Law Commons^™

Closing Statement: An "Utterly Implausible" Interpretation Of The Constitution: A Reply To Professor Steven G. Calabresi, Seth Barrett Tillman

Seth Barrett Tillman

In a few months, "We the People" will go to the polls and elect the electors who will elect (or, at least, have an opportunity to elect) the next President of the United States. Short of an act of God or an act of war, it is more likely than not that the next President will be a sitting United States Senator. The expectation is that a Senator/President-elect resigns his or her legislative seat some time prior taking the presidential oath of office. It is widely believed in large and influential academic circles and among the educated public generally that …

Writings: Syrian American Women’S Club December 4, 2008, Edna Louise Saffy

Saffy Collection - All Textual Materials

Speeches: Presented to the Syrian American Women’s Club December 4, 2008 by Dr. Edna Saffy.

Explaining Change And Rethinking Dirty Words: Fcc V. Fox Television Stations, Inc., Tobias Coleman

Duke Journal of Constitutional Law & Public Policy Sidebar

No abstract provided.

December 4, 2008: The Secularization Of Islam, Bruce Ledewitz

Hallowed Secularism

Blog post, “The Secularization of Islam“ discusses politics, theology and the law in relation to religion and public life in the democratic United States of America.

A Larger War On Terror?, David Cole

Georgetown Law Faculty Publications and Other Works

No abstract provided.

Government Clubs: Theory And Evidence From Voluntary Environmental Programs, Cary Coglianese, Jennifer Nash

All Faculty Scholarship

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has established numerous voluntary environmental programs over the last fifteen years, seeking to encourage businesses to make environmental progress beyond what current law requires them to achieve. EPA aims to induce beyond-compliance behavior by offering various forms of recognition and rewards, including relief from otherwise applicable environmental regulations. Despite EPA's emphasis on voluntary programs,relatively few businesses have availed themselves of these programs -- and paradoxically, the programs that offer the most significant regulatory benefits tend to have the fewest members. We explain this paradox by focusing on (a) how programs'membership screening corresponds with membership …

December 2, 2008: How Thankful Was Your Thanksgiving?, Bruce Ledewitz

Hallowed Secularism

Blog post, “How Thankful Was Your Thanksgiving?“ discusses politics, theology and the law in relation to religion and public life in the democratic United States of America.

A Uniquely Canadian Institution: The Copyright Board Of Canada, Daniel J. Gervais

Daniel J Gervais

Several countries have fostered the growth of Collective Management Organizations (CMOs) through legislative initiatives in the belief that CMOs offer a viable solution to the problems associated with individual licensing, collecting royalties and enforcing copyright against large numbers of users. In theory, collective licensing enables creators to exercise rights in a fair, efficient and accessible manner. It ensures copyright protection when individual management of it becomes difficult or impracticable. However, collective management is not a panacea, and questions have been raised about the efficiency and the transparency of CMOs and their continued relevancy in the digital age. This Chapter attempts …

Learning From Others: Sustaining The Internationalization And Globalization Of U.S. Law School Curriculums, James Maxeiner

All Faculty Scholarship

This address has three principal points: (1) An overview of how we are going about internationalizing the law school curriculum today in the United States; (2) Whether we are making as much progress as we should and how learning from others is central to sustaining our progress such as it is; and (3) What some of the obstacles to such learning are.

Guilty On All Accounts: Law & Order's Impact On Public Perception Of Law And Order, Kimberlianne Podlas

Seton Hall Journal of Sports and Entertainment Law

No abstract provided.

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 …

Idealized Into Powerlessness: How A Judicial Order In Nebraska V. Safi Could Send Women’S Rights Back To Colonial America, Erin P. Davenport

University of Pennsylvania Journal of Law and Social Change

No abstract provided.

A Realistic Approach To The Obviousness Of Inventions, Daralyn J. Durie, Mark A. Lemley

William & Mary Law Review

No abstract provided.

The Failure Of Punitive Damages In Employment Discrimination Cases: A Call For Change, Joseph A. Seiner

William & Mary Law Review

Punitive damages were described by one early court as "an unsightly and an unhealthy excrescence." Although views toward punitive relief have changed over the years, the debate over the availability of exemplary damages in the judicial system has remained controversial. No place is that controversy more aptly demonstrated than in employment discrimination law, where punitive damages first became available in an amendment to Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 after a bitter congressional debate. Almost a decade ago, in Kolstad v. American Dental Association, the Supreme Court provided guidance on how punitive damages should be applied in …

The Right To Silence Helps The Innocent: A Response To Critics, Alex Stein

Faculty Scholarship

No abstract provided.

The Decline And Fall Of At&T: A Personal Recollection, Richard A. Posner

Articles

No abstract provided.

Prison Health Care, Political Choice, And The Accidental Death Penalty, Elizabeth Alexander

University of Pennsylvania Journal of Constitutional Law

No abstract provided.

Tax Shelter Malpractice Cases And Their Implications For Tax Compliance , Jay A. Soled

American University Law Review

In malpractice lawsuits, taxpayers prevailed in courtrooms, around arbitration tables, and in settlement negotiations against peddlers of abusive tax shelters. This analysis illustrates how the tax shelter malpractice experience embodies many virtues that yield tax compliance. From these virtues emerge several important lessons on how to curb aggressive tax planning. Evident from these virtues and lessons is that malpractice litigation is a powerful tool in the sphere of tax compliance, and, where possible, reforms should be instituted to further promote its use.

