Law Commons^™

Considering Copyright Crimes, Roger J. Miner '56

Criminal Law

No abstract provided.

Justice Stephen Breyer: Purveyor Of Common Sense In Many Forums, Jeffrey Lubbers

Articles in Law Reviews & Other Academic Journals

No abstract provided.

Strong Criticism Of The American System Of Trial By Jury, Yale Kamisar

Articles

I grieve for my country to say that the administration of the criminal law in all the states in the Union (there may be one or two exceptions) is a disgrace to our civilization.

Are Twelve Heads Better Than One?, Phoebe C. Ellsworth

Articles

The jury's competence, unlike that of the judge, rests partly on its ability to reflect the perspectives, experiences, and values of the ordinary people in the community - not just the most common or typical community perspective, but the whole range of viewpoints.

Juvenile Detention Law In The District Of Columbia: A Practitioner’S Guide, Paul Holland, John Copacino, Milton Lee

Faculty Articles

On each and every day of the year (excluding Sundays), children are presented for an initial hearing in the Family Division, Juvenile Branch of the Superior Court of the District of Columbia. Because of unusually broad and often misapplied preventive detention laws, children charged with property offenses such as theft, or status offenses such as truancy and ungovernability, are subject to detention for an indefinite period of time through summary procedures which do not adequately ensure the reliability of the detention decision. Because the detention of juveniles has become routine in superior court, its potential harm to the child is …

The Fourth Amendment Protection Against Unreasonable Searches And Seizures And The French Experience, Florence Sophie Boreil

LLM Theses and Essays

Under the American approach to criminal justice, freedom of the individual is of the utmost importance. The American criminal justice system reflects a distrust of abuse of power and an emphasis on protection of personal freedom. However, the French take a contrary approach; under French law, freedom is achieved through the State. This paper examines the protection of individuals’ rights in American and French criminal procedure. Focus will be given to tracking the police investigatory powers in each country through searches and seizures, and the impact that those powers have on individuals’ rights. This paper will assert that the police …

The Four Doctrines Of Self-Executing Treaties, Carlos Manuel Vázquez

Georgetown Law Faculty Publications and Other Works

A distinction has become entrenched in United States law between treaties that are "self-executing" and those that are not. The precise nature of this distinction--indeed, its very existence--is a matter of some controversy and much confusion. More than one lower federal court has pronounced the distinction to be the "most confounding" in the United States law of treaties. A tremendous amount of scholarship has sought to clarify this distinction, but the honest observer cannot but agree with John Jackson's observation that " [t]he substantial volume of scholarly writing on this issue has not yet resolved the confusion" surrounding it. The …

Imagining Children's Rights, Suellyn Scarnecchia

Articles

Today, I will tell you some stories about real, live children, whose futures have been determined by our legal system. To speak of children's rights hypothetically, raises images of children suing to go live with their rich uncle or suing to demand a Nintendo system from their parents. I hope that by bringing you stories of the legal system's treatment of real children, you will have a better understanding of what I mean by children's rights and why they must be recognized. Although children's rights have been recognized in limited ways in the areas of free speech, criminal law and …

How To Think About The Federal Commerce Power And Incidentally Rewrite United States V. Lopez, Donald H. Regan

Articles

Almost sixty years after the "revolution" of 1937, we still do not have an adequate theory of the commerce power. The Court was right to abandon the theory of dual federalism epitomized by Carter v. Carter Coal Co.;' and it has got the right results in the major cases decided since then. But our post-1937 theory, whether before or after Lopez, is a mess. On the one hand, we have a collection of doctrinal rules that, if we take them seriously, allow Congress to do anything it wants under the commerce power. On the other hand, we continue to pay …

Stuck Inside The Heartland With Those Coastline Clerking Blues Again, Carl W. Tobias

Law Faculty Publications

Supreme Court Justice Stephen Breyer, Circuit Judge Edward Becker, and Circuit Judge Guido Calabresi deserve kudos for helping to craft, implement, and publicize an efficacious solution to the increasing difficulties engendered by the selection of federal judicial law clerks. The jurists' essay, The Federal Judicial Law Clerk Hiring Problem and the Modest March 1 Solution, which recently appeared in the Yale Law Journal, is a must read for all those who participate in the process of law clerk hiring.

