Digital Commons Network^™

Growing Inequality And Racial Economic Gaps, Thomas W. Mitchell

Faculty Scholarship

Over the past several decades, economic inequality has grown dramatically in the United States while inter-generational economic mobility has declined, which has challenged the very notion of the "American Dream." In fact, the United States is more economically unequal than most other industrialized countries. Further, there are dramatic and growing racial economic gaps in this country. Despite the Occupy Wall Street Movement, and the various spinoffs it has catalyzed, there has not been any sustained, widespread social movement to address economic inequality in the United States over the course of the past several decades. Furthermore, it is unlikely that a …

Integrating Art And Science In Undergraduate Education, Daniel Gurnon, Julian Voss-Andreae, Jacob Stanley

Faculty Scholarship

The prevailing vision for undergraduate science education includes increased collaboration among teachers of science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) and an overhaul of introductory courses [1–4]. But by staying within the borders of STEM, are we overlooking connections between the arts and innovative science? Likewise, are we missing an important opportunity to inspire and inform nonscientists? Here we explore how weaving the visual arts into a science curriculum can both help develop scientific imagination and engage nonscientists. As an example, we describe a recent collaboration between artists and scientists to create a series of science-inspired sculptures.

The Perils And Promise Of Teaching Margaret Montoya’S Máscaras Article In The First Year Law School Curriculum, Christian G. Fritz

Faculty Scholarship

Placing Máscaras squarely in the context of challenging students to engage in a critical analysis of law and their legal education, as well as frankly acknowledging how hard it is to talk about race honestly, would seem to be a good prescription for encouraging such discussions. The article has a relevance that goes far beyond the literature of Critical Race Theory. In the end, Máscaras has remarkable potential as a catalyst for discussing important questions about the nature of law in America.

"At The Hospital There Are No Human Rights": Reproductive And Sexual Rights Violations Of Women Living With Hiv In Namibia, Aziza Ahmed

Faculty Scholarship

This report documents the ongoing stigma and discrimination of women living with HIV in Namibia, building on prior findings and investigations on the subject, such as the 2008 research conducted by the International Community of Women Living with HIV/AIDS (ICW) and the Namibian Women’s Health Network (NWHN). The report, based upon both desk research and a field mission, examines the human rights situation related to sexual and reproductive health of women living with HIV, including the gravity and ongoing nature of forced and coerced sterilizations in Namibia. The report also provides evidence of violations of informed consent in the context …

Religions As Sovereigns: Why Religion Is "Special", Elizabeth Clark

Faculty Scholarship

Commentators increasingly challenge religion’s privileged legal status, arguing that it is not “special” or distinct from other associations or philosophical or conscientious claims. I propose that religion is “special” because it functions metaphorically as a legal sovereign, asserting supreme authority over a realm of human life. Under a religion-as-sovereign theory, religious freedom can be understood as at least partial deference to a religious sovereign in a system of shared or overlapping sovereignty. This Article suggests that federalism, which also involves shared sovereignty, can provide a useful heuristic device for examining religious freedom. Specifically, the Article examines a range of federalism …

A Case For The Public Domain, Clark Asay

Faculty Scholarship

Over the past several decades open license movements have proven highly successful in the software and content worlds. Such movements rely in part on the belief that greater freedom of use triggers innovative activity that is superior to what a restrictive IP approach produces. Ironically, such open license movements also rely on IP rights to promote their vision of freedom and openness. They do so through IP licenses that, while granting significant freedoms, also impose certain conditions on users such as the “copyleft” requirement in the software world. Such movements rely on this IP-based approach due to fears that, without …

A Critical Look At The ‘Critical Mass' Argument, Dawinder S. Sidhu

Faculty Scholarship

The Supreme Court's pending ruling in Fisher v. University of Texas at Austin is expected to largely decide how or even whether affirmative action can be used in college admissions. The university's argument for why minority enrollments need to reach a certain threshold, however, is problematic because it is inconsistent with previous court rulings involving race.

