Law Commons^™

Improperly Performed Abortion As Fetal Homicide: An Uneasy Coexistence Becomes More Difficult, Laura E. Back

UC Law SF Journal on Gender and Justice

Is the difference between abortion and fetal homicide the pregnant woman's choice-or the provider's medical license? Reports of a recent Texas case suggest that ever-proliferating fetal homicide laws may be applied to charge non-medical abortion providers with murder. Although the state has legitimate interests in protecting women's health through prohibition of dangerous non-medical abortions, it defies justice to enforce such prohibitions by charging violators with murder of the aborted fetus. This Note explores how constitutional limitations on permissible state interests in regulating abortion provide a basis for Eighth Amendment proportionality and due process challenges to this misuse of fetal homicide …

Weekend Bliss At Utica Reservoir In California’S Majestic Stanislaus National Forest, Loulena Miles

UC Law Environmental Journal

No abstract provided.

Tomales Bay, Kelly Franger

UC Law Environmental Journal

No abstract provided.

“Heaven Shines On Puget Sound” Seattle, Washington, June 2003, Brad Daniels

UC Law Environmental Journal

No abstract provided.

Life Under The Republicans: The Subversion Of Democracy In The House Resources Committee, Erica Rosenberg

UC Law Environmental Journal

No abstract provided.

Mccloud River Waterfall, Mccloud, California, Arielle Harris

UC Law Environmental Journal

No abstract provided.

If Not Now, When? The California Global Warmingsolutions Act Of 2006: California's Final Steps Toward Comprehensive Mandatory Greenhouse Gas Regulation, Matthew Visick

UC Law Environmental Journal

No abstract provided.

International Law And Legitimacy And The Palestine Question, Rashid Khalidi

UC Law SF International Law Review

In this speech delivered at the Fourth Annual Rudolf B. Schlesinger Memorial Lecture on October 25, 2006, Rashid Khalidi discussed aspects of the history of how international law and the growing 20th century framework of international legitimacy emerging from the League of Nations and the United Nations have intersected with the issue of Palestine over the past century or so. Indeed, in some measure, the treatment of the Palestine issue by these two bodies has shown the limits of international law, and of an international order founded on it. In making policy on Palestine over most of the past century, …

From Mice To Men: Genetic Doping In International Sports, Kristin Jo Custer

UC Law SF International Law Review

Elite athletes have a long history of using various doping methods to enhance performance, from ingesting cocaine to injecting growth hormones. The World Anti-Doping Agency has taken a number of steps to rid sports of doping to level the playing field for all athletes. A new frontier in doping, however, is beginning to emerge in the form of genetic doping, whereby athletes may alter their genetic makeup to improve performance and speed recovery from injuries. This note discusses various legal implications and concerns of the rising threat of genetic doping to international sports.

You Say You Want A Revolution: Argentina's Recovered Factory Movement, Adam David Cole

UC Law SF International Law Review

The Recovered Factory Movement in Argentina - in which workers assume control and ownership of factories abandoned by their owners - has piqued the interest of social activists worldwide. However, despite a noticeable buzz within leftist circles, the movement has received little more than a cursory examination from its enthusiasts. This note attempts to nudge the discourse in a substantive direction by explaining the pertinent law, discussing the changes sought by the movement, and analyzing the accompanying policy issues. In so doing, this note is meant to serve as a starting point to encourage more exhaustive treatment of the relevant …

Ireland Goes Bananas: Irish Insider Trading Law And Price-Sensitive Information After Fyffes V. Dcc, Jeremiah Burke

UC Law SF International Law Review

In Fyffes v. DCC, the Irish High Court ruled that James Flavin, a non-executive director of the banana distributer, Fyffes PLC, did not engage in insider trading. The case is Ireland's most significant ruling on insider trading because it clarifies the test, under Irish law, for determining whether information available to an insider is price-sensitive. A comparison of Irish and American securities law reveals that an American court may have viewed Flavin's dealings as insider trading because American courts focus on whether non-public information is material. While Fyffes was not a sympathetic plaintiff, the Irish statutory focus on price-sensitive information …

