Digital Commons Network^™

Electronic Commerce And Legal Protection For Consumers In Spain, Juan-Antonio Mondejar-Jimenez, Mª Angeles Zurilla-Cariñana, Jose Mondejar-Jimenez

Juan-Antonio Mondejar-Jimenez

Electronic commerce is becoming increasingly common at international level. It is defined as “doing business electronically across the extended enterprise”, which includes all forms of business, administrative transactions and information exchanges in which any type of information or communication technology is used. It has also been defined as “the form of commerce that by using the services and links provided in electronic documents in the Internet, allows the customer to query, select and purchase a distributor's offer using a device that is connected to the Internet, in real time and at any time or place”. In Spain, the Information Society …

The Mid-Century Civil Rights Movement: How America Was Changed Forever, Dylan Berg

Dylan Berg

The Mid-Century Civil Rights Movement: How America Was Changed Forever The Civil Rights Movement fought for African-American rights in America in the early 1900’s, and is still in some instances being fought today. However, in almost a century of fighting, the most dynamic and successful era of the Civil Rights Movement was the Mid-Century era. This article focuses on the Mid-Century moral and legislative victories, and the men who helped accomplish them. It includes Brown v. The Board of Education and the Voting Rights Act of 1965. It talks of two of the greatest rabble rousing orators ever to be …

Panetti V. Quarterman: Raising The Bar Against Executing The Incompetent, D. G. Maxted

Duke Journal of Constitutional Law & Public Policy Sidebar

No abstract provided.

Writings: Syrian American Women’S Club December 4, 2008, Edna Louise Saffy

Saffy Collection - All Textual Materials

Speeches: Presented to the Syrian American Women’s Club December 4, 2008 by Dr. Edna Saffy.

Torch (December 2008), Brandon Baldwin, Civil Rights Team Project

Torch: The Civil Rights Team Project Newsletter

No abstract provided.

Families Redefined: Kinship Groups That Deserve Benefits, Jane E. Cross, Charlene Smith, Nan Palmer

Jane E Cross

In Families Redefined: Kinship Groups that Deserve Benefits, the authors examine 1) the nature of kinship families, 2) the benefits accorded to married couples, 3) kinship families that lack protection and benefits, 4) the impact of denying kinship protection and benefits, 5) the use of contract law in kinship relationship and 6) using legislation to benefit kinship relationships.

This exploration of expanding family law protections to kinship groups addresses a series of interrelated topics. The first two sections of the article explore the characteristics and creation of kinship families in different societies. The third section addresses the legal benefits provided …

A Proposal For Establishing Specialized Federal And State "Takings Courts", John Martinez

John Martinez

A Proposal for Establishing

Specialized Federal and State "Takings Courts"

By John Martinez, Professor of Law

S.J. Quinney College of Law

at the University of Utah

ABSTRACT

Takings doctrine is a mess. This article proposes that we just accept that -- and establish specialized federal and state "takings courts" for adjudicating takings claims.

In 1978 the United States Supreme Court confessed that takings analysis is hopelessly ad hoc. And in 2005, the Court abrogated a test for takings which it had followed for 25 years. Indeed, some scholars have even resigned themselves to embracing vagueness as a virtue in takings …

Torch (November 2008), Brandon Baldwin, Civil Rights Team Project

Torch: The Civil Rights Team Project Newsletter

No abstract provided.

Brown, Roscoe, Bronx African American History Project

Oral Histories

INTERVIEWER: Mark Naison

INTERVIEWEE: Roscoe Brown

SUMMARY BY: Patrick O’Donnell

Roscoe Brown is the head of a Center for Urban Education at CUNY. He grew up in Washington, DC during the Great Depression. Educated at Dunbar high school in DC and Springfield College in Massachusetts, Brown joined the Tuskegee Airmen in 1943. At Springfield, Brown was one of only 15 black students. He studied Pre-Med and played football, basketball and lacrosse—in fact, he was one of the first black lacrosse players in America.

Brown flew 68 missions with the airmen, and participated in the longest mission of all time: a …

A Decade Later: The Attack Against Critical Racetheory In Defense Of Reason, Raul Vargas

raul vargas

This article adresses, in detail, the savage attack against Critical Race Theory initiated by the release of Farber and Sherry's "Beyond All Reason: The Radical Assault on Truth in American Law" in 1997-98. In particular, focus is on its decade-long ramifications and the utter absence of intelectual virtues this attack introduced. Raul Vargas DePaul University College of Law, J.D. University of Chicago, Committe on the Humanities/Social Thought, M.A. Syracuse University, Department of Philosophy, Ph.D. Candidate

Letter, To Mr. Purvis From Dr. Saffy, October 6, 2008, Edna Louise Saffy

Saffy Collection - All Textual Materials

A draft of a letter regarding the scheduling of the Silver Sneakers II group.

Torch (October 2008), Brandon Baldwin, Civil Rights Team Project

Torch: The Civil Rights Team Project Newsletter

No abstract provided.

