Law Commons^™

22nd Annual Open Government Summit: Office Of The Attorney General: Access To Public Records Act & Open Meetings Act, Attorney General State Of Rhode Island

School of Law Conferences, Lectures & Events

No abstract provided.

The Firm-Perceived Contingencies To Political Strategy, Jessica Zeiss, Les Carlson

Association of Marketing Theory and Practice Proceedings 2020

Because assumptions that firm decisions to manage external politics revolve around traditional resources and capabilities (e.g., capital, technology) impede environmental management theories, this research explores additional antecedents, i.e., perceived uncertainty, firm political infrastructure. Study One qualitative data support ideas related to management as a matter of a firm’s perceptually constructed environment among deterministic firms. Study Two quantitative data find a strategic choice firm orientation is developed through management structures (e.g., specialized staff, routines), despite post-hoc analyses confirming both firm types operate in similar environments. Combined, these studies disconfirm traditional resources as a driver of firm political activity. Moreover, Study Two …

Empirical Evidence Of The Marketing And Corporate Political Activity Interface In Firm Strategy, Jessica Zeiss

Association of Marketing Theory and Practice Proceedings 2020

This qualitative research seeks to shed light on the manner in which marketing and corporate political activity (CPA) interface through senior-level managers acting as key informants. Relying on transcendental phenomenology (n = 41) and grounded theory (n = 402) methods, respectively, Study One uncovers a set of activities difficult to distinguish as either marketing or politics, i.e., legitimacy branding, with Study Two invalidated legitimacy branding as a traditional political strategy. Legitimacy branding’s key characteristics –1) branded reputations, 2) nonmarket targets, 3) for proactive control – position it as marketing-based CPA. While such strategy is generally consistent with previous findings, they …

Common Sense Case For Common Ground Lawmaking: Three Cheers For Why Conservative Religious Organizations And Believers Should Support The Fairness For All Act, Tanner Bean, Robin Fretwell Wilson

Journal of Legislation Online Supplement

No abstract provided.

The Unfairness Of The Misnamed “Fairness For All” Act, Ryan T. Anderson, Robert P. George

Journal of Legislation Online Supplement

No abstract provided.

Syllabus For Issues In Law Enforcement: Cybersecurity And Public Interest Technology, Amy J. Ramson

Open Educational Resources

This is a syllabus for a course in Issues in Law Enforcement. The curriculum is a public interest technology course in cybersecurity. Principally, the federal government handles cybersecurity investigations along with some state governments and the FBI acts as the center for all cybersecurity complaints.

The course expands beyond law enforcement and provides a comprehensive background to the field through the following presentations: a history of cybersecurity; an explanation of the Internet; an introduction to cybercrime and cybersecurity techniques; the legal environment, which includes a survey of law enforcement and prosecution departments and agencies, and federal and NY state criminal, …

"Do Lawyers Need Economists?" Review Of Economic Transplants: On Lawmaking For Corporations And Capital Markets, Reuven S. Avi-Yonah

Reviews

Katja Langenbucher’s outstanding book seeks to address the question of why and in what ways have lawyers been importing economic theories into a legal environment, and how has this shaped scholarly research, judicial and legislative work? Since the financial crisis, corporate or capital markets law has been the focus of attention by academia and media. Formal modelling has been used to describe how capital markets work and, later, has been criticized for its abstract assumptions. Empirical legal studies and regulatory impact assessments offered different ways forward. This excellent book presents a new approach to the risks and benefits of interdisciplinary …

Hearing On The Foreign Sovereign Immunities Act, Coronavirus, And Addressing China’S Culpability Before The Senate Committee On The Judiciary, Russell A. Miller

Scholarly Articles

There are a number of theories about the Chinese government’s acts or omissions concerning the emergence and world-wide spread of the coronavirus that may be the proximate cause of actionable transboundary harm. All of these theories start with the incontestable fact that the coronavirus outbreak originated in China. One theory is concerned with the conduct of the Chinese government after the health crisis emerged. This “ex post” theory alleges a broad range of acts and omissions that helped transform a local outbreak into a global pandemic. There is room for this theory under the Transboundary Harm Principle. But the “ex …

