Digital Commons Network^™

Cross Burning Revisited: What The Supreme Court Should Have Done In Virginia V. Black And Why It Didn’T, W. Wat Hopkins

UC Law SF Communications and Entertainment Journal

The Supreme Court of the United States, in R.A. V. v. St. Paul, created a complicated framework of law that, despite years of case law to the contrary, would allow a court to hold a law banning cross burning to be constitutional, even if the law was not content-neutral. The ruling caused considerable problems in cases involving cross burning that reached lower appellate courts. In Virginia v. Black, the Court had the opportunity to resolve the problem, but refused to do so. Instead, the Court restructured the law related to intimidating and threatening speech, creating even more ambiguity. Under the …

Stoning Single Nigerian Mothers For Adultery: Applying Feminist Theory To An Analysis Of Gender Discrimination In International Law, Sarah Crutcher

UC Law SF Journal on Gender and Justice

In 2003, an Islamic Sharia court in northern Nigeria sentenced Amina Lawal to death by stoning for having sex outside of marriage. After the man Lawal named as the father of her baby was acquitted for lack of evidence, the international community pressured Nigeria to oppose the ruling by adhering to its own constitutional provisions, and international law prohibiting torture and gender discrimination. This article explores the fundamental conflicts between international human rights law and Islamic law as implemented by Sharia courts. The author cites the UN Charter, the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, jus cogens and customary international law, …

The Admissibility Of Tape Recordings In Criminal Trials Involving Domestic Disputes: California's Proposition 8 And Title Iii Of The Federal Omnibus Crime Control And Safe Streets Act, Lee Ashely Smith

UC Law SF Journal on Gender and Justice

Domestic cases of eavesdropping and wiretapping pose a special problem for laws that were initially meant to govern police misconduct and espionage. California voters passed Proposition 8 but its passage led to many additional questions including whether the law truly champions victims' rights and whether it protects innocent defendants. Federal law, by comparison, sets a minimum standard of one-party consent for the admissibility of wiretap or eavesdropping evidence in criminal trials. This standard has been shown to permit parental wiretaps without allowing purely clandestine recording of another's activities, including spouses and domestic partners. In short, privacy rights are protected to …

Lighting The Lantern: Visions Of A Virtual All-Women's Law School, Nancy E. Shurtz

UC Law SF Journal on Gender and Justice

"Lighting the Lantern: Visions of a Virtual All-Women's Law School" is a fictional narrative of a hypothetical all women's law school. It is written in non-traditional form in the hope that it will prompt the reader to view the law, academic institutions and societal constructs in ways more consistent with an evolving society that should embrace all differences, whether those differences are gender or racially based.

The mission of the All Women's Law School is threefold: "First, to teach specific lawyering skills and disseminate knowledge in a context designed to help students function effectively in the existing culture while working …

Comparative Legal Responses To Terrorism: Lessons From Europe, Jeremie J. Wattellier

UC Law SF International Law Review

After September 11, 2001, the U.S. Congress and President initiated legal changes to combat terrorism. In the late 20th century, Europe also experienced terrorist attacks on its soil and initiated legal adaptations. Europe's legal history with terrorism shows that harsh procedure-stripping rules do not stop terrorism and come at great costs in civil liberties and legal clout. More procedural safeguards would bring the U.S. legal response back in line with its traditional legal values while still providing a way to fight terrorism. This note investigates the European legal response to its terrorist attacks-measuring successes and gauging costs where possible-and evaluates …

United States V. Kincade: Constitutionality Of Mandatory Dna Testing, Joy Huang

UC Law Constitutional Quarterly

In 2000, Congress passed the DNA Analysis Backlog Elimination Act ("DNA Act"), mandating DNA samples from certain types of felons to be included in the FBI's Combined DNA Index System ("CODIS"). Since its inception, the DNA Act has faced many constitutional challenges, most recently in the 9th Circuit with the case United States v. Kincade, which involved two successive Ninth Circuit cases. The first case was decided on October 2, 2003, wherein a three-judge panel controversially deemed the DNA Act unconstitutional. The decision was subsequently vacated and reheard by the Ninth Circuit sitting en banc, in which the Circuit Court …

"Bread For The Poor": Access To Justice And The Rights Of The Needy In India, Marc Galanter, Jayanth K. Krishnan

UC Law Journal

India's courts suffer from enormous backlogs. To remedy this, Indian politicians and judges have been promoting various reforms, including alternative forms that would dispose of cases more quickly. One forum in particular, the Lok Adalat or people's court, has been promoted with special fervor for nearly two decades. The Lok Adalat has been widely trumpeted as a success by its proponents, but very little information is available on the workings of this institution. This study is a preliminary empirical assessment of several sorts of Lok Adalats. These Lok Adalats exhibit great variation in how they function. We find that their …

