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Full-Text Articles in Law

Missouri Plan In National Perspective, The, Stephen J. Ware Jun 2009

Missouri Plan In National Perspective, The, Stephen J. Ware

Missouri Law Review

The Missouri Law Review's title for this symposium rightly recognizes the distinction between judicial selection and judicial retention. We should distinguish the process that initially selects a judge from the process that determines whether to retain that judge on the court. Judicial selection and judicial retention raise different issues. In this paper, I primarily focus on selection. I summarize the fifty states' methods of supreme court selection and place them on a continuum from the most populist to the most elitist. Doing so reveals that the Missouri Plan is the most elitist (and least democratic) of the three common methods …


Exporting The Missouri Plan: Judicial Appointment Commissions, Mary L. Volkcansek Jun 2009

Exporting The Missouri Plan: Judicial Appointment Commissions, Mary L. Volkcansek

Missouri Law Review

Debates over the best methods for selecting judges in the United States usually turn on finding an appropriate balance between independence and accountability for judges, but elsewhere the tension between those two competing ends has been resolved in favor of judicial independence. According to Martin Shapiro, judges cannot, though, be truly independent, because they are dependent on those to whom they owe their office. Or, as Jean Blondel sees it, the question becomes one of "from whom should judges be independent?" Judges are, in other words, dependent in some sense on those to whom they are accountable. New democracies and …


Table Of Contents - Issue 2 Apr 2009

Table Of Contents - Issue 2

Missouri Law Review

Table of Contents - Issue 2


High-Tech Words Do Hurt: A Modern Makeover Expands Missouri's Harassment Law To Include Electronic Communications, Andrew M. Henderson Apr 2009

High-Tech Words Do Hurt: A Modern Makeover Expands Missouri's Harassment Law To Include Electronic Communications, Andrew M. Henderson

Missouri Law Review

This Article will examine, inter alia, whether actions that qualify as cyberbullying could be considered harassment when done in person. More specifically, Part II of this Article will provide an explanation of cyberbullying, discuss the application of Missouri harassment law before the recent amendments, and detail relevant First Amendment issues as they pertain to harassment statutes. Part III will review Missouri's recently amended harassment statute, Missouri Revised Statute § 565.090. Further, Part III will explore the effectiveness of current and pending federal statutes that might prosecute cyberbullies. Part IV will discuss the likely issues that a court must resolve in …


Missouri's Second Injury Fund - Should It Stay Or Should It Go: An Examination Of The Question Facing The Missouri State Legislature, Jason R. Mcclitis Apr 2009

Missouri's Second Injury Fund - Should It Stay Or Should It Go: An Examination Of The Question Facing The Missouri State Legislature, Jason R. Mcclitis

Missouri Law Review

This Law Summary will start by explaining the concepts underlying the Fund within the workers' compensation system. It will then move to an indepth look at the Fund's recent developments in the judicial, executive, and legislative arenas. Finally, this Law Summary will analyze and attempt to answer the ultimate question facing the 2009 state legislature: what should be done with the Fund? This will include an examination of the Fund's future liability under its current claims and the Schoemehl decision, the need for the Fund in the wake on anti-disability discrimination laws, and adjustments and alternatives for the legislature to …


Who's Afraid Of Redistribution - An Analysis Of The Earned Income Tax Credit, Jennifer Bird-Pollan Apr 2009

Who's Afraid Of Redistribution - An Analysis Of The Earned Income Tax Credit, Jennifer Bird-Pollan

Missouri Law Review

One central element of the American version of redistribution comes in the form of the Earned Income Tax Credit (the "EITC"). In his campaign platform, Barack Obama vowed to expand the EITC, making it available to more taxpayers than ever before. Given the outcome of the 2008 election, and President Obama's seeming commitment to the tenets of redistribution (despite his disavowal of the word) and his express promise to expand the reach of the EITC, as well as the recent changes to the EITC introduced by the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (the "ARRA"), it seems a perfect …


Falling Through The Cracks: Missouri Amends Its Felon Firearm Possession Statute, Adam E. Hanna Apr 2009

Falling Through The Cracks: Missouri Amends Its Felon Firearm Possession Statute, Adam E. Hanna

Missouri Law Review

In early September 2007, police in Cape Girardeau, Missouri, arrested a previously convicted felon whom they discovered drivinp with a loaded gun, a magazine of ammunition, and a stun gun in his vehicle. The man, who was convicted in Illinois in 2000 for sexual abuse and failing to register as a sex offender, was later released after police determined that his possession of the gun, ammunition, and the stun gun did not violate Missouri law. This incident inspired Cape Girardeau County Prosecuting Attorney H. Morley Swingle to lobby for changes to Missouri's statute prohibiting some felons from possessing firearms.


