Digital Commons Network^™

Consumer Scams And The Elderly: Preserving Independence Through Shifting Default Rules, Nathalie Martin

Faculty Scholarship

Modern technology has made it easier than ever for scammers, legitimate businesses with dubious intentions, and even charities to take advantage of telemarketing. For reasons including reduced mental faculties and loneliness, the elderly are increasingly at risk for losing money, credit, and ultimately independence to those who would exploit them. In this Article, Professor Martin explores the benefits of existing regulations, bankruptcy, and reverse mortgages as solutions to these problems. Professor Martin also recommends a new default rule for elderly consumers: no solicitations unless the consumer opts in.

Latina/Os' And Latina/O Legal Studies: A Critical And Self-Critical Review Of Latcrit Theory And Legal Models Of Knowledge Production, Margaret E. Montoya, Francisco Valdes

Faculty Scholarship

For the twelfth time in as many years, the LatCrit community convened its annual conference to underscore the importance of location and locality in the work that we do. The conference theme's framing around Critical Localities: Epistemic Communities, Rooted Cosmopolitans and Knowledge Processes not only focused our collective attention on questions of epistemic community and intellectual (as well as physical) location, but also invited reflection on the meanings we inscribe onto the positions we elect to stake out for ourselves and our work in light of the options and traditions that serve as background. The "Critical Localities" theme invites an …

Judicial Review As Soft Power: How The Courts Can Help Us Win The Post-9/11 Conflict, Dawinder S. Sidhu

Faculty Scholarship

This Article seeks to answer these questions. In this Article, I will argue that the American response to Islamic terrorist factions must move outside the military sphere in which battles are fought between arms and men to a more conceptual contest for hearts and minds, where the ammunition in this abstract war will be fundamental American principles, particularly a constitutional commitment to the rule of law, and where advancements in the war will be based on incrementally increased attraction to America. This approach will speak to one’s will and conscience in an effort to secure a more lasting respite from …

On Appeal: Reviewing The Case Against The Death Penalty, Dawinder S. Sidhu

Faculty Scholarship

There is perhaps a no more divisive and significant issue in the United States than that of capital punishment./ The debate over the death penalty is of vital import and intrigue because it involves death, the termination of an individual's known existence. Not only does the death penalty involve death, but more properly, it involves the deliberate taking of life.3 It is precisely because the death penalty involves the willful extermination of human life that the debate must be thoroughly examined. This article attempts to add this needed clarity by evaluating the various arguments against the death penalty.

Andy Nuñez: His Life, Career, & Contributions, Bridgette Burbank, Jerold Widdison

Water Matters!

For years and years, reaching back well before his time in the Legislature, Rep. Nuñez has been a strong advocate not only for the state’s people but for its land and water resources.

Family Law In New Mexico, Antoinette Sedillo Lopez, Barbara L. Shapiro

Faculty Book Display Case

Copyright page and Table of Contents only. Your guide to state law on living together, marriage, divorce, property and debt division, child custody and support, spousal support, domestic violence and more

Bioethics And Law In A Nutshell, Robert Schwartz, Sandra H. Johnson

Faculty Book Display Case

Copyright page and Table of Contents only.

Law Of The Land - Recognition And Resurgence In Indigenous Law And Justice Systems In Indigenous Peoples And The Law, Christine Zuni Cruz

Faculty Book Display Case

This paper begins with a discussion of the Indigenous legal tradition and explores its connection to the land. Borrowing from the work of Indigenous scholars, it describes the Indigenous legal tradition as a part of Indigenous knowledge, which stems from an ecological order rooted in specific place.' The recognition of the Indigenous legal tradition by nation states does not always lead to its acceptance. Indigenous legal tradition requires a special approach because of its unique texts. Drawing on previous work, this paper elaborates on the Indigenous legal tradition. The Indigenous legal tradition struggles in relation to the existing justice systems …

The Marshall-Brennan Constitutional Literacy Project: A Case Study In Law And Social Justice, Maryam Ahranjani

Faculty Book Display Case

Named for the late Supreme Court justices Thurgood Marshall and William Brennan, Jr., the Marshall-Brennan Constitutional Literacy Project has worked for eight years to mobilize talented law students to serve as mentors to junior high and high school students, learn about the importance of democracy and citizenship, and share their knowledge of the law with high school students. Besides the substantive curricular goals of the project, one of its social goals is to promote the pipeline of students of color to college, law school, and the practice of law.

