Digital Commons Network^™

Collective Bargaining Rights And Police Misconduct: Evidence From Florida, Dhammika Dharmapala, Richard H. Mcadams, John Rappaport

Public Law and Legal Theory Working Papers

Growing controversy surrounds the impact of labor unions on law enforcement behavior. Critics argue that unions impede organizational reform and insulate officers from discipline for misconduct. Yet collective bargaining tends to increase wages, which could improve officer behavior. We provide quasi-experimental empirical evidence on the effects of collective bargaining rights on violent incidents of misconduct. Our empirical strategy exploits a 2003 Florida Supreme Court decision (Williams), which conferred collective bargaining rights on sheriffs’ deputies, resulting in a substantial increase in unionization among these officers. Using a Florida state administrative database of “moral character” violations reported by local agencies between 1996 …

Disagreement, Anti-Realism About Reasons, And Inference To The Best Explanation, Brian Leiter

Public Law and Legal Theory Working Papers

No abstract provided.

Police Violence In The Wire, Jonathan Masur, Richard H. Mcadams

Public Law and Legal Theory Working Papers

Police brutality—the unsanctioned, unlawful use of force by police against unarmed (and often defenseless) civilians—is one of the recurring motifs of The Wire.¹ The violence occurs in a variety of settings: occasionally the victim of the police brutality has done something to precipitate it (though the brutality is never justified), but more often the violence is unprovoked and senseless. Some police are one-time wrongdoers; others are repeat offenders. Some officers participate in the actual beatings, while others only cover up for the actions of their fellow officers. But in sum, the violence is regular and recurring, if not omnipresent. …

A Regulatory Classification Of Digital Assets: Toward An Operational Howey Test For Cryptocurrencies, Icos, And Other Digital Assets, M. Todd Henderson

Public Law and Legal Theory Working Papers

Digital assets are hot right now. Whether cryptocurrencies, like bitcoin, or initial coin offerings and tokens, this new asset class has captured the imagination of American investors. While it remains to be seen if this phenomenon has staying power, there is no doubt that these assets and their promoters have attracted the attention of the Securities and Exchange Commission. But neither Congress nor the SEC has formally elucidated which digital assets are securities and which are not.

This Article seeks to provide clarity in determining which digital assets are securities. It proposes two tests that operationalize the Supreme Court’s test …

The Dance Of Partisanship And Districting, Nicholas O. Stephanopoulos

Public Law and Legal Theory Working Papers

Academic studies of redistricting tend to be either doctrinal or empirical, but not both. As a result, the literature overlooks some of the most important aspects of the mapmaking process and its judicial supervision, like how they relate to the broader American political context. In this Article, I try to fill this gap. I first observe that the half-century in which federal courts have decided redistricting cases can be divided into two periods: one lasting from the 1960s to the 1980s, in which voters and politicians were both comparatively nonpartisan; and another reaching from the 1990s to the present day, …

Legality In Contemporary Chinese Politics, Taisu Zhang, Tom Ginsburg

Public Law and Legal Theory Working Papers

The picture of Chinese law that many Western scholars and commentators portray is an increasingly bleak one: since the mid-2000s, China has been retreating from legal reform back into unchecked authoritarianism. This article argues that, much to the contrary, Chinese politics have in fact become substantially more law-oriented over the past five years. The Chinese Communist Party under Xi Jinping has indeed centralized power and control to an almost unprecedented extent, but it has done this in a highly legalistic way, empowering courts against other state and Party entities, insisting on legal professionalism, and bringing political powers that were formerly …

Regulatory Bundling, Jennifer Nou, Edward H. Stiglitz

Public Law and Legal Theory Working Papers

Regulatory bundling is the aggregation or disaggregation of legislative rules by administrative agencies. Agencies, in other words, can bundle what would otherwise be multiple rules into just one rulemaking. Conversely, they can split one rule into several. This observation parallels other recent work on how agencies can aggregate adjudications and enforcement actions but now focuses on legislative rules, the most consequential form of agency action. The topic is timely in light of a recent executive order directing agencies to repeal two regulations for every new one promulgated. Agencies now have a greater incentive to pack regulatory provisions together for every …