The concerted efforts of Justice Breyer and Judges Becker and Calabresi have apparently succeeded in bringing considerable order out of chaos, …

Re-Evaluating Federal Civil Justice Reform In Montana,, Carl W. Tobias

Law Faculty Publications

Part I of this piece initially affords an update of relevant developments relating to civil justice reform nationally and in the Montana Federal District Court. It emphasizes the congressional decision to extend the deadlines governing analysis of experimentation in the pilot districts and recent developments that led the Montana district to delay the preparation of a written annual assessment. Part II of this paper then glances into the future.

On Comparing Apples And Oranges: The Judicial Clerkship Selection Process And The Medical Matching Model, Annette E. Clark

Faculty Articles

In this article, Professor Clark joins the debate over whether the federal judiciary should utilize the medical matching model to reform the judicial clerk selection process. She analyzes the medical experience with the residency match in order to detail the ways in which proponents of a judicial clerk match have overstated the benefits, underestimated the costs, and overlooked the differing and potentially conflicting interests of judges and clerkship applicants in the selection process. Professor Clark concludes that reform of the judicial clerk selection process should be guided by a realistic appraisal of the costs and benefits of a matching system.

Whatever Happened To The Right To Treatment: The Modern Quest For An Historical Promise, Paul Holland, Wallace Mlyniec

Faculty Articles

Since the creation of the first juvenile court in 1899, state training schools have been the primary place of confinement for children removed from their homes. In theory such places were supposed to be home-like and rehabilitative in their facilities and care. In reality they were usually impersonal, understaffed, unhealthy, and even dangerous institutions, devoid of rehabilitative programs. From the late 1960s to the early 1980s, advocates for children pursued legislative and other policy reforms. They argued that children in state institutions had both a statutory and constitutional €œright to treatment. In this context, the authors of this article reassess …

Youth Justice In A Unified Court: Response To Critics Of Juvenile Court Abolition, Janet Ainsworth

Faculty Articles

In this article, Professor Ainsworth argues that a unified criminal justice system is preferable to our present two-tiered adult-juvenile court system. In fact, she contends that the cultural and ideological assumptions that underpin the current two-tiered justice system not only engender many of the serious shortcomings of the juvenile justice system, but also serve to exacerbate the very policies and practices of the adult criminal justice system that make it so abhorrent to defenders of the juvenile court. Critics of juvenile court abolitionists thus miss the point when they argue that juveniles would be worse off than they are at …

Judicial Federalism: A Proposal To Amend The Multidistrict Litigation Statute To Permit Discovery Coordination Of Large-Scale Litigation Pending In State And Federal Courts, William W. Schwarzer, Alan Hirsch, Edward Sussman

Faculty Scholarship

No abstract provided.

A Catalogue Of Judicial Federalism In The United States, Thomas E. Baker

Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

A View To The Future Of Judicial Federalism: “Neither Out Far Nor In Deep”, Thomas E. Baker

Faculty Publications

Professor Baker briefly sketches some likely future scenarios for state courts and federal courts and then highlights what he expects will be the future opportunities for cooperation and judicial federalism. Included are discussions of the separate futures of the state and federal courts and then how the two judiciaries will relate to each other in the years ahead.

Investiture Of The Honorable Paul Czajka, Roger J. Miner '56

Induction Ceremonies and Investitures

No abstract provided.

Bankruptcy In The Seventh Circuit: 1994, Douglass Boshkoff

Articles by Maurer Faculty

No abstract provided.

Book Review. The Supreme Court And Constitutional Theory: 1953-1993, Donald H. Gjerdingen

Articles by Maurer Faculty

No abstract provided.

What's Quality Got To Do With It?: Constitutional Theory, Politics, And Education Reform, Phil Weiser

Publications

No abstract provided.