Constraining Modern Mercenarism, James R. Coleman

UC Law Journal

Mercenarism's metamorphosis during the final decades of the twentieth century from the profession of soldiers of fortune into the work of publicly traded private military assistance corporations has enabled modern mercenaries to evade a burgeoning international legal movement toward their eradication. Despite persistent efforts to recognize private military corporations as mercenary companies, the evolution of legal definitions of mercenarism has failed to keep pace with the strong international consensus against mercenaries, thereby causing the letter of international law to diverge from its spirit. Hiding mercenarism behind a corporate veil flouts the spirit of international law and serves to eviscerate the …

The New Formalism: Requiem For Tiered Scrutiny?, Calvin R. Massey

Faculty Scholarship

No abstract provided.

Elites, Identity Politics, Guns, And The Manufacture Of Legal Rights, Calvin R. Massey

Faculty Scholarship

No abstract provided.

Claims For Protection Based On Religion Or Belief: Analysis And Proposed Conclusions, Karen Musalo

Faculty Scholarship

No abstract provided.

The Laudable South Carolina Court Rules Must Be Broadened, Richard Zitrin

Faculty Scholarship

No abstract provided.

The Judicial Function: Justice Between The Parties, Or A Broader Public Interest?, Richard Zitrin

Faculty Scholarship

No abstract provided.

Two Wrongs Make A Right: Hybrid Claims Of Discrimination, Ming Hsu Chen

Faculty Scholarship

This Note reinterprets and recontextualizes the pronouncement in Employment Division v. Smith (Smith II) that exemptions from generally applicable laws will not be granted unless claims of free exercise are accompanied by the assertion of another constitutional right. It argues that when Arab American Muslims, and others who are of minority race and religion, bring claims for exemption from gen­ erally applicable laws on the basis of free exercise and equal protection principles, they ought to be able to invoke Smith Il's hybridity exception, thus meriting height­ ened judicial scrutiny and increased solicitude from courts.

Sex Offenders. Punishment. Parole. Public Information. Initiative Statute.

Initiatives

SEX OFFENDERS. PUNISHMENT. PAROLE. PUBLIC INFORMATION. INITIATIVE STATUTE. Increases penalties, lengthens parole periods for specified sex crimes. Requires electronic monitoring of registered sex offender parolees. Adds crimes subject to "Megan's Law" public disclosure. Requires that disclosures include registrants' addresses, license plate numbers and whether victim was a child. Requires that Megan's Law information be available on Internet. Requires registered sex offenders to renew driver's license annually, provide DMV with current photograph, address verification. Sexual predator law to apply where disordered offender commits violent predatory sexual crime against single victim under age 14. Expands HIV / AIDS testing for accused sex …

Traffic And Parking Violations. Fees. Initiative Statute.

Initiatives

TRAFFIC AND PARKING VIOLATIONS. FEES. INITIATIVE STATUTE. Eliminates fines for parking violations and most Vehicle Code infractions. Requires community service instead of fines; suspends penalties for infrequent violators. Makes convictions of designated infractions confidential; exempt from violation point count system. Prohibits automated enforcement of violations; makes such evidence inadmissible. Specifies procedures for: towing unattended vehicles, declaring vehicles abandoned, proceeding to trial. Prohibits fees to park on publicly maintained roads. Limits parking restrictions on public roadways. Provides driver's license fee shall not exceed $15; annual vehicle registration fee shall not exceed $100 for noncommercial vehicles. Summary of estimate by Legislative Analyst …

Corporation Tax. Vote Requirements. Restrictions And Limitations. Initiative Constitutional Amendment And Statute.

Initiatives

CORPORATION TAX. VOTE REQUIREMENTS. RESTRICTIONS AND LIMITATIONS. INITIATIVE CONSTITUTIONAL AMENDMENT AND STATUTE. Allows Legislature to repeal or amend, by the same vote requirement originally needed to enact it, any Corporation Tax credit, deduction, exemption, exclusion or special lower tax rate, and defines these as "corporate tax preferences." Provides that new corporate tax preferences expire after five years, subject to limited re-enactment by Legislature. Requires that Legislature annually review such preferences. Requires that any additional revenues from repealing or amending such preferences be deposited in reserve fund; provides reserve fund to be used for specific purposes, not to increase state spending. …

Considerations On The Emerging Implementation Of Biometric Technology, Robin Feldman

UC Law SF Communications and Entertainment Journal

The United States is embarking on widespread implementation of biometric technology, which uses automated methods to identify people based on their physiological and behavioral characteristics. Regardless of how much we invest in establishing standards for reliability of the technology and protections of the data, no system will be foolproof. Biometric determinations will be subject to mistakes, fraud, and abuse through human and technological error, both intentional and inadvertent. We should, therefore, take this opportunity to develop methods for individuals to review and challenge biometric determinations. In particular, this article suggests a doctrinal framework for challenging biometric determinations made by administrative …

Taking For Any Purpose?, Camarin Madigan

UC Law Environmental Journal

No abstract provided.