The Folly Of Credit As Pandemic Relief, Pamela Foohey, Dalie Jimenez, Chrisopher K. Odinet

Articles by Maurer Faculty

Within weeks of the coronavirus pandemic appearing in the United States, the American economy came to a grinding halt. The unprecedented modern health crisis and the collapsing economy forced Congress to make a critical choice about how to help families survive financially. Congress had two basic options. It could enact policies that provided direct and meaningful financial support to people, without the necessity of later repayment. Or it could pursue policies that temporarily relieved people from their financial obligations but required that they eventually pay amounts subject to payment moratoria later.

In passing the CARES Act, Congress primarily chose the …

Literature Review: How U.S. Government Documents Are Addressing The Increasing National Security Implications Of Artificial Intelligence, Bert Chapman

Libraries Faculty and Staff Scholarship and Research

This article emphasizes the increasing importance of artificial intelligence (AI) in military and national security policy making. It seeks to inform interested individuals about the proliferation of publicly accessible U.S. government and military literature on this multifaceted topic. An additional objective of this endeavor is encouraging greater public awareness of and participation in emerging public policy debate on AI's moral and national security implications..

Fee-Shifting Statutes And Compensation For Risk, Maureen S. Carroll

Articles

A law firm that enters into a contingency arrangement provides the client with more than just its attorneys' labor. It also provides a form of financing, because the firm will be paid (if at all) only after the litigation ends; and insurance, because if the litigation results in a low recovery (or no recovery at all), the firm will absorb the direct and indirect costs of the litigation. Courts and markets routinely pay for these types of risk-bearing services through a range of mechanisms, including state fee shifting statutes, contingent percentage fees, common-fund awards, alternative fee arrangements, and third-party litigation …

Regulation Of Lobster Bait Alternatives In New England, Victoria Rosa, Read Porter

Sea Grant Law Fellow Publications

No abstract provided.

Legal Requirements For Equitable Design And Implementation Of Flood Buyout Programs In Rhode Island, Sarah Friedman, Read Porter

Sea Grant Law Fellow Publications

No abstract provided.

Intended Injury: Transferred Intent And Reliance In Climate Change Fraud, Wes Henricksen

Faculty Scholarship

No abstract provided.

Making Employment Arbitration Fair And Accessible, Theodore J. St. Antoine

Articles

Mandatory arbitration agreements require employees, as a condition of employment, to agree to arbitrate all employment disputes instead of filing court suits. The Supreme Court has approved such agreements but many labor experts oppose them. The U.S. House of Representatives has passed a bill to prohibit pre-dispute agreements, the common form for mandatory arbitrations. This article argues that the House bill would have the practical effect of virtually eliminating employment arbitration. Instead, proposals are presented for either legislative or judicial steps to ensure that employment arbitration is fair and accessible. Requirements would include: (1) voluntary agreements on the part of …

Commercial Law Intersections, Giuliano Castellano, Andrea Tosato

All Faculty Scholarship

Commercial law is not a single, monolithic entity. It has grown into a dense thicket of subject-specific branches that govern a broad range of transactions and corporate actions. When one of these events falls concurrently within the purview of two or more of these commercial law branches - such as corporate law, intellectual property law, secured transactions law, conduct and prudential regulation - an overlap materializes. We refer to this legal phenomenon as a commercial law intersection (CLI). Some notable examples of transactions that feature CLIs include bank loans secured by shares, supply chain financing arrangements, patent cross-licensing, and blockchain-based …

House Judiciary Inquiry Into Competition In Digital Markets: Statement, Herbert J. Hovenkamp

All Faculty Scholarship

This is a response to a query from the Judiciary Committee of the U.S. House of Representatives, requesting my views about the adequacy of existing antitrust policy in digital markets.

