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The Colorado Constitution In The New Century, Richard B. Collins

University of Colorado Law Review

TABOR, gay marriage, pit bulls, guns, redistricting, ethics in government, school vouchers, and minimum wage have been on Colorado's constitutional agenda for the past seven years. Dale Oesterle and I authored a book-length study of the Colorado Constitution through 2001.1 This article reviews amendments and judicial decisions arising since. It should surprise no one that TABOR has generated by far the most decisions.

The Educative Effects Of Direct Democracy: A Research Primer For Legal Scholars, Daniel A. Smith, Caroline J. Tolbert, Daniel C. Bowen

University of Colorado Law Review

This article surveys recent studies by political scientists that examine the "educative effects" of ballot measures on political participation and civic engagement, as well as their impact on candidate elections. The article provides legal scholars with empirical evidence that can be used to bolster normative and theoretical claims about the process and politics of direct democracy. The authors conclude by presenting original empirical research on the effects of ballot measures on individual attitudes toward state government and political trust. The article hypothesizes that citizens who are given more opportunities to participate in politics will have more trust in state government. …

Remarks At The Climate Of Environmental Justice: Taking Stock Conference At The University Of Colorado Law School, March 16-17, 2007, Congressman Mike Udall

University of Colorado Law Review

No abstract provided.

Climate Change And The Poorest Nations: Further Reflections On Global Inequality, Ruth Gordon

University of Colorado Law Review

This article considers climate change from the perspective of the Third World and more particularly from the vantage point of the poorest nations in the international system. It concludes that those nations that are the most geographically and economically vulnerable will also have the least impact on mechanisms to halt the progress of this impending disaster. Hence, climate change is examined as yet another chapter in Third World powerlessness. Despite the fact that low-income nations participate in international deliberations, they do so from an exceedingly weak position that puts them in the untenable position of being on the receiving end …

Indigenous People And Environmental Justice: The Impact Of Climate Change, Rebecca Tsosie

University of Colorado Law Review

The international dialogue on climate change is currently focused on a strategy of adaptation that includes the projected removal of entire communities, if necessary. Not surprisingly, many of the geographical regions that are most vulnerable to the effects of climate change are also the traditional lands of indigenous communities. This article takes the position that the adaptation strategy will prove genocidal for many groups of indigenous people, and instead argues for recognition of an indigenous right to environmental selfdetermination, which would allow indigenous peoples to maintain their cultural and political status upon their traditional lands. In the context of climate …

Mike Mcconville And Cheseter L. Mirsky, Jury Trials And Plea Bargaining: A True History, Carolyn B. Ramsey

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No abstract provided.

Indigenous Law And Its Contribution To Global Pluralism, James Anaya

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No abstract provided.

The Judicial Treatment Of Noneconomic Compensatory Damages In The 19th Century, Ronald J. Allen, Alexia Brunet

Publications

Do high verdicts for tort cases containing noneconomic damages have historical precedent? We present the results of our empirical inquiry into the treatment of noneconomic compensatory damages by the courts from 1800-1900. Using 1,175 tort cases from this era, we show that, notwithstanding constant reiteration of jury discretion over damages, courts tightly controlled awards. In fact, no case prior to 1900 permitted a noneconomic compensatory damages award exceeding $450,000 in current dollars. Logistic regression results reveal that an increase in total monetary damages is positively and significantly related to the probability of reversal when noneconomic damages were claimed, and that …

Keynote Address: Indigenous Peoples And Their Mark On The International Legal System, S. James Anaya

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No abstract provided.

Public Interest Service At The University Of Colorado School Of Law, Norman Aaronson

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No abstract provided.

Arbitration Of International Oil, Gas, And Energy Disputes In Latin America, Alexia Brunet, Juan Agustin Lentini

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No abstract provided.

Beyond Enron: Regulation In Energy Derivatives Trading, Alexia Brunet, Meredith Shafe

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No abstract provided.

The Colorado Constitution In The New Century, Richard B. Collins

Publications

TABOR, gay marriage, pit bulls, guns, redistricting, ethics in government, school vouchers, and minimum wage have been on Colorado's constitutional agenda for the past seven years. Dale Oesterle and I authored a book-length study of the Colorado Constitution through 2001. This article reviews amendments and judicial decisions arising since. It should surprise no one that TABOR has generated by far the most decisions.

Afterthoughts From A "Buzz Killer", Sarah Krakoff

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No abstract provided.

Disparate Impact Discrimination: The Limits Of Litigation, The Possibilities For Internal Compliance, Melissa Hart

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No abstract provided.

The Possibility Of Avoiding Discrimination: Considering Compliance And Liability, Melissa Hart

Publications

The gender discrimination class action Dukes v. Wal-Mart Stores, Inc., whose certification was recently affirmed in the Ninth Circuit, presents a large-scale challenge to the company's excessive reliance on subjective judgment in employment decision-making. It is one in a growing number of similar suits, all of which are fundamentally attacks on the continued operation of entrenched gender stereotypes in the allocation of workplace opportunities. The breadth of this aim is one of the strengths of these suits, but it also raises a significant question: because this kind of litigation targets a broad social phenomenon, is it reasonably possible to …

The Feminist War On Crime, Aya Gruber

Publications

One of the most celebrated successes of the feminist movement is its lasting impact on domestic violence criminal laws. Today, society has moved from discourse characterizing domestic abuse as legitimate or merely a private problem to a belief that battering is a heinous crime, more egregious than garden-variety assault. I know all too well how far the pendulum has swung, having practiced as a public defender in the District of Columbia domestic violence system. Day after day, prosecutors proceeded with cases against the wishes of victims, resulting in the mass incarceration of young black men. Could this have been the …

Liberalism And Ability Taxation, David Hasen

Publications

Recent tax scholarship has embraced the idea of individual endowment taxation, or taxation of human abilities, as an approach to ideal tax theory. Under endowment taxation, individuals are taxed according to their native abilities to command resources, rather than according to any actual index of goods or expenditures, such as income, consumption, or wealth, that otherwise might be thought relevant to the assignment of tax burdens. This Article argues that endowment taxation is incompatible with political theories that might broadly be described as "liberal," to the extent such theories support redistribution. It also argues that limited forms of endowment taxation …

Conference Transcript: The New Realism: The Next Generation Of Scholarship In Federal Indian Law, Sarah Krakoff

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No abstract provided.

