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2010

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Full-Text Articles in Law

Dodging A Bullet: Mcdonald V. City Of Chicago And The Limits Of Progessive Originalism, Dale E. Ho Dec 2010

Dodging A Bullet: Mcdonald V. City Of Chicago And The Limits Of Progessive Originalism, Dale E. Ho

William & Mary Bill of Rights Journal

The Supreme Court’s decision in last term’s gun rights case, McDonald v. City of Chicago, punctured the conventional wisdom after District of Columbia v. Heller that “we are all originalists now.” Surprisingly, many progressive academics were disappointed. For “progressive originalists,” McDonald was a missed opportunity to overrule the Slaughter-House Cases and to revitalize the Privileges or Immunities Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment. In their view, such a ruling could have realigned progressive constitutional achievements with originalism and relieved progressives of the albatross of substantive due process, while also unlocking long-dormant constitutional text to serve as the source of new unenumerated …


From One [Expletive] Policy To The Next: The Fcc's Regulation Of "Fleeting Expletives" And The Supreme Court's Response, Brandon J. Almas Dec 2010

From One [Expletive] Policy To The Next: The Fcc's Regulation Of "Fleeting Expletives" And The Supreme Court's Response, Brandon J. Almas

Federal Communications Law Journal

After the broadcast of the 2003 Golden Globe Awards, during which the lead singer from U2 uttered an expletive on national television, the FCC revisited its prior policy on the use of expletives on the airwaves and declared, for the first time, that "fleeting expletives" are offensive according to community standards and are therefore finable. In a lawsuit filed in the Second Circuit Court of Appeals, Fox Television Stations, Inc. along with a number of other broadcasters argued that the FCC's new policy was arbitrary and capricious under the Administrative Procedure Act and unconstitutional under the First Amendment. The Second …


Examining The Fcc's Indecency Regulations In Light Of Today's Technology, Elizabeth H. Steele Dec 2010

Examining The Fcc's Indecency Regulations In Light Of Today's Technology, Elizabeth H. Steele

Federal Communications Law Journal

Indecency regulations promulgated by the FCC used to be effective, but today's technological advances call those regulations into question. With the prevalence of digital video recorders and the availability of television shows on the Internet, children have unprecedented access to material broadcast at all times of day. As a result, the "safe harbor" rationale restricting the broadcast of indecent material no longer makes sense. A move toward deregulation is the most logical step to take, as it would prevent any First Amendment violations and would allow the networks freedom to broadcast material that the public may be interested in without …


Breaking The Dress Code: Protecting Transgender Students, Their Identities, And Their Rights., Zenobia V. Harris Dec 2010

Breaking The Dress Code: Protecting Transgender Students, Their Identities, And Their Rights., Zenobia V. Harris

The Scholar: St. Mary's Law Review on Race and Social Justice

Abstract Forthcoming.


Constantly Approximating Popular Sovereignty: Seven Fundamental Principles Of Constitutional Law, Wilson R. Huhn Dec 2010

Constantly Approximating Popular Sovereignty: Seven Fundamental Principles Of Constitutional Law, Wilson R. Huhn

William & Mary Bill of Rights Journal

No abstract provided.


The Melendez-Diaz Dilemma: Virginia's Response, A Model To Follow, Anne Hampton Andrews Dec 2010

The Melendez-Diaz Dilemma: Virginia's Response, A Model To Follow, Anne Hampton Andrews

William & Mary Bill of Rights Journal

No abstract provided.


Huppert, Reilly, And The Increasing Futility Of Relying On The First Amendment To Protect Employee Speech, John Q. Mulligan Dec 2010

Huppert, Reilly, And The Increasing Futility Of Relying On The First Amendment To Protect Employee Speech, John Q. Mulligan

William & Mary Bill of Rights Journal

No abstract provided.


Faulty Foundations: How The False Analogy To Routine Fingerprinting Undermines The Argument For Arrestee Dna Sampling, Corey Preston Dec 2010

Faulty Foundations: How The False Analogy To Routine Fingerprinting Undermines The Argument For Arrestee Dna Sampling, Corey Preston

William & Mary Bill of Rights Journal

No abstract provided.


Is A Mentally Ill Defendant Still Considered Competent To Waive The Right To Counsel In New York After Indiana V. Edwards?, John H. Wilson Nov 2010

Is A Mentally Ill Defendant Still Considered Competent To Waive The Right To Counsel In New York After Indiana V. Edwards?, John H. Wilson

Pace Law Review

No abstract provided.


Constitutional Law, James E. Leahy Nov 2010

Constitutional Law, James E. Leahy

Cal Law Trends and Developments

This was a year in which the reviewing courts in California were confronted with contemporary problems of constitutional law.


