Digital Commons Network^™

Sovereign Debt Restructuring: A Model-Law Approach, Steven L. Schwarcz

Faculty Scholarship

The existing contractual framework for sovereign debt restructuring is sorely inadequate. Whether or not their fault, nations sometimes take on debt burdens that become unsustainable. Until resolved, the resulting sovereign debt problem hurts not only those nations (such as Greece) but also their citizens, their creditors, and—by posing serious systemic risks to the international financial system—the wider economic community. The existing contractual framework functions poorly to resolve the problem because it often leaves little alternative between a sovereign debt bailout, which is costly and creates moral hazard, and a default, which raises the specter of systemic financial contagion.

Most observers …

(Mis)Recognizing Polygamy, Kerry Abrams

Faculty Scholarship

No abstract provided.

The Concept Of The Speech Platform: Walker V. Texas Division, Abner S. Greene

Faculty Scholarship

In Walker, the Court deemed Texas’ specialty license plate program government speech, and thus applied no First Amendment review to the state’s refusal to allow a Confederate battle flag specialty plate, even though the reason for the refusal was that the plate was offensive. The dissent considered this unconstitutional viewpoint discrimination in a limited public forum. This article argues that the Walker result was correct, but for the wrong reason. Government should have the power to forbid hateful or vulgar speech from limited public forums such as specialty or vanity license plates, transit ads, and after-school extracurricular activities, even though …

Gender Indicators As Global Governance: Not Your Father's World Bank, Catherine Powell

Faculty Scholarship

No abstract provided.

The Dawning Of Disaster Law, Clifford J. Villa

Faculty Scholarship

What really matters, what unites disasters of all stripes, including earthquakes in Japan, tornadoes in Oklahoma, oil spills in the Gulf of Mexico, and the terrorist attacks on 9/11, is how you respond during the disaster, how you recover from it afterwards, and how you prepare - or better, prevent - the next disaster from happening. This is what disaster theorists, including Professor Dan Farber at Berkeley Law, term the "disaster cycle." In simplest terms: readiness, response, and recovery.

Fracking In Louisiana: The Missing Process/Land Use Distinction In State Preemption And Opportunities For Local Participation, Alex Ritchie

Faculty Scholarship

Oil and gas development is testing and defining the boundaries of local government authority and autonomy as concerned municipal entities and citizens seek to limit oil and gas operations. Advances in high-volume hydraulic fracturing have increased domestic oil and gas production to historic levels.) At the same time, national and international concerns about irreversible man-made global warming have focused on fossil fuel combustion. National groups opposed to continued reliance on oil and gas as an energy source have found willing partners in many local governments and their citizens, who are anxious about the local implications of drilling and fracking. Many …

A Legal History Of The Civil War And Reconstruction: A Nation Of Rights By Laura F. Edwards, Jennifer Laws

Faculty Scholarship

This is a review of A Legal History of the Civil War and Reconstruction: A Nation of Rights by Laura F. Edwards

Inviting Everyone To The (Risk) Pool Party: Reforming The Premium Tax Credit To Boost Participation, Mary Leto Pareja

Faculty Scholarship

The year 2014 marked the first opportunity for American taxpayers to receive subsidized health insurance through the Affordable Care Act’s (“ACA”) new Premium Tax Credit (“PTC”). About 4.8 million people enrolled in an ACA plan in 2014 were eligible, and nearly 97% of these claimants were approved for advance payments of the PTC. The year 2015 marked the first tax return where taxpayers received the unpleasant surprise that they must repay excess credits due to reconciliation. Advance PTC estimates turned out to be highly inaccurate, with only 8% of claimants receiving accurate advance payments. A majority, 51%, had to repay …

Biagaweit: Securing Water From The Mighty River In The Snake River Basin Adjudication, Jeanette Wolfley

