Law Commons^™

The Role Of The Federal Government In Response To Catastrophic Health Emergencies: Lessons Learned From Hurricane Katrina, Michael Greenberger

Michael Greenberger

In much of the recent thought devoted to the role of states in responding to catastrophic public health emergencies, as most clearly evidenced by the commentary surrounding the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention- sponsored Model State Emergency Health Powers Act (Model Act), there is a focus on state governments being viewed as the exclusive controlling governmental agent supervising the governmental response. Much of that thinking is premised on a view of limitations placed on Congress’ power to act in public health emergencies emanating from Commerce Clause restrictions in the Supreme Court decisions of U.S. v. Lopez, 514 U.S. 549 …

Choking Bioshield: The Department Of Homeland Security's Stranglehold On Biodefense Vaccine Development, Michael Greenberger

Michael Greenberger

One of the bright milestones toward the development of a vibrant biodefense vaccine industry was the passage of the Project BioShield Act of 2004. That statute was designed "to provide protections and countermeasures against chemical, radiological, or nuclear agents that may be used in a terrorist attack against the United States". It encourages the development of effective countermeasures by establishing the Special Reserve Fund of $5.6 billion to be spent over ten years to assure pharmaceutical and biotechnology manufacturers that there is a ready market for their products through purchases by the government for the Strategic National Stockpile. The Act …

Teaching New Dogs Old Tricks: Reshaping The Department Of Homeland Security's Technology Development Infrastructure, Michael Greenberger

Michael Greenberger

This article discusses the Department of Homeland Security’s (DHS’s) use of technology to help fight the war on terror. First, this article reveals how DHS has made little progress in encouraging the development of important technology, despite receiving ample resources from Congress to do so. Second, this article looks to the Office of War Mobilization’s (OWM) work during World War II as a possible template for galvanizing the Nation’s technological talent and resources to fight terror. Third, this article suggests a program for refining the OWM template to meet modern day needs. In this regard, DHS is the “new dog,” …

The Need For Closed Circuit Television In Mass Transit Systems, Michael Greenberger

Michael Greenberger

Closed circuit television video (CCTV) surveillance systems need to be introduced or enhanced in the public areas within United States’ mass transit systems. London’s extensive system was used very successfully in the investigation of the July 2005 terrorist attacks on its subway and bus systems. That effective investigatory use of CCTV is very likely to be a significant deterrence to future terrorist activities on London mass transit. The United States must be prepared in the event of similar attacks on its soil. As roughly twenty times more people travel by mass transit than by air, it is time for this …

Comment: Relocation, Accidental Inequalities, And The Equal Protection Doctrine, Michael Greenberger

Michael Greenberger

No abstract provided.

Did The Founding Fathers Do "A Heckuva Job"? Constitutional Authorization For The Use Of Federal Troops To Prevent The Loss Of A Major American City, Michael Greenberger

Michael Greenberger

As the one year anniversary of the landfall of Hurricane Katrina on the Gulf Coast passed, the highly critical reports of the Bush Administration's mismanagement of the response to that catastrophe continued to mount. Central to the criticism of the Administration was its indecisiveness in deploying military assets to rescue and protect Gulf Coast citizens overwhelmed by one of the country's worst natural disasters. The President failed to act because of a perceived lack of statutory and constitutional authority to override the Louisiana Governor's refusal to allow the Federal government to have ultimate control over the deployment of Federal troops …

Preparing Vulnerable Populations For A Disaster: Inner-City Emergency Preparedness - Who Should Take The Lead?, Michael Greenberger

Michael Greenberger

No abstract provided.

Three Strikes And You're Outside The Constitution: Will The Guantanamo Bay Alien Detainees Be Granted Fundamental Due Process?, Michael Greenberger

Michael Greenberger

The United States Supreme Court has agreed to take up its first case arising from the War on Terror by hearing the consolidated appeals of two groups of foreign aliens who are or who had been detained at the United States Guantanamo Bay Naval Base, Cuba: Rasul v. Bush (No. 03-334) and Al Odah v. United States (No. 03-343). The cases stem from the United States' capture of several hundred prisoners in Afghanistan and Pakistan and their subsequent imprisonment at Guantanamo Bay. The prison began operation in January 2002, and approximately 90 detainees have been freed up to this time, …

False Conflict: Who's In Charge Of National Public Health Catastrophes, Michael Greenberger

Michael Greenberger

Hurricane Katrina renewed an old debate concerning which level of government should lead the response effort to catastrophic disasters. Traditionally, emergency response is handled at the most local level possible. The National Response Plan (NRP) adheres to this tenet, while providing for extensive coordination between the federal government and states and localities, if necessary. In doing so, the NRP provides procedures to ensure that federal assets may be brought to bear, without stomping on the nation's time honored commitment to the principles of federalism.

