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Articles 1 - 30 of 39
Full-Text Articles in Law
The Immortal Accusation, Lindsey Webb
The Immortal Accusation, Lindsey Webb
Washington Law Review
In the American criminal justice system, accusations have eternal life. Prosecutors, judges, and prison officials regularly consider dismissed charges and even prior acquittals in the defendant’s criminal history when making decisions ranging from the filing of charges to the imposition of punishment. This Article argues that the criminal justice system’s reliance on “accusation evidence” should be understood as furthering that system’s larger allegiance to attaining and preserving findings of guilt. Once the government obtains a guilty plea or verdict, appellate courts rarely overturn convictions based on concerns about the accuracy of the conviction; indeed, post-conviction review procedures often are structured …
Changing Course: Revisiting Instream Flow Rulemaking In Washington State Following Swinomish V. Ecology, Haylee J. Hurst
Changing Course: Revisiting Instream Flow Rulemaking In Washington State Following Swinomish V. Ecology, Haylee J. Hurst
Washington Law Review
Since the adoption of Washington’s Water Resources Act in 1971, legal recognition of instream water uses to preserve fish, wildlife, and other environmental values have become firmly entrenched in Washington water law. By establishing “instream flow rules,” rules that require a certain amount of water to be left in streams before water may be withdrawn for any new uses, the Washington State Department of Ecology (Ecology) must protect the environment while also managing water to achieve “maximum net benefits” for the people of Washington State. Ecology may only allow new withdrawals of water that will impair established instream flows if …
"Underdog" Arbitration: A Plan For Transparency, Ramona L. Lampley
"Underdog" Arbitration: A Plan For Transparency, Ramona L. Lampley
Washington Law Review
The use of mandatory, pre-dispute arbitration clauses in consumer, employment, health-care, and even nursing home agreements is ever-increasing, even though the general public has distrust and a lack of understanding of the nature of arbitration. The Supreme Court in AT&T Mobility LLC v. Concepcion, and then in American Express Co. v. Italian Colors Restaurant, has signaled firmly that mandatory pre-dispute arbitration is here to stay. This is true even for individual low-value claims in which one party, say the consumer or employee, has little or no bargaining power. I call these claims “underdog claims.” There have been numerous …
Digital Border Searches After Riley V. California, Thomas Mann Miller
Digital Border Searches After Riley V. California, Thomas Mann Miller
Washington Law Review
The federal government claims that the Fourth Amendment permits it to search digital information on cell phones, laptops, and other electronic devices at the international border without suspicion of criminal activity, much less a warrant. Until recently, federal courts have generally permitted these digital border searches, treating them no differently from searches of luggage. Courts that have limited digital border searches have required only that the government establish reasonable suspicion for the most exhaustive kind of digital search. The Supreme Court has not yet weighed in, but last year it held in Riley v. California that the search incident to …
Energy-Environment Policy Alignments, Todd S. Aagaarad
Energy-Environment Policy Alignments, Todd S. Aagaarad
Washington Law Review
Energy law focuses on making energy widely available at reasonable cost, and environmental law focuses on preventing pollution. As a result of these differences in their respective orientations, the two fields often work incoherently and even in conflict. Historically, federal energy law and environmental law have attempted to manage their interrelationships by imposing negative constraints on each other: Energy policies of the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) must comply with requirements set forth in environmental statutes, and the Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA’s) statutes contain energy-related requirements and exemptions. More recently, however, FERC and EPA have begun developing policies that create …
Dealing With Ocean Acidification: The Problem, The Clean Water Act, And State And Regional Approaches, Robin Kundis Craig
Dealing With Ocean Acidification: The Problem, The Clean Water Act, And State And Regional Approaches, Robin Kundis Craig
Washington Law Review
Ocean acidification is often referred to as climate change’s “evil twin.” As the global ocean continually absorbs much of the anthropogenic carbon dioxide produced through the burning of fossil fuels, its pH is dropping, causing a plethora of chemical, biological, and ecological impacts. These impacts immediately threaten local and regional fisheries and marine aquaculture; over the long term, they pose the risk of a global mass extinction event. As with climate change itself, the ultimate solution to ocean acidification is a worldwide reduction in carbon dioxide emissions. In the interim, however, environmental groups such as the Center for Biological Diversity …
