Law Commons^™

Overcoming Barriers To The Protection Of Viable Fetuses, Randy Beck

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I start this Article from the premise that the Court was correct in Roe v. Wade concerning the significance of fetal viability. I assume for the sake of argument that viability is a momentous point in pregnancy and that “logical and biological justifications” support a compelling state interest in protecting the lives of fetuses that have crossed the viability threshold. The goal of this Article is to highlight factors that individually and in concert significantly hinder legislative attempts to preserve the lives of viable fetuses, and to identify measures that, if permitted by the courts, could facilitate the pursuit of …

The Great Writ Hit: The Curtailment Of Habeas Corpus In Georgia Since 1967, Donald E. Wilkes Jr.

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A welcome development, the landmark Georgia Habeas Corpus Act of 1967 modernized and vastly expanded the availability of postconviction habeas corpus relief in the Georgia court system. Since the early 1970s, however, there has been an unfortunate trend of imposing crippling restrictions on use of the Georgia writ of habeas corpus to obtain postconviction relief. Six restrictive Georgia habeas statutes, enacted between 1973 and 2004, have, among other things, reduced the number of claims which may be asserted in postconviction habeas proceedings, curtailed appeals of postconviction habeas decisions denying relief, and created a maze of procedural barriers to obtaining postconviction …

Complicity And Collection: Religious Freedom And Tax, Jennifer Carr

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This Article focuses on how the Religious Freedom Peace Tax Fund Bill might be improved so that members of Congress enact it. The bill would allow war tax resisters who qualify as pacifists to direct their tax money to a separate fund not to be used for military spending. At present, the IRS is expending time and resources trying to track down tax resisters, which results in loss of revenue for the government. This Article argues that passage of an amended version of the Religious Freedom Peace Tax Fund Bill would eliminate the tension between the IRS and war tax …

Foreword: The Second Amendment As Ordinary Constitutional Law, Glenn Harlan Reynolds

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In recent years, the Second Amendment has gone from a subject of scholarly and political debate with no real judicial role, to a clearly established individual right that is being enforced in lower courts. This Essay, the foreword to a forthcoming Tennessee Law Review symposium on the Second Amendment, explores how that happened, and what is likely to come next.

The Filibuster And The Framing: Why The Cloture Rule Is Unconstitutional And What To Do About It, Dan T. Coenen

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The U.S. Senate’s handling of filibusters has changed dramatically in recent decades. As a result, the current sixty-vote requirement for invoking cloture of debate does not produce protracted speechmaking on the Senate floor, as did predecessors of this rule in earlier periods of our history. Rather, the upper chamber now functions under a “stealth filibuster” system that in practical effect requires action by a supermajority to pass proposed bills. This Article demonstrates why this system offends a constitutional mandate of legislative majoritarianism in light of well-established Framing-era understandings and governing substance-over-form principles of interpretation. Having established the presence of a …

Habeas Corpus Proceedings In The High Court Of Parliament In The Reign Of James I, 1603-1625, Donald E. Wilkes Jr.

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English parliamentary habeas corpus proceedings have been neglected by scholars. This Article ends that neglect. This Article focuses on the parliamentary habeas corpus proceedings that occurred in the reign of King James. The Article corrects several misunderstandings relating to the history of the writ of habeas corpus in England and to the history of the English Parliament (which in the seventeenth century commonly was referred to as the High Court of Parliament).

Part I of the Article provides answers to questions concerning the historical background and context of the parliamentary habeas corpus proceedings in the High Court of Parliament during …

Unconstitutionality And The Rule Of Wide-Open Cross-Examination: Encroaching On The Fifth Amendment When Examining The Accused, Ronald L. Carlson, Michael S. Carlson

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When Georgia adopted a new evidence code on January 1, 2013, it embraced the rule on scope of cross-examination which local courts have traditionally followed. This is the wide-open rule which permits the cross-examiner to range across the entire case, no matter how limited the direct exam. Subjects foreign to the direct can be freely explored, limited only by the rule of relevancy.

