Law Commons^™

Your Mileage May Vary: A General Theory Of Legal Disclaimers, R. George Wright

The University of New Hampshire Law Review

[Excerpt] “Disclaimers are a common feature of public and commercial life. While this article will be concerned with disclaimers only in legal contexts, the range of such legal contexts is broad. This article will refer below to disclaimers by governmental and non-governmental actors in various circumstances. Disclaimers arise, for example, in Establishment Clause cases in general, and of late, in cases involving public school evolution text books. Disclaimers may also be thought of as a remedy for compelled speech, or as themselves an instance of compelled speech. In addition, commercial speech is a fertile source of disclaimer problems, as in …

Ali Child Support Principles: A Lesson In Public Policy And Truth-Telling, Karen Czapanskiy

Karen Czapanskiy

No abstract provided.

Are You Still My Mother, Interstate Recognition Of Adoption By Gays And Lesbians , Rhonda Wasserman

American University Law Review

Parents and their biological children routinely cross state borders safe in the assumption that the parent-child relationship will be recognized wherever they go. The central issue raised in this Article is whether the law guarantees parents and their adopted children the same security if the parents are gay. This question is part of a broader debate about the obligation of states to recognize changes in family status effected under the laws of other states, such as same-sex marriages and migratory divorces. The debate is divisive because it pits the family against the state; one state against another; and the needs …

Optimal Political Control Of The Bureaucracy, Matthew C. Stephenson

Michigan Law Review

It is widely believed that insulating an administrative agency from the influence of elected officials, whatever its other benefits orjustifications, reduces the agency's responsiveness to the preferences of political majorities. This Article argues, to the contrary, that a moderate degree of bureaucratic insulation from political control alleviates rather than exacerbates the countermajoritarian problems inherent in bureaucratic policymaking. An elected politician, though responsive to majoritarian preferences, will almost always deviate from the majority in one direction or the other Therefore, even if the average policy position of a given elected official tends to track the policy views of the median voter …

Slides: Rethinking Western Water Law: Whatever Happened To The Public Interest?, Mark Squillace

Shifting Baselines and New Meridians: Water, Resources, Landscapes, and the Transformation of the American West (Summer Conference, June 4-6)

Presenter: Mark Squillace, Director, Natural Resources Law Center, University of Colorado Law School

15 slides

May 29, 2008: Austin Dacey: The Secular Conscience, Bruce Ledewitz

Hallowed Secularism

Blog post, “Austin Dacey: The Secular Conscience “ discusses politics, theology and the law in relation to religion and public life in the democratic United States of America.

May 4, 2008: The May 7 Evangelical Manifesto, Bruce Ledewitz

Hallowed Secularism

The May 7 Evangelical Manifesto

May 2, 2008: The Hatred Of Islam, Bruce Ledewitz

Hallowed Secularism

The Hatred of Islam

April 29, 2008: Anti-Religion, Progressive Religion And Religion, Bruce Ledewitz

Hallowed Secularism

Anti-Religion, Progressive Religion and Religion

Release The Dogs: Creating A Social Remedy To The Dogfighting Epidemic, Amanda Searle

Amanda Searle

Dog fighting is a national epidemic affecting all cross-sections of society. This paper asserts that the lack of emphasis in training police to detect dog fighting and the failure of communities to conduct sensitivity and outreach training, thus allowing children to be exposed to cruelty which in turn results in a belief that this inhumane treatment of animals is acceptable, are the predominant reasons why dog fighting is growing in popularity. Only after a community trains its police force and integrates a comprehensive outreach program into its schools and community centers can a preventative solution stop the practice of dog …

March 26, 2008: Murray Chass Doesn't Like Religion, Bruce Ledewitz

Hallowed Secularism

No abstract provided.