Coping With Uncertainty: Cost-Benefit Analysis, The Precautionary Principle, And Climate Change, Daniel A. Farber
Coping With Uncertainty: Cost-Benefit Analysis, The Precautionary Principle, And Climate Change, Daniel A. Farber
Washington Law Review
Climate scientists are confident that greenhouse gases are causing climate change, but it is difficult to predict the severity of future climate change or its local impacts. Unfortunately, we cannot wait for these uncertainties to be resolved before addressing the issue of climate change. Policymakers use two different strategies for setting climate policy in the face of this uncertainty: cost-benefit analysis and the precautionary principle. Although there has been much discussion of these strategies in the abstract, there has been less effort to assess them in operation. This Article analyzes these strategies and considers their application to climate risks in …
The Unwilling Donor, Jennifer Mueller
The Unwilling Donor, Jennifer Mueller
Washington Law Review
For nearly forty years, the Supreme Court has evaluated campaign finance restrictions by weighing the First Amendment burden they place on a donor eager to engage the political process against the government’s interest in avoiding corruption of that process. Most recently, in McCutcheon v. FEC, the Court struck down aggregate contribution limits, allowing donors to give—and candidates and parties to solicit—millions of dollars directly to candidates, parties, and political action committees. Yet what should have been a significant victory for big donors was greeted with dismay by many of the same. There is growing evidence that the story we …
Towards An Institutional Challenge Of Imprisonment For Legal Financial Obligation Nonpayment In Washington State, Devon King
Washington Law Review
Imprisonment for debt is resurfacing in the United States, primarily in the form of contempt proceedings for failure to pay court judgments. Although Washington’s Constitution prohibits imprisonment for debt, the State repeatedly jails individuals for failing to pay legal financial obligations. This Comment explores the adverse consequences of this de facto debtors’ prison system, describes the strong prohibition on imprisonment for debt found in article I, section 17 of the Washington Constitution, and argues that imprisonment for failing to pay legal financial obligations violates that strong prohibition. It then discusses how case law has degraded article I, section 17, making …
The Law Of Intimate Work, Naomi Schoenbaum
The Law Of Intimate Work, Naomi Schoenbaum
Washington Law Review
This Article introduces the concept of intimate work—intimate services provided by paid workers to a range of consumers—and seeks to unify its treatment in law. The concept explains multiple exceptions to work law that have previously been viewed as random and even contradictory. From the daycare worker to the divorce lawyer, the nurse to the hairstylist, intimate work introduces an intimate party—the consumer—into the arm’s-length employer-employee dyad on which work law is premised. This disruption leads to limited enforcement of non-compete agreements, the waiver or imposition of fiduciary duties, and exceptions to wage-and-hour and antidiscrimination law, among other consequences. The …
Working With Cancer: How The Law Can Help Survivors Maintain Employment, Ann C. Hodges
Working With Cancer: How The Law Can Help Survivors Maintain Employment, Ann C. Hodges
Washington Law Review
Advances in cancer treatment are saving lives, but along with the benefits come challenges. Millions of cancer survivors of working age need to support themselves and their families. This Article looks at the impact of cancer on employment starting with the empirical evidence gathered by researchers affiliated with medical centers. This empirical research provides a base, not previously explored in the legal literature, for assessing the existing laws dealing with cancer and employment (or unemployment). Viewing the law through this lens, which reveals the complex relationship between cancer and employment, exposes both the promise and the weakness of existing laws …
State V. Crumpton: How The Washington State Supreme Court Improved Access To Justice In Post-Conviction Dna Testing, Jordan Mccrite
State V. Crumpton: How The Washington State Supreme Court Improved Access To Justice In Post-Conviction Dna Testing, Jordan Mccrite
Washington Law Review
Post-conviction DNA testing is a valuable tool for ensuring innocent people are not wrongfully incarcerated. Society has strong interests in confirming that available, yet previously untested, DNA evidence matches the person convicted. Access to post-conviction DNA testing, however, has been limited to maintain finality and avoid an over-burdened court system. This Note examines post-conviction DNA testing in Washington State, particularly after the 2014 Washington State Supreme Court decision, State v. Crumpton. In Crumpton, a majority of the Court—over a strongly worded dissent—read a favorable presumption into Washington’s post-conviction DNA testing statute. The favorable presumption requires courts to presume …