Article Ii And Antidiscrimination Norms, Aziz Z. Huq

Public Law and Legal Theory Working Papers

The Supreme Court’s judgment in Trump v. Hawai’i validated a prohibition on entry to the United States from several largely Muslim-majority countries, and at the same time repudiated a longstanding precedent associated with the Japanese-American internment of World War II. This Article closely analyzes the relationship of these twin holdings. It uses their dichotomous valances as a lens onto the legal scope for discriminatory action by the federal executive. Parsing the various ways in which the internment of the 1940s and the 2017 exclusion order can be reconciled, the Article identifies a generative tension between the two holdings. Contrary to …

Fourth Amendment Gloss, Aziz Z. Huq

Public Law and Legal Theory Working Papers

Conventional wisdom suggests that a constitutional right will constrain government actors. But a right defined in terms of what the state routinely does would impose in practice no brake on state action—and so seem pointless. Nevertheless, in defining Fourth Amendment rights, the Supreme Court frequently draws on the practice of regulated government actors to define the constitutional floor for police action. This Article is the first to isolate and analyze this seemingly paradoxical judicial practice. It labels it “Fourth Amendment gloss,” after an analogous mode of reasoning in separation-of-powers cases. The Article’s first aim is descriptive—to catalog the various ways …

Assessing The Empirical Upside Of Personalized Criminal Procedure, Matthew B. Kugler, Lior Jacob Strahilevitz

Public Law and Legal Theory Working Papers

Though personalization of law is often viewed as a new idea, pockets of criminal procedure already tolerate it. Many courts have held that Miranda warnings must be tailored when read to juveniles or people with limited English proficiency; a suspect’s age is necessarily part of the judicial calculus when determining whether the police’s questioning of her is a custodial interrogation; and some state courts consider a person’s demographic characteristics when deciding whether they have consented to a search. The question before us now is whether society should go further. Should the law of criminal procedure pay more attention to individual …

The Consequences Of The Tcja's International Provisions: Lessons From Existing Research, Dhammika Dharmapala

Public Law and Legal Theory Working Papers

This paper discusses the potential consequences of the international tax provisions of the recent Tax Cut and Jobs Act (TCJA), drawing on existing research. The TCJA’s dividend exemption provision is expected to eliminate distortions to the amount and timing of dividend repatriations. However, the efficiency gains from increased repatriations – which are primarily expected to increase shareholder payout – are likely to be modest. The paper uses the observed behavior of firms during the repatriation tax holiday implemented in 2005 to infer the relative magnitudes of the burdens created by the repatriation tax under the old (pre-TCJA) regime and by …

Accountability Claims In Constitutional Law, Nicholas Stephanopoulos

Public Law and Legal Theory Working Papers

Several of the Supreme Court’s most controversial constitutional doctrines hinge on claims about electoral accountability. Restrictions on the President’s power to remove agency heads are disfavored because they reduce the President’s accountability for agency actions. Congress cannot delegate certain decisions to agencies because then Congress is less accountable for those choices. State governments cannot be federally commandeered because such conscription lessens their accountability. And campaign spending must be unregulated so that more information reaches voters and helps them to reward or punish incumbents for their performances.

