Digital Commons Network^™

Bearing Faith: The Limits Of Catholic Health Care For Women Of Color, Kira Shepherd, Elizabeth Reiner Platt, Katherine M. Franke, Elizabeth Boylan

Faculty Scholarship

This study finds that in nineteen out of the thirty-four states/territories that we studied, women of color are more likely than white women to give birth at hospitals bound by the ERDs. Women of color’s disproportionate reliance on Catholic hospitals in these states increases their exposure to restrictions that place religious ideology over best medical practices.

To determine whether women of color disproportionately give birth at hospitals operating under the ERDs, we compared the percentage of births to women of color at Catholic and non-Catholic hospitals. In over half of the states we studied (19 out of 33 states plus …

Normcore, Jedediah Purdy

Faculty Scholarship

The proliferating "crisis-of-democracy" literature, like The Fast and the Furious franchise, has only one plot. And, like the crash-up car-chase movies, it has not let this fact slow its growth. Likely none of these books would exist—certainly none would be remotely the same—if Hillary Clinton had pulled a hundred thousand more votes out of the Midwest in 2016. All are organized around the shock of Trump's victory and allege a national and international crisis of democracy. Just what is the crisis? What is missing from these works, and the commentariat that they represent, is a genuine reckoning with twenty-first-century questions: …

Free Trade, Fair Trade, And Selective Enforcement, Timothy Meyer

Faculty Scholarship

No abstract provided.

Challenges Facing Judges Regarding Expert Evidence In Criminal Cases, Paul W. Grimm

Faculty Scholarship

No abstract provided.

The Rainy Day Earned Income Tax Credit: A Reform To Boost Financial Security By Helping Low-Wage Workers Build Emergency Savings, Sarah Halpern-Meekin, Sara Sternberg Greene, Ezra Levin, Kathryn Edin

Faculty Scholarship

Financial stability depends on emergency savings. Low-wage workers regularly experience drops in income and unexpected expenses. Households with savings absorb these financial shocks but most low-income Americans lack rainy day savings. Therefore, even a small shock, like car repairs, can result in a cascade of events that throws a low-income family into poverty. Nonetheless, existing policies address emergency savings only indirectly. However, the Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC) already functions as an imperfect, makeshift savings tool. This lump sum refund at tax time gives workers a moment of financial slack, but many EITC recipients lack emergency reserves later in the …

The Reliable Application Of Fingerprint Evidence, Brandon L. Garrett

Faculty Scholarship

In November 2017, a state appellate court did something almost unprecedented: It held that a trial judge made an error by admitting testimony on latent fingerprinting. In State v. McPhaul, the North Carolina appellate panel found error in admitting expert testimony, based on the lack of evidence that the expert reliably reached conclusions about the fingerprint evidence. The panel did not reverse the defendant's conviction, however, finding the error to be harmless. The ruling has broader significance for as-applied challenges to the forensic testimony commonly used in criminal cases, in which judges have often not carefully examined reliability either for …

Brief Of Professor Ernest A. Young As Amicus Curiae In Support Of Plaintiff Appellant Urging Reversal, Ernest A. Young

Faculty Scholarship

No abstract provided.

Evidence-Informed Criminal Justice, Brandon L. Garrett

Faculty Scholarship

The American criminal justice system is at a turning point. For decades, as the rate of incarceration exploded, observers of the American criminal justice system criticized the enormous discretion wielded by key actors, particularly police and prosecutors, and the lack of empirical evidence that has informed that discretion. Since the 1967 President’s Commission on Law Enforcement and Administration of Justice report, The Challenge of Crime in a Free Society, there has been broad awareness that the criminal system lacks empirically informed approaches. That report unsuccessfully called for a national research strategy, with an independent national criminal justice research institute, along …

Determining An Asset's Tax Basis In The Absence Of A Meaningful Transfer Tax Regime, Jay A. Soled, Richard L. Schmalbeck

Faculty Scholarship

Until recently, in those circumstances where there was a valuation range with respect to a particular asset, executors faced a choice: among estates subject to the estate tax, declaring a high value would increase the estate tax liability; however, due to the Internal Revenue Code's "basis equal to fair market value" rule applicable at death, declaring a low value would expose heirs to a greater capital gains tax on subsequent asset disposition. Because the estate tax rates were higher and that tax was immediate (as opposed to deferred until a later sale by the heir), executors typically minimized asset values, …

The United States As An Idea: Constitutional Reflections, H. Jefferson Powell

Faculty Scholarship

No abstract provided.

The Long Environmental Justice Movement, Jedediah Purdy

Faculty Scholarship

The standpoint of environmental justice has become integral to environmental law in the last thirty years. Environmental justice criticizes mainstream environmental law and advocacy institutions on three main fronts: for paying too little attention to the distributive effects of environmental policy; for emphasizing elite and professional advocacy over participation in decision making by affected communities; and for adhering to a woods-and-waters view of which problems count as “environmental” that disregards the importance of neighborhoods, workplaces, and cities. This Article highlights the existence of a “long environmental justice movement” that, like the long movements for racial equality and labor organizing, put …

Higher Education As A Human Right, Heidi Gilchrist

Faculty Scholarship

No abstract provided.