Foreword: The Perpetual Controversy, Christopher M. Johnson

The University of New Hampshire Law Review

[Excerpt] “Two qualities of American capital punishment perhaps explain its ability to command the attention of the Court, year by year, decade after decade. First, an exceptionally talented and dedicated specialist capital defense bar continually mounts new challenges to the institution of the death penalty. This year, for example, we await a decision from the Supreme Court on the claim that the lethal injection method of execution violates the cruel and unusual punishments clause of the Constitution. Never before has the Supreme Court confronted this claim; indeed, not for more than a hundred years has the Supreme Court addressed a …

Survey Of The Federal Government On Supervisor Practices In Employment Of People With Disabilities, Susanne M. Bruyere, William Erickson, Richard L. Horne

Susanne Bruyère

In 1999, the Presidential Task Force on the Employment of Adults with Disabilities (PTFEAD) funded Cornell University to conduct a survey of federal sector HR and EEO representatives regarding their experience implementing the employment disability nondiscrimination requirements of the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990(ADA) and the Rehabilitation Act of 1973, as amended. One of the recommendations from this research was to conduct a follow-up study of federal agency supervisors and managers about their experience in accommodation and employment of persons with disabilities in the federal sector, and in addition to inquire about their awareness of the series of Executive …

A Climate Agenda For The New President, Lisa Heinzerling

Michigan Law Review First Impressions

The Bush Administration squandered eight years denying the reality of climate change and delaying action on it. Nevertheless, the president who comes into office in January will face two happy realities. First, whatever the Bush Administration has done (through obstruction or inaction) on climate change can easily be undone due to its legal and scientific flimsiness. And second, statutes now on the books provide plenty of legal authority for swift action on the most important environmental issue of our time.

Contextualizing Preemption, Mark D. Rosen

All Faculty Scholarship

No abstract provided.

Behaviorally Informed Financial Services Regulation, Michael S. Barr, Sendhil Mullainathan, Eldar Shafir

Other Publications

Financial services decisions can have enourmous consequences for household well-being. Households need a range of financial services - to conduct basic transactions, such as receiving their income, storing it, and paying bills; to save for emergency needs and long-term goals; to access credit; and to insure against life's key risks. But the financial services system is exceedingly complicated and often not well-designed to optimize house-hold behavior. In response to the complexity of out financial system, there has been a long running debate about the appropriate role and form of regulation. Regulation is largely stuck in two competing models - disclosure, …

Reflections On My Years As Corporation Counsel, Peter L. Zimroth

NYLS Law Review

No abstract provided.

Lawyers For Government Have Unique Responsibilities And Opportunities To Influence Public Policy, Frederick A.O. Schwarz Jr.

NYLS Law Review

No abstract provided.

The Political Question Doctrine And Civil Liability For Contracting Companies On The “Battlefield”, Jeffrey F. Addicott

Faculty Articles

While the use of civilian contractors to support military operations is not a new phenomenon, their use in the War on Terror is unprecedented. The numbers of civilian contractors in active combat zones and the specific activities they perform have significant legal and policy ramifications.

Recent case law associated with civil complaints brought in American courts against contracting companies operating in battlefield environments has given rise to a “political question” doctrine. This doctrine excludes from judicial review all controversies involving policy choices and other value determinations that the Constitution reserves to the Congress and the Executive for resolution.

Due to …

Third-Party Tax Administration: The Case Of Low- And Moderate-Income Households, Michael S. Barr, Jane K. Dokko

Articles

Using a unique household-level data set, this article investigates the taxfiling experiences and refund behavior of low- and moderate-income (LMI) households. We document households' tax-filing behavior, attitudes about the withholding system, use of tax refunds to consume and save, and the mechanisms by which households would prefer to receive their income. We also document the prevalence of the use of tax-preparation services and the receipt of tax refunds and refund-anticipation loans. Finally, we argue that there may be a role for tax administration to enable LMI households to make welfare-improving financial decisions.

Mandatory Rules In Civil Litigation: Status Of The Doctrine Post-Globalization, Hannah Buxbaum

Articles by Maurer Faculty

For all the scholarly attention paid to the role of mandatory rules in civil litigation, the doctrine regarding their use has never been fully developed. Certainly courts considering contracts governed by foreign law will sometimes override that law, applying a mandatory rule of the forum in its place. But in its most expansive articulation, the "mandatory rules" theory would also permit courts in certain circumstances to apply the mandatory law of a third country - a direction in which courts have declined to go. This article examines one of the justifications forwarded by early proponents of this more expansive approach: …

Attorneys As Debt Relief Agencies: Constitutional Considerations, Marisa Terranova

Fordham Journal of Corporate & Financial Law

No abstract provided.