There is just one problem with these claims. They are wrong—at least for the …

The Supreme Court Of India: An Empirical Overview Of The Institution, Aparna Chandra, William H.J. Hubbard, Sital Kalantry

Public Law and Legal Theory Working Papers

The Indian Supreme Court has been called “the most powerful court in the world” for its wide jurisdiction, its expansive understanding of its own powers, and the billion plus people under its authority. Yet scholars and policy makers have a very uneven picture of the court’s functioning: deep knowledge about the more visible, “high-profile” cases but very little about more mundane, but far more numerous and potentially equally important, decisions. This chapter aims to address this imbalance with a rigorous, empirical account of the Court’s decisions from 2010 to 2015. We use the most extensive original dataset of Indian Supreme …

Racial Equity In Algorithmic Criminal Justice, Aziz Z. Huq

Public Law and Legal Theory Working Papers

Algorithmic tools for predicting violence and criminality are being used more and more in policing, bail, and sentencing. Scholarly attention to date has focused on their procedural due process implications. My aim here is to consider these instruments’ interaction with the enduring racial legacies of the criminal justice system There are two competing lenses for evaluating the racial effects of algorithmic criminal justice: constitutional doctrine and emerging technical standards of “algorithmic fairness.” I argue first that constitutional doctrine is poorly suited to the task. It will often fail to capture the full range of racial issues that potentially arise in …

Sexual Harassment And Corporate Law, Daniel Hemel, Dorothy S. Lund

Public Law and Legal Theory Working Papers

The year 2017 marked an inflection point in the evolution of social norms regarding sexual harassment. While victims of workplace harassment had long suffered in silence, the surfacing of serious sexual misconduct allegations against Hollywood producer Harvey Weinstein encouraged many more victims to tell their personal stories of abuse. These scandals have spread beyond Hollywood to the rest of corporate America, leading to the departures of several high-profile executives as well as sharp stock price declines at a number of firms. In the past year, shareholders at four publicly traded companies have filed lawsuits alleging that corporate directors and officers …

Statutory Interpretation On The Bench: A Survey Of Forty-Two Judges On The Federal Courts Of Appeals, Abbe R. Gluck, Richard A. Posner

Public Law and Legal Theory Working Papers

This Article reports the results of a survey of a diverse group of forty-two federal appellate judges concerning their approaches to statutory interpretation. The study reveals important differences between their approaches and the approach that the Supreme Court purports to take. It also helps to substantiate the irrelevance of the enduring, but now-boring, textualism-versus-purposivism debate. None of the judges we interviewed was willing to associate himself or herself with “textualism” without qualification. All consult legislative history. Most eschew dictionaries. All utilize at least some canons of construction, but for reasons that range from “window dressing,” to the use of canons …

Limited Inalienability Rules, Ariel Porat, Stephen D. Sugarman

Public Law and Legal Theory Working Papers

Most people’s entitlements are protected by a property rule, which means that their holders can sell them for a price. But some important entitlements are protected by an inalienability rule, and hence cannot be sold under any circumstances. For example, people cannot sell their organs. In most jurisdictions, women cannot be surrogate mothers for a fee (only for reimbursement of costs). People cannot sell their right not to be exposed to highly life-threatening conditions. Most constitutional rights are not transferrable. People cannot reassign their legal entitlements to social benefits provided by the government. Tort victims in many jurisdictions cannot sell …

Innovation Policy Pluralism, Daniel J. Hemel, Lisa Larrimore Ouellette

Public Law and Legal Theory Working Papers

When lawyers and scholars speak of “intellectual property,” they are generally referring to a combination of two distinct elements: an innovation incentive that promises a marketbased reward to producers of knowledge goods, and an allocation mechanism that makes access to knowledge goods conditional upon payment of a proprietary price. Distinguishing these two elements clarifies ongoing debates about intellectual property and opens up new possibilities for innovation policy. Once intellectual property is disaggregated into its core components, each element can be combined synergistically with non-IP innovation incentives such as prizes, tax preferences, and direct spending on grants and government research, or …

The Tax Legislative Process: A Byrd's Eye View, Ellen P. Aprill, Daniel J. Hemel

Public Law and Legal Theory Working Papers

The year 2017 was, among other distinctions, the year of the Byrd rule. This once-obscure Senate procedural provision—on the books since 1985 but only recently the stuff of page one news¹ — featured prominently in several failed attempts to repeal the Affordable Care Act in the spring and summer. Then again at year’s end, the Byrd rule played a central role in the successful effort to rewrite large swaths of the Internal Revenue Code. While the Byrd rule has influenced the legislative process in the past, never before has it drawn so much attention from the mainstream and trade …