Commentators have associated the majority, more limited cross-examination methodology with American jurisprudence and the wide-ranging approach with English courts. Reflecting this divide, the Supreme Court of South Dakota recognized "two principal schools of thought" when it comes …

Book Review, Economic Foundations Of International Law, By Eric A. Posner And Alan O. Sykes, Timothy L. Meyer

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This essay reviews Eric Posner’s and Alan Sykes’ Economic Foundations of International Law. In the last ten years or so, economic analysis of international law has established itself as a mainstream discipline, providing insights into why international law is structured as it is, the conditions under which it is effective, and how it might be improved. Economic Foundations consolidates and extends these insights. As such, the book is destined to be a starting place for economic analysis of international law. The book is divided into five parts. Part I provides an introduction to international law and the tools necessary to …

The Forgotten Role Of Consent In Defamation And Employment Reference Cases, Alex B. Long

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As has been well documented, the fear of defamation suits and related claims leads many employers to refuse to provide meaningful employment references. However, an employer who provides a negative reference concerning an employee enjoys a privilege in an ensuing defamation action if the employee has consented to the release of information concerning the employee’s job performance. Thus, many attorneys now advise prospective employers to have applicants sign consent agreements, permitting the prospective employer to conduct an investigation into the applicant’s work history and releasing from liability anyone who provides information about the employee’s work history. The Restatement (Second) of …

Dysfunction Junction: Reasonable Cause And Good Faith Reliance On Tax Advisors With Conflicts Of Interest, Michelle M. Kwon

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Taxpayers who underpay their taxes may be liable for accuracy-related penalties if the underpayment is attributable to negligence or the careless, reckless, or intentional disregard of rules or regulations. Understatements of tax liability resulting from participation in certain types of tax avoidance transactions are also subject to penalties. Accuracy-related penalties may be imposed even with respect to innocent mistakes if the discrepancy between a taxpayer's correct and reported tax liability is sufficiently large.

Taxpayers may, however, avoid accuracy-related penalties by relying on a reasonable cause defense. The reasonable cause defense may be satisfied by relying on professional tax advice even …

Abi Commission Testimony November 7, 2013, George Kuney

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There are two areas that I believe should be the focus of Chapter 11 reform: reducing reorganization costs in small to middle-market cases and instituting a uniform structure and process for § 363 sales of substantially all the assets of a debtor. Essentially, I think that the plan process in all cases needs to be streamlined and sped up to decrease transactions costs, and the 363 sale process needs to be slowed down to promote more robust disclosure and exposure of the assets in question to the market.

The Beneficent Monopolist, Maurice Stucke, Allen Grunes

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In examining Comcast's proposed acquisition of Time Warner Cable (TWC), we assess three of the arguments Comcast likely will make to the Department of Justice and FCC. Comcast will likely argue that its acquisition of TWC is unlikely to lessen competition because: (a) the broadband market is becoming more competitive: Google has introduced Google Fiber in a number of markets, and mobile broadband offered by wireless providers like AT&T and Sprint is competitive with fixed broadband; (b) Netflix and traditional media companies have sufficient clout to negotiate with Comcast and the government should not intervene on their behalf; and (c) …

Michael J. Sandel, What Money Can't Buy: The Moral Limits Of Markets, Maurice Stucke

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No abstract provided.

Foreword: Conference On Religious Legal Theory: Rlt Iv: Expanding The Conversation, Samuel J. Levine

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In this article, the author introduces the articles published in the Symposium Issue of the Touro Law Review, which is a compilation of selected excerpts from the fourth annual Conference on Religious Legal Theory (“RLT”) held April 10-12, 2013. By introducing each article, the author shows a sampling of the variety of topics and disciplines explored and the range of perspectives represented at the Conference, which revolved around the theme RLT IV: Expanding the Conversation. The author provides the background of the panelists to give context to each article, and then briefly discusses the relevance and main ideas.

Of Phds, Pirates And The Public: Three-Dimensional Printing Technology And The Arts, Lucas S. Osborn

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No abstract provided.

