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Articles 1 - 29 of 29
Full-Text Articles in Law
Respect My Authority: The Past, Present, And Future Of The Public Authority, Tom J. Letourneau
Respect My Authority: The Past, Present, And Future Of The Public Authority, Tom J. Letourneau
Ocean and Coastal Law Journal
This comment synthesizes various historical aspects of motor vehicle infrastructure in the United States. The network of issues at play involves centuries of public policy decisions made at the local, state, and federal level, which twentieth century legal innovations hastened and curdled into the car culture we are all a part of today. The public authority is the paradigm of these legal innovations, but it has outlived its usefulness in the face climate change and burgeoning issues relating to urbanism.
Windward Woes: The Misalignment Of Economic Incentives And Renewable Energy Development Goals, Matthew S. Edwards
Windward Woes: The Misalignment Of Economic Incentives And Renewable Energy Development Goals, Matthew S. Edwards
Ocean and Coastal Law Journal
Energy tax credits have always been a significant driver of renewable energy development, but the recent Inflation Reduction Act in response to new national development goals represents the most significant change in several decades. The Inflation Reduction Act is certainly a step in the right direction, but there are numerous factors that limit the impact on future developments that should be remedied to allow for the nation’s best chance to reach 2030 renewable energy goals.
Case Note: Avangrid Networks, Inc. V. Secretary Of State, Grady F. Hogan
Case Note: Avangrid Networks, Inc. V. Secretary Of State, Grady F. Hogan
Maine Law Review
Citizen initiatives and referendums are important tools for participatory democracy. Because initiatives often concern contentious public policy matters, opponents of pending initiatives have at times turned to the courts to prevent particular initiatives from appearing on upcoming ballots. Courts typically will adjudicate such pre-election challenges when plaintiffs assert the proscribed procedural requirements for voting on an initiative have not been met or when plaintiffs allege an initiative’s subject-matter is outside the constitutionally delineated scope of permissible initiative content. However, because of the ripeness justiciability doctrine that requires a concrete, certain, and immediate legal problem, courts generally will not adjudicate pre-election …
(Un)Due Process: Adversarial Cross-Examination In Title Ix Adjudications, Suzannah C. Dowling
(Un)Due Process: Adversarial Cross-Examination In Title Ix Adjudications, Suzannah C. Dowling
Maine Law Review
Campus sexual assault grievance procedures, governed by Title IX, have become a hotspot for recent debates about the contours of due process on college campuses. The Obama administration substantially revised Title IX grievance procedures to encourage reporting and adjudication of campus sexual assaults. Less than a decade later, the Trump administration rolled out its own Title IX guidance to undo many of those requirements, in the name of enhancing due process protections for accused students. One particularly controversial new requirement in the 2020 Title IX regulations is for adversarial cross-examination. This Comment argues that adversarial cross-examination in campus sexual assault …
Strength In Numbers (Of Words): Empirical Analysis Of Preambles And Public Comments, Anthony L. Moffa
Strength In Numbers (Of Words): Empirical Analysis Of Preambles And Public Comments, Anthony L. Moffa
Faculty Publications
The empirical observation of a four-decades-long trend towards longer and longer federal agency rulemakings laid the foundation for this series of studies and associated law review articles. The second in that series, this work will add necessary data, test important hypotheses, and draw new conclusions to guide policymakers. Any serious observer of the Federal Register recognizes that different sections of a rulemaking serve different purposes. And agencies have historically utilized one section in particular to insulate their rules from judicial vacation or remand – the “concise general statement of basis and purpose.” Thus, this new study will collect and analyze …
A Section-By-Section Analysis Of Maine's Freedom Of Access Act, Anne C. Lucey
A Section-By-Section Analysis Of Maine's Freedom Of Access Act, Anne C. Lucey
Maine Law Review
There seems to be no absolute freedom of information. Even President Lyndon B. Johnson's declaration made on July 4, 1966, as he signed the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) into law, indicates the limitations accompanying most right-to-know laws from their inception. A delicate balance must be struck between the public's access to public business and the public interest, between the public's access and a person's right to privacy, and, at the federal level, between the public's access and national security. Maine also crafted a limited freedom of information law, the Freedom of Access Act ("FOAA" or "the Act"), seven years …
