Law Commons^™

Reconsidering Federalism And The Farm: Toward Including Local, State, And Regional Voices In America’S Food Syste, Margaret Sova Mccabe

Margaret Sova McCabe

The American food system has pressing problems that affect us all. Our food system's structure contributes to public health problems including obesity, food safety, and environmental degradation. This relationship between the food system and pubic health necessitates understanding the federal government's role in the food system. Federalism contributes to alienating people from food production and consumption. This essay argues that to address public health problems successfully, we must question the federal government's pervasive role in the food system and institute greater state and local roles. The essay reviews the rise of federalism in agriculture. It then examines three recent developments …

White Male Heterosexist Norms In The Confirmation Process, Theresa M. Beiner

Theresa M. Beiner

Justice Sonia Sotomayor’s confirmation hearing took a controversial turn when commentators picked up on a reference in the New York Times to a portion of a speech she gave in 2001. In that speech, then Judge Sotomayor opined that, “I would hope that a wise Latina woman with the richness of her experiences would more often than not reach a better conclusion than a white male who hasn’t lived that life.” That statement, along with her participation in the per curiam decision in Ricci v. DeStefano, caused a minor storm during her confirmation. More recently, former Harvard Dean and former …

Avoiding The "Big Black Hole" Of Development Aid: The Legal Promise And Inherent Challenges Of Community-Directed Development, Allison Wells

Allison Wells

In the face of recent natural disasters in places such as Haiti and Pakistan, as well as the chronic underdevelopment in many regions of the world, development aid funnels billions of dollars around the globe every year in an effort to improve the lives of suffering populations. However, the distribution of those funds is constantly controversial, and much is said about the potential for mismanagement in international development, as well as the risk of political paternalism in dictating what needy communities are lacking. Community-Directed Development (CDD) is a growing trend in international aid that improves upon many of these pitfalls …

Food Sovereignty Is A Gendered Issue, Margaret Ellinger-Locke

Margaret Ellinger-Locke

No abstract provided.

Cheaters Shouldn't Prosper And Consumers Shouldn't Suffer: The Need For Governmental Enforcement Against Economic Adulteration Of 100% Pomegranate Juice And Other Imported Food Products, Michael T. Roberts

Michael T. Roberts Esq.

ABSTRACT

This article examines the failure of government agencies, including the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, to enforce against the adulteration of economically adulterated imported food product. The problem of economic adulteration has emerged in the modern global food system as a serious threat to the health of consumers, the economic livelihoods of honest purveyors of food, and the integrity of national food regulatory systems. These consequences were recently evidenced by the China melamine scandal that sickened and killed both infants and pets.

This article addresses the problem of a lack of enforcement against economic adulteration through the prism of …

Farmers’ Rights And Open Source Licensing, Ryann H. Beck

Ryann H. Beck

The TRIPS treaty requires that WTO members offer patent or sui generis protections for plant life. Yet, many developing countries oppose intellectual property for plant life because, for those nations, plant IP has proven to be financially, environmentally, and socially detrimental. The farmers’ rights movement has grown out of such opposition and is an effort on the part of interest groups and developing countries to afford subsistence farmers control over farming methods and compensation for their contribution to the world’s biodiversity. Developing nations and farmers’ rights groups have spearheaded multiple treaties aiming to curtail plant monopoly rights; however, the treaties …

The Environmental Role Of Agriculture In An Era Of Carbon Caps, Donald Thomas Hornstein

Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.