Open Access. Powered by Scholars. Published by Universities.®
- Discipline
- Keyword
-
- Global warming (3)
- Sustainable development (3)
- Environmental policy (2)
- Biological invasions (1)
- Cap and trade (1)
-
- Carbon (1)
- Carbon dioxide (1)
- Civil rights (1)
- Class actions (1)
- Climate action plan (1)
- Climate change (1)
- Coalbed methane (1)
- Consumer credit (1)
- Decision making (1)
- Deportation (1)
- Discrimination in the civil service (1)
- Distress model (1)
- Emissions credits (1)
- Emissions trading (1)
- Employment discrimination (1)
- Energy efficiency (1)
- Environmental Protection Agency (1)
- Environmental protection (1)
- Equal rights (1)
- Federal arbitration act (1)
- Foreclosure (1)
- Genocide (1)
- Greenhouse gas (1)
- Health reform (1)
- Homeownership (1)
Articles 1 - 22 of 22
Full-Text Articles in Law
Adapting To Post-Oil Futures: Community Action, The Urban Sustainability Retrofit, And The Writings Of James Howard Kunstler, Brian Muller
Adapting To Post-Oil Futures: Community Action, The Urban Sustainability Retrofit, And The Writings Of James Howard Kunstler, Brian Muller
University of Colorado Law Review
James Howard Kunstler has written prolifically about the problems of sustainability and livability in the modern American city. This Essay discusses Kunstler's view of adaptation and compares it to the various efforts underway in cities across the United States to address problems of climate change and resource depletion, which I generally term the urban "sustainability retrofit." Kunstler describes an adaptive path that is brutal, driven by resource scarcity, social collapse, and environmental disaster. Although Kunstler presents an extreme view, this Essay argues that his books are important because they demand that readers reflect about the conditions under which sustainable and …
A Neglected Option: The Contributions Of State Responsibility For Genocide To Transitional Justice, Saira Mohamed
A Neglected Option: The Contributions Of State Responsibility For Genocide To Transitional Justice, Saira Mohamed
University of Colorado Law Review
Despite the pervasive involvement of government bureaucracies in perpetrating genocide and other atrocities, the international community's efforts to assist societies emerging from these horrors have relied primarily on establishing the guilt of individuals in criminal tribunals, rather than addressing the wrongs committed by governments through other means. The International Court of Justice diverged from this approach to transitional justice when it decided in 2007 that states themselves can be held civilly responsible for committing genocide. Characterizing the decision as reviving the concept of collective guilt in contravention of accepted principles of transitional justice, some warned that holding states responsible for …
A Comment On Making Sustainable Land-Use Planning Work, Peter Pollock
A Comment On Making Sustainable Land-Use Planning Work, Peter Pollock
University of Colorado Law Review
Many models exist for creating better communities: for example, smart growth, new urbanism, and sustainable development. City planners have at their disposal a number of model ordinances and policies that could help communities meet the challenges of climate change and looming changes in transport and energy supply. The problem is not the lack of tools, but other policy issues that stymie their effective application. The localized nature of community planning, the inability to overcome local opposition to redevelopment within existing city boundaries, the lack of rigor in assigning costs to new development, the local competition for taxes, and the legacy …
Aliens In The Garden, Jared A. Goldstein
Aliens In The Garden, Jared A. Goldstein
University of Colorado Law Review
This Article examines environmental rhetoric and argues that a nationalist conception of nature has long distorted environmental policies. Environmental discourse frequently seeks to explain the natural world by reference to the world of nations, a phenomenon that can be characterizeda s the "nationalizationo f nature." A contemporary example of the nationalization of nature is the rhetoric of "Invasive species," which depicts harmful foreign plants and animals in ways that bear an uncanny resemblance to the demonization of foreigners by opponents of immigration. A typical newspaper article about invasive species, bearing the headline "Eeeeek! The eels are coming!," warned about an …
The Law And Economics Of Subprime Lending, Todd J. Zywicki, Joseph D. Adamson
The Law And Economics Of Subprime Lending, Todd J. Zywicki, Joseph D. Adamson
University of Colorado Law Review
The collapse of the subprime mortgage market has led to calls for greater regulation to protect homeowners from unwittingly trapping themselves in high-cost loans that lead to foreclosure, bankruptcy, or other financial problems. Weighed against the losses of the widespread foreclosure crisis are the benefits of financial modernization that have accrued to many American families who have been able to become homeowners who otherwise would not have access to mortgage credit. The bust of the subprime mortgage market has resulted in high levels of foreclosures and unparalleled problems on Wall Street. However, the boom generated unprecedented levels of homeownership, especially …