Who Takes A Dam: Regulatory Confusion And Surging Opportunities For Small Dam Removal In Rural Maine, Grady R. Burns
Who Takes A Dam: Regulatory Confusion And Surging Opportunities For Small Dam Removal In Rural Maine, Grady R. Burns
Maine Law Review
This Comment examines the regulatory regimes surrounding the removal of state-regulated small dams in Maine by comparing the relatively underdeveloped regime in Maine with the much more coherent and robust regime in neighboring New Hampshire. When compared to more deliberate regimes, Maine’s system lacks key features, including a streamlined permitting program and a single clearinghouse for information, resources, and regulatory enforcement. Given the significant opportunities afforded by a coherent regulatory small dam removal regime, this Comment recommends that Maine follow the example of other states by creating a river restoration and dam removal program, re-establishing its statewide dam inventory, creating …
Conservation, Regionality, And The Farm Bill, Jess R. Phelps
Conservation, Regionality, And The Farm Bill, Jess R. Phelps
Maine Law Review
Over the past several Farm Bills, there has been a somewhat subtle shift in program design to better incorporate regional perspectives/localized areas of conservation concern into national conservation program delivery. The purpose of this Article is to specifically explore the various roles that regional considerations play in existing Farm Bill conservation programs and also consider whether further developments in this direction could result in more flexible program delivery, more effective partnerships, and ultimately, better conservation outcomes. To this end, section II will provide an overview of the history of the Farm Bill, from its origins to the emergence of a …
Circuit Split On The Application Of The "Safety Valve" Provision As Applied To The Maritime Drug Law Enforcement Act - Alexander And Mosquera-Murillo, Alexander D. Andruzzi
Circuit Split On The Application Of The "Safety Valve" Provision As Applied To The Maritime Drug Law Enforcement Act - Alexander And Mosquera-Murillo, Alexander D. Andruzzi
Ocean and Coastal Law Journal
When the Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia decided the case of United States v. Mosquera-Murillo, it created a circuit-split on whether individuals charged under the Maritime Drug Law Enforcement Act (codified as 46 U.S.C. § 705) are entitled to relief under the "Safety Valve" provision of 18 U.S.C. § 3553(f). The "Safety Valve" allows individuals who meet certain criteria to be sentenced according to the sentencing guidelines, regardless of any mandatory minimum sentences. This case note compares the holding of the Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia to the Eleventh Circuit's holding in United States …
Are Marine National Monuments "Situated On Lands Owned Or Controlled By The Government Of The United States?", Tyler C. Costello
Are Marine National Monuments "Situated On Lands Owned Or Controlled By The Government Of The United States?", Tyler C. Costello
Ocean and Coastal Law Journal
The ocean offers what may seem like endless supply of natural resources, ecosystem services, or for some, simple enjoyment. Yet, in the face of climate change and overexploitation, many of these unique ecosystems and their inhabitants face an uphill battle. A president's use of the Antiquities Act establishing a national monument is an efficient and effective method of protecting these diverse ecosystems, as long as the area to be protected satisfies one of the Act's limitations that the monument be "situated on land owned or controlled by the federal government." Prior to a 2017 lawsuit concerning President Obama's use of …
Defining Fishing, The Slippery Seaweed Slope, Ross V. Acadian Seaplants Ltd., Rebecca P. Totten
Defining Fishing, The Slippery Seaweed Slope, Ross V. Acadian Seaplants Ltd., Rebecca P. Totten
Ocean and Coastal Law Journal
In Maine, the intertidal zone has seen many disputes over its use, access, and property rights. Recently, in Ross v. Acadian Seaplants, Ltd., the Maine Supreme Judicial Court, sitting as the Law Court, held that rockweed seaweed in the intertidal zone is owned by the upland landowner and is not part of a public easement under the public trust doctrine. The Court held harvesting rockweed is not fishing. This case will impact private and public rights and also the balance between the State's environmental and economic interests. This Comment addresses the following points: first, the characteristics of rockweed and the …
Avoiding Maladaptations To Flooding And Erosion: A Case Study Of Alaska Native Villages, Elizaveta Barrett Ristroph
Avoiding Maladaptations To Flooding And Erosion: A Case Study Of Alaska Native Villages, Elizaveta Barrett Ristroph
Ocean and Coastal Law Journal
