Law Commons^™

City Of Los Angeles V. Patel: The Upcoming Supreme Court Case No One Is Talking About, Adam Lamparello

Adam Lamparello

Focusing solely on whether a hotel owner has a reasonable expectation of privacy in a guest registry is akin to asking whether Verizon Wireless has a reasonable expectation of privacy in its customer lists. The answer to those questions should be yes, but the sixty-four thousand dollar question—and the proverbial elephant in the room—is whether hotel occupants and cell phone users forfeit their privacy rights simply because they check into the Beverly Hills Hotel or call their significant others from a Smart Phone on the Santa Monica Freeway. Put differently, a hotel owner’s expectation of privacy in a guest registry …

City Of Los Angeles V. Patel: The Upcoming Supreme Court Case No One Is Talking About, Adam Lamparello

Adam Lamparello

Focusing solely on whether a hotel owner has a reasonable expectation of privacy in a guest registry is akin to asking whether Verizon Wireless has a reasonable expectation of privacy in its customer lists. The answer to those questions should be yes, but the sixty-four thousand dollar question—and the proverbial elephant in the room—is whether hotel occupants and cell phone users forfeit their privacy rights simply because they check into the Beverly Hills Hotel or call their significant others from a Smart Phone on the Santa Monica Freeway.

Put differently, a hotel owner’s expectation of privacy in a guest registry …

Same-Sex Marriage And Conflict Of Law: The “Other” Constitutional Issue, Sheldon D. Pollack

Sheldon D Pollack

A constitutional issue of great significance has confounded our political and legal systems in recent decades. This involves the legal status afforded same-sex marriage. Under longstanding tradition, marriage in all fifty states was restricted to a union of one man and one woman (a “traditional marriage”). But tradition began to erode in the 1990s, gradually giving way to a tacit acceptance of same-sex marriage in various regions of the United States. The result has been several decades of unsettled and conflicting law with respect to the legal status of such unions, with some states recognizing same-sex marriages and others prohibiting …

An Outline For The Study Of Ethiopian Constitutional Law, Tsegaye Beru

Tsegaye Beru

This outline is based on the 1995 Ethiopian Constitution. However, it is important to acknowledge that the 1995 Constitution cannot be studied in isolation. Like its forerunners, the Constitution is not distinctively Ethiopia, save the customary and religious laws that have been recognized by it. Past and present constitutions were derived from various sources, mostly Western. The immediate source of the 1995 Constitution is the Charter of the Transitional Government that took power from the military government. However, the 1995 Constitution was built upon the constitutions and laws that preceded it and the customary and religious laws that predated it. …

Amicus Brief: City Of Montebello V. Vasquez, Steven J. Andre

Steven J. Andre

This amicus brief proposes that the court of appeal below and the parties to this litigation have asked the wrong question regarding the governmental activity in question. While the court of appeal was quite correct in recognizing that elected officials’ actions in voting upon legislation and negotiating do not involve exercise of First Amendment rights, this recognition is short sighted. In actuality, no governmental action furthers the First Amendment rights of the government actor. Public officials engage in activity which in many ways resembles constitutionally protected speech and petitioning. They speak, vote, evaluate and otherwise involve themselves in official proceedings …

The Legacy Of Anthony M. Kennedy, Adam Lamparello

Adam Lamparello

The defining moments in Justice Kennedy’s tenure on the Court came in Planned Parenthood, Lawrence, and United States v. Windsor, where the Court did to the Constitution—in the name of liberty—what it also did—in the name of democracy—to Florida’s citizens in Bush v. Gore. In all three cases, Justice Kennedy’s reliance on a broad conception of liberty, rather than equal protection principles, shifted the balance too heavily in favor of judicial, rather democratic, creation of unenumerated fundamental rights.