Independent Investigations: An Inequitable Out For Employers In Cat's Paw Cases, Sean Ratliff
Independent Investigations: An Inequitable Out For Employers In Cat's Paw Cases, Sean Ratliff
University of Colorado Law Review
This Comment addresses the extent to which judges should be allowed to grant summary judgment for employers who conduct "independent investigations" in cat's paw employment cases. A cat's paw employment case is one in which an employee attempts to hold an employer liable for an adverse action based upon the conduct of a biased supervisor. The supervisor, who lacks decision-making authority, may have influenced or participated in the decision to take the adverse employment action. Currently, the circuits split over the requisite level of influence that the supervisor must have over the ultimate decisionmaker in order to impute liability. This …
The Other Legal Profession And The Orthodox View Of The Bar: The Rise Of Colorado's Elite Law Firms, Eli Wald
The Other Legal Profession And The Orthodox View Of The Bar: The Rise Of Colorado's Elite Law Firms, Eli Wald
University of Colorado Law Review
The current generation of legal profession scholarship has explored the rise and organization of large law firms. A "standard story" has developed regarding the structure of large firms, their hiring and promotion patterns as well as their discriminatory culture, past and present. This Article shows that the "standard story" may offer too narrow an understanding of large firms and the challenges they and the legal profession in general face. It documents the rise of Colorado's largest law firms, examining the background conditions that enabled their emergence, how they came to occupy a dominant position atop the Colorado legal profession, and …
Toward A Net-Zero Carbon Planet: A Policy Proposal, Matthew J. Kiefer
Toward A Net-Zero Carbon Planet: A Policy Proposal, Matthew J. Kiefer
University of Colorado Law Review
The effort to address climate change is global in scale and increasingly urgent, yet it lacks an effective policy framework. President Obama's determination to elevate clean energy to a national policy priority, Congress's consideration of a federal cap-and-trade regime for greenhouse gases, and the upcoming revisions to the Kyoto Protocol all provide an opportunity to move toward adopting a globally balanced carbon budget. A balanced carbon budget could replace the current, somewhat arbitrary greenhouse gas reduction targets with a scientifically derived calibration limiting global carbon emissions to the rate of carbon absorption. Carbon sub-budgets could then be allocated to each …
Policy, Urban Form, And Tools For Measuring And Managing Greenhouse Gas Emissions: The North American Problem, Nicole Miller, Duncan Cavens, Patrick Condon, Ronald Kellett
Policy, Urban Form, And Tools For Measuring And Managing Greenhouse Gas Emissions: The North American Problem, Nicole Miller, Duncan Cavens, Patrick Condon, Ronald Kellett
University of Colorado Law Review
The scale of intervention required to reduce and adapt to the effects of climate change will require action at all levels of government and society. International accords and some federal and state governments are beginning to address greenhouse gas reduction targets, but it is at the local level that most decisions about urban form are made. Yet, urban planners and local decision makers generally lack the tools and means needed to make informed choices about the climate change implications of local growth and redevelopment decisions or to measure the effects of their decisions. While a wide spectrum of tools currently …
Class Dismissed: Equal Protection, The "Class-Of-One," And Employment Discrimination After Engquist V. Oregon Department Of Agriculture, Matthew M. Morrison
Class Dismissed: Equal Protection, The "Class-Of-One," And Employment Discrimination After Engquist V. Oregon Department Of Agriculture, Matthew M. Morrison
University of Colorado Law Review
This Note examines whether government employees should be able to assert so-called "class-of-one" claims against public employers under the Fourteenth Amendment's Equal Protection Clause. Traditional equal protection claims allege that the government has impermissibly singled out the plaintiff for disparate treatment on account of his or her race, gender, or some other trait shared with a larger class of individuals. Such claims reflect the traditional understanding of the Equal Protection Clause as a prohibition on discriminatory group classifications. Class-of-one claims, however, merely allege that the plaintiff was intentionally singled out from other similarly situated individuals and subjected to unequal treatment …
Flipping The Script: Contra Proferentem And Standard Form Contracts, David Horton
Flipping The Script: Contra Proferentem And Standard Form Contracts, David Horton
University of Colorado Law Review
Virtually all modern contracts are standard forms. Although courts have long interpreted ambiguities in such agreements strictly against the drafter, they have struggled to explain why they do so. Under sustained academic fire, states are beginning to abandon the strict against-the-drafter doctrine. Recent cases have even refused to certify class actions on the grounds that a corporate defendant's nonnegotiated, unilaterally-dictated contract is ambiguous and thus cannot be construed without individualized extrinsic evidence. This Article claims that the rejection of the strict against-the-drafter rule stems from confusion about its normative foundation. Judges and commentators have offered three rationales for the doctrine: …
