Law Commons^™

Gandhi’S Prophecy: Corporate Violence And A Mindful Law For Bhopal, Nehal A. Patel

Nehal A. Patel

AbstractOver thirty years have passed since the Bhopal chemical disaster began,and in that time scholars of corporate social responsibility (CSR) havediscussed and debated several frameworks for improving corporate responseto social and environmental problems. However, CSR discourse rarelydelves into the fundamental architecture of legal thought that oftenbuttresses corporate dominance in the global economy. Moreover, CSRdiscourse does little to challenge the ontological and epistemologicalassumptions that form the foundation for modern economics and the role ofcorporations in the world.I explore methods of transforming CSR by employing the thought ofMohandas Gandhi. I pay particular attention to Gandhi’s critique ofindustrialization and principle of swadeshi (self-sufficiency) …

Antimonopoly In Public Land Law, Michael Blumm, Kara Tebeau

Michael Blumm

Public land law is often thought to be divided into historical eras like the Disposition Era, the Reservation Era, and the Modern Era. We think an overarching theme throughout all eras is antimonopoly. Since the Founding, and continuing for over two-and-a-quarter centuries into the 21^st century, antimonopoly policy has permeated public land law. In this article we show the persistence of antimonopoly sentiment throughout the public land history, from the Confederation Congress to Jacksonian America to the Progressive Conservation Era and into the modern era.

Antimonopoly policy led to widespread ownership of American land, perhaps America’s chief distinction from …

Mindful Justice: The Search For Gandhi’S Sympathetic State After Bhopal, Nehal A. Patel

Nehal A. Patel

One of the most startling examples of unmitigated disaster occurred in Bhopal, India, in 1984, when a Union Carbide pesticide plant exploded tons of methyl isocyanate into the air, killing 3800 people overnight. 30 years later, the plant site has not been remediated, and the estimated death toll from the explosion now has reached over 20,000. Disaster victims repeatedly have sought relief directly from the government. Yet, the Indian and US governments and Union Carbide have refused to provide the necessary resources for proper remediation. In this Article, I examine the state’s response to the Bhopal disaster using the thought …

How Local Is Local?: A Response To Professor David B. Spence's The Political Economy Of Local Vetoes, Joshua P. Fershee

Joshua P Fershee

Professor Fershee responds to Professor David B. Spence’s article about local hydraulic fracturing bans: The Political Economy of Local Vetoes, 93 Texas L. Rev. 351 (2015). Professor Spence notes that the shale oil and gas debate provides an example of “an age-old political problem that the law is called upon to solve: the conflict between an intensely held minority viewpoint and a less intense, contrary view held by the majority.” In resolving such conflicts, Spence suggests that courts should resolve such “conflicts in ways that encourage states and local governments to regulate in ways that weigh both the costs and …

Property And Republicanism In The Northwest Ordinance, Matthew J. Festa

Matthew J. Festa

This Article shows that individual property rights held a central place in the republican ideology of the founding era by examining the Northwest Ordinance of 1787. Between the two predominant strains of founding-era political ideology—liberalism and republicanism—the conventional view holds that individual property rights were central to Lockean liberalism, but not to the republican political tradition, where property is thought to have played more of a communitarian role as part of promoting civic virtue and the common good. Republicanism has been invoked in modern debates, and its emphases are present in current ideas such as the important new theory of …

Trout Of Bounds: The Effects Of The Federal Circuit Court Of Appeals’ Incorrect Fifth Amendment Takings Analysis In Casitas Municipal Water District V. United States, Raymond Dake

Raymond Dake

Abstract: The Federal Circuit Court of Appeals decision in Castias Municipal Water District v. United States to apply a physical takings analysis to the partial interference of the water district’s water rights by the government in order to protect the steelhead trout through enforcement of the Endanger Species Act (“ESA”) is incorrect, plain and simple. Instead, I argue for the use of a regulatory takings analysis for partial takings of rights to use water under the Penn Central Test. The Casitas Court’s ruling misapplies California water law, disregards U.S. Supreme Court precedent from Tahoe-Sierra, ignores underlying theory and policy to …

Compelling The Courts To Question Gonzales V. O Centro: A Public Harms Approach To Free Exercise Analysis, Ari B. Fontecchio

Ari B Fontecchio

At its core, this article uses an original, empirical case study to argue that the Supreme Court's 2006 decision in Gonzales v. O Centro has elevated the level of scrutiny with which courts evaluate the government's compelling interest, expanding the safe harbor for harmful, religious activity. In O Centro, the Supreme Court rejected the government's compelling interest in regulating religious use of the Schedule I hallucinogenic substance hoasca. The case survey at the core of this article demonstrates that since this decision, lower courts have required the government to justify its regulation of potentially harmful activities with an almost unrealistically …

Wind Power, National Security, And Sound Energy Policy, Prof. Elizabeth Burleson

Prof. Elizabeth Burleson

Wind-generated electricity in the United States has grown by more than 400 percent since 2000. According to the Department of Energy, 6 percent of US land could supply more than one and a half times the current electricity consumption of the country. Yet, challenges remain in matching demand for electricity with supply of wind as well as achieving grid parity. Careful wind turbine and transmission line siting can occur through cooperation between federal, state, tribal, and civil society participation in decision-making. Tribal wind initiatives have shown that developing wind power can also benefit rural communities. Congress should pass a national …

Water Is Security, Prof. Elizabeth Burleson

Prof. Elizabeth Burleson

Reasonable and equitable water resource decision-making is at the core of good governance around the world. Sustained water collaboration is an antidote to foreign relations disintegration. Lack of water quality and quantity policies can lead to water insecurity for everyone, yet bureaucratic obstacles such as inertia and corruption must be averted in altering water governance schemes. There are multiple ways to lower transaction costs and strive for optimal water use. Several ingredients of good water governance include: (1) broad participation through the entire decision-making process; (2) transparent flow of information; (3) equitable opportunities to increase well-being; (4) accountability from governments, …