In class today, we read Dean Smith’s academic paper, “The Real Story Behind the Nation's First Shield Law: Maryland, 1894–1897”. Two judicial concepts outlined in the paper are popular constitutionalism and non-judicial precedent.
Popular constitutionalism is the idea that a national dialogue happening beyond the courts may change the meaning of the US Constitution. This goes along with the idea that the Constitution is a living, breathing document as it can be seen with an "interpretive view" (Smith).
Non-judicial precedent takes popular constitutionalism a step further as the national dialogue leads to a statute that precedes the Supreme Court decision. These typically happen during a social movement to make a change at a government level. Non-judicial precedents "can remain operable outside court-made law" (Smith).
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