Fairness And The Distribution Of Primary Goods, Nathan W. Dean

Nathan W. Dean

I consider whether any one of the schemes of distributive justice envisioned by John Rawls, Robert Nozick, or G.A. Cohen is truly fair. By means of a close and critical reading of their work on distributive justice, I conclude that their schemes of distributive justice in some instances fail to correct for elements of unfairness and at other times introduce unfairness in the furtherance of other largely unacknowledged ends. More specifically, I (1) describe the ways in which Rawls, Nozick, and Cohen fail to show us what a fair scheme of distributive justice would look like, (2) sketch what I …

Writings: Presentation Delivered Friday September 26, 2008 On Candidates Night At The Ramallah Club, Edna Louise Saffy

Saffy Collection - All Textual Materials

Speeches: Presentation sponsored by the Arab American Institute, delivered September 26, 2008 at the Ramallah Club of Jacksonville.

United States V. Hatahley: A Legal Archaeology Case Study In Law And Racial Conflict, Debora L. Threedy

Debora L. Threedy

This paper is a case study of United States v. Hatahley, a leading case in the Remedies canon, using the methodology of “legal archaeology” to reconstruct the historical, social and economic context of the litigation. In 1953, a group of individual Navajos brought suit under the Federal Tort Claims Act for the destruction of over a hundred horses and burros. The first section of the paper presents two contrasting narratives for the case. The first relates what we know about the case from the reported opinions, while the second locates the litigated case within the larger social context by examining …

Critical Error, Bryan L. Adamson

Bryan L Adamson

Critical Error raises a novel double standard: while fact-specific trial court findings of actual malice are reviewed under the “independent judgment” standard (a wholesale re-weighting of the trial court record and decision) on appeal, intentional race discrimination findings are reviewed under the far more deferential Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 52 clear error standard. Both legal concepts are arrived at through assessing state-of-mind determinations; both directly trigger constitutional proscriptions. Only actual malice, however, is classified as a constitutional fact, thus taking it out of the more deferential standard of review. The Supreme Court has failed to clarify this important procedural …

A Fighting Chance: An Analysis Of The Role Of Social Science Evidence In Higher Education Affirmative Action And K-12 Voluntary Desegregation Cases, Crystal Gafford Muhammad

Crystal Gafford Muhammad

The present inquiry focuses on the role of social science evidence contemporarily, using observations from judicial opinions in race conscious admissions cases. Using a set of judicial opinions from K-12 voluntary desegregation and higher education affirmative action in admissions, I use legal and statistical analysis to argue that social science data presented into evidence is of limited effect. In fact, I find judicial political philosophy is the greatest predictor of opinions in this area of law. However, the question is not whether social science evidence is influential or even persuasive, but whether it is useful in politically contentious cases. It …

Abandon All Hope Ye That Enter: Title Vi, Equal Protection, And The Divine Comedy Of Environmental Justice, Carlton Waterhouse

Carlton Waterhouse

Dante’s Alighieri’s epic poem the Divine Comedy begins with the journey of the author and his guide Virgil down through the depths of Hell. Early in their trek, Dante finds the phrase “Abandon All Hope Ye That Enter” inscribed above the gates of Hell. Drawing on this classic work, the article analogizes Dante’s passage through Hell with the experience of communities relying on civil rights law to address the disparate racial effects of environmental decisions. The article begins with an examination of the first administrative complaint filed with the Environmental Protection Agency alleging racial discrimination in environmental permitting in 1992 …

Voter Turnout: From Cost To Cooperation, Jason B. Marisam

Jason B Marisam

Political scientists have repeatedly concluded that state efforts to increase voter turnout will continue to flounder, so long as those efforts remain focused on lowering the already low cost of voting. Accordingly, this Article argues that future efforts to achieve consistently higher and widespread turnout among all demographics must consider other determinants of voter behavior. The primary goal of the Article is to craft a framework based on a thorough understanding of voter motivation and behavior that helps conceptualize and analyze public efforts to increase voter turnout. The framework fills a gap in the literature by drawing from a range …

The New Boys: Women With Disabilities And The Legal Profession, Carrie G. Basas

Carrie G Basas

This essay fuses the fields of law, feminist theory, and cultural studies to examine the status of women attorneys with disabilities. It is the first study of its kind in the United States. The author conducted an empirical, qualitative, and ethnographic study of women attorneys with disabilities in the United States. Thirty-eight attorneys participated and their narratives form the basis for critical analysis of disability animus and discrimination in the legal profession. The results show an alarming trend toward disabled women attorneys self-accommodating in the workplace, rather than enforcing their employment rights under the Americans with Disabilities Act. Relying on …

The Irresistible Force, Bruce A. Antkowiak

Bruce A Antkowiak

This article calls for the reformation of the doctrine that permits a legislature to assign to a defendant the burden of proving an issue in a criminal case to avoid conviction. It argues that such a doctrine violates the basic norms of the Constitution and the “jury right” that is at its core. That right includes the institution of the jury trial, the presumption of innocence and the burden on the government to prove its case beyond a reasonable doubt. It is violated by such a burden assignment just as the Apprendi line of cases holds that the shifting of …

Torch (September 2008), Brandon Baldwin, Civil Rights Team Project

Torch: The Civil Rights Team Project Newsletter

No abstract provided.

