Law Commons^™

Employment Law—Just Let Them Handle It Amongst Themselves: An Argument In Favor Of Abandoning The Application Of The Lynn's Food Stores Standard To Flsa Settlement Agreements, Matthew C. Lewis

University of Arkansas at Little Rock Law Review

No abstract provided.

Sentencing Length Disparities: Assessing Why Race And Gender Influence Judges’ Decisions, Janna Akers

Scripps Senior Theses

The purpose of this study is to assess why the race and gender of defendants influence judges’ decisions using the focal concern theory. This study will require around 84 participants. Participants will be federal judges who will be recruited via email. In an online survey, participants will be randomly assigned to one of four conditions . Participants will all read a vignette which an individual was convicted for in trafficking of Xanax. The vignette will be manipulated by the name and accompanying a mugshot based on the race (Black/White) and gender (male/female) of the defendant. The expected result is that …

Bounded Rationality, Paternalism, And Trademark Law, Stacey Dogan

Faculty Scholarship

We don’t need behavioral economics to understand that trade marks can shape consumer preferences in ways that have little to do with objectively measurable differences in product quality. Scholars, judges, economists, and policymakers have long recognized the tendency of strong marks to skew consumer decisions. The concern lies not only in price effects but with the allocative effects of encouraging investment in persuasive advertising, rather than product innovation or similar “productive” pursuits. While informative advertising can benefit consumers, advertising that creates artificial brand-based differences between otherwise identical products appears not only costly to consumers but also socially wasteful.

This Essay …

Libertarian Quasi-Paternalism, Jacob Goldin

Missouri Law Review

In many settings, people’s choices vary based on seemingly arbitrary features of the choice environment. Policies that manipulate these features to improve decision-makers’ well-being are paternalistic – unless one takes the unrealistic view that these features are relevant from the perspective of the choosers’ preferences. In such settings, I propose that policy design can be less paternalistic if the only people assumed to be making mistakes are those whose choices are observed to vary based on the arbitrary feature of the choice environment. I discuss several characteristics of such “quasi-paternalistic” policy design and conclude by applying the principle of quasi-paternalism …

Keynote: Forcing People To Choose Is Paternalistic, Cass R. Sunstein

Missouri Law Review

It can be paternalistic to force people to choose. Often people do not wish to choose, but both private and public institutions ask or force them to do so, thus overriding their wishes. As a result, people’s autonomy may be badly compromised and their welfare may be greatly reduced. These points have implications for a range of issues in law and policy, suggesting that those who favor active choosing, and insist on it, may well be overriding people’s preferences and values, and thus running afoul of John Stuart Mill’s Harm Principle (for better or for worse). People have limited mental …

A Third Theory Of Paternalism, Nicolas Cornell

Michigan Law Review

This Article examines the normative significance of paternalism. That an action, a law, or a policy is paternalistic generally counts against it. This Article considers three reasons why this might be so—that is, three theories about what gives paternalism its normative character. This Article’s claim is that the two most common explanations for paternalism’s negative character are mistaken. The first view, which underlies the recent work by Professors Thaler and Sunstein, maintains that paternalism is negatively charged because it involves coercive interference with people’s choices. This approach proves inadequate, however, because more coercive actions can be a less objectionable form …

The Separation Of Intelligence And Control: Retirement Savings And The Limits Of Soft Paternalism, Jacob Hale Russell

William & Mary Business Law Review

“Soft paternalism” is in vogue among academics and lawmakers, but too much is being asked of it. This Article studies soft paternalist techniques—including nudging and disclosure—which have been used in the employersponsored retirement system. Defined-contribution retirement plans represent an ideal test case for libertarian paternalism: there has been extensive experimentation, and nudge advocates have often held up such plans as successes. In particular, this Article focuses on investment allocation decisions in retirement portfolios, and suggests that we should be skeptical of the ability of soft paternalism to improve those decisions. When a domain is rife with conflicts of interest—as in …

Cognitive Errors, Individual Differences, And Paternalism, Jeffrey J. Rachlinski

Jeffrey J. Rachlinski

Legal scholars commonly argue that the widespread presence of cognitive errors in judgment justifies legal intervention to save people from predictable mistakes. Such arguments often fail to account for individual variation in the commission of such errors even though individual variation is probably common. If predictable groups of people avoid making the errors that others commit, then law should account for such differences because those who avoid errors will not benefit from paternalistic interventions and indeed may be harmed by them. The research on individual variation suggests three parameters that might distinguish people who can avoid error: cognitive ability, experience …