Exposure To Verbal Parental Aggression And Sexual Activity Among Low Income African American Youth, Dexter R. Voisin

Faculty Scholarship

The study examined whether witnessing verbal parental aggression (VPA) was related to sexual activity among mostly low income African American youth, and whether psychological symptoms mediated this relationship. Five hundred and sixty-three African American high school adolescents (ages 13-19) completed self-administered questionnaires, which assessed demographics, psychological problems (e.g., depression, anxiety, aggression and posttraumatic stress disorder symptoms), witnessing VPA, and sexual activity. Participants who witnessed high versus no VPA were 2 times more likely to report sexual activity. This relationship was mediated by aggression for males and females, and posttraumatic stress disorder symptoms for females only. Youth service providers should be …

Community Violence Exposure And Adolescent Delinquency: Examining A Spectrum Of Promotive Factors, Dexter R. Voisin

Faculty Scholarship

This study examined whether promotive factors (future expectations, family warmth, school attachment, and neighborhood cohesion) moderated relationships between community violence exposure and youth delinquency. Analyses were conducted using N = 2,980 sixth to eighth graders (Mage = 12.48; 41.1% males) from a racially, ethnically, and socioeconomically diverse sample. After controlling for demographic factors, delinquency was positively associated with community violence exposure and inversely associated with each of the promotive factors. When interaction effects between all promotive factors and community violence exposure were examined simultaneously, only future expectations moderated the relationship between community violence exposure and delinquency. Specifically, community violence exposure …

Environmental And Occupational Interventions For Primary Prevention Of Cancer: A Cross-Sectorial Policy Framework, Carolina Espina, Miquel Porta, Joachim Schüz, Ildefonso Hernández Aguado, Robert V. Percival, Carlos Dora, Terry Slevin, Julietta Rodriguez Guzman, Tim Meredith, Philip J. Landrigan, Maria Neira

Faculty Scholarship

Nearly 13 million new cancer cases and 7.6 million cancer deaths occur worldwide each year; 63% of cancer deaths occur in low and middle-income countries. A substantial portion of all cancers are attributable to carcinogenic exposures in the environment and the workplace.

The objective of this study was to develop an evidence-based global vision and strategy for the primary prevention of environmental and occupational cancer.

The study concluded that opportunities exist to revitalize comprehensive global cancer control policies by incorporating primary interventions against environmental and occupational carcinogens.

Proxy Citizenship And Transnational Advocacy: Colombian Activists From Putumayo To Washington, Dc, Winifred Tate

Faculty Scholarship

Proxy citizenship is the mechanism through which certain rights of citizenship—the ability to make claims for redress to a state—are conferred on activists through relationships with NGOs. Focusing on advocacy from within the policy process, U.S. and Colombian NGOs channeled political legitimacy and rights of access to Colombians, whose claims emerge from the experience of governance as articulated through testimony. This process, and its roots within the shared history of the Putumayo region of Colombia and Washington, DC, reveals emerging practices of citizenship claims and transnational political participation.

The Geopolitics Of Strategic Stability: Looking Beyond Cold Warriors And Nuclear Weapons, C. Dale Walton, Colin S. Gray

Faculty Scholarship

“Strategic stability” is a much-used, but under-analyzed, term. Before launching into any discussion of strategic stability in this century, it is necessary first to ask what we actually mean by strategic stability. Game theorists endeavor to define the phrase in very precise mathematical terms, but even among these specialists there is no settled agreement on its proper definition.1 In policy debates, meanwhile, the term is used very loosely to describe anything from rough parity in the sizes of nuclear arsenals to the perceived unlikelihood of an acute political crisis.

"'Petitions Without Number": Widows' Petitions And The Early Nineteenth-Century Origins Of Public Marriage-Based Entitlements, Kristin Collins

Faculty Scholarship

Between 1792 and 1858, Congress enacted approximately seventy-six public law statutes granting cash subsidies to large classes of military widows. War widows’ pensions were not wholly unknown in Anglo-American law before this time, but the widows’ pension system of the early nineteenth century was distinctive in both scope and kind: Congress rejected the class-based approach that had characterized war widows’ pensions of the eighteenth century by pensioning widows of rank-and-file soldiers, not just widows of officers, and by extending pensions to widows of veterans. This significant equalization and expansion of widows’ pensions resulted in the creation of the first broad-scale …

Series Llcs: What Happens When One Series Fails? Key Considerations And Issues, Michelle M. Harner, Jennifer Ivey-Crickenberger, Tae Kim

Faculty Scholarship

Entity choice law is constantly evolving and innovating. The series LLC form is one such example. Although the form provides governance and operational flexibility and efficiencies, the law governing the form is still developing. As such, uncertainties linger, particularly in the context of a financially distressed or insolvent series. This article explores many of the issues that arise when a master LLC or one of its series experiences financial distress and contemplates a bankruptcy filing. It also identifies strategies for parties to potentially mitigate certain of these issues in the planning stage. The article concludes by suggesting parties using the …

When Intercultural Competency Comes To Class: Navigating Difference In The Modern American Law School, Rachel F. Moran

