Law Commons^™

Criminal Law, Marla Graff Decker, Stephen R. Mccullough

University of Richmond Law Review

No abstract provided.

The 2002 Supreme Court Decisions: Did They Leave Enough Of Apprendi To Effectively Protect Criminal Defendants?, Charlotte Leclercq

Northern Illinois University Law Review

This comment explores the true impact of the 2000 landmark decision, Apprendi v. New Jersey, in which the United States Supreme Court determined that any fact that increases a criminal defendant's sentence beyond the statutory maximum has to be submitted to a jury and proven beyond a reasonable doubt. At the time, the decision appeared to be a triumph for the procedural due process rights of defendants. However the opinion of the majority, as well as those of the concurrence and dissents, left the actual effect of the decision subject to considerable debate among courts and commentators. In 2002 the …

Failure To Advise Non-Citizens Of Immigration Consequences Of Criminal Convictions: Should This Be Grounds To Withdraw A Guilty Plea?, John J. Francis

University of Michigan Journal of Law Reform

In this Article, Professor Francis argues that non-citizen criminal defendants should be afforded greater latitude in withdrawing guilty pleas, when those pleas are made without awareness of potential immigration consequences. Moreover, the Article highlights the roles both judges and attorneys should play in ensuring that non-citizens do not enter into such uninformed pleas.

Noting that courts have characterized deportation as a collateral consequence of a criminal conviction, the article argues that deportation, following the passage of the Immigration and Naturalization Act of 1996, is unique in its severity and certainty. Many of the same due process considerations which underpin the …

Business Litigation And Cyberspace: Will Cyber Courts Prove An Effective Tool For Luring High-Tech Business Into Forum States?, Jacob A. Sommer

Vanderbilt Law Review

From beginning to end businesses are wed to the law. The life of a corporation typically begins with the filing of articles of incorporation with the secretary of state' and ends with either a merger into another corporation or dissolution. At every point in a corporation's life cycle, the American legal system places its imprimatur on the corporation's activities and governance. Inevitably, because of the sophisticated nature of business and frequent encounters with the law, businesses become engaged in their fair share of litigation and must resort to the judicial system for resolution.

Business, especially high-tech business, moves very quickly, …

American Racial Jusice On Trial - Again: African American Reparations, Human Rights, And The War On Terror, Eric K. Yamamoto, Susan K. Serrano, Michelle Natividad Rodriguez

Michigan Law Review

Much has been written recently on African American reparations and reparations movements worldwide, both in the popular press and scholarly publications. Indeed, the expanding volume of writing underscores the impact on the public psyche of movements for reparations for historic injustice. Some of that writing has highlighted the legal obstacles faced by proponents of reparations lawsuits, particularly a judicial system that focuses on individual (and not group-based) claims and tends to squeeze even major social controversies into the narrow litigative paradigm of a two-person auto collision (requiring proof of standing, duty, breach, causation, and direct injury). Other writings detail the …

The New Frontier Of Constitutional Confession Law - The International Arena: Exploring The Admissibility Of Confessions Taken By U.S. Investigators From Non-Americans Abroad, Mark A. Godsey

Faculty Articles and Other Publications

This Article is part two in an ongoing series. Part I, published at 51 DUKE L. J. 1703 (2002), argued that Miranda warnings should not be strictly required when U.S. agents interrogate non-U.S. citizens abroad. This Article picks up where the first left off, and asks the question: "In the absence of Miranda, do any provisions in the Bill of Rights restrict the ability of U.S. agents to obtain confessions from non-Americans abroad?"

The Article begins by examining the back up or default rules to Miranda in the domestic setting. These rules are the "due process involuntary confession rule," which …

Overcoming A Lawyer's Dogma: Examining Due Process For The "Disruptive Student", Jessica Falk

University of Michigan Journal of Law Reform

This Note explores how traditional due process functions in the context of school expulsion hearings. Traditional due process is inadequate in the case of "chronically disruptive" students because these students have lost their property right in education long before the law requires a due process hearing. Instead, new avenues of due process that are better adapted to the educational setting must be explored. Lawyers should expect schools to identify students' with behavioral problems before expulsion becomes imminent and assist students in overcoming these problems. This "educational due process" not only helps to protect troubled student's education, but it is also …

Decoupling 'Terrorist' From 'Immigrant': An Enhanced Role For The Federal Courts Post 9/11, Victor C. Romero

Journal Articles

Since the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001, Attorney General John Ashcroft has utilized the broad immigration power ceded to him by Congress to ferret out terrorists among noncitizens detained for minor immigration violations. Such a strategy provides the government two options: deport those who are not terrorists, and then prosecute others who are. While certainly efficient, using immigration courts and their less formal due process protections afforded noncitizens should trigger greater oversight and vigilance by the federal courts for at least four reasons: First, while the legitimate goal of immigration law enforcement is deportation, Ashcroft's true objective in targeting …

Substantive Due Process And The Involuntary Confinement Of Sexually Violent Predators, Wayne A. Logan, Eric S. Janus

Scholarly Publications

Over the past fifty years the Supreme Court has been repeatedly asked to address the constitutionality of civil commitment laws, including laws specifically targeting sexually violent predators (SVPs). The SVP laws have withstood challenge, in each instance redeemed by their putative civil purpose. Today, however, roughly 13 years after the first modern SVP law was enacted by the State of Washington, serious concern exists over whether the laws are fulfilling their civil purpose, or are merely serving as vehicles for impermissible preventive detention.