Constitutional Law, James E. Leahy Nov 2010

Constitutional Law, James E. Leahy

Cal Law Trends and Developments

This was an eventful year in the field of constitutional law. The court upheld the right of individuals to distribute antiwar literature within a railway station, struck down an injunction prohibiting county employees from peaceful picketing, upheld an ordinance punishing conduct which urges a riot or which urges others to commit acts of force or violence, and held the California loyalty oath unconstitutional.


An Originalist Theory Of Precedent: The Privileged Place Of Originalist Precedent, Lee J. Strang Nov 2010

An Originalist Theory Of Precedent: The Privileged Place Of Originalist Precedent, Lee J. Strang

BYU Law Review

No abstract provided.


No Direction Home: Constitutional Limitations On Washington's Homeless Encampment Ordinances, Jordan Talge Nov 2010

No Direction Home: Constitutional Limitations On Washington's Homeless Encampment Ordinances, Jordan Talge

Washington Law Review

The Washington State Constitution protects the free exercise of religion. It also vests strong police power in local governments. When these two constitutional provisions conflict, the Washington State Supreme Court must draw the line between valid police power action and impermissible burden on free exercise. In City of Woodinville v. Northshore United Church of Christ, a municipal government crossed that line. The City of Woodinville, Washington refused to consider a church’s application to host a homeless encampment. The Court held this outright refusal to be an unjustified infringement on the church’s free exercise of religion. The Court did not, …


Unraveling Lawrence's Concerns About Legislated Morality: The Constitutionality Of Laws Criminalizing The Sale Of Obscene Devices, Nathan R. Curtis Nov 2010

Unraveling Lawrence's Concerns About Legislated Morality: The Constitutionality Of Laws Criminalizing The Sale Of Obscene Devices, Nathan R. Curtis

BYU Law Review

No abstract provided.


Don't Answer The Door: Montejo V. Louisiana Relaxes Police Restrictions For Questioning Non-Custodial Defendants, Emily Bretz Nov 2010

Don't Answer The Door: Montejo V. Louisiana Relaxes Police Restrictions For Questioning Non-Custodial Defendants, Emily Bretz

Michigan Law Review

In 2009, the Supreme Court held in Montejo v. Louisiana that a defendant may validly waive his Sixth Amendment right to counsel during police interrogation, even if police initiate interrogation after the defendant's invocation of the right at the first formal proceeding. This Note asserts that Montejo significantly altered the Sixth Amendment protections available to represented defendants. By increasing defendants' exposure to law enforcement, the decision allows police to try to elicit incriminating statements and waivers of the right to counsel after the defendant has expressed a desire for counsel. In order to protect the defendant's constitutional guarantee of a …


Another Can Of "Crawford" Worms: Certificates Of Nonexistence Of Public Record And The Confrontation Clause, Keith Hollingshead-Cook Nov 2010

Another Can Of "Crawford" Worms: Certificates Of Nonexistence Of Public Record And The Confrontation Clause, Keith Hollingshead-Cook

Vanderbilt Law Review

The Confrontation Clause of the Sixth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution provides that "[i]n all criminal prosecutions, the accused shall enjoy the right .. . to be confronted with the witnesses against him."' When the Supreme Court decided Crawford v. Washington in 2004, it established a new standard for assessing the scope of this right and determining when hearsay is admissible as trial evidence against a criminal defendant. Rather than basing decisions regarding a defendant's right to confrontation on a judicial inquiry into the reliability of a particular statement, an approach typified by the Court's earlier decision of Ohio v. …


Constitutional Law, James E. Leahy Oct 2010

Constitutional Law, James E. Leahy

Cal Law Trends and Developments

Restrictions on the political activities of public employees and the application of the statutory ban on obscenity were some of the First Amendment problems presented to the California appellate courts this past year. Due process also received some attention. The courts were faced with such diverse questions as the regulation of insurance companies doing business in California exclusively by mail, the right to a hearing when the government takes action against an individual, and the taxation of foreign-based aircraft that fly into, out of, and within California. Reapportionment of an irrigation district, license taxes, and payment for care of a …


Hate Speech And Harassment: The Constitutionality Of Campus Codes That Prohibit Racial Insults, Alan E. Brownstein Oct 2010

Hate Speech And Harassment: The Constitutionality Of Campus Codes That Prohibit Racial Insults, Alan E. Brownstein

William & Mary Bill of Rights Journal

No abstract provided.


