Law Commons^™

Black Lives Matter And The Push For Colonial-Era Cultural Heritage Restitution, Kathryn Speckart

Catholic University Law Review

The influence of the Black Lives Matter movement extends into U.S. museums in the form of calls for “decolonization” of collections comprised of art and artifacts from Africa and other colonized areas. As a result, the accompanying legal and ethical questions surrounding these artifacts now figure prominently in the museum industry. This Comment analyzes why the current U.S. cultural heritage law framework does not accommodate colonial-era African artifacts. This is due to few of these artifacts being subject to legal claims under current laws, African artifacts not having protection as a special classification, and the lack of enforcement mechanisms in …

Sacred Spheres: Religious Autonomy As An International Human Right, Diana V. Thomson, Kayla A. Toney

Catholic University Law Review

How should courts resolve thorny human rights disputes that arise within religious groups? According to an emerging international consensus, they shouldn’t. When a case involves sensitive internal decisions by a religious organization, such as choosing who is qualified to teach the faith, courts are increasingly taking a hands-off approach. This global consensus has formed across international treaties, tribunals, and domestic courts in European and American nations. Every major human rights instrument and many international and domestic courts recognize that religious freedom must extend to religious communities, especially houses of worship and schools where believers gather to practice their faith and …

Paving A New (Hua)Wei: A Comparative Analysis Of International Approaches To Securing Information And Communication Technology Supply Chains, Jordan Villegas

Catholic University Law Review

Recent amendments to Chinese Intelligence Laws codify affirmative obligations upon domestic companies and citizens alike, namely, that they must assist and support the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) in its intelligence gathering efforts. Coupling these laws with the international prevalence of Huawei, a Chinese telecommunications company comprising two-thirds of 5G equipment outside China, CCP compromised 5G equipment is an unassailable reality. This article explores five intelligence allied nations and how each has respectively addressed the risk posed by Huawei. It argues each nation’s policies are deducible to three primary approaches, categorically including: (1) promulgation of law explicitly excluding Huawei 5G equipment; …

The Global Practice Of Systematic Enforced Disappearances Of Children In International Law: Strategies For Preventing Future Occurrences And Solving Past Cases, Jeremy J. Sarkin, Elisenda Calvet Martinez

Catholic University Law Review

The aim of this article is to first investigate and understand the widespread and systematic practice of enforced disappearances against children around the world, with a key purpose being to show that it is a regular occurrence. The article reviews the systematic disappearances of children in their historical context, beginning from the Second World War. A variety of country examples –some historical and some contemporary –are discussed to indicate the widespread nature of the practice. The variety of cases is used to understand why states participate in such practices and why children specifically are targeted as victims of enforced disappearances. …

The Global Rise Of Judicial Review Since 1945, Steven G. Calabresi

Catholic University Law Review

This article expands upon the theory put forth in Professor Bruce Ackerman’s book, Revolutionary Constitutions: Charismatic Leadership and the Rule of Law, in which he posits that twentieth century revolutions in a variety of countries led to the constitutionalization of charisma, thus binding countries to the written constitutions established by their revolutionary leaders.

Constitutional law scholar, Steven G. Calabresi, argues here that world constitutionalism, in fact, existed prior to 1945, and what is especially striking about the post-1945 experience is that the constitutionalism of charisma included not only the adoption of written constitutions, but also the adoption of meaningful …

Where We’Re Going, We Don’T Need Drivers: Autonomous Vehicles And Ai-Chaperone Liability, Peter Y. Kim

Catholic University Law Review

The future of mainstream autonomous vehicles is approaching in the rearview mirror. Yet, the current legal regime for tort liability leaves an open question on how tortious Artificial Intelligence (AI) devices and systems that are capable of machine learning will be held accountable. To understand the potential answer, one may simply go back in time and see how this question would be answered under traditional torts. This Comment tests whether the incident involving an autonomous vehicle hitting a pedestrian is covered under the traditional torts, argues that they are incapable of solving this novel problem, and ultimately proposes a new …

The Bumpy Road Of Home States’ Regulation Of Globalized Businesses—Legal And Institutional Disruptions To Supply Chain Disclosure Under The Modern Slavery Act, Shuangge Wen, Jingchen Zhao

Catholic University Law Review

In response to the paradigm shift from territorial corporations to global businesses and supply chains, states are increasingly engaging in regulating extraterritorial business activities, supply chain disclosure regulation being a primary example. Much ink has thus far spilled on the intrinsic doctrinal and conceptual aspects of this regulatory approach, with its interactions to the external regulatory and institutional environment far less considered. This article seeks to correct the scholarly imbalance by critically examining how s.54 of the UK Modern Slavery Act (MSA) – a prominent attempt among state-level initiatives designed to promote human rights protection within global supply chains – …

The More Things Change, The More They Stay The Same: The United States, Trade Sanctions, And International Blocking Acts, Meaghan Jennison

Catholic University Law Review

When the United States unilaterally withdrew from the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (“JCPOA,” colloquially known as the Iran Nuclear Deal) in May of 2018, that withdrawal signaled not only the United States withdrawal from that deal, of which it had been one of the chief negotiators, but also of a new level of trade engagement by the United States and the Trump Administration within the international community. European countries, in an attempt to continue existing business relationships with the Iranians, pulled an old tool from their toolbox – the blocking statute – to attempt to allow European and multinational …

Comparative Perspectives Of Adult Content Filtering: Legal Challenges And Implications, Adam Szafranski, Piotr Szwedo And Malgorzata Klein

Catholic University Law Review

The internet is virtually ubiquitous and is becoming more accessible to young people all over the world. Along with the many benefits it brings, the internet poses serious risks to the human rights of its most vulnerable users, viz. children. The United Kingdom, Poland and the U.S. State of Utah have already started to mitigate this risk through a variety of regulatory mechanisms. A priori, both self-regulation and hard law can satisfy international requirements on freedom of services and freedom of expression, but each requires careful scrutiny. Neither self-regulation nor soft law appear to be sufficient. It would seem, …

The Human Rights Movement And The Prevention Of Evil: The Need To Look Inward As Well As Out, Jeffrey A. Brauch

Catholic University Law Review

The modern human rights movement began as a response to great evil perpetrated by individuals and nations against others during and preceding World War II. The movement has been dedicated to protecting the rights of individuals by confronting evil and holding nations accountable should efforts to prevent it fail.

