Digital Commons Network^™

Native Spiritualities As Resistance: Disrupting Colonialism In The Americas, Kirstin Lea Squint

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

This project analyzes eight novels which represent revolt or resistance by varied Native peoples against the European and Euro-American colonization of the Americas. I take a comparative approach to literatures of the Americas because of the dearth of research examining the literatures of both continents side by side, particularly literatures by and about Indigenous Americans. Chapter One introduces the theoretical bases for the project, including colonial and postcolonial theories, Native American literary theories, and aesthetic concerns specific to American Indian literatures. The second chapter is a comparative analysis of Miguel Angel Asturias’s Men of Maize and Leslie Marmon Silko’s Almanac …

Unifying Disparate Treatment (Really), Martin J. Katz

UC Law Journal

At first glance disparate treatment law seems simple: an adverse employment action (such as a firing) is illegal where that action occurs "because of" a characteristic that is statutorily protected (such as race or sex). Despite this apparent simplicity, this Article points out that there are currently three distinct frameworks for proving disparate treatment. The difficulties are compounded by the fact that each framework places different burdens of proof on the plaintiff and defendant. So which framework applies in given situations? This Article first discusses the different frameworks and how they are applied, then proceeds to explain why the fragmented …

Formalism: From Racial Integration To Same-Sex Marriage, Holning Lau

UC Law Journal

Parents Involved in Community Schools v. Seattle School District, No. i concerned racial integration in public schools; however, the case has a doctrinal impact that extends beyond the context of race, extending specifically to same-sex marriage. Ironically, the five Supreme Court Justices who formed a majority in the casefour of whom are commonly labeled social conservatives - bolstered the case for same-sex marriage. They did so by introducing a new exercise of formalism to equal protection analysis. Specifically, they created doctrine that supports the argument that same-sex marriage bans warrant heightened scrutiny because such bans discriminate on the basis of …

Preserving Power Without Sacrificing Justice: Creating An Effective Reciprocity Regime For The Recognition And Enforcement Of Foreign Judgments, Vishali Singal

UC Law Journal

Globalization has transformed the world's legal systems into interconnected regimes. The strength of a nation's legal system is predicated, in part, on whether foreign nations will recognize and enforce its judgments. While nations have accorded respect to one another's judgments in the spirit of comity by recognizing and enforcing them, none are obligated to do so. Given these delicate relationships between nations, a debate has arisen in the United States' legal community as to whether the United States should require foreign nations to recognize and enforce its own judgments before its courts will reciprocate this treatment towards foreign judgments. In …

Documenting Gender, Dean Spade

UC Law Journal

This Article provides an analysis of gender reclassification policies- policies which determine when an administrative agency will change an individual's gender marker on its records-in three contexts: policies related to gender markers on identification documents, policies related to placement in sex-segregated facilities, and policies related to the state provision of health care that is prohibited based on the gender on record for the person seeking coverage. The Article looks at the significant variation in these policies across agencies to demonstrate the instability of gender as a category of identity verification and to ask whether the assumed usefulness of gender tracking …

Transnational Legal Practice 2006-07, Carole Silver, Laurel S. Terry, Ellyn S. Rosen, Carol A. Needham, Robert Lutz, Peter D. Ehrenhaft

Articles by Maurer Faculty

This article reviews developments in transnational legal practice during 2006 and 2007, including international developments, U.S. developments and regional developments in Australia and Europe. The primary focus of the international developments section is the WTO's General Agreement on Trade in Services (GATS). This article discusses GATS Track 1 Activities related to legal services, including the Legal Services Collective Requests and issues related to GATS Track 2 and the potential development of GATS disciplines. This section also surveys GATS-related initiatives of the American Bar Association and the International Bar Association and U.S. implementation of foreign lawyer multi-jurisdictional practice rules. In other …

Development And Quality Evaluation Of Pre- And Post-Workout Sport Beverages, Maria Christine Pfister

LSU Master's Theses

Athletes and gym goers are continuously searching for sports supplements that will set them apart from others. Resistance training is a popular form of exercise that enables one to increase in strength and power. Resistance or strength training, however, results in several degradation processes. A popular way of enhancing workouts and recovering after workouts is through the consumption of sports drinks. In study one, a preliminary study, eight pre-workout and eight post-workout sports drinks were formulated that contained whey proteins, sugars, natural fruit flavors, and other vitamins and supplements. A consumer acceptance test was preliminarily conducted to evaluate consumer acceptability …

Preventive Tax Policy: Chief Justice Roger J. Traynor's Tax Philosophy, Mirit Eyal-Cohen

UC Law Journal

Justice Roger J. Traynor is best known for his judicial innovations in the fields of conflict of laws, product liability, and civil procedure. However, few would trace Traynor's roots to the field of tax law. In the late 193os, Traynor and Stanley S. Surrey, one of our nation's foremost authorities on federal tax law, worked together to propose a substantial transformation of existing mechanisms for settling tax disputes. At what was a crucial time in the development of tax law, high marginal tax rates intensified the friction between taxpayers and the government, boosted litigation, and multiplied the number of tax …

Methods Of Judicial Selection And Their Impact On Judicial Independence, Charles G. Geyh

Articles by Maurer Faculty

No abstract provided.

