating a strong sense of professional ethics." Yet as the authors observe, "Catholic law schools do not have a monopoly on or even a special claim to caring for the poor or promoting professional virtue." 1 Breen and Strang trace how we got to this place and propose an ambitious path to the "Light Unseen." Breen and Strang propose to create a jurisprudence grounded in Catholic social thought and human anthropology, and thus imbue Catholic law schools with a strong Catholic identity. 2 As the coeditor of a collection of essays seeking to incorporate † Professor of Law, University of St. Thomas School of Law (MN). I want to thank Professors Breen and Strang for their years of scholarship exploring what it means to be a Catholic law school, Anthony M. Nania and the staff of the St. John's Law Review for their amazing patience and work ethic during a difficult and complex time, and my husband for patiently reading multiple versions of this article as it evolved from a personal memoir of the joys and disappointments of joining a Catholic law school faculty, to an imperfect survey of faculty publications, to its final form analyzing the possible impact of Canon Law and the U.S. News and World Report Law School Rankings on efforts to create a uniquely Catholic law school.

Protecting Our Daughters: The Need for the Vermont Parental Notification Law

Social Science Research Network, Apr 25, 2002

This article outlines the provisions of pending Vermont legislation requiring parental notificati... more This article outlines the provisions of pending Vermont legislation requiring parental notification prior to the performance of an abortion on a minor. It describes the current national consensus in favor of parental involvement laws, and examines the arguments relating to the proposed passage of this law. The article reviews the federal cases addressing the constitutionality of parental involvement laws, as well as cases regarding parental involvement in other medical decisions. It examines the arguments of supporters and opponents of the Vermont legislation, and concludes that parental notification laws benefit minors through improved medical care and protection from sexual assault. The inclusion of a judicial bypass procedure insures the availability of a safe and effective means of protecting the few minors for whom parental involvement is not appropriate.

Sacred Secrets or Sanctimonious Silence

Loyola of Los Angeles law review, 1996

have provided valuable comments on an earlier draft of this Essay. The footnotes have benefitted ... more have provided valuable comments on an earlier draft of this Essay. The footnotes have benefitted from the hard work of my research assistant, Tim Heverin. 1. Commentary to Canon 983 states: "The canons do not touch extra-sacramental confidentiality, to which the ordained minister is bound as is any recipient of confidences, but bound even more so when the relationship of the minister to the individual is analogous to that of a professional counselor." THE CODE OF CANON LAW: A TEXT AND COMMENTARY 691 (James A. Coriden et al. eds., 1985) [hereinafter COMMENTARY]. See also Canon 1548 § 2, 10 which exempts clerics from testifying at an ecclesiastical trial as to information "made known to them in connection with their sacred ministry." Id. at 981.

Marriage, Family and the Positive Law

Notre Dame Journal of Law, Ethics & Public Policy, 2012

AMERICA (1991) (describing the clash of ideals held by those who have a theistic understanding an... more

Brief Amici Curiae of C. Everett Koop, M.D., Sc.D. et al., in support of Attorney General Ashcroft