Saving Missouri's Public Defender System: A Call For Adequate Legislative Funding, Justine Finney Guyer Apr 2009

Saving Missouri's Public Defender System: A Call For Adequate Legislative Funding, Justine Finney Guyer

Missouri Law Review

The Constitutions of both the United States and the state of Missouri guarantee an indigent defendant the right to effective legal counsel when the defendant's freedom is in jeopardy. Due to a caseload crisis that is compounded by many other factors, the Office of the Missouri Public Defender cannot serve all the indigent clients who depend on it. The most notable of the issues plaguing the public defender system is that of funding. As a result of a severely underfunded system, public defenders are without resources necessary to effectively represent all of their clients. In order to improve client services …


Setting Things Straight: Adding A Provision To Allow Damages For Emotional Distress In The Bankruptcy Code Could Clear Up A Lot Of Confusion, Nathan M. Priestaf Apr 2009

Setting Things Straight: Adding A Provision To Allow Damages For Emotional Distress In The Bankruptcy Code Could Clear Up A Lot Of Confusion, Nathan M. Priestaf

Missouri Law Review

This Comment details the history of the automatic stay, the differing treatment of the statute in various jurisdictions, and the potential ramifications to debtors. Clearly, much of the time-consuming analysis performed by courts could be avoided if the Bankruptcy Code expressly permitted recovery for emotional distress, something most courts already permit, albeit only after considerable hand-wringing and strained reasoning. As a result, this Comment proposes a statutory addition to § 362(k) that addresses the dual concerns of bankruptcy courts: (1) allowing a legitimately injured debtor to recover for emotional distress damages while (2) providing a standard and burden of proof …


Redevelopment Condemnations: A Blight Or A Blessing Upon The Land, Harold L. Lowenstein Apr 2009

Redevelopment Condemnations: A Blight Or A Blessing Upon The Land, Harold L. Lowenstein

Missouri Law Review

Eminent domain has been a hot topic in legal circles since the U.S. Supreme Court's opinion in Kelo v. City of New London. Issues such as fair compensation, public use, and the role of government in economic development have been discussed widely. The focus of this article, however, is somewhat different. This article seeks to provide a practical analysis for the sensitive issue of eminent domain, specifically for situations in which the government seeks to acquire real property via eminent domain in order to foster private redevelopment. The power to take private property, conferred by the Constitution and reiterated in …


When Mira Liens Trump Attorney Fee Claims: A Harsh Result In Light Of Karpierz, Carrie B. Williamson Apr 2009

When Mira Liens Trump Attorney Fee Claims: A Harsh Result In Light Of Karpierz, Carrie B. Williamson

Missouri Law Review

The Missouri Incarceration Reimbursement Act ("MIRA") is a powerful tool which allows the State to recover incarceration costs directly from an inmate's personal assets. But what if the inmate's assets include funds obtained in some fashion by the legal services of an attorney? Could a subsequent MIRA claim take priority over that attorney's interest in being paid from the fruit of his labor? In the 2003 case of State ex reL. Nixon v. Karpierz, the Missouri Supreme Court sought to provide answers to these questions. Karpierz placed a limitation on the parameters of MIRA's reach by allowing a plaintiff inmate's …


Religious &(And) Philosophical Exemptions To Mandatory School Vaccinations: Who Should Bear The Costs To Society, Anthony Ciolli Apr 2009

Religious &(And) Philosophical Exemptions To Mandatory School Vaccinations: Who Should Bear The Costs To Society, Anthony Ciolli

Missouri Law Review

This Essay will discuss the impact that recognizing religious and philosophical exemptions to mandatory school vaccinations may have on society, with a particular focus on who should bear the costs of the negative externalities created by widespread use of such exemptions. Part I will discuss the rationale behind mandatory vaccinations and identify the costs associated with religious and philosophical exemptions. Part II will discuss the current state of school vaccination law and explain why society cannot expect legislatures to completely eliminate religious and philosophical exemptions or rely on the judiciary to provide a proper check on the abuse of such …


Statutory Leapfrog: Compensatory And Punitive Damages Under The Retaliatory Provision Of The Ada, David A. Doellman Jan 2009

Statutory Leapfrog: Compensatory And Punitive Damages Under The Retaliatory Provision Of The Ada, David A. Doellman

Missouri Law Review

Equality has traditionally been an important issue in many different aspects of American life, and Congress created various laws to ensure that this equality is preserved. One of these laws is the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 (ADA). The ADA was created to ensure that those with disabilities would be treated equally in aspects of both public services and accommodations, as well as in the employment sector. Among its many provisions, the ADA serves to protect employees from being discharged from their positions in "retaliation" for opposing practices by the employer that would have also been unlawful under the …


Protecting The Predator Or The Prey - The Missouri Supreme Court's Refusal To Allow Past Sexual Misconduct As Propensity Evidence, William E. Marcantel Jan 2009

Protecting The Predator Or The Prey - The Missouri Supreme Court's Refusal To Allow Past Sexual Misconduct As Propensity Evidence, William E. Marcantel

Missouri Law Review

Americans consider child molestation and sexual assault among the most heinous crimes that one can commit. In response to the public's opinion regarding these crimes, Congress created exceptions to the longstanding rule barring character propensity evidence. Over the protests of prominent lefal figures, Congress enacted Federal Rules of Evidence 413- 415 in 1994. Though these rules have been sustained by several appellate court decisions, the constitutionality of Rules 413-415 has not been conclusively decided by the United States Supreme Court. Missouri's legislature has twice attempted to pass a statute regarding child molestation similar to Federal Rule of Evidence 414, and …