Learning From Detroit, Michael Lewyn

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Reviews a recent book about Detroit's problems.

How Environmental Review Can Generate Car-Induced Pollution: A Case Study, Michael Lewyn

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The National Environmental Policy Act (“NEPA”) requires federal officials to draft an environmental impact statement (“EIS”) describing the environmental impact of proposed federal actions that significantly affect the environment, as well as analyze the environmental impacts of alternatives to the proposed action. Almost two dozen states have adopted “little NEPA” statutes imposing similar requirements upon state and/or local governments. This article focuses on one of the strictest little NEPA statutes: New York's State Environmental Quality Review Act (“SEQRA”). While most little NEPA statutes cover only government projects,SEQRA also covers private sector projects requiring municipal permits. Furthermore, SEQRA requires the government …

The Hidden Daubert Factor: How Judges Use Error Rates In Assessing Scientific Evidence, John B. Meixner Jr., Shari Seidman Diamond

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In Daubert v. Merrell Dow Pharmaceuticals, the United States Supreme Court provided a framework under which trial judges must assess the evidentiary reliability of scientific evidence whose admissibility is challenged. One factor of the Daubert test, the “known or potential rate of error” of the expert’s method, has received considerably less scholarly attention than the other factors, and past empirical study has indicated that judges have a difficult time understanding the factor and use it less frequently in their analyses as compared to other factors. In this paper, we examine one possible interpretation of the “known or potential rate of …

Banking And The Social Contract, Mehrsa Baradaran

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This article asserts that there exists today and has always existed an interdependent relationship between banks and the state. I refer to this connection and its mutual benefits and responsibilities as a social contract. When Alexander Hamilton responded to President Washington’s inquiry about the advisability of a national bank, he wrote that “such a Bank is not a mere matter of private property, but a political machine of the greatest importance to the State.” This social contract has existed since the inception of banking in the United States and has been reinforced over time, but it has recently become weakened …

International Law And The Future Of Peace, Diane Marie Amann

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These remarks, delivered at the April 4, 2013, luncheon of the American Society of International Law Women in International Law Interest Group, reflects on contributions of Jane Addams and other members of the early 20th C. peace movement as a means to explore law and practice related to the contemporary use of force and armed conflict.

It’S Time For Postal Banking, Mehrsa Baradaran

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This essay makes the case that the USPS is in a unique position to provide much-needed financial services for the large population of unbanked or underbanked Americans. First, the post office can offer credit at lower rates than fringe lenders by taking advantage of economies of scale as well as their position in the federal bureaucracy. Second, they already have branches in many low-income neighborhoods that have been long deserted by commercial banks. And, third, people at every level of society, including the unbanked, have a level of familiarity and comfort with the post office that they do not have …

Disaggregative Mechanisms: The New Frontier Of Mass-Claims Resolution Without Class Actions, Jaime Dodge

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Aggregation has long been viewed as the primary if not sole vehicle for mass claims resolution. For a half-century, scholars have consistently viewed the consolidated litigation of similar claims through joinder, class actions and more recently multi-district litigation as the only mechanism for efficiently resolving mass claims. In this Article, I challenge that long-standing and fundamental conception. The Article seeks to reconceptualize our understanding of mass claims resolution, arguing that we are witnessing the birth of a second, unexplored branch of mass claims resolution mechanisms — which I term “disaggregative” dispute resolution systems because they lack the traditional aggregation of …

The Return Of Constitutional Federalism, Logan E. Sawyer Iii

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This article comments on National League of Cities v. Usery, 426 U.S. 833 (1976) and the role played by Justice Lewis F. Powell, Jr. It argues that the decision did not constitute any “return” to “constitutional federalism” and that, despite claims to the contrary, its inspiration came from the political goals of the Court’s conservative Justices. More specifically it argues that Justice Powell’s role was not influenced simply by contemporary critiques that undermined the “political safeguards of federalism” theory but, rather, that Justice Powell’s political views likely shaped both his understanding of the “political safeguards” thesis and his rejection of …

First Amendment Neighbors, Sonja R. West

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An abdication of the Press Clause reflects the most basic of analytical errors: It treats the text of the Press Clause as redundant and ignores the specialized functions that the Framers meant for the Press Clause to play. Failing to give the Press Clause constitutional recognition by declaring it too difficult to interpret or by dismissing it as "mere surplusage" is utterly at odds with our constitutional traditions. The Religion Clauses provide an example on how to give the text of the Press Clause true meaning.