Why Waste Water? A Bifurcated Proposal For Managing, Utilizing, And Profiting From Coalbed Methane Discharged Water, Samuel S. Bacon
Why Waste Water? A Bifurcated Proposal For Managing, Utilizing, And Profiting From Coalbed Methane Discharged Water, Samuel S. Bacon
University of Colorado Law Review
The Coalbed Methane ("CBM") industry is booming throughout the Rocky Mountain West, creating a relatively clean energy alternative, much needed jobs in the region, and a deluge of water pumped from the ground in connection with CBM capture. In order to free the valuable natural gas, companies must first pump out substantial quantities of subsurface water holding the pressurized gas in place. This water varies in quality, from perfectly useful, potable water to poor-quality water with the potential to destroy the surrounding environment. Correspondingly, disposal of the pumped water varies from simply releasing it into streams surrounding the CBM pads …
New York Climate Change Report Card: Improvement Needed For More Effective Leadership And Overall Coordination With Local Government, Patricia E. Salkin
New York Climate Change Report Card: Improvement Needed For More Effective Leadership And Overall Coordination With Local Government, Patricia E. Salkin
University of Colorado Law Review
Climate change has rapidly become a focal point of international environmental policy debate as countries seek to develop and implement strategies to address the critical need to slow the pace of global warming. In the United States, the failure of the federal government to muster the political will necessary to deal with the challenges on a national level has placed the onus on state and local governments to assume a leadership role. As laboratories of innovation, state and local governments continue to experiment with a wide range of policies and initiatives designed to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, promote the use …
Federal Question Jurisdiction And The Federal Arbitration Act, Richard A. Bales, Jamie L. Ireland
Federal Question Jurisdiction And The Federal Arbitration Act, Richard A. Bales, Jamie L. Ireland
University of Colorado Law Review
The Federal Arbitration Act ("FAA") gives signatories to an arbitration agreement the right to have that agreement specifically enforced. The FAA does not, however, confer federal subject matter jurisdiction. Absent federal jurisdiction, a party seeking enforcement under the FAA must sue in state court. State courts, however, are far more likely than federal courts to use state contract law doctrines to avoid enforcing arbitration agreements. This has led parties seeking enforcement to look for other ways into federal court. Some federal courts have found jurisdiction over enforcement actions when the underlying dispute involves a federal question, such as when an …
Value-Based Mandated Health Benefits, Amy B. Monahan
Value-Based Mandated Health Benefits, Amy B. Monahan
University of Colorado Law Review
Mandated health benefit laws figure prominently in health reform debates. These laws, which are primarily enacted by the states, require health insurers to cover specific medical treatment, services, or supplies such as mental health treatment, mammograms, or diabetes testing supplies. Critics argue that mandated health benefit laws increase health insurance costs, decrease consumer choice, and often are the product of rent-seeking, rather than sound public policy. This Article seeks to further the discussion of mandated health benefit laws by systemically identifying permissible rationales for such laws. The justifications identified include addressing (1) market failure that leads to nonavailability of coverage, …
The Solitary Attempt: International Trade Law And The Insulation Of Domestic Greenhouse Gas Trading Schemes From Foreign Emissions Credit Markets, Elias Leake Quinn
The Solitary Attempt: International Trade Law And The Insulation Of Domestic Greenhouse Gas Trading Schemes From Foreign Emissions Credit Markets, Elias Leake Quinn
University of Colorado Law Review
This Comment examines the influence of international trade agreements on the implementation of a hypothetical, domestically- scaled cap-and-trade scheme to facilitate greenhouse gas emissions reductions in the United States. Several areas of intersection are examined, including the contemplation of the credits as commodities for trade and the construction of measures designed to offset any competitive disadvantage such a system might put on domestic companies. The Comment concludes that a domestically-scaled cap-and-trade scheme, while an important step in mitigating global climate change, is vulnerable to challenges under existing international trade agreements. Such challenges, if successful, may in turn drive the convergence …
Accredited Indians: Increasing The Flow Of Private Equity Into Indian Country As A Domestic Emerging Marke, Gavin Clarkson
Accredited Indians: Increasing The Flow Of Private Equity Into Indian Country As A Domestic Emerging Marke, Gavin Clarkson
University of Colorado Law Review
