Law Commons^™

Lumpy Social Goods In Energy Decarbonization: Why We Need More Than Just Markets For The Clean Energy Transition, Daniel E. Walters

University of Colorado Law Review

To avoid the worst consequences of global climate change, the United States must achieve daunting targets for decarbonizing its electric power sector on a very short timescale. Policy experts largely agree that achieving these goals will require massive investment in new infrastructure to facilitate the deep integration of renewable fuels into the electric grid, including a new national high-voltage electric transmission network and grid-scale electricity storage, such as batteries. However, spurring investment in these needed infrastructures has proven to be challenging, despite numerous attempts by regulators and policymakers to clear a path for market-driven investment. Unchecked, this problem threatens to …

Corporate Political Contributions As Bad Faith, Joseph K. Leahy

University of Colorado Law Review

A shareholder who objects to a corporate political contribution can file a derivative lawsuit to challenge that contribution as a breach of management's duty of loyalty to the corporation. Such a lawsuit will face long odds, however, if it is founded upon a traditional theory for breach of the duty of loyalty, like waste or self-dealing. Yet, there is a better theory for a shareholder to employ when filing suit to challenge a corporate political contribution: bad faith.

Bad faith is a better basis for challenging a corporate political contribution than either waste or self-dealing because bad faith is a …

Davis V. Federal Election Commission: A Further Step Towards Campaign Finance Deregulation And The Preservation Of The Millionaires' Club, Grant Fevurly

University of Colorado Law Review

In the middle of the 2008 election cycle, the United States Supreme Court altered the permissible limits of campaign finance regulation by striking down the "Millionaire's Amendment" in Davis v. Federal Election Commission. The struck provision attempted to equalize the resource differential between self-financing and non-self-financing candidates for electoral office by temporarily increasing the contribution limits for the non-self-financing candidates when those candidates who self-financed crossed a threshold amount of personal expenditures. Once the disparity between the two candidates equalized, the normal regulatory regime resumed effect. While important for its own immediate implications to a number of public financing schemes …

The Educative Effects Of Direct Democracy: A Research Primer For Legal Scholars, Daniel A. Smith, Caroline J. Tolbert, Daniel C. Bowen

University of Colorado Law Review

This article surveys recent studies by political scientists that examine the "educative effects" of ballot measures on political participation and civic engagement, as well as their impact on candidate elections. The article provides legal scholars with empirical evidence that can be used to bolster normative and theoretical claims about the process and politics of direct democracy. The authors conclude by presenting original empirical research on the effects of ballot measures on individual attitudes toward state government and political trust. The article hypothesizes that citizens who are given more opportunities to participate in politics will have more trust in state government. …

The Citizen Assembly: An Alternative To The Initiative, Kevin O'Leary

University of Colorado Law Review

The Citizen Assembly is a superior alternative to direct mass democracy and the initiative. Building on the ideas of James Madison and Thomas Jefferson, it is possible to combine the traditional town hall and the Internet to fashion a new understanding of representative government that bridges the enormous gap that now exists between the political elite and the average voter. The assembly reform would increase opportunities for meaningful and intelligent participation by average citizens and improve public decisions. This article explains how a national network of citizen assemblies would work.