Heterogeneity In Irb Policies With Regard To Disclosures About Payment For Participation In Recruitment Materials, Christopher Robertson, Megan Wright

Faculty Scholarship

Scholars have documented variation in the way local Institutional Review Boards differently adjudicate identical research proposals. It is unclear whether such heterogeneity is due to variation in positive policies, or variation in human processes of interpretation and enforcement. A particularly interesting question relates to whether investigators are allowed to provide truthful information about research opportunities to potential participants, which some IRBs seem to forbid. We investigated local IRB policies on disclosing the amount of compensation in recruitment materials by conducting a census of the top 100 institutions by receipt of NIH funding in 2012. We downloaded the relevant policies and …

Paternalism, Public Health, And Behavioral Economics: A Problematic Combination, Wendy K. Mariner

Faculty Scholarship

Some critiques of public health regulations assume that measures directed at industry should be considered paternalistic whenever they limit any consumer choices. Given the presumption against paternalistic measures, this conception of paternalism puts government proposals to regulate industry to the same stringent proof as clearly paternalist proposals to directly regulate individuals for their own benefit. The result is to discourage regulating industry in ways that protect the public from harm and instead to encourage regulating individuals for their own good -- quite the opposite of what one would expect from a rejection of paternalism. Arguments favoring "soft paternalism" to justify …

Paternalistic Interventions In Civil Rights And Poverty Law: A Case Study Of Environmental Justice, Anthony V. Alfieri

Michigan Law Review

Low-income communities of color in Miami and in cities across the nation both share aspirations of equal justice and democratic participation and suffer the burdens of legal underrepresentation and political disenfranchisement. Such burdens become crippling when, as in Miami, local legal aid offices, public interest organizations, and bar associations lack the resources to provide meaningful private access to justice or to muster significant public engagement in the political process. These burdens become especially crippling when, again as in Miami, local and state governments adopt policies that engender inner-city neglect, economic displacement, and racial exclusion. In these circumstances, volunteer lawyers from …

Limiting Liberty To Prevent Obesity: Justifiability Of Strong Hard Paternalism In Public Health Regulation, Thaddeus Mason Pope

Faculty Scholarship

Because of the largely self-regarding nature of obesity, many current and proposed public health regulatory measures are paternalistic. That is, these measures interfere with a person’s liberty with the primary goal of improving that person’s own welfare.

Paternalistic public health measures may be effective in reducing obesity. They may even be the only sufficiently effective type of regulation. But many commentators argue that paternalistic public health measures are not politically viable enough to get enacted. After all, paternalism is repugnant in our individualistic culture. It is "wrong" for the government to limit our liberty for our own good.

In this …

Nudging The Fda, W. Nicholson Price Ii, I. Glenn Cohen

Law Faculty Scholarship

[Excerpt] "The FDA’s regulation of drugs is frequently the subject of policy debate, with arguments falling into two camps. On the one hand, a libertarian view of patients and the health care system holds high the value of consumer choice. Patients should get all the information and the drugs they want; the FDA should do what it can to enforce some basic standards but should otherwise get out of the way. On the other hand, a paternalist view values the FDA’s role as an expert agency standing between patients and a set of potentially dangerous drugs and potentially unscrupulous or …

Institutionalized Silence: The Problem Of Child Voicelessness In Divorce Proceedings, Brandon Sadowsky

Brandon Sadowsky

In this paper, I present the current state of child representation in divorce proceedings. I argue that children should be represented in all divorce proceedings. I then consider the best interest and client-directed models of child representation and argue that each model is supported by important intuitions: paternalism and autonomy, respectively. I try to formulate a hybrid model that satisfies both of these intuitions.

The Methodology Of The Behavioral Analysis Of Law, Avishalom Tor

Avishalom Tor

This article examines the behavioral analysis of law, meaning the application of empirical behavioral evidence to legal analysis, which has become increasingly popular in legal scholarship in recent years. Following the introduction in Part I, this Article highlights four central propositions on the subject. The first, developed in Part II, asserts that the efficacy of the law often depends on its accounting for relevant patterns of human behavior, most notably those studied by behavioral decision scientists. This Part therefore reviews important behavioral findings, illustrating their application and relevance to a broad range of legal questions. Part III then argues that …