This article offers perspective on how Alaska Native Villages (ANVs), which are small and rural indigenous communities, are adapting to changes in flooding and erosion. It considers which adaptations might be maladaptations and what might be done to facilitate adaptation short of relocating entire communities. It outlines the United States' legal framework applicable to flooding and erosion and considers why this framework may do little to assist ANVs and similarly situated small and rural communities. Findings regarding adaptation strategies and obstacles are drawn from my Ph.D. research, which involved a review of plans for fifty nine ANVs and 153 interviews …
Traditional Ecological Knowledge In Environmental Decisionmaking, Anthony Moffa
Traditional Ecological Knowledge In Environmental Decisionmaking, Anthony Moffa
Faculty Publications
Traditional ecological knowledge (TEK) is defined as a deep understanding of the environment developed by local communities and indigenous peoples over generations. In the United States, Canada, and around the world, indigenous peoples are increasingly advocating for incorporation of TEK into a range of environmental decisionmaking contexts, including natural resource and wildlife management, pollution standards, environmental and social planning, environmental impact assessment, and adaptation to climate change. On October 31, 2018, ELI hosted an expert panel on TEK, co-sponsored by the National Native American Bar Association and the American Bar Association Section of Environment, Energy, and Resources. The panel discussed …
Creating Mischief: The Tenth Circuit Declares The Sec’S Administrative Law Judges Unconstitutional In Bandimere V. Securities Exchange Commission, Casey M. Olesen
Creating Mischief: The Tenth Circuit Declares The Sec’S Administrative Law Judges Unconstitutional In Bandimere V. Securities Exchange Commission, Casey M. Olesen
Maine Law Review
Since the passage of the APA, administrative agencies’ use of Administrative Law Judges (ALJs) to preside over hearings has exploded, and now far outpaces the number trials conducted before federal judges. The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) is one such agency that heavily utilizes ALJs to conduct their hearings. Recently, following an apparent higher percentage of SEC wins before their own ALJs as compared to before federal judges, a new constitutional challenge on the basis of the Appointments Clause has been brought before several circuits; that the SEC’s ALJs are inferior officers of the SEC, not employees, and therefore are …
Tax Increment Financing In Maine, Michael G. Walker
Tax Increment Financing In Maine, Michael G. Walker
Maine Law Review
Tax Increment Financing ("TIF") is a statutorily authorized mechanism which enables municipalities to earmark the property tax revenue from designated areas to pay for things such as infrastructure improvement. Lately, Maine municipalities have been using TIF to refund tax revenues directly to private developers in an effort to attract new business. This Comment will begin by briefly explaining the development of TIF in the United States and how it has evolved over time. It will then summarize how TIF works in Maine and the criticism and praise it has received throughout its existence. Next, it will look at research examining …
Blethen Maine Newspapers, Inc. V. State: Balancing The Public's Right To Know Against The Privacy Rights Of Victims Of Sexual Abuse, Kenleigh A. Nicoletta
Blethen Maine Newspapers, Inc. V. State: Balancing The Public's Right To Know Against The Privacy Rights Of Victims Of Sexual Abuse, Kenleigh A. Nicoletta
Maine Law Review
In Blethen Maine Newspapers, Inc. v. State, a sharply divided Maine Supreme Judicial Court, sitting as the Law Court, held that release of records relating to Attorney General G. Steven Rowe's investigation of alleged sexual abuse by Catholic priests was warranted under Maine's Freedom of Access Act (FOAA). Although such investigative records are designated confidential by statute, the majority held that the public's interest in the contents of the records mandated their disclosure after all information identifying persons other than the deceased priests had been redacted. The concurrence asserted that the majority had reached the correct conclusion, but in so …
A "Delicate Balance": How Agency Nonacquiescence And The Epa's Water Transfer Rule Dilute The Clean Water Act After Catskill Mountains Chapter Of Trout Unlimited, Inc. V. City Of New York, Kevin J. Haskins
Maine Law Review
Congress enacted the Clean Water Act (CWA) in 1972 with the express objective of restoring and maintaining the health of the nation’s waters. To achieve this objective, Congress declared that discharges of pollutants into the nation’s waters are prohibited unless they comply with permit requirements. The CWA’s primary vehicle for regulating discharge permits is the National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System, or NPDES. The CWA defines the phrase “discharge of a pollutant” as the “addition of any pollutant to navigable waters from any point source.” Although the CWA further defines the terms “pollutant,” “navigable waters,” and “point source,” it fails to …
Taking Notes In School (Committee): Cyr V. Madawaska, Blethen V. Portland School Committee, And The Public's Right To Know, Benjamin J. Tucker