Justice Kennedy will rightly be celebrated for safeguarding reproductive freedom and championing sexual autonomy for same-sex couples, but underneath the black …

Representação Democrática Do Judiciário: Reflexões Preliminares Sobre Os Riscos E Dilemas De Uma Ideia Em Ascensão, Jane Reis Gonçalves Pereira

Jane Reis Gonçalves Pereira

O presente trabalho busca apresentar algumas reflexões sobre os riscos e dilemas da ideia de que o Poder Judiciário tem uma dimensão representativa, construindo um embasamento teórico preliminar para a compreensão crítica do tema. Confrontando concepções diversas de representação, são propostos três questionamentos: 1) o Poder Judiciário pode ser entendido como um espaço de representação do povo? 2) Quais são os riscos e implicações de reconhecer, conceitualmente, que o Judiciário tem uma face representativa? 3) Quais são os ônus e limites institucionais que o reconhecimento de tal atributo deve impor aos juízes

America's Written Constitution: Remembering The Judicial Duty To Say What The Law Is, Joshua J. Schroeder

Joshua J Schroeder

In 2013 the Supreme Court embraced a policy of feigned positivism. In general positivism says there are no future rewards and punishments and thus there is no Natural Law that holds sway over rulers whether it is established by a creator God or not. Thus adopting positivism leaves the Court with an existential problem because the Court’s equitable power flows directly from Natural Law and Nature’s God and is much older than the new country known as the United States. But even in the scope of U.S. history positivism lost significant ground in its struggle with equitable power and the …

Límites Constitucionales Al Modelo Educativo De La Escuela Privada Confesional, Daniel Soria Luján

Daniel Soria Luján

No abstract provided.

North America Time For A New Focus, Daniel Cassidy

Daniel Cassidy

The United States, Canada, and Mexico are bound by a shared geography, history, and environment. In the twenty years since the passage of the North American Free Trade Agreement, the continent’s three economies and societies have become deeply intertwined, making relations between the United States and its immediate neighbors more important than ever. In 2005, in conjunction with counterpart organizations in Canada and Mexico, the Council on Foreign Relations published Building a North American Community, which proposed the establishment of a North American economic and security community by 2010, the boundaries of which would be defined by a common external …

Dna Data Exchanges Between Eu Member States And Fundamental Rights Protection (Particularly Fundamental Rights To Data Protection), Joaquín Sarrión Esteve

Joaquín Sarrión Esteve

Program

I. Motivation.

II. Methodology.

III. DNA data legal framework

DNA data EU legal framework.

DNA data international (non EU) legal framework.

IV. Actual trends of fundamental rights protection in a multilevel system regarding DNA data (conclusions?)

Libertad De Religión En El S. Xxi, Ramiro De Valdivia Cano

Ramiro De Valdivia Cano

La libertad de religión es un Derecho Fundamental que engloba, por un lado, la ilegitimidad de los Estados que pretendan imponer creencias religiosas o una religión oficial; y, por otro, la facultad del individuo de exigir al Estado que se le garantice el ejercicio libre de las prácticas que le dicta su fe personal, siempre que éstas no comprometan el orden público.

La Rebeldía De J.Waldron: ¿Es Democrático El Control Judicial Constitucional?, Joshimar De La Cruz Aroni

Joshimar De la cruz Aroni

Constitutional Law

Inconstitucionalidad Del Cobro Del Impuesto Sobre La Renta De Jubilaciones, Pensiones Y Haberes De Retiro. ViolacióN A Derechos Humanos: El Caso Mexicano, Guillermo Castorena

Guillermo Castorena

En la primera parte del artículo se establecen los antecedentes y actos de autoridad que dieron pie a demandar el amparo. Posteriormente se entra al análisis de una serie de argumentos “que se hicieron valer en contra” de los actos de autoridad ante el Poder Judicial de la Federación. Por último se hace referencia a los Derechos Humanos que se consideraron violados, los mismos que son materia de denuncia ante la Comisión Interamericana de Derechos Humanos. The first part of the article establishes the background and acts of authority that let the victims to file the constitutional claims. Then it …