The statutory text of the United States antitrust laws is very broad, condemning all anticompetitive restraints on trade, monopolization, and mergers and interbrand contractual exclusion whose effect “may be substantially to lessen competition or tend to create a monopoly.” Federal judicial interpretation is much narrower, however, for several reasons. One is the residue of a reaction against excessive antitrust enforcement in the 1970s and earlier. However, since that time antitrust …

Authority For Municipal Resilient Road Infrastructure Funding Strategies In Rhode Island, Jimmy Smith, Read Porter

Sea Grant Law Fellow Publications

No abstract provided.

Legal Limits On Recreational Fishing Near Offshore Wind Facilities, Kaitlynn Webster, Read Porter

Sea Grant Law Fellow Publications

No abstract provided.

Disability Rights And The Discourse Of Justice., Samuel Bagenstos

Articles

Although the ADA has changed the built architecture of America and dramatically increased the visibility of disabled people, it has not meaningfully increased disability employment rates. And the statute continues to provoke a backlash. Disability rights advocates and sympathizers offer two principal stories to explain this state of affairs. One, the “lost-bipartisanship” story, asserts that disability rights were once an enterprise broadly endorsed across the political spectrum but that they have fallen prey to the massive rise in partisan polarization in the United States. The other, the “legal-change-outpacing-social- change” story, asserts that the ADA was essentially adopted too soon—that the …

Cares Act Gimmicks: How Not To Give People Money During A Pandemic And What To Do Instead, Pamela Foohey, Dalie Jimenez, Christopher K. Odinet

Articles by Maurer Faculty

The coronavirus pandemic upturned Americans' lives. Within the first few weeks, millions of Americans reported being laid off from their jobs. Other people were working reduced hours or were working remotely from home. Children's daycares and schools closed, and parents were thrown into new roles as educators and full-time babysitters, while, in some instances, also continuing to work full-time jobs. The profound financial effects caused by even a few weeks of the coronavirus' upheaval spurred Congress to pass the CARES Act, which purported to provide economic relief to individuals and businesses.

For individuals, the CARES Act includes five provisions that …

Communication Breakdown: How Courts Do - And Don't - Respond To Statutory Overrides, Deborah A. Widiss

Articles by Maurer Faculty

Earlier commentators, including many well-respected judges, have offered thoughtful suggestions for facilitating communication from courts to Congress about problems in statutes that Congress might want to address. My research explores the opposite question. How effective is communication from Congress back to courts? The answer is: Not very. Even when Congress enacts overrides, courts frequently continue to follow the prior judicial precedent. This is likely due more to information failure than willful disregard of controlling law. Nonetheless, a key aspect of the separation of powers is broken.

My research shows that when the Supreme Court overrules a prior decision, lower courts …

States’ Evolving Role In The Supplemental Nutritional Assistance Program, David A. Super

Georgetown Law Faculty Publications and Other Works

States have always been crucial to the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP, formerly food stamps). Even though the federal government has paid virtually all the program’s benefit costs, state administration has always been indispensable for several reasons. State and local governments pay their staff considerably less than the federal government, making state administration less expensive. States already administer other important antipoverty programs, notably family cash assistance and Medicaid, allowing them to coordinate the programs and minimize repetitive activities. And states have somewhat lower, and less polarizing, political footprints than does the federal government, moderating criticism of the program. In addition, …

New Media, Free Expression, And The Offences Against The State Acts, Laura K. Donohue

Georgetown Law Faculty Publications and Other Works

New media facilitates communication and creates a common, lived experience. It also carries the potential for great harm on an individual and societal scale. Posting integrates information and emotion, with study after study finding that fear and anger transfer most readily online. Isolation follows, with insular groups forming. The result is an increasing bifurcation of society. Scholars also write about rising levels of depression and suicide that stem from online dependence and replacing analogical experience with digital interaction, as well as escalating levels of anxiety that are rooted in the validation expectation of the ‘like’ function. These changes generate instability …

