Digital Commons Network^™

International Human Rights Law And Sexual Orientation, James D. Wilets

UC Law SF International Law Review

Recently, the U.N. Human Rights Committee unanimously ruled that Tasmania had violated the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights by criminalizing same-gender sexual activity. The Committee based its ruling on both privacy and equal protection grounds.

This Article explores the interplay between international law and domestic laws of the world's nations regarding the fundamental human rights of sexual minorities. This Article analyzes this emerging legal and political dialectic by examining the domestic laws and constitutions of specific countries and the role of international and regional human rights systems in protecting the human rights of sexual minorities.

Regulation Of Intercountry Adoption: Can The Abuses Come To An End, Jorge L. Carro

UC Law SF International Law Review

Because the demand for adoptable children outweighs the supply, adopting parents are increasingly exploring intercountry adoption as an alternative. Unfortunately, numerous abuses have been reported in the process. Out of frustration, as well as national pride, the sending nations have started to react against those abuses, which at times have been real, but sometimes have been just fabricated, like the rumor that foreigners buy babies to use their vital organs for transplant. Locally, restrictive legislation has been enacted, and at the regional and international level, treaties and international conventions have been adopted. This Article examines these efforts with a critical …

The Visible Spectrum, Nancy E. Anderson, Ph.D

Fordham Urban Law Journal

Today, the national environmental movement is entering a new phase, led by new players, just as the still young environmental protection movement is becoming more politically influential at the local level. The political power of the environmental justice and equity movement and its links with racial and social justice organizations makes its potential impact reach far beyond “NIMBY” (not-in-my-backyard) protests. NIMBY was the first wave of quasi-organized local environmental protests, usually rooted in a single issue. Environmental justice is the next wave, drawing in a broader range of concerns. The focus of this analysis is on how environmental issues are …

The Landmine Review Conference: Will The Revised Landmine Protocol Protect Civilians?, Paul J. Lightfoot

Fordham International Law Journal

This Comment analyzes the impact of landmine use on civilians, the effect of international law on landmine warfare, and the proposed changes to international law in response to the harm inflicted upon civilians. The Comment concludes that the United Nations Review Conference will not adopt a total ban on the production, use, transfer, and stockpiling of landmines, and therefore will fail in its efforts to protect civilians.

Recent Developments: Farmer V. Brennan: Prison Officials May Be Held Liable Under The Eighth Amendment For "Deliberate Indifference" To An Inmate's Health And Safety In Prison Condition Claims, Ruth G. Allen

University of Baltimore Law Forum

No abstract provided.

An Eye For A Wetland? Exploring Retribution As A Theory Of Environmental Sentencing, Paul A. Gillan Jr.

University of Baltimore Law Forum

No abstract provided.

A New Paradign For Protection: First Amendment Principles And The Environment, Jennifer D. Jones

Washington Law Review

Currently, environmental plaintiffs pursue protection for the ancient forests of the Pacific Northwest by litigating procedural violations of environmental statutes. This method, however, will not provide the long-term protection these plaintiffs desire. This Comment proposes a new model for protection using the First Amendment of the United States Constitution.

The Right Not To Endorse Gay Rights: A Reply To Sunstein, Craig M. Bradley

Indiana Law Journal

No abstract provided.

Recovery And Allocation Of Electromagnetic Field Mitigation Costs In Electric Utility Rates, Lisa M. Bogardus

Fordham Law Review

No abstract provided.

Civil Evidence, Linda L. Addison

SMU Law Review

No abstract provided.

Codification And The California Mentality, Lewis Grossman

UC Law Journal

In 1872, California moved to the forefront of American legal reform by becoming one of the first states to codify its complete body of laws. At the time of codification, California was a state whose self-image was characterized by a complex mixture of confidence and insecurity. Californians had grand visions of a bright future due to tlje perceived progression of civilization as it drifted westward. But these visions were clouded by concerns that their state lacked the capacity for order and that California was to remain intellectually and culturally barren.

Mr. Grossman argues that codification satisfied both the insecure and …

Avoiding Balancing: The Role Of Exclusionary Reasons In Constitutional Law, Richard H. Pildes

UC Law Journal

Modem constitutional adjudication is often structured as a conflict between individual rights and state interests, which leads courts into the quagmire of balancing. Professor Pildes challenges this dominant modern technique of constitutional interpretation, arguing that, in many cases, balancing is not the best understanding of constitutional reasoning. Rather, constitutional decision making is often a qualitative process, one in which courts define the kinds of reasons for which government may appropriately act in different arenas or spheres.

