Law Commons^™

Political Risk Allocation In Egyptian Ppp Projects, Yousef Mohamed Al Amly Llm

Yousef Mohamed Al Amly LLM

Egypt has been recently suffering from several political changes since the revolution of the 25th of January and that has been jeopardizing the political stability required to encourage Investors to invest in financing infrastructures that is deemed to be crucial to help in the prosperity and welfare of the Egyptians. Therefore defining the types of political risks and efficiently allocating them is considered as one of the main keys to encourage more Investors to bid for the future coming PPP projects.

The Reactionary Road To Free Love: How Doma, State Marriage Amendments And Social Conservatives Undermine Traditional Marriage, Scott Titshaw

Scott Titshaw

Much has been written about the possible effects on different-sex marriage of legally recognizing same-sex marriage. This article looks at the defense of marriage from a different angle: It shows how rejecting same-sex marriage results in political compromise and the proliferation of “marriage light” alternatives (e.g., civil unions, domestic partnerships, or reciprocal beneficiaries) that undermine the unique status of marriage for everyone. In the process, it examines several aspects of the marriage debate in detail. After describing the flexibility of marriage as it has evolved over time, the article focuses on recent state constitutional amendments attempting to stop further development. …

Providing A Foundation For Wealth For Wealth Creation And Development In Africa: The Role Of The Rule Of Law, John Mukum Mbaku

JOHN MUKUM MBAKU

PROVIDING A FOUNDATION FOR WEALTH CREATION AND DEVELOPMENT IN AFRICA: THE ROLE OF THE RULE OF LAW JOHN MUKUM MBAKU ABSTRACT This paper examines the struggle in Africa to alleviate and eventually eradicate poverty. It is argued that the most effective way for African countries to deal with poverty is to create wealth. Unfortunately, these countries have not been able to create the wealth that they need to confront poverty. This is due primarily to the fact that since independence, these countries have not been able to undertake democratic institutional reforms to create and adopt institutional arrangements that guarantee and …

Property And Republicanism In The Northwest Ordinance, Matthew J. Festa

Matthew J. Festa

This Article shows that individual property rights held a central place in the republican ideology of the founding era by examining the Northwest Ordinance of 1787. Between the two predominant strains of founding-era political ideology—liberalism and republicanism—the conventional view holds that individual property rights were central to Lockean liberalism, but not to the republican political tradition, where property is thought to have played more of a communitarian role as part of promoting civic virtue and the common good. Republicanism has been invoked in modern debates, and its emphases are present in current ideas such as the important new theory of …

The Emergence Of Private Property Law In China And Its Impact On Human Rights, Mark D. Kielsgard, Lei Chen

Mark D. Kielsgard

ABSTRACT This article investigates the development of private property law in the PRC and its connection to the growth of human rights trends in China. It assesses the vitality of these trends, reviews the relevant historic legal and social background and demonstrates how the introduction of private property in China has fundamentally altered the fabric of its civil society. Drawing upon case studies and statutory analysis, and evaluating them from the perspective of both Chinese and Western scholarship, it analyzes trends driving greater democratic structures by reviewing the self-governance of condominium owners associations and the human rights practices they have …

The Constitutional Procedural Principle: A Normative Morphology For Gauging Threats To Judicial Independence, Tara Price

Tara Price

For more than two hundred years, judicial review has served as the foundation of the American judicial branch. And yet, more than two centuries later, scholars and political figures continue to debate its proper place in American government. Recently, Presidential candidate Newt Gingrich waded into this debate, calling for members of Congress and the President to take stronger actions to check and balance what he termed “judicial supremacy.” Cries for a weakened judicial branch and insistence on the importance of reining in activist judges are becoming commonplace throughout American history.

As Gingrich and many before him have realized, the President …

Marginalized Monitoring: Adaptively Managing Urban Stormwater, Melissa K. Scanlan, Stephanie Tai

Melissa K. Scanlan

Adaptive management is a theory that encourages environmental managers to engage in a continual learning process and adapt their management choices based on learning about new scientific developments. One such area of scientific development relevant to water management is bacterial genetics, which now allow scientists to identify when human sewage is getting into places it should not be. Source-specific bacterial testing in a variety of cities across the United States indicates there is human sewage in urban stormwater pipes. These pipes are designed to carry runoff from city streets and lots, and they send untreated water directly into rivers, streams, …