This Article addresses this question, in the process exploring the viability of the major remaining constitutional basis …

The Historical And Contemporary Prosecution And Punishment Of Animals, Jen Girgen

Animal Law Review

This article analyzes the role of the animal “offender,” by examining the animal trials and executions of years past. The writer argues that although the formal prosecution of animals as practiced centuries ago may have ended (for the most part), we continue to punish animals for their “crimes” against human beings. She suggests that we do this primarily to achieve two ends: the restoration of order and the achievement of revenge, and concludes with a call for a renewed emphasis on “due process” for animals threatened with punishment for their offenses.

A Moving Violation? Hypercriminalized Spaces And Fortuitous Presence In Drug Free School Zones, L. Buckner Inniss

Publications

No abstract provided.

Adjudication, Antisubordination, And The Jazz Connection, Christopher A. Bracey

GW Law Faculty Publications & Other Works

We live in the midst of a pervasive and sustained democratic crisis. Our society expresses a deep commitment to core notions of freedom, justice, and equality for all citizens. Yet, it is equally clear that our democracy tolerates a great deal of social and economic inequality. Membership in a socially disfavored group can (and often does) profoundly distort one's life chances and opportunities. Our constitutional democracy acknowledges this tension, providing for both majority rule and the protection of minority rights and interests. Although we seek to safeguard minority rights and interest through express legal prohibitions on the subordination of socially …

You Have A Right To Remain Silent, Michael Avery

Fordham Urban Law Journal

The Supreme Court will decide in the October 2002 term whether there is a cause of action under 42 U.S.C. Section 1983 based on a coercive police interrogation of a suspect in custody who has not been given Miranda warnings. The Supreme Court cannot decide that there is no cause of action under section 1983 for damages caused by coercive interrogation practices without turning its back on a large body of its own jurisprudence and on the deeply rooted cultural and political expectations of American citizens who trust that they have a meaningfu lconstitutionally protected right to remain silent when …

Due Process And Problem Solving Courts, Eric Lane

Fordham Urban Law Journal

This article addresses the model of the problem-solving courts, beginning with the 1989 Dade County, Florida drug court and the role of the pro-active problem solving judge as presented by Judge Lederman of the Dade County drug court. The article reviews the role of the pro-active problem-solving judge in light of the defendants due process rights. After reviewing several case studies, transcripts, and literature on the issue, the article concludes that problem-solving judging and lawyering need not be in conflict with due process standards.

Does A Marriage Really Need Sex?: A Critical Analysis Of The Gender Restriction On Marriage, Randi E. Frankle

Fordham Urban Law Journal

This Note discusses the issues surrounding intersex persons and the right to marry. The Comment first discusses the constitutional protection of the right to marry, intersex conditions, and case law regarding intersex, transsexual, and same-sex marriage. It further addresses the consequences for marriage when it is narrowly defined. Further, the Comment proposes an alternative solution to the one many courts have used. This solution allows an intersex person to self-designate her gender and be able to marry either a man or a woman. Finally, this Comment argues that if an intersex person can marry either a man or a woman, …

Due Process And Problem Solving Courts, Eric Lane

Fordham Urban Law Journal

This article addresses the model of the problem-solving courts, beginning with the 1989 Dade County, Florida drug court and the role of the pro-active problem solving judge as presented by Judge Lederman of the Dade County drug court. The article reviews the role of the pro-active problem-solving judge in light of the defendants due process rights. After reviewing several case studies, transcripts, and literature on the issue, the article concludes that problem-solving judging and lawyering need not be in conflict with due process standards.

A Parent's Rights Under The Fourteenth Amendment: Does Kentucky's De Facto Custodian Statute Violate Due Process?, Elizabeth Ashley Bruce

Kentucky Law Journal

No abstract provided.

Stare Decisis And Due Process, Amy Coney Barrett

Journal Articles

In this Article, I argue that the preclusive effect of precedent raises due-process concerns, and, on occasion, slides into unconstitutionality. The Due Process Clause requires that a court give a person notice and an opportunity for a hearing before depriving her of life, liberty or property. Because of this requirement, courts have held in the context of issue preclusion that as a general rule, judicial determinations can bind only parties. The preclusion literature asserts that this parties only requirement does not apply to stare decisis because stare decisis, in contrast to issue preclusion, is a flexible doctrine. Yet stare decisis …

Thinking Race, Making Nation (Reviewing Glenn C. Loury, The Anatomy Of Racial Inequality), Christopher A. Bracey

GW Law Faculty Publications & Other Works

We live in a race-conscious culture. As Americans, we are a nation of people who self-consciously chose to adopt a vision of society that embraced lofty ideals of individual freedom and democracy for all along with powerful mechanisms for devastating racial oppression. Our history is replete with instances of differential treatment on account of race - slavery being only the most egregious example - that achieved the desired effect of generating remarkable disparities in socioeconomic well-being among individuals and between different racial groups. Such disparities are not simply historical artifacts. They are facts of the contemporary American racial landscape as …

The Right To Effective Assistance Of Capital Postconviction Counsel: Constitutional Implications Of Statutory Grants Of Capital Counsel, Celestine Richards Mcconville

Celestine Richards McConville

The problem of incompetent counsel in capital cases is hardly a secret. Much of the attention, however, has focused on incompetent capital trial counsel. This article, by contrast, addresses the problem of incompetent capital counsel at the state and federal postconviction levels. Like the trial and direct review phases, the capital postconviction phase is critical to an accurate and reliable determination of guilt and death-eligibility. Thus, competent counsel is just as necessary during capital postconviction proceedings as it is during capital trial and direct review proceedings.

The Supreme Court, however, has made clear that there is no constitutional right to …