The Case For Defamatory Opinion, Adam Lamparello

Adam Lamparello

The law should not allow revenge porn in the name of the First Amendment, just as it should not allow private citizens to purchase AK-47’s in the name of the Second Amendment. Citizens can abuse fundamental rights just as governments can infringe them. At some point, courts have to acknowledge that the First Amendment was not intended to give people a fundamental right to trash an individual’s reputation while seeking cover under the self-serving blanket of opinion and taste. It is one thing to stroll into a courthouse with a shirt that says Fuck the Draft, but quite another to …

The Case For Defamatory Opinion, Adam Lamparello

Adam Lamparello

The law should not allow revenge porn in the name of the First Amendment, just as it should not allow private citizens to purchase AK-47’s in the name of the Second Amendment. Citizens can abuse fundamental rights just as governments can infringe them. At some point, courts have to acknowledge that the First Amendment was not intended to give people a fundamental right to trash an individual’s reputation while seeking cover under the self-serving blanket of opinion and taste. It is one thing to stroll into a courthouse with a shirt that says Fuck the Draft, but quite another to …

Mutual Pharmaceutical Co. V. Bartlett: A Need For “Explicit” Congressional Action And State Tort Law Reform, Kara A. Ritter

Kara A Ritter

No abstract provided.

Table Annexed To Article: Surveying The 831 Unique Words In The Philadelphia Constitution, Peter Aschenbrenner

Peter J. Aschenbrenner

Of the 831 unique words in the Philadelphia Constitution, what were the most frequently used words? The least? OCL lists all unique words in rank order with and without frequencies, accounting for the word total of 4,321 words in the Philadelphia Constitution.

The Colony-Making Power Of Congress Priced In The Purchase Of Alaska, Peter Aschenbrenner

Peter J. Aschenbrenner

There is certainly no power given by the Constitution to the Federal Government to establish or maintain colonies bordering on the United States or at a distance, to be ruled and governed at its own pleasure, Our Constitutional Logic paraphrases the immediate cause of the Civil War, with citation to Dred Scott’s case at 60 U.S. 393, 446 (1857). That, however, is not the only defect in the purchase of Alaska from the Czar of the Russias. Our Constitutional Logic investigates the non-Euclidean geometry pertinent to the treaty’s boundaries such as they might appear on the sphere near you.

Madison's Redans, Ravelins And Bastions: A Short History Of The War Of 1812, Peter Aschenbrenner

Peter J. Aschenbrenner

The employment of earthworks and breastworks in defense of dense communities is considered in light of the advice of Baron Henri de Jomini which the Secretary of Defense transmitted before Madison appointed. Because the Secretary failed to follow the Baron’s advice – which the Secretary had transmitted into print culture as Hints to Young Generals – Madison sacked him after the battle of Bladensburg.

Religious Freedom & Closely Held Corporations: The Hobby Lobby Case & Its Ethical Implications, Corey A. Ciocchetti

Corey A Ciocchetti

Hobby Lobby and its quest for religious freedom captured the attention of a nation for a few moments in late June 2014. The country homed in on the Supreme Court as the justices weighed the rights of an incorporated, profit-making entity run by devout individuals that objected to particular entitlements granted to women under the Affordable Care Act. The case raised important legal issues such as whether the law allows for-profit corporations to exercise religion (yes!) and whether protection for religious freedom trumps the rights of third parties to cost free preventive care (sort of!). The Supreme Court’s decision also …

The Internet Is The New Public Forum: Why Riley V. California Supports Net Neutrality, Adam Lamparello

Adam Lamparello

Technology has ushered civil liberties into the virtual world, and the law must adapt by providing legal protections to individuals who speak, assemble, and associate in that world. The original purposes of the First Amendment, which from time immemorial have protected civil liberties and preserved the free, open, and robust exchange of information, support net neutrality. After all, laws or practices that violate cherished freedoms in the physical world also violate those freedoms in the virtual world. The battle over net neutrality is “is absolutely the First Amendment issue of our time,” just as warrantless searches of cell phones were …

¿Es Posible Y Deseable Inaplicar La Jurisprudencia De La Corte?, Juan Luis Hernández Macías

Juan Luis Hernández Macías

No abstract provided.