The Measure Of A Metric: The Debate Over Quantifying Partisan Gerrymandering, Nicholas Stephanopoulos, Eric Mcghee

Public Law and Legal Theory Working Papers

Over the last few years, there has been an unprecedented outpouring of scholarship on partisan gerrymandering. Much of this work has sought either to introduce new measures of gerrymandering or to analyze a metric—the efficiency gap— that we previously developed. In this Essay, we reframe the debate by presenting a series of criteria that can be used to evaluate gerrymandering metrics: (1) consistency with the efficiency principle; (2) distinctness from other electoral values; (3) breadth of scope; and (4) correspondence with U.S. electoral history. We then apply these criteria to both the efficiency gap and other measures. The efficiency gap …

Unm Interim Report To The Institutional Actions Council Of The, Office Of The President

UNM HLC 2018-19 Assurance Argument Evidence

This report, coming from the Office of the President and directly addressing the Higher Learning Commission, followed from the 2017 state audit of the UNM Department of Intercollegiate Athletics. The lengthy document gives a detailed overview of the case, the administrative actions immediately following the audit, and the projected actions of the university in the future.

The Power, Structure, And Practice Of Gratitude In Education: A Demonstration Of Epistemology And Empirical Research Working Together, Jane Wilson, Rob Foster

International Christian Community of Teacher Educators Journal

A growing body of philosophical, psychological, and educational research shows that gratitude has positive effects on mood, relationships, and learning. This paper explores the power of gratitude, investigates how the ontological (inward), teleological (forward), and metaphysical (upward) structure of gratitude can enhance learning, and then highlights a research study revealing teachers’ perspectives on the impact of practicing gratitude in the classroom environment. Four themes emerged from the empirical study that support the gratitude structure: two themes relate to the impact on teachers (enhanced well-being and calm amidst stress), and two themes relate to the impact on students (enhanced classroom environment …

And Then They Boned: An Analysis Of Fanfiction And Its Influence On Sexual Development, Lindsay M. Mixer

Cal Poly Humboldt theses and projects

The purpose of this research is to demonstrate how young adults come to understand their sexuality (from sexual and gender identities to sexual likes and dislikes) through reading and writing fanfiction. Previous studies show that fanfiction promotes non-heterosexual orientations, but little research has been done on how it contributes to overall sexual development. In conducting an online survey of fanfiction readers, I explore how fans use these works to generate an understanding of themselves as sexual beings. Explicit stories make up a sizable portion of the fanfiction available, and there is a wide range of sexual acts depicted in those …

Productivity And Cost Of A Cut-To-Length Commercial Thinning Operation In A Northern California Redwood Forest, Kigwang Baek

Cal Poly Humboldt theses and projects

Cut-to-length (CTL) harvesting systems have recently been introduced to the redwood forests of California’s north coast. These machines are being used to commercially thin dense redwood (Sequoia sempervirens) stands which tend to form clumps of stems that vigorously sprout from stumps after a harvest. One of the challenges is to avoid damaging residual trees which can decrease productivity, increase costs, and lower the market value of trees. The goal of this study was to evaluate the productivity and costs associated with CTL systems used in a redwood forests and use that data to develop equations for predictions. Time …

The Developmental Implications Of The Regulatory Relationship Between Cjun And Oct4 In Murine Embryonic Stem Cells, Rachel E. Brewer

Cal Poly Humboldt theses and projects

As cells transition from the point of fertilization through the process of embryonic development, many molecular changes occur that affect cell fate. At the blastocyst stage, the earliest distinction, two separate cell populations arise. The trophectoderm cells will generate all of the extraembryonic tissues while the inner cell mass will yield all of the embryonic tissues. These cells, which generate the organism, are termed pluripotent at this stage and found within the inner cell mass (ICM). A variety of genetic mechanisms that regulate this event have been characterized. Here, we examined the effect of cJun expression in regulating Oct4, a …

