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Articles 1 - 9 of 9
Full-Text Articles in Law
Circumventing Congress: How The Federal Courts Opened The Door To Impeaching Criminal Defendants With Prior Convictions, Jeffrey Bellin
Circumventing Congress: How The Federal Courts Opened The Door To Impeaching Criminal Defendants With Prior Convictions, Jeffrey Bellin
Faculty Publications
This Article spotlights the flawed analytical framework at the heart of the federal courts’ approach to one of the most controversial trial practices in American criminal jurisprudence — the admission of prior convictions to impeach the credibility of defendants who testify. As the Article explains, the flawed approach is a byproduct of the courts’ reliance on a five-factor analytical framework to implement the governing legal standard enacted by Congress in Federal Rule of Evidence 609. Tracing the evolution of the fivefactor framework from its roots in pre-Rule 609 case law, the Article demonstrates that the courts’ reinterpretation of the framework …
Hybrid Class Actions, Dual Certification, And Wage Law Enforcement In The Federal Courts, Andrew Brunsden
Hybrid Class Actions, Dual Certification, And Wage Law Enforcement In The Federal Courts, Andrew Brunsden
Articles & Chapters
Hybrid wage-and-hour class actions, which combine a Fair Labor Standards Act ("FLSA ') opt-in collective action and a Federal Rule of Civil Procedure Rule 23 opt-out class action in a single civil action, demonstrate the unusual interplay of opt-in and opt-out rules. The hybrid class action, and its viability as a mechanism for wage law enforcement, raises fundamental questions as to who participates in lawsuits, how we should hold employers accountable for wage-and-hour noncompliance, and the role of the federal courts in enforcing public rights. An opt-in rule tends to produce low participation rates, while an opt-out rule tends to …
Has The Erie Doctrine Been Repealed By Congress?, Geoffrey C. Hazard Jr.
Has The Erie Doctrine Been Repealed By Congress?, Geoffrey C. Hazard Jr.
All Faculty Scholarship
No abstract provided.
In Search Of Removal Jurisdiction, Scott Dodson
In Search Of Removal Jurisdiction, Scott Dodson
Scott Dodson
The ubiquitous and somewhat careless use of the term “jurisdictional” by courts has spawned confusion over what is and is not jurisdictional in a variety of contexts, including removal. The issue has critical implications for litigants. Yet it lacks scholarly coverage and is the subject of deep divisions in the lower courts. In this Article, I develop an initial framework for characterizing provisions of the removal statute as jurisdictional or procedural. I build upon the groundwork laid by prior precedent and modify it to account for the quasi-jurisdictional nature of removal and its impact on the federal-state balance of power. …
Mandatory Rules, Scott Dodson
Mandatory Rules, Scott Dodson
Scott Dodson
Whether a limitation is jurisdictional or not is an important but often obscure question. In an Article forthcoming in Northwestern University Law Review, I proposed a framework for courts to resolve the issue in a principled way, but I left open the next logical question: what does it mean if a rule is characterized as nonjurisdictional? Jurisdictional rules generally have a clearly defined set of traits: they are not subject to equitable exceptions, consent, waiver, or forfeiture; they can be raised at any time; and they can be raised by any party or the court sua sponte. This jurisdictional rigidity …
Appreciating Mandatory Rules: A Reply To Critics, Scott Dodson
Appreciating Mandatory Rules: A Reply To Critics, Scott Dodson
Scott Dodson
This short essay, replying to the responses of Professors Burch and Dane and Mr. Poor, address their critiques of my original essay, "Jurisdictionality and Bowles v. Russell."
The Failure Of Bowles V. Russell, Scott Dodson
The Failure Of Bowles V. Russell, Scott Dodson
Scott Dodson
Last term, the Supreme Court decided Bowles v. Russell—perhaps the year’s most underrated case—which characterized the time to file a civil notice of appeal as jurisdictional and therefore not subject to equitable excuses for noncompliance. In so holding, the Court overstated the supporting precedent, inflated the jurisdictional importance of statutes, and undermined an important recent movement to clarify when a rule is jurisdictional and when it is not. This did not have to be. The Court missed a golden opportunity to chart a middle course—holding the rule mandatory but nonjurisdictional—that would have been more consistent with precedent while resolving the …
Book Review: A History Of The Eighth Circuit, Scott Dodson
Book Review: A History Of The Eighth Circuit, Scott Dodson
Scott Dodson
This is a book review of Jeffrey Brandon Morris's "Establishing Justice in Middle America: A History of the Eighth Circuit" (U. Minn. Press 2008).
Recovering The Social Value Of Jurisdictional Redundancy, Alexandra D. Lahav
Recovering The Social Value Of Jurisdictional Redundancy, Alexandra D. Lahav
Alexandra D. Lahav
This essay, written for the Tulane Law Review Symposium on the Problem of Multidistrict Litigation, argues that the focus of proceduralists on centralization as a solution to the problems posed by modern litigation is misplaced. It is time to refocus on the social value of the multiple centers of authority that jurisdictional redundancy permits. This essay presents the case for multi-centered litigation with particular focus on the potential uses of the Multidistrict Litigation Act to realize pluralist values. The descriptive claim put forward by the essay is that jurisdictional redundancy is imbedded in our federalist system and our preference for …