Doctors, Patients, And Pills--A System Popping Under Too Much Physician Discretion? A Law-Policy Prescription To Make Drug Approval More Meaningful In The Delivery Of Health Care, Michael J. Malinowski

Michael J. Malinowski

This article challenges the scope of physician discretion to engage in off-label use of prescription drugs. The discretion to prescribe dimensions beyond the clinical research that puts new drugs on pharmacy shelves has been shaped by two historic influences: a legacy of physician paternalism, solidarity, autonomy, and self-determination that predates the contemporary commercialization of medicine by more than half a century, and regulatory necessity due to the limits of science and innate crudeness of pharmaceuticals prior to the genomics revolution (drug development and delivery based upon genetic expression). Although both factors have changed immensely, the standard for drug approval has …

Visual Gut Punch: Persuasion, Emotion, And The Constitutional Meaning Of Graphic Disclosure, Ellen P. Goodman

ellen p. goodman

The ability of government to “nudge” with information mandates, or merely to inform consumers of risks, is circumscribed by First Amendment interests that have been poorly articulated in the relevant law and commentary. New graphic cigarette warning labels supplied courts with the first opportunity to assess the informational interests attending novel forms of product disclosures. The D.C. Circuit enjoined them as unconstitutional, compelled by a narrative that the graphic labels converted government from objective informer to ideological persuader, shouting its warning to manipulate consumer decisions. This interpretation will leave little room for graphic disclosure and is already being used to …

Neither A Pedestal Nor A Cage: In Pursuit Of Genuine Gender Equality In The Philippine Workplace, Emily Sanchez Salcedo

Maurer Theses and Dissertations

For seven straight years since 2006, the Philippines ranked among the top ten countries in the World Economic Forum’s Global Gender Gap Index that rates countries based on their ability to close the gender gap in four fundamental categories, to wit: economic participation and opportunity, educational attainment, health and survival, and political empowerment. At eighth place, the country leads the rest of Asia and proudly shares the top spot in educational attainment and health and survival while managing to land in the top twenty in terms of economic participation and opportunity and political empowerment. While these rankings warm the …

Prevention, Wrongdoing, And The Harm Principle's Breaking Point, Kimberly Kessler Ferzan

All Faculty Scholarship

Review of A. P. Simester and Andreas von Hirsch, Crimes, Harms, and Wrongs: On the Principles of Criminalisation (Hart 2011).

Pragmatism, Paternalism, And The Constitutional Protection Of Commercial Speech, Allen K. Rostron

Faculty Works

Two key perspectives have emerged in the Supreme Court’s decisions about First Amendment protection of commercial speech. The anti-paternalism view, originally embraced by the Court’s most liberal members but now advanced by Clarence Thomas, holds that the government has only a narrow interest in preventing false advertising. To the extent that commercial speech is not fraudulent or misleading, the government must simply let people hear it and decide for themselves whether they find it persuasive. Other judges argue that courts need to be more pragmatic about the effects of advertising and more deferential to government attempts to promote public health …

Delicate Balancing Of Paternalism And Freedom To Contract: The Evolving Law Of Unconscionability In Missouri, A Law Summary , Scott Lee Smithson Jr.

Missouri Law Review

The contracts defense of unconscionability – infrequently exercised and less frequently successful – requires that a contractual provision be so odious that it “shocks the conscience” of the adjudicator. Case law suggests that during the last century, unconscionability has been argued successfully less than twenty times in the state of Missouri. The nature of an overall unconscionability analysis is rather tenuous, given that the defense is highly fact intensive, and a range of factors, rather than elements, controls. Despite this, Missouri courts had applied a uniform test in nearly every contract situation for decades, including contracts whose terms included a …

From Natural Law To Natural Inferiority: The Construction Of Racist Jurisprudence In Early Virginia, Allen P. Mendenhall

Allen Mendenhall

Science informed American jurisprudence during the age of the Revolution. Colonials used science and naturalism to navigate the wilderness, define themselves against the British, and forge a new national identity and constitutional order. American legal historians have long noted the influence of science upon the Founding generation, and historians of American slavery have casually noted the influence of science upon early American racism as organized and standardized in slave codes. This article seeks to synthesize the work of American legal historians and historians of American slavery by showing how natural law jurisprudence, anchored in scientific discourse and vocabulary, brought about …

