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Full-Text Articles in Law

Misinterpreting "Sounds Of Silence": Why Courts Should Not "Imply" Congressional Preclusion Of § 1983 Constitutional Claims, Rosalie Berger Levinson Jan 2008

Misinterpreting "Sounds Of Silence": Why Courts Should Not "Imply" Congressional Preclusion Of § 1983 Constitutional Claims, Rosalie Berger Levinson

Fordham Law Review

Despite the clear text of 42 U.S.C. § 1983, its promise to protect constitutional rights has been obfuscated by the theory that Congress, by enacting civil rights laws, has "impliedly" foreclosed the historic use of § 1983 to vindicate constitutional wrongdoing. Increasingly, plaintiffs are being denied their right to vindicate constitutional wrongdoing, either because the new "preempting" federal statute does not trigger individual liability or because it makes institutional liability more difficult to establish. It is counterintuitive to believe that Congress, in an attempt to expand equality or due process, intended to cut off existing remedies for constitutional violations. Nonetheless, …


The Progress Of Women Lawyers At Big Firms: Steadied Or Simply Studied?, Judith S. Kaye, Anne C. Reddy Jan 2008

The Progress Of Women Lawyers At Big Firms: Steadied Or Simply Studied?, Judith S. Kaye, Anne C. Reddy

Fordham Law Review

In the twenty years since now-Chief Judge Judith S. Kaye published her essay on women lawyers in big firms, interest in the subject has mushroomed, as the profession continues to grapple with issues of gender equity. This update reflects voluminous new literature and looks behind the statistics to find fresh efforts and pathways to solutions that can benefit women as well as the profession generally.


Longing For Loving, Katherine M. Franke Jan 2008

Longing For Loving, Katherine M. Franke

Fordham Law Review

No abstract provided.


Erisa, Agency Costs, And The Future Of Health Care In The United States, John Bronsteen, Brendan S. Maher, Peter K. Stris Jan 2008

Erisa, Agency Costs, And The Future Of Health Care In The United States, John Bronsteen, Brendan S. Maher, Peter K. Stris

Fordham Law Review

Because so many Americans receive health insurance through their employers, the Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA) of 1974 plays a dominant role in the delivery of health care in the United States. The ERISA system enables employers and insurers to save money by providing inadequate health care to employees, thereby creating incentives for these agents to act contrary to the interests of their principals. Such agency costs play a significant role in the current health care crisis and require attention when considering reform. We evaluate the two major health care reform movements by exploring the extent to which each …


Waiting In Immigration Limbo: The Federal Court Split Over Suits To Compel Action On Stalled Adjustment Of Status Applications, Lauren E. Sasser Jan 2008

Waiting In Immigration Limbo: The Federal Court Split Over Suits To Compel Action On Stalled Adjustment Of Status Applications, Lauren E. Sasser

Fordham Law Review

This Note explores the conflict surrounding federal courts' authority to hear injunctive suits from adjustment of status applicants demanding U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services action on significantly delayed applications. The conflict turns on whether the agency has a duty to adjudicate applications properly before it, whether it must do so in a reasonable time, and whether any statutes preclude jurisdiction. The Note argues that the agency has a duty to adjudicate applications properly before it in a reasonable time. When it violates that duty, applicants should have legal recourse in all jurisdictions.


Explaining Away The Obvious: The Infeasibility Of Characterizing The Second Amendment As A Nonindividual Right, George A. Mocsary Jan 2008

Explaining Away The Obvious: The Infeasibility Of Characterizing The Second Amendment As A Nonindividual Right, George A. Mocsary

Fordham Law Review

Although the Second Amendment of the U.S. Constitution has guaranteed the right to keep and bear arms for more than 200 years, the U.S. Supreme Court has never formally declared to whom the right belongs. Each side of the gun debate--one holding that the Amendment guarantees a right to individuals, the other that states possess the right--supports its position with ostensibly solid precedential, historical, and textual arguments. This Note approaches the issue from the opposite direction, asking how many precedential, historical, and textual obstacles each side must explain away and examining the relative strength of those explanations. Under this analysis, …


Forty Years Of Loving: Confronting Issues Of Race, Sexuality, And The Family In The Twenty-First Century, Introduction, Robin A. Lenhardt, Elizabeth B. Cooper, Sheila R. Foster, Sonia K. Katyal Jan 2008

Forty Years Of Loving: Confronting Issues Of Race, Sexuality, And The Family In The Twenty-First Century, Introduction, Robin A. Lenhardt, Elizabeth B. Cooper, Sheila R. Foster, Sonia K. Katyal

Fordham Law Review

No abstract provided.