Neither Smarter Nor Stronger: Bill 161 Is A Step Backwards For Access To Justice And Community-Based Legal Services In Ontario, Amar Bhatia, Janet Mosher, Jillian A. Rogin, Gemma Smyth, Erin Sobat, David Wiseman

Commissioned Reports, Studies and Public Policy Documents

Schedule 16 of Bill 161, the Smarter and Stronger Justice Act, will replace, if passed, the Legal Aid Services Act, 1998 (LASA 1998) with a new Legal Aid Services Act, 2019 (LASA 2019).

The Bill, if passed, will have profoundly negative impacts on the clients and communities served by Ontario’s community legal clinics and community-driven boards. These clinics engage in “clinic law” through: a) the determination of their communities’ legal needs; b) the provision of individual and collective legal services to provide access to justice in numerous and intersecting areas of law; and c) the development and reform of …

Conclusion: A Way Forward, Peter B. Edelman

Georgetown Law Faculty Publications and Other Works

Where do we go next? I have three suggestions. One is to enlarge the frame of our work on poverty and race, including a focus on the ever-widening chasm of inequality, and all of it pressing toward the center stage of national attention. A second is to consolidate our work about income, jobs, and cash assistance into a unified frame, which I call a three-legged stool. And the third is to think from a perspective of place, and what that tells us about our antipoverty work.

We need a banner, a message, a theme, a politics for ending poverty. The …

Regulatory Abdication In Practice, Cary Coglianese

All Faculty Scholarship

“Meta-regulation” refers to deliberate efforts to induce private firms to create their own internal regulations—a regulatory strategy sometimes referred to as “management-based regulation” or even “regulation of self-regulation.” Meta-regulation is often presented as a flexible alternative to traditional “command-and-control” regulation. But does meta-regulation actually work? In her recent book, Meta-Regulation in Practice: Beyond Normative Views of Morality and Rationality, Fiona Simon purports to offer a critique of meta-regulation based on an extended case study of the often-feckless process of electricity regulatory reform undertaken in Australia in the early part of this century. Yet neither Simon’s case study nor her book …

The New Qui Tam: A Model For The Enforcement Of Group Rights In A Hostile Era, Myriam E. Gilles, Gary Friedman

Faculty Articles

The present Administration has made clear it has no interest in enforcing statutes designed to protect workers, consumers, voters, and others. And, as we have chronicled in prior work, the ability of private litigants to enforce these laws has been undercut by developments in the case law concerning class actions—particularly class-banning arbitration clauses. As these critical enforcement methods recede, will alternative methods of prosecuting claims arise? How might they work? Are they politically and fiscally sustainable? We focus here on a promising approach just now coming into view: qui tam legislation authorizing private citizens to bring representative claims on behalf …

Is Obamacare Really Unconstitutional?, Nicholas Bagley

Articles

On December 18, 2019, just 3 days after the close of open enrollment on the exchanges and on the same day the House of Representatives impeached President Donald Trump, a conservative appeals court handed the President a major victory in his crusade against the Affordable Care Act (ACA). Over a stern dissent, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit declared that the law’s individual mandate is unconstitutional and that the entire rest of the law might therefore be invalid.

The Congressional Review Act (Cra): Frequently Asked Questions, United States Congressional Research Service

U.S. House of Representatives Documents

Summary

The Congressional Review Act (CRA) is an oversight tool that Congress may use to overturn rules issued by federal agencies. The CRA was included as part of the Small Business Regulatory Enforcement Fairness Act (SBREFA), which was signed into law on March 29, 1996. The CRA requires agencies to report on their rulemaking activities to Congress and provides Congress with a special set of procedures under which to consider legislation to overturn those rules.

Under the CRA, before a rule can take effect, an agency must submit a report to each house of Congress and the comptroller general containing …