Law Commons^™

Bureaucratic Overreach And The Role Of The Courts In Protecting Representative Democracy, Katie Cassady

Helm's School of Government Conference - American Revival: Citizenship & Virtue

Although only four departments at the United States’ founding, the American bureaucracy has expanded to address nearly every issue of public life. While these agencies are ostensibly under congressional oversight through monetary allowance and the supervision of the President as part of the executive branch, they consistently usurp their discretionary authority and bypass the Founders’ design of legislative power vested solely in a bicameral legislature.

The Supreme Court holds an indispensable role in mitigating the overreach of bureaucratic agencies. However, despite their obligation to protect the rights of the American people, the courts’ inability to hold bureaucrats accountable has diluted …

Drug Ideologies Of The United States, Macy Montgomery

Helm's School of Government Conference - American Revival: Citizenship & Virtue

The United States has been increasingly creating lenient drug policies. Seventeen states and Washington, the District of Columbia, legalized marijuana, and Oregon decriminalized certain drugs, including methamphetamine, heroin, and cocaine. The medical community has proven that drugs, including marijuana, have myriad adverse health side effects. This leads to two questions: Why does the United States government continue to create lenient drug policies, and what reasons do citizens give for legalizing drugs when the medical community has proven them harmful? The paper hypothesizes that the disadvantages of drug legalization outweigh its benefits because of the numerous harms it causes, such as …

What Should Law Enforcement Role Be In Addressing Quality Of Life Issues Associated With Section 8 Housing?, D'Andre D. Lampkin

D'Andre Devon Lampkin

The purpose of this research project is to discuss the challenges law enforcement face when attempting to address quality of life issues for residents residing in and around Section 8 federal housing. The paper introduces readers to the purpose of Section 8 housing, the process in which residents choose subsidized housing, and the legal challenges presented when law enforcement agencies are assisting city government to address quality of life issues. For purposes of this research project, studies were sampled to illustrate where law enforcement participation worked and where law enforcement participation leads to unintended legal ramifications.

Gandhi’S Prophecy: Corporate Violence And A Mindful Law For Bhopal, Nehal A. Patel

Nehal A. Patel

AbstractOver thirty years have passed since the Bhopal chemical disaster began,and in that time scholars of corporate social responsibility (CSR) havediscussed and debated several frameworks for improving corporate responseto social and environmental problems. However, CSR discourse rarelydelves into the fundamental architecture of legal thought that oftenbuttresses corporate dominance in the global economy. Moreover, CSRdiscourse does little to challenge the ontological and epistemologicalassumptions that form the foundation for modern economics and the role ofcorporations in the world.I explore methods of transforming CSR by employing the thought ofMohandas Gandhi. I pay particular attention to Gandhi’s critique ofindustrialization and principle of swadeshi (self-sufficiency) …

The Interstate Commerce Of Abortion: A Constitutional Argument For The Federal Invalidation Of Restrictive State Abortion Laws, Kaiya Amelia Lyons

Kaiya Amelia Lyons

No abstract provided.

Dismissing Provenance: The Use Of Procedural Defenses To Bar Claims In Nazi-Looted Art And Securitized Mortgage Litigation, Christian J. Bromley

Christian J Bromley

The litigation surrounding an estimated 650,000 works looted by the Nazis in the Second World War and the millions of securitized mortgages foreclosed in the wake of the Great Recession converge on a fundamental legal principle: who really holds rightful title? Seemingly worlds apart, these separate yet remarkably similar forms of property challenge the American judiciary to allocate property rights between adversaries steadfast in their contention of rightful ownership. The legal fulcrum in this allocation often rests not on the equity or righteousness of either parties’ claim—whether museum versus heir or bank versus former homeowner—but instead on procedural defenses that …

Implementing The Lessons From Wrongful Convictions: An Empirical Analysis Of Eyewitness Identification Reform Strategies, Keith A. Findley

Keith A Findley

Learning about the flaws in the criminal justice system that have produced wrongful convictions has progressed at a dramatic pace since the first innocent individuals were exonerated by postconviction DNA testing in 1989. Application of that knowledge to improving the criminal justice system, however, has lagged far behind the growth in knowledge. Likewise, while considerable scholarship has been devoted to identifying the factors that produce wrongful convictions, very little scholarly attention has been devoted to the processes through which knowledge about causes is translated into reforms.

Using eyewitness misidentification—one of the leading contributors to wrongful convictions and the most thoroughly …

After Citizens United: Extending The Liberal Revolution To The Multinational Corporation, Daniel J.H. Greenwood

Daniel J.H. Greenwood

This Article proposes several routes to reverse Citizens United, the Supreme Court case holding that corporate campaign spending is “speech” protected by the First Amendment.

