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Take It To The Limit: The Illegal Regulation Prohibiting The Take Of Any Threatened Species Under The Endangered Species Act, Jonathan Wood
Take It To The Limit: The Illegal Regulation Prohibiting The Take Of Any Threatened Species Under The Endangered Species Act, Jonathan Wood
Jonathan Wood
The Endangered Species Act forbids the “take” – any activity that adversely affects – any member of an endangered species, but only endangered species. The statute also provides for the listing of threatened species, i.e. species that may become endangered, but protects them only by requiring agencies to consider the impacts of their projects on them. Shortly after the statute was adopted, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and National Marine Fisheries Service reversed Congress’ policy choice by adopting a regulation that forbids the take of any threatened species. The regulation is not authorized by the Endangered Species Act, but …
Environmental Federalism's Tug Of War Within, Erin Ryan
Environmental Federalism's Tug Of War Within, Erin Ryan
Erin Ryan
Anyone paying attention has noticed that many of the most controversial issues in American governance—health care reform, marriage rights, immigration, drug law, and others—involve questions of federalism. The intensity of these disputes reflects inexorable pressure on all levels of government to meet the increasingly complicated challenges of governance in an ever more interconnected world, where the answers to jurisdictional questions are less and less obvious. Yet even as federalism dilemmas continue to erupt all from all corners, environmental law remains at the forefront of controversy, and it is likely to do so for some time. From mining to nuclear waste …
The Environmental Commerce Clause, Christine A. Klein
The Environmental Commerce Clause, Christine A. Klein
Christine A. Klein
This Article studies every commerce clause decision of the modem Supreme Court that involves the scope of governmental authority to regulate the use of natural resources. These decisions comprise what I will call the environmental commerce clause -- the Court's interpretation of the limits mandated by the commerce clause upon federal and state legislation protecting natural resources. Overall, the Court has been limiting the scope of the affirmative commerce clause while simultaneously expanding the reach of the dormant commerce clause. As a result, both federal and state efforts to protect the natural environment have been rendered constitutionally suspect. This study …
Constitution And Pollution: Federalism At Work, David R. Hodas
Constitution And Pollution: Federalism At Work, David R. Hodas
David R. Hodas
No abstract provided.
Extrajudicial Executions And Assaults In American Prisons And The Looming Human Rights Crisis, Robert M. Hardaway
Extrajudicial Executions And Assaults In American Prisons And The Looming Human Rights Crisis, Robert M. Hardaway
Robert Hardaway
This article examines the current due process crisis in American prisons and proposes reforms that would comply with human rights principles and international law. The number of prisoners killed in American prisons exceeds the number who are executed pursuant to judicial process. The bulk of these extrajudicial killings, and sexual assaults are the proximate consequence of close contact between prisoners. The predominate practice in American prisons is at the extreme ends of the spectrum—that is either placing prisoners in solitary confinement, a practice that has been challenged on Eighth Amendment grounds, or placing them in such close contact with each …
The Export Clause And The Constitutionality Of A Cap And Trade Mitigation Policy For Carbon Dioxide, Ross Astoria
The Export Clause And The Constitutionality Of A Cap And Trade Mitigation Policy For Carbon Dioxide, Ross Astoria
Ross Astoria
The Export Clause of the Constitution prohibits the taxing of “Articles exported from any State.” In this paper I examine the effect that Export Clause jurisprudence might have on the choice of national carbon dioxide mitigation policies. I conclude that it is unlikely that a “downstream” price on carbon dioxide emissions could include exported hydrocarbons. One corollary is that, since cap and trade policies are “downstream” pricing mechanism, it would be difficult, perhaps impossible, to craft cap and trade so as to cover exported hydrocarbons. In contrast, an “upstream” carbon tax does not suffer from this constitutional infirmity. I therefore …
Climate Change Adaptation And Coastal Property Rights: A Massachusetts Case Study, Lara D. Guercio
