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 …

A Complete Property Right Amendment, John H. Ryskamp

ExpressO

The trend of the eminent domain reform and "Kelo plus" initiatives is toward a comprehensive Constitutional property right incorporating the elements of level of review, nature of government action, and extent of compensation. This article contains a draft amendment which reflects these concerns.

Parental Consent And Notification Laws In The Abortion Context: Rejecting The "Maturity" Standard In Judicial Bypass Proceedings, Anna Bonny

ExpressO

The choice to become a parent, to give a baby up for adoption, or to terminate a pregnancy presents a life-altering decision for a minor. The majority of states require minors to engage their parents or legal guardians in their choice to obtain an abortion, but not in decisions to give their babies up for adoption or to become parents. Though the Supreme Court has held that parental consent and notification laws do not infringe on a minor's constitutional rights if judicial bypass options are available, the reality of these judicial proceedings demonstrates a biased and unworkable legal avenue. Even …

The Convicted Felon As A Guardian: Considering The Alternatives Of Potential Guardians With Less-Than-Perfect Records, Mike Jorgensen

ExpressO

Courts require discretion in appointing guardians. Oftentimes, the legislature prevents the courts from exercising discretion when statutes are enacted that prohibit felons from serving as guardians under any circumstances. Yet, the need for guardians is increasing and will continue to do so due to the exponential growth in the aging elder population.

At the same time, however, the pool of potential guardians is shrinking in size. Additionally, the same reducing pool of eligible guardians is being attenuated further by having a disproportionate amount of felonies.

The groups most impacted by these trends are the indigent and the minorities. The indigent …

Jumping On The Bandwagon: How Canadian Lawyers Can & Should Get Involved In The Emerging Trend To Implement Therapeutic Jurisprudence Practices In Canadian Courts, Brooke Bloom

ExpressO

No abstract provided.

The Purpose Of Child Support, Ira M. Ellman

ExpressO

What is the appropriate amount of child support to require in particular cases? How should we take account, if at all, of subsequent events such as either parent’s remarriage? It seems obvious that the answers to such questions ought to turn on our purpose in requiring support payments in the first place. But while fixing the amount of child support can be politically contentious, and has attracted the attention of partisans on both sides of the gender gap, the literature contains no systematic examination of support rules in light of their underlying policy purpose. This article fills that gap. It …

A Modern Disaster: Agricultural Land, Urban Growth, And The Need For A Federally Organized Comprehensive Land Use Planning Model, Jess M. Krannich

ExpressO

No abstract provided.

Zoning And Eminent Domain Under The New Minimum Scrutiny, John H. Ryskamp

ExpressO

Recently the Supreme Court has made it clearer that minimum scrutiny is a factual analysis. Whether in any government action there is a rational relation to a legitimate interest is a matter of determining whether there is a policy maintaining important facts. This has come about in the Court’s emerging emphasis on developing fact-based criteria for determining government purpose. Thus, those who want to affect zoning and eminent domain outcomes should look to what the Court sees as important facts, and whether government action is maintaining those facts with its proposed land use or eminent domain action.

The Children Of Science: Property, People, Or Something In Between?, Star Q. Lopez

ExpressO

How should states classify embryos? The war has often waged between two classifications, people versus property. But what if a state assumed something in between, finding the embryo to be a potential person entitled to special respect? If a state adopted this position, how would the law affect medical research?

Presuming embryos constitute potential persons, the debate would continue with how to define “special respect.” The status of a potential person runs along a spectrum between property and personhood. How one defines “special respect” determines where the potential person falls along this spectrum. Special respect would create a spectrum of …

Making Free Speech Affordable: A Discussion Of Legislation To Provide Public Funding To Candidates For The U.S. Congress, Jared S. Cram

ExpressO

This article discusses a recent attempt by the U.S. Congress to provide for public financing of campaigns for the House of Representatives. Although a good start, this legislation would not go far enough to ensure that every voice has an opportunity to be heard in federal elections. My article discusses the strengths and weaknesses of this legislation and also provides suggested amendments to make this bill more effective should it become law.

Making Free Speech Affordable provides an in-depth comparison of this proposed legislation with current law at the state level providing for public financing of campaigns. This discussion includes …

Blame Canada (And The Rest Of The World): The Twenty-Year War On Imported Prescription Drugs, Daniel L. Pollock

ExpressO

Rising budget deficits and sticker shock over the new Medicare drug benefit have put the issue of prescription drug costs back into the spotlight. The growth in the cost of prescription drugs continues to represent a staggering burden for taxpayer-funded health care programs, even while costs of non-drug health care services have slowed or even decreased. Among the many proposals for cutting prescription drug costs, drug importation is unique. Although bipartisan support for drug importation has existed in Congress for over five years, the federal government continues to maintain that a system of safe and effective drug importation is impossible. …

The Bankruptcy Abuse Prevention And Consumer Protection Act Of 2005: The Solution To Inherent Inequalities Exists Outside The Box Of Congress' "Sense" Of Personal Finance Education, Lisa M. Wiltshire

ExpressO

This Note analzyes the Bankruptcy Abuse Prevention and Consumer Protection Act of 2005 in relation to discrepancies between minority and white bankruptcy petition filers.

Breaking The Bank: Revisiting Central Bank Of Denver After Enron And Sarbanes-Oxley, Celia Taylor

ExpressO

No abstract provided.

What Is Fiscal Responsibility? Long-Term Deficits, Generational Accounting, And Capital Budgeting, Neil H. Buchanan

Rutgers Law School (Newark) Faculty Papers

This article assesses three basic approaches to assessing the future effects of the government’s fiscal policies: traditional measures of the deficit, measures associated with Generational Accounting, and measures derived from applying Capital Budgeting to the federal accounts. I conclude that Capital Budgeting is the best of the three approaches and that Generational Accounting is the least helpful. Acknowledging that there might be some value in learning what we can from a variety of approaches to analyzing fiscal policy, I nevertheless conclude that Generational Accounting is actually a misleading or--at best--empty measure of future fiscal developments. The best approach to providing …

Is The End Of The War In Sight: An Analysis Of Canada’S Decriminalization Of Marijuana And The Implications For The United States “War On Drugs”, Kara Godbehere Goodwin

ExpressO

Discussion of marijuana decriminalization efforts by Canadian government and comparison of United States/Canadian drug legislation and healthcare. Public policy justifications are discussed as well as medical marijuana and effects of drug use on the two countries' prison and healthcare systems.

Progressivist Origins Of The 2003 California Gubernatorial Recall, Kira L. Klatchko

ExpressO

Progressivist Origins of the 2003 California Gubernatorial Recall, was written in Sacramento in the midst of the first statewide recall of an elected official in California. The paper explores the nature of the recall procedure and its implementation in the state, and is chiefly an inquiry into the relatedness of the current incarnation and its Progressivist root. It focuses particularly on the recall of Governor Gray Davis, and details how shifting attitudes towards public participation have altered the procedure over time.

The Philadelphia Story: The Rhetoric Of School Reform, Susan Dejarnatt

ExpressO

No abstract provided.