In interpreting the Religion Clauses, the Supreme Court has taken a different attitude than …

To The Victor Goes The Toil -- Remedies For Regulated Parties In Separation-Of-Powers Litigation, Kent H. Barnett

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The U.S. Constitution imposes three key limits on the design of federal agencies. It constrains how agency officers are appointed, the extent of their independence from the President, and the range of issues that they can decide. Scholars have trumpeted the importance of these safeguards with soaring rhetoric. And the Supreme Court has permitted regulated parties to vindicate these safeguards through implied private rights of action under the Constitution. Regulated parties, for their part, have been successfully challenging agency structure with increased frequency. At the same time, regulated parties, courts, and scholars have largely ignored the practical question of “structural …

Ignorance, Harm, And The Regulation Of Performance-Enhancing Substances, Lisa Milot

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There is a disconnect between how legal and sporting authorities, on the one hand, and many elite athletes, on the other, view the use of performance-enhancing substances. While official and popular narratives portray the use of these substances as isolated examples of deviant behavior, to the elite athletes who daily push their bodies beyond societally normal limits of pain and risk, enhancement is oftentimes an accepted part of the job. As a result, efforts to regulate and detect athletes’ use of these substances have consistently captured only a small fraction of the use that exists.

This Article describes the ways …

The Great Writ In The Peach State: Georgia Habeas Corpus, 1865-1965, Donald E. Wilkes Jr.

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There is a plenitude of scholarly writing on the Great Writ of Habeas Corpus, which is universally recognized as "one of the decisively differentiating factors between our democracy and totalitarian governments."' The overwhelming majority of these scholarly publications are concerned with the writ of habeas corpus as administered in the federal court system. There are far fewer scholarly publications on the writ of habeas corpus as administered in the courts of the State of Georgia, and most of these works are concerned with Georgia habeas corpus as a state postconviction remedy, past and present. Only one scholarly piece, a law …

Facilitative Judging: Organizational Design In Mass-Multidistrict Litigation, Jaime Dodge

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Faced with the emerging phenomenon of complex litigation—from school desegregation to mass torts—the judiciary of the last century departed from the traditional, purely adjudicative role in favor of managerial judging, in which they actively supervised cases and even became involved in settlement talks. I argue that a similar transition in judicial role is now occurring. I contend that transferee judges are now stepping back from active participation in settlement discussions but playing a far greater role in structuring and administering the litigation. This new judicial role focuses on facilitating the parties’ resolution of the case, whether through settlement or remand …

Why Wynne Should Win, Dan T. Coenen

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In Maryland State Comptroller of the Treasury v. Wynne, the Court could reshape core features of dormant Commerce Clause law. Maryland’s theory in the case is that it can lay an income tax on every penny of an individual resident’s income even if some of that income is earned entirely outside the state and therefore, in keeping with standard state practice, already taxed elsewhere. On its face, this approach exposes interstate income earners to overlapping income taxation. Maryland’s scheme thus violates a cardinal principle of dormant Commerce Clause law, “forbidding” state laws that expose interstate commerce “to the risk …

When Churches Reorganize, Pamela Foohey

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This Article combines an analysis of documents submitted in connection with Chapter 11 cases filed by religious organizations with the results of in-depth interviews with these organizations’ leaders and their bankruptcy attorneys to assess whether reorganization has the potential to offer an effective solution to these debtors’ financial distress. In doing, it makes three contributions. First, it identifies a subset of organizations that seemed more likely to turn to bankruptcy: small congregationalist and non-denominational churches, often with predominately African-American membership. The Article pinpoints salient questions about these churches’ access to credit and use of bankruptcy for future study. Second, it …