PubMed, 2002

Interest of Amici (1) Amici are physicians, philosophers, and law professors engaged in the study... more Interest of Amici (1) Amici are physicians, philosophers, and law professors engaged in the study and teaching of bioethics. Each supports the conclusion of the Attorney General of the United States that assisting suicide is not a "legitimate medical purpose," and in fact undermines the foundational commitment of medicine to healing and the promotion of human health. The signatories also strongly support improved pain management and palliative care for terminally ill patients, and believe that condoning the "quick fix" of physician-assisted suicide will undermine society's commitment to the more difficult but infinitely more rewarding task of meeting patients' real needs. Summary of Argument Amici seek to place before the court the historical record and current professional consensus that assisting suicide is not a "legitimate medical purpose" for use of federally-controlled drugs. Assisting suicide is antithetical to the proper conduct of a physician in the "usual course of his professional practice." See 21 C.F.R. [section] 1306.04(2001). Medical treatment has as its ultimate end the restoration or preservation of the patient's health and the relief of suffering, not the termination of the patient's life. The public's health, their confidence in the beneficence of the medical profession, and the foundational ethos of the medical profession would be profoundly eroded by recognition of physician assisted suicide as a legitimate medical treatment. Argument I. The Proper End of Medicine is Restoration and Preservation of Health and Relief of Suffering, Not Termination of Life. The profession of medicine is distinguished from other human activities, including other professions, by virtue of the good or goods to which its practitioners publicly profess devotion. Lawyers profess devotion to "a belief in the ability of human beings to communicate with each other by means of rational argument ... a belief that human beings can arrange their affairs fairly ... [and] a belief in the value of purposeful process." John T. Noonan, Jr., Choice of a Profession, 21 Pepp. L. Rev. 381,383 (1994). Theologians profess a belief in the existence of God and the human capacity to attain some understanding of God's nature. Physicians profess devotion to human health and healing, "a naturally given although precarious standard or norm, characterized by `wholeness' and `well-working,' toward which the living body moves on its own." Leon R. Kass, "I Will Give No Deadly Drug," in The Case against Assisted Suicide: for the Right to End-of-Life Care (Kathleen Foley & Herbert Hendlin, eds. 2002) at 21. This devotion to health and healing necessarily requires the cultivation of particular virtues, such as self-restraint, patience and sympathy. Id. More to the point, devotion to health and healing sets certain limits on the physician's conduct, chief among which is the prohibition against physicians killing or helping to kill their patients. The prohibition against killing patients, the first negative promise of self-restraint sworn to in the Hippocratic Oath, stands as medicine's first and most abiding taboo.... The deepest ethical principle restraining the physician's power is neither the autonomy and freedom of the patient nor the physician's own compassion or good intention. Rather, it is the dignity and mysterious power of human life itself, and, therefore, also what the [Hippocratic] Oath calls purity and holiness of the life and art to which the physician has sworn devotion. A person can choose to be a physician but cannot simply choose what physicianship means. Id. at 32. The essence of the medical profession lies in its fundamental commitment to the preservation of human life and health. This commitment precludes inclusion of assisting suicide within the list of activities that constitute "legitimate medical practice. …

Recovering Self-Evident Truths: Catholic Perspectives on American Law

The Catholic University of America Press eBooks, 2007

Judicial Independence and Accountability in an Age of Unconstitutional Constitutional Amendments

Loyola University of Chicago Law Journal, 2010

Judicial Modesty and Abortion

South Carolina Law Review, 2008

Part 11 of this Article will consider whether the Constitution-by its terms, historical understan... more Part 11 of this Article will consider whether the Constitution-by its terms, historical understanding, or previous judicial interpretation-required the Court to constitutionalize questions related to abortion. My conclusions compel me to join the legions of legal scholars who have sharply criticized the reasoning employed by the Court in Roe v. Wade.' Part 11I attempts to determine whether the Court expanded or limited the impact of Roe's flawed reasoning in its abortion cases between Roe and Chief Justice Robert's confirmation. The evidence largely 3. 410 U.S. 113 (1973). It is important to note that these critics include many scholars who applaud the outcome of Roe, yet are compelled as a matter of academic integrity to admit that the case is largely unprincipled in its use of legal precedent and reasoning. This is the underlying premise of the authors writing in support of Roe's outcome in What Roe v. Wade ShouldHave Said (Jack Balkin ed., 2005). Serious criticism of Roe began almost as soon as the Court announced the decision and has continued through today. See, e.g., ALEXANDER M. BICKEL, THE MORALITY OF CONSENT 27 (1975) ("But if the Court's model statute [on abortion] is generally intelligent, what is the justification for its imposition? If this statute, why not one on proper grounds of divorce, or on adoption of children?");

Fetal pain legislation: is it viable?