Combining Climate, Crash, And Highway Data For Improved Ranking Of Speed And Winter-Weather Related Crash Locations In Oregon, Christopher M. Monsere, Peter G. Bosa, Robert L. Bertini

Civil and Environmental Engineering Faculty Publications and Presentations

In recent years, the techniques for screening transportation networks to identify high crash locations have become more sophisticated. Many transportation agencies, however, lack sufficient data, either in timeliness, completeness, or accuracy to implement many of the recent advances. This paper presents the results of an empirical analysis of screening and ranking for specific crash type (speed and ice related crashes) on rural 1.6 km (1 mi) highway sections of Oregon highways. The analysis includes data generated with the extensive use of spatial techniques and incorporates climate data to enhance environmental considerations. The paper compares the results of five ranking methods—critical …

The Endless Judicial Selection Debate And Why It Matters For Judicial Independence, Charles G. Geyh

Articles by Maurer Faculty

In this overview, I begin by describing the five different systems of state judicial selection that have evolved out of a perennial struggle to strike an optimal balance between judicial independence and judicial accountability. I then explore recent developments that have intensified that struggle, before analyzing, with reference to available research, how different selection systems counter or accommodate such developments. My purpose here is not to write (another) position piece. Rather, my purpose is to step back and contextualize disputes over judicial selection with reference to the independence and accountability issues that animate them, and to isolate what we know …

Forging Fiscal Reform: Constitutional Change, Public Policy, And The Creation Of Administrative Capacity In Wisconsin, 1880-1920, Ajay K. Mehrotra

Articles by Maurer Faculty

In 1911, Wisconsin became one of the first U.S. states to adopt an effectively administered income tax. Wisconsin reformers were able to overcome several institutional barriers to create the administrative capacity necessary to assess and collect a graduated income tax that in time raised significant revenue, but did not supplant the property tax. With this limited success, the Wisconsin income tax soon became a model for other states and even the national government. In this sense, Wisconsin was a leader in forging fiscal reform. Political activists, lawmakers, and other government actors in the Badger State led a turn-of-the-century property tax …

Suspended Sediment Fluxes At An Intertidal Flat: The Shifting Influence Of Wave, Wind, Tidal, And Freshwater Forcing, Stefan A. Talke, Mark T. Stacey

Civil and Environmental Engineering Faculty Publications and Presentations

Using in situ, continuous, high frequency (8–16 Hz) measurements of velocity, suspended sediment concentration (SSC), and salinity, we investigate the factors affecting near-bed sediment flux during and after a meteorological event (cold front) on an intertidal flat in central San Francisco Bay. Hydrodynamic forcing occurs over many frequency bands including wind wave, ocean swell, seiching (500–1000 s), tidal, and infra-tidal frequencies, and varies greatly over the time scale of hours and days. Sediment fluxes occur primarily due to variations in flow and SSC at three different scales: residual (tidally averaged), tidal, and seiching. During the meteorological event, sediment fluxes are …

Anecdotal Forensics, Phrenology, And Other Abject Lessons From The History Of Science, David L. Faigman

UC Law Journal

Many of the forensic identification sciences-including, among others, latent fingerprints, firearms, handwriting, and bitemarks- have little or no scientific foundation underlying them. They are largely based on anecdotal experience and supposition. In this way, "anecdotal forensics" closely resemble other historical failures of science, such as phrenology. Like phrenology, anecdotal forensics are based on inductive experience, have not been subjected to systematic tests, conform to expectations, "prove" what is already presumed to be known, and seem to have great practical utility for society. A century from now, however, the anecdotally-based beliefs of forensic experts are likely to survive much as phrenology …

Straddling The Fence Between Truth And Pretense: The Role Of Law And Preference In Judicial Decision Making And The Future Of Judicial Independence, Charles G. Geyh

Articles by Maurer Faculty

No abstract provided.

Duty Issues In The Ever-Changing World Of Payments Processing: Is It Time For New Rules?, Sarah Jane Hughes

Articles by Maurer Faculty

No abstract provided.

