Law Commons^™

The Influence Of Race In School Finance Reform, James E. Ryan

Michigan Law Review

It would be an exaggeration to say that school finance reform is all about race, but largely in the same way that it is an exaggeration to say that welfare reform is all about race. Like welfare reform, the controversy generated by school finance litigation and reform has, on the surface, little to do with race. Battles over school funding, which have been waged in nearly forty state supreme courts and at least as many state legislatures, instead appear to be over such issues as the redistribution of resources, retaining local control over education, and the efficacy of increased expenditures. …

Is The Clean Air Act Unconstitutional?, Cass R. Sunstein

Michigan Law Review

This Article deals with two linked questions. The first involves the future of the Clean Air Act. The particular concern is how the Environmental Protection Agency ("EPA") might be encouraged, with help from reviewing courts, to issue better ambient air quality standards, and in the process to shift from some of the anachronisms of 1970s environmentalism to a more fruitful approach to environmental protection. The second question involves the role of the nondelegation doctrine in American public law, a doctrine that shows unmistakable signs of revival. I will suggest that improved performance by EPA and agencies in general, operating in …

Clearing The Way For An Effective Federal-State Partnership In Health Reform, Eleanor D. Kinney

University of Michigan Journal of Law Reform

At century's end, states have assumed a very different role in the design, implementation, and operation of health service programs than they did twenty-five years ago. In the current volatile political atmosphere particularly at the federal level, states have taken up the mantle of healthcare reform in the final years of the 1990s. Yet there remain problems and difficulties with the current federal-state relationship in health reform. The critical question is whether states can successfully accomplish genuine reform given its politically charged, complex and costly nature. This question takes on particular significance for the most important reform-expanding coverage to the …

Moving Toward A Clearer Definition Of Insider Trading: Why Adoption Of The Possession Standard Protects Investors, Lacey S. Calhoun

University of Michigan Journal of Law Reform

In recent years, insider trading has become a publicized focus of securities law enforcement. The definition of insider trading has emerged slowly through case law, and the term has been clarified by new theories of liability. The use and possession tests are two standards of liability used to judge the treatment of inside information. The use standard offers a defense to insider trading liability while the possession standard premises liability on mere possession of inside information. This Note argues that courts should adopt the possession standard because this standard better protects investors, a primary goal of the Securities Exchange Act …

Keeping Clean Waters Clean: Making The Clean Water Act's Antidegradation Policy Work, John A. Chilson

University of Michigan Journal of Law Reform

This Note stresses the importance of making the Clean Water Act's antidegradation policy work in order to avoid a system of national waters of equally mediocre quality. The Nation's highest quality and most important waters are not receiving appropriate protection under the Act because the antidegradation policy contains vague definitions, the states fail to review water quality standards every three years and to entertain citizens' petitions, and the Environmental Protection Agency has not taken an active role in ensuring compliance with federal standards. This Note examines the schemes of the Great Lakes States and Florida and hypothesizes that similar provisions …

Dissecting The State: The Use Of Federal Law To Free State And Local Officials From State Legislatures' Control, Roderick M. Hills Jr.

Michigan Law Review

In discussions about American federalism, it is common to speak of a "state government" as if it were a black box, an individual speaking with a single voice. State governments are, of course, no such thing. Rather, a "state" actually incorporates a bundle of different subdivisions, branches, and agencies controlled by politicians who often compete with each other for electoral success and governmental power. In particular, these institutions compete with each other for the power to control federal funds and implement federal programs. This article explores one aspect of this intrastate competition - the extent to which federal law can …

The Limited Public Offer In German And U.S. Securities Law: A Comparative Analysis Of Prospectus Act Section 2(2) And Rule 505 Of Regulation D, David B. Guenther

Michigan Journal of International Law

This Note examines the "limited circle of persons" exception in section 2(2) of the Prospectus Act in comparison to similar provisions of U.S. federal securities law, particularly Section 3(b) of the Securities Act of 1933 (the "Securities Act") and Rule 505 of Regulation D ("Rule 505"). Comparison of the Prospectus Act to U.S. securities law seems both warranted and useful. Certain aspects of German securities law are broadly modeled on U.S. precedents. U.S. securities laws reflect more than sixty-five years of experience defining (and re-defining) public and limited public offers and private placements. U.S. securities regulators have also displayed in …

Traffic Jam: Recommendations For Civil Penalties To Curb The Recent Trafficking Of Women From Post-Cold War Russia, Christopher M. Pilkerton

Michigan Journal of Gender & Law

This Article will examine the recent criminal trend of trafficking women from post-Cold War Russia into the United States. First, it will examine the Russian mafia and its development. It will also discuss the system of economic corruption that currently exists in Russia, which facilitates government involvement with this criminal activity. It will further investigate the issues surrounding trafficked women and the international anti-trafficking conventions that have been created by the United Nations. Next, it will go into a deeper discussion of the current status of relevant international law and the issues involving the International Criminal Court. Finally, this Article …

Why The Proposal To Legalize Physician-Assisted Suicide In Michigan Failed, Yale Kamisar