PubMed, 2003

Saints, Sinners, and Scoundrels: Catholic Law Faculty and A Light Unseen: A History of Catholic Legal Education in the United States

Social Science Research Network, 2020

As a faculty member at a Catholic law school for the past seventeen years, I have often been frus... more As a faculty member at a Catholic law school for the past seventeen years, I have often been frustrated with the inability of many professors and administrators at Catholic law schools to describe what makes a law school “Catholic.” As Professors Breen and Strang report in A Light Unseen: A History of Catholic Legal Education in the United States, too often the description is limited to something like “a commitment to social justice,” or “inculcating a strong sense of professional ethics.” Yet as the authors observe, “Catholic law schools do not have a monopoly on or even a special claim to caring for the poor or promoting professional virtue.” Breen and Strang trace how we got to this place and propose an ambitious path to the “Light Unseen.” Breen and Strang propose to create a jurisprudence grounded in Catholic social thought and human anthropology, and thus imbue Catholic law schools with a strong Catholic identity. As the co-editor of a collection of essays seeking to incorporate Catholic anthropology into American law, I fully support the authors’ proposal. I also appreciate the care with which they have built their case that such a project is necessary to avoid the continuing secularization of most Catholic law schools—secularization that both scandalizes and discourages many faithful Catholics. My focus, however, is not to reargue the case for the creation of such jurisprudence, but to explore the capacity to initiate such a project within existing Catholic law schools given the current state of the American legal professoriate. While I will not go so far as to say a spiritual awakening and enthusiasm for the Breen Strang project is impossible at most Catholic law schools, I believe such an awakening and project will require fervent prayer, God’s favor, and skillful committed leadership by both clergy and lay professionals.

Recovering Self-Evident Truths

The Urgency of Restoring the Catholic (and Catholic) Nature of Higher Education

Social Science Research Network, 2017

This essay reflects upon the overwhelming trend of secularization in American Catholic higher edu... more This essay reflects upon the overwhelming trend of secularization in American Catholic higher education that has led to colleges and universities largely abandoning their liberal arts heritage for a more “instrumentalist” approach to education. This trend is part of what Pope Benedict XVI has identified as the “crisis of cultures” where Western concepts of reason are increasingly detached from their cultural and spiritual roots, resulting in an inability to speak to anything beyond the material world and our current understanding of it. I argue that we must resist the operational atheism that afflicts most American education, including many schools that are identified as religiously-affiliated. This atheism results resulting in what Pope Emeritus Benedict has called “the presumed completeness and use of liberty as the ‘criterion of everything else.’” This absolutizing of liberty with no higher moral criterion leaves us unable to address pressing problems as a community and specifically excludes an contribution from communities of faith.

Gonzales v. Carhart: Women Tell the Court About Abortion

University of St. Thomas Journal of Law and Public Policy, Dec 31, 2007

BRIEF OF SANDRA CANO, THE FORMER "MARY DOE" OF DOE V. BOLTON, AND 180 WOMEN INJURED BY ABORTION A... more BRIEF OF SANDRA CANO, THE FORMER "MARY DOE" OF DOE V. BOLTON, AND 180 WOMEN INJURED BY ABORTION AS AMICI CURIAE IN SUPPORT OF PETITIONER* ** STATEMENT OF INTEREST OF THE AMICI CURIAE Consent to file this amicus brief was given by both parties. This brief supporting Petitioner was prepared by counsel for amici. 1 At the heart of this case is the future of the "health" exception articulated in Roe v. Wade and Doe v. Bolton. Amici Sandra Cano is the "Doe" of Doe v. Bolton. It was Doe v. Bolton which provided for the health exception and led to partial-birth abortion and abortion on demand. While it is unusual for a successful litigant to file an amicus brief opposing the health exception which was the heart of her case, Mrs. Cano in fact never wanted an abortion in Doe v. Bolton and fraud was perpetrated on the Court. Her Affidavit is Appendix A. In addition, the three-doctor provision of the Georgia statute which provided actual verification and protection for women was struck down in Doe. Furthermore, the "health" exception has been broadly interpreted and thereby ultimately led to partial-birth abortion. Mrs. Cano supports Congress' position omitting the "health" exception and urges this Court to give deference to Congress and hold the ban on partialbirth abortion constitutional. Other amici are 180 post-abortive women who have suffered the adverse emotional and psychological effects of abortion. Congress in its findings only discussed the physical health consequences of abortion. However, other health consequences not stated in Congress' findings would be helpful to the Supreme Court in making its decision. The women attest * Linda Boston Schlueter, Counsel of Record, Counsel for Amici Curiae Sandra Cano and post-abortive women. ** Editor's Note: All citations have been converted to footnotes but are otherwise unchanged. 1. Counsel for amici authored the brief in whole. The Justice Foundation is a nonprofit legal foundation that handles cases in landmark decisions. The Foundation is supported through private contributions of donors who have made the preparation and submission of this brief possible. No party contributed to the writing or finances of this brief. Women Tell the Court about Abortion to the fact that there are adverse emotional and psychological health effects that have affected their lives. All of the women have used their full name in the original Affidavits, but some have requested that only their initials be used publicly to protect their confidentiality. Although the Supreme Court only made non-evidence based assumptions in Roe v. Wade and Doe v. Bolton because abortion was generally not legal or widespread, the post-abortive women amici provide this Court with their real life experiences and attest that abortion in practice hurts women's health. Post-abortive women were asked, "How has abortion affected you?" Some of the women's Affidavit testimony is in the brief with the complete answer to that question from the amici in Appendix B. The post-abortive women amici are: D