Ridesharing's House Of Cards: O'Connor V. Uber Technologies, Inc. And The Viability Of Uber's Labor Model In Washington, Henry Ross
Washington Law Review
Ridesharing companies, namely Uber and Lyft, have taken the transportation market by storm. These companies offer a competitive alternative to taxis through using smartphone apps and more efficient service offerings. As part of their business model, ridesharing companies treat their drivers as independent contractors rather than employees to minimize labor costs. However, drivers do not benefit from remedial labor statutes and thus (1) must pay for operating costs, (2) are not guaranteed a minimum wage, and (3) do not receive overtime pay. In O’Connor v. Uber Technologies, Inc., a class of California Uber drivers are challenging their independent contractor …
Regulating Real-World Surveillance, Margot E. Kaminski
Regulating Real-World Surveillance, Margot E. Kaminski
Washington Law Review
A number of laws govern information gathering, or surveillance, by private parties in the physical world. But we lack a compelling theory of privacy harm that accounts for the state’s interest in enacting these laws. Without a theory of privacy harm, these laws will be enacted piecemeal. Legislators will have a difficult time justifying the laws to constituents; the laws will not be adequately tailored to legislative interest; and courts will find it challenging to weigh privacy harms against other strong values, such as freedom of expression. This Article identifies the government interest in enacting laws governing surveillance by private …
Divorce Equality, Allison Anna Tait
Divorce Equality, Allison Anna Tait
Washington Law Review
The battle for marriage equality has been spectacularly successful, producing great optimism about the transformation of marriage. The struggle to revolutionize the institution of marriage is, however, far from over. Next is the battle for divorce equality. With the initial wave of same-sex divorces starting to appear on court dockets, this Article addresses the distinctive property division problems that have begun to arise with same-sex divorce and that threaten, in the absence of rule reform, to both amplify and reinscribe problems with the conventional marital framework. Courts have failed to realize the cornerstone concept of equitable distribution—marriage as an economic …
Nothing Less Than The Dignity Of Man: The Eighth Amendment And State Efforts To Reinstitute Traditional Methods Of Execution, James C. Feldman
Nothing Less Than The Dignity Of Man: The Eighth Amendment And State Efforts To Reinstitute Traditional Methods Of Execution, James C. Feldman
Washington Law Review
While lethal injection is the predominant method of executing death row inmates in America, European export bans and pharmaceutical manufacturers’ refusal to supply execution drugs has impeded the ability of states’ departments of corrections to obtain the drugs used for lethal injections. Facing a drug shortage, several death penalty states have considered legislation to reinstate the use of electric chairs, firing squads, and gas chambers. Efforts to restore traditional methods of capital punishment raise questions about whether such methods still comply with the Eighth Amendment’s prohibition against cruel and unusual punishments. The Supreme Court has observed that the Eighth Amendment …
An Ethical Dilemma: Attorneys' Duties Not To Reveal Elder Abuse In Washington State, Margaret Sholian
An Ethical Dilemma: Attorneys' Duties Not To Reveal Elder Abuse In Washington State, Margaret Sholian
Washington Law Review
Elder abuse is a growing social issue in the United States. As a result of increasing awareness of elder abuse, every state has enacted mandatory or voluntary reporting laws to encourage public oversight of this vulnerable population. While mandatory and voluntary reporting statutes list a wide variety of professionals, such as physicians, social workers, and caretakers, as mandatory reporters, few of these statutes require attorneys to report elder abuse. Arguably, attorneys are in the best position to discover abuse of their elderly clients, as attorneys are advisors, counselors, and protectors of their clients’ affairs. However, in many circumstances, an elderly …
Campbell As Fair Use Blueprint?, Pierre N. Leval
Campbell As Fair Use Blueprint?, Pierre N. Leval
Washington Law Review
Friends, copyright geeks, I come not to bury Campbell, but to praise it. I might reasonably be considered a biased critic as Campbell took a number of suggestions from an article I wrote. Biased or not, I submit Campbell is a beautifully reasoned opinion, which has demonstrated in its twenty-one years that it provides a healthy framework for fair use analysis. That framework promotes the overall objectives of copyright; it protects the interests of rights holders; and it guards against putting “manacles upon science.”
