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Full-Text Articles in Law
Dynamic Forest Federalism, Blake Hudson
Dynamic Forest Federalism, Blake Hudson
Journal Articles
State and local governments have long maintained regulatory authority to manage natural resources, and most subnational governments have politically exercised that authority to some degree. Policy makers, however, have increasingly recognized that the dynamic attributes of natural resources make them difficult to manage on any one scale of government. As a result, the nation has shifted toward multilevel governance known as “dynamic federalism” for many if not most regulatory subject areas, especially in the context of the natural environment. The nation has done so both legally and politically — the constitutional validity of expanded federal regulatory authority over resources has …
Morphing Case Boundaries In Multidistrict Litigation Settlements, Margaret S. Thomas
Morphing Case Boundaries In Multidistrict Litigation Settlements, Margaret S. Thomas
Journal Articles
The boundaries of federal multidistrict litigation (MDL) are blurring, as district courts seek innovative ways to facilitate global settlements to resolve multzjurisdictional, multidimensional, national mass torts. The techniques emerging from the district courts have mostly evaded appellate review and received little scholarly attention, but they raise important challenges to traditional understandings of the nature of MDL and complex litigation. This Article argues that factually similar cases proceeding in multiple court systems in mass tort disputes create a ''federalism problem "for global settlements: global settlements typically benefit from oversight by a single judge, but often there is no single judge who …