Borrowing from the philosophy of practical reasoning, Professor Pildes argues that much of constitutional law involves the definition of "exclusionary reasons," which are categorically …

Book Review: Aids In The World, 16 Hous. J. Int'l L. 709 (1994), Mark E. Wojcik

UIC Law Open Access Faculty Scholarship

No abstract provided.

The Constitution And Personal Autonomy: The Lawyering Perspective, Robert Allen Sedler

Law Faculty Research Publications

No abstract provided.

One Size Fits All, Steven L. Winter

Law Faculty Research Publications

No abstract provided.

Mapping And Matching Dna: Several Legal Complications Of Accurate Classifications, Aviam Soifer, Miriam Wugmeister

UC Law Constitutional Quarterly

Classifications are a boon and bane and a basic bone of contention in law. With the advent of DNA matching and new knowledge of the human genome, significant problems that exist in other areas of law are exacerbated. The use of even accurate classifications may generate substantial discrimination in the realms of privacy and personal freedom.

A Paradigm For Sexual Harassment: Toward The Optimal Level Of Loss, Marie T. Reilly

Faculty Scholarship

This article proposes a paradigm that draws from the common-law rule of negligence. It defines actionable sexual conduct in the workplace in terms of the cost of precautionary conduct and the increased safety such precaution would have yielded. Like the rule of negligence, the proposed paradigm creates incentives for men and women to take steps to prevent sexual conduct loss to the point at which the cost of an additional increment of precaution is equal to the value of the reduction in risk of loss. This point is the optimal level of precaution. After this point, additional precaution might further …

A Technology Policy Perspective On The Nih Gene Patenting Controversy, Rebecca S. Eisenberg

Articles

This article will use the NIH patent controversy as a focal point for considering when the results of government-sponsored research should be patented and when they should be dedicated to the public domain. First, this article will review the recent history of federal government policy on patenting the results of government-sponsored research. Next, this article will highlight some of the complexities involved in achieving technology transfer from the public sector to the private sector that current policy may oversimplify. With this background, this article will return to a more detailed analysis of the NIH cDNA patenting controversy and consider the …

Achieving Environmental Justice: The Role Of Occupational Health, George Friedman-Jiménez, M.D.

Fordham Urban Law Journal

The current rapidly growing interest in environmental justice is both timely and important. Occupational health is an integral part of assuring environmental justice. Concrete examples of environmental inequity leading directly to unequal health status can be found in occupational health literature and among the patients of occupational health clinics which serve populations that include low wage workers and workers of color. The toxic properties and health effects of many environmental contaminants were originally discovered in workplace settings where workers were repeatedly exposed to high doses of such contaminants. In the future, clinical occupational medicine, occupational epidemiology, occupational toxicology, and occupational …

Issues Of Classification In Environmental Equity: How We Manage Is How We Measure, Rae Zimmerman

Fordham Urban Law Journal

This Article addresses how concepts of race and ethnicity have been operationalized as a basis for defining and locating subpopulations (either explicitly or implicitly) for the purpose of analyzing environmental equity issues, and recommends some future directions. Part II focuses on how subpopulations are currently defined and on some problems encountered to date. The implications of these inconsistencies on the accuracy of health and environmental risk measures for a given subpopulation are addressed. Part III focuses on how spatial areas have been defined to aggregate these subpopulations within confined geographic boundaries.

Race, Gender, Age, And Disproportionate Impact: What Can We Do About The Failure To Protect The Most Vulnerable?, Samara F. Swanston

Fordham Urban Law Journal

Hard economic times and social conditions are driving a reordering of environmental protection priorities that threatens to sacrifice the most vulnerable groups. Environmental regulatory agencies acknowledge that vulnerable populations face the greatest risk of harm from environmental insult and that these groups are not adequately protected. Although a risk-based prioritization of resources benefits the greatest number of people, such allocation would disadvantage minority communities, which contain disproportionate numbers of sensitive subgroups. Our regulatory bodies must therefore develop new strategies to adequately protect sensitive subgroups identified in minority communities. Part II of this Article looks at some of the considerations that …