Market Effects Bearing On Fair Use, Jeanne C. Fromer
Market Effects Bearing On Fair Use, Jeanne C. Fromer
Washington Law Review
Copyright law, which promotes the creation of cultural and artistic works by protecting these works from being copied, excuses infringement that is deemed to be a fair use. Whether an otherwise infringing work is a fair use is determined by courts weighing at least four factors, one of which is the effect of the otherwise infringing work on the market for the copyrighted work. The Supreme Court’s decision just over twenty years ago in Campbell v. Acuff-Rose Music, Inc. opened the door to a laudable analytical framework for the bearing of market effects on fair use. First, Campbell supports a …
Content, Purpose, Or Both?, Rebecca Tushnet
Content, Purpose, Or Both?, Rebecca Tushnet
Washington Law Review
Most debates about the proper meaning of “transformativeness” in fair use are really about a larger shift towards more robust fair use. Part I of this short Article explores the copyright-restrictionist turn towards defending fair use, whereas in the past critics of copyright’s broad scope were more likely to argue that fair use was too fragile to protect free speech and creativity in the digital age. Part II looks at some of the major cases supporting that rhetorical and political shift. Although it hasn’t broken decisively with the past, current case law makes more salient the freedoms many types of …
Foreword: Fair Use In The Digital Age, And Campbell V. Acuff-Rose At 21, Zahr K. Said
Foreword: Fair Use In The Digital Age, And Campbell V. Acuff-Rose At 21, Zahr K. Said
Washington Law Review
If Campbell had remained a narrow pop-culture case—a doctrinal one-hit wonder—it would not have possessed the capacity to generate so much enthusiasm, and such heated debate, among scholars and practitioners of high caliber. Yet gathered at the University of Washington School of Law for two days in April 2015 were forty of the leading and emerging experts in copyright law in the United States, to discuss the impact the case has had and to speculate about the directions fair use law will take in light of this watershed opinion. It remains, by many accounts, one of the three most important …
Campbell At 21/Sony At 31, Jessica Litman
Campbell At 21/Sony At 31, Jessica Litman
Washington Law Review
When copyright lawyers gather to discuss fair use, the most common refrain is its alarming expansion. Their distress about fair use’s enlarged footprint seems completely untethered from any appreciation of the remarkable increase in exclusive copyright rights. In the nearly forty years since Congress enacted the 1976 copyright act, the rights of copyright owners have expanded markedly. Copyright owners’ demands for further expansion continue unabated. Meanwhile, they raise strident objections to proposals to add new privileges and exceptions to the statute to shelter non-infringing uses that might be implicated by their expanded rights. Copyright owners have used the resulting uncertainty …
Fair Use: An Affirmative Defense?, Lydia Pallas Loren
Fair Use: An Affirmative Defense?, Lydia Pallas Loren
Washington Law Review
The Supreme Court’s decision in Campbell v. Acuff-Rose Music, Inc. solidified the treatment of fair use as an affirmative defense. However, treating fair use as an affirmative defense shifts the burden to the defendant while in most fair use cases plaintiffs are able to easily prove a prima facie case of infringement. This Article identifies that, despite its decision in Campbell, the Supreme Court has not yet undertaken a thorough analysis of whether Congress intended fair use, as codified in Section 107 of the Copyright Act, to be treated as an affirmative defense. In fact, as explored in this …
The Imaginary Trademark Parody Crisis (And The Real One), William Mcgeveran
The Imaginary Trademark Parody Crisis (And The Real One), William Mcgeveran
Washington Law Review
In the two decades since the Supreme Court protected a crude rap spoof from copyright liability in Campbell v. Acuff-Rose Music, Inc., courts have grown to understand the great value of parodic expression in trademark cases as well. Today, plausible claims of parody almost always prevail over trademark rights in judicial rulings. This Article demonstrates that it is simply wrong to suggest, as commentators often do, that we face a crisis in the results of trademark parody cases. That distortion is harmful because it distracts reform efforts and it lends credence to overbroad assertions of trademarks against parody and …
How Much Is Too Much?: Campbell And The Third Fair Use Factor, R. Anthony Reese
How Much Is Too Much?: Campbell And The Third Fair Use Factor, R. Anthony Reese
Washington Law Review
