Law Commons^™

Partial Privatization Of Social Security: Assessing Its Effect On Women, Minorities, And Lower-Income Workers, Kathryn L. Moore

Missouri Law Review

This Article explains why partial privatization would likely have a disproportionately adverse effect on the benefits of three specific subpopulations: women, minorities, and lower-income workers. The Article focuses on these three groups principally because they are at a heightened risk of poverty in old age.' Since one of the fundamental purposes of Social Security is to provide for progressive redistribution to lift the elderly out of poverty, policymakers should be (and are)' concerned with how Social Security reform would likely affect these subpopulations.' Of course, not all women and minorities are at heightened risk of poverty in old age.' s …

Redistribution Under The Current Social Security System, Kathryn L. Moore

Law Faculty Scholarly Articles

Arguably the most successful program of the modern welfare state, Social Security has been enormously successful in lifting the elderly out of poverty. Thirty years ago, almost 30% of the elderly were in poverty, a poverty rate that was more than twice as high as the rate for the population as a whole. Today, in contrast, only about 12% of the elderly are subject to poverty, a rate that is about the same as the rest of the adult population.

This Article describes how the current system redistributes income. The Article does not attempt to develop a mathematical model to …

Insurance Contracts And Judicial Decisions Over Whether Insurers Must Defend Insureds That Violate Constitutional And Civil Rights: An Historical And Empirical Review Of Federal And State Court Declaratory Judgments 1900-2000, Willy E. Rice

Faculty Articles

Empirical findings suggest that extralegal factors, such as geographic location, ethnicity, gender, disability, perceived sexual orientation, and age of third-party victims, influence judicial decisions as to whether liability carriers must defend or reimburse the costs of defending various lawsuits. After the introduction, Part II of this article presents a brief discussion of state and federal declaratory judgment statutes and of the public policy behind liability and indemnification insurance contracts. Part III examines the origin and scope of insurers’ duty to defend, duty to pay legal expenses, and duty to reimburse litigation costs when third-party victims sue policyholders. Part IV argues …

Respecting Your Elders: The Highly Marketable Skills Standard For Social Security Disability Claimants Over Age Sixty, Thomas G. Pirmantgen

Missouri Law Review

As individuals age, they may face barriers to obtaining employment that did not exist for them when they were younger. Age thus may become a factor in any assessment of the likelihood that persons will successfully find new work. For Social Security disability benefits claimants under age fifty, age is generally not considered to present an obstacle to adjusting to new employment contexts. However, for claimants over age fifty, age is acknowledged as a factor that may significantly impact their ability to adjust to new work

The Baker [Baker V. State, 744 A.2d 864 (Vt. 1999)] Case, Civil Unions, And The Recognition Of Our Common Humanity: An Introduction And A Speculation, David L. Chambers

Articles

Every. Vermonter seems to know about two recent decisions of the Vermont Supreme Court. In the first, the court struck down the system of local financing of public schools. Like similar decisions in many other states, the school financing case led to a struggle in the legislature and difficulties for legislators at election time. In the second and even more controversial decision, the court reached an outcome that no other state supreme court had ever reached: it held unconstitutional the state's marriage law on the ground that it inappropriately denied the legal benefits of marriage to same-sex couples. This decision, …