The core problem of Citizens United is that corporations are illegitimate participants in our politics. Corporate law requires corporate officers to pursue the corporate interest. They are thus disqualified from considering the central political questions of a democratic capitalist country: defining the rules of the market (which define corporate interests) and balancing profit against other, more important, values.

The high road to fixing Citizens United is a constitutional amendment to extend the fundamental insights …

Dangerous Tongues: Storytelling In Congressional Testimony, Clare Keefe Coleman

Clare Keefe Coleman

The important and dangerous use of storytelling in making legislation has been largely ignored by legal academics. Although notable scholars, including Justice Scalia and Cass Sunstein, have written extensively about the use of legislative history in statutory interpretation, and much has been written about the use of storytelling in advocacy, the important role that stories play in making legislation has been overlooked by the legal academy, outside of a few articles relating to criminal statutes. The Congressional Record on a recent farm bill is full of stories told by special interests that draw on metaphors, archetypes, and myths. Snow White’s …

Congressional Due Process, Andrew M. Wright

Andrew M Wright

This article identifies significant deficiencies in Congress’s investigative practices. Consequences of congressional scrutiny can be profound, yet the second Congress calls, almost none of the safeguards of the American legal system are present. I argue such practices demonstrate institutional indifference to constitutional due process norms. The article highlights differences between congressional and judicial proceedings with respect to the safeguards of witnesses and targets. The purpose of congressional inquiry fundamentally differs from adjudication, and therefore does not call for the full complement of procedural rights afforded in judicial proceedings. Congress seeks facts and expertise to inform legislative judgments that will have …

The Power Of The Body: Analyzing The Corporeal Logic Of Law And Social Change In The Arab Spring, Zeina Jallad, Zeina Jallad

Zeina Jallad

The Power of the Body:

Analyzing the Logic of Law and Social Change in the Arab Spring

Abstract:

Under conditions of extreme social and political injustice - when human rights are under the most threat - rational arguments rooted in the language of human rights are often unlikely to spur reform or to ensure government adherence to citizens’ rights. When those entrusted with securing human dignity, rights, and freedoms fail to do so, and when other actors—such as human rights activists, international institutions, and social movements—fail to engage the levers of power to eliminate injustice, then oppressed and even quotidian …

Hmda, Housing Segregation, And Racial Disparities In Mortgage Lending, Charles M. Lamb Ph.D.

Charles M Lamb Ph.D.

No abstract provided.

Mistakes, Airfares, And Consumers: Restoring The Department Of Transportation's Role In Regulating Unfair Trade Practices, Terence Lau

Terence Lau

This Article traces the problem of mistake airfares and the federal government’s response to airlines that cancel tickets for erroneous fares. Part I of the Article explores airline pricing generally, and argues that airline tickets are a unique form of commodity good, one where there is no consumer expectation of a reasonable price. The dynamic nature of airline yield management means that prices for the exact same seat on an airplane can range dramatically on a variety of circumstances and factors that are beyond the knowledge, control or comprehension of the ordinary consumer. The Article investigates several well-known examples of …

Note: The Case For Earmarks, Chelsea Fernandez Gold

Chelsea Fernandez Gold

Americans’ confidence in Congress has sunk to historical lows and it seems that dysfunction and ineptitude remain at an all-time high. But it is not just the public that is frustrated with Washington’s failures; it is members of the political elite themselves. While the dysfunction plaguing the Capitol can be attributed to any number of factors, it is the contention of this paper that one way to "fix" Washington is to end the ban on earmarks. The termination of earmarks in Congress, and their ultimate shift over to the executive branch, has contributed to the ineffectiveness of the legislature and …

The Federal Restore Act And Its Impact On The Gulf States Following The Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill, Sara Mammarella

Sara Mammarella

On April 20, 2010, what has been described as “the worst oil spill in U.S. history,” the BP Deepwater Horizon oil spill, occurred off the Louisiana coast, affecting a five-state area in the Gulf region (Florida, Alabama, Louisiana, Mississippi, and Texas), dumping an estimated 4.9 billion barrels of oil into the Gulf of Mexico. The harms that occurred were widespread and devastating: eleven people were killed, 1,000 miles of coastline was degraded, ocean life and beaches were destroyed, and the local economy of the region was adversely impacted, especially fishing and tourism industries. In response, Congress passed the federal RESTORE …

From Reynolds To Lawrence To Brown V. Buhman: Antipolygamy Statutes Sliding On The Slippery Slope Of Same-Sex Marriage, Stephen L. Baskind

