Law Commons^™

The Three Conundrums: Doctrinal, Theoretical, And Practical Confusion In The Law Of Sexually Explicit Speech, Kyla P. Garrett Wagner, P. Brooks Fuller

UC Law SF Communications and Entertainment Journal

In First Amendment law, one rarely disputed notion is that sexually explicit speech is less valuable than so-called “core” forms of expression, such as political discourse. This study revives that dispute with a focus on the Supreme Court’s justifications for categorizing sexually explicit speech as “low-value” in the first place. The analysis reveals three conundrums plaguing the Court’s jurisprudence: categorizing restrictions on sexually explicit speech; interpreting the value and harms of sexually explicit speech; and assessing the evidence (or lack thereof) for restrictions on sexually explicit speech. This article explains how these conundrums should be resolved in sexually explicit speech …

Race In The Courthouse: Less Protection As More Equal Protection For Musical Works, Charles Cronin

UC Law SF Communications and Entertainment Journal

No abstract provided.

A “Journey” Through Band Agreements, Jordan M. Whitford

UC Law SF Communications and Entertainment Journal

No abstract provided.

Masthead

UC Law Constitutional Quarterly

No abstract provided.

Foreword, Richelle Joy Gernan

UC Law Constitutional Quarterly

No abstract provided.

Presidential Impunity And The Mueller Report: How The Department Of Justice’S Failure To Subject The Special Counsel Regulations To Notice And Comment Undermined The Rule Of Law, M. Akram Faizer

UC Law Constitutional Quarterly

Department of Justice (“DOJ”) Special Counsel, Robert S. Mueller, III’s two-volume, 448-page Report on the Investigation into Russian Interference in the 2016 Presidential Election (“the Report”), did an outstanding job in evidencing that President Trump’s actions in office satisfied the federal obstruction of justice standards. However, due to Mueller’s limited brief and his concern for maintaining the proper separation of powers, the Report, submitted confidentially to former Attorney General Barr as required by Department of Justice Regulations, abjured a determination as to Presidential criminality. This regulatory confidentiality requirement in conjunction with the requirement that Barr disclose an unverifiable Report summary …

Disability Rights And The Louisiana Constitution, Derek Warden

UC Law Constitutional Quarterly

The Louisiana Constitution contains three Equal Protection Clauses. Article I, section 3 prohibits discriminatory laws; but, as an original matter, should prohibit both discriminatory laws and government conduct. Article I, section 12 prohibits discrimination by individuals (government or private) in regard to access to public places. Finally, article I, section 2, the Due Process Clause, also contains an Equal Protection component. Each clause prohibits discrimination on the basis of “physical condition,” which contains a general “disability” component. Based upon statements from the Louisiana Constitutional Convention and other modalities of constitutional argument, this article concludes that these clauses—individually and in conjunction— …

Presidential Removal: Impeachment As A Tool To Promote Democracy In Haïti, Brynna Bolt

UC Law Constitutional Quarterly

No abstract provided.

El Salvador: Root Causes And Just Asylum Policy Responses, Karen Musalo

UC Law Journal of Race and Economic Justice

Throughout the course of United States history, there has often been a chasm between our ideals as a country, and our actions. Our foreign policy and immigration policy have been no exception – frequently betraying our stated commitment to democracy, respect for human rights, and protection of the persecuted. This article takes a close look at El Salvador, whose nationals make up a significant number of asylum seekers at our border. Our foreign and immigration policies towards El Salvador are illustrative of that gap between ideals and reality. We supported a brutal military during that country’s civil war, and adopted …

Masthead

UC Law SF International Law Review

No abstract provided.

A Relational Governance Perspective On The Politics Of China’S Social Credit System For Corporations, Alice De Jonge

UC Law SF International Law Review

This paper uses a comparative method to analyze China’s evolving Social Credit System (SCS) for corporations, and the political discourse used to portray SCS as a governance tool facilitating Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) with Chinese characteristics. A modified relational governance framework is used. The importance of relationships (guanxi) in the Chinese business context is that it makes a modified form of the relational governance perspective uniquely appropriate. This study also draws upon evolving literature examining the role of artificial intelligence (AI) in international business contexts.

China’s corporate SCS is explicitly designed to evaluate corporate behavior through a “scoring” system of …

The Legal Value Of Fiscal Sponsorship: A Proposal Of New Law, Emma Geering

UC Law Journal

With social conscientiousness as a core value, American society has utilized nonprofit organizations to motivate social change. But as resources are finite and expertise in the complex legal, operational, and organizational nature of charitable organizations is limited, startup or small and local nonprofit organizations are having a harder time getting off the ground. Fiscal sponsorship—a term of art used to describe the relationship between social entrepreneurs and a tax-exempt organization—provides a functional framework to charitable projects that cannot or choose to not obtain tax-exempt status. Fiscal sponsorship provides a business mechanism to advance the nonprofit sector, as it facilitates collaboration, …

Masthead

UC Law Journal

No abstract provided.