Who Is At The Table? Interpreting Disclosure Requirements For Ad Hoc Groups Of Institutional Investors Under Federal Rule Of Bankruptcy Procedure 2019, James M. Shea, Jr. Jan 2008

Who Is At The Table? Interpreting Disclosure Requirements For Ad Hoc Groups Of Institutional Investors Under Federal Rule Of Bankruptcy Procedure 2019, James M. Shea, Jr.

Fordham Law Review

This Note explores Federal Rule of Bankruptcy Procedure 2019's disclosure requirements when hedge funds and other institutional investors appear as groups in Chapter 11 cases. In particular, this Note traces the history of Rule 2019 and the various corporate reorganization mechanisms to explain the split between two bankruptcy courts on whether these groups constitute “committees” under Rule 2019. This Note cites the fundamental differences between these groups and protective committees--the committees charged with representing security holders under federal equity receiverships. Hence, ad hoc groups do not have to make detailed disclosures of each individual transaction, disclosure that would be required …


Givings And The Next Copyright Deferment, Lindsay Warren Bowen, Jr. Jan 2008

Givings And The Next Copyright Deferment, Lindsay Warren Bowen, Jr.

Fordham Law Review

In 1998, Congress granted a twenty-year deferment to expiring copyrights with the Copyright Term Extension Act (CTEA). Ten years later, debate over the Act's wisdom continues unabated. Major camps in the debate view the CTEA variously as a constitutional prerogative, an economic imperative, and a war on cultural freedom. This Note sidesteps this underlying debate, and, borrowing the property law concept of "givings," examines the result of charging for future copyright deferments. Under this analysis, a givings-based solution would force unproductive copyrights into the public domain faster and more effectively than current approaches, while protecting the most important assets of …


Does Medellin Matter?, Janet Koven Levit Jan 2008

Does Medellin Matter?, Janet Koven Levit

Fordham Law Review

No abstract provided.


Medellin's Clear Statement Rule: A Solution For International Delegations, Julian G. Ku Jan 2008

Medellin's Clear Statement Rule: A Solution For International Delegations, Julian G. Ku

Fordham Law Review

No abstract provided.


Turf Wars: Street Gangs And The Outer Limits Of Rico's "Affecting Commerce" Requirement, Frank D'Angelo Jan 2008

Turf Wars: Street Gangs And The Outer Limits Of Rico's "Affecting Commerce" Requirement, Frank D'Angelo

Fordham Law Review

In response to the increasingly vast economic impact of organized crime, Congress in 1970 enacted the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act (RICO) to provide federal prosecutors additional tools to combat such crime. RICO requires that enterprises whose members are charged with violating the Act must “affect interstate commerce.” Courts have held that RICO may be applied to enterprises with no economic motivation so long as they minimally affect interstate commerce. However, given the Act's economic history and interstate commerce element, its application to noneconomic intrastate enterprises presents a special problem. This Note argues that, consistent with relevant Commerce Clause …


Can The Trustee Recover? Imputation Of Fraud To Bankruptcy Trustees In Suits Against Third-Party Service Providers, Samuel C. Wasserman Jan 2008

Can The Trustee Recover? Imputation Of Fraud To Bankruptcy Trustees In Suits Against Third-Party Service Providers, Samuel C. Wasserman

Fordham Law Review

Corporate fraud has become a familiar headline over the last decade and has forced several companies whose managers have committed that fraud to file for bankruptcy. In these cases, a trustee will often be appointed to represent and manage the bankruptcy estate. This trustee is vested with the rights of the debtor corporation upon filing and may try to sue third-party service providers (e.g., accounting firms, law firms, investment banks) for conspiring in, or negligently failing to detect, the fraud. Federal and state courts have disagreed over whether the bankruptcy trustee should be permitted to recover damages from these third …


Taking Finance Seriously: How Debt Financing Distorts Bidding Outcomes In Corporate Takeovers, Robert P. Bartlett Iii Jan 2008

Taking Finance Seriously: How Debt Financing Distorts Bidding Outcomes In Corporate Takeovers, Robert P. Bartlett Iii

Fordham Law Review

Economic analysis of corporate takeovers has traditionally advocated legal doctrines that ensure a target company in a takeover contest is acquired by the bidder willing to pay the most for it. The reason stems from the conventional assumption that a bidder's offer price should reflect its ability to put a target's assets to productive use. This Article challenges this assumption by turning to the success of private equity firms in outbidding publicly traded, strategic bidders during the takeover wave of 2004 to 2007. Using standard valuation modeling, this Article reveals how a critical component of any bidder's valuation of a …


Harmless Constitutional Error And The Institutional Significance Of The Jury, Roger A. Fairfax, Jr. Jan 2008

Harmless Constitutional Error And The Institutional Significance Of The Jury, Roger A. Fairfax, Jr.

