Document Type
Article
Publication Title
Brigham Kanner Property Rights Journal
Publication Date
9-2025
ISSN
2326-7437
Page Number
49
Keywords
contracts, jurisprudence, property
Disciplines
Law | Property Law and Real Estate
Abstract
Seven years ago, in Sveen v. Melin, the Supreme Court applied the prevailing multipart test and rejected a contract clause claim. The result was hardly a surprise. The Court has not invoked the contract clause to invalidate a state law in more than forty years. The decision broke no new ground and seemingly signaled that the Court was content with the current multipart test, one that appears calculated to uphold state regulatory authority rather than vindi- cate the rights of contracting parties. Justice Neil Gorsuch force- fully dissented in Sveen, insisting that the multifactor test "seems hard to square with the Constitution's original public meaning" and reduces the protection afforded agreements to a dubious balancing exercise.' He appeared receptive to a fundamental reconsideration of contract clause jurisprudence.
Recommended Citation
James W. Ely, Jr.,
Is There Life in the Ruins? A Look at Post-Sveen Contract Clause Jurisprudence, 14 Brigham Kanner Property Rights Journal. 49
(2025)
Available at: https://scholarship.law.vanderbilt.edu/faculty-publications/1727