The Supreme Court’s decision in Campbell v. Acuff-Rose Music, Inc. is probably best known for articulating the importance of transformativeness in analyzing fair use claims. The opinion gave less-noticed but important guidance on the third statutory fair use factor, which looks at the amount and substantiality of the portion of the plaintiff’s copyrighted work that the defendant used. Campbell explained that courts should evaluate this factor by inquiring whether the amount the defendant used was reasonable in light of her purpose. This Article examines the appellate fair use decisions since Campbell to investigate whether and how lower courts have used …
Possible Futures Of Fair Use, Pamela Samuelson
Possible Futures Of Fair Use, Pamela Samuelson
Washington Law Review
This Article celebrates the twenty-one-year majority status of Campbell v. Acuff-Rose Music, Inc. Campbell has unquestionably had transformative impacts on the doctrine of fair use in U.S. copyright case law, making several significant contributions that go well beyond the Court’s endorsement of the “transformative” nature of a use as tipping in favor of fairness. Several notable cases have built upon the analytical foundation established in Campbell. This Article also considers possible futures of fair use. What will fair use look like twenty-one years from now? Will it stay much as it is right now, or will it change, and …
"The Shameful Wall Of Exclusion": How Solitary Confinement For Inmates With Mental Illness Violates The Americans With Disabilities Act, Jessica Knowles
"The Shameful Wall Of Exclusion": How Solitary Confinement For Inmates With Mental Illness Violates The Americans With Disabilities Act, Jessica Knowles
Washington Law Review
Although solitary confinement is conventionally challenged under the “cruel and unusual” standard of the Eighth Amendment, this approach presents several intractable legal hurdles to successful claims. The Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), 42 U.S.C. §§ 12101 et seq., and its precursor, the Rehabilitation Act, provide innovative and non-constitutional causes of action for inmates with mental illness1 to challenge their solitary confinement. It is estimated that at least thirty percent of inmates in solitary confinement are mentally ill, a high percentage that is due to both the disproportionate number of mentally ill inmates who are isolated from the general prison population …
A New Generation Of Class Action Cy Pres Remedies: Lessons From Washington State, Cecily C. Shiel
A New Generation Of Class Action Cy Pres Remedies: Lessons From Washington State, Cecily C. Shiel
Washington Law Review
The use of cy pres as a mechanism to distribute residual funds in class actions has become increasingly common and the subject of much controversy. In the class action context, cy pres is an equitable remedy used by courts to appropriate class action settlement funds remaining after all identified class parties have been compensated to the funds’ “next best use,” usually to a charity. The controversy has stemmed primarily from a lack of clear judicially enforced standards on how and when to use cy pres. In light of recent controversy, both the Federal Rules Committee, and potentially the Supreme Court, …
Washington's Reproductive Privacy Act: An Interpretation And Constitutional Analysis, Ross Tanaka
Washington's Reproductive Privacy Act: An Interpretation And Constitutional Analysis, Ross Tanaka
Washington Law Review
In Roe v. Wade, the Supreme Court declared that the “zone of privacy” inherent in the liberty component of the Due Process Clauses protected a woman’s right to choose when to terminate her pregnancy. Nevertheless, in the years following Roe, the Court held that the right of choice did not include a right to state assistance in obtaining an abortion. After decisions such as Webster v. Reproductive Services and Maher v. Roe, the state may express its preference for childbirth by denying the use of its funds, facilities, and personnel for abortion. Although a majority of the …
Home-Country Effects Of Corporate Inversions, Omri Marian
Home-Country Effects Of Corporate Inversions, Omri Marian
Washington Law Review
This Article develops a framework for the study of the unique effects of corporate inversions (meaning, a change in corporate residence for tax purposes) in the jurisdictions from which corporations invert (“home jurisdictions”). Currently, empirical literature on corporate inversions overstates its policy implications. It is frequently argued that in response to an uncompetitive tax environment, corporations may relocate their headquarters for tax purposes, which, in turn, may result in the loss of positive economic attributes in the home jurisdiction (such as capital expenditures, research and development activity, and high-quality jobs). The association of tax-residence relocation with the dislocation of meaningful …