Fordham Law Review

Appellate harmless error review, an early twentieth-century innovation prompted by concerns of efficiency and finality, had been confined to nonconstitutional trial errors until forty years ago, when the U.S. Supreme Court extended the harmless error rule to trial errors of constitutional proportion. Even as criminal procedural protections were expanded in the latter half of the twentieth century, the harmless error rule operated to dilute the effect of many of these constitutional guarantees--the Sixth Amendment right to jury trial being no exception. However, while a trade-off between important process values and the Constitution's protection of individual rights is inherent in the …


Alien Tort Statute Accomplice Liability Cases: Should Courts Apply The Plausibility Pleading Standard Of Bell Atlantic V. Twombly?, Amanda Sue Nichols Jan 2008

Alien Tort Statute Accomplice Liability Cases: Should Courts Apply The Plausibility Pleading Standard Of Bell Atlantic V. Twombly?, Amanda Sue Nichols

Fordham Law Review

When a corporation operating abroad either conspires with, or aids and abets, an oppressive regime in violating human rights, victims can seek redress in U.S. courts under the Alien Tort Statute. In assessing such claims, some courts have chosen to apply a liberal pleading standard, while others have applied a heightened pleading standard to combat frivolous lawsuits. This Note suggests that courts should apply a third standard--the plausibility standard applied to claims under section 1 of the Sherman Act by the U.S. Supreme Court in Bell Atlantic Corp. v. Twombly. This Note argues that applying that standard to Alien Tort …


Trying Cases Related To Allegations Of Terrorism: Judges' Roundtable, Hon. Marcia G. Cooke, Hon. Gerald Ellis Rosen, Hon. Leonard Burke Sand, Hon. Shira A. Scheindlin Jan 2008

Trying Cases Related To Allegations Of Terrorism: Judges' Roundtable, Hon. Marcia G. Cooke, Hon. Gerald Ellis Rosen, Hon. Leonard Burke Sand, Hon. Shira A. Scheindlin

Fordham Law Review

No abstract provided.


Proposing A Uniform Remedial Approach For Undocumented Workers Under Federal Employment Discrimination Law, Craig Robert Senn Jan 2008

Proposing A Uniform Remedial Approach For Undocumented Workers Under Federal Employment Discrimination Law, Craig Robert Senn

Fordham Law Review

Given the recent influxes of undocumented workers who have entered the United States in order to obtain employment, the issue of their remedial rights under federal employment discrimination law has become highly significant. Under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act, the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), and/or the Age Discrimination in Employment Act (ADEA), these remedies could include back pay, front pay (in lieu of reinstatement), compensatory damages, punitive damages, liquidated damages, and/or reasonable attorneys’ fees, as applicable. At present, there is no uniform judicial approach for determining the monetary remedial rights of the millions of undocumented workers under …


Revisiting The Legal Standards That Govern Requests To Sterilize Profoundly Incompetent Children: In Light Of The "Ashley Treatment," Is A New Standard Appropriate?, Christine Ryan Jan 2008

Revisiting The Legal Standards That Govern Requests To Sterilize Profoundly Incompetent Children: In Light Of The "Ashley Treatment," Is A New Standard Appropriate?, Christine Ryan

Fordham Law Review

This Note discusses the recent controversy surrounding a six-year-old girl named Ashley, whose parents chose to purposefully stunt her growth and remove her reproductive organs for nonmedical reasons. A federal investigation determined that Ashley’s rights had been violated because doctors performed the procedure, now referred to as the “Ashley Treatment,” without first obtaining a court order. However, the investigation did not make any conclusions regarding whether the “Ashley Treatment” could present a legally permissible treatment option in the future. After discussing the constitutional rights that the “Ashley Treatment” implicates and the current legal standards in place, this Note examines how …


The Four Freedoms: Good Neighbors Make Good Law And Good Policy In A Time Of Insecurity, Mark R. Shulman Jan 2008

The Four Freedoms: Good Neighbors Make Good Law And Good Policy In A Time Of Insecurity, Mark R. Shulman

Fordham Law Review

No abstract provided.


Sentencing Luxury: The Valuation Debate In Sentencing Traffickers Of Counterfeit Luxury Goods, Jana Nicole Checa Chong Jan 2008

Sentencing Luxury: The Valuation Debate In Sentencing Traffickers Of Counterfeit Luxury Goods, Jana Nicole Checa Chong

Fordham Law Review

This Note examines the contentious debate that exists regarding the property valuation used by the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines with regard to counterfeiting. Currently, the Sentencing Guidelines employ “street value.” However, many scholars and organizations argue that the alternative use of “retail value” will best assess the harm to the intellectual property owner as well as combat the growing problem of counterfeiting. This Note suggests that amending the Sentencing Guidelines, in order to allow for application of “retail value,” will best combat a growing national and international problem posed by the counterfeit luxury goods market.


