Law Commons^™

Food Date Labels And Hunger In America, Gwen B. Thomson

Concordia Law Review

Millions of Americans go hungry, while 40% of the food in the United States is wasted. Research has shown that 43% of the waste occurs in homes and that consumers are making decisions about purchasing and throwing away food without understanding the meaning of the food date labels. One of the most cost-effective ways to begin to effect a change is to eliminate the myriad of confusing food date labels so that individuals do not throw away good food. In May 2016, the Food Date Labeling Act of 2016 was proposed in both houses of Congress. This bicameral bill was …

Keep The Patels: How Culturally Competent Teamwork Can Alleviate The Law's Diversity Retention Problem, Danisha Brar

Concordia Law Review

In the midst of an argument with law school classmates, I once remarked that I felt simultaneously invisible as a woman of color, or more specifically as a South Asian woman. A well-intentioned friend offered consolation in the form of an assurance: she had never viewed me as not-white, and in fact had always thought of me as white. This statement was not intended to insult me—in fact, I immediately knew what she meant: she had always thought of me as a person first—her vision of me was free of any overt racism. But I did not want to be …

Marriage, Millennials, And Massive Student Loan Debt, Victoria J. Haneman

Concordia Law Review

The purpose of this Essay is to explore the idea that the student loan indebtedness bearing down upon the majority of today’s college graduates creates economic insecurity that forces borrowers to reject or significantly delay marriage, and that burden, taken together with an already lukewarm Millennial attitude, may not bode well for the future of the institution. Record numbers of Millennials have rejected the traditional path of marriage-homeownership-children, and the percentage of Millennials who will marry by age 40 is projected to fall lower than the figure for any previous generation of Americans. To the extent that marriage is an …

Discrimination And Association, Caleb C. Wolanek

Concordia Law Review

In September 2016, the United States Commission on Civil Rights issued a report entitled Peaceful Coexistence: Reconciling Nondiscrimination Principles with Civil Liberties. In that report, the Commission argued that the law permits—and justice requires—that decision-makers prioritize nondiscrimination over civil liberties like freedom of religion and freedom of association. For example, the report endorsed the view that religious liberty should be limited as much as possible to freedom of belief; conduct “should conform to law.” This is because religion is discriminatory and can be used as a front for discriminatory activities. Nondiscrimination policies, in contrast, “are of preeminent importance.” Religious exemptions …

Civil Justice Reform - An Idaho Imperative, Jim Jones

Concordia Law Review

No abstract provided.

Med-Arb Adoption In Securities Law Disputes: Advantages And Costs, Hyung Kyun Kwon

Concordia Law Review

This Article considers the adoption of a hybrid method of Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR)—Med-Arb—in securities law disputes. Because securities law ADR is currently monopolized by claims that proceed through arbitration, this Article argues that the benefits of settling a claim through mediation are being lost. Med-Arb allows parties to access the benefits of both mediation and arbitration with potentially lower economic costs and the assurance of finality of the dispute. This Article therefore presents how best to use Med-Arb to successfully resolve securities law disputes.

The Other Preamble: Civic Constitutionalism And The Preamble To The Bill Of Rights, John E. Finn

Concordia Law Review

This Article considers the civic constitutionalist nature of the Preamble to the Bill of Rights. Civic constitutionalism is a mode of reading constitutional texts that considers power in political, as opposed to legal, terms. Thus, the civic constitution gives citizens, not judges, the primary duty for ensuring a constitutionally compliant society. This Article also presents the underlying reasons, effects, and costs of the obscurity of the civic constitution and, more specifically, the Preamble to the Bill of Rights.

Masthead, Jon B. Evans, Kolby K. Reddish, Angela C. Harrigan, Regina E. Bright

Concordia Law Review

No abstract provided.

Post-Mortem Semen Retrieval: A Normative Prescription For Legislation In The United States, Jon B. Evans

Concordia Law Review

Post-mortem semen retrieval (PMSR) is an increasingly common medical procedure in which sperm is extracted from a corpse and stored for potential reproductive use in the future. PMSR raises dozens of legal and ethical issues. Should it be legal to extract sperm from a corpse? Under what circumstances?

The law in the United States is silent on PMSR. The first report of a successful request for PMSR was made in 1980. Since then, many countries have passed legislation banning or regulating PMSR. To date, however, the United States has no laws on PMSR. Pre-existing laws on tissue donation, inheritance, and …

The Monster Unleashed: How Hobby Lobby Threatens The Freedom Of Employees To Practice Religion, Chad Deveaux

Concordia Law Review

“You are my creator, but I am your master; Obey!”

From the earliest days of the Republic, our courts recognized that “the right to conduct business in the form of a corporation, and . . . to enter into relations of employment with individuals, is not a natural or fundamental right.” Rather, “[a] corporation is an artificial being, invisible, intangible, and existing only in contemplation of the law.” It is “presumed to be incorporated for the benefit of the public” and “receives certain special privileges” to effectuate this purpose. Thus, it was understood that the Government “may qualify the privilege …

Judicial Education For State Appellate Court Judges: A Regional Collaborative Strategy, Cathy R. Silak

Concordia Law Review

Specialized judicial education would help supreme court justices and appellate judges of state judicial systems face the unique challenges inherent in their positions. The decisions of appellate judges become the law in their jurisdiction by virtue of the legal maxim of stare decisis. Since their decisions carry such immense weight, appellate judges must strive for excellence in judicial decision-making and opinion writing. As caseloads expand, they must manage to deliver justice within greater constraints of time and budget. Many decisions are controversial and may lead to election challenges. In turn, state judicial elections, especially those at the supreme court level, …

Opportunism As Crucible: Rethinking Equity In View Of Reliance Interests And Legal Evolution, John S. Ehrett

Concordia Law Review

This Article offers and defends a nuanced definition of opportunism in the context of legal decision-making by differentiating between opportunism in the broad sense and the particularized phenomenon of cognizably malignant opportunism. It subsequently proceeds by developing a normative critique of the case for broader invocation of counteropportunistic equitable remedies, alongside a defense of the reliance and gap-filling functions performed by opportunistic actors. Centrally, I challenge the suggestion that the existence of opportunism in private law warrants a revival of the doctrines of ex post equity. I argue, instead, that opportunism serves an important structural purpose where the evolution of …

Transformative Mediation Twenty Years Later: An Invitation To Discuss Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder And Legal Ethics, Rich L. Skalstad

Concordia Law Review

Transformative mediation is substantially based on an ideology of postmodern nihilism and relativism called social constructionism that rejects Enlightenment traditions of science and law. Transformative mediation adopts a relational theory of emotions that teaches emotions are not based in biology, but rather are products of social interaction. Because the transformative model rejects neuroscience in favor of unfounded ideological assumptions, it is unsafe to apply it to disputes involving victims of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), especially returning combat veterans.

The attorney-mediator who has sworn to uphold the law cannot ethically apply the transformative mediation model based on social constructionism that rejects …

Masthead, Matthew J. Frost, Alexandra A. Breshears, Jon B. Evans, Jennifer J. Hanway

Concordia Law Review

No abstract provided.