The Extension Of Privacy Rights To Workplace Text Messages Under Quon V. Arch Wireless, Heather Wolnick Oct 2010

The Extension Of Privacy Rights To Workplace Text Messages Under Quon V. Arch Wireless, Heather Wolnick

Golden Gate University Law Review

In Quon v. Arch Wireless Operating Co., a panel of the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit held that a public employer violated the Fourth Amendment by searching the contents of text messages sent and received on a public employee's work-issued pager. In so holding, the Ninth Circuit found that the public employee had a reasonable expectation of privacy in the contents of the text messages, despite a formal Internet and computer policy stating otherwise. Relying on the two-part O'Connor test for public-employer searches, the court found that the search was more intrusive than necessary to determine …


Shopping In The Marketplace Of Ideas: Why Fashion Valley Mall Means Target And Trader Joe's Are The New Town Squares, Jon Golinger Oct 2010

Shopping In The Marketplace Of Ideas: Why Fashion Valley Mall Means Target And Trader Joe's Are The New Town Squares, Jon Golinger

Golden Gate University Law Review

This Note explains that in Fashion Valley Mall, for the first time since the California high court decided Pruneyard nearly thirty years earlier, the court directly affirmed the notion that the California Constitution's liberty clause protects the right to free-speech activities on private property, such as a large shopping mall, that has taken on the characteristics of a traditional downtown business district. This Note further asserts that the majority's opinion in Fashion Valley Mall requires a different approach from that taken by the state appellate courts in deciding whether "stand-alone stores" such as Target and Trader Joe's also qualify as …


Turning Title Vii's Protection Against Retaliation Into A Never-Fulfilled Promise, Jessica L. Beeler Oct 2010

Turning Title Vii's Protection Against Retaliation Into A Never-Fulfilled Promise, Jessica L. Beeler

Golden Gate University Law Review

Part I also explains the varied standards that were previously used when deciding what constitutes an adverse employer action and how the Supreme Court's recent decision in Burlington Northern resolved a split among the circuits. In Burlington Northern, the Supreme Court adopted a deterrence test to define adverse employer actions, which means the employer action must be harmful to the point that it would deter a reasonable employee of complaining of discrimination. Part II analyzes the actual effects of this decision, focusing in particular on DeHart. It shows how DeHart misapplied the deterrence standard by focusing on whether the employer …


An Integrative Alternative For America's Privacy Torts, Robert M. Connallon Oct 2010

An Integrative Alternative For America's Privacy Torts, Robert M. Connallon

Golden Gate University Law Review

Rugg and Smith encapsulate a transition between two approaches to tort protection of privacy. Rugg reflects the unitary-tort theory, which recognizes a single tort and seeks only to determine if the plaintiff's interest in privacy has been breached by the defendant's behavior. Smith reflects the multiple-tort approach that recognizes four torts, encompassing four ways in which privacy is breached, that have in common only an interference with a loosely defined understanding of privacy. This understanding of the privacy tort was lifted from the Restatement (Second) of Torts (1977), which adopted a construct first proffered by Dean William Prosser in a …


Out Of Step: When The California Street Terrorism Enforcement And Prevention Act Stumbles Into Penal Code Limits, J. Franklin Sigal Oct 2010

Out Of Step: When The California Street Terrorism Enforcement And Prevention Act Stumbles Into Penal Code Limits, J. Franklin Sigal

Golden Gate University Law Review

This Comment focuses on how the multiple-punishment prohibition of section 654 applies to the enhancements of one particular California statute: the Street Terrorism Enforcement and Prevention ("STEP") Act, a piece of anti-gang legislation passed in 1988 in the wake of rampant gang-related violence in the Los Angeles area. Specifically, this discussion centers on the imposition of multiple gang-enhancement provisions on a single defendant who engages in a single crime spree. If section 654 does apply to gang enhancements, then the prosecutorial practice of attaching them to every criminal charge in an indictment violates the intent of this Penal Code section, …


To Download Or Not To Download: Is Mere Membership Enough To Justify A Search Of A Home Computer For Child Pornography Under United States V. Gourde?, Erin Frazor Oct 2010

To Download Or Not To Download: Is Mere Membership Enough To Justify A Search Of A Home Computer For Child Pornography Under United States V. Gourde?, Erin Frazor

Golden Gate University Law Review

In the nine to two decision by the en banc Ninth Circuit panel in United States v. Gourde, the court ruled that probable cause existed to search the defendant's home computer based in part on his two-month subscription to a website that offered child pornography. The majority opinion sought to conform to Supreme Court precedent in its probable cause analysis, while the dissenting opinions expressed great concern about the door being opened to this type of governmental invasion of privacy. Gourde has sparked reactions by commentators regarding the implications of the decision, and has influenced the analysis of subsequent child …


Uncovering Fraud Against The Government By Way Of Freedom Of Information Act Requests: United States V. Catholic Healthcare West, Katherine Watts Oct 2010

Uncovering Fraud Against The Government By Way Of Freedom Of Information Act Requests: United States V. Catholic Healthcare West, Katherine Watts