Faculty Scholarship

There has been increased interest in intercultural competency training at American law schools. Implementing that training can be complicated by disagreements about the meaning of culture and the purpose of promoting intercultural competency. In professional schools, awareness of different cultures can be a way of fulfilling moral obligations as a global citizen or honing skills in a global economy. Even when a law school determines what it means by culture and why it wants to promote the training, there are different methods of inculcating intercultural competency. Clinical instructors already incorporate these concerns into their teaching and can provide useful insights …

The Resistance Defense, Jenny E. Carroll

Faculty Scholarship

This article explores a previously ignored set of defendants — those who choose to rely on a defense of resistance. From Warren Jeffs, the polygamist recently convicted of child rape in Texas, to John Brown, the fiery abolitionist who led a raid on the federal armory at Harpers Ferry in the hopes of triggering an armed insurrection, these defendants waived their procedural rights and transformed their criminal trials into a commentary on the deficiencies of the law and the system that supports it. Though their belief systems varied, they appear throughout history in moments of social or political crisis and …

Of Smart Phone Wars And Software Patents, Stuart Graham, Saurabh Vishnubhakat

Faculty Scholarship

Among the main criticisms currently confronting the US Patent and Trademark Office are concerns about software patents and what role they play in the web of litigation now proceeding in the smart phone industry. We will examine the evidence on the litigation and the treatment by the Patent Office of patents that include software elements. We present specific empirical evidence regarding the examination by the Patent Office of software patents, their validity, and their role in the smart phone wars. More broadly, this article discusses the competing values at work in the patent system and how the system has dealt …

Zappers & Employment Tax Fraud, Richard Thompson Ainsworth

Faculty Scholarship

Beyond the grey area of worker misclassifications and general employment tax irregularities there are darker employment relationships where workers are intentionally paid in cash “off-the-books” or “under-the-table.” Grey employment relationships present civil enforcement issues that may become criminal; darker-relationships are criminal from the beginning. Zappers are found on the dark side.

Zappers are fraud-technologies that automatically (and remotely) skim cash from electronic cash registers (ECRs) or back room point of sales (POS) systems. Globally, tax auditors are finding that Zappers frequently provide the cash that is used to compensate “under-the-table” workers. In fact, a Zapper appears to be at the …

Fracking Surrounded By Misinformation, Alex Ritchie

Faculty Scholarship

No abstract provided.

Reconstruction Of Family-Level Phylogenetic Relationships Within Demospongiae (Porifera) Using Nuclear Encoded Housekeeping Genes., Malcolm S. Hill, April L. Hill, Jose V. Lopez, Kevin J. Peterson, Shirley A. Pomponi, Maria Cristina Diaz, Robert W. Thacker, Maja Adamska, Nicole Boury-Esnault, Paco Cárdenas, Andia Chaves-Fonnegra, Elizabeth Danka, Bre-Onna De Laine, Dawn Formica, Eduardo Hajdu, Gisele Lobo-Hajdu, Sarah Klontz, Christine C. Morrow, Jignasa Patel, Bernard Picton, Davide Pisani, Deborah Pohlmann, Niamh E. Redmond, John K. Reed, Stacy Richey,, Ana Riesgo, Ewelina Rubin, Zach Russell, Klaus Rützler, Erik A. Sperling, Michael Di Stefano, James E. Tarver, Allen G. Collins, Senjie Lin

Faculty Scholarship

Background: Demosponges are challenging for phylogenetic systematics because of their plastic and relatively simple morphologies and many deep divergences between major clades. To improve understanding of the phylogenetic relationships within Demospongiae, we sequenced and analyzed seven nuclear housekeeping genes involved in a variety of cellular functions from a diverse group of sponges. Methodology/Principal Findings: We generated data from each of the four sponge classes (i.e., Calcarea, Demospongiae, Hexactinellida, and Homoscleromorpha), but focused on family-level relationships within demosponges. With data for 21 newly sampled families, our Maximum Likelihood and Bayesian-based approaches recovered previously phylogenetically defined taxa: Keratosap, Myxospongiaep, Spongillidap, Haploscleromorphap (the …

A Diversity Approach To Parenthood In Family Life And Family Law, Linda C. Mcclain

Faculty Scholarship

Extraordinary changes in patterns of family life and family law have dramatically altered the boundaries of parenthood and opened up numerous questions and debates. What is parenthood and why does it matter? How should society define, regulate, and support it? Is parenthood separable from marriage or couplehood when society seeks to foster childrens well-being? What is the better model of parenthood from the perspective of child outcomes? Intense disagreements over the definition and future of marriage often rest upon conflicting convictions about parenthood. What Is Parenthood? asks bold and direct questions about parenthood in contemporary society, and it brings together …

The Meaning And Viability Of The Thirteenth Amendment, Dawinder S. Sidhu

Faculty Scholarship

No abstract provided.