Indian Country is America's domestic emerging market, and, as in other emerging markets, many successful businesses in Indian Country are starving for expansion capital. The U.S. Treasury estimates that the private-equity deficit in Indian Country is $44 billion. While the handful of wealthier tribes might be logical investors in private-equity funds deploying capital in Indian Country, the existing securities laws present a significant impediment. In particular, Regulation D of the Securities Act of 1933 does not treat tribes as "accredited investors," thus denying those tribes the ability to participate in the private-equity market. Since there is no principled reason to …
Not A Failed Experiment: Wilson-Saucier Sequencing And The Articulation Of Constitutional Rights, Paul W. Hughes
Not A Failed Experiment: Wilson-Saucier Sequencing And The Articulation Of Constitutional Rights, Paul W. Hughes
University of Colorado Law Review
This Article considers the two-part sequencing doctrine used in evaluating the qualified immunity defense to claims that government officials have violated federal constitutional rights. This doctrine--often called Wilson-Saucier sequencing- directs courts to first consider whether a plaintiff has properly alleged a constitutional violation before considering whether the defendant is entitled to qualified immunity. The Supreme Court established this rule to ensure that constitutional and statutory rights are fully articulated and refined. This Article provides a unique, empirical evaluation of the rationale underlying Wilson-Saucier sequencing. By comparing judicial decisions before and after Wilson-Saucier sequencing, it offers evidence that mandatory sequencing is …
The Changing Scope Of The United States' Trust Duties To American Indian Tribes: Navajo Nation V. United States, Kimberly C. Perdue
The Changing Scope Of The United States' Trust Duties To American Indian Tribes: Navajo Nation V. United States, Kimberly C. Perdue
University of Colorado Law Review
The mineral wealth beneath Native American lands has been an enduring source of controversy with respect to treaty relations between Indian Tribes and the United States government and the contours of the United States' trust duties to the Tribes. Whereas in past years the process by which minerals like coal have been converted to capital amounted to blatant exploitation of America's indigenous populations, Indian governments have acquired more control over the extraction of their minerals throughout the twentieth century. That this control remains severely limited both by federal regulations and the United States government's complicity with powerful representatives of the …
The Rocky Path From Section 601 Of The Iirira To Issue- Specific Asylum Legislation Protecting The Parents Of Fgm-Vulnerable Children, Andy Rottman
University of Colorado Law Review
Political asylum in the United States is intended to protect those who fear persecution if they are returned to their country of origin. Arguably, the United States asylum system works reasonably well when the asylum seeker fits neatly within the statutory asylum scheme. If, however, asylum seekers' claims fall outside the statute, the asylum system can work inhumane results. In these situations, Congress can use issue-specific legislation to protect a group facing a discrete humanitarian crisis. This was done in section 601 of the Illegal Immigration Reform and Immigrant Responsibility Act of 1996 ("IIRIRA"), which explicitly provided asylum protection to …
Ineffective Assistance Of Counsel Under People V. Pozo: Advising Non-Citizen Criminal Defendants Of Possible Immigration Consequences In Criminal Plea Agreements, Lindsay Vangilder
Ineffective Assistance Of Counsel Under People V. Pozo: Advising Non-Citizen Criminal Defendants Of Possible Immigration Consequences In Criminal Plea Agreements, Lindsay Vangilder
University of Colorado Law Review
Tens of thousands of non-citizen criminal defendants are removed from the United States each year. The Sixth Amendment of the United States Constitution and United States Supreme Court jurisprudence guarantee that these non-citizen criminal defendants will have effective assistance of criminal defense counsel, whether they elect to proceed to trial or decide to plead guilty. Although prevailing professional norms require that criminal defense counsel advise non-citizen defendants of possible immigration consequences of plea agreements, many courts do not impose a duty to advise on defense counsel. In fact, many courts deem immigration consequences to be collateral consequences rather than direct …
Modern Lights, Sara C. Bronin
Modern Lights, Sara C. Bronin
University of Colorado Law Review
This Article functions as a companion to a piece, Solar Rights, concurrently published in the Boston University Law Review.1 In that piece, the author analyzed the absence of a coherent legal framework for the treatment of solar rightsthe rights to access and harness the rays of the sun. The growing popularity of, and need for, solar collector technology and other solar uses calls for reform. Answering the call for reform in Solar Rights, this Article proposes a framework within which a solar rights regime might be developed. First, as a baseline, any regime must recognize the natural characteristics of sunlight. …