Students And Workers And Prisoners - Oh, My! A Cautionary Note About Excessive Institutional Tailoring Of First Amendment Doctrine, Scott A. Moss

Publications

First Amendment free speech doctrine has been called "institutionally oblivious" for ignoring how different institutions present different legal questions. This Article analyzes a little-discussed phenomenon in the growing literature about institutional context in constitutional law. With certain institutions, the situation is not institutional obliviousness but the opposite: extreme institutional tailoring of speech doctrine. The burden of proof ordinarily is on the government to justify speech restrictions, but in three institutions--public schools, workplaces, and prisons--courts allow heavy speech restrictions and defer to government officials. Even if these institutions need to restrict speech unusually often, why do we need different doctrine--institutionally tailored …

Updating Our Understanding Of The Role Of Lawyers: Lessons From Mastercard, Scott R. Peppet

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No abstract provided.

Fighting Discrimination While Fighting Litigation: A Tale Of Two Supreme Courts, Scott A. Moss

Publications

The U.S. Supreme Court has issued an odd mix of pro-plaintiff and pro-defendant employment law rulings. It has disallowed harassment lawsuits against employers even with failed antiharassment efforts, construed statutes of limitations narrowly to bar suits about ongoing promotion and pay discrimination, and denied protection to public employee internal complaints. Yet the same Court has issued significant unanimous rulings easing discrimination plaintiffs' burdens of proof.

This jurisprudence is often miscast in simple pro-plaintiff or pro-defendant terms. The Court's duality traces to its inconsistent and unaware adoption of competing policy arguments:

Policy 1: Employees must try internal dispute resolution before suing--or …

The Anxiety Of The Law Student At The Socratic Impasse - An Essay On Reductionism In Legal Education, Pierre Schlag

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No abstract provided.

An External Perspective On The Nature Of Noneconomic Compensatory Damages And Their Regulation, Ronald J. Allen, Alexia Brunet, Susan Spies Roth

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No abstract provided.

The Revision Of The Colorado Trademark Registration Statute, Arthur H. Travers

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No abstract provided.

In Pursuit Of A Next Generation Network For Public Safety Communications, Philip J. Weiser, Dale N. Hatfield

Publications

In the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, a unitary reliance on Land Mobile Radio systems (LMRs) failed public safety agencies, leaving them without any source of communications once they lost transmission capability. Unfortunately, in the wake of this tragedy, many have dusted off traditional prescriptions for improving public safety communications, such as more dedicated spectrum and more money for single-purpose LMRs (or LMRs based on technology that fails to facilitate broader functionalities). As we explain, however, both the needs underscored by Katrina and the capabilities made possible by emerging technologies call for a different strategy.

In this paper, we argue that …

Should Property Or Liability Rules Govern Information?, Mark A. Lemley, Philip J. Weiser

Publications

This Article focuses on an unappreciated and significant aspect of the debate over property rules in the technology law context. In particular, it argues that the classic justification for legal entitlements protected by a property rule - i.e., a right to injunctive relief - depends on the ability to define and enforce property rights effectively. In the case of many technology markets, the inability to tailor injunctive relief so that it protects only the underlying right rather than also enjoining noninfringing conduct provides a powerful basis for using a liability rule (i.e., awarding the relevant damages to the plaintiff) instead …

"Failure To Pay Any Poll Tax Or Other Tax": The Constitutionality Of Tax Felon Disenfranchisement, Sloan G. Speck

Publications

If the government convicts a citizen under the tax evasion provisions of the Internal Revenue Code, some state disenfranchisement laws preclude that citizen — now a felon — from voting. In this sense, the right to vote depends on the payment of federal income taxes. The Constitution's Twenty-Fourth Amendment, however, guarantees that the federal franchise “shall not be denied or abridged... by reason of failure to pay any poll tax or other tax.” If “other tax” includes income taxes, the text of the Twenty-fourth Amendment appears to prohibit the disenfranchisement of citizens convicted of tax felonies. This Comment argues that …

"Remarkable Stratagems And Conspiracies": How Unscrupulous Lawyers And Credulous Judges Created An Exception To The Hearsay Rule, Marianne Wesson

Publications

This paper, a companion piece to the author's earlier exploration of the case of Mutual Life Insurance Company v. Hillmon, describes the remarkable record of unethical conduct compiled by the eminent and respectable attorneys for the insurance companies in the course of that litigation. When married with the Supreme Court Justices' uncritical willingness to accept the false narrative thus contrived, these attorneys' misconduct led to the creation of an important rule of evidence - a rule of questionable merit. This article aims to remind us that lawyers who are willing to distort the process of litigation have the power …

Colorado Ethics Opinion 115: Next Steps For Colorado's Collaborative Lawyers, Scott R. Peppet

Publications

No abstract provided.