Faculty Scholarship

This symposium article describes the Shoshone and Bannock peoples journey to quantify their water rights in the SRBA. It begins with the Shoshone-Bannock Tribal cultural perspective on water and water rights. It then discusses the concept of tribal homelands and the water required and necessary for sustaining a tribally reserved home as guaranteed in the Fort Bridger Treaty of 1868, including a discussion of the Winters doctrine which affirms the treaty's promises. It concludes with a review of the Fort Hall Indian Water Rights Agreement. 'Biagaweit' is the Shoshone word for the Snake River. The mighty Snake River begins its …

Survival In The Face Of Scarcity: The Undocumented Immigrant Experience, Nathalie Martin

Faculty Scholarship

In this Article, I attempt to build an empathy bridge between readers and a group of undocumented immigrants living in the American southwest, applying original qualitative research to scarcity theory. While the original empirical study discussed here was designed to bring out the financial realities of the participants, including their credit and banking habits, we uncovered some unrelated themes, including a general feeling among participants of being taken advantage of on the basis of immigration status, as well as an unwillingness to use the court system to right wrongs, even when there was a clear legal right to do so. …

The Free Blacks Of Virginia: A Personal Narrative, A Legal Construct, Sherri L. Burr

Faculty Scholarship

The existence of the Free Blacks of Virginia as a group in United States history would surprise most Americans. The common narrative is that all Africans were brought to this country as slaves with no rights, and systematically received legal privileges after the Civil War in the 1860s and the Civil Rights struggle a century later. The reality differs from this assumption. The first Africans who landed on the shores of Virginia in 1619 began their lives as indentured servants similar to many European immigrants. After finishing their terms of service, these Africans were accorded liberties such as the right …

From Out To In: The Opportunity And Need For Clinical Law Programs To Effectively Serve Low-Income Lgbt Individuals, Sarah Steadman

Faculty Scholarship

Although the recent legalization of same-sex marriage in the U.S. is heartening for lesbians and gays, the resulting discriminatory legislative backlash against the LGBT population shows that this community continues to be marginalized and at risk. Over two hundred anti-LGBT bills have been introduced in state legislatures since January 2016. North Carolina recently passed anti-LGBT legislation that eliminated and prohibits LGBT anti-discrimination protections, and bars transgender individuals from using gender congruent public bathrooms. One result of recent and historical discrimination is LGBT individual's newfound and pre-existing fears of encountering anti-LGBT bias when seeking legal services, even as recent developments have …

The More Copyright Laws Change, The More Digital Challenges Stay The Same, Peter K. Yu

Faculty Scholarship

This essay was a contribution to the Liber Amicorum for Professor Jan Rosén of Stockholm University, a former president of the International Association for the Advancement of Teaching and Research in Intellectual Property (ATRIP). Drawing on Professor Rosén's scholarship, the essay shows how today's judges, legislators, policymakers and commentators continue to address questions that copyright and media law scholars have explored in the past decades.

Specifically, this essay focuses on two topics. The first topic concerns the exhaustion of distribution rights in computer software and other digital works, including regional exhaustion within the European Union. The second topic covers the …

Improving Predictability And Consistency In Class Action Tolling, Tanya Pierce

Faculty Scholarship

Class action tolling means that when parties in a suit allege federal treatment, the individual claims of putative class members are tolled federal courts while the class action is pending. Commonly referred to as American Pipe tolling, this rule prevents duplicative litigation that would result if plaintiffs were required to intervene or file independent lawsuits to protect their interests while the class action was pending. Federal courts have long settled the application of American Pipe tolling in scenarios involving later-filed individual actions. In other scenarios, however, the application of American Pipe tolling has caused considerable uncertainty. This Article examines the …

Drugs, Drugs Everywhere But Just Not For The Poor, Srividhya Ragavan

Faculty Scholarship

The objective for this article is to understand the legitimacy and limitations of US involvement in another country’s sovereign actions taken expressly in the public interest, or to protect public health, such as the compulsory licensing of pharmaceuticals.

