Law Commons^™

Foundations Of Human Rights And Development: A Critique Of African Human Rights Instruments, Joseph M. Isanga

Joseph Isanga

This Article argues that, of the contemporary human rights theories, sustainable African development necessitates grounding human rights in complete alignment with the broader perspective of natural law theory, as opposed to narrower perspectives such as utilitarian, positivist, and kindred theories.3 Part I presents pertinent philosophical theories and modes of analysis in conjunction with general international legal jurisprudence. Part II then uses this philosophical analysis to examine specific African human rights instruments and jurisprudence. Part III considers African traditional human rights conceptions. Part IV recommends a natural law foundation for African development. [excerpt]

Modernizing The Emergency Medical Treatment And Labor Act To Harmonize With The Affordable Care Act To Improve Equality, Quality And Cost Of Emergency Care, Katharine A. Van Tassel

Katharine Van Tassel

This Article will propose a very simple, two-step way to modernize EMTALA [Emergency Medical Treatment and Active Labor Act (1986)] to deal with this cascade of problems. This solution converts EMTALA into a powerful tool to enhance equal access to healthcare while at the same time changing EMTALA so that it works in tandem with, instead of against, the efforts of the Affordable Care Act, Medicare and Medicaid to improve healthcare quality, cost and equal access.

This solution also works across systems to resolve the conflict between the tort, licensure and hospital peer review systems that all discourage evidence-based treatment …

The Growing Consumer Exposure To Nanotechnology In Everyday Products: Regulating Innovative Technologies In Light Of Lessons From The Past, Katharine Van Tassel

Katharine Van Tassel

This Article discusses the public health, regulatory, legal, and ethical issues raised by the developing appreciation of the negative physical effects and potential health risks associated with nanotech products, and is arranged as follows. After this Introduction, this Article describes the present scientific understanding of the health risks associated with the consumption of nanoparticles. Next, a summary of the existing FDA regulatory structure that governs food, dietary supplements, cosmetics, and sunscreens is provided along with an explanation of why these regulations fail to protect public health when applied to regulate the nanotech versions of these products. The Article goes on …

Harmonizing The Affordable Care Act With The Three Main National Systems For Healthcare Quality Improvement: The Tort, Licensure, And Hospital Peer Review Hearing Systems, Katharine Van Tassel

Katharine Van Tassel

.. [W]hile the ACA [Affordable Care Act] has at least some provisions addressing the need to make changes in the medical malpractice and licensure systems to encourage the use of evidence-based standards of care, the ACA completely ignores the hospital peer review system. This article makes specific suggestions for how to revise all three major systems [the tort, licensure, and hospital peer review] so that they can work in tandem with federal law to encourage physicians to adopt [an] evidence-based model of medical practice in order to improve healthcare quality, cost, and access. This article starts by explaining the difference …

Genetically Modified Plants Used For Food, Risk Assessment And Uncertainty Principles: Does The Transition From Ignorance To Indeterminacy Trigger The Need For Post-Market Surveillance?, Katharine Van Tassel

Katharine Van Tassel

In the context of GM foods, a genetic modification changes the biochemical cross-talk between genes, creating genetic material that has never existed before in nature. This novel genetic material can create unintended health risks, as seen with the case of the GM peas that contained a novel and unexpected allergenic protein and primed test mice to react to other allergens.6 The bottom line is that the scientific acceptance of the existence of the networked gene establishes that the FDA’s presumption that GM plant food is bioequivalent to traditional plant food is no longer scientifically supportable and that a new system …

Blacklisted: The Constitutionality Of The Federal System For Publishing Reports Of "Bad" Doctors In The National Practitioner Data Bank, Katharine Van Tassel

Katharine Van Tassel

In order to highlight the problems with the NPDB [National Practitioner Data Bank], this Article compares physician blacklisting with other forms of blacklisting. For example, both physician and sexual predator blacklisting programs have the same goals: allowing the public to engage in self-protection by preventing “predators” from traveling to new locations to prey on a new group of unsuspecting victims. And both sexual predators and physicians suffer similar stigmatization as the result of the “badge of infamy” that comes with being blacklisted. But this is where the similarities end. Accused sex offenders get all of the trappings of due process …

Using Clinical Practice Guidelines And Knowledge Translation Theory To Cure The Negative Impact Of The National Hospital Peer Review Hearing System On Healthcare Quality, Cost, And Access, Katharine Van Tassel

Katharine Van Tassel

This Article starts with a history of the growth of hospital peer review and then examines the merits of the rationales that motivated the passage of the Health Care Quality Improvement Act of 1986 ('HCQIA'), which catapulted peer review into the national system that exists today. The Article next explains how the peer review hearing process works and how HCQIA turns private hospitals into small, individual quasi-regulatory agencies. The Article goes on to critique the 'bad apples' approach taken by hospital peer review in light of the growing body of empirical research that supports a systems improvement approach to dealing …