Intolerable Situations And Counsel For Children: Following Switzerland's Example In Hague Abduction Cases , Merle H. Weiner

American University Law Review

In the twilight days of 2007, Switzerland took decisive action to protect children who were being harmed by the application of the Hague Convention on the Civil Aspects of International Child Abduction ("Hague Abduction Convention" or "Convention"). 1 Its Parliament passed the Federal Act on International Child Abduction and the Hague Conventions on the Protection of Children and Adults ("Swiss Act"). 2 The Swiss Act, which should enter into force in mid-2009, 3 gives important and necessary guidance to Swiss courts about the phrase "intolerable situation" in Article 13(b) of the Hague Abduction Convention. 4 The Swiss Act also directs …

Mercury Rising: The Omnibus Autism Proceeding And What Families Should Know Before Rushing Out Of Vaccine Court, Gordon Shemin

American University Law Review

This Comment sheds light on the “opt-out” provision of the Vaccine Act. It namely discusses the effect of short-form petitions and their impact on subsequent civil action, by examining consequences flowing from the Omnibus Autism Proceeding. In short, it argues that the Vaccine Court erred with its decision to permit short-form petitions by overlooking that procedure’s long-term implications on vaccine plaintiffs. In addition, this Comment lays out a scenario to illustrate the potential pitfalls of a hasty exit from the OAP and offers some guidance to plaintiffs to avoid this outcome. The final part of this Comment offers some ideas …

Opening A Window Or Building A Wall? The Effect Of Eighth Amendment Death Penalty Law And Advocacy On Criminal Justice More Broadly, Carol S. Steiker, Jordan M. Steiker

University of Pennsylvania Journal of Constitutional Law

No abstract provided.

Frank Allen: An Appreciation, Richard Lempert

University of Michigan Journal of Law Reform

Francis Allen was the Dean who hired me. First deans are, in their own way, as memorable as first kisses; they set expectations for all that follows. The expectations that Frank Allen set were high indeed. In this young professor's mind (I was 24 when I received my offer; 25 when I joined the faculty) he embodied what I still regard as the two most important academic virtues: scholarship and decency. These virtues combined to make him, at the time he accepted the Michigan deanship, perhaps the nation's most powerful voice for criminal justice reform and the country's leading scholar …

Interrogation Of Detainees: Extending A Hand Or A Boot?, Amos N. Guiora

University of Michigan Journal of Law Reform

The current "war on terror" provides the Bush administration with a unique opportunity to both establish clear guidelines for the interrogation of detainees and to make a forceful statement about American values. How the government chooses to act can promote either an ethical commitment to the norms of civil society, or an attitude analogous to Toby Keith's "American Way," where Keith sings that "you'll be sorry that you messed with the USofA, 'Cuz we'll put a boot in your ass, It's the American Way."

Long Live The Lie Bill!, Lucila I. Van Dam

University of Michigan Journal of Law Reform

What successful defamation plaintiffs typically desire and doctrinally deserve is to have their reputations restored. Presently, however, a plaintiff who has established that she was defamed by the defendant is entitled only to an award of damages, which does nothing to restore reputation. This Note proposes that in addition to a damages award, courts-- if they are to take seriously their obligation to compensate the plaintiff-- should order the defendant to retract the defamatory statement. Contrary to the prevailing view, this Note argues that the proposed retraction order does not jeopardize the First Amendment guarantee of free expression.

Addressing Segregation In The Brown Collar Workplace: Toward A Solution For The Inexorable 100%, Leticia M. Saucedo

University of Michigan Journal of Law Reform

Despite public perception to the contrary, segregated workplaces exist in greater number today than ever before, largely because of the influx of newly arrived immigrant workers to low-wage industries throughout the country. Yet existing antidiscrimination frameworks no longer operate adequately to rid workplaces of the segregation that results from targeting immigrant workers. This Article suggests a new anti-discrimination framework to address workplace segregation. The Article reviews how litigants have attempted to rid the workplace of conditions resulting from segregated departments through existing anti-discrimination frameworks. It then suggests a simple, yet powerful, shift in the inferences that can be drawn from …

Milberg’S Monopoly: Restoring Honesty And Competition To The Plaintiffs’ Bar, James P. Mcdonald

Duke Law Journal

When the renowned plaintiffs' firm Milberg Weiss was indicted in 2006 for paying kickbacks to clients, most commentators saw the scandal as the product of five dishonest lawyers. This Note argues that the causes were more complex than the moral shortcomings of a few attorneys; rather, the kickbacks were but one symptom of a deeply flawed system for selecting lead counsel in securities class action lawsuits. Although the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995 attempted to curb abusive behavior by the plaintiffs' bar, its focus on reforming plaintiff behavior meant that attorneys were left relatively free to continue using …

Hard Ball, Soft Law In Mlb: Who Died And Made Wada The Boss?, George T. Stiefel Iii

Buffalo Law Review

No abstract provided.

Pro Bono Collaborative E-Newsletter (No. 2) (December 2008), Roger Williams University School Of Law

Pro Bono Collaborative Newsletter

No abstract provided.

German Equal Protection: Substantive Review Of Economic Measures, Edward J. Eberle

Law Faculty Scholarship

No abstract provided.

Candor, Zeal, And The Substitution Of Judgment: Ethics And The Mentally Ill Criminal Defendant , John D. King

American University Law Review

This Article explores the tension between autonomy and paternalism that characterizes the attorney-client relationship when a criminal defense attorney represents a mentally impaired client. Specifically, the Article analyzes the ethical frameworks that constrain the discretion of the attorney in this situation and proposes a new paradigm for ethical decisionmaking when an attorney represents a marginally competent client.

The criminal defense attorney is both a zealous advocate for her client and an officer of the legal system. In representing a marginally competent client, the initial ethical dilemma facing the attorney is whether she has an obligation to alert the court to …