Stephen L Baskind

In 2003 in Lawrence v. Texas (striking Texas’ sodomy law), Justice Scalia predicted in his dissent the end of all morals legislation. If Justice Scalia is correct most, if not all, morals-based legislation may fall. For example, in recent years state laws prohibiting same-sex marriage have fallen to constitutional challenges. Ten years after Lawrence in 2013, a Utah Federal District Court in Brown v. Buhman, though feeling constrained by the 1878 Reynolds case (which rejected a First Amendment challenge to an antipolygamy law), nevertheless at the request of a polygamous family concluded that the cohabitation prong of Utah’s anti-bigamy …

Abandoning The Status Quo: Towards Uniform Application Of Special Immigrant Juvenile Status, Gregory Catangay

Gregory Catangay

The accompanying Article identifies and analyzes the causes of unequal application of the Special Immigrant Juvenile Status (SIJS) program and argues for a federal takeover of the program. The Article highlights the current immigration crisis and the plight of unaccompanied minors seeking a better life in the United States. These minors may be eligible for permanent legal status in the United States through the SIJS program. Although SIJS is a federal remedy, variations in state law and interpretation of SIJS requirements exclude eligible minors.

In order to be eligible for the SIJS program, a state trial court must find that …

Funding Programs That Work: Lessons From The Federal Home Visiting Program, Philip G. Peters Jr.

Philip G. Peters Jr.

Congress spends hundreds of billions of dollars each year on social programs. Many don’t work. Congress and the President have called for greater reliance on evidence-based programs. Thus far, however, only one major federal program conditions state access to formula-based federal funding on the use of evidence-based practices--the Maternal, Infant, and Early Childhood Home Visiting Program. In this Article, I examine the extent to which this initial effort has succeeded, concluding that Congress has taken a promising first step, but that attainment of its objective will require more demanding proof standards than those contained in the current Home Visiting Program. …

Gingles Versus Shaw: Why The Sweet Spot Between Thornburg V. Gingles And Shaw V. Reno Calls For An Amended § 2, Timothy L. O'Hair

Timothy L. O'Hair

Minority voter enfranchisement, and the related issue of minority voter dilution, has been a back and forth issue since the Reconstruction Era—the Fifteenth Amendment was countered by the Jim Crow laws, which were countered by the Voting Rights Act, and so on (this paper goes in depth regarding this seesaw history). After the 1982 Amendments to the VRA, the holding in Thornburg v. Gingles articulated a threshold to ensure minority groups receive a majority-minority district when the group is sufficiently large and compact and politically cohesive. Shaw v. Reno frustrated this by enabling an Equal Protection claim for the majority …

Executing On An Empty Tank: Protecting The Supply Of Lethal Injection Drugs From Public Records Requests, Ira K. Rushing

Ira K Rushing

With the US Supreme Court holding the death penalty and lethal injection as Constitutional, there has been a new strategy for condemned prisoners. Using public information requests to discover the identities of the suppliers of lethal injection drugs and others in ancillary roles, the media has broad range to publish this information. This has led to many suppliers and compounding pharmacies to withhold supplies of the drugs to states using them in executions. This paper lays out a history of the death penalty in Mississippi that has gotten us to this point. It then attempts to provide persuasive arguments on …

Mutual Pharmaceutical Co. V. Bartlett: A Need For “Explicit” Congressional Action And State Tort Law Reform, Kara A. Ritter

Kara A Ritter

No abstract provided.

Material Conditions For The Law Of Democracy: The Problem Of Information Asymmetry In Voting Decisions., Rafael E De O Baptista

Rafael E de O Baptista

The proposal of the present paper is to explore the informational asymmetry that exists between politicians and citizens, especially towards voting, and directives for regulation and public policies that may diminish it. We develop a reading of the specialized literature, alongside the case study of a civil society organization that develops this institutional role in the city of Jundiaí, Brazil, which, albeit restricted geographically, leads up to broader implications. Based on these sets of data, we develop the following argument: information asymmetry is a problem in any context where rationality in voting decisions are a value to be pursued. In …

Regulation Of Chemical Risks: Lessons For Tsca Reform From Canada And The European Union, Adam Abelkop, John D. Graham

Adam Abelkop

The United States Congress is considering reform of the Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA) of 1976. This Article compares recent reforms in Europe and Canada in order to draw lessons for TSCA reform. In 2006, the European Union enacted the Registration, Evaluation, Authorization, and Restriction of Chemicals (REACH) regulation while Canada used existing authority under the Canadian Environmental Protection Act (CEPA) of 1999 to initiate the 2006 Chemicals Management Plan (CMP). Focusing on the tens of thousands of industrial chemicals now in use in the US, we offer several suggestions for TSCA reform based on the European and Canadian experiences. …