Indefinite Material Witness Detention Without Probable Cause: Thinking Outside The Fourth Amendment, Michael Greenberger

Michael Greenberger

A constitutional issue recently addressed by the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit in United States v. Awadallah, 349 F.3d 42 (2003), has not received the widespread attention of high-profile litigation concerning the Justice Department's other controversial counter-terrorism policies. It is equally important. The issue arises out of Attorney General Ashcroft's announcement shortly after the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001 that the aggressive detention of material witnesses [was] vital to preventing, disrupting or delaying new attacks. Since that time, the Department of Justice has used the federal material witness statute (18 U.S.C. Section 3144) to arrest …

The 800 Pound Gorilla Sleeps: The Federal Government's Lackadaisical Liability And Compensation Policies In The Context Of Pre-Event Vaccine Immunization Programs, Michael Greenberger

Michael Greenberger

On July 21, 2004, President Bush signed the Project Bioshield Act, which authorizes the spending of $5.6 billion to advance the development and acquisition of vaccines and other countermeasures to biological agents. While the funding and progress are welcome signs for our national biodefense strategy, the failure of the federal Phase I smallpox vaccination program demonstrated that other serious obstacles remain to the implementation of a successful pre-event vaccine immunization program. Specifically, as demonstrated by a field study of several states' health departments, performed at the ANSER Institute for Homeland Security, the federal government's inability to provide both sufficient liability …

Health Bills: What's At The Core, Robert B. Leflar

Robert B Leflar

Column 2 (of 5) on the health reform debate: explanation of the legislation.

Health Care: Yellow Lights, Red Flags, Robert B. Leflar

Robert B Leflar

Column 1 (of 5) on the health reform debate

Ip Policy Void In The 'Grand Climate Bargain', Matthew Rimmer

Matthew Rimmer

In September, Prime Minister Kevin Rudd emphasized the need for national and global action on climate change and called for “a grand bargain” between “the developed world and the developing world in order to reach an outcome for the planet earth as a whole”.No doubt, action on climate change will need new technology, which most likely will be predominately developed in a few, innovative countries. It is also clear, however, that if this ‘grand bargain’ is to be more than a wistful hope we need appropriate intellectual property rights in place for these new technological developments.The chairs of the Ad …

High Crimes, Not Misdemeanors: Deterring The Production Of Unsafe Food, Rena I. Steinzor

Rena I. Steinzor

In the fall of 2008, Minnesota public health officials became alarmed by an unusually high number of illnesses and deaths caused by salmonella poisoning. Federal and state regulators and the news media eventually traced the outbreak back to products supplied by the Peanut Corporation of America (PCA). Employees shipped batches that tested positive for salmonella from a plant with a leaking roof, mold growing on ceilings and walls, rodent infestation, filthy processing receptacles, and feathers and feces in the air filtration system. Under an agreement with the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), Georgia state inspectors visited the PCA plant nine …

John Contracts Skin Disease At Spa, Donna M. Hughes Dr., Melanie Shapiro Esq

Donna M. Hughes

Prostitution Destroys Families, Anonymous In Providence, Donna M. Hughes Dr.

Donna M. Hughes

Prosecuting Doctors For Trusting Patients, Deborah Hellman

Deborah Hellman

In an escalating phase of our country’s war on drugs, doctors treating patients in pain are being prosecuted for drug trafficking under the Controlled Substances Act. While doctors surely can be guilty of drug trafficking when they sell drugs for money, lately some doctors have been prosecuted for violations of a statute that requires knowingly distributing or dispensing controlled substances in an unauthorized manner for simply being willfully blind to the fact that their patients were reselling the drugs. While willful blindness may be an apt substitute for knowledge in the traditional drug courier scenario, doctors in these cases are …

Navigating Uncharted Waters: Intellectual Property Rights Surrounding Genomics Research & Development Information, Lawrence M. Sung

Lawrence M. Sung

No abstract provided.