Independence or Interdependence? A Christian Response to Liberal Feminists

Yale University Press eBooks, Dec 31, 2017

Family Law: Natural Law, Marriage and the Thought of Karol Wojtyla

Family Law: Natural Law, Marriage and the Thought of Karol Wojtyla

Heads, Secularists Win; Tails, Believers Lose—Returning Only Free Exercise to the Political Process

University of Arkansas at Little Rock Law Review, 1998

acted as sounding boards for many of the ideas in this article, and Elisa Ugarte also provided he... more acted as sounding boards for many of the ideas in this article, and Elisa Ugarte also provided helpful criticism of earlier drafts. 1. See Rigdon v. Perry, 962 F. Supp. 150 (D.D.C. 1997) (overturning order precluding military chaplains from encouraging members of their congregation to urge Congress to override the presidential veto of the Partial-Birth Abortion Bill). 2. See Hartmann v. Stone, 68 F.3d 973 (6th Cir. 1995) (overturning military regulations prohibiting on-base family child care providers from engaging in religious practices during day care). 3. See Goldman v. Weinberger, 475 U.S. 503 (1986) (military regulation forbidding the wearing of head covering indoors held constitutional due to military's claim of necessity). Congress responded by enacting 10 U.S.C. § 774 permitting the wearing of "neat and conservative" religious apparel while in uniform. These events are critically evaluated in

Concurrent Panels - Panel I -"Working With Children And Families

Should the Government Recognize Same-Sex Marriage? Session Two: Legal, Equitable, and Political Issues

The University of Chicago Law School Roundtable, 2000

Brief Amicus Curiae of the Prolife Center at the University of St. Thomas in Support of Petitioners in Dobbs v. Jackson Women's Health Center

Social Science Research Network, 2021

Saints, Sinners, and Scoundrels: Catholic Law Faculty and A Light Unseen: A History of Catholic Legal Education in the United States

Journal of Catholic Legal Studies, 2019

As a faculty member at a Catholic law school for the past seventeen years, I have often been frus... more As a faculty member at a Catholic law school for the past seventeen years, I have often been frustrated with the inability of many professors and administrators at Catholic law schools to describe what makes a law school "Catholic." As Professors Breen and Strang report in A Light Unseen: A History of Catholic Legal Education in the United States, too often the description is limited to something like "a commitment to social justice," or "inculcating a strong sense of professional ethics." Yet as the authors observe, "Catholic law schools do not have a monopoly on or even a special claim to caring for the poor or promoting professional virtue." 1 Breen and Strang trace how we got to this place and propose an ambitious path to the "Light Unseen." Breen and Strang propose to create a jurisprudence grounded in Catholic social thought and human anthropology, and thus imbue Catholic law schools with a strong Catholic identity. 2 As the coeditor of a collection of essays seeking to incorporate † Professor of Law, University of St. Thomas School of Law (MN). I want to thank Professors Breen and Strang for their years of scholarship exploring what it means to be a Catholic law school, Anthony M. Nania and the staff of the St. John's Law Review for their amazing patience and work ethic during a difficult and complex time, and my husband for patiently reading multiple versions of this article as it evolved from a personal memoir of the joys and disappointments of joining a Catholic law school faculty, to an imperfect survey of faculty publications, to its final form analyzing the possible impact of Canon Law and the U.S. News and World Report Law School Rankings on efforts to create a uniquely Catholic law school.

