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The Second Circuit And Social Justice, Matthew Diller, Alexander A. Reinert

Articles

The Second Circuit is renowned for its landmark rulings in fields such as white collar crime and securities law — bread and butter issues growing out of Wall Street’s preeminence in the financial landscape of the nation. At the same time, the Second Circuit has a long tradition of breaking new ground on issues of social justice. Unlike some circuit courts which have reputations in the area of social justice built around one or two fields, such as the Fifth Circuit’s pioneering role in civil rights litigation or the Ninth Circuit’s focus on immigration, there is no one area of …

Sai, Petitioner V.Transportation Security Administration, Respondent, Patricia E. Roberts, Tillman J. Breckenridge

Appellate and Supreme Court Clinic

No abstract provided.

Worse Than Pirates Or Prussian Chancellors: A State's Authority To Opt-Out Of The Quid Pro Quo, Michael C. Duff

All Faculty Scholarship

Privatization of public law dispute resolution in workplaces has been under intense scrutiny in the context of arbitration. Another kind of workplace dispute privatization is presently underway, or under serious consideration, in several states. In connection with state workers’ compensation statutes, one state has implemented, and others are considering, a dispute resolution model in which employers are explicitly authorized to “opt out” of coverage. “Alternative benefit plans,” created under such statutes, permit employers to, among other things, unilaterally and without limitation designate private fact-finders, whose conclusions are subject to highly deferential judicial review. This model is arbitration on steroids. While …

An Analysis Of Austin Lawyers Guild V. Securus Technologies, Inc.: The Constitutional And Ethical Implications Of Using Illegally Recorded Attorney–Client Telephone Conversations As Derivative Evidence, Christina Santos

St. Mary's Journal on Legal Malpractice & Ethics

For the justice system to operate effectively, privileged communications between an attorney and his or her client should be afforded the utmost and strictest protections. Intrusion by law enforcement upon these communications severely diminishes the confidence and candor needed in the attorney-client relationship. Although the United States Supreme Court recognizes prosecutorial immunity and generally leaves prosecutorial discipline to state bar authorities, the Court has long held that the attorney-client privilege is needed for attorneys to effectively advocate on behalf of their clients.

Austin Lawyers Guild v. Securus Technologies, Inc., a civil class-action lawsuit, is currently pending before the United …

Let’S Invest In People, Not Prisons: How Washington State Should Address Its Ex-Offender Unemployment Rate, Sara Taboada

Seattle Journal for Social Justice

No abstract provided.

Stop The Reach: Solving The Judicial Takings Problem By Objectively Defining Property, Steven C. Begakis

Notre Dame Law Review

The future of judicial takings may rest on the ability of the Court to define property in a robust and objective way. Property has essential characteristics that make it easily identifiable, the most significant of which are the rights to exclude and use. However, even when a property right does not fit within a neat categorical definition, should that right have a long, well established pedigree in state court precedent, that property right is similarly within the capacity of the reviewing court to identify. And once it is determined that, prior to the judgment, the petitioners possessed a clearly defined …

Are Campus Sexual Assault Tribunals Fair?: The Need For Judicial Review And Additional Due Process Protections In Light Of New Case Law, Emily D. Safko

Fordham Law Review

The pervasiveness of sexual assault on college and university campuses and the schools’ failures to take sexual assault seriously have resulted in recent reforms to college campus disciplinary proceedings. The federal government has largely prompted this wave of reform through Title IX, requiring schools to employ particular policies and procedures for investigating and adjudicating sexual assault as a condition of receiving federal funds. Although the federal government’s mandates may be properly motivated, these reforms are criticized because they encourage schools to enact procedures that are heavily stacked against those accused of sexual assault. Consequently, students alleging that they have been …

How To Screen For Success In Employment Law Cases, Robert M. Rosen

Touro Law Review

No abstract provided.

The Commercial Sexual Exploiutation Of Minors, The First Amendment, And Freedom: Why Backpage.Com Should Be Prevented From Selling America's Children For Sex, Anna Makatche

Fordham Urban Law Journal

No abstract provided.