Electronic Form Over Substance: Esignature Laws Need Upgrades, Lothar Determann

UC Law Journal

Most professionals favor substance over form. Yet, with respect to form itself, more and more favor electronic form over substantive media and signatures. Companies, consumers, and governments increasingly use electronic communications, documents, and signatures instead of ink and paper. The COVID-19 pandemic has further accelerated an existing shift to digitization. Yet, many remain unsure about the legality or effectiveness of different forms of electronic signatures and find laws on the subject confusing.

Transactions, documents, and signatures are separate concepts. Transactions and other legally relevant actions, decisions, and declarations can be recorded in documents and effectuated with signatures. Documents and signatures …

Race And Equity In The Age Of Unicorns, Lynnise E. Phillips Pantin

UC Law Journal

This Article critically examines startup culture and its legal predicates. The Article analyzes innovation culture as a whole and uses the downfall of Theranos to illustrate the deficiencies in Silicon Valley culture, centering on race and class. The Article demonstrates that the rise and fall of the unicorn startup Theranos and its founder, Elizabeth Holmes, is emblematic of the problem with the glorification and pursuit of the unicorn designation for startup ventures. The examination of the downfall of Theranos exposes how investors, founders, and others in Silicon Valley engage with each other in the context of pursuing unicorn status. The …

Hedonic-Loss Damages That Optimally Deter: An Alternative To “Value Of A Statistical Life” That Focuses On Both Decedent And Tortfeasor, Michael Pressman

UC Law Journal

Plaintiffs in wrongful-death suits typically are unable to recover for the decedent’s “hedonic loss”—the loss of happiness (or wellbeing) incurred as a result of the lost life-years themselves. Although this omission might not be a mistake on a backward-looking account of tort law (because the decedent is dead and arguably cannot be compensated), it is problematic on a forward-looking account of tort law, because it results in under-deterrence of activities causing death. Thus, we must provide an answer to the tricky question of what dollar sum should be assigned to the loss of life. The dominant framework among legal theorists …

The Doj’S Role In The Franchise No-Poach Problem, Molly Edgar

UC Law Journal

In 2016, the Department of Justice (DOJ) and the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) issued a joint policy statement which notified human resource professionals of antitrust issues that may arise in the context of employee recruitment, hiring, and compensation. Among the various issues that the Agencies addressed was the use of no-poach agreements by employers. The Agencies stated that naked no-poach agreements, agreements between employers at different companies to refuse to solicit or hire one another’s employees, are per se illegal under federal antitrust law. Three years later, in a case involving a no-poach agreement, the DOJ filed a statement of …

Climate Change Regulation, Preemption, And The Dormant Commerce Clause, Tyler Runsten

UC Law Journal

As climate change regulation from the federal level becomes increasingly unlikely, states and local governments emerge as the last stand against climate change in the United States. This tension ushers in questions of separation of powers and federalism, with which the courts have wrestled since the country’s founding. The doctrine of preemption is one of the federal government’s strongest tools to limit states’ authority to regulate climate change. Preemption challenges have been increasing lately and have largely succeeded under judicial deference to the executive branch. However, recent changes to the Supreme Court signal that the Court may be less willing …

Transplanting Fair Use Across The Globe: A Case Study Testing The Credibility Of U.S. Opposition, Niva Elkin-Koren, Neil Weinstock Netanel

UC Law Journal

The fair use privilege of United States copyright law long stood virtually alone among national copyright laws in providing a flexible, open-ended copyright exception. Most countries’ copyright statutes set out a list of narrowly defined exceptions to copyright owners’ exclusive rights. By contract, U.S. fair use doctrine empowers courts to carve out an exception for an otherwise infringing use after weighing a set of equitable factors on a case-by-case basis.

In the face of rapid technological change in cultural production and distribution, however, the last couple decades have witnessed widespread interest in adopting fair use in other countries. Thus far, …

Noncompetes And Other Post-Employment Restraints On Competition: Empirical Evidence From Trade Secret Litigation, Christopher B. Seaman

UC Law Journal

Noncompete clauses in employment agreements are both common and controversial. An estimated twenty-eight million Americans—nearly twenty percent of the U.S. workforce—are currently bound by a noncompete. The traditional view that noncompete agreements can facilitate increased productivity by encouraging employers to invest in employee training has been challenged by numerous legal and economics scholars in recent years, who contend noncompetes hinder employment options for skilled workers and limit information spillovers, which are both vital drivers of innovation. Based on these claims, several states have recently limited the enforcement of noncompetes, and legislation is pending at the federal level to effectively ban …

Introduction: Students’ Solutions To A Super Wicked Problem, David Takacs

UC Law Journal

No abstract provided.