"God Hates Fags" Isn't The Same As "Fuck The Draft": Introducing The Non-Sexual Obscenity Doctrine, Adam Lamparello

Adam Lamparello

No abstract provided.

Anti-Corruption Commissions In China:Panacea Or Cure-All Medicine To Fight Corruption, Chan Louis

Chan Louis

With the rapidly economic development and the overall social transformation, corruption has becoming a more prominent threat to China's long-term development. The CPC and Chinese government, while severely cracking down corruption, has proposed a series of strategic thinking to fundamentally solve the problem of corruption. The sharp weapons against corruption in China are generally two institutions, which are Commission for Discipline Inspection responsible for the inspection within the party and the People's Procuratorate, one of key functions of which is prevention and punishment of corruption. A popular saying among Chinese government officials goes: “Fear not the heavens or the earth, …

The Homicide Survivors’ Fairness-For-Victims Manifesto, Lester Jackson

LESTER JACKSON

Murderer advocates place a far greater value on the lives of the most savage murderers than on the lives of their victims. Let them deny it; their words and deeds conclusively give the lie to that denial. The critical question is this: Whose concept of justice is going to prevail? The concept of a small but vocal well-financed minority with influence and power out of all proportion to its numbers, or that of the large but poorly financed and disorganized majority. In recent decades, the former have dominated. Tragically, compared to media-dominant murderer advocates, victims have been virtually voiceless. Yes, …

The Stickiness Principle And Searches Incident To Arrest, Steven I. Friedland

Steven I. Friedland

In Fourth Amendment decisions, different concepts, facts and assumptions about reality are often tethered together in judicial decisions, creating a Stickiness Principle. In particular, form and function historically were viewed as an identity, not a dichotomy. For example, containers carried things, watches told time, and telephones were used to make voice calls. Advancing technology, though, began to fracture this identity and the broader Stickiness Principle.

In June 2014, Riley v. California and its companion case, United States v. Wurie, offered the Supreme Court an opportunity to begin untethering form and function and dismantling the Stickiness Principle. Riley presented the question …

Hall V. Florida: The Death Of Georgia's Beyond A Reasonable Doubt Standard, Adam Lamparello

Adam Lamparello

Welcome: We’re Glad Georgia is On Your Mind.

Georgia is on many minds as Warren Hill prepares for a state court hearing to once again begin the process of trying to show that he is intellectually disabled. As Warren Hill continues to flirt with death, one must ask, is Georgia really going to execute someone that nine experts and a lower court twice found to be mentally retarded? The answer is yes, and the Georgia courts do not understand why we are scratching our heads. The answer is simple: executing an intellectually disabled man is akin to strapping a ten-year …

Hall V. Florida: The Death Of Georgia’S Beyond A Reasonable Doubt Standard, Adam Lamparello

Adam Lamparello

No abstract provided.

Exotic Dancing: Taxable Gyrations Or Exempt Art, John O. Hayward

John O. Hayward

Exotic dancers usually embroil themselves in censorship battles with local authorities. But recently they have drawn the attention of tax authorities who have tussled with the owners of so-called “gentlemen’s clubs” over whether the exotic dancing performed in their establishments are subject to taxation. This paper examines several recent cases where state authorities choose to tax exotic dancing while at the same time exempting what some jurists regard as comparable choreographic performances. In the opinion of these commentators, the tax authorities exhibited a bias against low-brow artistic expression, thus engaging in impermissible content discrimination. It advances the proposition that judges …