This article contends that while the human rights movement is good at confronting evil “out there,” it has failed in important ways to recognize flaws within itself. In particular, it displays a hubris that shows itself in two ways. First, the movement has embraced a utopian expansion of rights to be …

Crystal Clear Vagueness: The Board Of Immigration Appeals Hampers Justice With Its Vague “Process Of Justice”, Maria Natera

Catholic University Law Review

The Immigration and Nationality Act has caused the issue of unconstitutional vagueness to become more prominent in recent years in the context of immigration law. The Act provides definitions for certain crimes that are grounds for legal immigrants to be placed in removal proceedings, with the possibility of deportation. With such severe potential consequences, it is crucial that the definitions be crystal clear on what every crime entails in order to give immigrants fair warning.

One such crime that may subject an immigrant to removal proceedings and deportation is a conviction for an “aggravated felony,” coupled with a sentence of …

Testimonial Statements, Reliability, And The Sole Or Decisive Evidence Rule: A Comparative Look At The Right Of Confrontation In The United States, Canada, And Europe, Deborah Paruch

Catholic University Law Review

Criminal trials in the United States are meant to ascertain the truth. But other societal values, such as fairness to the parties and public confidence in the integrity of the process, are at stake as well. Among the cornerstone rights to protect a defendant’s right to a fair trial is the right to confrontation. The right to confrontation enables a criminal defendant to exclude hearsay evidence from a trial when the defendant did not have an opportunity to cross-examine the witness. This right has undergone substantial changes and revisions over the last decade, both in the United States and abroad. …

Refining Statutory Interpretation: How Natural Gas Export Regulations Violate U.S. International Trade Obligations, Amanda L. Tharpe

Catholic University Law Review

As a member of the World Trade Organization (WTO), the United States is required to abide by nondiscriminatory trade policies when exporting products to other WTO members. Current U.S. policy regulating natural gas exports impose burdensome and lengthy licensing procedures on those requesting approval of a permit to export natural gas to countries with which the U.S. does not have a free trade agreement. A similar commodity, crude oil, is regulated by different regulations that allow for U.S. oil producers to freely export crude oil overseas. This Comment analyzes the differences in federal laws and regulations governing the export of …

The Impact Of The United Nations On National Abortion Laws, Kelsey Zorzi

Catholic University Law Review

Reviewing UN initiatives in concert with changes in State abortion laws, this Essay argues that through consensus resolutions that emerge from UN conferences, the recommendations of the Treaty Monitoring Bodies, and the Human Rights Council’s Universal Periodic Review, the UN has influenced State to adopt permissive domestic abortion laws. The essay discusses and provides examples of how the UN does this. The Essay also discusses the impact of pro-abortion interpretations of international treaties and the actions taken by signatory nations to require legalized abortions in their wake.

Expired Patents, Saurabh Vishnubhakat

Catholic University Law Review

This article presents a comprehensive empirical description of the public domain of technologies that have recently passed out of patent protection. From a new dataset of over 300,000 patents that expired during 2008–2012, the study examines technological, geographical, and procedural traits of newly public inventions as a basis for exploring the social value associated with their competitive use. Moreover, comparing these inventions to inventions newly patented during the same period enables more specific discussion of how the balance of innovation in the United States continues to change.

Removing The Distraction Of Delay, Jill E. Family

Catholic University Law Review

Immigration adjudication is in an awkward position. There is an intricate system to adjudicate immigration removal (deportation) cases, but that system is hindered by restrictions, and the constant threat of further restrictions, that reflect distaste for providing process to foreign nationals facing removal. There is a push and pull phenomenon, with immigration adjudication stretched uncomfortably in between two forces. On the one side, there is a push to apply common notions of due process to immigration removal cases, to push that the same concepts of procedural justice should apply in immigration cases as they would in any other context. On …

Access For Access: Ensuring Access To Federal Courts For Parents Seeking To Exercise Rights Of Access Under The Hague Convention On The Civil Aspects Of International Child Abduction, Katherine L. Olson

Catholic University Law Review

Each year, thousands of children are abducted across international borders, often by one of their parents. The Hague Convention on the Civil Aspects of International Child Abduction (Hague Convention) and its implementing legislation, the International Child Abduction Remedies Act (ICARA), provide recourse to the non-abducting parent. However, recent cases in the U.S. Courts of Appeal for the Fourth and Second Circuits have created a circuit split on the issue of whether rights of access, in contrast to rights of custody, convey a private right of action in U.S. federal courts under the Hague Convention. This Comment examines this circuit split …

The Positive And Negative Consequences Of The European Union Court Of Justice's Amazon Decision On International Private Copying And America, Jaclyn Kavendek

Catholic University Law Review

No abstract provided.

An Institutional Defense Of Antitrust Immunity For International Airline Alliances, Gabriel S. Sanchez

Catholic University Law Review

No abstract provided.