Protecting Endangered Communities, Clarice E. Gaylord, Geraldine W. Twitty

Fordham Urban Law Journal

Nontraditional environmentalists are struggling to protect and preserve communities, both urban and rural, that have become threatened by constant, multiple exposures to toxic air, contaminated water, and pesticide-ridden and chemical-laden soils. Numerous reports, including a 1992 study by the United States Environmental Protection Agency, have suggested that people of color and low income communities have been, for decades, the unwilling recipients of numerous hazardous waste sites, incinerators, chemical factories, and sewage treatment plants. Historically, these communities often lacked the essential resources necessary to oppose sitings of potentially hazardous facilities: money, organization, and political voice. Land in these communities is usually …

Newborn Hiv Screening And New York Assembly Bill No. 6747-B: Privacy And Equal Protection Of Pregnant Women, Kevin J. Curnin

Fordham Urban Law Journal

Proposed New York Assembly Bill No. 6747-B5 attempts to answer one of the most urgent problems of the current HIV/AIDS epidemic: pediatric AIDS. Part I of this Note discusses the bill, which would respond to pediatric AIDS by mandating HIV testing for all babies born in the state and requiring disclosure to all mothers whose babies test positive. Part II of this paper briefly discusses the medical background of pediatric AIDS and HIV infection, particularly the epidemiology of HIV/AIDS in women and children. Part III describes New York’s current HIV screening program and compares it to the changes proposed under …

Pushing The Law To Encompass The Reality Of Our Families: Protecting Lesbian And Gay Families From Eviction From Their Homes -- Braschi's Functional Definition Of "Family" And Beyond, Paris R. Baldacci

Fordham Urban Law Journal

No abstract provided.

Gay Rights Through The Looking Glass: Politics, Morality And The Trial Of Colorado's Amendment 2, Suzanne B. Goldberg

Fordham Urban Law Journal

No abstract provided.

When The Police Are In Our Bedrooms, Shouldn't The Courts Go In After Them?: An Update On The Fight Against "Sodomy" Laws, Evan Wolfson, Robert S. Mower

Fordham Urban Law Journal

No abstract provided.

Suits By Public Hospitals To Recover Expenditures For The Treatment Of Disease, Injury And Disability Caused By Tobacco And Alcohol, Raymond E. Gangarosa, Frank J. Vandall, Brian M. Willis

Fordham Urban Law Journal

Public hospitals are forced to absorb many of the costs of treating indigent patients whose alcohol and tobacco consumption has predictably lead to illness. This is contradictory to hospital's own interests in preventing disease, improving the efficiency of therapy and minimizing their financial losses. The goal of this article is to examine the possibility of reassigning these coasts through litigation. A cause of action should be available to public hospitals to recover their expenditures for the uncompensated medical treatment that is necessitated by alcohol and tobacco use. Such litigation in Mississippi and similar Florida legislation should serve as a model …

The Use Of Non-Discriminatory Language In The Law, Mary Jane Mossman

Articles & Book Chapters

The use of language is fundamental to law. This paper addresses three reasons why lawyers should use non-discriminatory (and especially non-sexist) language: to promote accuracy in legal writing and speech; to meet current standards of professional integrity and responsibility; and to be consistent with legal norms of equality and non-discrimination in Canadian law. The paper then examines ways of achieving non-discriminatory language in English and French in a number of concrete situations. The paper examines the `false generics" of "l'homme" and "man"; the problems of gender specific pronouns (a problem which has different implications in English and in French); and …

Poethics: And Other Strategies Of Law And Literature, Serge Gavronsky

Cardozo Law Review

Thus Jacques Derrida begins his essay on the social sciences with a quote from Montaigne to the effect that we need to interpret interpretations more than we need to interpret things. In his own time, Montaigne could have been especially sensitive to such a deciphering since the definitions of truth were being challenged through philosophic/theological mediations. Rather than war and fratricidal conflicts in a country torn by religious wars, Montaigne proposed a culturally relativist reading of history, thereby recasting the concept of the "outsider" as well as the nature of the language within which these observations were to be made. …

Building Blocks Of Analysis: Using Simple "Sesame Street Skills" And Sophisticated Educational Learning Theories In Teaching A Seminar In Legal Analysis And Writing, Nancy A. Wright

Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.