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Full-Text Articles in Law

Report On Offense Grading In Pennsylvania, Paul H. Robinson, Criminal Law Research Group, University Of Pennsylvania Law School Dec 2009

Report On Offense Grading In Pennsylvania, Paul H. Robinson, Criminal Law Research Group, University Of Pennsylvania Law School

All Faculty Scholarship

The Pennsylvania Legislature's Senate Judiciary Committee and House Judiciary Committee jointly commissioned this study of the criminal offense grading scheme contained in Pennsylvania criminal statutes. This Final Report, which was presented to a joint session of the two Committees on December 15, 2009, examines the extent to which current Pennsylvania law defines offenses with offense grades that are inconsistent with the relative seriousness of the offense as compared to other offenses, based upon an empirical survey of Pennsylvania residents. It also examines whether some offenses include within a single grade forms of conduct of very different degrees of seriousness, for …


Genetic Enhancements And Expectations, Kelly Sorensen Jul 2009

Genetic Enhancements And Expectations, Kelly Sorensen

Philosophy and Religious Studies Faculty Publications

Some argue that genetic enhancements and environmental enhancements are not importantly different: environmental enhancements such as private schools and chess lessons are simply the old-school way to have a designer baby. I argue that there is an important distinction between the two practices—a distinction that makes state restrictions on genetic enhancements more justifiable than state restrictions on environmental enhancements. The difference is that parents have no settled expectations about genetic enhancements.


Bills Introduced In The 111th Congress Regarding Flexible Work Arrangements, Workplace Flexibility 2010, Georgetown University Law Center May 2009

Bills Introduced In The 111th Congress Regarding Flexible Work Arrangements, Workplace Flexibility 2010, Georgetown University Law Center

Charts and Summaries of State, U.S., and Foreign Laws and Regulations

Flexible Work Arrangements (FWAs) alter the time and/or place that work is conducted on a regular basis -- in a manner that is as manageable and predictable as possible for both employees and employers. This document charts bills introduced in the 111th Congress regarding flexible work arrangements.


The Legislative History Of Fefcwa And Feptcea, Workplace Flexibility 2010, Georgetown University Law Center Apr 2009

The Legislative History Of Fefcwa And Feptcea, Workplace Flexibility 2010, Georgetown University Law Center

Charts and Summaries of State, U.S., and Foreign Laws and Regulations

No abstract provided.


Minimalism: An Implication For American Judicial Review Of Legislation In Deciding Over Rights?, Luz Helena Orozco Y Villa Apr 2009

Minimalism: An Implication For American Judicial Review Of Legislation In Deciding Over Rights?, Luz Helena Orozco Y Villa

Cornell Law School Inter-University Graduate Student Conference Papers

The diverse theories of constitutional interpretation in the United States share one strong common purpose: to constrain the adjudicator. Whether is text, tradition, structure or democracy, the prevailing fear behind these reasons is the inescapable empowerment of the “least dangerous branch” that comes with judicial review. This anxiety can be explained through the analysis of the systemic and contextual factors in American constitutionalism. Furthermore, because of the constitutional structure of the United States, there is a permanent tension in judicial activity between certainty and legitimacy. Therefore, I defend a minimalistic approach for judicial review of legislation, particularly in cases dealing …


Delivering The Goods: Herein Of Mead, Delegations, And Authority, Patrick Mckinley Brennan Mar 2009

Delivering The Goods: Herein Of Mead, Delegations, And Authority, Patrick Mckinley Brennan

Working Paper Series

This paper argues, first, that the natural law position, according to which it is the function of human law and political authorities to instantiate certain individual goods and the common good of the political community, does not entail judges' having the power or authority to speak the natural law directly. It goes on to argue, second, that lawmaking power/authority must be delegated by the people or their representatives. It then argues, third, that success in making law depends not just on the exercise of delegated power/authority, but also on the exercise of care and deliberation or, in the article's terms, …


Time Off For Military Families: An Emerging Case Study In A Time Of War...And The Tipping Point For Future Laws Supporting Work-Life Balance?, Marcy L. Karin Jan 2009

Time Off For Military Families: An Emerging Case Study In A Time Of War...And The Tipping Point For Future Laws Supporting Work-Life Balance?, Marcy L. Karin

Journal Articles

No abstract provided.


