Digital Commons Network^™

Legal Change, The Eighty-Third Cleveland-Marshall Fund Visiting Scholar Lecture , Gerald Torres

Cleveland State Law Review

This Essay will proceed in the following steps. First, I want to propose a preliminary definition of legal change. As I hope to make clear, there are technical and non-technical dimensions to the definition. Second, I want to offer a preliminary definition of social change and social movements. Third, I want to build on the analysis of the late Professor Thomas Stoddard in which he sketched out a relationship between what he calls "rule shifting" and "culture shifting."' Finally, I want to describe what Professor Lani Guinier and I have come to call "demosprudence." I appreciate that it is not …

The States And The World: Twin Levers For Reform Of U.S. Federal Law On Toxic Chemicals, Daryl W. Ditz

Sustainable Development Law & Policy

No abstract provided.

Climate Change And International Human Rights Litigation: A Critical Appraisal, Eric A. Posner

Coase-Sandor Institute for Law & Economics Research Paper Series

Litigation over the effects of climate change has taken various forms, of which litigation based on international human rights law is perhaps the most ambitious. Plaintiffs argue that major emitters of greenhouse gases have violated rights to life and health by contributing to environmental and health injuries associated with global warming. International human rights litigation in international tribunals is unlikely to have any effect, but conceivably American courts might be open to these arguments in Alien Tort Statute litigation. If so, this would be a mistake. Because the health of the global climate is a public good, because American courts …

Climate Change And International Human Rights Litigation: A Critical Appraisal, Eric A. Posner

Public Law and Legal Theory Working Papers

Litigation over the effects of climate change has taken various forms, of which litigation based on international human rights law is perhaps the most ambitious. Plaintiffs argue that major emitters of greenhouse gases have violated rights to life and health by contributing to environmental and health injuries associated with global warming. International human rights litigation in international tribunals is unlikely to have any effect, but conceivably American courts might be open to these arguments in Alien Tort Statute litigation. If so, this would be a mistake. Because the health of the global climate is a public good, because American courts …

Brownfields At 20: A Critical Reevaluation, Joel B. Eisen

Fordham Urban Law Journal

This Articles looks at brownfields policies in one state, New Jersey, and suggests how to make the approach of brownfields revitalization more development-centered and less developer-centered. Following a basic description of the New Jersey Program, this Article discusses two specific developments, the BDA initiative and the recent "Grace Period Rule," that changed some aspects of the program.

Brownfields At 20: A Critical Reevaluation, Joel B. Eisen

Law Faculty Publications

Following a basic description of the New Jersey program, I will discuss two specific developments, the BDA initiative and the recent "Grace Period Rule," that changed some aspects of the program. My aim is more modest than a full-scale re-evaluation of all brownfields programs (or indeed of the New Jersey program in its totality); instead I look at the experience within one program to assess whether there is movement toward the development-centered approach. I find that some developments in New Jersey are positive, notably the BDA's approach to addressing multiple brownfield sites concurrently in the same location. On the other …

Disparity Rules, Olatunde C.A. Johnson

Faculty Scholarship

In 1992, Congress required states receiving federal juvenile justice funds to reduce racial disparities in the confinement rates of minority juveniles. This provision, now known as the disproportionate minority contact standard (DMC), is potentially more far-reaching than traditional disparate impact standards: It requires the reduction of racial disparities regardless of whether those disparities were motivated by intentional discrimination orjustified by "legitimate" agency interests. Instead, the statute encourages states to address how their practices exacerbate racial disadvantage.

This Article casts the DMC standard as a partial response to the failure of constitutional and statutory standards to discourage actions that produce racial …

Racial Inequality In The Distribution Of Hazardous Waste: A National-Level Reassessment, Paul Mohai, Robin Saha

Environmental Studies Faculty Publications

National-level studies examining racial disparities around hazardous waste treatment, storage, and disposal facilities have been very influential in defining the academic and political debates about the existence and importance of "environmental injustice." However, these studies tend to employ methods that fail to adequately control for proximity between environmentally hazardous sites and nearby residential populations. By using GIS and applying methods increasingly used in environmental inequality research that better control for proximity, we conduct a comprehensive reassessment of racial inequality in the distribution of the nation 's hazardous waste facilities. We compare the magnitude of racial disparities found with those of …

Legal Change, Gerald Torres

Cornell Law Faculty Publications

The "demos" in demosprudence is meant to refer to those people who are collectively mobilized to make change. Demosprudence is not "the community" at the micro level. Nor is it the "'polity" writ large whether it acts through representative decision-making or voting in referenda and initiatives. It is not the theory or practice of a riot or a lynch mob. Nor is it the study of elections, whether for representatives or referenda. It is the theory and philosophy of legal meaning making through popular mobilization that engages a "thick" form of participation by people who are pushing for change by …

Ecocritical Perspectives On African Literature : Place, Literary Identity, And The Natural World / Anna K. Smith, Anna K. Smith

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

No abstract provided.

Nothing Is Real: Protecting The Regulatory Void Through Federal Preemption By Inaction, Robert L. Glicksman

GW Law Faculty Publications & Other Works

Whether a federal statute preempts state law has important implications for the allocation of power between the federal and state governments. One aspect of preemption doctrine that has received relatively little scholarly attention is whether the federal government's failure to act is capable of preempting state law and, if so, when. In the regulatory context, Congress must first decide whether as a normative matter it should preempt state law despite its decision not to regulate activities regulated by states. Once Congress has done so, the courts may need to interpret federal legislation to determine whether Congress has decided to preempt …

Contributors, Jennifer Musial, Emily Van Der Meulen

Reconstruction: Studies in Contemporary Culture

Information about contributors to articles in volume 7 issue 1 of Reconstruction.