The Ciudades Modelo Project: Testing The Legality Of Paul Romer’S Charter Cities Concept By Analyzing The Constitutionality Of The Honduran Zones For Employment And Economic Development, Michael R. Miller

Michael R Miller

Over the last several years, the Honduran government has been aggressively advancing a "model cities" project that it argues will provide options for its citizens to escape the extreme violence in their country without migrating to the U.S. The model cities, which are formally called "Zones for Employment and Economic Development" ("ZEDEs"), are purported to be autonomously governed areas that will attract foreign investment and compete for residents by establishing safer communities and better managed institutions governed by the rule of law.

The ZEDEs trace their origin to a concept formulated by development economist Paul Romer, who proposed the idea …

Complexity And Simplicity In Law: A Review Essay (Cass R. Sunstein, Simpler: The Future Of Government (2003)), David M. Driesen

David M Driesen

This essay discusses Cass Sunstein’s book, Simpler: The Future of Government, in order to advance our understanding of the concepts of complex and simple law. Many writers identify complexity with uncertainty and high cost. This essay argues that complexity bears no fixed relationship to costs or benefits. It also shows that complexity’s relationship to uncertainty is so ambiguous that it is profitable to treat complexity and uncertainty as separate concepts. It develops useful separate concepts of legal and compliance complexity that will aid efforts to simplify law, like the one Sunstein claims to have embarked upon. It also argues that …

Complexity And Simplicity In Law: A Review Essay (Cass R. Sunstein, Simpler 2013)), David M. Driesen

David M Driesen

This essay discusses Cass Sunstein’s book, Simpler, in order to advance our understanding of the concepts of complex and simple law. Many writers identify complexity with uncertainty and high cost. This essay argues that complexity bears no fixed relationship to costs or benefits. It also shows that complexity’s relationship to uncertainty is so ambiguous that it is profitable to treat complexity and uncertainty as separate concepts. It develops useful separate concepts of legal and compliance complexity that will aid efforts to simplify law, like the one Sunstein claims to have embarked upon. It also argues that complexity is a hallmark …

The Law And Economics Of Microfinance, Katherine Helen Mary Hunt

Katherine Helen Mary Hunt

Financial inclusion may be jargon which appeals to international donors and academics, but the strategic implementation in developing countries is often based on international du jour priorities, such as microfinance. The topic of microfinance is highly debated in the academic literature, although little empirical work has been published. Further, no literature to date has considered microfinance from a law and economics perspective. This paper seeks to contribute to the gap in the literature by considering how microfinance has evolved to address the credit market failure, and how microfinance regulation should be designed to promote long term financial inclusion via financially …

Encouraging Cooperation: Harmonizing The Battle Of Association And Mortgagee Lien Priority In America’S Common Interest Communities, Christian J. Bromley

Christian J Bromley

As the United States grappled with millions of foreclosures in recent years, the delinquency of mortgage and community association payments threatened the sustainability of over 300,000 common interest communities that house 63.4 million Americans. When owners of residential property fall behind on mortgage and association assessments, a battle for lien priority emerges between the associations and mortgagees. Each respectively holds a lien on the property to secure the debt owed to them, but it is the priority of these liens that determines the amount the lienholder recovers from a foreclosure sale. There is no uniform approach to priority in the …

Narrow Tailoring, Compelling Interests, And Free Exercise: On Aca, Rfra And Predictability, Mark Strasser

Mark Strasser

The holding in Burwell v. Hobby Lobby Stores, Incorporated was narrow in scope—closely held, for-profit corporations must be afforded an exemption from providing insurance coverage for a few types of contraception if the corporation has religious objections to providing that coverage. In addition, the exemption requirement was based on a construction of federal statute rather than on the Constitution’s free exercise guarantees. Both the narrowness of the holding and the Court’s express disavowal that it was offering a constitutional analysis might make the opinion appear relatively inconsequential. However, because the opinion changes the focus and standards of federal law and …

Natural Law, Natural Rights, And Same Sex Marriage, Shannon Holzer

Shannon Holzer

ABSTRACT The Definition of Rights and Same-Sex Marriage The claim that same-sex couples have the right to be married needs to be explained according to particular theories of rights. This presents a problem for same-sex marriage (SSM) advocates for two reasons. First, if SSM advocates suggest that they have a natural right to be married (as rights were understood by Thomas Jefferson in the Declaration of Independence), then they have the burden to prove that this is the case. Yet, Natural Rights entail Natural Law (NL), and NL tends to support teleological definitions of marriage. Thus, the SSM advocate must …