Law Commons^™

Introduction: Global Intellectual Property Rights: Boundaries Of Access And Enforcement, William Michael Treanor

Georgetown Law Faculty Publications and Other Works

Introduction to the Global Intellectual Property Rights: Boundaries of Access and Enforcement Symposium.

The Intellectual Property, Media & Entertainment Law Journal put together a symposium that focused on three issues in intellectual property: patents, The End of Equivalents? Examining the Fallout from Festo; Eldred, a case argued before the Supreme Court; and the relationship between the First Amendment and Internet filters.

Digital Architecture As Crime Control, Neal K. Katyal

Georgetown Law Faculty Publications and Other Works

This paper explains how theories of realspace architecture inform the prevention of computer crime. Despite the prevalence of the metaphor, architects in realspace and cyberspace have not talked to one another. There is a dearth of literature about digital architecture and crime altogether, and the realspace architectural literature on crime prevention is often far too soft for many software engineers. This paper will suggest the broad brushstrokes of potential design solutions to cybercrime, and in the course of so doing, will pose severe criticisms of the White House's recent proposals on cybersecurity.

The paper begins by introducing four concepts of …

Justice Kennedy's Libertarian Revolution: Lawrence V. Texas, Randy E. Barnett

Georgetown Law Faculty Publications and Other Works

This brief article explains why Lawrence v. Texas could be a revolutionary case if the Supreme Court follows Justice Kennedy's reasoning in the future. As in Planned Parenthood v. Casey, Justice Kennedy finds a statute to be unconstitutional, not because it infringes a right to privacy (which is mentioned but once), but because it infringes "liberty" (a word he uses at least twenty-five times). In addition, Justice Kennedy's opinion protects liberty without any finding that the liberty being restricted is a "fundamental right." Instead, having identified the conduct prohibited as liberty, he turns to the purported justification for the …

New Evidence Of The Original Meaning Of The Commerce Clause, Randy E. Barnett

Georgetown Law Faculty Publications and Other Works

In this paper, the author advances the debate on the original meaning, interpretation, and usage of the word "commerce" in the context of the Commerce Clause. First, he distinguishes between terms that are vague and those that are ambiguous. He contends that realizing the dispute is over the ambiguity rather than the vagueness of "commerce" helps resolve the conflict between interpretations. Second, he presents the results of new empirical research into the original public meaning of "commerce" that extends well beyond the sources immediately surrounding the Constitution. Finally, the author reports the results of a similar survey of the use …

The Politics Of Public Health: A Response To Epstein, Lawrence O. Gostin, Maxwell Gregg Bloche

Georgetown Law Faculty Publications and Other Works

Conservatives are taking aim at the field of public health, targeting its efforts to understand and control environmental and social causes of disease. Richard Epstein and others contend that these efforts in fact undermine people’s health and well-being by eroding people’s incentives to create economic value. Public health, they argue, should stick to its traditional task—the struggle against infectious diseases. Because markets are not up to the task of controlling the transmission of infectious disease, Epstein says, coercive government action is required. But market incentives, not state action, he asserts, represent our best hope for controlling the chronic illnesses that …

Rogue Science, Maxwell Gregg Bloche

Georgetown Law Faculty Publications and Other Works

This review essay considers the tension between the evidence-driven vision of science's mission and the fears of malicious use and terrible consequences that have come to the fore since the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001. These fears have led some to call for government restrictions on the substance of scientific research and communication. In general, this approach is likely to do far more harm than good. But scientists need to take the problem of social consequences more seriously than they have so far. The author argues in this essay that in some circumstances, when rogue use of science can …

The Original Meaning Of The Necessary And Proper Clause, Randy E. Barnett

Georgetown Law Faculty Publications and Other Works

In this Article, I present the evidence of the original public meaning of the Necessary and Proper Clause." These findings will, of course, be of interest to originalists. But, they should also be of interest to the many constitutional scholars who consider original meaning to be one among several legitimate modes of constitutional analysis, or who consider original meaning the starting point of a process by which this meaning is translated into contemporary terms. By either account, it is important to find the correct original meaning, even if it is not dispositive of today's cases and controversies. I will show …