Valuing Life: A Human Rights Perspective On The Calculus Of Regulation, William J. Aceves

Faculty Scholarship

How much is a human life worth? This is both a puzzling and subversive question for human rights advocates to consider. The concept of human rights is premised on the sanctity and inviolability of human life as well as the equality of all human beings. Indeed, the right to life and the corollary right to be free from the arbitrary deprivation of life constitute the defining human right. To place a price on the value of human life is, thus, unsettling. And yet, monetary valuation of human life occurs frequently. Governments use cost-benefit analysis and calculations regarding the value of …

Mini-Law School: Civic Education Making A Difference In The Community, Pat Newcombe, Beth Cohen

Faculty Scholarship

Western New England’s Mini-Law School Program increases civic engagement and awareness and provides opportunities for law schools and educators to help non-lawyers better understand the legal system. This article will discuss the Mini-Law School Program, a creative and extremely successful five-week community outreach program focused on demystifying the law. Our society is in dire need of greater civic education. Public policy surveys consistently reveal disturbing statistics about the public’s lack of civic awareness (e.g., 15 percent of the public knew that John Roberts is Chief Justice of the Supreme Court, but 66 percent could name an American Idol judge; 70 …

Amicus Curiae Brief Of The American Civil Liberties Union Of Massachusetts, Massachusetts Law Reform Institute, Pioneer Valley Workers Center, United Food And Commercial Workers Local 1459, University Of Massachusetts Labor Relations And Research Center, And Professor Michael Wishnie In Support Of Plaintiffs-Appellants, William C. Newman, Harris Freeman

Faculty Scholarship

This Amicus Curiae Brief is filed on behalf of the American Civil Liberties Union of Massachusetts, Massachusetts Law Reform Institute, Pioneer Valley Workers Center, United Food and Commercial Workers Local 1459, University of Massachusetts Labor Relations and Research Center, and Professor Michael Wishnie in Support of Plaintiffs-Appellants, Arias-Villano v. Chang & Son Enters., 481 Mass. 625 (2019).

Cuba's Mesophotic Coral Reefs Macroalgae Photo Identification Guide., Beatriz Martinez-Daranas, Patricia M. González-Sanchez, Amanda Ramos, Emma E. Gomez, Yusimi Alfonso, Ana M. Suarez, Dennis M. Hanisak, John K. Reed, Stephanie Farrington

Faculty Scholarship

Mesophotic coral reef ecosystems (MCEs) are light-dependent benthic communities that occur deeper than shallow reefs and typically range from depths of 30 m to the bottom of the photic zone, which may extend to >150 m in some regions. MCEs represent in part an extension of shallow-water coral reef 3 ecosystems and support a diverse assemblages of habitat- building taxa, including corals, sponges and algae, and associated fish (Reed et al., 2018).

Cuba's Mesophotic Coral Reefs And Associated Fish Communities., John K. Reed, Patricia Gonzalez-Diaz, Linnet Busutil, Stephanie Farrington, Beatriz Martínez-Daranas, Dorka Rojas Cobián, Joshua Voss, Maria Cristina Diaz, Andrew David, Dennis M. Hanisak, Juliett Gonzalez Mendez, Alain Rodriguez Garcia, Patricia M. González-Sanchez, Jorge Fernandez Viamontes, Daniel Perez Estrada, Michael Studivan, Felicia Drummond, Mingshun Jiang, Shirley A. Pomponi

Faculty Scholarship

A joint Cuba-U.S. expedition was conducted May 14-June 12, 2017 to characterize for the first time the extent and health of mesophotic coral ecosystems (MCEs) along the entire coastline of Cuba. Remotely Operated Vehicle (ROV) dives at 36 sites confirmed the presence of MCE habitat along all coasts of Cuba. ROV dives covered 27 km, at depths of 25-188 m, and documented habitat and species with 103 hours of high-definition video and 21,146 digital images. A total of 477 taxa of benthic macrobiota and 178 fish taxa were identified, and 343 specimens of benthic invertebrates and algae were collected to …

Noaa Cioert Cruise Report South Atlantic Mpas And Oculina Hapc: Characterization Of Benthic Habitat And Biota., Stacey Harter, Andrew David, John K. Reed, Stephanie Farrington, Felicia Drummond

Faculty Scholarship

The South Atlantic Fishery Management Council (SAFMC) and Department of Commerce through the Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Management Act have established eight deepwater Marine Protected Areas (MPAs), five Deepwater Coral Habitat Areas of Particular Concern (CHAPCs), and the Oculina Coral HAPC off of the southeastern U.S. This project proposes to document and characterize the benthic habitat, benthic sessile biota, and fish populations within some of these protected areas and within the jurisdiction of the SAFMC. The Oculina Experimental Closed Area (OECA) was established in 1994 and closed the area to all bottom fishing in order to evaluate the effectiveness of the reserve …

Insuring Sustainable Homeownership, David Reiss

Faculty Scholarship

No abstract provided.

The President's Immigration Courts, Catherine Y. Kim

Faculty Scholarship

No abstract provided.