Loving Gender Balance: Reframing Identity-Based Inequality Remedies, Darren Rosenblum Jan 2008

Loving Gender Balance: Reframing Identity-Based Inequality Remedies, Darren Rosenblum

Fordham Law Review

No abstract provided.


On The Face Of It? Establishing Jurisdiction On Claims To Compel Arbitration Under Section 4 Of The Faa, Leda Moloff Jan 2008

On The Face Of It? Establishing Jurisdiction On Claims To Compel Arbitration Under Section 4 Of The Faa, Leda Moloff

Fordham Law Review

Section 4 of the Federal Arbitration Act enables a party with an arbitration agreement to bring suit to compel arbitration if the dispute between parties is brought in court. The U.S. Courts of Appeals are split over how to establish jurisdiction when faced with a claim to compel arbitration. The disagreement centers on whether the court may “look through” to the underlying claim between parties to establish jurisdiction or whether establishment of jurisdiction must comply with the well-pleaded complaint rule, a rule requiring the petitioner to state the reason for jurisdiction on the face of their complaint to compel arbitration. …


The Multiracial Epiphany Of Loving, Kevin Noble Maillard Jan 2008

The Multiracial Epiphany Of Loving, Kevin Noble Maillard

Fordham Law Review

No abstract provided.


Loving Before And After The Law, Loving Before And After The Law, Angela P. Harris Jan 2008

Loving Before And After The Law, Loving Before And After The Law, Angela P. Harris

Fordham Law Review

No abstract provided.


The Unregulables? The Perilous Confluence Of Hedge Funds And Credit Derivatives, Noah L. Wynkoop Jan 2008

The Unregulables? The Perilous Confluence Of Hedge Funds And Credit Derivatives, Noah L. Wynkoop

Fordham Law Review

This Note examines credit derivatives, hedge funds, and the increase in systemic risk that results from the combination of the two. The issues considered include what method of regulation--entity, transaction, or self-regulation--provides the form and amount of disclosure that best addresses the risk that the markets as a whole will be affected by a financial shock. Emphasizing the role of traders and efficient capital markets, this Note proposes that a system of disclosure for derivatives similar to the Trade Reporting and Compliance Engine, or TRACE, system for corporate bonds would prevent rapid repricings that have the potential to shock the …


Scolded: Can An Attorney Appeal A District Court's Order Finding Professional Misconduct?, Carla R. Pasquale Jan 2008

Scolded: Can An Attorney Appeal A District Court's Order Finding Professional Misconduct?, Carla R. Pasquale

Fordham Law Review

This Note addresses the split among the United States courts of appeals over whether an attorney can appeal a district court’s finding that he or she has acted unprofessionally, even when there is no monetary sanction imposed. After discussing the U.S. Constitution’s Article III “case or controversy” requirement and a district court’s power to sanction attorneys, this Note dissects the circuit split. It argues that attorneys should have standing to appeal a court’s finding of unprofessional conduct because this type of sanction can cause irreparable harm to an attorney’s professional reputation and thus to the attorney’s business.


Bringing Theories Of Human Rights Change Home, Cynthia Soohoo, Suzanne Stolz Jan 2008

Bringing Theories Of Human Rights Change Home, Cynthia Soohoo, Suzanne Stolz

Fordham Law Review

No abstract provided.


The New Antifraud Rule: Is Sec Enforcement The Most Effective Way To Protect Investors From Hedge Fund Fraud?, Kathleen E. Lange Jan 2008

The New Antifraud Rule: Is Sec Enforcement The Most Effective Way To Protect Investors From Hedge Fund Fraud?, Kathleen E. Lange

Fordham Law Review

Hedge Funds have consistently grown in both size and influence. Traditionally, hedge funds escaped regulation because access was limited to the wealthy and sophisticated. However, due to inflation, the wealth threshold has become more attainable to less sophisticated investors. Also, an increasing number of pension funds and other institutional investors have begun to invest a significant portion of their money in hedge funds. This increased growth, combined with the "retailization" of the industry, has led to concern over whether investors are adequately protected from the corresponding growth in hedge fund fraud. This Note argues that, absent new legislation, the SEC …


Assessing Fourth Amendment Challenges To Dna Extraction Statutes After Samson V. California, Charles J. Nerko Jan 2008

Assessing Fourth Amendment Challenges To Dna Extraction Statutes After Samson V. California, Charles J. Nerko

Fordham Law Review

DNA plays an indespensable role in modern law enforcement, and courts uniformly find that DNA extraction statutes targeting criminals satisfy the Fourth Amendment. Courts differ on which Fourth Amendment test--totality of the circumstances or special needs--ought to be employed in this context. This Note concludes the courts should apply Samson v. California's less stringent totality of the circumstances test to analyze DNA extraction statutes in order to maintain the integrity of the special needs test.