Protecting Our Daughters: The Need for the Vermont Parental Notification Law

Social Science Research Network, Apr 25, 2002

This article outlines the provisions of pending Vermont legislation requiring parental notificati... more This article outlines the provisions of pending Vermont legislation requiring parental notification prior to the performance of an abortion on a minor. It describes the current national consensus in favor of parental involvement laws, and examines the arguments relating to the proposed passage of this law. The article reviews the federal cases addressing the constitutionality of parental involvement laws, as well as cases regarding parental involvement in other medical decisions. It examines the arguments of supporters and opponents of the Vermont legislation, and concludes that parental notification laws benefit minors through improved medical care and protection from sexual assault. The inclusion of a judicial bypass procedure insures the availability of a safe and effective means of protecting the few minors for whom parental involvement is not appropriate.

Sacred Secrets or Sanctimonious Silence

Loyola of Los Angeles law review, 1996

have provided valuable comments on an earlier draft of this Essay. The footnotes have benefitted ... more have provided valuable comments on an earlier draft of this Essay. The footnotes have benefitted from the hard work of my research assistant, Tim Heverin. 1. Commentary to Canon 983 states: "The canons do not touch extra-sacramental confidentiality, to which the ordained minister is bound as is any recipient of confidences, but bound even more so when the relationship of the minister to the individual is analogous to that of a professional counselor." THE CODE OF CANON LAW: A TEXT AND COMMENTARY 691 (James A. Coriden et al. eds., 1985) [hereinafter COMMENTARY]. See also Canon 1548 § 2, 10 which exempts clerics from testifying at an ecclesiastical trial as to information "made known to them in connection with their sacred ministry." Id. at 981.

Marriage, Family and the Positive Law

Notre Dame Journal of Law, Ethics & Public Policy, 2012

AMERICA (1991) (describing the clash of ideals held by those who have a theistic understanding an... more

Brief Amici Curiae of C. Everett Koop, M.D., Sc.D. et al., in support of Attorney General Ashcroft

PubMed, 2002

Interest of Amici (1) Amici are physicians, philosophers, and law professors engaged in the study... more Interest of Amici (1) Amici are physicians, philosophers, and law professors engaged in the study and teaching of bioethics. Each supports the conclusion of the Attorney General of the United States that assisting suicide is not a "legitimate medical purpose," and in fact undermines the foundational commitment of medicine to healing and the promotion of human health. The signatories also strongly support improved pain management and palliative care for terminally ill patients, and believe that condoning the "quick fix" of physician-assisted suicide will undermine society's commitment to the more difficult but infinitely more rewarding task of meeting patients' real needs. Summary of Argument Amici seek to place before the court the historical record and current professional consensus that assisting suicide is not a "legitimate medical purpose" for use of federally-controlled drugs. Assisting suicide is antithetical to the proper conduct of a physician in the "usual course of his professional practice." See 21 C.F.R. [section] 1306.04(2001). Medical treatment has as its ultimate end the restoration or preservation of the patient's health and the relief of suffering, not the termination of the patient's life. The public's health, their confidence in the beneficence of the medical profession, and the foundational ethos of the medical profession would be profoundly eroded by recognition of physician assisted suicide as a legitimate medical treatment. Argument I. The Proper End of Medicine is Restoration and Preservation of Health and Relief of Suffering, Not Termination of Life. The profession of medicine is distinguished from other human activities, including other professions, by virtue of the good or goods to which its practitioners publicly profess devotion. Lawyers profess devotion to "a belief in the ability of human beings to communicate with each other by means of rational argument ... a belief that human beings can arrange their affairs fairly ... [and] a belief in the value of purposeful process." John T. Noonan, Jr., Choice of a Profession, 21 Pepp. L. Rev. 381,383 (1994). Theologians profess a belief in the existence of God and the human capacity to attain some understanding of God's nature. Physicians profess devotion to human health and healing, "a naturally given although precarious standard or norm, characterized by `wholeness' and `well-working,' toward which the living body moves on its own." Leon R. Kass, "I Will Give No Deadly Drug," in The Case against Assisted Suicide: for the Right to End-of-Life Care (Kathleen Foley & Herbert Hendlin, eds. 2002) at 21. This devotion to health and healing necessarily requires the cultivation of particular virtues, such as self-restraint, patience and sympathy. Id. More to the point, devotion to health and healing sets certain limits on the physician's conduct, chief among which is the prohibition against physicians killing or helping to kill their patients. The prohibition against killing patients, the first negative promise of self-restraint sworn to in the Hippocratic Oath, stands as medicine's first and most abiding taboo.... The deepest ethical principle restraining the physician's power is neither the autonomy and freedom of the patient nor the physician's own compassion or good intention. Rather, it is the dignity and mysterious power of human life itself, and, therefore, also what the [Hippocratic] Oath calls purity and holiness of the life and art to which the physician has sworn devotion. A person can choose to be a physician but cannot simply choose what physicianship means. Id. at 32. The essence of the medical profession lies in its fundamental commitment to the preservation of human life and health. This commitment precludes inclusion of assisting suicide within the list of activities that constitute "legitimate medical practice. …

