Steve Gottlieb organized a conference on "compelling state
interests" in 1992 (I believe) that was published in the Albany Law
Review. One of the points that he made, as I recall, is that we
really should talk about "compelling public purposes" rather
than "state interests," since the only legitimate purpose of
"the state" is to serve the "public's interest" and
not those of entrenched state officials concerned, at worst, to line
their own pockets, or, more commonly, to make their own decisions
without feeling particularly accountable to tell the truth to the public
in whose name the decisions are being made. (As to this last, I
recommend an outstanding article on the run-up to the Iraq war in last
week's New Republic by John Judis and ___ Ackerman (not Bruce).
sandy
At 10:22 AM 7/1/2003, you wrote:
Following Marc Stern's inquiry, are there any publications that discuss
the general contours of "compelling interests" in the same way
that fn. 4 of Carolene Products suggest the indicia of
"suspectness."
Bobby Lipkin
Widener University School of Law
Delaware
