State and Local Government Law Commons^™

Using Youtube To Explain Housing, Michael Lewyn

Scholarly Works

In 2021, the author ran for Borough President of Manhattan, New York. The author tried to his scholarship into his campaign by producing over twenty Youtube videos, most of which addressed land use and housing policy. The article describes the videos, and evaluates their usefulness.

Malignant Democracy: Core Fallacies Underlying Election Of The Judiciary, Jeffrey W. Stempel

Scholarly Works

There is no requirement of democratic theory that mandates that all public offices be filled by election. This is particularly true in modern democratic states, which are simply too large to justify the administrative burden of electing everyone who has significant responsibilities in our society.

Examples of this are everywhere in modern democracies, such as the United States and Europe. In England, for example, the Prime Minister is not directly elected by the people. Does this mean Great Britain has ceased to be a democracy? In most large, sophisticated nation-states, national cabinet officers have great power but are the political …

Testing Two Assumptions About Federalism And Tort Reform, Thomas A. Eaton, Susette M. Talarico

Scholarly Works

In, 1996 both the United States House of Representatives and Senate passed legislation that, if enacted, would preempt state tort laws in significant ways. Why would a Congress otherwise apparently committed to vesting states with greater policymaking autonomy call for federal control of tort law?

Tort policymaking has traditionally been done at the state level. One assumption underlying this distribution of power is that states are better able than the national government to fashion tort rules appropriate for local conditions and circumstances. In other words, states are thought to have a special competence in crafting tort rules responsive to local …

Federalizing Through The Franchise: The Supreme Court And Local Government, R. Perry Sentell Jr.

Scholarly Works

Decisionmaking at the local government level has been significantly affected by both national legislation and federal court decisions seeking to protect the right to vote. Indeed, Professor Sentell feels that the Supreme Court, through decisions invalidating restrictions on the franchise, has involved itself to an unparalleled degree in heretofore purely local affairs. In examining these decisions, the author queries if legitimate voting regulations may be now imposed by local governments. In so doing he focuses upon the Court's equal protection analysis of extraordinary majority vote requirements and elections restricted to certain segments of the electorate and upon the expansive judicial …

The Legislative Process In Georgia Local Government Law, R. Perry Sentell Jr.

Scholarly Works

What our city fathers do as legislators and how they do it impinges upon the daily lives of most of us. Those involved in the production of municipal law and those affected by it will find this study of legislative procedure at the local level of great interest and help. Here is a solid piece of research which will stand for a long time to come.