Golden Gate University Law Review

In United States v. Catholic Healthcare West, the Ninth Circuit held that when information leading to a False Claims Act ("FCA") suit is obtained from a Freedom of Information Act ("FOIA") request, that suit is not necessarily barred for lack of subject matter jurisdiction. The FCA contains a jurisdictional bar prohibiting suits based on publicly disclosed information from certain enumerated sources. The Ninth Circuit disagreed with the Third Circuit and found that information obtained from an FOIA request does not necessarily bar a FCA claim. The court found that the inquiry should not be whether the FOIA response qualifies as …


Nonconsensual Waiver Of A Jury Trial: Closing The Door, But Not Completely: United States V. United States District Court, Dije Ndreu Oct 2010

Nonconsensual Waiver Of A Jury Trial: Closing The Door, But Not Completely: United States V. United States District Court, Dije Ndreu

Golden Gate University Law Review

In United States v. United States District Court, the Ninth Circuit held that the circumstances of a child sexual abuse case did not warrant an exception to Rule 23 of the Federal Rules of Criminal Procedure, which requires the government's consent for a defendant to waive a jury trial. The court determined that the district court's ruling, which allowed the defendant to waive a jury trial without the government's consent, was clearly erroneous as a matter of law, and granted the government's petition for a writ of mandamus to require the district court to hold a jury trial.


An Employer's Use Of Federal Safety Standards To Exclude Individuals With Disabilities: Bates V. United Parcel Service, Inc., Ian Hansen Oct 2010

An Employer's Use Of Federal Safety Standards To Exclude Individuals With Disabilities: Bates V. United Parcel Service, Inc., Ian Hansen

Golden Gate University Law Review

In Bates v. United Parcel Service, Inc., the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit held that a plaintiff challenging a categorical safety-based "qualification standard" under the Americans with Disabilities Act does not have the burden of establishing that she could perform the essential function of generally performing the job "safely." The plaintiff is instead merely required to show that she is "qualified" in the sense that she has satisfied all prerequisites for the position, including any safety-related prerequisites not connected with the challenged criterion. The burden will then shift to the defendant to establish that the challenged …


Symbolic Speech And Equal Protection At The Las Vegas Fremont Street Experience: Aclu Of Nevada V. City Of Las Vegas, Christopher Donewald Oct 2010

Symbolic Speech And Equal Protection At The Las Vegas Fremont Street Experience: Aclu Of Nevada V. City Of Las Vegas, Christopher Donewald

Golden Gate University Law Review

In ACLU of Nevada v. City of Las Vegas, the Ninth Circuit held that a local "solicitation" ordinance enacted by the City of Las Vegas violated the plaintiffs' rights to expressive speech under the First Amendment. Additionally, the Ninth Circuit held that a "tabling" ordinance, which provided a labor-related exception, violated the plaintiffs' right to equal protection guaranteed by the Fourteenth Amendment. The court also decided an issue of flrst impression: whether the practice of erecting tables in a public forum for the purpose of disseminating information constitutes expressive activity and is therefore deserving of First Amendment protection. The Ninth …


United States V. Thomas: Ninth Circuit Misunder-"Standing": Why Permission To Drive Should Not Be Necessary To Create An Expectation Of Privacy In A Rental Car, Matthew M. Shafae Oct 2010

United States V. Thomas: Ninth Circuit Misunder-"Standing": Why Permission To Drive Should Not Be Necessary To Create An Expectation Of Privacy In A Rental Car, Matthew M. Shafae

Golden Gate University Law Review

This Note argues that the proper inquiry for determining whether a defendant has a legitimate expectation of privacy in a rental vehicle when that defendant is the unauthorized driver of a rental car is the totality-of-the-circumstances test, not the permission test adopted by the Ninth Circuit. A test requiring permission is unsupported by Supreme Court precedent and will yield inconsistent results when applied. Part I provides a brief historical background for challenges to Fourth Amendment searches. Part II sets forth the background and analysis of the opinion in focus, United States v. Thomas. Part III evaluates the court's analysis in …


An Unreasonable Online Search: How A Sheriffs Webcams Strengthened Fourth Amendment Privacy Rights Of Pretrial Detainees, Ian Wood Oct 2010

An Unreasonable Online Search: How A Sheriffs Webcams Strengthened Fourth Amendment Privacy Rights Of Pretrial Detainees, Ian Wood

Golden Gate University Law Review

This Note will discuss how courts approach pretrial detainees' claims of punishment, exploring both Fourteenth Amendment Due Process claims and privacy rights under the Fourth Amendment. It will go on to discuss Demery's implications for Fourth Amendment privacy rights of pretrial detainees. Part I explores the protections pretrial detainees are afforded under the Fourteenth Amendment Due Process Clause." Part l.A discusses the general differences between pretrial detainees and convicted prisoners. Part I.B considers two Supreme Court cases - Bell v. Wolfish and Block v. Rutherford - that address the standards used in evaluating punishment claims in a pretrial detention context …