Fitness Tax Credits: Costs, Benefits, And Viability, Daniel M. Reach

Northwestern Journal of Law & Social Policy

As the number of overweight and obese Americans rises, it becomes increasingly clear that Americans need further incentives to stimulate lasting lifestyle changes. Tax incentives focused on exercise, which have been largely unexplored to this point, are an effective response to the growing obesity problem in the United States that would largely avoid the political opposition that tax policies focused on diet have encountered. In addition, they would also provide a more palatable solution for the taxpayer beneficiaries with a relatively low impact on government revenues. Viable tax incentives to encourage greater fitness include tax credits and sales tax breaks, …

Brass Rings And Red-Headed Stepchildren: Protecting Active Criminal Informants, Michael L. Rich

Michael L Rich

Informants are valued law enforcement tools, and active criminal informants – criminals who maintain their illicit connections and feed evidence to the police in exchange for leniency – are the most prized of all. Yet society does little to protect active criminal informants from the substantial risks inherent in their recruitment and cooperation. As I have explored elsewhere, society’s apathy toward these informants is a result of distaste with their disloyalty and a concern that protecting them will undermine law enforcement effectiveness. This Article takes a different tack, however, building on existing scholarship on vulnerability and paternalism to argue that …

Doctors, Patients, And Pills--A System Popping Under Too Much Physician Discretion? A Law-Policy Prescription To Make Drug Approval More Meaningful In The Delivery Of Health Care, Michael J. Malinowski

Journal Articles

This article challenges the scope of physician discretion to engage in off-label use of prescription drugs. The discretion to prescribe dimensions beyond the clinical research that puts new drugs on pharmacy shelves has been shaped by two historic influences: a legacy of physician paternalism, solidarity, autonomy, and self-determination that predates the contemporary commercialization of medicine by more than half a century, and regulatory necessity due to the limits of science and innate crudeness of pharmaceuticals prior to the genomics revolution (drug development and delivery based upon genetic expression). Although both factors have changed immensely, the standard for drug approval has …

Time To Cut The Fat: The Case For Government Anti-Obesity Legislation , Stephen A. Mcguinness

Journal of Law and Health

This Article examines—and ultimately rejects—this anti-paternalism argument against government anti-obesity policies. It argues that government intervention in the food industry for the purpose of stemming the American obesity epidemic is justified and survives paternalistic objections to the contrary. This Article begins by briefly outlining the nature, severity, and causes of the obesity epidemic. It considers what can be done about the problem, finding that only government intervention is capable of effectively combating the crisis. It also outlines several types of potentially successful government anti-obesity strategies. Finally, it considers the primary topic of this Article: whether government anti-obesity policies constitute unjustified …

Logical Inconsistencies In The Law Of Euthanasia, Matthew M. Pustay

Matthew M. Pustay

In American jurisprudence the subject of assisted death is one that evokes strong feelings from people on both sides of the argument. In addition to being a legal issue, this discussion is closely tied to morality, personal politics and religion. Herein, this paper will show that based on the current American jurisprudence and standards of medical practice, there is a fundamental incoherency both morally and logically in the arguments opposing the practice of voluntary active euthanasia.

Logical Inconsistencies In The Law Of Euthanasia, Matthew M. Pustay

Matthew M. Pustay

In American jurisprudence the subject of assisted death is one that evokes strong feelings from people on both sides of the argument. In addition to being a legal issue, this discussion is closely tied to morality, personal politics and religion. Herein, this paper will show that based on the current American jurisprudence and standards of medical practice, there is a fundamental incoherency both morally and logically in the arguments opposing the practice of voluntary active euthanasia.

Consigning Women To The Immediate Orbit Of A Man: How Missouri’S Relocation Law Substitutes Judicial Paternalism For Parental Judgment By Forcing Parents To Live Near One Another, Julie Hixson-Lambson

Saint Louis University Law Journal

No abstract provided.

Converging Trajectories: Interest Convergence, Justice Kennedy, And Jeannie Suk's "The Trajectory Of Trauma", Jennifer S. Hendricks

Publications

This essay responds to Jeannie Suk's recent article in the Columbia Law Review, The Trajectory of Trauma: Bodies and Minds of Abortion Discourse. Suk argues that feminists are responsible for legitimizing a paternalistic attitude towards women that came home to roost in Gonzales v. Carhart. This essay argues that Suk's critique of feminist paternalism needs to be supplemented with a discussion of traditional paternalism and its influence on how feminist advocacy enters the law. In particular, it suggests that Derrick Bell's theory of interest convergence provides a useful framework for understanding the cultural, legal, and rhetorical evidence adduced …