To a certain extent, the project is subversive in its approach. …

We The People: The Citizen And The Constitution, Level 3, Kevin Washburn

Faculty Book Display Case

The revised and updated fourth print edition of We the People: The Citizen & the Constitution features new text, images, exercises, and Supreme Court cases to ensure that the next generation of Americans has the intellectual tools they need to become informed and engaged citizens. We the People gives high school students a firm understanding of government and citizenship. Students explore the history and principles of constitutional democracy through critical-thinking exercises, cooperative-learning and participation in a simulated congressional hearing. The We the People student textbook contains six units and 39 lessons. The updated teacher's guide contains a step-by-step walkthrough of …

The Endangered Species Act: What We Talk About When We Talk About Recovery, Dale D. Goble

Natural Resources Journal

No abstract provided.

Death Penalty For Women In North Carolina, Elizabeth Rapaport, Victor Streib

Faculty Scholarship

Is Justice Marshall right? Have women received "favored treatment" under our death penalty laws and procedures? The national data might lead to such a presumption, given that over 99% of the people executed in the United States are men, but the analyses and explanations are far from simple. The authors have written about this national phenomenon for the past two decades, sharing a strong interest in the issue but not always agreeing in their explanations. Now we examine the North Carolina experience within the national context. This article reports the results of that examination, beginning with North Carolina's history of …

The Subprime Crisis And The Link Between Consumer Financial Protection And Systemic Risk, Erik F. Gerding

Faculty Scholarship

This Article argues that the current global financial crisis, which was first called the subprime crisis,' demonstrates the need to revisit the division between financial regulations designed to protect consumers from excessively risky loans and safety-and-soundness regulations intended to protect financial markets from the collapse of financial institutions. Consumer financial protection can, and must, serve a role not only in protecting individuals from excessive risk, but also in protecting markets from systemic risk. Economic studies indicate it is not merely high rates of defaults on consumer loans, but also unpredictable and highly correlated defaults that create risks for both lenders …

End-Of-Life Care: Doctors' Complaints And Legal Restraints, Robert L. Schwartz

Faculty Scholarship

Health lawyers and policymakers cannot always see the same shadows of the laws that are visible to health care providers, and sometimes those shadows have penumbras and emanations that are not visible to those outside of a narrow medical practice. Sometimes those shadows, whether real or imagined, cause doctors to act inconsistently with the intent of the law, and inconsistently with the requirements of good medical practice. Doctors may misread or misunderstand a law. Still, if the law as misread or misunderstood actually affects medical practice, we should not be blind to the fact of the misunderstanding. Listen to doctors' …

Punishment For Ecological Disasters: Punitive Damages And/Or Criminal Sanctions, Leo M. Romero

Faculty Scholarship

This article addresses the means of punishing conduct that causes serious environmental harm like the Exxon Valdez oil spill. In particular, it considers the appropriateness and effectiveness of both punitive damages and criminal sanctions as remedies in such cases in light of the U.S. Supreme Court's approaches to reviewing both punitive damages awards and criminal sentences for excessiveness. This article recommends, first, that state legislatures should authorize and regulate punitive damages so that appellate courts will not interfere with punitive damages awards, as happened in the Exxon case. Second, states should enforce criminal provisions in environmental statutes against both corporate …

Madison In Post-9/11 Cyberspace: Applying Federalist No. 10 To The Online Battle For ‘Hearts And Minds’, Dawinder S. Sidhu

Faculty Scholarship

To be sure, there are at least a few problems with the approach of drawing upon the Framers for guidance with respect to the issues of the day. First, the Framers did not reach consensus on all matters. The famous rivalry between the Alexander Hamilton, a staunch nationalist from New York who favored a strong federal banking system and central government, and Jefferson, a republican from Virginia who preferred an agrarian lifestyle and trusted the people to do right by American society, perhaps best illustrates the fact that the Framers themselves were not in lockstep as to the makeup of …

Cujo Goes To College: On The Use Of Animals By Individuals With Disabilities In Postsecondary Institutions, Dawinder S. Sidhu

Faculty Scholarship

This Article examines the extent to which animals may be used by individuals with disabilities in a particular setting-postsecondary institutions.