A Fair Trial: When The Constitution Requires Attorneys To Investigate Their Clients' Brains, Ellen G. Koenig

Fordham Urban Law Journal

The U.S. Constitution guarantees every criminal defendant the right to a fair trial. This fundamental right includes the right to a defense counsel who provides effective assistance. To be effective, attorneys must sometimes develop specific types of evidence in crafting the best defense. In recent years, the U.S. Supreme Court has found that defense attorneys did not provide effective assistance when they failed to consider neuroscience. But when must defense attorneys develop neuroscience in order to provide effective assistance? This question is difficult because the standard for determining effective assistance is still evolving. There are two leading approaches. First, in …

Stanley V. Illinois’S Untold Story, Josh Gupta-Kagan

William & Mary Bill of Rights Journal

Stanley v. Illinois is one of the Supreme Court’s more curious landmark cases. The holding is well known: the Due Process Clause both prohibits states from removing children from the care of unwed fathers simply because they are not married and requires states to provide all parents with a hearing on their fitness. By recognizing strong due process protections for parents’ rights, Stanley reaffirmed Lochner-era cases that had been in doubt and formed the foundation of modern constitutional family law. But Peter Stanley never raised due process arguments, so it has long been unclear how the Court reached this decision. …

Attorney’S Fees, Nominal Damages, And Section 1983 Litigation, Thomas A. Eaton, Michael L. Wells

William & Mary Bill of Rights Journal

Can plaintiffs recover attorney’s fees under 42 U.S.C. § 1988 when they establish constitutional violations but recover only nominal damages or low compensatory damages? Some federal appellate courts have concluded that no fee, or a severely reduced fee, should be awarded in such circumstances. This position, which we call the “low award, low fee” approach, rests primarily on the Supreme Court’s 1992 opinion in Farrar v. Hobby.

We argue that a “low award, low fee” approach is misguided for two main reasons. First, the majority opinion in Farrar is fragmented, and the factual record is opaque regarding what and how …

Due Process And Fundamental Rights, Martin A. Schwartz

Touro Law Review

No abstract provided.

The Storm Arrives: The First Amendment Cases In The Supreme Court's 1999-2000 Term, Joel M. Gora

Touro Law Review

No abstract provided.

The 2000-2001 Supreme Court Term: Section 1983 Cases, Martin A. Schwartz

Touro Law Review

No abstract provided.

Domestic Violence And The Politics Of Self-Help, Elizabeth L. Macdowell

William & Mary Journal of Race, Gender, and Social Justice

Self-help programs are conceptualized as alternatives to attorney representation that can help both courts and unrepresented litigants. The rhetoric of self-help also typically includes empowering unrepresented individuals to help themselves. But how do self-help programs respond to litigants’ efforts at self-advocacy? This Article reports findings from a study of courthouse self-help programs assisting unrepresented litigants applying for protection orders. The central finding is that self-help staff members were not neutral in the provision of services despite a professed ethic of neutrality. Using the sociological concept of demeanor, this Article shows that staff members rewarded protection order applicants who conformed to …

The Erosion Of The Rule Of Law When A State Attorney General Refuses To Defend The Constitutionality Of Controversial Laws, Rena M. Lindevaldsen

Barry Law Review

No abstract provided.

The Antidemocratic Sixth Amendment, Janet Moore

Faculty Articles and Other Publications

Criminal procedure experts often claim that poor people have no Sixth Amendment right to choose their criminal defense lawyers. These experts insist that the Supreme Court has reserved the Sixth Amendment right to choose for the small minority of defendants who can afford to hire counsel. This Article upends that conventional wisdom with new doctrinal, theoretical, and practical arguments supporting a Sixth Amendment right to choose for all defendants, including the overwhelming majority who are indigent. The Article’s fresh case analysis shows the Supreme Court’s “no-choice” statements are dicta, which the Court’s own reasoning and rulings refute. The Article’s new …

The Harm In Hate Speech: A Critique Of The Empirical And Legal Bases Of Hate Speech Regulation, John T. Bennett

UC Law Constitutional Quarterly

Calls for hate speech censorship are largely premised upon the existence of certain social harms, including racial and gender inequalities, which are supposedly reinforced by hate speech. These inequalities, however, could be caused by a host of cultural and behavioral factors completely unrelated to hate speech, racial animus, discrimination, or any structural cause. The causal argument presented here has significant implications for the constitutionality of hate speech regulation. This article directly confronts the constitutional flaws, normative concerns, and empirical weaknesses inherent in a substantial body of hate speech scholarship. This article critically analyzes the legal and sociological premises of hate …

Evaluating International State Constitutionalism, Johanna Kalb

Washington Law Review Online

This Essay is part of the Symposium on State Constitutional Law in Honor of the late Washington State Supreme Court Justice Robert F. Utter that was held on October 23, 2015.