End-Of-Life Decisionmaking For Patients In Persistent Vegetative States: A Comparative Analysis, Suzanne Rode

UC Law SF International Law Review

The attention that the Schiavo case has brought to end-of-life decisionmaking presents an opportunity to re-examine current laws addressing treatment for incompetent patients. In the United States, the right to self-determination is the primary value in making treatment decisions for incompetent patients. Alternatively the United Kingdom and Australia recognize a more objective "best interest" approach, and Japan places primary importance on the role of families in end-of-life decisionmaking. This note describes these different approaches to making treatment decisions for patients in persistent vegetative states and explores how the "best interest" and family-centered approaches can inform and improve healthcare law in …

The Use Of Offensive Force In U.N. Peacekeeping: A Cycle Of Boom And Bust, James Sloan

UC Law SF International Law Review

U.N. peacekeeping operations have traditionally been expected to adhere to three key principles: they must operate with the consent of the host state, they must act impartially and they must limit their use of force to self-defense. This article focuses on the final characteristic, the self-defense principle, and chronicles the attitude of the U.N. towards its observance. As the article will show, there have been three main periods where the self-defense principle has been ignored: with ONUC operation in the Congo in the early 1960s, with several missions in the early 1990s and, finally, with the current period, beginning in …

Network Neutrality And Industry Structure, T. Randolph Beard, George S. Ford, Thomas M. Koutsky, Lawrence J. Spiwak

UC Law SF Communications and Entertainment Journal

In its attempt to establish rules that preserve the "openness" of the Internet, the federal government has recently considered implementing various regulatory constraints on the behavior of broadband service providers in order to ensure that consumers can freely access third-party applications over broadband networks without the fear that the network provider will deteriorate transmission to third-party services in favor of their own. Adopting these proposed "Network Neutrality" requirements, however, could exacerbate the very highly-concentrated industry structure by increasing industry concentration, and plausibly even rendering monopoly. Such forced commoditization of broadband access will leave consumers unambiguously worse off.

Antitrust And Sports League Franchise Relocation: Bringing Raiders I Into The Modern Era Of Antitrust Law, Brett Gibbs

UC Law SF Communications and Entertainment Journal

Sports relocation is traumatic for die-hard sports fans. History and long-standing tradition are often thrust aside in pursuit of lucrative offers of stadium financing. Scholars often cite the leading case on sports relocation, Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum v. National Football League (Raiders I), for the proposition that restrictions on sports franchise relocation are illegal under the Sherman Act. However, since Raiders I, there have been two significant developments in antitrust law: the in-depth rule of reason approach and the "small but significant increase in price" approach. In light of these developments, sports leagues should not blindly rely on Raiders I, …

Who Owns A Home Run - The Battle Of The Use Of Player Performance Statistics By Fantasy Sports Websites, Jason Shane

UC Law SF Communications and Entertainment Journal

Fantasy sports are becoming increasingly popular, and with the increase in popularity comes an increase in legal scrutiny. Fantasy sports trade on the statistics of professional athletes. This raises the question: who owns these statistics? Copyright law, the right to publicity and the First Amendment are all implicated. Ultimately, the public interest in this information trumps assertions of ownership by both the professional athletes and the leagues in which they play.

Fisher Of Genes: Patentability Of Expressed Sequence Tags, Joshua Kim

UC Law SF Communications and Entertainment Journal

The patentability of Expressed Sequence Tags (ESTs), small fragments of DNA that scientists use to identify genes, has been a topic of heated debate in intellectual property law and the scientific community. Much of the debate encompasses the far-reaching consequences of effectively placing control of thousands of ESTs into the hands of a few patent holders. In re Fisher, a recent Federal Circuit decision, was anticipated to settle the question of EST patentability, but may have failed to establish a decisive standard. A more workable standard calls for a clearer articulation of specific utility requirements as well as non-obviousness standards …

The Fourth Amendment And Cell Phone Location Tracking: Where Are We, Kevin Mclaughlin

UC Law SF Communications and Entertainment Journal

Cell phones are a way of life in our society. While most people readily use their cell phones, they don't realize that cell phones also provide signals to track their location. This manner of cell phone tracking may be a violation of the Fourth Amendment right to be free of unreasonable searches and seizures. Under the test developed in Katz and its progeny, depending on a number of factors, cell phone tracking may qualify as a reasonable search. However, because cell phone tracking appears to implicate a number of core Fourth Amendment doctrines, it appears to constitute an unreasonable search.

