Law Commons^™

The American Tradition Of Racial Profiling, Jean Phan

ExpressO

The enemy has always been easily recognizable in American life: He has been the savage Native American known for scalping people; the black slave bent on ravaging white women; the Asian worker unfairly competing against the white man; the Mexican immigrant who does nothing but leech off the system; the Arab who dreams up terrorist plots, and carries them out. These enemies have always been visible in American society, and yet, they don’t exist in reality. They exist only in the minds of those too afraid to consider that these strange individuals who seem so different, could be just like …

At War With The Eclectics: Mapping Pragmatism In Contemporary Legal Analysis, Justin Desautels-Stein

ExpressO

This article has two primary goals. The first is descriptive, and seeks to respond to what appears to be an increasing degree of confusion over the word “pragmatism,” especially as it is used in a good deal of legal literature. This descriptive aim begins by separating out three general categories of pragmatism: (1) the so-called “everyday” pragmatism familiar to the American vernacular, (2) the classical philosophy of the early pragmatist authors like William James and John Dewey, and (3) pragmatism as understood in the context of law. The majority of the article is subsequently concerned with exploring this last category, …

Writing, Cognition, And The Nature Of The Judicial Function, Chad Oldfather

Chad M Oldfather

Prior commentators, including many judges, have observed that writing provides an important discipline on the judicial decisionmaking process. Those commentators have uniformly assumed that the effect will always be positive – that is, that a decision rendered pursuant to a process that includes a written justification will always be better (however better is to be measured) than a decision unaccompanied by writing. According to this view, we should always, all things being equal, prefer a decision accompanied by an opinion to one without. All things are not equal, of course, and there are many situations in which the costs of …

Roles Of Government In Compensating Disaster Victims, Stephen D. Sugarman

Stephen D Sugarman

Government has many roles to play with respect to the compensation of victims of catastrophes: on the insurance side (helping make insurance available ex ante, assuring insurer solvency and fair payment of claimants ex post) and on the compensation side (where government is at fault, where tort rights are reduced, where commuities face destruction, and where special altruistic concerns are present).

Son Of Sam Resurrected: Did Greedy Criminals Unwittingly Give New Life To The “Son Of Sam” Laws?, Arthur M. Ortegon

ExpressO

No abstract provided.

Of Elephants And Embryos: A Proposed Framework For Legal Personhood, Jessica Berg

ExpressO

No abstract provided.

Doomsday: A Look At The Ethical Issues Behind The Government's Coercive Powers In Response To A Public Health Nightmare., Jacob M. Chapman

ExpressO

This article posits a hypothetical scenario in which a deadly pandemic is unleashed upon the United States and the several individuals whom appear to have a natural immunity refuse to participate in necessary research. The article then examines the possible legal and ethical approaches available for reacting to the pandemic.

The hypothetical scenario addressed in this article highlights a gap in current public health law. While various states have laws and procedures relating to quarantine and forced inoculation, these laws and procedures do not suggest whether the state may or may not coerce non-threatening individuals into participating in potentially dangerous …

Prosecutors: Factors To Aid Your Filing Decisions With Respect To Fatal Traffic Collisions, Kimberly Rebecca Bird

ExpressO

As you may know, on a fairly regular basis, prosecutors are faced with filing decisions with respect to fatal traffic collisions. Many of them, of course, do not involve criminal negligence and are not prosecuted as crimes. Sometimes, on the other hand, the circumstances are egregious and the decision to be made is whether to file a case as a vehicular manslaughter or as a murder, on an implied malice theory. There are a finite number of California Supreme Court and Court of Appeal cases (beginning with People v. Watson (1981) 30 Cal.3d 290) that have addressed the sufficiency of …

Prosecuting Website Development Under The Material Support To Terrorism Statutes: Time To Fix What's Broken, Alan F. Williams

Alan F. Williams

No abstract provided.

Policy Oscillation In California's Law Of Premises Liability, Ronald L. Steiner

Ronald L. Steiner

The expansion of tort liability beginning in the middle of the 20th century, and the reaction against that expansion as the century came to a close, constitutes a clear demonstration of the nostrum that tort law is “public law in disguise.” Adjudication of private disputes became a battleground of public policy preferences as to how risks and compensation should be distributed so as to serve societal interests such as fairness, efficiency, and personal autonomy. This article studies examines in detail a critical battleground in a key state, the revolution and counter-revolution in premises liability in California, as a paradigm case. …

Three Perversities Of Indian Law, Jacob T. Levy

Jacob T Levy

Over some thirty years, the Supreme Court has severely attenuated the criminal and civil jurisdiction of Indian tribal reservation governments over non-Indians within their boundaries or even on tribal land. This Article shows that such attenuation has perverse consequences for the ability of such governments to function as governments, and to fulfill the objectives set for them by Congress’ policy of encouraging tribal self-determination. Reservation governments that function well and oversee broad-based economic development risk attracting non-Indian migrants who undermine the tribe’s ability to provide law and order, plan land use, or govern the reservation as a geographic area; who …