Unilateral Refusal Of Treatment And Patient Abandonment: Betancourt V. Trinitas Hospital, Brief Of Amicus Curiae, Law Professor Thaddeus Mason Pope, Thaddeus M. Pope

Thaddeus Mason Pope

Betancourt v. Tinitas Hospital is now pending before the Appellate Division of the New Jersey Superior Court. Trinitas Hospital is appealing a March 2009 trial court injunction, ordering its physicians to continue providing life-sustaining medical treatment (particularly dialysis) that these providers judged to be medically inappropriate and outside the standard of care.

In early 2009, patient Ruben Betancourt was in a permanent vegetative state with multi-organ failure and slim prospects for recovery. Still, the patient’s daughter, Jacqueline, would not accede to recommendations to stop dialysis and switch to palliative care. When it became apparent that providers might unilaterally withdraw Mr. …

Beyond I-Got-Mine-Jack Health Care, Erin Ryan

Erin Ryan

This op-ed urges those who warn that health care reform will lead to rationing not to forsake the victims of the rationing we already have, with a personal story.

Media Futures: A Review Essay On 'The Future Of Reputation', 'Tv Futures', And 'The Future Of The Internet And How To Stop It', Prometheus, Vol. 27 (3), P. 267-279., Matthew Rimmer

Matthew Rimmer

This review essay considers three recent books, which have explored the legal dimensions of new media. In contrast to the unbridled exuberance of Time Magazine, this series of legal works displays an anxious trepidation about the legal ramifications associated with the rise of social networking services. In his tour de force, The Future of Reputation: Gossip, Rumor, and Privacy on the Internet, Daniel Solove considers the implications of social networking services, such as Facebook and YouTube, for the legal protection of reputation under privacy law and defamation law. Andrew Kenyon’s edited collection, TV Futures: Digital Television Policy in Australia, explores …

Protect Our Children, Jenny Meyen, Donna M. Hughes Dr.

Donna M. Hughes

Tattoos Of Girls Under Pimp Control & Pimp Rules For The Control Of Victims, Donna M. Hughes Dr.

Donna M. Hughes

Two Types Of Discrimination: The Familiar And The Forgotten, Deborah Hellman

Deborah Hellman

This essay argues that current Equal Protection doctrine fails to recognize an important conceptual distinction between two types of discrimination. Current doctrine is inadequate, according to the author, because it treats all discrimination cases as if they were instances of only one of these types. As a result, the Supreme Court mistreats discrimination cases of the forgotten variety. The author draws a distinction between proxy and non-proxy discrimination. Proxy discrimination uses the classification in the law as a means to reach a set of persons with a different, correlated trait. Non-proxy discrimination, by contrast, aims at the set defined by …

Judging By Appearances: Professional Ethics, Expressive Government, And The Moral Significance Of How Things Seem, Deborah Hellman

Deborah Hellman

No abstract provided.

Is Actuarially Fair Insurance Pricing Actually Fair? A Case Study In Insuring Battered Women, Deborah Hellman

Deborah Hellman

No abstract provided.

Classification And Fair Treatment: An Essay On The Moral And Legal Permissibility Of Profiling, Deborah Hellman

Deborah Hellman

Prior to the events of September 11, 2001, there appeared to be a consensus that profiling was both legally prohibited and morally wrong. Since 9/11, that consensus has eroded. In order to determine whether the fear and uncertainty occasioned by current events have simply clouded our judgment or whether, instead, the earlier rejection of profiling was too facile, we need to better understand precisely what we mean by "profiling." More importantly, we must develop a theory that explains when profiling, so defined, violates constitutional norms. This paper takes up that task. The paper uses the term "profiling" to mean any …

It's Not The Thought That Counts, Deborah Hellman

Deborah Hellman

The article considers a central question about discrimination – are an actor’s intentions relevant to whether an action wrongfully discriminates – and takes issue with a familiar answer to this question. If one thinks of “discrimination” in its literal sense, as simply drawing distinctions among people on the basis of possessing or lacking some trait, it becomes clear that discrimination is ubiquitous and often benign. The challenge is to distinguish when discrimination is permissible and when it is not. One common answer to this question is that it is the intentions of the actor who adopts or enacts a law, …

The Expressive Dimension Of Equal Protection, Deborah Hellman

Deborah Hellman

No abstract provided.