Inferences, Arguments, And Second Generation Forensic Evidence, Erin Murphy

UC Law Journal

Advances in scientific and technological evidence have resulted in a new, "second generation" of forensic proof characterized by its high degree of probativeness and mechanical sophistication. Methods such as DNA typing are already in widespread use in the criminal justice system, and law enforcement may soon have available other biometric techniques, global locators, or even reliable lie detection systems.

The promise and allure of such forms of forensic evidence lie in its high degree of accuracy. But the perception that such evidence is infallible has resulted in an increasing number of instances in which the government has sought to bolster …

"Good" Science Gone Bad: How The Criminal Justice System Can Redress The Impact Of Flawed Forensics, Jessica D. Gable, Margaret D. Wilkinson

UC Law Journal

What can the criminal justice system do when "good" science goes bad? This article provides an answer to that question in three parts. First, this article looks at the inability of certain fields of forensic science to produce reliable results. Second, it discusses problems with the current methods of challenging convictions based on unreliable science. Finally, it proposes a new framework to better enable prisoners to seek review of such convictions. What this article does not do is propose ways to prevent wrongful convictions in the future. We recognize that many issues, including the standards governing the admissibility of forensic …

Fingerprint Error Rates And Proficiency Tests: What They Are And Why They Matter, Jonathan J. Koehler

UC Law Journal

The reliability and probative value of a reported fingerprint match at trial is inextricably linked to the rate at which fingerprint examiners make errors. Therefore, it is important that jurors and other legal actors have valid information about the different types of errors, error rates, and scientific tests that can assist with error rate estimates. There is much confusion surrounding these issues and this paper addresses each using a question- and-answer style. Specifically, I describe the different types of errors (e.g., false positives, false negatives, and false alarms) and error rates, explain why they matter, and discuss how we might …

Signature Identification In The Light Of Science And Experience, Roger C. Park

UC Law Journal

The Daubert case encourages judges to ask whether forensic identification expertise is valid, not merely whether it is accepted among practitioners. The example of DNA has shown what real science can do, and has highlighted the shortcomings of other forms of forensic science. The combined effect of Daubert and DNA has contributed to skepticism about forensic identification techniques. This skepticism may lead to exclusion of evidence or to procedural limits aimed at making the expertise more trustworthy or preventing it from having undue weight. I will discuss these two alternatives in the context of the specific forensic problem of signature …

Conceptual Hurdles To The Application Of Atkins V. Virgina, Lois A. Weithorn

UC Law Journal

In its 2002 decision in Atkins v. Virginia, the United States Supreme Court held that the Eighth Amendment's prohibition against cruel and unusual punishment precludes the execution of "mentally retarded offender[s]." Despite the apparent "brightline" clarity of an absolute ban on the execution of mentally retarded offenders, the determination of which offenders fall within the protected group is deceivingly complex. The meanings of the concepts of "mental retardation," "intelligence," and "adaptive behavior" are-like the standards of decency guiding the Court-continually evolving, and are subjects of ongoing reevaluation and debate. Given what is at stake in Atkins assessments, lawmakers, jurists, practitioners, …

The Temporal Dimension Of Land Pollution: Another Perspective On Applying The Breaking The Logjam Principles To Waste Management, John S. Applegate

Articles by Maurer Faculty

Unlike air and water pollution, pollution from dangerous solid and liquid wastes on land remains a relatively concentrated, active hazard for long periods of time. Uncontrolled, land pollution moves through the environment slowly and often without significant diminution of toxicity. Persistence, in fact, is often regarded as the defining quality of dangerous land pollutants. Hazardous and nuclear waste regulation is very much concerned with the problem of maintaining the isolation of solid and liquid materials over decades, centuries, and even millennia, and, the author argues, there is good reason to believe that waste management practices and institutions are not well …

Communicating Opinion Evidence In The Forensic Identification Sciences: Accuracy And Impact, Dawn Mcquiston-Surrett, Michael J. Saks

UC Law Journal

How forensic identification experts describe their observations and express their opinions in court can be expected to have important effects on what jurors and judges conclude from this evidence. But the communication of findings from forensic identification analyses can be challenging as experts try to express their results accurately: without error, exaggeration or intentionally or unintentionally misleading fact finders. In this Article, we discuss how fact finders interpret and respond to the expert testimony of forensic science examiners, and how expert testimony can be made most informative. We first describe the results of several empirical studies we have done which …

Why Binomial Distributions Do Not Work As Proof Of Employment Discrimination, Ben Ikuta