The Right To Education For Unaccompanied Minors, Jeanette M. Acosta

UC Law Constitutional Quarterly

In response to the increase of unaccompanied minors seeking refuge in the United States in 2014, officials within federal, state, and local institutions readied themselves to receive and serve a greater number of child migrants in detention facilities, shelters, immigration courts, and public schools. While attention has been paid to the need for legal representation of unaccompanied minors and the need to end the inhumane detention of children, this Note reveals the state of educational opportunities and services provided for unaccompanied minors in detention facilities, shelters, and public schools. This Note looks to the role education plays in the lives …

Government Speech And Circumvention Of The First Amendment, Mark Strasser

UC Law Constitutional Quarterly

The government speech doctrine permits the government to convey its stance on issues through its actions. This article focuses on the development of the government speech doctrine and argues the necessity of limitations on this doctrine to prevent infringements on First Amendment rights. In Rust v. Sullivan, the Supreme Court first recognized what would later be characterized as the government speech doctrine, holding that a statute that prevented clinics from receiving federal funds for abortion-related activities did not violate the Constitution. The Court has subsequently suggested that this was in essence allowing the government to convey a particular message through …

Why Coywolf Goes To Court, Signa A. Daum Shanks

Articles & Book Chapters

This article is an effort influenced by previous works considered part of "trickster" discourse. But unlike other trickster stories meant to illustrate First Nations’ contents and processes, this presentation creates a Métis-specific example of trickster methodology and knowledge. Similar to the historic role Métis individuals have had in Canadian history, this effort contains a type of "translator" system within its citations so that the main story parallels information about trends in Canadian legal analysis. By having this format, it is hoped that those less familiar with Métis courtroom struggles will gain insight into how the pursuit of Métis constitutionalism both …

Protecting The Watchdog: Using The Freedom Of Information Act To Preference The Press, Erin C. Carroll

Georgetown Law Faculty Publications and Other Works

The fourth estate is undergoing dramatic changes. Many newspaper reporters, already surrounded by a growing number of empty desks, are shifting their focus away from costly investigative reporting and towards amassing Twitter followers and writing the perfect “share line.” Newspapers’ budgets can no longer robustly support accountability journalism and pitching fights against the government. And so, while this busier and noisier media environment may have a desirable democratizing effect—more of us are able to participate in analyzing, debating, and perhaps even making the news—it has not succeeded in filling a role that print journalists have traditionally played well—keeping watch on …

Clinical Legal Education’S Contribution To Building Constitutionalism And Democracy In South Africa: Past, Present, And Future, Peggy Maisel, Shaheda Mahomed, Meetali Jain

NYLS Law Review

No abstract provided.

Legal Education In South Africa: Harmonizing The Aspirations Of Transformative Constitutionalism With Our Educational Legacy, Lesley Greenbaum

NYLS Law Review

No abstract provided.

"I Plead The Fifth": New York's Integrated Domestic Violence Courts And The Defendant's Fifth Amendment Dilemma, Rhona Mae Amorado

Touro Law Review

No abstract provided.

The Ninth Circuit's Decision In Von Saher V. Norton Simon Museum Of Art At Pasadena: The Invocation Of The Act Of State Doctrine And Its Implications For Future Nazi-Stolen Art Claims, Erica Wolf

Cardozo Arts & Entertainment Law Journal

No abstract provided.

Persistent Threats To Commercial Speech, Jonathan H. Adler

Faculty Publications

The current Supreme Court is very protective of speech, including commercial speech. Threats to commercial speech persist nonetheless. This article briefly examines two: the use of commercial speech restrictions as a form of rent-seeking, and compelled commercial speech. Regulation of commercial speech is sometimes used to protect established corporate interests from competitors who are less able to bear the costs of regulation, with consequences that extend beyond the economic marketplace. In the case of commercial speech, courts have also been unduly deferential to claims of a consumer “right to know” as a basis for mandated labeling and disclosure. Greater and …

State Legalization Of Marijuana As A “Diagonal Federalism” Problem, Brannon P. Denning

FIU Law Review

No abstract provided.