Climate Change Adaptation And Coastal Property Rights: A Massachusetts Case Study, Lara D. Guercio
Lara D. Guercio
This Article examines how existing state laws, including coastal property law and public trust doctrines, are likely to create challenges for the implementation of adaptation strategies proposed to address the effects of climate change—specifically, accelerated sea level rise, increased coastal flooding and storm-related erosion—on coastlines and connected natural resource areas, such as beaches, coastal wetlands, and tidelands. The Article uses Massachusetts, with its highly evolved body of coastal property law and public trust doctrine, as a case study. Mindful of U.S. Supreme Court takings doctrine, the Article analyzes the likely legal challenges to climate change adaptation strategies recently proposed for …
Constitutional Limitations On Land Use Controls, Environmental Regulations And Governmental Exactions, 2013 Edition, Garrett Power
Constitutional Limitations On Land Use Controls, Environmental Regulations And Governmental Exactions, 2013 Edition, Garrett Power
Garrett Power
This electronic book is published in a searchable PDF format as a part of the E-scholarship Repository of the University of Maryland Francis King Carey School of Law. It is an “open content” casebook intended for classroom use in courses in Constitutional Law, Land Use Control, and Environmental Law and. It consists of 130 odd judicial opinions (most rendered by the U.S. Supreme Court) carefully selected from the two hundred years of American constitutional history which address the clash between public sovereignty and private property. The text considers both the personal right to liberty and the personal right in property. …
Shifting Sands: A Meta-Theory For Public Access And Private Property Along The Coast, Melissa K. Scanlan
Shifting Sands: A Meta-Theory For Public Access And Private Property Along The Coast, Melissa K. Scanlan
Melissa K. Scanlan
Over half the United States population currently lives near a coast. As shorelines are used by more people, developed by private owners, and altered by extreme weather, competition over access to water and beaches will intensify, as will the need for a clearer legal theory capable of accommodating competing private and public interests. One such public interest is to walk along the beach, which seems simple enough. However, beach walking often occurs on this ambulatory shoreline where public rights grounded in the public trust doctrine and private rights grounded in property ownership intersect. To varying degrees, each state has a …
Policy Tailors And The Rookie Regulator, Sarah Tran
Policy Tailors And The Rookie Regulator, Sarah Tran
Sarah Tran
Commentators have long lamented the lack of policy tailoring in the patent system. But unlike other administrative agencies, who regularly tailor regulatory policies to the needs of specific industries, the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (“PTO”) was widely believed to lack the authority and institutional competence for such policymaking. This Article provides the first comprehensive analysis of recent legislative reforms to the PTO’s policymaking authority. It shows the reforms empower the PTO to have a larger say in patent policy than ever before. The big question is thus: to what extent is it good policy for a rookie regulator to …
Cool Lawsuits: Is Climate Change Litigation Dead After Kivalina V. Exxonmobil?, Mark L. Belleville
Cool Lawsuits: Is Climate Change Litigation Dead After Kivalina V. Exxonmobil?, Mark L. Belleville
Mark L. Belleville
Can emitters of greenhouse gases (“GHGs”) ever be held liable for harms caused by climate change? That is the limited question this Article addresses. While many commentators saw the Supreme Court’s 2007 decision in Massachusetts v. EPA (“Mass. v. EPA”) as an indication that such claims may receive favorable review, recent decisions suggest that there may be no theory under which the ExxonMobils of the world can be held liable for the effects of climate change. Specifically, in September 2012, the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals held that a native Alaskan village on the tip of a barrier reef, whose …
American Electric Power Company, Inc. V. State Of Connecticut: Brief Of Law Professors As Amici Curiae In Support Of Respondents, Stuart Banner, James R. May
American Electric Power Company, Inc. V. State Of Connecticut: Brief Of Law Professors As Amici Curiae In Support Of Respondents, Stuart Banner, James R. May
James R. May
No abstract provided.