UC Law Journal

Although it is possible for employer discrimination policies to be facially apparent in employment discrimination cases, usually employer policies are not overtly discriminatory. In those situations where it is not apparent, the only method of proving a prima facie case of discrimination in most systemic disparate treatment instances is to show a pattern of discrimination in the employer's hiring decisions. Since these patterns can usually "be identified and analyzed in quantitative form," cases rely primarily, and often exclusively, on statistics. If the plaintiff offers statistics that indicate a hiring practice that is unlikely absent discrimination, then the plaintiff is deemed …

Characterization Of The Lucinid Bivalve-Bacteria Symbiotic System: The Significance Of The Geochemical Habitat On Bacterial Symbiont Diversity And Phylogeny, Angela Marissa Green-Garcia

LSU Master's Theses

Extensive characterization of a single lucinid bivalve habitat was conducted to characterize the relationship between host bivalve and thiotrophic bacterial endosymbionts. For lucinids, the ecological and evolutionary relationships between hosts and endosymbionts are poorly understood. Reconstructing the evolutionary history of lucinid endosymbiosis, and the geologic significance of the association, has been hampered by insufficient knowledge of endosymbiont ecology and taxonomic diversity. Host organisms (Lucinisca nassula and Phacoides pectinatus) were collected from Cedar Keys, Florida, within the top 15-20 cm of the sediment in sea grass beds. PCR amplification and sequencing of bacterial 16S rRNA genes from lucinid gills and sediment …

Disciplinary Differences In Preferred Research Methods: A Comparison Of Groups In The Biglan Classification Scheme, Mark A. Alise

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

The Biglan system of classifying disciplines in groups based on similarities and differences in their subject matter has been validated in numerous empirical studies. The present study sought to expand that validation by comparing two Biglan groups that include disciplines representing the social and behavioral sciences. As a unique point of comparison, preferred research methods were contrasted between Psychology and Sociology forming one group of pure disciplines and Education and Nursing forming another group of applied disciplines. A code sheet was developed to categorize the various components of published research, distinguishing at the most basic level quantitative, qualitative, and mixed …

Facing Up To Wrongful Convictions: Broadly Defining "New" Evidence At The Actual Innocence Gateway, Jay Nelson

UC Law Journal

The Supreme Court has held that in order to pass through the actual innocence "gateway," capital habeas petitioners must support procedurally barred claims of actual innocence with "new reliable evidence" that was not presented at trial. The Court has not, however, defined what qualifies as "new" evidence. As a result, the circuit courts of appeals are split. Some circuits adopt what this Note refers to as the "newly-presented" evidence rule. These circuits permit habeas courts to evaluate all reliable evidence that was not presented to the finder of fact at trial. Other circuits adopt what this Note calls the "newly-discovered" …

Ten Lessons For Practitioners About Family Responsibilities Discrimination And Stereotyping Evidence, Catherine Albiston, Kathryn Burkett Dickson, Charlotte Fishman, Leslie F. Levy

UC Law Journal

This Article highlights ten key lessons that employment law practitioners can take away from the scholarship collected in this symposium Issue. The legal field of Family Responsibilities Discrimination (FRD) has developed rapidly in the past two decades, with FRD litigation only likely to increase. Social science research on the maternal wall continues to develop, increasing our understanding of what discrimination looks like in the workplace today. The FRD case law and social science research highlighted in this Issue provide essential information that employment law attorneys can put into practice when faced with addressing FRD in the workplace.

The Matter Of Fit: The Law Of Discrimination And The Science Of Implicit Bias, David L. Faigman, Nilanjana Dasgupta, Cecilia L. Ridgeway

UC Law Journal

This Article examines the "fit" between the law of discrimination and the science of implicit bias, including consideration of the legal standards that apply and a broad overview of the sociological and psychological literatures that are relevant to those standards. The Authors first set forth the legal framework within which the psychological and sociological research literatures must be considered. Although the legal standard is not entirely unambiguous, scientific research on implicit bias appears relevant to the basic empirical issues put in issue by the law. The Authors then review the general research literature on the phenomenon of "implicit biases" in …

Working Class Judges, William D. Henderson, Christopher J. Zorn, Jason J. Czarnezki

Articles by Maurer Faculty

In recent years, a steady chorus of dignitaries has decried the low pay of federal judges and suggested that the federal judiciary is on the brink of losing its best and its brightest. The persistent nature of these claims should give us pause. Scott Baker's recent study empirically evaluates these claims by examining the relationship between judicial salaries and the work habits and voting patterns of federal appellate judges. If large pay disparities are indeed eroding the quality of the federal bench, Baker theorizes this likely results in more ideological voting, fewer dissents, longer delays in issuing opinions, and a …