The published record of a federal practice.
A curated index of published legal works by John D. Kirby — law review articles, Supreme Court briefs, and scholarly contributions — with full citations and direct links to the original publications.
Three works. One body of authority.
Each publication below represents a distinct contribution — Supreme Court advocacy, doctrinal scholarship, and comparative constitutional analysis. Together they establish the intellectual foundation of this archive.
Supreme Court of the United States
Inyo County, California v. Paiute-Shoshone Indians of the Bishop Community of the Bishop Colony
538 U.S. 701 (2003) · No. 02-281 · Argued March 31, 2003 · Decided May 19, 2003
John D. Kirby argued this case before the Supreme Court of the United States on behalf of the petitioner, Inyo County. The case addressed whether a Native American tribe may bring suit under 42 U.S.C. § 1983 to assert sovereign immunity from state criminal investigative processes. The Court held unanimously that a tribe does not qualify as a “person” under § 1983 when asserting a sovereign right. Justice Ginsburg wrote the majority opinion; Justice Stevens concurred in the judgment.
Cornell Law Review
Qualified Immunity for Civil Rights Violations: Refining the Standard
75 Cornell Law Review 461 (1990) · Volume 75, Issue 2
A scholarly examination of the qualified immunity doctrine in § 1983 civil rights litigation. The article traces the evolution of the standard from Harlow v. Fitzgerald through the Rehnquist Court era, identifies the “level of generality” problem in the clearly-established-law inquiry, and proposes a functional refinement that would better balance accountability with effective governance. Published while Kirby was a student at Cornell Law School.
University of Miami Law School
The Cuban Constitution: A Study in Constitutional Design and Reform
Published in a University of Miami law journal.
A comparative constitutional law analysis examining the Cuban Constitution as a case study in how constitutional text, institutional design, and rights enforcement mechanisms interact within a transitional legal system. The article draws on the history of Cuban constitutionalism from the 1940 Constitution through subsequent reforms and analyzes the formal architecture of rights protection under the Cuban constitutional framework.
These three works span the full range of legal authority: Supreme Court advocacy, doctrinal scholarship in a flagship law review, and comparative constitutional analysis. Together, they establish the credibility that supports every white paper, case brief, and journal entry in this archive.