Constitutional Legitimacy, Randy E. Barnett

Georgetown Law Faculty Publications and Other Works

The problem of constitutional legitimacy is to establish why anyone should obey the command of a constitutionally-valid law. A lawmaking system is legitimate if there is a prima facie duty to obey the laws it makes. Neither "consent of the governed" nor "benefits received" justifies obedience. Rather, a prima facie duty of obedience exists either (a) if there is actual unanimous consent to the jurisdiction of the lawmaker or, in the absence of consent, (b) f laws are made by procedures which assure that they are not unjust. In the absence of unanimous consent, a written constitution should be assessed …

The New Imperialism: Violence, Norms, And The "Rule Of Law", Rosa Ehrenreich Brooks

Georgetown Law Faculty Publications and Other Works

The goal of this Article is to participate in the challenging project of carving out a new area of study in the place where international law, comparative law, and domestic law intersect. In this Article, I use the story of flawed rule-of-law assistance efforts to demonstrate the importance of this inquiry. I take as a basic premise that there are many situations in which it is justifiable and beneficial for the U.S. and other actors to seek to promote human rights and the rule of law abroad, and that at times even military interventions are a necessary and justifiable part …

Drm And Privacy, Julie E. Cohen

Georgetown Law Faculty Publications and Other Works

Interrogating the relationship between copyright enforcement and privacy raises deeper questions about the nature of privacy and what counts, or ought to count, as privacy invasion in the age of networked digital technologies. This Article begins, in Part II, by identifying the privacy interests that individuals enjoy in their intellectual activities and exploring the different ways in which certain implementations of DRM technologies may threaten those interests. Part III considers the appropriate scope of legal protection for privacy in the context of DRM, and argues that both the common law of privacy and an expanded conception of consumer protection law …

David Feller, Senior Partner, Michael H. Gottesman

Georgetown Law Faculty Publications and Other Works

While in law school, in the late 1950's, I decided that I wanted a career in labor law, representing unions. I asked my labor law professor what firms I should consider. He told me there was one firm nationwide that stood out from all the rest: Goldberg, Feller and Bredhoff. He warned, though, that the firm was very small, and the chances of getting a job there remote. I did some research and discovered that the firm had only four lawyers: three partners (Arthur Goldberg, Dave Feller, and Elliot Bredhoft), and one associate (Jerry Anker). The firm was General Counsel …

The Global Reach Of Hiv/Aids: Science, Politics, Economics, And Research, Lawrence O. Gostin

Georgetown Law Faculty Publications and Other Works

This Article examines the major social, political, economic, and ethical issues involved in the global HIV pandemic. First, it examines the steps needed to prevent and treat HIV effectively and examines why many leaders have not responded more forcefully. This Part discusses the intangible, but crucial, aspect of political will. Second, this Article looks at the divisive issue of drugs, patents, and international trade law. Highly developed countries usually want to uphold the patent system to protect the proprietary interests of drug companies, which keeps the price of HIV/AIDS drugs high, placing them out of the reach of resource-poor countries. …

A History Lesson: Reparations For What?, Emma Coleman Jordan

Georgetown Law Faculty Publications and Other Works

A major difficulty facing the reparations-for-slavery movement is that to date the movement has focused its litigation strategies and its rhetorical effort upon the institution of slavery. While slavery is the root of modern racism, it suffers many defects as the centerpiece of a reparations litigation strategy. The most important difficulty is temporal. Formal slavery ended in 1865. Thus, the time line of potentially reparable injury extends to well before the period of any person now living. The temporal difficulty arises from the conventional expectations of civil litigation, which require a harmony of identity between the defendants and the plaintiffs. …

Suing The Federal Government: Sovereignty, Immunity, And Judicial Independence, Vicki C. Jackson

