Law Commons^™

A Code Of One's Own, Joseph P. Tomain

Faculty Articles and Other Publications

A Code of One's Own is an essay exploring the idea that we can learn about professionalism by reflecting on the humanities. The paper is modeled on Virginia Woolf's A Room of One's Own which is a series of lectures in six chapters. The essay uses those chapters to develop the idea that lawyers, through self-reflection and observation, can develop a professional code of their own. The paper was developed through co-teaching a course entitled, Law in Literature and Philosophy as well as by attending the Aspen Institute and the Glenmoor Institute of Justice for the Legal Profession, which are …

Proving An Environmental Justice Case: Determining An Appropriate Comparison Population, Bradford Mank

Faculty Articles and Other Publications

In proving a case of adverse disparate impact discrimination under Title VI of the 1964 Civil Rights Act, a plaintiff in its prima facie case must show a significant disparity between an affected population and an appropriate comparison population. Both government agencies and commentators have neglected to address the crucial issue of how to elect and define a comparison population. Title VI cases often look to Title VII cases for guidance. Title VII cases require that a comparison population should be similarly situated to the affected population. In 2000, the Environmental Protection Agency ("the EPA" or "the Agency") issued draft …

Something Borrowed, Something Blue: Why Disability Law Claims Are Different, S. Elizabeth Malloy

Faculty Articles and Other Publications

Described as one of the century's most significant pieces of civil rights legislation, the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990' has been widely hailed as establishing a new foundation for disability policy Senator Harkin, the primary sponsor of the law, called it "the 20th century Emancipation Proclamation for all persons with disabilities." President Bush predicted that the Act would "open up all aspects of American life to individuals with disabilities" and end the "unjustified segregation and exclusion of persons with disabilities from the mainstream of American life."

Congress enacted the ADA to ensure "equality of opportunity, full participation, independent living …

Reading The Law In The Office Of Calvin Fletcher: The Apprenticeship System And The Practice Of Law In Frontier Indiana, A. Christopher Bryant

Faculty Articles and Other Publications

The university law school is a relatively recent innovation, not just in Nevada but throughout much of the United States as well. In this inaugural issue of the Nevada Law Journal, which marks the establishment in 1998 of the Boyd School of Law, the first state-supported and the only existing law school in Nevada, it is fitting that we examine the methods of legal education and entry to the practice of law that preceded the rise of legal education within the university.

Until the latter part of the nineteenth century, the apprenticeship system constituted the dominant mode of preparation for …

Remanding To Congress: The Supreme Court's New ʺOn The Recordʺ Constitutional Review Of Federal Statutes, A. Christopher Bryant, Timothy J. Simeone

Faculty Articles and Other Publications

In recent years, the fate of federal statutes has increasingly turned on the contents of their formal legislative records. The Supreme Court has shown a new willingness to find statutes unconstitutional because their legislative records do not support the factual judgments that justify congressional action. In this Article, Professors Bryant and Simeone trace the development of the trend toward increased judicial scrutiny of legislative records in recent Supreme Court rulings on the constitutionality of federal statutes. They then critique the Court's new approach, arguing that it is not only inconsistent with precedent, but also fundamentally ill advised, most importantly because …

Using § 1983 To Enforce Title Vi's Section 602 Regulations, Bradford Mank

Faculty Articles and Other Publications

This Article examines the circumstances under which § 1983 suits may be used to enforce agency regulations in general, and Title VI's disparate impact regulations in particular.

Alice In Legal Wonderland: A Cross-Examination Of Gender, Race And Empire In Victorian Law And Literature, Kristin (Brandser) Kalsem

Faculty Articles and Other Publications

Lewis Carroll's 1865 scene of a recalcitrant Alice in the courtroom, defying the court's authority as she grows (literally) into a large and threatening presence, dramatizes what was becoming an increasingly common Victorian spectacle: a woman questioning and critiquing the law and claiming a place for herself within its institutions. Women have played a significant (but much overlooked) role in legal history and, in this paper, I argue for the importance of examining various narratives of the past (including literary accounts) that explored women's relationship to the law.

Against the backdrop of several legal cases in which women sought entry …