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Full-Text Articles in Law

Police Misconduct, Video Recording, And Procedural Barriers To Rights Enforcement, Howard M. Wasserman Apr 2018

Police Misconduct, Video Recording, And Procedural Barriers To Rights Enforcement, Howard M. Wasserman

Howard M Wasserman

The story of police reform and of "policing the police" has become the story of video and video evidence, and "record everything to know the truth" has become the singular mantra. Video, both police-created and citizen-created, has become the singular tool for ensuring police accountability, reforming law enforcement, and enforcing the rights of victims of police misconduct. This Article explores procedural problems surrounding the use of video recording and video evidence to counter police misconduct, hold individual officers and governments accountable, and reform departmental policies, regulations, and practices. It considers four issues: 1) the mistaken belief that video can "speak …


Rejecting Sovereign Immunity In Public Law Litigation, Howard M. Wasserman Feb 2016

Rejecting Sovereign Immunity In Public Law Litigation, Howard M. Wasserman

Howard M Wasserman

No abstract provided.


Mixed Signals On Summary Judgment, Howard M. Wasserman Feb 2016

Mixed Signals On Summary Judgment, Howard M. Wasserman

Howard M Wasserman

No abstract provided.


A Jurisdictional Perspective On New York Times V. Sullivan, Howard M. Wasserman Feb 2016

A Jurisdictional Perspective On New York Times V. Sullivan, Howard M. Wasserman

Howard M Wasserman

New York Times v. Sullivan, arguably the Supreme Court's most significant First Amendment decision, marks its fiftieth anniversary next year. Often overlooked in discussions of the case's impact on the freedom of speech and freedom of the press is that it arose from a complex puzzle of constitutional, statutory, and judge-made jurisdictional and procedural rules. These kept the case in hostile Alabama state courts for four years and a half-million-dollar judgment before the Times and its civil rights leader co-defendants finally could avail themselves of the structural protections of federal court and Article III judges. The case's outcome and the …


Civil Rights Plaintiffs And John Doe Defendants: A Study In § 1983 Procedure, Howard M. Wasserman Feb 2015

Civil Rights Plaintiffs And John Doe Defendants: A Study In § 1983 Procedure, Howard M. Wasserman

Howard M Wasserman

No abstract provided.


Iqbal, Procedural Mismatches, And Civil Rights Litigation, Howard M. Wasserman Feb 2015

Iqbal, Procedural Mismatches, And Civil Rights Litigation, Howard M. Wasserman

Howard M Wasserman

Understanding the twin pleading cases of Bell Atlantic Corp. v. Twombly and Ashcroft v. Iqbal from the vantage point of only a few months (or even years) requires as much prediction as explanation. Early confusion is a product of the long-heralded link between substance and procedure. What we are seeing now may be less about Court-imposed changes to procedure as about changes to substantive law and a "mismatch " between new substance and the old procedure of the Federal Rules. Much of the current business of federal courts involves constitutional litigation under 42 U.S. C. §S 1983 and Bivens, a …


Civil Rights And Federal Courts: Creating A Two-Course Sequence, Howard M. Wasserman Feb 2015

Civil Rights And Federal Courts: Creating A Two-Course Sequence, Howard M. Wasserman

Howard M Wasserman

No abstract provided.


The Irrepressible Myth Of Klein, Howard M. Wasserman Feb 2010

The Irrepressible Myth Of Klein, Howard M. Wasserman

Howard M Wasserman

The Reconstruction-era case of United States v. Klein remains the object of a “cult” among commentators and advocates, who see it as a powerful separation of powers precedent. In fact, Klein is a myth—actually two related myths. One is that it is opaque and meaninglessly indeterminate because, given its confusing and disjointed language, its precise doctrinal contours are indecipherable; the other is that Klein is vigorous precedent, likely to be used by a court to invalidate likely federal legislation. Close analysis of Klein, its progeny, and past scholarship uncovers three identifiable core limitations on congressional control over the workings of …