Constitutional Limitations On Land Use Controls, Environmental Regulations And Governmental Exactions (2011 Edition), Garrett Power
Constitutional Limitations On Land Use Controls, Environmental Regulations And Governmental Exactions (2011 Edition), Garrett Power
Garrett Power
This electronic book is published in a searchable PDF format as a part of the E-scholarship Repository of the University of Maryland School of Law. It is an “open content” casebook intended for classroom use in courses in Land Use Control, Environmental Law and Constitutional Law. It consists of cases carefully selected from the two hundred years of American constitutional history which address the clash between public sovereignty and private property. It considers both the personal right to liberty and the personal right in property. The text consists of non-copyrighted material and readers are free to use it or re-mix …
Don't Tread On Me! Greenhouse Gases Must Never Choke American Freedom, Beau James Brock
Don't Tread On Me! Greenhouse Gases Must Never Choke American Freedom, Beau James Brock
Beau James Brock
This article examines: (1) the core of our American belief in freedom and the relationship between dutiful citizen and responsible government; (2) greenhouse gas policy making dictated by the EPA and the ubiquitous state of global economic conflict; and (3) the fundamental principle our Nation must ascribe to throughout this debate is we will best serve our most vulnerable citizens not through elitist dictates, but by open debate.
The Moral Limits Of Jurisdiction, Beau James Brock, Harold Leggett
The Moral Limits Of Jurisdiction, Beau James Brock, Harold Leggett
Beau James Brock
As the states and the public face new rules on emissions under the Clean Air Act, the authors find that environmental policy devoid of economic feasibility equals ethical bankruptcy by policymakers to the detriment of all citizens and their economic liberty
Hanousek V. United States: Social Engineering Encroaching On Individual Liberty, Beau James Brock
Hanousek V. United States: Social Engineering Encroaching On Individual Liberty, Beau James Brock
Beau James Brock
A legal decision that unexpectedly judicially “extended the reach environmental criminal law” was Hanousek v. United States, wherein the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit held the legal standard for criminal negligence under the Clean Water Act (CWA) was ordinary negligence.
Renaissance Of Environmental Criminal Investigation In Louisiana: A Model For The Nation, Beau James Brock, Michael Daniels
Renaissance Of Environmental Criminal Investigation In Louisiana: A Model For The Nation, Beau James Brock, Michael Daniels
Beau James Brock
In Louisiana, perpetrators of knowing criminal violations of the Louisiana Environmental Quality Act, Title 30 subject themselves to felony conduct. Now, that is not just idle words on a page. This law enforcement arm built to preserve the quality of life for every citizen of Louisiana is no longer a paper tiger, but a fightin’ tiger, capable of and willing to investigate in any situation. In the spring of 2008, sustainable programmatic changes in CID were immediately put into place. Some of these included the following: 1) comprehensive overhaul of the then current policies and procedures; 2) the replacement of …
Leviathan Menacing The Gulf Coast: Catastrophic Consequences May Imperil The Rule Of Law, Beau James Brock
Leviathan Menacing The Gulf Coast: Catastrophic Consequences May Imperil The Rule Of Law, Beau James Brock
Beau James Brock
The criminal negligence standard under the Clean Water Act should be one of gross negligence and not merely ordinary negligence and the United States Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals should not be tested on this point of law as it will disagree with the previous findings of the Ninth and Tenth Circuits.
Protecting Our Most Vulnerable Communities: Louisiana Wastewater Infrastructure Recovery, Beau James Brock, Peggy Hatch, Vladimir Alexander Appeaning Ph.D.
Protecting Our Most Vulnerable Communities: Louisiana Wastewater Infrastructure Recovery, Beau James Brock, Peggy Hatch, Vladimir Alexander Appeaning Ph.D.
Beau James Brock
This article discusses how the Louisiana DEQ accepted the moral test of government, and after laying a foundation for success, was able to implement its own pragmatic populist policy for infrastructure recovery by establishing its own model for community sustainability and enabling the state to answer the call for social justice through direct action for citizens.
