Law Commons^™

Menstrual Dignity And The Bar Exam, Margaret E. Johnson, Marcy L. Karin, Elizabeth Cooper

All Faculty Scholarship

This Article examines the issue of menstruation and the administration of the bar exam. Although such problems are not new, over the summer and fall of 2020, test takers and commentators took to social media to critique state board of law examiners’ (“BOLE”) policies regarding menstruation. These problems persist. Menstruators worry that if they unexpectedly bleed during the exam, they may not have access to appropriately sized and constructed menstrual products or may be prohibited from accessing the bathroom. Personal products that are permitted often must be carried in a clear, plastic bag. Some express privacy concerns that the see-through …

Comments: Immigration And Modern Slavery: How The Laws Of One Fail To Provide Justice To Victims Of The Other, Shannon E. Clancy

University of Baltimore Law Review

On the first Sunday in February, Americans across the country look forward to the game of the year—the Super Bowl. Most sports fans would likely compare the anticipation and excitement of this game to that of a young child waking up on Christmas morning. This game brings in thousands of supporters to the host city each year and draws millions of television viewers. With the flashy lights, spirited fans, and debuting commercials, this game would appear to be the highlight of any person’s day. But looking behind the scenes, that is not always the case. This vast crowd also appeals …

Emerging Issues: Fifa World Cup 2022: Enjoying The Game At The Suffering Of Migrant Workers, Iram Ashraf

University of Baltimore Journal of International Law

On December 2, 2010, the Federation Internationale de Football Association (“FIFA”), granted Qatar the honor of hosting the 2022 World Cup. FIFA’s president, Sepp Blatter, stated that hosting the World Cup in Qatar, an “unstable region of the world,” is intended to unify millions of people that may not otherwise come together, such as Israelis and Palestinians. FIFA has put great efforts towards hosting this event in Qatar, so much so that it changed the tournament to be held in the winter rather than the summer for the first time in history. The logic behind this timing change was to …

Student Comment: Not Really A Battle Of The Sexes: Women’S Health Agenda Advocates Global Equality In Medical Research Trials And Drug Administration, Margery R. Beltran

University of Baltimore Journal of International Law

The New Women’s Health Agenda seeks to close the discriminatory gap between men’s and women’s medical treatment around the world. Often, women’s reproductive issues are the focus of medical studies in which women are involved; however, chronic diseases are quickly becoming a high health risk for the female population around the world. This comment explores the past, present, and future of women’s global health. Throughout history, women have been prevented from participating in clinical trials for reproductive protection reasons. The problem arises after men have successfully responded to treatment because the medication is then administered to both men and women. …

Feminist Rule Of Law Reform And Health Impact Of Legal Systems Premised On Women As Communal Gauges Of Honor, Tzili Mor

University of Baltimore Law Review

Gender equality is touted as key for sustainable development, improved public health, decreased poverty, and robust democratic systems. Yet despite growing interest by international bodies and national governments, the "gendering" of rule of law reform has received limited critical attention. This Article argues that transformative gendered rule of law reform requires holistic and intersectional analysis of the domestic legal landscape that genuinely accounts for lived experiences. Using Jordan as a case study, it critiques the short-sighted and perhaps harmful "technical" feminist law reform efforts of calling for repeal of isolated provisions related to sensational "honor killings." As in many countries, …

Introduction To Intervention Under International Law, Mortimer N.S. Sellers

All Faculty Scholarship

The lawfulness or legitimacy of "external" intervention in the "internal" affairs of sovereign states is one of the most basic controversies in modern international law. The question arises in three separate but related forms: When is intervention lawful? When is intervention legitimate? And when should intervention occur? Discussion here will focus on the legal question, but legitimacy, morality, and brutal reality all form and sometimes trump the law. They dictate the parameters within which all legal determinations take place, including the legality of cross-border interventions. By "intervention" I mean any activity by one state or its agents that influences the …