Taking Notes In School (Committee): Cyr V. Madawaska, Blethen V. Portland School Committee, And The Public's Right To Know, Benjamin J. Tucker
Maine Law Review
In 2007, the Maine Supreme Judicial Court, sitting as the Law Court, decided Cyr v. Madawaska School Department, and recently decided Blethen Maine Newspapers Inc. v. Portland School Committee. These decisions will guide the actions and behavior of municipal, school department, and elected officials in Maine, and will also affect public access to information under Maine’s broad “right to know” law, the Freedom of Access Act (FOAA). In Cyr, a split court held that an investigative report commissioned by the Madawaska School Department must be redacted to maintain the confidentiality of information relating to the personal history, general character, or …
Judicial Performance And Policy Implications In Moore V. Abbott, Andrew C. Helman
Judicial Performance And Policy Implications In Moore V. Abbott, Andrew C. Helman
Maine Law Review
In Moore v. Abbott, a divided Maine Supreme Judicial Court, sitting as the Law Court, held that a three-member panel organized by the Attorney General to investigate alleged misconduct by prosecutors and law enforcement officers did not constitute an "agency" or "public official" under Maine's Freedom of Access Act (FOAA). Therefore, the panel did not have to release records compiled during its review of the investigation and prosecution of Dennis Dechaine, who was convicted for the 1988 murder of Sarah Cherry. Justice Alexander, writing for the majority, applied a four-part test looking to whether the panel was the functional equivalent …
Ideological Plaintiffs, Administrative Lawmaking, Standing, And The Petition Clause, Karl S. Coplan
Ideological Plaintiffs, Administrative Lawmaking, Standing, And The Petition Clause, Karl S. Coplan
Maine Law Review
Although Article I of the Constitution vests legislative power in the Congress, the lawmaking process in this country has evolved to involve all three branches. Congress enacts regulatory programs, but delegates to the executive branch the task of formulating and legislating the details of implementation through regulations. Once the executive branch agencies have acted, Article III courts routinely step in to review the consistency of these regulations with congressional mandates. In many cases, especially in the case of controversial regulations, the lawmaking process is not complete until judicial review. Entities burdened by such regulations-so-called "regulatory objects"-enjoy presumed standing to challenge …
The Crime Of Conviction Of John Choon Yoo: The Actual Criminality In The Olc During The Bush Administration, Joseph Lavitt
The Crime Of Conviction Of John Choon Yoo: The Actual Criminality In The Olc During The Bush Administration, Joseph Lavitt
Maine Law Review
At the outset of the administration of President Barack Obama, there is intense debate about whether to prosecute members of the former administration of President George W. Bush. This Article first considers whether officers who were in command and control of the Executive Branch of the government of the United States during the Bush administration can be excused from criminal responsibility on charges of illegal torture, based on their claim to have acted in good faith reliance upon the advice of attorneys employed by the Department of Justice. Focus then turns to the accountability, if any, of those attorneys in …
Anthem Health Plans Of Maine, Inc. V. Superintendent Of Insurance: Judicial Restraint Or Judicial Abdication?, David E. Sorensen
Anthem Health Plans Of Maine, Inc. V. Superintendent Of Insurance: Judicial Restraint Or Judicial Abdication?, David E. Sorensen
Maine Law Review
When Maine’s Superintendent of Insurance told the state’s largest health insurer that it could not profit in 2009, her decision ended up on appeal before the Maine Supreme Judicial Court, sitting as the Law Court, in Anthem Health Plans of Maine, Inc. v. Superintendent of Insurance. As part of its annual rate approval process, Anthem had requested a 3% profit and risk margin on its individual lines of health insurance in Maine. Superintendent Mila Kofman denied this request under her statutory authority to deny any rate increase proposals that are “excessive, inadequate or unfairly discriminatory.” The Superintendent held that a …
Textualism And The Problem Of Scrivener's Error, John David Ohlendorf
Textualism And The Problem Of Scrivener's Error, John David Ohlendorf
Maine Law Review
Scrivener’s errors make easy prey for the gentle comedy of the bench and bar, much in the way that typographical errors in billboards, newspaper headlines, and church bulletins form an endless source of humor for late night talk show hosts. But theorists of legal interpretation have long seen that scrivener’s errors pose a more serious problem. The doctrine surrounding scrivener’s error stands considered as something of a cousin to the absurdity doctrine, which has roots extending to the earliest days of the American Republic. More recently, the post-legal-process revival of formalist approaches to statutory interpretation on the bench, and their …