Stability For A Small Historic House Museum: Drafting A Collection Management Policy For The Trinidad Museum, Alexandra Mackay Cox

Cal Poly Humboldt theses and projects

A museum exists and is defined primarily by its collection. It is therefore important for a museum to manage its collection effectively while preserving it for long-term use. The size and scope of the museum's collection will determine the complexity of its policy. As such, all museums, including small ones, need a well-defined Collection Management Policy (CMP). This policy outlines what and how to collect, defines the development and use of the collection as well as procedures for the care of the collection, the loaning of items and removing of items from the museum's collection. The Trinidad Museum, a small …

The Effect Of The Loss Of Lgl1 In Murine Neural Progenitor Cells On Mapk Signaling And Proliferation, Monique R. Lacourse

Cal Poly Humboldt theses and projects

Glioblastoma is an incurable, aggressive, and highly invasive type of brain tumor that harbors tumor initiating cells characterized by disrupted polarized cell divisions. A cell polarity gene lethal (2) giant larvae 1 (Lgl1) has been implicated in gliomas and is a tumor suppressor initially identified in Drosophila with roles in proliferation. The loss of Lgl1 in Drosophila activates the MAPK protein kinase JNK and the Ras pathway and therefore its downstream kinase ERK, a transcription factor modulator. Furthermore, when Lgl1 is knocked out in mice, a phenotype similar to glioma is seen. Loss of the human form of …

Improving Student Behavior In Art Classrooms: An Exploratory Study Of Cw-Fit Tier 1, Mark Graham, Melanie A. Nelson, Paul Caldarella, Blake D. Hansen, Leslie Williams, Howard P. Wills

Faculty Publications

Disruptive student behavior, a common concern for teachers, presents particular challenges for those who teach art. Class-Wide Function-Related Intervention Teams (CW-FIT) is a multitiered intervention for implementing effective classroom management strategies aligned with schoolwide positive behavior interventions and supports. CW-FIT has proven effective in general education classrooms, with its emphasis on social skills instruction, teacher praise, group contingency, and positive reinforcement. This first study of CW-FIT implementation in elementary art classrooms examined its effects on student on-task behavior. The researchers used a single-subject (AB) design in one classroom and reversal designs (ABAB) in two classrooms. Results indicated student on-task behavior …

Is The Msm Blood Donation Deferral Ethical?, Idia Enogieru

Harriet L Wilkes Honors College Theses 2010 - 2019

The deferral of men-who-have-sex-with-men (MSM) from donating blood has been a controversial policy since its advent during the HIV/AIDS epidemic in the 1980s. In my thesis I address this deferral, and evaluate whether or not it is ethical. I begin by introducing the characteristics of HIV, the behaviors associated with HIV transmission, and its association with MSM. After, I review the changes in the policy and examine the evidence used to support these changes. Next, I present my arguments that justify the MSM blood donation deferral, while also arguing that the current one-year deferral period in the United States is …

Development From Cupid To Evolution: Empirical Support For Life History And Ecobiodevelopmental Frameworks, Karly E. Hauser

Harriet L Wilkes Honors College Theses 2010 - 2019

Life history theory (LHT) explains behavioral, motivational, and biological variations among individuals as adaptive trade-offs between somatic and reproductive efforts. Utilizing data containing OkCupid user responses (N = 68,371) to 2,620 compatibility and demographic questions such as, “How clear to you are your goals in life?” 16 scales were constructed to measure psychological and behavioral characteristics related to the life history strategy (LHS) employed. The scales were initially examined within a ‘training’ subset of the data (n = 2,000) and factor-analyzed to determine whether they form a common underlying life history (LH) factor. Preliminary factor analytic results show support for …