Law Commons^™

Federalism And Fiduciaries: A New Framework For Protecting State Benefit Funds, Richard E. Mendales

Richard E. Mendales

The financial crisis has underlined difficulties faced by states and their subdivisions in paying benefits to their employees. The most spectacular example is Detroit's bankruptcy, but state and local employers across the country face sharp cuts in benefits as their employers fight for solvency. A federal solution such as ERISA is precluded by considerations of federalism and the impracticability of getting major legislation through Congress. This Article proposes an alternative solution: a uniform state code, following other uniform state laws such as the Uniform Commercial Code, that states could adopt to govern both state and local plans. It would finance …

The Battle For The Soul Of International Shoe, Eric H. Schepard

Eric H Schepard

In 2011, Justice Kennedy’s plurality opinion in J. McIntyre Machinery, Ltd. v. Nicastro repeatedly cited International Shoe v. Washington, a 1945 decision that transformed the law of personal jurisdiction. Kennedy believed that International Shoe broadly supported his position that a state may hear a suit arising from a within-state workplace injury to its citizen only if the foreign (out-of-state) corporate defendant specifically markets its products to that state. This article reexamines the jurisprudence of International Shoe’s author, Chief Justice Harlan Fiske Stone, to argue that Kennedy hijacked International Shoe’s half-buried legacy of judicial restraint. Scholars have suggested that Stone hoped …

Reforma Agraria E Inversión Extranjera: Uno De Los Nuevos Desafíos Del Proceso De Paz, Marco A. Velásquez-Ruiz

Marco A. Velásquez-Ruiz

Uno de los secretos a viva voz en la corta pero compleja historia de Colombia como nación, es que el principal motor del conflicto armado que ha azotado nuestro país por más de sesenta años es la disputa por los recursos naturales escasos, y en especial por el acceso y uso de la tierra. Bajo dicho contexto, el proceso de reparación integral a las víctimas de el conflicto es una realidad gracias a las ley 1448 y otras reformas proyectadas en favor del sector rural, pero enfrenta desafíos provenientes de sectores insospechados como el de la inversión extranjera.

Combating Obesity With A Right To Nutrition, Paul Diller

Paul Diller

Domestic and international law have, in different ways, recognized a human right to food since the twentieth century. The original reason for this recognition was the need to alleviate a particular type of food insecurity—“traditional” hunger, as manifested in conditions like malnutrition and underweight. The current public-health crisis of obesity, however, demands a reconsideration of this right. The food environment in the United States today is awash in high-calorie, low-nutrient food products that are often cheaper, on a relative basis, than more nutritious foods, leading to the overconsumption of the former by much of the American population. Merely ensuring a …

Tactics, Strategies & Battles—Oh My!: Perseverance Of The Perpetual Problem Regarding Preaching To Public School Pupils & Why It Persists, Casey S. Mckay

Casey Scott McKay

After reviewing the history of the religious war on Darwin’s Theory of Evolution, my article, “Tactics, Strategies & Battles—Oh My!: Perseverance of the Perpetual Problem Regarding Preaching to Public School Pupils & Why it Persists,“ examines why such a seemingly well-settled issue survives and, to some extent, succeeds.

First, by exploiting common misconceptions among the American public, lawmakers are able to take advantage of ignorance driven by strong emotions. Next, religious special interests groups, with seemingly unlimited funds, thrust propaganda supported by worldwide media reinforcement on an already vulnerable American public. Thus, irresponsible state legislators, caught between a rock and …

Shifting Sands: A Meta-Theory For Public Access And Private Property Along The Coast, Melissa K. Scanlan

Melissa K. Scanlan

Over half the United States population currently lives near a coast. As shorelines are used by more people, developed by private owners, and altered by extreme weather, competition over access to water and beaches will intensify, as will the need for a clearer legal theory capable of accommodating competing private and public interests. One such public interest is to walk along the beach, which seems simple enough. However, beach walking often occurs on this ambulatory shoreline where public rights grounded in the public trust doctrine and private rights grounded in property ownership intersect. To varying degrees, each state has a …

Retention Redux: Iowa 2012, Todd E. Pettys

Todd E. Pettys

In 2010, Iowa voters ousted three members of the Iowa Supreme Court for their participation in that court's ruling that Iowa's statutory ban on same-sex marriage violated the Iowa Constitution. In 2012, however, Iowa voters opted to retain a fourth member of that same court. This article examines the differences between the two elections.

The Legal Impact Of Emerging Governance Models On Public Education And Its Office Holders, Robert A. Garda Jr., David Doty

Robert A. Garda

The idea that changing the formal structure of governance can lead to better schools is rooted in American political and intellectual history. Politicians, career educators, parents, business leaders, and investors continue to wrangle over the control of public schools all across the country. With these battles for control have come more lawsuits, more laws, and more administrative regulations dictating the governance structures of educational institutions. Indeed, one could argue that, in recent years, debates over how schools and school districts should be governed have subsumed the curriculum debates over how and what children should be taught. Leadership matters, and therefore …

Buying The Electorate: An Empirical Study Of The Current Campaign Finance Landscape And How The Supreme Court Erred By Not Revisiting Citizens United, William Alan Nelson Ii

William Alan Nelson II

The article discusses how the Supreme Court erred by summarily reversing the Montana Supreme Court’s decision in Western Tradition Partnership v. AG and not revisiting their holding in Citizens United v. FEC. The article begins by discussing the holding in the Western Tradition Partnership case and analyzing both the majority and dissenting opinions. The article then analyzes how the Montana Supreme Court distinguished Citizens United, with the Court specifically looking at the “unique” political history in Montana and finding that Montana’s ban on corporate independent political spending served a compelling state interest and was narrowly tailored to that interest.

The …

The Brief History Of "Voter-Owned Elections" In Portland, Oregon: If Public Financing Can't Make It There, Can It Make It Anywhere?, Paul A. Diller

Paul Diller

From 2006 to 2010, Portland, Oregon, experimented with a publicly financed campaign system called "Voter-Owned Elections." In 2010, Portland's voters declined to renew the system. This article assesses Portland's experience with public financing and draws lessons therefrom that may inform efforts to promote public financing at the national, state, and local levels.

Local Health Agencies, The Bloomberg Soda Rule, And The Ghost Of Woodrow Wilson, Paul A. Diller

Paul Diller

Local health agencies are often leaders in public health regulation. Despite the significance of this phenomenon, scant scholarship has assessed the interesting doctrinal and normative questions that local agency rulemaking raises. This paper uses local health agency rulemaking, and the New York City portion-cap rule for sugar-sweetened beverages ("the Bloomberg soda rule"), in particular, as a prism through which to analyze local agency rulemaking. The article first explains why it is important -- both doctrinally and practically -- to determine whence local agency power flows. If agencies are created directly by state law, then their powers should be circumscribed by …

Dirty Remics, Revisited, David J. Reiss, Bradley T. Borden

David J Reiss

We review the differences between two visions for the residential mortgage markets, one driven by the goal of efficiency and the other driven by the goals of efficiency and consumer protection. Both visions advocate for structural reform, but one advocates for industry-led change and the other advocates for input from a wider array of stakeholders. Broader input is not only important to ensure that a broad range of interests are represented but also to ensure the long-term legitimacy of the new system. This is a response to Joshua Stein, Dirt Lawyers Versus Wall Street: A Different View, PROBATE AND PROPERTY …