Changing Federal Statutory Proposals To Address Domestic Violence At Work: Creating A Societal Response By Making Businesses A Part Of The Solution, Marcy L. Karin Jan 2009

Changing Federal Statutory Proposals To Address Domestic Violence At Work: Creating A Societal Response By Making Businesses A Part Of The Solution, Marcy L. Karin

Journal Articles

Over five million acts of domestic violence are committed every year.1 The prevalence of these acts makes domestic violence “the leading cause of injury to women.”2 Detrimental wherever they occur, these acts are not limited to the privacy of one’s home. Instead, domestic violence regularly and repeatedly spills over to the “public” workplace.For example, Francescia La Rose’s former boyfriend called her supervisor and threatened to come to the office to kill La Rose if she was not fired. Her employer responded by warning La Rose to keep her personal problems out of the workplace. The next day, the ex-boyfriend walked …


Writer's Block - Resolve To Become A Better Writer, David Spratt Jan 2009

Writer's Block - Resolve To Become A Better Writer, David Spratt

Articles in Law Reviews & Other Academic Journals

No abstract provided.


The Conscientious Legislator And Public Opinion On Taxes, Lawrence A. Zelenak Jan 2009

The Conscientious Legislator And Public Opinion On Taxes, Lawrence A. Zelenak

Faculty Scholarship

This essay examines some of the difficulties of understanding public opinion on taxes, and offers some suggestions as to how the conscientious legislator might proceed in light of those difficulties. The essay begins by describing two contexts in which public opinion appears to contradict itself, and suggests how the apparent contradictions might be resolved. It then offers three suggestions for the conscientious legislator whose goal is to discern (rather than to manipulate) public opinion on taxes - to be neither unduly optimistic nor despairing about the potential for educating the public on tax policy issues, to understand and guard against …


The Notsogolden Years Why Hate Crime Legislation Is Failing A Vulnerable Aging Population, Helia Garrido Hull Jan 2009

The Notsogolden Years Why Hate Crime Legislation Is Failing A Vulnerable Aging Population, Helia Garrido Hull

Faculty Scholarship

No abstract provided.


Public Health Protection And Drinking Water Quality On First Nation Reserves: Considering The New Federal Regulatory Proposal, Constance Macintosh Jan 2009

Public Health Protection And Drinking Water Quality On First Nation Reserves: Considering The New Federal Regulatory Proposal, Constance Macintosh

Articles, Book Chapters, & Popular Press

In January 2009, the federal government issued a discussion paper that details its preferred regulatory route for enabling a legislative framework. This route is to referentially incorporate provincial legislation regarding operational standards through a framework statute, and then develop the details of the regime through regulations to be developed in consultation with First Nations over the next few years. Importantly, the opening sentence of the discussion paper's executive summary expressly connects water and public health. It reads: "The provision of safe drinking water and the effective treatment of wastewater are critical in ensuring the health and safety of First Nations …


Social And Economic Rights In Canada: What Are They And Who Can Best Protect Them?, A. Wayne Mackay Jan 2009

Social And Economic Rights In Canada: What Are They And Who Can Best Protect Them?, A. Wayne Mackay

Articles, Book Chapters, & Popular Press

This article examines the development and current status of positive social and economic rights in Canada. Exploring the comparative competence of legislatures, courts and human rights tribunals, Wayne MacKay suggests that courts should depart, with caution, from their traditional deferential role to legislators. Due to their flexibility and accessibility, HR Tribunals should supplement the role of the courts and legislatures in giving effect to social and economic rights, which should form part of a holistic package of human rights in Canada.


Crises, Congress, And Cognitive Biases: A Critical Examination Of Food And Drug Legislation In The United States, Sharon B. Jacobs Jan 2009

Crises, Congress, And Cognitive Biases: A Critical Examination Of Food And Drug Legislation In The United States, Sharon B. Jacobs

Publications

No abstract provided.


Representation Reinforcement: A Legislative Solution To A Legislative Process Problem, Anita S. Krishnakumar Jan 2009

Representation Reinforcement: A Legislative Solution To A Legislative Process Problem, Anita S. Krishnakumar

Faculty Publications

One of the most valuable—and disturbing—insights offered by public choice theory has been the recognition that wealthy, well-organized interests with narrow, intense preferences often dominate the legislative process while diffuse, unorganized interests go under-represented. Responding to this insight, legal scholars in the fields of statutory interpretation and administrative law have suggested that the solution to the problem of representational inequality lies with the courts. Indeed, over the past two decades, scholars in these fields have offered up a host of John Hart Ely-inspired representation reinforcing "canons of construction," designed to encourage judges to use their role as statutory interpreters to …


The Missing Jurisprudence Of The Legislated Constitution, Robin West Jan 2009

The Missing Jurisprudence Of The Legislated Constitution, Robin West

Georgetown Law Faculty Publications and Other Works

Does the fourteenth Amendment and its Equal Protection Clause — the promise that "no state shall deny equal protection of the laws" — have any relevance to the progressive project of reducing economic inequality in various spheres of life or, more modestly, of ameliorating the multiple vulnerabilities of this country's poor people? The short answer, I believe, is, it depends. It will depend, in 2020, just as it depends now, on what we mean by the Constitution we are expounding: the Constitution as read and interpreted by courts — the adjudicated Constitution — or what I propose to call the …