by Mike Davis | Sep 16, 2019 | Blog
When deciding whether people have broken laws, should judges consider the intent of the legislators who wrote the law? Or simply consider the plain language of the law as written? Legal scholars have debated this question for decades. However, there is only one answer...
by Byron Schlomach | Sep 11, 2019 | Blog
Apparently, if you’re a legislator in Oklahoma and want to look like you’re doing something about an issue while not actually doing anything at all, you pass a bill to create a commission to study the issue. At least, that’s how the Oklahoma Occupational Licensing...
by Benjamin Lepak | Sep 9, 2019 | Blog
Oklahoma’s Attorney General and trial courts appear to now be in the business of taxing industries and appropriating funds to state agencies. These are powers that the Oklahoma Constitution explicitly grants to the legislature. They are certainly not given to the...
by Benjamin Lepak | Sep 4, 2019 | Research
Legislators in Black Robes: Unelected Lawmaking by the Oklahoma Supreme Court Author Benjamin Lepak Abstract This paper criticizes the Oklahoma Supreme Court for arbitrary rulings that are designed to obtain policy outcomes desired by the Court rather than...
by Benjamin Lepak | Sep 4, 2019 | Blog
When the nine lawyers on the Oklahoma Supreme Court meet to hear a case, no legislation is safe. That’s because the justices on the Supreme Court regularly act as though they are lawmakers instead of judges. My most recent paper, Legislators in Black Robes:...