Recovering Self-Evident Truths: Catholic Perspectives on American Law

The Catholic University of America Press eBooks, 2007

Judicial Independence and Accountability in an Age of Unconstitutional Constitutional Amendments

Loyola University of Chicago Law Journal, 2010

Judicial Modesty and Abortion

South Carolina Law Review, 2008

Part 11 of this Article will consider whether the Constitution-by its terms, historical understan... more Part 11 of this Article will consider whether the Constitution-by its terms, historical understanding, or previous judicial interpretation-required the Court to constitutionalize questions related to abortion. My conclusions compel me to join the legions of legal scholars who have sharply criticized the reasoning employed by the Court in Roe v. Wade.' Part 11I attempts to determine whether the Court expanded or limited the impact of Roe's flawed reasoning in its abortion cases between Roe and Chief Justice Robert's confirmation. The evidence largely 3. 410 U.S. 113 (1973). It is important to note that these critics include many scholars who applaud the outcome of Roe, yet are compelled as a matter of academic integrity to admit that the case is largely unprincipled in its use of legal precedent and reasoning. This is the underlying premise of the authors writing in support of Roe's outcome in What Roe v. Wade ShouldHave Said (Jack Balkin ed., 2005). Serious criticism of Roe began almost as soon as the Court announced the decision and has continued through today. See, e.g., ALEXANDER M. BICKEL, THE MORALITY OF CONSENT 27 (1975) ("But if the Court's model statute [on abortion] is generally intelligent, what is the justification for its imposition? If this statute, why not one on proper grounds of divorce, or on adoption of children?");

Fetal pain legislation: is it viable?

PubMed, 2003

Saints, Sinners, and Scoundrels: Catholic Law Faculty and A Light Unseen: A History of Catholic Legal Education in the United States

Social Science Research Network, 2020

As a faculty member at a Catholic law school for the past seventeen years, I have often been frus... more As a faculty member at a Catholic law school for the past seventeen years, I have often been frustrated with the inability of many professors and administrators at Catholic law schools to describe what makes a law school “Catholic.” As Professors Breen and Strang report in A Light Unseen: A History of Catholic Legal Education in the United States, too often the description is limited to something like “a commitment to social justice,” or “inculcating a strong sense of professional ethics.” Yet as the authors observe, “Catholic law schools do not have a monopoly on or even a special claim to caring for the poor or promoting professional virtue.” Breen and Strang trace how we got to this place and propose an ambitious path to the “Light Unseen.” Breen and Strang propose to create a jurisprudence grounded in Catholic social thought and human anthropology, and thus imbue Catholic law schools with a strong Catholic identity. As the co-editor of a collection of essays seeking to incorporate Catholic anthropology into American law, I fully support the authors’ proposal. I also appreciate the care with which they have built their case that such a project is necessary to avoid the continuing secularization of most Catholic law schools—secularization that both scandalizes and discourages many faithful Catholics. My focus, however, is not to reargue the case for the creation of such jurisprudence, but to explore the capacity to initiate such a project within existing Catholic law schools given the current state of the American legal professoriate. While I will not go so far as to say a spiritual awakening and enthusiasm for the Breen Strang project is impossible at most Catholic law schools, I believe such an awakening and project will require fervent prayer, God’s favor, and skillful committed leadership by both clergy and lay professionals.