The Competing Objectives Underlying The Protection Of Intangible Cultural Heritage, Peter K. Yu

Faculty Scholarship

One topic that has received considerable academic and policy attention concerns the key objectives underlying the establishment of this new framework. To help us develop a better and deeper understanding, this article outlines eight most widely documented objectives. While some of these objectives overlap or conflict with each other, others touch on issues that are of only marginal concern to some constituencies. By focusing on each objective in turn, this article aims to underscore the divergent, and at times competing, interests among the many stakeholders involved in the framework.

Although some readers may find the description of all eight underlying …

The Rule Of Law And Ethical Integrity: Does Haiti Need A Code Of Legal Ethics?, Kate Bloch, Roxanne Edmond-Dimanche

Faculty Scholarship

No abstract provided.

The End Of An Era? Federal Civil Procedure After The 2015 Amendments, Adam N. Steinman

Faculty Scholarship

The recent amendments to the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure were the most controversial in decades. The biggest criticisms concerned pleading standards and access to discovery. Many feared that the amendments would undermine the simplified, merits-driven approach that the original drafters of the Federal Rules envisioned and would weaken access to justice and the enforcement of substantive rights and obligations.

This Article argues that the amendments that came into effect on December 1, 2015, do not mandate a more restrictive approach to pleading or discovery. Although there was legitimate cause for alarm given the advisory committee’s earlier proposals and supporting …

Brain Science And The Theory Of Juvenile Mens Rea, Jenny E. Carroll

Faculty Scholarship

The law has long recognized the distinction between adults and children. A legally designated age determines who can vote, exercise reproductive rights, voluntarily discontinue their education, buy alcohol or tobacco, marry, drive a car, or obtain a tattoo. The Supreme Court has repeatedly upheld such age-based restrictions, most recently constructing an Eighth Amendment jurisprudence that bars the application of certain penalties to juvenile offenders and a Fourth Amendment jurisprudence that contemplates an adolescent-based standard of reasonableness for the Miranda v. Arizona custody analysis. In the cases of Roper v. Simmons , Graham v. Florida , Miller v. Alabama , and …

An Opt-In Option For Class Actions, Scott Dodson

Faculty Scholarship

No abstract provided.

Categorizing Acts By State Officials: Attribution And Responsibility In The Law Of Foreign Official Immunity, Chimène Keitner

Faculty Scholarship

No abstract provided.

Glass Ceiling For Female Professionals, Executives, And Managerial Employees In Japan: 30th Anniversary Of The Eeao And Prime Minister Abe's Womenomics– Introduction To The Symposium Issue– Introduction To The Symposium Issue, Setsuo Miyazawa

Faculty Scholarship

No abstract provided.

Are Asian Americans Now White?, Frank H. Wu

Faculty Scholarship

No abstract provided.

Constructions Of Arbitration’S Informalism: Autonomy, Efficiency, And Justice, Hiro Aragaki

Faculty Scholarship

No abstract provided.

Does Rigorously Enforcing Arbitration Agreements Promote “Autonomy”?, Hiro Aragaki

Faculty Scholarship

In recent years, the U.S. Supreme Court has helped transform arbitration law into a radical private-ordering regime in which freedom of contract has come to eclipse public regulation. Arbitration jurisprudence justifies this transformation in part on a profound and longstanding commitment to the ideal of individual autonomy, understood as the freedom—lacking in litigation—to select a disputing process best suited to one’s needs. In this Article, I question the cogency of this justification. I argue, first, that autonomy has had different and sometimes conflicting meanings even within arbitration jurisprudence. Second, depending on the meaning one ascribes to autonomy, it is at …

The Surface Density Profile Of The Galactic Disk From The Terminal Velocity Curve, Stacy S. Mcgaugh