Not My Problem? Landlord Liability For Tenant-On-Tenant Harassment, Aric Short

UC Law Journal

Tenant-on-tenant harassment because of a victim’s race, gender, or other protected status, is a severe and increasingly widespread problem often targeting vulnerable tenants. The creation of a hostile housing environment violates the federal Fair Housing Act (FHA), and victims may recover from their abusers, whether they are landlords or fellow tenants. But plaintiffs in two recent FHA lawsuits sought recovery from their landlords for something different: their landlords’ failure to intervene in and stop harassment committed by other tenants. These suits raise novel and important questions about the scope of the FHA, but the two courts disagreed about how the …

Masthead

UC Law Constitutional Quarterly

No abstract provided.

Foreword, Richelle Joy Gernan

UC Law Constitutional Quarterly

No abstract provided.

The Demographics Of Death: An Early Look At Covid-19, Cultural And Racial Bias In America, Eddie Bernice Johnson, Lawrence J. Trautman

UC Law Constitutional Quarterly

During late 2019, reports emerged that a mysterious coronavirus was resulting in high contagion and many deaths in Wuhan, China. In just a few weeks, cases rose quickly in Seattle, spread to California, and the first in- stance of the virus appeared in New York (from Iran) on March 1, 2020. As the months pass, it is abundantly clear that less wealthy Americans have far fewer options amid the new normal of shelter-in-place orders, school closings, and shuttered businesses. For example, the poor and other populations may be genetically pre-disposed to heart disease and diabetic issues, but poverty also dictates …

Recapturing Democracy: Covid-19 And The 2020 Presidential Election, John Taschner

UC Law Constitutional Quarterly

America is in the business of selling and maintaining democracy around the world. Through aid, provision, humanitarian relief, guidance, and forcible action if need be, the United States stands for democracy. At the birth of the country, the biggest threat to the founding fathers was someone assuming the highest position of leadership in the country and, thereafter, becoming unwilling to transition power. In the aftermath of the 2020 Presidential Election, this exact worst-case-scenario from more than two hundred years had played out amidst numerous lawsuits and demands for recounted votes in order to have only the “legal” votes counted towards …

How Does It Feel To Be A Solution?: How South Asian Migration From 1885 To 1923 Created A Modern South Asian “Other” Used To Promote Conservative Rhetoric, Ayushi Neogi

UC Law Constitutional Quarterly

This note seeks to understand the place of a South Asian American in a country that considers itself bi-racial. The note analyzes the racial ambiguity of the South Asian in two major historical contexts. First, it provides an overview of the legal history of South Asian migration, the first “wave” of which occurred from 1885 to 1923. It analyzes the various exclusionary laws (both state and federal) that set a framework for how to view and treat the common Indian migrant. It further looks at California and the Pacific North- west’s deliberate, xenophobic acts during this time period, such as …

Masthead

UC Law Journal

No abstract provided.

Commercial Law Intersections, Giuliano G. Castellano, Andrea Tosato

UC Law Journal

Commercial law is not a single, monolithic entity. It has grown into a dense thicket of subject-specific branches that govern a broad range of transactions and corporate actions. When one of such dealings or activities falls concurrently within the purview of two or more of these commercial law branches—such as corporate law, intellectual property law, secured transactions law, conduct and prudential regulation—an overlap materializes. We refer to this legal phenomenon as a commercial law intersection (CLI).

CLIs are ubiquitous. Notable examples include traditional commercial transactions, such as bank loans secured by shares, supply chain financing, or patent cross-licensing agreements, as …

Damages For Noneconomic Harm In Intellectual Property Law, Thomas F. Cotter

UC Law Journal

This Article provides a comprehensive analysis of awards of “noneconomic” damages for reputational and emotional harm in intellectual property (IP) law, including trademarks, copyright and moral rights, the right of publicity, and patent law. The Article discusses, among other matters, the Second Circuit’s recent decision in Castillo v. G&M Realty L.P., affirming a $6.75 million award of statutory damages for the infringement of artists’ moral rights in graffiti art; the European Union’s Intellectual Property Rights Enforcement Directive and its 2016 Liffers decision, which appear to require member states to award, where warranted, noneconomic (“moral prejudice”) damages across the full range …