Recovering Self-Evident Truths

The Urgency of Restoring the Catholic (and Catholic) Nature of Higher Education

Social Science Research Network, 2017

This essay reflects upon the overwhelming trend of secularization in American Catholic higher edu... more This essay reflects upon the overwhelming trend of secularization in American Catholic higher education that has led to colleges and universities largely abandoning their liberal arts heritage for a more “instrumentalist” approach to education. This trend is part of what Pope Benedict XVI has identified as the “crisis of cultures” where Western concepts of reason are increasingly detached from their cultural and spiritual roots, resulting in an inability to speak to anything beyond the material world and our current understanding of it. I argue that we must resist the operational atheism that afflicts most American education, including many schools that are identified as religiously-affiliated. This atheism results resulting in what Pope Emeritus Benedict has called “the presumed completeness and use of liberty as the ‘criterion of everything else.’” This absolutizing of liberty with no higher moral criterion leaves us unable to address pressing problems as a community and specifically excludes an contribution from communities of faith.

Gonzales v. Carhart: Women Tell the Court About Abortion

University of St. Thomas Journal of Law and Public Policy, Dec 31, 2007

BRIEF OF SANDRA CANO, THE FORMER "MARY DOE" OF DOE V. BOLTON, AND 180 WOMEN INJURED BY ABORTION A... more BRIEF OF SANDRA CANO, THE FORMER "MARY DOE" OF DOE V. BOLTON, AND 180 WOMEN INJURED BY ABORTION AS AMICI CURIAE IN SUPPORT OF PETITIONER* ** STATEMENT OF INTEREST OF THE AMICI CURIAE Consent to file this amicus brief was given by both parties. This brief supporting Petitioner was prepared by counsel for amici. 1 At the heart of this case is the future of the "health" exception articulated in Roe v. Wade and Doe v. Bolton. Amici Sandra Cano is the "Doe" of Doe v. Bolton. It was Doe v. Bolton which provided for the health exception and led to partial-birth abortion and abortion on demand. While it is unusual for a successful litigant to file an amicus brief opposing the health exception which was the heart of her case, Mrs. Cano in fact never wanted an abortion in Doe v. Bolton and fraud was perpetrated on the Court. Her Affidavit is Appendix A. In addition, the three-doctor provision of the Georgia statute which provided actual verification and protection for women was struck down in Doe. Furthermore, the "health" exception has been broadly interpreted and thereby ultimately led to partial-birth abortion. Mrs. Cano supports Congress' position omitting the "health" exception and urges this Court to give deference to Congress and hold the ban on partialbirth abortion constitutional. Other amici are 180 post-abortive women who have suffered the adverse emotional and psychological effects of abortion. Congress in its findings only discussed the physical health consequences of abortion. However, other health consequences not stated in Congress' findings would be helpful to the Supreme Court in making its decision. The women attest * Linda Boston Schlueter, Counsel of Record, Counsel for Amici Curiae Sandra Cano and post-abortive women. ** Editor's Note: All citations have been converted to footnotes but are otherwise unchanged. 1. Counsel for amici authored the brief in whole. The Justice Foundation is a nonprofit legal foundation that handles cases in landmark decisions. The Foundation is supported through private contributions of donors who have made the preparation and submission of this brief possible. No party contributed to the writing or finances of this brief. Women Tell the Court about Abortion to the fact that there are adverse emotional and psychological health effects that have affected their lives. All of the women have used their full name in the original Affidavits, but some have requested that only their initials be used publicly to protect their confidentiality. Although the Supreme Court only made non-evidence based assumptions in Roe v. Wade and Doe v. Bolton because abortion was generally not legal or widespread, the post-abortive women amici provide this Court with their real life experiences and attest that abortion in practice hurts women's health. Post-abortive women were asked, "How has abortion affected you?" Some of the women's Affidavit testimony is in the brief with the complete answer to that question from the amici in Appendix B. The post-abortive women amici are: D

Independence or Interdependence? A Christian Response to Liberal Feminists

Yale University Press eBooks, Dec 31, 2017