Hospital Peer Review Standards And Due Process: Moving From Tort Doctrine Toward Contract Principles Based On Clinical Practice Guidelines, Katharine A. Van Tassel

Katharine Van Tassel

This Article proposes a solution to the problems associated with the current use of vague standards in peer review. This Article will examine the proposal that medical staffs switch from ad hoc judicial decision-making to rule-making. This switch will allow medical staffs to abandon the troublesome practice of applying vague 'standard of care' measures ex post facto. In its stead, express contractual terminology could be adopted, such as 'expectations of performance,' which incorporates specifically chosen and uniquely tailored clinical practice guidelines ('CPGs') directly into the medical staff by-laws. Describing the expectations of physician performance in express contractual terms enables physicians …

Regulating In Uncertainty: Animating The Public Health Product Safety Net To Capture Consumer Products Regulated By The Fda That Use Innovative Technologies, Including Nanotechnologies, Genetic Modification, Cloning, And Lab Grown Meat, Katharine A. Van Tassel

Katharine Van Tassel

This Article will use nanotechnology as an example that highlights how regulation based on novelty rather than hazard achieves the proper balance between protecting public health while encouraging innovation through the animation of the public health product safety net. In Part II, this Article starts by explaining what nanotechnology is and the remarkable growth of its use in everyday consumer products. It then summarizes the steadily increasing number of studies that suggest that there are likely to be serious health risks associated with the use of nanotech consumer products. Next, it explains how the FDA [Food and Drug Administration] is …

The Introduction Of Biotech Foods To The Tort System: Creating A New Duty To Identify, Katharine Van Tassel

Katharine Van Tassel

This Article examines the question of whether an unsuspecting consumer who dies from an allergic or toxic reaction to an undisclosed biotech ingredient in food can recover damages through the tort system. The surprising answer is that recovery is very unlikely. This Article outlines why this is the case, then evaluates the merits of several potential solutions to this problem including the possible creation of a common law 'duty to identify' biotech ingredients in food.

This Article is arranged as follows. First, a brief primer on the nature of biotech foods is provided. For the reader unfamiliar with the regulatory …

Social Contract Neutrality And The Religion Clauses Of The Federal Constitution, Gregory S. Sergienko

Greg Sergienko

'Neutrality' has become the slogan that the Supreme Court uses for judging all claims of freedom of religion whether under the Establishment Clause or the Free Exercise Clause. However, the word 'neutrality' conceals the Court's inconsistent use of the concept. Thus, in Rosenberger v. Rectors of the University of Virginia, the recent debate about funding for religious publications, both the majority and the dissent asserted that only their approach was truly neutral. This inconsistency in the meaning of neutrality in the religion clauses is merely part of a general inconsistency in the Court's treatment of the religion clauses. Some of …

The Grand Jury: A Shield Of A Different Sort, R. Michael Cassidy, Julian A. Cook Iii

R. Michael Cassidy

According to the Washington Post, 991 people were shot to death by police officers in the United States during calendar year 2015, and 957 people were fatally shot in 2016. A disproportionate percentage of the citizens killed in these police-civilian encounters were black. Events in Ferguson, Missouri; Chicago, Illinois; Charlotte, North Carolina; Baton Rouge, Louisiana; and Staten Island, New York - to name but a few affected cities - have now exposed deep distrust between communities of color and law enforcement. Greater transparency is necessary to begin to heal this culture of distrust and to inform the debate going forward …

The Future Of Federal Law Clerk Hiring, Aaron L. Nielson

Aaron L. Nielson

The market for federal law clerks has been upended. Beginning in 2003, the Federal Judges Law Clerk Hiring Plan was implemented to regulate clerkship hiring. According to the Plan, a judge could not interview or hire a potential law clerk before the beginning of the applicant’s third year of law school. The Plan, however, never worked well, constantly got worse, and has now officially collapsed. Across the country, clerkship hiring once again regularly occurs during the second year of law school. This Article addresses the rise and inevitable fall of the Plan. In particular, it submits that the Plan never …

Marriage, Millennials, And Massive Student Loan Debt, Victoria J. Haneman

Victoria J. Haneman

The purpose of this Essay is to explore the idea that the student loan indebtedness bearing down upon the majority of today’s college graduates creates economic insecurity that forces borrowers to reject or significantly delay marriage, and that burden, taken together with an already lukewarm Millennial attitude, may not bode well for the future of the institution. Record numbers of Millennials have rejected the traditional path of marriage-homeownership-children, and the percentage of Millennials who will marry by age 40 is projected to fall lower than the figure for any previous generation of Americans. To the extent that marriage is an …

The Elimination Of Child “Custody” Litigation: Using Business Branding Techniques To Transform Social Behavior, Elena B. Langan