Interim Measures In Inter-State Proceedings Before The European Court Of Human Rights: Ukraine V. Russia, Stefan Kirchner

University of Baltimore Journal of International Law

Over the course of the year 2014, the situation in Ukraine has turned from a domestic political issue involving protests, killings, and the ouster of the former president, into a military confrontation with Russia. At the time of writing (August 2014), Russia has annexed Crimea and is supporting separatists, who are in a state of civil war against the Ukrainian state, in Eastern parts of the country. This conflict is ongoing and an unknown number of civilians have been killed, notably the passengers of the Malaysia Airlines flight MH17, which is thought to have been shot down over the conflict …

Beyond A Beautiful Fraud: Using A Human Rights Framework To Realize The Promise Of Democracy, Janel A. George

University of Baltimore Law Review

"[Politics] is a beautiful fraud that has been imposed on the people for years . . ."

-The late Honorable Shirley Chisholm'

Madness Alone Punishes The Madman: The Search For Moral Dignity In The Court's Competency Doctrine As Applied In Capital Cases, J. Amy Dillard

All Faculty Scholarship

The purposes of the competency doctrine are to guarantee reliability in criminal prosecutions, to ensure that only those defendants who can appreciate punishment are subject to it, and to maintain moral dignity, both actual and apparent, in criminal proceedings. No matter his crime, the “madman” should not be forced to stand trial. Historically, courts viewed questions of competency as a binary choice, finding the defendant either competent or incompetent to stand trial. However, in Edwards v. Indiana, the Supreme Court conceded that it views competency on a spectrum and offered a new category of competency — borderline-competent. The Court held …

Parochialism, Cosmopolitanism, And The Foundations Of International Law, Mortimer N.S. Sellers

Books

Summary: "This book determines the boundary between parochial and cosmopolitan justice. To what extent should law recognize or support the political, historical, cultural, and economic differences among nations? Ten lawyers and philosophers from five continents consider whether certain states or persons deserve special treatment or exemptions or heightened duties under international law. Parochialism and cosmopolitanism are the two faces of international law, which recognizes our common humanity by protecting us in our differences"-- Provided by publisher.

The Modern Hiv/Aids Epidemic And Human Rights In The United States: A Lens Into Lingering Gender, Race, And Health Disparities And Cutting Edge Approaches To Justice, Brook Kelly

University of Baltimore Law Review

No abstract provided.

And Death Shall Have No Dominion: How To Achieve The Categorical Exemption Of Mentally Retarded Defendants From Execution, J. Amy Dillard

All Faculty Scholarship

This article examines the Court’s categorical exclusion of mentally retarded defendants from execution and explores how trial courts should employ procedures to accomplish heightened reliability in the mental retardation determination; it maintains that if a mentally retarded defendant is subjected to a death sentence then the Atkins directive has been ignored. To satisfy the Atkins Court’s objective of protecting mentally retarded defendants from the “special risk of wrongful execution,” the article explores whether trial courts should engage in a unified, pre-trial competency assessment in all capital cases where the defendant asserts mental retardation as a bar to execution and how …

Quick - Somebody Call Amnesty International! Intel Says Eu Antitrust Fine Violated Human Rights, Robert H. Lande

All Faculty Scholarship

This articles discusses Intel's claim that the EU's fine against it for a competition law violation was so large that its human rights' were violated.

Comments: Gender Confusion: The Need For Effective Legislation To Protect Against Gender Identity Discrimination, Courtney J. Jefferson

University of Baltimore Law Review

No abstract provided.

Comments, Cynthia Dipasquale, Seeking Options For Human Trafficking Victims, Elizabeth Keyes

All Faculty Scholarship

No abstract provided.

Without Limitation: 'Groundhog Day' For Incompetent Defendants, J. Amy Dillard

All Faculty Scholarship

This Article offers a brief overview of the standards for determining competency to stand trial. After examining the seminal case of Jackson v. Indiana, which held that the indefinite pre-trial detention of incompetent defendants violates due process, this Article argues that Virginia Code § 19.2-169.3, like statutes in twenty other states, violates a defendant's right to substantive due process, including the right to be free from forcible medication. This Article proposes legislation that will make the process constitutional, while addressing the concerns about the release of dangerous individuals held by the prosecutors and the community.

