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Full-Text Articles in Law

The War Powers Consultation Act: Keeping War Out Of The Zone Of Twilight, Brendan Flynn Sep 2015

The War Powers Consultation Act: Keeping War Out Of The Zone Of Twilight, Brendan Flynn

Catholic University Law Review

The Constitution divides the war powers between Congress, which declares war, and the President, who serves as Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces. Since the Korean War, the President has claimed increased authority to send the military into harm’s way without Congressional authorization. ­This Comment surveys the war powers issue through U.S. history and asserts that the President’s claim of increased authority has been enabled by Congressional abdication of its role, leading to­­ wars fought in a legal­­ “zone of twilight” in which Congress has neither authorized nor forbidden Presidential action (drawing on Justice Jackson’s famous tripartite analysis in his Youngstown …


Enhancing Accountability At The Department Of Veterans Affairs: The Legality Of The Veterans Access, Choice, And Accountability Act Of 2014 Under The Due Process Clause, Ashton Habighurst Sep 2015

Enhancing Accountability At The Department Of Veterans Affairs: The Legality Of The Veterans Access, Choice, And Accountability Act Of 2014 Under The Due Process Clause, Ashton Habighurst

Catholic University Law Review

In April 2014, news of long delays at the Phoenix VA Medical Center and the subsequent deaths of forty Veterans awaiting medical appointments shocked the nation. Based on this perceived failure among VA’s senior medical staff, legislation swept through the House and the Senate in an attempt to enhance accountability at the VA. By August 2014, President Obama signed the Veterans Access, Choice and Accountability Act of 2014 into law. This Act revises the termination procedures concerning the VA’s senior executives, by eliminating the notice requirement, significantly reducing the appellate procedures for adverse employment decision to the Merit Systems Protection …


The Minty Taste Of Death: State And Local Options To Regulate Menthol In Tobacco Products, Michael Freiberg Sep 2015

The Minty Taste Of Death: State And Local Options To Regulate Menthol In Tobacco Products, Michael Freiberg

Catholic University Law Review

Explaining why the additive menthol in tobacco products creates major public health risks, this article advocates for restricting the addition of menthol in cigarettes as a way to reduce smoking-related disease and death. Author Michael Freiberg describes how the decision to regulate menthol in tobacco products, on a federal level, was historically delegated by Congress to the discretion of the U.S. FDA, outlines the U.S. FDA’s subsequent failure to regulate menthol, and surveys state and local government efforts to regulate menthol in response to the FDA’s inaction. The article proposes additional actions that these state and local governments could take …


Confounded Collectors, Confused Consumers: Time To Close The Circuit Split On Whether The Fair Debt Collection Practices Act Requires A Consumer To Dispute A Debt In Writing, Daniel O'Connell Sep 2015

Confounded Collectors, Confused Consumers: Time To Close The Circuit Split On Whether The Fair Debt Collection Practices Act Requires A Consumer To Dispute A Debt In Writing, Daniel O'Connell

Catholic University Law Review

The Fair Debt Collection Practices Act (FDCPA) provides that a debt collector must notify a consumer that it will assume a debt to be valid unless the consumer challenges the debt within thirty days. The FDCPA does not explicitly require the consumer to challenge the debt in writing. The Third Circuit requires written disputes, while the Second, Fourth, and Ninth Circuits permit oral disputes. This Comment discusses the reasoning and conclusions at play in this circuit split. The Comment argues that while both sides of the debate present meritorious arguments, permitting oral disputes for purposes of rebutting the debt collector’s …


House Of Cards: How Rediscovering Republicanism Brings It Crashing Down, Jonathan E. Maddison Jun 2015

House Of Cards: How Rediscovering Republicanism Brings It Crashing Down, Jonathan E. Maddison

Catholic University Law Review

Using Frank Underwood’s maniacal political journey in the Netflix series House of Cards as an example of what is wrong with American politics, this article argues that the Supreme Court’s misapplication of First Amendment principles in Citizens United and other key campaign finance cases plays a large and problematic role. Providing an extensive historical overview of republicanism and First Amendment jurisprudence, this article suggests that a return to republican ideals, while not perfect, is both the solution and proper tool of analysis to be used by the Supreme Court for campaign finance cases and beyond.


The Limits Of The Freedoms Act’S Amicus Curiae, Chad Squitieri Jan 2015

The Limits Of The Freedoms Act’S Amicus Curiae, Chad Squitieri

Scholarly Articles

The federal government’s power to engage in surveillance for national security purposes is extensive. In an effort to reform the current national surveillance regime, scholars have called for, among other things, the creation of a “special advocate” to counter the government’s arguments before the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court. Feeling political pressure to improve an ever-unpopular national surveillance regime, lawmakers passed the USA FREEDOM Act (“Freedom Act”). Section 401 of the Freedom Act provides for the creation of an “amicus curiae,” a position that differs from earlier conceptions of a “special advocate” in important respects. This Essay examines those differences, and …


The Subsidy Question In King V. Burwell, Antonio F. Perez Jan 2015

The Subsidy Question In King V. Burwell, Antonio F. Perez

Scholarly Articles

On the surface, King v. Burwell appears to be a simple case about statutory interpretation. In the Affordable Care Act (widely known as Obamacare), when Congress referred to the “State,” in the provision triggering federal subsidies to insurance consumers for purchases made from federally-authorized insurance providers selling federally-authorized insurance products, should the “State” be understood to refer to the federal market (i.e., exchanges) as well as “State” markets. Simple tools of statutory construction–namely, that Congress knew full well how to refer to a “federal” exchange and failed to do so–would seem to be sufficient to supply a result. It would …


From The New Deal To The New Healthcare: A New Deal Perspective On King V. Burwell And The Crusade Against The Affordable Care Act, Sarah Helene Duggin Jan 2015

From The New Deal To The New Healthcare: A New Deal Perspective On King V. Burwell And The Crusade Against The Affordable Care Act, Sarah Helene Duggin

Scholarly Articles

Americans describe the new healthcare system established by the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (“ACA”) as both a blessing and a nightmare. For millions of low and middle income Americans, the ACA offers access to health insurance they could not otherwise afford. The ACA’s opponents, however, view the new healthcare system as a threat to economic prosperity, an intrusion on personal liberty and a violation of the principles of federalism at the heart of our system of government. These same kinds of arguments were made more than eighty years ago in response to President Franklin Delano Roosevelt’s New Deal. …


Rluipa: Re-Aligning Burdens Of Proof, Clarifying Freedoms, And Re-Defining Responsibilities, George P. Smith Ii, Philip M. Donoho Jan 2015

Rluipa: Re-Aligning Burdens Of Proof, Clarifying Freedoms, And Re-Defining Responsibilities, George P. Smith Ii, Philip M. Donoho

Scholarly Articles

Into the breach primed by the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision in Employment Division Department of Human Resources v. Smith in 1990, Congress plunged headlong, dragging along with it a judiciary charged with enforcement of a mandate only defined ambiguously. Thus, in 2004 the Religious Land Use and Institutionalized Persons Act (RLUIPA) was passed and heralded as a legislative sum certain — a “clear” articulation of Congress’ balancing of local zoning prerogative with idiosyncratic religious use. It has proved anything but; for, since its passage, the results of litigation have remained resolutely immune to coherent explanation, as the Federal Circuit courts …