Georgetown Law Faculty Publications and Other Works

As I suggest below in Part I, federal sovereign immunity was a doctrine of limited effect in the early years of this republic and allowed for a number of remedies for governmental wrongdoing. Moreover, the constitutional provenance of federal "sovereign immunity" is obscure, and was a matter of genuine uncertainty in early years. Over time the doctrine developed, drawing support from some aspects of constitutional architecture as well as from unreasoning and mistaken extensions of other versions of "sovereign immunity." Among the strands of constitutional structure behind federal "sovereign immunity" are Congress' powers over appropriations and the jurisdiction of the …

That Wonderful Year: Smallpox, Genetic Engineering, And Bio-Terrorism, David A. Koplow

Georgetown Law Faculty Publications and Other Works

The thesis of this Article is that the United States, Russia, and by extension, the world as a whole, are pursuing a fundamentally sound strategy in retaining, rather than destroying, the last known remaining samples of the variola virus. For now, those samples are housed in secure, deep-freeze storage at the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) in Atlanta, Georgia and at the comparable Russian facility, known as Vector, near Novosibirsk, Siberia. But that basic decision is about the only correct move we are making at this time - and even it is animated by fundamental misapprehensions about …

Taking Out The Adversary: The Assault On Progressive Public Interest Lawyers, David Luban

Georgetown Law Faculty Publications and Other Works

This Essay concerns laws and doctrines, some very recent, that undermine the capacity of progressive public-interest lawyers to bring cases. It asks a simple-sounding question: how just is the adversary system if one side is not adequately represented in it? And it defends a simple-sounding answer: It is not just at all. As we shall see, however, neither the question nor the answer is quite as simple as it sounds.

Integrity: Its Causes And Cures, David Luban

Georgetown Law Faculty Publications and Other Works

Integrity is a good thing, isn't it? In ordinary parlance, we sometimes use it as a near synonym for honesty, but the word means much more than honesty alone. It means wholeness or unity of person, an inner consistency between deed and principle. "Integrity" shares etymology with other unity-words-integer, integral, integrate, integration. All derive from the Latin integrare, to make whole. And the person of integrity is the person whose conduct and principles operate in happy harmony. Our psyches always seek that happy harmony. When our conduct and principles clash with each other, the result, social psychology teaches us, is …

Erasure And Recognition: The Census, Race And The National Imagination, Naomi Mezey

Georgetown Law Faculty Publications and Other Works

This Article is concerned with the constitutive power of the census with respect to race. It is an examination of the U.S. Census as an aspect of what Angela Harris calls race law, "law pertaining to the formation, recognition, and maintenance of racial groups, as well as the law regulating the relationships among these groups." While others have noted and explored the epistemological and constitutive functions of the census race categories, my aim is to unpack this insight in the context of two specific examples of categorical change and contest: the addition of a Chinese racial category in 1870 and …

The National Security Presidency In Constitutional Context: Reflections On Terrorism And The Presidency From The Last Ten Years, James E. Baker

Georgetown Law Faculty Publications and Other Works

In this time of terrorist threat, there is no more important institution to study than the national security presidency. That is because the president is singularly situated to command the instruments to counter terrorism. He is also singularly situated to ensure that such instruments are used effectively, lawfully, and in a manner consistent with constitutional values. I believe I have a duty, based on where I have been, to help others observe and understand the institution of the presidency. I do so because I want the national security presidency to succeed in providing for our physical security and in upholding …

Rex E. Lee Conference On The Office Of The Solicitor General Of The United States: Clinton Ii Panel, Seth P. Waxman, Walter E. Dellinger Iii, Barbara D. Underwood, Michael R. Dreeben

Georgetown Law Faculty Publications and Other Works

I will say a few words about Dickerson, both because Michael has made it impossible not to and also because in some ways it represents the very best about how all of the wonderful, tried-and-true processes of the SG's Office ought to work. Dickerson was very much like the other case that Michael talked about (which is one of, I think, two significant privilege controversies which the Independent Counsel laid on our doorstep). These cases may have appeared to the outside world as paradigmatically cases in which we would be hearing from the White House, or talking to the White …