Wartime America And The Wire: A Response To Posner’S Post-9/11 Constitutional Framework, Dawinder S. Sidhu

Faculty Scholarship

This article challenges Not a Suicide Pact by using a single component of practical experience that has factored into legal reasoning: television. In particular, it will invoke various themes from The Wire—an HBO series that explores the relationship between the drug trade and law enforcement in Baltimore, Maryland—to demonstrate the problematic nature of the aforementioned arguments set forth in Posner’s book.

Listening To Indigenous Voices: What The Un Declaration On The Rights Of Indigenous Peoples Means For U.S. Tribes, Aliza Organick

Faculty Scholarship

Part I of this article will provide a historical context for the Declaration by surveying the international recognition of the concept of "Indigenous" rights that led to the adoption of the Declaration. Part II will discuss the positions taken by each no-vote state and the reasoning employed by these states in support of those positions. Part Ill will focus on how U.S. Tribes might turn the Declaration into a living document in spite of the United States' continued resistance to do so.

Tribal Law And Best Practices In Legal Education: Creating A New Path For The Study Of Tribal Law, Aliza Organick

Faculty Scholarship

In Part I of this article, I explore the importance of introducing law students to tribal law and the culture of other local legal systems early and often. I assert that when the legal academy ignores the role that culture plays in the formation and understanding of our own legal system and the legal systems of other communities, we are ignoring the most basic and core aspects of society. By disregarding the role culture plays in legal systems, we are doing a disservice not only to our students, but also ultimately to the legal community and our clients. By failing …

From Conflict To Cooperation: State And Tribal Court Relations In The Era Of Self-Determination, Aliza Organick, Tonya Kowalski

Faculty Scholarship

State and Tribal sovereigns have historically had a tense relationship, beginning in colonial times, when states vied with the federal government for trading rights and for control of Indian lands. Today, that tension still expresses itself in matters such as gaming compacts, criminal and civil jurisdiction, and taxation, to name just a few. While different sovereigns within a federal system may always vie for resources and power to some extent, it is time for states and Tribes to focus on what a more mutually supportive relationship with Tribal communities has to offer. This Essay explores the history of the two …

The Evolving Architecture Of North American Integration, Laura Spitz

Faculty Scholarship

Given its potential significance for democracy, sovereignty, government, governance, and justice in each of Canada, the United States, and Mexico, North American integration qua integration has thus far received surprisingly little attention from legal scholars and social scientists. While an expanding body of research explores the dynamics of continental integration in other contexts (especially Europe) and/or examines the meaning of globalization, regionalism, and multilateral internationalism in a general sense, the specific constitution of an integrated North American space remains largely undertheorized. This Article aims to advance the literature in this area by examining legal discourse as an example of the …

Leadership Development Programs For Academic Law Librarians (In Special Issue Entitled, Our Commitment To Building Leaders: Programs For Leadership In Academic And Special Libraries), Carol A. Parker

Faculty Scholarship

In 2003 the American Association of Law Libraries (AALL) identified leadership development as one of three primary goals for the organization during this decade. Motivated by a desire to provide leadership training opportunities and expand mentoring programs, a special committee on leadership development created a Leadership Academy for AALL members. The two-day program challenges participants to increase self-awareness of leadership skills and opportunities, and provides them with strategies to emerge as leaders in their organizations and the profession. Academy participation initiates a year-long program of formal mentoring and includes activities held during the AALL annual meeting.