Redefining Harm, Reimagining Remedies And Reclaiming Domestic Violence Law, Margaret Johnson

Margaret E Johnson

Women subjected to domestic violence are disserved by the civil domestic violence laws that should effectively address and redress their harms. The Civil Protective Order [CPO] laws should remedy all domestic abuse and not solely physical violence or criminal acts. All forms of abuse, including psychological, emotional, economic and physical abuse, cause severe emotional distress, physical harm, isolation, sustained fear, intimidation, poverty, degradation, humiliation, and coerced loss of autonomy. Moreover, all abuse is interrelated, because, as researchers have demonstrated, most domestic violence is the fundamental operation of systemic oppression through the exertion of power and control. Given the effectiveness of …

(How) Does Unconscious Bias Matter?: Law, Politics, And Racial Inequality, Richard Banks, Richard Thompson Ford

R. Banks

During the past several years, psychological research on unconscious racial bias has grabbed headlines, as well as the attention of legal scholars. The most well-known test of unconscious bias is the Implicit Association Test (IAT), a sophisticated and methodologically rigorous computer-administered measure that has been taken by millions of people, and featured in major print and broadcast media. Its proponents contend that the IAT reveals widespread unconscious bias against African-Americans, even among individuals who believe themselves to be free of racial bias.

In fact, however, the findings of the IAT are ambiguous. The test could just as plausibly be thought …

Social Cognition 'At Work:' Schema Theory And Lesbian And Gay Identity In Title Vii, Todd Brower

todd brower

Lesbians and gay men are frequent subjects for modern news, politics, and court opinions. From marriage for same-sex couples to Congressional hearings on the military’s “Don’t ask, don’t tell” regulation, decision-makers are setting policy based on their ideas about how gay people are and how they fit into society. But what are those perceptions and how do they interact with law? We ordinarily think of lesbians and gay men as predominantly childless, urban residents of cities like San Francisco, New York, Chicago, or Los Angeles or as inhabitants of the Northeastern or Pacific Coast states. However, data from the 2000 …

An Empirical Examination Of The Impact At The Polls Of Indiana's Voter Identification Law, Michael J. Pitts

Michael J. Pitts

No abstract provided.

State Actors Beating Children: A Call For Judicial Relief, Deana Ann Pollard Sacks

Deana A Pollard

Controversy over public school corporal punishment is at an all-time high. On August 20, 2008, the Human Rights Watch/ACLU brought public attention to the issue by releasing its report on corporal punishment of children in American public schools. Lawsuits challenging this state action on constitutional grounds continue to be filed, as advocates seeking to ban school paddling refuse to accept that beating students is constitutionally permissible, despite their repeated losses in the federal courts, and the Supreme Court’s refusal to consider the issue again on June 23, 2008. Ignoring the uproar, nearly half of the United States continue to employ …

Reconceptualizing Competence: An Appeal, Mae C. Quinn

Mae C. Quinn

This article builds on contemporary critiques of the justice system’s treatment of the mentally impaired, examining an important issue that until now has gone wholly unaddressed -- the effect of defendant impairment on the criminal appeals process. It argues that conventional wisdom stressing the importance of defendant competence during criminal trials but ignoring the incompetence of defendants during direct appeals makes little sense. Such an approach to defendant capacity not only fails to account for the realities of criminal practice, but works to undermine the fairness and efficacy of the American appellate process. Thus this paper calls for reconceptualization of …

Summary Judgment Rates Over Time, Across Case Categories, And Across Districts: An Empirical Study Of Three Large Federal Districts, Theodore Eisenberg, Charlotte Lanvers

Cornell Law Faculty Publications

Prior research on summary judgment hypothesizes a substantial increase in summary judgment rates after a trilogy of Supreme Court cases in 1986 and a disproportionate adverse effect of summary judgment on civil rights cases. This article analyzes summary judgment rates in the Eastern District of Pennsylvania (EDPA) and the Northern District of Georgia (NDGA), for two time periods, 1980-81 and 2001-02. It also analyzes summary judgment rates for the Central District of California (CDCA) for 1980-81 and for other civil rights cases in the CDCA in 1975-76. The combined sample consists of over 5,000 cases. The three-district sample for 1980-81 …

The Second Amendment: Scope And Criminological Considerations, Clayton E. Cramer

Clayton E Cramer

The recent decision D.C. v. Heller (2008) has opened up the question of what the Second Amendment protects. What “arms” are protected? What classes of persons may be properly prohibited from being armed?