Elena B. Langan

This article discusses how rebranding principles, already being used to alter social behavior in other non-consumer contexts, could be utilized to accomplish the legislative goal to reduce litigation as well as diminish animosity in custody cases. Part II of this article discusses the impetus for a transformation in the way parents view custody disputes. Part III discusses basic branding principles and how companies establish a brand and can successfully change their branding. Part IV explores the evolution of the current custody brand, identifies eight states that have eliminated “custody” and, in some cases, “visitation” from their vernacular, and discusses, in …

The Color Of Perspective: Affirmative Action And The Constitutional Rhetoric Of White Innocence, Cecil J. Hunt Ii

Cecil J. Hunt II

This Article discusses the Supreme Court's use of the rhetoric of White innocence in deciding racially-inflected claims of constitutional shelter. It argues that the Court's use of this rhetoric reveals its adoption of a distinctly White-centered perspective, representing a one-sided view of racial reality that distorts the Court's ability to accurately appreciate the true nature of racial reality in contemporary America. This Article examines the Court's habit of using a White-centered perspective in constitutional race cases. Specifically, it looks at the Court's use of the rhetoric of White innocence in the context of the Court's concern with protecting "innocent" Whites …

Convergence And Divergence In International Economic Law And Politics, Sungjoon Cho, Jürgen Kurtz

Sungjoon Cho

Poverty, The Great Unequalizer: Improving The Delivery System For Civil Legal Aid, Latonia Haney Keith

Latonia Haney Keith

Civil justice issues in the United States bring with them no guarantee of legal counsel, yet the civil legal system is still designed to require an attorney in almost all situations. Given the ever-growing costs of legal representation, how then are the legal needs of the poor met? The author calls this phenomenon the “justice gap” and addresses the issue of an access to justice gap and proposes a potential solution.

This article examines the existence of the “justice gap,” wherein the poor face substantial barriers that hinder them from receiving the same legal protections as wealthier Americans. It goes …

Voter Psychology And The Carbon Tax, Gary M. Lucas Jr

Gary M. Lucas Jr.

Economists across the political spectrum argue that a carbon tax is the most effective and economically efficient policy for addressing climate change. Voters, however, strongly oppose the carbon tax and instead favor “green” subsidies and command-and-control regulations. If carefully designed, these policies might complement a carbon tax, but by themselves, they will make global warming mitigation incredibly expensive and perhaps even infeasible. Moreover, if poorly designed, subsidies and regulations can be counterproductive.

This Article argues that the public dislikes the carbon tax because the tax possesses attributes that make it psychologically unappealing relative to other climate policy instruments. The Article …

A New International Legal Regime For A New Reality In The War Against Drugs, Guillermo J. Garcia Sanchez

Guillermo J. Garcia Sanchez

The paper reviews the existing international legal regime on the war against drugs and argues that it has become obsolete in the face of the trend to legalize the consumption of certain drugs, such as marijuana, in developed nations. It particularly analyzes the contradictory practice of the United States to pressure producing states, such as Mexico and Colombia, to enforce the regime and at the same time allow the legalization of consumption in local U.S. states.

Review Of The Fight For Fair Housing: Causes, Consequences And Future Implications Of The 1968 Federal Fair Housing Act, Tim Iglesias

Tim Iglesias

Threading The Needle Of Fair Housing Law In A Gentrifying City With A Legacy Of Discrimination, Tim Iglesias

Tim Iglesias

Constitutional Clause Aggregation And The Marijuana Crimes, Scott W. Howe

Scott W. Howe

Beyond The Walls: The Importance Of Community Contexts In Immigration Detention, Emily Ryo, Ian Peacock

Emily Ryo

Predicting Danger In Immigration Courts, Emily Ryo

Emily Ryo

Representing Immigrants: The Role Of Lawyers In Immigration Bond Hearings, Emily Ryo

Emily Ryo

Playing With Real Property Inside Augmented Reality: Pokemon Go, Trespass, And Law's Limitations, Donald J. Kochan

Donald J. Kochan

For Whom Does The Bell Toll: The Bell Tolls For Brown?, Angela Onwuachi-Willig

Angela Onwuachi-Willig

Fifty years after the landmark decision Brown v. Board of Education, black comedian and philanthropist Dr. Bill Cosby astonished guests at a gala in Washington, D.C., when he stated, "'Brown versus the Board of Education is no longer the white person's problem. (Black people] have got to take the neighborhood back . . . . (Lower economic Blacks] are standing on the comer and they can't speak English.'" Cosby, one of the wealthiest men in the United States, complained about "lower economic" Blacks "not holding up their end in this deal." He then asked the question, "'Well, Brown versus Board …

The Declining Significance Of Presidential Races?, Angela Onwuachi-Willig, Osamudia R. James

Angela Onwuachi-Willig

No abstract provided.

Reflections On Presumed Incompetent: The Intersections Of Race And Class For Women In Academia Symposium - The Plenary Panel, Maritza I. Reyes, Angela Mae Kupenda, Angela Onwuachi-Willig, Stephanie M. Wildman, Adrien Katherine Wing

Angela Onwuachi-Willig

No abstract provided.