The Fault(S) In Negligence Law, Alan Calnan

Alan Calnan

ABSTRACT According to conventional wisdom, negligence is a unique tort. It is different from strict liability because it is based on fault. Although it shares fault with intentional torts, negligence’s version of fault is different because it arises from the objective standard of reasonableness. This orthodox view has existed for nearly a century and has never been challenged. Even today, no one questions the strength of tort law’s theoretical superstructure or the truth of the assumptions upon which it is based. In fact, the American Law Institute, which currently is in the process of restating tort law’s basic principles, has …

Curbing Day Laborers: Anti-Solicitation Ordinances, Commercial Speech, And Hiring Centers. A User's Guide To Protecting Municipalities From Day Labor-Related Lawlessness And Litigation, Jon D. Feere

Jon D Feere

As Americans across the country become increasingly frustrated by continuous violations of immigration laws, many legal groups aimed at suing city, state, and federal governments have been created with the hope that increased pressure will result in increased enforcement. Laws not originally designed to specifically address immigration issues, such as the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act (RICO), and basic laws of trespass are being used by the public to creatively fight immigration violations. At the same time, state and local governments are also discovering a need to act creatively in managing the massive increase of illegal immigrants moving into …

No Chance To Prove Themselves: The Rights Of Mentally Disabled Parents Under The Americans With Disabilities Act And State Law, Dale S. Margolin

Dale S Margolin

This article explores the relationship between state child welfare laws that terminate parental rights and the federal Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA). The article begins by analyzing the application of the ADA to termination of parental rights proceedings against parents with mental disabilities. It then surveys state child welfare laws, focusing on the treatment of parents under New York State law. The article concludes by advocating for a change to reflect the principles of the Americans with Disabilities Act in state laws and in practice.

Community Notification And The Perils Of Mandatory Juvenile Sex Offender Registration: The Dangers Faced By Children And Their Families, Joanna S. Markman

Joanna S. Markman

The impetus for the creation of a separate juvenile justice system, as will be explained below, was the acknowledgment that children are not adults, and as such, do not have the capacity for rationale thoughts as do adults. Moreover, the juvenile justice system was derived to create a structure whereby rehabilitation would be the ultimate objective in devising juvenile punishment or, as it is referred to in the language of juvenile law, disposition.

It is difficult, if not impossible, to garner sympathy for the plight of the sexual offender. This Article is not designed to do so. Moreover, while it …

The Personal Is Political--And Economic: Rethinking Domestic Violence, Deborah M. Weissman

Deborah M. Weissman

This Article seeks to expand the scope of the domestic violence discourse within the context of the theory and practice of legal strategies. The intent is to shift the analytical parameters beyond the criminal justice system to include the political economy of everyday experiences of households. Such a paradigm shift examines the conditions of the private sphere as a function of the circumstances of public realms. It considers domestic violence by linking it to the structural transformations of the U.S. economy during recent years. It assesses domestic violence from the perspective of the daily life of men and women who …

Public Power And Private Purpose: Odious Debt And The Political Economy Of Hegemony, Deborah M. Weissman, Louis A. Pérez Jr.

Deborah M. Weissman

This Article examines the process by which overlapping interests between private bankers and government translates into influence and power mediated through the use of bank loans as instruments of foreign policy. The article suggests the market transactions often act as a matter of U.S. interests. It makes use of historical narratives not only as means to document the origins of the Odious Debt doctrine, but also to demonstrate the complexity attending efforts to create an Odious Debt doctrine that might function in law. The International Lending Supervision Act, the Baker plan and Brady initiative - policies reinforced through legal interpretations, …

Delimiting The Culture Defense, James M. Donovan, John Stuart Garth

James M. Donovan

This essay builds upon the arguments of Alison Dundes Renteln in her influential book, THE CULTURAL DEFENSE 2004), in which she argues persuasively for a uniformly recognized culture defense in certain litigations. Critiquing some of her details, we recast her three-prong culture defense test to more effectively balance the competing interests of minority culture members to have their ways of life taken seriously by the courts, and of members of the dominant tradition who wish to preserve the rule of law with its necessary perception as treating all parties equally. The offered formulation now includes the following five elements:

1. …

Delimiting The Culture Defense, James M. Donovan, John Stuart Garth

Law Faculty Scholarly Articles

This essay builds upon the arguments of Alison Dundes Renteln in her influential book, The Cultural Defense (2004), in which she argues persuasively for a uniformly recognized culture defense in certain litigations. Critiquing some of her details, we recast her three-prong culture defense test to more effectively balance the competing interests of minority culture members to have their ways of life taken seriously by the courts, and of members of the dominant tradition who wish to preserve the rule of law with its necessary perception as treating all parties equally. The offered formulation now includes the following five elements:

1. …