Obesity Prevention Policies At The Local Level: Tobacco's Lessons, Paul A. Diller
Obesity Prevention Policies At The Local Level: Tobacco's Lessons, Paul A. Diller
Maine Law Review
For at least a decade, commentators have speculated that obesity is the next tobacco, a public health scourge that might nonetheless offer a gold mine to ambitious plaintiffs’ lawyers. Successful lawsuits, as in the tobacco context, might spur the food industry to reform its practices so as to help reduce the alarmingly high national obesity rate. The obesity narrative, however, has not played out accordingly to the same script as tobacco. Relatively quick action by most state legislatures immunized the food industry to tort lawsuits seeking obesity-related damages, and the scant judicial opinions on the issue have skeptically assessed plaintiffs’ …
Fuhrmann V. Staples Office Superstore East, Inc.: A Split In The Law Court As To The Definition Of "Employer" Demonstrates The Need For Legislative Action To Amend The Maine Human Rights Act In Order To Protect Maine Employees, Stephen B. Segal
Maine Law Review
In Fuhrmann v. Staples Office Superstore East, Inc., Jamie Fuhrmann submitted a complaint to the Maine Human Rights Commission (Commission) against her former employer, Staples Office Superstore East, Inc. (Staples), and four of her individual supervisors. After the Commission granted her right to sue, she filed a complaint in court alleging whistleblower retaliation under the Whistleblowers’ Protection Act (WPA) and the Maine Human Rights Act (MHRA), as well as sex discrimination under the MHRA. The Superior Court granted Staples’ motion for summary judgment on all counts, and granted the four supervisors’ motions to dismiss on the grounds that individual supervisor …
Exhausted Yet? Stephens V. Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation And The Application Of The Exhaustion Doctrine To Statute-Based Erisa Claims, Carson D. Phillips-Spotts
Exhausted Yet? Stephens V. Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation And The Application Of The Exhaustion Doctrine To Statute-Based Erisa Claims, Carson D. Phillips-Spotts
Maine Law Review
By 1974, the U.S. Congress recognized that employer-provided retirement pension plans had “become an important factor affecting the stabilization of employment and the successful development of industrial relations” and enacted the Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA) with the aim of protecting “the interests of participants in employee benefit plans and their beneficiaries.” In enacting ERISA, Congress established “standards of conduct, responsibility, and obligation[s] for fiduciaries of employee benefit plans” and provided for “appropriate remedies, sanctions and ready access to the Federal courts.” Apart from creating federal causes of action to ensure efficient and equitable administration of private pension plans, …
Traditional Ecological Rulemaking, Anthony Moffa
Traditional Ecological Rulemaking, Anthony Moffa
Faculty Publications
This Article examines the implications of an increased role for Traditional Ecological Knowledge (TEK) in United States agency decisionmaking. Specifically, it contemplates where TEK might substantively and procedurally fit and, most importantly, whether a final agency action based on TEK would survive judicial scrutiny. In the midst of a growing body of scholarship questioning the wisdom of deference to agency expertise9 and the legitimacy of the administrative state writ large,10 this Article argues that there remains an important space in administrative rulemaking for the consideration of ways of understanding that differ from traditional Western norms. TEK can and should fill …
Transition Losses In The Electric Power Market: A Challenge To The Premises Underlying The Arguments For Compensation, Lois R. Lupica
Transition Losses In The Electric Power Market: A Challenge To The Premises Underlying The Arguments For Compensation, Lois R. Lupica
Faculty Publications
In this Article, Professor Lois R. Lupica examines whether the electric utility industry, currently j.n the midst of deregulation, ought to sustain the resulting transition losses. Due to the signifi· cant modification of legal rules affecting the electric power market and changes in regulatory policy, the utilities currently have expenditures and expectations that are unrecoverable in a competitive market. In recent years, momentum has moved in the direction of compensating the electric utilities and their investors for these losses. Professor Lupica challenges the arguments for transition loBS recovery and ultimately concludes that the doctrinal premises in support oftransition loss recovery …
Child Care Policy And The Welfare Reform Act, Peter R. Pitegoff
Child Care Policy And The Welfare Reform Act, Peter R. Pitegoff
Faculty Publications
This article sketches the 1996 Welfare Reform Act's major changes with particular attention to federally subsidized child care for low-income families.