Changing The Paradigm Of International Criminal Law: Considering The Work Of The United Nations War Crimes Commission Of 1943-1948, Daniel T. Plesch, Shanti Sattler

Daniel T Plesch

Changing the Paradigm of International Criminal Law: Considering the Work of the United Nations War Crimes Commission of 1943-1948 by Dr Dan Plesch and Shanti Sattler This article discusses the precedents of the largely forgotten United Nations War Crimes Commission (U.N.W.C.C.) of 1943-1948. The work of this multinational body should be regarded as a source of customary international law. We seek to introduce the U.N.W.C.C. and the thousands of national trials it supported into modern discourse about the development of international criminal justice and argue why they are relevant to current deliberations. The article concludes that the U.N.W.C.C. has been …

Toward Cyber Peace: Managing Cyber Attacks Through Polycentric Governance, Scott Shackelford

Scott Shackelford

Views range widely about the seriousness of cyber attacks and the likelihood of cyber war. But even framing cyber attacks within the context of a loaded category like war can be an oversimplification that shifts focus away from enhancing cybersecurity against the full range of threats now facing companies, countries, and the international community. Current methods are proving ineffective at managing cyber attacks, and as cybersecurity legislation is being debated in the U.S. Congress and around the world the time is ripe for a fresh look at this critical topic. This Article searches for alternative avenues to foster cyber peace …

Congressional Disclosure Of Time Spent Fundraising, Robert Brent Ferguson

Robert Brent Ferguson

This Article advocates passage of a law requiring members of Congress to disclose the amount of time they spend fundraising.

In the wake of Citizens United and other court decisions severely limiting lawmakers’ ability to regulate campaign spending, many scholars have turned their focus to campaign finance disclosure laws. According to some, laws requiring campaigns and donors to reveal the source of contributions and expenditures are the last bastion of federal campaign finance law. Yet despite a history of broad acceptance, disclosure laws rest on an increasingly shaky foundation.

The most troubling aspect of current disclosure law is that it …

Congressional Disclosure Of Time Spent Fundraising, Robert Brent Ferguson

Robert Brent Ferguson

This Article advocates passage of a law requiring members of Congress to disclose the amount of time they spend fundraising.

In the wake of Citizens United and other court decisions severely limiting lawmakers’ ability to regulate campaign spending, many scholars have turned their focus to campaign finance disclosure laws. According to some, laws requiring campaigns and donors to reveal the source of contributions and expenditures are the last bastion of federal campaign finance law. Yet despite a history of broad acceptance, disclosure laws rest on an increasingly shaky foundation.

The most troubling aspect of current disclosure law is that it …

Congressional Disclosure Of Time Spent Fundraising, Robert Brent Ferguson

Robert Brent Ferguson

Abstract

This Article advocates passage of a law requiring members of Congress to disclose the amount of time they spend fundraising.

In the wake of Citizens United and other court decisions severely limiting lawmakers’ ability to regulate campaign spending, many scholars have turned their focus to campaign finance disclosure laws. According to some, laws requiring campaigns and donors to reveal the source of contributions and expenditures are the last bastion of federal campaign finance law. Yet despite a history of broad acceptance, disclosure laws rest on an increasingly shaky foundation.

The most troubling aspect of current disclosure law is that …

Blind Trusts As A Model For Campaign Finance Reform, Perry A. Pirsch

Perry A Pirsch

BLIND TRUSTS AS A MODEL FOR CAMPAIGN FINANCE REFORM

Perry A. Pirsch, MA

University of Nebraska, 2012

In this thesis, I explore whether blind trusts present a viable option for campaign finance reform. More specifically, would either permitting (voluntary) or requiring (mandatory) anonymous donations for political campaigns allow for fully funded, yet privately funded, campaigns while preventing problems, whether real or perceived, such as buying influence (quid pro quo) or buying access, which are traditionally associated with large campaign donations?

