Law Commons^™

Turning To Tacitus, James Bacchus

Vanderbilt Journal of Transnational Law

What do we learn when, finally, we turn to Tacitus? Here, in our middle age, it is true that "the few of us that survive are no longer what we once were." Even so, we may be tempted, like some who opposed the oppressive rule in Rome, to see ourselves as "the last of the free.' If so, what, then, are we willing to do to preserve our freedom? What are we willing to sacrifice to save Rome?

Will we simply salute and shed a tear? Will it be said of us, as Tacitus said of the Romans during the …

The Lives Of Animals, The Lives Of Prisoners, And The Revelations Of Abu Ghraib, Charles H. Brower, Ii

Vanderbilt Journal of Transnational Law

In this Article, Professor Brower suggests that the images depicting inhuman treatment of detainees at the Abu Ghraib prison contain timely lessons about the function and the importance of legal personality. To illustrate this thesis, the Author first identifies animals as a population condemned to an existence bereft of the protections that accompany legal personality. Next, the Author describes the chilling similarities between the treatment of animals and the treatment of prisoners in Iraq and in the so-called "Global War on Terror." Finally, the Author discusses three potential lessons for a nation widely perceived to have retreated from its commitment …

Public Confidence Laws Gone Awry: A Modern Circuit Split Reveals That Some Federal Courts Manipulate Standing Rules To Promulgate Severe First Amendment Restrictions On The Spouses And Children Of Public Employees, Nicholas R. Farrell

Vanderbilt Law Review

Federal courts in the United States have consistently upheld the constitutional doctrine that "[t]he essential rights of the First Amendment in some instances are subject to the elemental need for order without which the guarantees of civil rights to others would be a mockery." Given the central role of government workers in maintaining that order, the First Amendment rights of public employees have been particularly susceptible to restriction. For example, in 1940, Congress enacted the Hatch Act, which declared unlawful certain political activities of federal employees. Specifically, section nine of the Act prohibited officers and employees in the executive branch …