Tax Law And The Eroding Budget Process, Rebecca M. Kysar

Faculty Scholarship

No abstract provided.

Legal Pluralism And The Threat To Human Rights In The New Plurinational State Of Bolivia, James M. Cooper

Faculty Scholarship

Bolivia, the chronically poor, landlocked Andean country has long seen its indigenous populations marginalized, languishing in underdevelopment. Spanish colonialists destroyed any vestige of the vibrant, complex civilization that existed in the region – including the religious, political and legal systems in place for centuries. In December 2005, Evo Morales Ayma was the first elected President of indigenous descent. After leading the changes in the country’s Constitution, Morales continued to rule Bolivia until the writing of this Article. The New Political Constitution of Plurinational State of Bolivia of 2009 and a national law for community justice, signed into law by Morales, …

New Mexico’S Renewable Portfolio Standard: Analysis Of Existing Policy Design Elements And Compliance Obligations Beyond 2020, Gabriel Pacyniak

Faculty Scholarship

This white paper analyzes two elements of New Mexico’s current Renewable Portfolio Standard (RPS) in advance of the state legislature’s consideration of an RPS expansion in the 2019 legislative session. First, the paper surveys key policy design elements of the current RPS, compares those elements to other state RPSs, and identifies “policy considerations” that may inform legislative or regulatory action. Among the findings from this part of the analysis are that: 1) other states have set much higher RPS targets; 2) that New Mexico’s RPS has uniquely restrictive cost-containment measures that limit cost impacts but also prohibit the full RPS …

Who's Causing The Harm?, Catherine A. Hardee

Faculty Scholarship

My parents started a software company out of our family room when I was just five years old As a child, the business felt like the sixth member of our family A fourth child who grew up alongside my sisters and me and whom my parents struggled with, stressed over, and strove to infuse with their values just as they did their flesh and blood children. Take pride in your work and stand behind what you do applied equally to homework and product launches. The Golden Rule to treat others as you would like to be treated meant that, long …

‘Not In My Name’ Claims Of Constitutional Right, Abner S. Greene

Faculty Scholarship

We have a constitutional right against the state forcing us to be associated with expression with which we do not wish to be associated. The freedom of expressive association is not stated in our Constitution’s text. Rather, it is derived from various provisions of the First Amendment. As the freedom of speech protects, among other things, our right to shape how we present ourselves to the world, so does the freedom of expressive association protect us from the state shaping us by connecting us to ideas not of our choosing. Our freedom of expressive association allows us to claim an …

The Criminal Jury, Moral Judgments, And Political Representation, Youngjae Lee

Faculty Scholarship

Was the sexual act consensual? Did the defendant have a reasonable belief that he was in imminent danger of death by an attacker? Did the police use excessive force? Did the defendant act in a heinous or cruel manner? Did the defendant act with depraved indifference to human life? These are some of the questions that criminal juries encounter. Determinations of such questions involve a combination of factual and moral questions, both questions about what happened and questions about the evaluative significance of what happened. This feature of the criminal jury—that the jury routinely decides normative questions—is frequently noted but …

Integrative Information Platforms: The Case Of Zero-Rating, Olivier Sylvain

Faculty Scholarship

No abstract provided.

Confidentiality In Patent Dispute Resolution: Antitrust Implications, Mark R. Patterson

Faculty Scholarship

nformation is crucial to the functioning of the patent system, as it is for other markets. Nevertheless, patent licensing terms are often subject to confidentiality agreements. On the one hand, this is not surprising: sellers and buyers do not normally publicize the details of their transactions. On the other hand, explicit confidentiality agreements are not common in other markets, and they may be particularly problematic for patents.

Several United States Supreme Court cases have condemned agreements that suppress market information, and those cases could be applied to confidentiality agreements in the patent context. Of course, confidentiality may sometimes be pro-competitive, …

Ministries Of Catholic Sisters In The Diocese Of Cleveland: Assessing Capacity And Opportunity In A Period Of Transition, Robert L. Fischer, Rong Bai

Faculty Scholarship

Catholic sisters have long played a vital role in addressing the needs of the poor, neglected, and vulnerable members of society. In northeast Ohio, sisters have been instrumental in the arenas of education, healthcare, social service, and advocacy. This research builds on research conducted in 2009 on the characteristics of the ministries of Catholic sisters. Using a survey approach, responses were collected from 358 Catholic Sisters in 12 religious orders, approximately 60 percent of the sisters living in the Diocese of Cleveland. The study explores sisters' current ministries (work and service), the plans for their ministries to continue, and their …

Competitive Philanthropy: Charitable Naming Rights, Inequality And Social Norms, Linda Sugin

Faculty Scholarship

Income inequality today is at a high not seen since the 1920s, and one way the very richest display their wealth is through charitable giving. Gifts in excess of $100 million are no longer rare, and in return for their mega-gifts, the biggest donors get their names on buildings, an astonishingly valuable benefit that the tax law ignores. The law makes no distinction between a gift of $100 and a gift of $100 million. This article argues that the tax law of charity should focus on the very rich and harness the culture of philanthropy among the elite. The law …