Evolution In Slow Motion: Opting Into A Digital World, Kristin Richards

UC Law SF Communications and Entertainment Journal

Google's "Library Project" which allows users to view snippets from books that have been scanned from library collections is the subject of two recently filed lawsuits. This article takes an in-depth look at the "Library Project" in light of modem copyright law. The "Library Project" presents courts with the difficult task of balancing consumers' desire for information on demand and authors' legal rights.

An Economic Model For The Incentive/Access Paradigm Of Copyright Propertization: An Argument In Support Of The Orphan Works Act, Sami J. Valkonen, Lawrence J. White

UC Law SF Communications and Entertainment Journal

This article proposes an economic model of the incentive-access paradigm for copyright designed to correspond to the goal of maximizing societal welfare.

The article begins with a discussion on the foundations of copyright and the objectives of the Constitution's Copyright Clause. The article adopts the majority view that the Constitution mandates that the copyright regime is designed to optimize the positive welfare impacts from copyright protection. Under this view, similarly as antitrust "protects competition, not competitors," the copyright regime should protect creativity, not creators. The result of this underlying policy objective is that the level of copyright propertization becomes a …

New Architectures For Music: Law Should Get Out Of The Way, Henry H. Perritt Jr.

UC Law SF Communications and Entertainment Journal

Copyright law is constitutionally justifiable only to the extent that it provides incentives for creative effort by reducing the risk of free riding. Technological advances repeatedly have revolutionized the economics of music creation, production and distribution. The latest developments in recording, digital compression, e-commerce and file sharing technologies are only the latest in a long line of disruptive technological developments. These technologies reduce the risk of free riding, thereby justifying a narrowing of the scope of copyright protection for music. The paper carefully examines the elements of production and consumption functions for music, explaining how greatly reduced barriers to entry …

Betting On Success: Can The Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act Help The United States Achieve Its Internet Gambling Policy Goals, James N. Brenner

UC Law SF Communications and Entertainment Journal

This note addresses the effectiveness of the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act (UIGEA) in achieving the United States' policy goals on tnternet gambling. This note does not discuss the wisdom of the United States' policy on Internet gambling, or the wisdom of the government's choice to prohibit, instead of regulate, Internet gambling to achieve its policy goals. Rather, this note focuses on whether or not the UIGEA adequately addresses the policy concerns over offshore Internet casinos. First, this note discusses federal laws, treaties, proposed legislation, and policy concerns which address Internet gambling. Second, this note discusses the language of the …

Big Love: Is Feminist Polygamy An Oxymoron Or A True Possibility, Michele Alexandre

UC Law SF Journal on Gender and Justice

For the past few decades, Islamic reformists have attempted to reverse patriarchal set-ups in Islamic practices. In light of these efforts, the time is ripe to consider what role women's agency will play in the implementation of such reforms. The way we account for agency in advocating for women's rights is an issue with which feminist legal scholars struggle. It has been explored particularly when analyzing women's rights in the area of pornography and prostitution. As the reform movements in Islamic law become concrete, similar explorations will have to take place. Agencydriven explorations in the area of Islamic law will …

Guatemala's Femicides And The Ongoing Struggle For Women's Human Rights: Update To Cgrs's 2005 Report Getting Away With Murder, Katharine Ruhl

UC Law SF Journal on Gender and Justice

This Article is an update to the report entitled Getting Away With Murder: Guatemala's Failure to Protect Women and Rodi Alvarado's Quest for Safety, published by the Center for Gender & Refugee Studies (CGRS) in November 2005, and by the Hastings Women's Law Journal in its Summer 2006 issue. That report explored the root causes of why Guatemalan women are forced to seek asylum in order to escape violence in their home country, and offered recommendations to the Guatemalan government. In this Article, the author argues that the Guatemalan government has made only limited progress in addressing the problem of …