Casa Of Maryland And The Battle Regarding Human Trafficking And Domestic Worker Rights, Elizabeth Keyes

All Faculty Scholarship

At the November 2006 symposium presented by the University of Maryland Law Journal of Race, Religion, Gender and Class, the panelists discussed various issues regarding human trafficking. One entity at the forefront of the fight against human trafficking is CASA of Maryland. This article contains remarks originally made by the author that focused the topic of human trafficking on one particular group of workers: domestic workers. That particular group provides an interesting study because of the many race and gender issues that are wrapped up in the treatment of domestic workers under the law.

Rehabilitation Or Revenge: Prosecuting Child Soldiers For Human Rights Violations, Nienke Grossman

All Faculty Scholarship

International law provides no explicit guidelines for whether or at what age child soldiers should be prosecuted for grave violations of international humanitarian and human rights law such as genocide, war crimes, and crimes against humanity. This paper argues that the hundreds of thousands of children under age eighteen participating in armed conflicts around the globe should be treated primarily as victims, not perpetrators, of human rights violations and that international law may support this conclusion. In the case of children, the world community should choose rehabilitation and reintegration over criminal prosecution because of children's unique psychological and moral development, …

Rettungsfolter (“Rescue Torture”): Report On The Gäfgen V. Germany Case Pending Before The European Court On Human Rights, James Maxeiner

All Faculty Scholarship

This comment reports on a case pending before the European Court of Human rights which raises the question whether torture can ever be supported to save human life.

The Great Writ Of Incoherence: An Analysis Of Supreme Court's Rulings On "Enemy Combatants", Gregory Dolin

All Faculty Scholarship

On June 28, 2004, the United States Supreme Court released its much awaited decisions in the cases posing a challenge to the Executive's self-professed authority to detain and indefinitely hold individuals designated as "enemy combatants." The cases arose from the "war on terrorism" that was launched after the attack on the United States on September 11, 2001. When each decision is looked at individually, the result seems to make sense and, given the outcome (affording detainees rights of judicial review), feels good. Yet when these decisions are looked at collectively, it is hard to believe that they were issued by …

Expansion And Restriction: Competing Pressures On United Kingdom Asylum Policy, Elizabeth Keyes

All Faculty Scholarship

Analysis of asylum policy in the United Kingdom thus requires examination of the complex interaction between domestic and international pressures, between legislative and judicial action, and between expansionism and restrictionism. In Part I, this paper considers the history of asylum in the UK through the 1990s, looking at the changes that occurred over the 20th century, and the international legal obligations at the core of the UK's asylum policy. The paper specifically addresses Britain's new commitments to European Union asylum policies, and the ways in which Britain's overall relationship with the EU affects Britain's domestic asylum policy. In Part II, …

Injustice Casts Shadow On History Of State Executions, John Bessler

All Faculty Scholarship

This article, published in the StarTribune of Minneapolis, discusses the history of lynchings and executions in the State of Minnesota. It specifically discusses miscarriages of justice that have taken place in Minnesota, along with highlighting other problems associated with capital punishment.

Accountability In The Aftermath Of Rwanda's Genocide, Jason Strain, Elizabeth Keyes

All Faculty Scholarship

Over the span of 100 days in 1994, almost one million Rwandans died in a genocide that left Rwandan society traumatized and its institutions in disarray. The genocide implicated not only the actual instigators and killers, who came from all levels of Rwandan society, but also the culture of impunity that had thrived in Rwanda for decades. This culture of impunity and inaction in the face of atrocities eerily mirrored the international community's failure to intervene to prevent or respond to the genocide. The genocide provoked a process of reflection within Rwanda and the broader international community about how the …