Law Commons^™

Frontmatter

Brigham Young University Journal of Public Law

No abstract provided.

Race, Ethnicity, And Fair Housing Enforcement: A Regional Analysis, Charles S. Bullock Iii, Charles M. Lamb, Eric M. Wilk

Brigham Young University Journal of Public Law

This article systematically compares how federal, state, and local civil rights agencies in the ten standard regions of the United States enforce fair housing law complaints filed by Blacks and Latinos. Specifically, it explores the extent to which regional outcomes at all three levels of government are decided favorably where, between 1989 and 2010, a racial or ethnic violation of the Fair Housing Act of 1968 or the Fair Housing Amendments Act of 1988 is alleged. The results reveal significant variations in outcomes between these groups across the country. Most importantly, the probability of an outcome favorable to the complainant …

Byu Journal Of Public Law Volume 37 Number 2

Brigham Young University Journal of Public Law

No abstract provided.

Political Fragmentation In The Democracies Of The West, Richard H. Pildes

Brigham Young University Journal of Public Law

The decline of effective government throughout most Western democracies poses one of the greatest challenges democracy currently confronts. The importance of effective government receives too little attention in democratic and legal theory, yet the inability to deliver effective government can lead citizens to alienation, distrust, and withdrawal from participation, and worse, to endorse authoritarian leaders who promise to cut through the dysfunctions of democratic governments.

A major reason for this decline in effective government is that democracies have become more politically fragmented. Political power has been dispersed among many more political parties, organized groups, and even more spontaneous, instantly mobilized …

Rulemaking By Ambush: How Prohibitions Against It Became Dead Letters, Arthur G. Sapper

Brigham Young University Journal of Public Law

No abstract provided.

On The Place Of Self-Defense In Public Life: A Hobbesian Critique Of The Supreme Court’S Second Amendment, Rafi Reznik

Brigham Young University Journal of Public Law

Contemporary Second Amendment law, which originated with the famous Heller decision (2008) and reached a new peak with Bruen (2022), relies on an implicit political theory. This article uncovers and critiques that theory. I argue that the Supreme Court’s Second Amendment jurisprudence positions interpersonal self-defense, and more generally individual response to crime, at the heart of the meaning of American citizenship. The paradigmatic citizen for whom state institutions should be designed is a self-defender, because, per the Court’s interpretive methodology, this is what the American people want. This line of cases thus attempts one of the most challenging feats of …

Updating The Berne Convention For The Internet Age: Un-Blurring The Line Between United States And Foreign Copyrighted Works, Ethan Schow

Brigham Young University Journal of Public Law

John Naughton, notable journalist and academic, has asserted that “[common sense] should also revolt at the idea that doctrines about copyright that were shaped in a pre-Internet age should apply to a post-Internet one.” And yet, in crucial aspects of international law, this is the situation in which the world finds itself today. The Berne Convention for the Protection of Literary and Artistic Works (the “Berne Convention” or the “Convention”) is one of the most important multinational agreements concerned with copyright law, but it has not been amended since September 28, 1979. Although the internet technically existed in an early …

Hospitals And Local Taxation: The Troubled Tale Of Property Tax, Matthew S. Johnson

Brigham Young University Journal of Public Law

The taxation of hospitals is plagued with subjectivity, which especially burdens nonprofit hospitals. Inconsistencies across localities further exacerbate the uncertainty encountered by nonprofit hospitals seeking local tax exemptions. While federal and state tax implications for nonprofit hospitals receive most of the attention from debaters and scholars, local property tax exemptions are also of significant value for nonprofit hospitals and have been largely overlooked. This Comment explores the policy arguments for and against nonprofit status for hospitals. It shows that while the federal government has chosen relatively bright-line rules for determining non-profit status, localities are far less predictable. This Comment contributes …

Reclaiming Humphrey’S Executor: Expertise And Impartiality In The Ftc, Thomas Smith

Brigham Young University Journal of Public Law

The commissioners of the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) sit just beyond the president’s removal power, for now. The U.S. Supreme Court has all but overruled Humphrey’s Executor, which declared the constitutionality of the FTC’s statutory protections from at-will presidential removal. Recent rulings in Seila Law, Free Enterprise Fund, and Collins held that restrictions on the president’s removal of various government agency officials are unconstitutional. Despite these cases, the Court has not directly overruled Humphrey’s Executor, and in theory, its precedent still provides the FTC commissioners with protection from the president’s removal power. However, the modern FTC is easily distinguishable from …

Schrödinger’S Cat: A Constitutional Alien In Australia?, Benjamen Franklen Gussen

Brigham Young University Journal of Public Law

No abstract provided.

Instigator And Proxy Liability In The Context Of Information Operations, Carolyn Sharp

Brigham Young University Journal of Public Law

No abstract provided.

Information Leaking And The United States Supreme Court, Chad Marzen, Michael Conklin

Brigham Young University Journal of Public Law

No abstract provided.

Recapturing The Orphan Drug Act: An Analysis Of Proposals, Rajdeep Trilokekar

Brigham Young University Journal of Public Law

No abstract provided.