Eviction, Discrimination, And Domestic Violence: Unfair Housing Practices Against Domestic Violence Survivors, Kristen M. Ross

UC Law SF Journal on Gender and Justice

Domestic violence survivors are victimized a second time when they are refused available housing or evicted from their homes because of the domestic violence committed against them. Although allowing a domestic violence survivor to remain on the property may, in certain rare incidents, pose a threat to other tenants, evicting the survivor is an extreme measure, and is unjust. This Note discusses the potential liabilities that may arise against landlords who rent to domestic violence survivors and show why such liabilities do not warrant discrimination. This Note further examines the inadequacy of state and federal laws in protecting domestic violence …

Sex, Trust, And Corporate Boards, Joan Macleod Heminway

UC Law SF Journal on Gender and Justice

This Article collects and interprets social science research on sex and trust to shed new light on the emerging case for gender diversity on corporate boards. Specifically, the Article describes social science research findings indicating (1) that men and women trust and are trustworthy on different bases; and (2) that there is a bias against women in chief executive officer (and potentially other corporate leadership) positions. Based on this research, the nature of corporate management and control, and current legal scholarship on corporate governance, the Article asserts that gender diversity on corporate boards may be desirable but difficult to attain. …

Public Interest Drift Revised: Tracing The Sources Of Social Change Commitment Among Black Harvard Law Students, Jenee Desmond-Harris

UC Law Journal of Race and Economic Justice

Although "public interest drift"-the phenomenon of law students' interest in public interest careers decreasing over the course of legal education-has been studied extensively, author Jene Desmond- Harris argues that rates among black law students deserve a specially tailored analysis because of the black community's longstanding faith in the law and lawyers as instruments of social change. Through a study of current black Harvard Law students, admitted students, and alumni, she investigates the interactions between the Harvard Law School experience and the development of black law students' attitudes about pursuing careers aimed at affecting social change. Incorporating her own research with …

Providing Race Discrimination In Criminal Cases Using Statistical Evidence, Marc Price Wolf

UC Law Journal of Race and Economic Justice

Proving race discrimination in a criminal case using statistical evidence has been a difficult endeavor since the Supreme Court's rulings in McCleskey and Armstrong. In those cases, the Court set a high threshold for using statistics to prove constitutional violations. This note argues that this threshold is not insurmountable. Studies can be crafted to overcome the strict guidelines set out in McCleskey and Armstrong. Additionally, lower courts have interpreted these cases too broadly, such that validly presented statistical studies have unfairly been brushed aside. This note also argues that the Court analyzes social scientific studies differently when those studies are …

Come Down And Make Bargains In Good Faith: The Application Of 42 U.S.C. 1981 To Race And National Origin Discrimination In Retail Stores, Charlotte S. Alexander

UC Law Journal of Race and Economic Justice

Plaintiffs who have been discriminated against in retail stores on the basis of race or national origin have historically turned to the contracts clause of 42 U.S.C. § 1981, which guarantees to all people within the United States the same right "as is enjoyed by white citizens" to "make and enforce contracts." In 1991, Congress amended the statute, extending the requirement of equality beyond the "making and enforcement" of contracts to include the "performance, modification, and termination of contracts, and the enjoyment of all benefits, privileges, terms, and conditions of the contractual relationship." However, many courts have continued to apply …

Private Rights And Public International Law: Why Competition Among International Economic Law Tribunals Is Not Working, Andrea K. Bjorklund

UC Law Journal

This Article discusses the problematic consequences that result from individuals having multiple international economic tribunals available to redress grievances. The Article describes the proliferation of international courts and tribunals, and discusses the jurisdictional and subject matter authorities of the International Court of Justice, the World Trade Organization Settlement Body, and various regional dispute settlement bodies and municipal courts. The author notes the most problematic consequences of utilizing a system involving multiple forums are the promotion of fragmentation and duplication of tribunal and court authority. In addition, the author discusses the effect of public and private law principles on fragmentation and …