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Full-Text Articles in Law

The Disappearing Provision: Medical Liability Reform Vanishes From The Patient Protection And Affordable Care Act Despite State Court Split, Rafael Andre Roberti Aug 2012

The Disappearing Provision: Medical Liability Reform Vanishes From The Patient Protection And Affordable Care Act Despite State Court Split, Rafael Andre Roberti

Legislation and Policy Brief

The legal and medical communities have debated the impact and necessity of medical liability reform for over twenty years. At the heart of the debate is the question of how to strike a balance between compensating patients and their families for the thousands of deaths and injuries resulting from medical errors that occur annually, and encouraging physicians to continue to care for patients across America. While several states have passed medical liability reform laws previously, on March 23, 2010, President Obama signed the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (ACA)—colloquially known as the “health care bill”—that contains provisions on medical …


The Future Of Limitless Debate: The Filibuster In The 113th Congress, Mark Kogan Aug 2012

The Future Of Limitless Debate: The Filibuster In The 113th Congress, Mark Kogan

Legislation and Policy Brief

Human cloning, the caning of teen vandals, and the belief that aliens descend from space to abduct humans and livestock all hold something in common: they are more popular than Congress. With the 112th Congress bottoming out at a record-low 9% approval rating, it is clear that Americans are deeply unsatisfied with the gridlock gripping Washington. While it is popular, and even easy, to lambaste Republicans for blanket obstructionism and to condemn Democrats for failure to stand up to minority bullying, collective blame shifting will not breach the dam of a hyper-partisan Congress. Instead, individuals hoping to get Congress moving …


Finding Safe Harbor: Protection, Prosecution, And State Strategies To Address Prostituted Minors, Darren Geist Aug 2012

Finding Safe Harbor: Protection, Prosecution, And State Strategies To Address Prostituted Minors, Darren Geist

Legislation and Policy Brief

The common policy of treating sexually exploited minors as criminals represents a fundamental failing of the justice system. Prostituted minors should not be treated as delinquents requiring discipline but rather as severely traumatized and abused victims requiring specialized services and counseling. Yet, in most states, prostituted minors are re-traumatized through arrest, prosecution, and detention instead of receiving specialized services. Besides being unjust, this policy is counter-productive. Arresting, prosecuting, and detaining minors hinders law enforcement efforts to go after the real criminals – the pimps and the johns, and misses an important opportunity to rescue minors from a system of commercial …


In Defense Of The Obama Administration's Non-Defense Of Doma, Daniel J. Crooks Iii Aug 2012

In Defense Of The Obama Administration's Non-Defense Of Doma, Daniel J. Crooks Iii

Legislation and Policy Brief

The Constitution charges the President with the duty to “take Care that the Laws be faithfully executed . . . .” Moreover, the President takes an oath to “preserve, protect and defend the Constitution of the United States.” Although “[g]enerally, these duties are compatible . . ., when the Executive faces a law that he believes is unconstitutional, he must decide whether the law should be executed as written and defended if attacked, or whether the duty of faithfulness to the Constitution requires its repudiation.” This decision belongs to the President alone as the head of a co-equal branch of …


Making The Case For Wilderness: The Bureau Of Land Management’S Wild Lands Policy And Its Role In The Storied History Of Wilderness Protection, Maureen O’Dea Brill Aug 2012

Making The Case For Wilderness: The Bureau Of Land Management’S Wild Lands Policy And Its Role In The Storied History Of Wilderness Protection, Maureen O’Dea Brill

Legislation and Policy Brief

On December 23, 2010, the Secretary of the Department of the Interior, Ken Salazar, issued Secretarial Order No. 3310, commonly referred to as the Wild Lands Policy. The Wild Lands Policy established a two-step process through which the Bureau of Land Management (BLM), an agency within the Department of the Interior, was to inventory and to manage its lands with wilderness characteristics (LWCs). The policy continued the requirement that the BLM maintain a current inventory of LWCs and evaluate these LWCs during the previously established land use planning process. The Wild Lands Policy further required that the BLM protect LWCs …


Saving Their Own Souls: How Rluipa Failed To Deliver On Its Promises, Sarah Gerwig-Moore Apr 2012

Saving Their Own Souls: How Rluipa Failed To Deliver On Its Promises, Sarah Gerwig-Moore

Legislation and Policy Brief

In the summer of 2001, as a graduate student in law and theology, I began work on a master’s thesis that examined the predicament of men of faith on San Quentin’s Condemned Row. I was working in the California Appellate Project—mostly assisting with direct appeals and state habeas petitions on behalf of men under a death sentence—when a colleague guided me into theological conversations with some of our clients. On Condemned Row, they waited—up to five years to be assigned a court-appointed appellate attorney, on judges’ rulings, and to find whether the legal system would ultimately exact the penalty it …


“Strong Words, Gentle Deeds”: Evaluating The Effectiveness Of The Maryland Immigration Consultant Act Five Years On, Cori Alonso-Marsden Apr 2012

“Strong Words, Gentle Deeds”: Evaluating The Effectiveness Of The Maryland Immigration Consultant Act Five Years On, Cori Alonso-Marsden

Legislation and Policy Brief

On February 7, 2005, legislators introduced in the Maryland General Assembly a bill entitled “Consumer Protection – Immigration Consulting Services.” Designated as House Bill 691, the legislation sought to protect Maryland consumers through a series of civil and criminal provisions targeting consultants for unauthorized immigration legal practice. Primarily, House Bill 691 limited the types of services an immigration consultant could offer and the claims she could make regarding those services. In addition, the law required that the consultant provide the client with a posted disclaimer regarding the scope of the service, and a written contract prior to the provision of …


Federal Efforts To Achieve Mental Health Parity: A Step In The Right Direction, But Discrimination Remains, Lucas Quass Apr 2012

Federal Efforts To Achieve Mental Health Parity: A Step In The Right Direction, But Discrimination Remains, Lucas Quass

Legislation and Policy Brief

Prior to the 1970s, many healthcare plans in the U.S. offered benefits without discriminating between mental health and general healthcare coverage. In the 1970s and 1980s, the cost of healthcare increased dramatically and employers eliminated or limited mental health benefits in an attempt to reduce insurance costs. To manage insurance costs, employers began using more cost sharing mechanisms and benefit caps on mental health benefits. However, these limitations were not applied equally to mental health and general health benefits and a coverage disparity was created. Today, insurers often do not provide coverage for mental health on the same terms as …


The Americans With Disabilities Act: Should The Amendments To The Act Help Individuals With Mental Illness?, Abigail J. Schopick Apr 2012

The Americans With Disabilities Act: Should The Amendments To The Act Help Individuals With Mental Illness?, Abigail J. Schopick

Legislation and Policy Brief

On July 26, 1990, President George H.W. Bush signed into law the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 (ADA). The ADA was intended to eliminate discrimination against individuals with disabilities by expanding the Rehabilitation Act (Rehab Act) to cover people with disabilities in need of coverage from a non-federal employer or entity. Unfortunately, due to a number of Supreme Court cases narrowing the focus of the ADA, the individuals that were intended by Congress to have full protection under the law were no longer assured adequate coverage. In 2008, in response to the narrowing of the definition of disability and …