To study this question, I have examined the constitutional origins of the need to fund federal campaigns, Congress’ power to …

Blue Jeans, Chewing Gum, And Climate Change Litigation: American Exports To Europe, Daniel Hare

Daniel Hare

This paper analyzes how American-style climate change litigation might be adopted by the European Union (EU) and projects potential methods by which the EU might employ the U.S. model, if it indeed chooses to take the climate change battle to the courts. By synthesizing existing U.S. case law in the environment and climate change fields, the paper roughly defines the “American model” of climate change litigation as parens patriae actions, oftentimes based in the tort of public nuisance, brought by states and other sovereign entities against polluter-defendants. The structural differences between the common law United States and predominantly civil law …

Hope, Fear And Loathing, And The Post-Sebelius Disequilibrium: Assessing The Relationship Between Parties, Congress, And Courts In Tea Party America, Bruce Peabody

Bruce Peabody

The article examines recent website commentary by members of the U.S. House on the judiciary, court cases, and judicial power. We consider member websites both before and after the just-completed 2011 Supreme Court term. With this unique data at our disposal, we argue that three features of today’s political environment—the rise of the Tea Party, instability in traditional party allegiances to courts, and low voter ratings of the legislature’s institutional performance—have combined to create a moment of disequilibrium when it comes to Congress’s public assessments of the judiciary. We sketch a picture of institutional, partisan, and ideological engagement with the …

Religion And The Equal Protection Clause, Steven G. Calabresi, Abe Salander

Steven G Calabresi

This article argues that state action that discriminates on the basis of religion is unconstitutional under the Equal Protection Doctrine even if it does not violate the Establishment Clause or the Free Exercise Clause as incorporated by the Fourteenth Amendment. State action that discriminates on the basis of religion should be subject to strict scrutiny and should almost always be held unconstitutional. We thus challenge the Supreme Court’s recent decision in Christian Legal Society v. Martinez in which a 5 to 4 majority of the Court wrongly allowed a California state school to discriminate against a Christian Legal Society chapter …

Democracy On The High Wire: Citizen Commission Implementation Of The Voting Rights Act, Justin Levitt

Justin Levitt

The Voting Rights Act, often praised as the most successful civil rights statute, is among the most fact-intensive of election regulations. California, the country’s most populous and most diverse state, is among the most challenging terrain for applying the Act. California is also the largest jurisdiction at the vanguard of a burgeoning experiment in indirect direct democracy: allowing lay citizens, not incumbent officials, to regulate the infrastructure of representation.

In 2011, fourteen California citizens strode into the briar patch where citizen institutions intersect the Voting Rights Act. These fourteen comprised the state’s brand-new Citizens Redistricting Commission: an official body of …

The Curious Case Of Convenience Casinos: How Internet Sweepstakes Cafes Survive In A Gray Area Between Unlawful Gambling And Legitimate Business Promotions, Steven J. Silver

Steven Silver

Once relegated to the Nevada desert and New Jersey shore, gambling is now everywhere in the United States. State governments strapped for cash and desperate for increased tax revenues are welcoming gambling with open arms as forty-three states sponsor lotteries and twenty-three states house casinos. Despite this gaming boom, the ease of access to casinos has not deterred entrepreneurs from successfully creating an offshoot industry of “convenience casinos.” Convenience casinos are simply Internet cafes that sell Internet time cards attached with instant-win sweepstakes entries, much like the code underneath a Coke bottle or a McDonald’s Monopoly game piece. Although seemingly …

Illuminating Corruption Pathways: Modifying The Fcpa’S “Grease Payment” Exception To Galvanize Anti-Corruption Movements In Developing Nations, Ivan Perkins

Ivan Perkins

The Article proposes a new web-based reporting and publication system for “grease” or “facilitating” payments under the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (“FCPA”). The FCPA penalizes the bribery of foreign government officials, but contains an exception for facilitating payments, made to expedite “routine governmental actions” such as mail or telephone services. Noting the ambiguities within the exception, many commentators and practitioners have called for its abolition. The Article proposes a different solution: entities making facilitating payments should be required to report these payments to the Department of Justice (“DOJ”). Then, the DOJ would publish this information on a website, with graphics …

Judicial Efficacy – Providing Justice In State Courts In The Midst Of A Budget Crisis, Mark Gould

Mark Gould

No abstract provided.

News Value, Islamophobia, Or The First Amendment, Why And How The Philadelphia Inquirer Published The Danish Cartoons, Robert Kahn

Robert Kahn

The typical framing of the United States in the Danish cartoon controversy is driven by the refusal of most papers to republish the cartoons. On this view, American journalists, unlike their European counterparts, focused narrowly on the cartoons' "news value" which--even at the papers that published the cartoons--ruled out the anti-Muslim stereotypes that accompanied the running of the cartoons in Denmark and Europe.