Can A Deficiency Notice To A Non-Filing Taxpayer Shorten The Time To Claim A Refund In The Tax Court?, Matthew J. Barrett

Journal Articles

Each year, about three million people overpay their federal income taxes but don't file returns. Taxpayers usually have three years to claim a refund. When a non-filer waits more than two years before seeking a refund, the IRS often seeks more tax because the taxpayer has not filed. If the taxpayer appeals to the Tax Court to avoid paying the additional tax, the IRS says the refund period is only two years. Now the Supreme Court decides if a deficiency notice can shorten the time to claim a refund in the Tax Court.

Are Litigating Attorneys Debt Collectors Under The Federal Fair Debt Collection Practices Act?, Tang Thi Thanh Trai Le

Journal Articles

In 1986 Congress amended the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act to include attorneys under the definition of debt collector. Now the Supreme Court is asked to determine if the law applies to attorneys suing debtors on behalf of clients, not just when they conduct debt-collection activities.

If the Supreme Court affirms the decision of the Seventh Circuit, thus finding for Jenkins, attorneys who litigate cases involving collection of debts may find themselves subject to liability for communications with the consumer or the consumer's attorney regarding the litigation. Furthermore, these attorneys would face personal liability for any violations of the Act …

Multiple Punishment For Similar Crimes: Is The Double Jeopardy Clause Violated?, Jimmy Gurule

Journal Articles

Criminal defendants often are charged and convicted of multiple offenses. And often one offense is a lesser included offense of another, which means that proving one offense proves the other. If the offender is sentenced for both crimes, is the prohibition against double jeopardy violated? That is the question the Supreme Court addresses in this drug trafficking case, a case in which two concurrent life imprisonment sentences were imposed for virtually the same conduct.

Incoming Drug Calls And Performative Words: They're Not Just Talking About It, Baron Parke!, Christopher B. Mueller

Publications

No abstract provided.

The Ghost At The Banquet: Slavery, Federalism, And Habeas Corpus For State Prisoners, Marc Arkin

Faculty Scholarship

No abstract provided.

Are Back Pay And Damages In Age Discrimination Cases Subject To Income Taxes?, Matthew J. Barrett

Journal Articles

The Internal Revenue Code excludes damages received "on account of personal injuries" from federal income taxation. In this case, the Supreme Court decides if back pay and damages received under the Age Discrimination in Employment Act qualify for this exclusion. The Court's decision could affect thousands of workers who have brought, or may bring, federal age discrimination claims after losing their jobs in downsizings. It may also resolve the tax status of punitive damages.

Physician Assisted Suicide: The Last Bridge To Active Voluntary Euthanasia, Yale Kamisar

Book Chapters

SOME 30 YEARS AGO an eminent constitutional law scholar, Charles L. Black, Jr, spoke of 'toiling uphill against that heaviest of all argumental weights- the weight of a slogan.' I am reminded of that observation when I confront the slogan the 'right to die.' Few rallying cries or slogans are more appealing and seductive than the 'right to die.' But few are more fuzzy, more misleading, or more misunderstood.

Justice, Liability, And Blame: Community Views And The Criminal Law, Paul H. Robinson, John M. Darley

All Faculty Scholarship

This book reports empirical studies on 18 different areas of substantive criminal law in which the study results showing ordinary people’s judgments of justice are compared to the governing legal doctrine to highlight points of agreement and disagreement. The book also identifies trends and patterns in agreement and disagreement and discusses the implications for the formulation of criminal law. The chapters include:

Chapter 1. Community Views and the Criminal Law (Introduction; An Overview; Why Community Views Should Matter; Research Methods)

Chapter 2. Doctrines of Criminalization: What Conduct Should Be Criminal? (Objective Requirements of Attempt (Study 1); Creating a Criminal Risk …

The Federal Judicial Center And The Administration Of Justice In The Federal Courts, William W. Schwarzer

Faculty Scholarship

No abstract provided.