Panel Presentation: Securities Regulation And Corporate Responsibility, Donald C. Langevoort

Georgetown Law Faculty Publications and Other Works

What I want to do is talk about the big picture, as John suggested, and consider the likely spillover effects of Sarbanes-Oxley. I want to do this in a discretely administrative law-oriented way, taking two themes that were very visible and driving forces behind the legislation. The first, as Mary suggested in her opening remarks, is a question about federalism. It has been common for the last twenty years, at least, to trot out - as John just did - a distinction between federal and state spheres of competency. The SEC is on the disclosure side, while the substance of …

Minnesota Wild, Lisa Heinzerling

Georgetown Law Faculty Publications and Other Works

In these remarks I am going to tell two stories and then add - to the growing list compiled so far in this Symposium - two new quasi-religious, metaphorical figures. In keeping with our overall theme of eco-pragmatism, my remarks will be experimental, contingent, even nonlinear. I hope you will indulge me.

Security And Freedom: Are The Governments' Efforts To Deal With Terrorism Violative Of Our Freedoms?, David Cole

Georgetown Law Faculty Publications and Other Works

One of the most common things that is said about September 11th is that it changed everything. In some respects, that is true. In the most important respects it would be more accurate to say it has changed everything for some, far more than it has for others. One instance of that can be seen in a pole that National Public Radio did one year after September 11th. They asked people to what extent their life had changed. They asked them whether they had to give up any important rights or freedoms in the war on terrorism. Only seven percent …

Re-Imagining Justice, Robin West

Georgetown Law Faculty Publications and Other Works

What do we mean by legal justice, as opposed to distributive, or social, or political justice; what is the justice, that is, we hope law promotes? What is the justice that lawyers and judges, peculiarly, are professionally committed to pursue? What is the virtue around which, arguably, this profession, and the individuals within it, have defined their public lives?

Justice -- and more particularly legal justice -- is a badly under-theorized topic in jurisprudence; perhaps surprisingly, there is little written on it. The paucity of writing of course has a history. It can be traced to the turn of the …

Tribute To Harold Jacobson, John H. Jackson

Georgetown Law Faculty Publications and Other Works

Harold Jacobson was not only a fine scholar and excellent teacher who devoted a career to the University of Michigan, but he was also a very trusted colleague and a close friend. His scholarly work was very well recognized and admired. He was one of my colleagues while I taught at Michigan, to whom I willingly recommended students for a multidisciplinary approach to international relations. He was a theorist of political science and international relations who was willing and able to come to grips with the role of law in those fields.

Rhetoric And Realities Of Gentrification: Reply To Powell And Spencer, J. Peter Byrne

Georgetown Law Faculty Publications and Other Works

Gentrification represents one of the most encouraging trends in city life since the 1960s. That may be a sad commentary on the fate of American cities or on our urban policies, but it is nevertheless true. The return of affluent people to urban living offers the possibility of reversing declining populations and municipal revenues, permitting enhanced spending on basic services, and increasing employment and educational opportunities. It also brings greater ethnic and economic diversity, which can contribute to a more humane social and cultural life. The great drawback to gentrification is that increased demand for housing increases rents, at least …

Trade Sanctions And Human Rights–Past, Present, And Future, Carlos Manuel Vázquez

Georgetown Law Faculty Publications and Other Works

The relationship between the international law of trade and the international law of human rights has commanded an increasing amount of scholarly attention in the past few years, perhaps spurred by the well-known events at Seattle in 1999. This article offers some reflections on this relationship, focusing on the permissibility under international law of imposing trade sanctions against nations that commit violations of international human rights. Part I begins with some reflections on the historical relationship between these two bodies of law. Part I also considers why the human rights community appears to feel threatened by the international trade system, …