Table Of Contents (Vol. 78. Issue 40

University of Colorado Law Review

No abstract provided.

The Climate Of Environmental Justice: Taking Stock- Forward, Maxine A. Burkett

University of Colorado Law Review

No abstract provided.

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.

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 …

Tough Love: Should We Analyze Federal Emergencymanagement Agency Disaster Planning Under The National Environmental Policy Act?, Katherine Hausrath

UC Law Environmental Journal

No abstract provided.

Diversity And The Future Of The U.S. Environmental Movement, Emily Enderle

Yale School of the Environment Publications Series

No abstract provided.

No Mud Pies: Risk Avoidance As Risk Regulation, Catherine O’Neill

Faculty Articles

Regulation in the environmental context has, until recently, been guided by risk reduction - strategies that require risk-producers to prevent, limit, or clean up contaminants. However, it has increasingly come to rely on "risk avoidance" - strategies that call upon risk-bearers to alter their practices and ways of living so as to avoid exposure to contaminants left unabated. For example, women and children might be asked to eliminate fish from their diets to avoid the risks of methylmercury contamination; asthmatics might be advised to refrain from going outside on "ozone alert" days to avoid the risks of ground-level ozone pollution; …

Protecting Indigenous Peoples Through Socially Responsible Investment, Benjamin J. Richardson

Articles & Book Chapters

No abstract provided.

Grassroots Policy Prescription: A Case Study In Light Pollution And Night Sky Preservation And Natural Resource Policy Making, Brandi L. Smith

All ETDs from UAB

The grassroots path to public policy is characterized by citizen pressure on policy makers to produce desired change and has been especially successful in the realm of natural resources. It has proven successful in the obtainment of various local and state level policy to control light pollution in the United States. Light pollution, defined as misdirected, obtrusive, or unwanted man-made outdoor lighting is a modern phenomenon that, among other effects, is resulting in the rapid loss of visible starscape throughout the world. Independent grassroots-initiated policies have sprung up around the globe in attempt to control light pollution. The present thesis …

Characterization Of Public And Stakeholder Objectives In Environmental Management: The Application Of Conjoint Analysis And Other Survey Tools To The Management Of The Lamprey River, Shannon Rogers

Master's Theses and Capstones

Management plans for natural resources can be seen as multi-attribute goods that are held in the public domain and therefore require input from experts, stakeholders, and citizens. The state is coordinating an Instream flow study for the Lamprey River in the Seacoast of NH and this research adds a key component to the existing study. This thesis explains how the values and objectives of stakeholders and the general public were elicited. Fourteen stakeholders participated in an interview and survey process and 229 randomly selected residents of the Lamprey River Watershed completed surveys about they how use and value the river. …

Lng Facility Siting And Environmental (In)Justice: Is It Time For A National Siting Scheme?, Eileen Gauna

Faculty Scholarship

This Article examines the distributional and other environmental justice issues arising from the current initiative to rapidly site multiple LNG import facilities in order to increase the supply of natural gas into the continental United States. This Article further examines the necessity of creating a national siting scheme to avoid exacerbating existing racial disparities in risk-producing land use practices.

Vision 2007

Vision

No abstract provided.

The Politics Of Risk: Pre-Litigation Site Assessment In Houston, Texas, Gregg P. Macey

Faculty Scholarship

No abstract provided.

Achieving Environmental Justice For The Community Of Opportunity, Montana: An Assessment Of Superfund Concerns, Kathleen A. Hasenbank

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY The community of Opportunity, Montana, is surrounded by an area many consider to be the largest Superfund site in the United States. The nearby Opportunity Ponds is a major consolidation area for mining-related contaminated wastes in the state of Montana, and Opportunity residents have voiced concerns about their well water, windblown dust, and other issues since at least the late 1990s. Furthermore, the community has been subjected to ongoing environmental injustices: they feel they have been left to bear an unfair environmental burden without compensation and feel left out of important decision-making processes that affect them. I have …

Climate Change, The United States, And The Impacts Of Arctic Melting: A Case Study In The Need For Enforceable International Environmental Human Rights, Randall S. Abate

Journal Publications

Climate change is currently the most significant and daunting international environmental problem, with disproportionate and devastating impacts on indigenous groups. The plight of the Inuit is illustrative of a larger need to recognize and enforce international environmental human rights violations. Part I of this Article examines the evolution of various approaches to environmental human rights theories in (1) United States law, (2) international human rights law instruments, and (3) the laws of other nations. Part II considers the scientific evidence and legal theory underlying the Inuit petition before the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights and explores how this scenario underscores …

Books Received, Natural Resources Journal

Natural Resources Journal

No abstract provided.

Edra 38: Bibliography Of Books On Display, Kathleen Demsky

Bibliographies

edra 38 | Building Sustainable Communities | Sacramento, CA

Public Interest Drift Revised: Tracing The Sources Of Social Change Commitment Among Black Harvard Law Students, Jenee Desmond-Harris

UC Law Journal of Race and Economic Justice

Although "public interest drift"-the phenomenon of law students' interest in public interest careers decreasing over the course of legal education-has been studied extensively, author Jene Desmond- Harris argues that rates among black law students deserve a specially tailored analysis because of the black community's longstanding faith in the law and lawyers as instruments of social change. Through a study of current black Harvard Law students, admitted students, and alumni, she investigates the interactions between the Harvard Law School experience and the development of black law students' attitudes about pursuing careers aimed at affecting social change. Incorporating her own research with …