This paper puts this frame to the test by looking at the debate that unfolded after the Philadelphia Inquirer ran the turban cartoon. While editor Amanda Bennett defended her decision as "what newspapers do," a detailed review …

The Plenary Power Immigration Doctrine: The Post 9/11 Hijacking Of State Legislatures, Geordan S. Kushner

Geordan S Kushner

The Supreme Court has determined Congress’ authority over immigration policy to be one of its plenary powers. Classifying immigration as a plenary power effectively precludes any external involvement and/or interference from any other entity. From the early 1900s and into the 21st Century, Congressional plenary authority over immigration had come to be expected and desired in the United States. However, one event changed this, essentially rendering that power over immigration unconstitutional when taken in light of other doctrines the Court has iterated.

The event that brought about this transformation was the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001. The attacks transformed …

Obamacare And Federalism's Tug Of War Within, Erin Ryan

Erin Ryan

This month, the Supreme Court will decide what some believe will be among the most important cases in the history of the institution. In the “Obamacare” cases, the Court considers whether the Affordable Care Act (“ACA”) exceeds the boundaries of federal authority under the various provisions of the Constitution that establish the relationship between local and national governance. Its response will determine the fate of Congress’s efforts to grapple with the nation’s health care crisis, and perhaps other legislative responses to wicked regulatory problems like climate governance or education policy. Whichever way the gavel falls, the decisions will likely impact …

China's Engagement With The Security Council, Christopher James Mccabe Holland

Christopher J M Holland

China’s engagement with the UN Security Council has received close attention since its veto of UN action in Syria. Some commentators have argued that this veto signals the beginning of a more aggressive and independent China, and is an indication of its resilience to western and foreign pressure. However, this paper argues that the significance of China’s resistance to UN action should not be overstated.

The proposed intervention in Syria, like in Libya, was justified in legal terms on the basis of the doctrine of the “responsibility to protect” (R2P). Since the genesis of this doctrine at the turn of …

Can Super-Committees Cure Congressional Gridlock?, Sean J. Wright

Sean J Wright

No abstract provided.

Why Harlan Fiske Stone (Also) Matters, Eric H. Schepard

Eric H Schepard

Harlan Fiske Stone has been largely overlooked in the recent legal literature even though his legacy should influence how we resolve contemporary legal problems. This article examines Stone’s archived correspondence, his speeches and opinions, and numerous secondary sources to demonstrate why he is more important now than at any time since his death in 1946. As Attorney General from 1924-25, Stone’s decision to prohibit the Bureau of Investigation (BI, today’s FBI) from spying on domestic radicals established a framework that should guide the troublesome relationship between domestic intelligence and law enforcement that reemerged after September 11, 2001. As an Associate …

The Rules Of Engagement, David D. Butler

David D. Butler

This brief article contains 1,300 words. It is well worth your time to read it in full.

Many Voices, David D. Butler

David D. Butler

This brief article is 1,500 words, including its two intriguing footnotes. Read it in its entirety. Read it before the 2012 presidential election.

Why Harlan Fiske Stone (Also) Matters, Eric H. Schepard

Eric H Schepard

Harlan Fiske Stone has been largely overlooked in the recent legal literature even though his legacy should influence how we resolve contemporary legal problems. This article examines Stone’s archived correspondence, his speeches and opinions, and numerous secondary sources to demonstrate why he is more important now than at any time since his death in 1946. As Attorney General from 1924-25, Stone’s decision to prohibit the Bureau of Investigation (BI, today’s FBI) from spying on domestic radicals established a framework that should guide the troublesome relationship between domestic intelligence and law enforcement that reemerged after September 11, 2001. As an Associate …

Vote Of Confidence: Crawford V. Marion County Election Board, Voter Identification Laws, And The Suppression Of A Structural Right, Richard W. Trotter Esq.

Richard W. Trotter Esq.

In 2008, the Supreme Court, in Crawford v. Marion County Election Board, upheld the constitutional validity of an Indiana law that required the presentation of photo identification as a precondition to voting in all state, local, and federal elections. Since 2011, 14 additional states have enacted their own photo identification requirement. Twenty-one million registered and otherwise qualified voters, approximately 11 percent of the national total, may now be disenfranchised because they do not possess government-issued photo identification. The Court’s decision in Crawford turned on the application of a neutral balancing analysis that weighed the magnitude of voter burden against Indiana’s …