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33 Fla. St. U. L. Rev. 913 (2005-2006)
Another View of the Quagmire: Unconstitutional Conditions and Contract Theory

handle is hein.journals/flsulr33 and id is 927 raw text is: ANOTHER VIEW OF THE QUAGMIRE: UNCONSTITUTIONAL CONDITIONS AND CONTRACT THEORY DANIEL A. FARBER* I. INTRODUCTION .................................................................................................. 913 II. OPTING OUT OF CONSTITUTIONAL RIGHTS ........................................................ 917 A . State Im m unities ........................................................................................ 918 B. First Am endm ent ....................................................................................... 920 C. Abortion R ights .......................................................................................... 923 D. Criminal Procedure Rights ........................................................................ 924 III. THE DOCTRINE OF UNCONSTITUTIONAL CONDITIONS ....................................... 926 A . A D octrinal M ess ........................................................................................ 926 B . Theoretical Confusion ................................................................................ 929 IV. CONSTITUTIONAL RIGHTS AS DEFAULT RULES .................................................. 931 A. The Theory of Default Rules ....................................................................... 931 B. Benefits of Applying Default Rule Theory .................................................. 933 V. RETHINKING SUBSTANTIVE RESTRICTIONS ON EXCHANGE ................................ 940 A Germaneness Requirement ......................................................................... 941 B . Price Controls ............................................................................................. 946 C. Rethinking the Substantive Restrictions .................................................... 948 V I. CONCLUSION ..................................................................................................... 951 I. INTRODUCTION The title of this Article derives from one of the best-known articles in law and economics. In 1972, Guido Calabresi and A. Douglas Melamed published a paper entitled, Property Rules, Liability Rules, and Inalienability: One View of the Cathedral.' The subtitle was a reference to a series of paintings by Monet showing the same cathedral in a variety of lighting and weather conditions.2 The title's implication was that the article was offering only one among many possible perspectives.3 In a similar way, this Article is meant to provide an alternative perspective on a well-known scene. The scene in question involves a recondite area of legal doctrine- the constitutionality of requiring waiver of a constitutional right as a condition of receiving some governmental benefit. Under the unconstitutional conditions doctrine, the government is sometimes, but by no means always, blocked from imposing such conditions on * Sho Sato Professor of Law, University of California, Berkeley. I would like to thank John Yoo and the participants at the Symposium on Default Rules in Private and Public Law for helpful comments. 1. Guido Calabresi & A. Douglas Melamed, Property Rules, Liability Rules, and Inaleinability: One View of the Cathedral, 85 HARV. L. REV. 1089 (1972). 2. See id. at 1090 n.2. 3. See id. at 1089, 1090 n.2.