Law Commons^™

When “Riot” Is In The Eye Of The Beholder: The Critical Need For Constitutional Clarity In Riot Laws, Nancy C. Marcus

Faculty Scholarship

In the twenty-first century, American streets are frequently filled with passionate protest and political dissent. Protesters of diverse backgrounds range from those waving flags or lying on the ground to re-enact police killings to those carrying lit torches or hand-made weapons. This Article addresses how, as between such groups, it may initially seem clear which has a propensity to engage in violent riots, but too often, “rioter” is in the eye of the beholder, with those both regulating and reporting on riots defining the term inconsistently. And ironically, while police brutality is often the subject of protests, non-violent protesters who …

Schrodinger's Corporation: The Paradox Of Religious Sincerity In Heterogeneous Corporations, Catherine A. Hardee

Faculty Scholarship

Consider a corporation where one group of shareholders holds sincere religious beliefs and another group of shareholders does not share those beliefs but, for a price, will allow the religious shareholders to request a religious exemption to a neutrally applicable law on behalf of the corporation. The corporation is potentially both religiously sincere and insincere at the same time. A claim by the corporation for a religious accommodation requires the court to solve the paradox created by this duality and to declare the corporation, as a whole, either sincere or insincere in its beliefs. Although the Supreme Court and scholars …

Direct-To-Consumer Ads Are Misleading: Concise Statements Of Effectiveness Should Be Required, Robert A. Bohrer

Faculty Scholarship

Direct-to-consumer (DTC) advertising of prescription pharmaceuticals has been the subject of much criticism and the issue has become even more pressing with the Trump administration’s proposal to require the disclosure of prices in DTC ads. In this article I argue that a more powerful approach to the problem of DTC ads would require the disclosure of the effectiveness of the advertised drugs, at least as found in the clinical trials submitted for FDA approval. To support the need for an effectiveness disclosure, I describe the problem of DTC ads and examine representative ads to illustrate the potential of such ads …

Who's Causing The Harm?, Catherine A. Hardee

Faculty Scholarship

My parents started a software company out of our family room when I was just five years old As a child, the business felt like the sixth member of our family A fourth child who grew up alongside my sisters and me and whom my parents struggled with, stressed over, and strove to infuse with their values just as they did their flesh and blood children. Take pride in your work and stand behind what you do applied equally to homework and product launches. The Golden Rule to treat others as you would like to be treated meant that, long …

The Coordination Conundrum, Catherine A. Hardee

Faculty Scholarship

Justice Souter's oft-repeated quote aptly summarizes the function of strict standards of review in constitutional jurisprudence to protect unpopular speech from restrictions based on content-laden value judgments. While strict standards have their advantages, commentators have found fault with their rigidity and have questioned whether any decision-making process can, or should, be free of pragmatic considerations. This doctrinal discussion has been reinvigorated by two recent United States Supreme Court opinions. At the root of both cases was the Court's reliance on the distinction between coordinated and independent speech. This Article examines the validity of this divide and challenges the foundation upon …

Protecting Scientific Integrity: The Commercial Speech Doctrine Applied To Industry Publications, Joanna K. Sax

Faculty Scholarship

Pharmaceutical companies face increasing pressure to bring new treatments to market in order to survive. The economic reality of survival and profits may distort a company’s decision-making process regarding full disclosure on a particular new drug.

Part II of this article analyzes the publication tactics employed by some members of the pharmaceutical industry (hereinafter “industry”) and explains how some of the publications promote misleading information. Part III proposes policy recommendations to require accurate dissemination of the results of clinical trials in order to protect scientific integrity and the public welfare. Part IV of this article addresses whether industry publications are …

Access To Prescription Drugs: A Normative Economic Approach To Pharmacist Conscience Clause Legislation, Joanna K. Sax

Faculty Scholarship

The goals of this Article are two-fold: (1) to explain that pharmacist conscience clause legislation may be expanded to areas concerning controversial biomedical research; and (2) to demonstrate that welfare economics can be applied to analyze pharmacist conscience clause legislation. Regarding the first goal, the broad language of existing and proposed conscience clause legislation creates an umbrella that allows a pharmacist to escape liability for refusing to fill a prescription for almost any type of medication. With respect to the second goal, this Article applies welfare economics to demonstrate that pharmacist conscience clauses are a part of tort law and …