The Food Of The Damned, David M. Freidenreich

Faculty Scholarship

No abstract provided.

Digital Hollywood 2.0: Reimagining Film, Music, Television And Publishing Distribution As A Global Artist Collaborative, Jon M. Garon

Faculty Scholarship

Jon M. Garon, Digital Hollywood 2.0: Reimagining Film, Music, Television and Publishing Distribution as a Global Artist Collaborative, 21 Mich. St. Int'l L. Rev. 563 (2013).

The seven largest U.S. motion picture distributors control as much as ninety percent of the U.S. domestic box office and the majority of the global theatrical box office revenues. This economic dominance in gross revenue, however, undervalues the success of financially and artistically successful works budgeted for smaller audiences. Similar economics also drive music and publishing economies. Measured solely from gross revenue, the Hollywood model of distribution dominates most markets around the world. …

Tidying Up The Internet: Take Down Of Unauthorized Content Under Copyright, Trademark And Defamation Law, Jon M. Garon

Faculty Scholarship

As business clients make available an ever-increasing array of online content and services, the specter of liability for inappropriate online content looms large. Still, U.S. federal law protects businesses that adopt appropriate take-down regimes for copyright infringement, defamatory content, and even improper use of competitor’s trademarks. As business clients make available an ever-increasing array of online content and services, the specter of liability for inappropriate online content looms large. Still, federal law protects businesses that adopt appropriate take-down regimes for copyright infringement, defamatory content, and even improper use of competitor’s trademarks. While the percentage of complaints suggests that the notice-and-take-down …

Introduction: Wounds Of War: Meeting The Needs Of Active-Duty Military Personnel And Veterans With Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder, Kathy L. Cerminara

Faculty Scholarship

Kathy Cerminara, Introduction: Wounds of War: Meeting the Needs of Active-Duty Military Personnel and Veterans with Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder, 37 Nova Law Review 439 (2013).

Dog Days In The Law Library: Philosophical, Financial, And Administrative Issues Raised By Faculty Summer Grant Programs, Robert M. Jarvis, Phyllis G. Coleman

Faculty Scholarship

Our law school has a faculty summer grant program, as do most law schools. Our program's rules, set out in the appendix to this article, are simple in theory: interested professors submit applications in January, get funded in June, and are expected to have a completed manuscript sometime thereafter.

The Protection Of Foreign Direct Investments In Developing And Emerging Markets Through The Instrumentality Of Arbitration: Fair Game?, Florence Shu-Acquaye

Faculty Scholarship

Investment treaties have tripled in the twenty-first century with over 170 countries signing onto bilateral investment treaties (BITs). Most BITs are made between a developed and a developing country, whereby a host country promises to protect home country's foreign direct investment (FDI) in exchange for the prospect of increased capital in the future. Hence, BITs tend to reduce the expected risks to FDI in that they stabilize a host country's existing investment environment, as well as provide a substitute for weak domestic laws and institutions that are often ill-equipped to protect FDI.

A Spectacular Non Sequitur: The Supreme Court's Contemporary Fourth Amendment Exclusionary Rule Jurisprudence, David C. Gray

Faculty Scholarship

Much of the Supreme Court’s contemporary Fourth Amendment exclusionary rule jurisprudence is constructed upon an analytic mistake that H.L.A. Hart described in another context as a “spectacular non sequitur.” That path to irrelevance is paved by the Court’s recent insistence that the sole justification for excluding evidence seized in violation of the Fourth Amendment is the prospect of deterring law enforcement officers. This deterrence-only approach ignores or rejects more principled justifications that inspired the rule at its genesis and have sustained it through the majority of its history and development. More worrisome, however, is the conceptual insufficiency of deterrence considerations …

A Constitutional Theory Of Habeas Power, Lee B. Kovarsky

Faculty Scholarship

Modern habeas corpus law generally favors an idiom of individual rights, but the Great Writ’s central feature is judicial power. Throughout the seventeenth-century English Civil Wars, the Glorious Revolution, and the war in the American colonies, the habeas writ was a means by which judges consolidated authority over the question of what counted as 'lawful' custody. Of course, the American Framers did not simply copy the English writ—they embedded it in a Constitutional system of separated powers and dual sovereignty. 'A Constitutional Theory of Habeas Power' is an inquiry into the newly minted principle that the federal Constitution guarantees some …