Frontmatter

Brigham Young University Journal of Public Law

No abstract provided.

Byu Journal Of Public Law Volume 37 Number 1

Brigham Young University Journal of Public Law

No abstract provided.

Sitla And How To Make It Pay: Two Proposals For Increasing The Profitability Of Utah’S School And Institutional Trust Lands, Katrina Cole

Brigham Young University Journal of Public Law

No abstract provided.

Frontmatter

Brigham Young University Journal of Public Law

No abstract provided.

The Territorial And District Representation Amendment: A Proposal, Colin P.A. Jones

Brigham Young University Journal of Public Law

This article will propose and explain a draft amendment to the United States Constitution that would secure an intermediate degree of political representation for Americans living in U.S. territories. While concerned principally with U.S. territories, the amendment would also address Congressional representation for the District of Columbia.

The Prudential Standing Quandary When Discriminatory, Facially Neutral Laws Allegedly Cause Collateral Damage, Richard Luedeman

Brigham Young University Journal of Public Law

No abstract provided.

Giving Hardison The Hook: Restoring Title Vii’S Undue Hardship Standard, Kade Allred

Brigham Young University Journal of Public Law

No abstract provided.

A Call For State Legislators To Reconsider Their Stance On School Choice And School Funding, Leah Blake

Brigham Young University Journal of Public Law

No abstract provided.

Informal Governance Of The United States, Edward Lee

Brigham Young University Journal of Public Law

No abstract provided.

Dissent And The Rule Of Law, Russell D. Covey

Brigham Young University Journal of Public Law

Both the right to dissent and the “rule of law” are celebrated and frequently invoked values. Yet widespread popular dissent, such as that seen in the recent Black Lives Matter protests sparked by the police killing of George Floyd and others and a strong backlash against protestors by some political leaders, has deeply challenged the compatibility of those values. This tension raises deep theoretical questions about the essential concept of the rule of law, questions that have not yet been addressed by legal theorists. Consensus is greatest with respect to some of the formal characteristics of the rule of law, …

Frontmatter

Brigham Young University Journal of Public Law

No abstract provided.

Covid’S Counterpunch: State Legislative Assaults On Publichealth Emergency Powers, James G. Hodge Jr., Jennifer L. Piatt

Brigham Young University Journal of Public Law

Amid the most impactful health crisis in over a century, COVID’s “counterpunch” entails aggressive efforts by numerous state legislatures to diminish state and local public health emergency powers. It is an incredulous movement facially supported by a need to appropriately balance economic interests and rights with communal health objectives. At its political core, however, is a “power grab” by legislatures to free their constituents from extensive emergency powers (e.g., social distancing, assembly limits, and business closures). Never mind the fact that these interventions, when used effectively and constitutionally, save lives and reduce morbidity. Public health agents and activists are understandably …

The Case Of The Smart City, Bruce Peabody, Kyle Morgan

Brigham Young University Journal of Public Law

January 7, 2021, marked the seventy-fifth anniversary of Marsh v. Alabama, the case in which the Supreme Court of the United States extended the protections of the First and Fourteenth Amendments to a privately held “company town.” This article makes the case that the longstanding Marsh precedent, and the basic jurisprudential framework it set out, remain important in working through twenty-first century problems regarding public-private partnerships and their impact on constitutional rights. We bring this old ruling into our new century by extrapolating a hypothetical legal controversy from legislation currently under consideration in the states. Thus, the heart of our …

Corporate Purpose And The Separation Of Powers, Benjamin T. Seymour

Brigham Young University Journal of Public Law

Despite its intense focus on inter-jurisdictional competition, corporate law scholarship has thus far overlooked the influence of inter-branch competition on business organizations. This Article shows how interbranch struggles for control over corporations catalyzed the advent of modern corporate law and helped propel Delaware to its dominant position in the market for corporate charters. For centuries, the legislature, judiciary, and executive vied for the decisive role in dictating the means and ends of corporations. Through the nineteenth century, competition among the branches produced a dysfunctional and volatile relationship between government and private enterprise, with each branch successively assuming a leading role …

Implications Of Azar V. Allina Health Services On Rulemaking: How To Know When Notice And Comment Is Required Under The Medicare Act, John Geilman

Brigham Young University Journal of Public Law

No abstract provided.

On Criminalizing Violent Speech, Amitai Etzioni

Brigham Young University Journal of Public Law

There is an increasingly high number of threats to kill, made by citizens against each other, and against public officials. These threats terrorize people, force them to take protective measures, make them reluctant to assume public office, and, when they do, make them feel as though they have to act cautiously. State and federal laws currently exist that prohibit such threats. This article examines the ways the courts have affected how these laws function. It concludes by suggesting ways these laws can be rendered more effective. Drawing on liberal communitarianism, this article seeks to offer practical recommendations for how the …

The Costs Of Separation: Incarcerated Mothers And The Socioeconomic Benefits Of Community-Based Alternatives For Nonviolent Offenders, Rahgan Jensen

Brigham Young University Journal of Public Law

No abstract provided.