Voter Information Guide For 2003, Special Election

Propositions

No abstract provided.

Funds Dedicated For State And Local Infrastructure.

Propositions

FUNDS DEDICATED FOR STATE AND LOCAL INFRASTRUCTURE. LEGISLATIVE CONSTITUTIONAL AMENDMENT. • Requires specified percentages of General Fund revenues to be set-aside for acquisition, construction, rehabilitation, modernization, or renovation of infrastructure. • Expenditures must be divided equally between state projects and local projects, other than school and community college district projects, including local street, transportation, water, park, and open space projects. • Proposition 98 school funding guarantee is unchanged. • Amount of first set-aside scheduled for 2006–07 is 1%; they increase 0.3% annually to 3% and then remain fixed. Set-asides are subject to increase, decrease, or suspension with revenue increases and …

Remedying Past Abuses Of Governmental Power - Legal Accountability For The 1968 Events In Poland, Susanne Starecki

UC Law SF International Law Review

Since the 1968 events in Poland, the Polish government has systematically subjected Polish Jews to degrading treatment, denied them their rights to freedom of religion, denied them their right to the enjoyment of property and engaged in numerous acts of discrimination. The issue of justice and reparations for these Polish Jews must be addressed. This note examines the means Polish Jews may explore to remedy Polish governmental abuses. Due to the absence of applicable domestic laws and reparations by Poland, Polish Jews need to utilize international tribunals, particularly the European Court of Human Rights.

Sherman Shorts Out: The Dimming Of Antitrust Enforcement In The California Electricity Crisis, Robert B. Martin Iii

UC Law Journal

This Note examines the potential application of the Sherman Antitrust Act to alleged market manipulations by wholesale electricity generators during the California electricity crisis. Viewed in light of the national movement toward electricity deregulation, this Note summarizes accusations and reports of possible market power abuse by generators operating in California. This Note then analyzes the application of the Sherman Act to those alleged abuses. It determines that section I of the Sherman Act provides appropriate remedies for past market power abuse and serves as a sufficient deterrent to avoid similar abuse in the future. Due to the particular nature of …

The Predicament Of The Immigrant Victim/Defendant: "Vawa Diversion" And Other Considerations In Support Of Battered Women, Zelda B. Harris

UC Law SF Journal on Gender and Justice

While the struggle to combat domestic violence has made many gains over the last thirty years, some low-income women of color have been left behind. Mandatory misdemeanor domestic violence prosecution policies are periodically used against the victims of domestic violence. Particularly in the case of immigrant victim/defendants, arrest, prosecution, or conviction for a domestic violence misdemeanor at the command of rigid mandatory arrest and prosecution laws can result in significant unintended consequences, including increasing a batterer's power and control over the victim. This article examines those consequences in the context of southern Arizona. Discretionary prosecution policies, referral to immigration and …

Slaughter-House Five: Views Of The Case, David S. Bogen

UC Law Journal

This Article discusses five views of the Slaughter-House Cases: (I) that Justice Miller was deliberately ambiguous about whether the Bill of Rights is incorporated against the states by the privileges and immunities clause of the Fourteenth Amendment; (2) that Justice Miller rejected incorporation through the privileges and immunities clause; (3) that he adopted incorporation of the Bill of Rights in the Slaughter-House Cases; (4) that the Slaughter- House Cases should be reexamined and overturned by the modern court; and (5) that the Slaughter-House Cases should remain the way in which the privileges or immunities clause of the Fourteenth Amendment is …

Trustwarp: The Importance Of Legal Rules To Electronic Commerce And Internet Privacy, Peter P. Swire

UC Law Journal

No abstract provided.

Lifting The "Fog" Of Internet Surveillance: How A Suppression Remedy Would Change Computer Crime Law, Orin S. Kerr

UC Law Journal

No abstract provided.

Sixth Place, Jennifer D. Arkowitz, Brenna L. Silberstein

David E. Snodgrass Moot Court Competition

No abstract provided.

Fourth Place, Jeffrey M. Kaban, Robert J. Nolan

David E. Snodgrass Moot Court Competition

No abstract provided.

Tenth Place, Ian Cunningham, Josh White

David E. Snodgrass Moot Court Competition

No abstract provided.