Jurisprudence Commons^™

Fears, Faith, And Facts In Environmental Law, William W. Buzbee

Georgetown Law Faculty Publications and Other Works

Environmental law has long been shaped by both the particular nature of environmental harms and by the actors and institutions that cause such harms or can address them. This nation’s environmental statutes remain far from perfect, and a comprehensive law tailored to the challenges of climate change is still elusive. Nonetheless, America’s environmental laws provide lofty, express protective purposes and findings about reasons for their enactment. They also clearly state health and environmental goals, provide tailored criteria for action, and utilize procedures and diverse regulatory tools that reflect nuanced choices.

But the news is far from good. Despite the ambitious …

Jazz Improvisation And The Law: Constrained Choice, Sequence, And Strategic Movement Within Rules, William W. Buzbee

Georgetown Law Faculty Publications and Other Works

This Article argues that a richer understanding of the nature of law is possible through comparative, analogical examination of legal work and the art of jazz improvisation. This exploration illuminates a middle ground between rule of law aspirations emphasizing stability and determinate meanings and contrasting claims that the untenable alternative is pervasive discretionary or politicized law. In both the law and jazz improvisation settings, the work involves constraining rules, others’ unpredictable actions, and strategic choosing with attention to where a collective creation is going. One expects change and creativity in improvisation, but the many analogous characteristics of law illuminate why …

Stasis And Change In Environmental Law: The Past, Present And Future Of The Fordham Environmental Law Review, Gerald S. Dickinson

Articles

The past twenty years of environmental law are marked as much by legislative stasis as by profound change in the way that lawyers, policymakers, and scholars interact with the field. Although no new federal legislation was passed over the past two decades, much has changed about the field of environmental law. This change is the result of a set of conceptual and legal challenges to the field posed by intellectual and policy movements that took root in the early 1990s. The intellectual and policy movements that have most profoundly shaped the field of environmental law in the past twenty years …

A Complete Property Right Amendment, John H. Ryskamp

ExpressO

The trend of the eminent domain reform and "Kelo plus" initiatives is toward a comprehensive Constitutional property right incorporating the elements of level of review, nature of government action, and extent of compensation. This article contains a draft amendment which reflects these concerns.

Bond Repudiation, Tax Codes, The Appropriations Process And Restitution Post-Eminent Domain Reform, John H. Ryskamp

ExpressO

This brief comment suggests where the anti-eminent domain movement might be heading next.

Breaking The Bank: Revisiting Central Bank Of Denver After Enron And Sarbanes-Oxley, Celia Taylor

ExpressO

No abstract provided.

Heci V. Neel: Application Of The Discovery Rule To Damages Arising Out Of Oil And Gas Leases., L. Melanie Martin

St. Mary's Law Journal

Texas landowners face a heavy burden in bringing claims for damages arising out of inherently undiscoverable damages to mineral estates because the statute of limitations starts at the time of injury rather than the time of discovery. Previously, courts adopted the discovery rule as an exception to the statute of limitations, effectively stalling the starting point of the statute of limitations. A two-pronged threshold inquiry is held before the application of the discovery rule. First, the court must determine if the injury is inherently undiscoverable or not detected despite the use of due diligence. Secondly, there must be objectively verifiable …

Restoring What’S Environmental About Environmental Law In The Supreme Court, Richard J. Lazarus

Georgetown Law Faculty Publications and Other Works

In this Article, Professor Richard Lazarus examines the votes of the individual Justices who have decided environmental law cases before the United States Supreme Court during the past three decades. The Article reports on a number of interesting statistics regarding the identity of those Justices who have most influenced the Court's environmental law jurisprudence and the sometimes curious patterns in voting exhibited by individual Justices. Lazarus's thesis is that the Supreme Court's apparent apathy or even antipathy towards environmental law during that time results from the Justices' failure to appreciate environmental law as a distinct area of law. The Justices …

The Lautenberg Amendment: Congress Hit The Mark By Banning Firearms From Domestic Violence Offenders Comment., Polly Mccann Pruneda

St. Mary's Law Journal

Immediate action is critical to preserve the goals of the Lautenberg Amendment to protect victims of domestic violence from future abuse and their abusers. Incidents of gun-related domestic violence are not uncommon in the United States. Statistics show that domestic violence takes one life every three days and the combination of guns and domestic violence cause more deaths than incidents which are not associated with guns. In 1996, Congress attempted to find a solution to this problem. The Lautenberg Amendment, enacted pursuant to Congress’ Commerce Clause power, seeks to protect individuals from gun related injury or death occurring within domestic …

Capital Punishment: A Critique Of The Political And Philosophical Thought Supporting The Justices' Positions., Samuel J.M. Donnelly

St. Mary's Law Journal

Since Gregg v. Georgia, the Supreme Court has developed what could be described as a subparadigm for capital punishment. This subparadigm is now at a point of crisis for two enduring and mutually supporting reasons. The dissents by Justice Brennan and Justice Marshall represent the convergence of the better modern thought in regard to capital punishment. Even with the retirement of both Justices, the criticism found in their dissenting opinions presents a continuing challenge to the plurality’s position. Those using the plurality’s rhetoric are now split into two groups. Justices Blackmun and Stevens regularly vote against capital punishment, while focusing …

Hazardous Chemicals In The Workplace: The Employer's Obligation To Inform Employees And The Community., Nelson A. Clare

St. Mary's Law Journal

Significant changes have recently occurred in reporting requirements for employers who have hazardous chemicals in their workplaces. The amended Federal Hazard Communication Standard requires private employers, engaged in a business using hazardous chemicals, to communicate to employees the potential hazards. The Standard requires employers to use: 1) a Hazard Communication Program, 2) labels and other forms of warning, 3) material safety data sheets, and 4) information and training about hazardous chemicals. Local and state governments must compare and reconcile the various and complex provisions relating to the Standard to ensure compliance with all requirements of the respective laws. The Texas …

Take-Or-Pay Provisions: Major Problems For The Natural Gas Industry Comment., David L. Roland

St. Mary's Law Journal

A prompt solution to the take-or-pay problem is vital to the survival of the natural gas industry. Due to the increasingly turbulent and unpredictable natural gas market, most natural gas producers include a take-or-pay provision in their gas purchase contracts. Take-or-pay provisions require a pipeline company to either take an amount of natural gas from the producer or the company must pay for the specified amount. The market, however, has changed and the demand for natural gas declined. The demand can be partly attributed to the energy crisis of a decade ago. As a result of the crisis, consumers are …