Faculty Scholarship

The mass distribution of the Galactic disk is constructed from the terminal velocity curve and the mass discrepancy-acceleration relation. Mass models numerically quantifying the detailed surface density profiles are tabulated. For R0 = 8 kpc, the models have stellar mass 5 < M∗ < 6 × 1010 , scale length 2.0 ≤ Rd ≤ 2.9 kpc, LSR circular velocity 222 ≤ Θ0 ≤ 233 , and solar circle stellar surface density 34 ≤ Σd(R0) ≤ 61 . The present interarm location of the solar neighborhood may have a somewhat lower stellar surface density than average for the solar circle. The Milky Way appears to be a normal spiral galaxy that obeys scaling relations like the Tully-Fisher relation, the size-mass relation, and the disk maximality-surface brightness relation. The stellar disk is maximal, and the spiral arms are massive. The bumps and wiggles in the terminal velocity curve correspond to known spiral features (e.g., the Centaurus arm is a ∼50% overdensity). The rotation curve switches between positive and negative over scales of hundreds of parsecs. The rms amplitude , implying that commonly neglected terms in the Jeans equations may be nonnegligible. The spherically averaged local dark matter density is ρ0,DM ≈ 0.009 (0.34 ). Adiabatic compression of the dark matter halo may help reconcile the Milky Way with the c-V200 relation expected in ΛCDM while also helping to mitigate the too-big-to-fail problem, but it remains difficult to reconcile the inner bulge/bar-dominated region with a cuspy halo. We note that NGC 3521 is a near twin to the Milky Way, having a similar luminosity, scale length, and rotation curve.

Depression With Pain Co Morbidity Effect On Quality Of Life Among Hiv Positive Patients In Uganda: A Cross Sectional Study, Shirley Moore, Martha Sajatovic

Faculty Scholarship

Background: Depression with pain comorbidity (DPC) has not been clearly defined among HIV positive patients in sub-Saharan Africa. It still remains a challenge despite many studies in Africa documenting a high prevalence of pain and depression among people living with HIV/AIDS. Both are associated with a grave impact on the health related outcomes in this pandemic. This study aimed at determining the prevalence, factors associated and effect on quality of life of DPC among HIV positive patients. Methods: In a cross-sectional survey, 345 HIV positive patients were enrolled into the study. Using a pre-tested standardised questionnaire the presence of DPC …

Knowledge, Attitudes And Perceptions Of Stroke: A Cross-Sectional Survey In Rural And Urban Uganda, Svetlana Pundik, Anthony J. Furlan, Martha Sajatovic

Faculty Scholarship

Background: Information regarding the increasing burden of non-communicable diseases such as stroke is largely unknown among the vulnerable communities. This analysis, which is part of a larger U.S. National Institute of Heath-funded Medical Education Partnership Initiative neurological disorder survey, assessed community knowledge and attitudes on stroke and stroke risk factors. Methods: A population cross-sectional survey was conducted in urban and rural Mukono, district, central Uganda. Through the systematic sampling method, data were gathered from 377 adult participants who were interviewed about selected aspects of stroke knowledge, attitudes and perception using a pretested structured questionnaire. Results: A total of 377 participants …

Demonizing Muslims Only Benefits Is, Jennifer Moore

Faculty Scholarship

It is wrong to marginalize Muslims in part because such attitudes intensify the very dangers they purport to alleviate. Simply put, Islamophobia feeds ISIS-inspired terrorism.

Asenapine For Bipolar Disorder, Thomas Scheidemantel, Irina Korobkova, Martha Sajatovic

Faculty Scholarship

Asenapine (Saphris®) is an atypical antipsychotic drug which has been approved by the US Food and Drug Administration for the treatment of schizophrenia in adults, as well as the treatment of acute manic or mixed episodes of bipolar I in both adult and pediatric populations. Asenapine is a tetracyclic drug with antidopaminergic and antiserotonergic activity with a unique sublingual route of administration. In this review, we examine and summarize the available literature on the safety, efficacy, and tolerability of asenapine in the treatment of bipolar disorder (BD). Data from randomized, double-blind trials comparing asenapine to placebo or olanzapine in the …