Articles

Some commentators and participants in the national debate over physician-assisted suicide (PAS) made much of the fact that in 1997 Oregon voters reaffirmed their support for assisted suicide by a much larger margin than the initial 1994 vote. The state legislature had put the initiative (which had initially passed by a 5149% vote) back on the ballot for an unprecedented second vote. This time the initiative was reaffirmed overwhelmingly, 60-40%. Barbara Coombs Lee, Executive Director of Compassion in Dying (an organization that counsels people considering PAS and one of the plaintiffs in Washington v. Glucksberg, 1997), hailed the second Oregon …

Customary International Law And Human Rights Treaties Are Law Of The United States, Jordan J. Paust

Michigan Journal of International Law

The Founders clearly expected that the customary law of nations was binding, was supreme law, created (among others) private rights and duties, and would be applicable in United States federal courts. For example, at the time of the formation of the Constitution John Jay had written: "Under the national government… the laws of nations, will always be expounded in one sense… [and there is] wisdom… in committing such questions to the jurisdiction and judgment of courts appointed by and responsible only to one national government...” In 1792, the supremacy of the customary law of nations within the United States was …

The Foreign Corrupt Practices Act As A Threat To Global Harmony, Steven R. Salbu

Michigan Journal of International Law

Focusing primarily on the pragmatic and moral perils of cultural imperialism, I also alluded very briefly to a "political peril" that arises from the FCPA. This peril consists of the added risk of cross-national hostility that is attributable to officious and overreaching legislation across national borders. This article will examine the political hazard in greater detail, explaining why the proliferation of FCPA-style legislation unjustifiably increases the threat to global harmony.

Are Extraterritorial Restrictions On Bribery A Viable Policy Goal Under The Global Conditions Of The Late Twentieth Century? Increasing Global Security By Controlling Transnational Bribery, Philip M. Nichols

Michigan Journal of International Law

This paper argues that global security can no longer be evaluated in the realist terms of the sovereignty of nations, and that global insecurity does not arise merely from a handful of relatively straightforward issues. As an analytical tool, this paper turns instead to the concept of "complex interdependence" put forward by Robert Keohane and Joseph Nye. This paper then demonstrates how transnational bribery damages the quality of transnational relationships, thus endangering global security. The paper concludes by examining empirical observations. Empirically, transnational bribery has contributed significantly to global instability. On the other hand, no empirical observations suggest that extraterritorial …

Using Immigration Law To Protect Human Rights: A Legislative Proposal, William J. Aceves, Paul L. Hoffman

Michigan Journal of International Law

This Article suggests that the rationale underlying the Nazi persecution and genocide provisions of the Immigration and Nationality Act should be extended to all cases where aliens have participated in gross human rights violations. Quite simply, the logic underlying these provisions applies with equal rigor and intensity to all forms of human rights violations regardless of where or when they took place. Immigration relief is truly a priceless treasure. The United States should not become a haven for those aliens who have violated the most fundamental norms of international human rights law. Accordingly, immigration relief must not be provided to …

The Warn Act, David A. Santacroce

Book Chapters

Plant closings are devastating for workers, their families and the communities in which they live. The Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification Act ("the WARN Act" or "WARN") requires some employers to give their workers sixty days' notice before a plant closing or mass layoff. The purpose of the WARN Act is to provide workers with time to seek alternative employment or retraining and to plan for the transition phase after the layoff.

The WARN Act does not prevent employers from closing a plant; instead it only requires larger employers to give notice, subject to a number of exceptions and exemptions. …

Markets As Monitors: A Proposal To Replace Class Actions With Exchanges As Securities Fraud Enforcers, Adam C. Pritchard

Articles

Fraud in the securities markets has been a focus of legislative reform in recent years. Corporations-especially those in the high-technology industry-have complained that they are being unfairly targeted by plaintiffs' lawyers in class action securities fraud lawsuits. The corporations' complaints led to the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995 ("Reform Act"). The Reform Act attempted to reduce meritless litigation against corporate issuers by erecting a series of procedural barriers to the filing of securities class actions. Plaintiffs' attorneys warned that the Reform Act and the resulting decrease in securities class actions would leave corporate fraud unchecked and deprive defrauded …

The Constitutionality Of Taxing Compensatory Damages For Mental Distress When There Was No Accompanying Physical Injury, Douglas A. Kahn

Articles

Since 1919, statutory tax law has excluded from gross income compensatory damages received on account of a personal injury or sickness.1 The current version of that exclusion is set forth in section 104 (a) (2) of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986.2 The construction of that exclusion, both by the courts and by the Commissioner, underwent significant alterations over the 80-year period that the provision has existed.3 The statute itself was amended several times, most recently in 1996.4 It is the 1996 amendment that has raised a constitutional issue concerning the validity of a portion of the statute.5

Why Did Voters Reject Michigan's Physician-Assisted Suicide Initiative?, Yale Kamisar

Articles

In November 1997, when Oregon voters reaffirmed their support for doctor-assisted suicide, some commentators called it a turning point for the "right to die" movement. But the lopsided defeat of a similar proposal in Michigan is a better barometer: in general, assisted suicide continues to fare badly in the political arena.