Lessening The Rehabilitative Focus Of The Federal Juvenile Delinquency Act: A Trend Towards Punitive Juvenile Dispositions, Meghan E. Lewis Jan 2009

Lessening The Rehabilitative Focus Of The Federal Juvenile Delinquency Act: A Trend Towards Punitive Juvenile Dispositions, Meghan E. Lewis

Missouri Law Review

Both the federal and state governments have recognized that criminal adults and delinquent juveniles are fundamentally different. Acknowledging that juveniles are more amenable to successful rehabilitation than adults, each government has created a separate juvenile justice system to better handle these unique concerns. The federal structure for juvenile adjudication was established by the Federal Juvenile Delinquency Act ("FJDA," "the Act"), and was enacted to provide individualized rehabilitation for juvenile delinquents in an informal, less procedurally rigid setting than traditional criminal courts. The FJDA grants federal district courts considerable discretion in determining whether a juvenile should be adjudicated under the FJDA …


Table Of Contents - Issue 1 Jan 2009

Table Of Contents - Issue 1

Missouri Law Review

Table of Contents - Issue 1


New Approach To Overcoming The Insurmountable Watershed Rule Exception To Teague's Collateral Review Killer, A, Ezra D. Landes Jan 2009

New Approach To Overcoming The Insurmountable Watershed Rule Exception To Teague's Collateral Review Killer, A, Ezra D. Landes

Missouri Law Review

This Article will propose a new approach to overcoming the seemingly insurmountable watershed rule exception. While a single case - such as Crawford or Blakely - may not rise to watershed status, this Article will suggest that a line of cases could be considered watershed. 8 It will be shown that the highly subjective nature of this exception lends itself perfectly to this type of reasoning, and that adoption of this approach would help reconcile some inherent conflicts encountered by the Court whenever Teague retroactivity comes before it. Part II of this Article will provide the necessary legal framework, by …


Money, Caregiving, And Kinship: Should Paid Caregivers Be Allowed To Obtain De Facto Parental Status, Pamela Loufer-Ukeles Jan 2009

Money, Caregiving, And Kinship: Should Paid Caregivers Be Allowed To Obtain De Facto Parental Status, Pamela Loufer-Ukeles

Missouri Law Review

The law of custody and visitation is expanding to include the possibility of non-biological and non-adoptive parents' legal access to children. The concept of the psychological parent or functional caretaker is becoming increasingly prevalent and influential in state law. Moreover, the ALI Principles of Family Dissolution include two categories of psychological parents - parents by estoppel and de facto parents - in its proposed guidelines for who can petition for custody and visitation rights to children. Yet, both state law and the ALl Principles exclude caretakers who receive compensation - including foster parents, paid child care providers and surrogate mothers …


Due Process Forgotten: The Problem Of Statutory Damages And Class Actions, Sheila B. Scheuerman Jan 2009

Due Process Forgotten: The Problem Of Statutory Damages And Class Actions, Sheila B. Scheuerman

Missouri Law Review

Part II examines the theoretical rationale underlying both statutory damages and class actions: making individual claims marketable. This Part explains how combining the class action with statutory damages invites overdeterrence, a fact aptly demonstrated by the FACTA class actions. Part III describes the constitutional framework for analyzing constitutional excessiveness under the Due Process Clause. This Part shows how the modem due process standard for punitive damages - known as the BMW guideposts - in fact evolved from a test developed in early Supreme Court precedent analyzing the constitutional limits on statutory damages. Part IV examines modem judicial treatment of due …


Religious Expression And The Penal Institution: The Role Of Damages In Rluipa Enforcement, Joseph E. Bredehoft Jan 2009

Religious Expression And The Penal Institution: The Role Of Damages In Rluipa Enforcement, Joseph E. Bredehoft

Missouri Law Review

This Summary focuses on RLUIPA's institutionalized persons provision and whether, under its remedial provision, an inmate plaintiff can receive compensatory damages. First, this Summary looks at key decisions dealing with the availability of compensatory damages in individual and official capacity claims under RLUIPA. The second component of the Summary analyzes a recent Eighth Circuit decision on the issue of damages as it relates to RLUIPA. This Summary then evaluates the case law on this issue, discussing the policy reasons for and against allowing compensatory damages. Lastly, the discussion concludes that the Eighth Circuit should prohibit institutionalized persons from obtaining compensatory …


Interpreting Eminent Domain In Missouri: Elimination Of Blight Is Allright, Anita J. Patel Jan 2009

Interpreting Eminent Domain In Missouri: Elimination Of Blight Is Allright, Anita J. Patel

Missouri Law Review

This Note argues that the court in Allright improperly interpreted the statute's requirement of a specific finding of blight for each parcel but it properly applied the predominance requirement. It also examines the impact of the new eminent domain legislation in Missouri and argues that the legislation does not provide as much protection to private property owners as the legislature claims.