The Unbearable Cost Of Skipping The Check: Property Rights, Takings Compensation & Ecological Protection In The Western Water Law Context, Scott A. Shepard
The Unbearable Cost Of Skipping The Check: Property Rights, Takings Compensation & Ecological Protection In The Western Water Law Context, Scott A. Shepard
Scott A. Shepard
Western-state non-riparian water-law regimes remain legally vital and highly useful in the age of increased scarcity and ecological concern. Claims that the property rights central to these regimes can be revoked without Fifth-Amendment takings implications – as a result of applying various doctrines or of limitations inherent in the rights as granted – are historically and legally unsound, and doctrinally unwise. Declaring water rights non-compensable would require accepting a maxim of legal interpretation that could not be limited to the water-rights (or even property-rights) context, and would render all constitutional guarantees liable to negation without constitutional process. Moreover, such a …
Federalism At The Cathedral: Property Rules, Liability Rules, And Inalienability Rules In Tenth Amendment Infrastructure, Erin Ryan
Erin Ryan
As climate change, war in the Middle East, and the price of oil focus American determination to move beyond fossil fuels, nuclear power has resurfaced as a possible alternative. But energy reform efforts may be stalled by an unlikely policy deadlock stemming from a structural technicality in an aging Supreme Court decision: New York v. United States, which set forth the Tenth Amendment anti-commandeering rule and ushered in the New Federalism era in 1992. This dry technicality also poses ongoing regulatory obstacles in such critical interjurisdictional contexts as stormwater management, climate regulation, and disaster response. Such is the enormous power …
Much Ado About Pluralities: Pride And Precedent Amidst The Cacophy Of Concurrences, And Re-Percolation After Rapanos, Donald J. Kochan, Melissa M. Berry, Matthew J. Parlow
Much Ado About Pluralities: Pride And Precedent Amidst The Cacophy Of Concurrences, And Re-Percolation After Rapanos, Donald J. Kochan, Melissa M. Berry, Matthew J. Parlow
Donald J. Kochan
Conflicts created by concurrences and pluralities in court decisions create confusion in law and lower court interpretation. Rule of law values require that individuals be able to identify controlling legal principles. That task is complicated when pluralities and concurrences contribute to the vagueness or uncertainty that leaves us wondering what the controlling rule is or attempting to predict what it will evolve to become. The rule of law is at least handicapped when continuity or confidence or confusion infuse our understanding of the applicable rules. This Article uses the recent U.S. Supreme Court decision in Rapanos v. United States to …
Palazzolo, The Public Trust, And The Property Owner’S Reasonable Expectations: Takings And The South Carolina Marsh Island Bridge Debate, Erin Ryan
Erin Ryan
South Carolina recently promulgated new guidelines regulating the State’s consideration of requests by private marsh island owners to build bridges for vehicular access through publicly owned marsh and tidelands. Many thousands of these islands hug the South Carolina coast, but they are surrounded by tidelands subject to South Carolina’s formidable public trust doctrine, which obligates the State to manage submerged lands and waterways for the benefit of the public. This piece evaluates the relationship between the public trust doctrine and the takings subtext to the debate over the new guidelines – a relationship that has become particularly interesting in the …
Where Constitutional Law And Environmental Law Intersect, James R. May
Where Constitutional Law And Environmental Law Intersect, James R. May
James R. May
No abstract provided.
Green Laws For Better Health: The Past That Was And The Future That Maybe - Reflections From The Indian Experience, Shubhankar Dam
Green Laws For Better Health: The Past That Was And The Future That Maybe - Reflections From The Indian Experience, Shubhankar Dam
Shubhankar Dam
No abstract provided.
The Current State Of Environmental Criminal Enforcement In Louisiana, An Insider’S View, Beau James Brock
The Current State Of Environmental Criminal Enforcement In Louisiana, An Insider’S View, Beau James Brock
Beau James Brock
The costs of committing environmental crimes are going up in Louisiana as increased enforcement by EPA-CID has been initiated with other federal and state partners.