Law Commons^™

Uncle Sam Is Watching You, David Cole

Georgetown Law Faculty Publications and Other Works

No abstract provided.

Brief For Prof. Stephen B. Cohen, Pro Se, As Amicus Curiae Supporting Respondents, Commissioner Of Internal Revenue V. Banks, Nos. 03-892 & 03-907 (U.S. Aug. 16, 2004), Stephen B. Cohen

U.S. Supreme Court Briefs

No abstract provided.

Pops, Pic, And Lrtap: The Role Of The U.S. In Draft Legislation To Implement These International Conventions : Testimony Before The H. Subcomm. On Environment And Hazardous Materials Of The H. Comm. On Energy And Commerce, 108th Cong., Jul. 13, 2004 (Statement Of Lisa Heinzerling, Prof. Of Law, Geo. U. L. Center), Lisa Heinzerling

Testimony Before Congress

No abstract provided.

Brief Of Amici Curiae Paralyzed Veterans Of America Et Al., Spector V. Norwegian Cruise Line Ltd., No. 03-1388 (U.S. Jul. 5, 2004), Richard Mckewen, David C. Vladeck

U.S. Supreme Court Briefs

No abstract provided.

Supreme Court Statistical Overview, October Term 2003, Georgetown University Law Center, Supreme Court Institute, Liz Hollander

Supreme Court Overviews

No abstract provided.

Aiding Terrorists: Hearing Before The S. Comm. On The Judiciary, 108th Cong., May 5, 2004 (Statement Of David D. Cole, Geo. U. L. Center), David Cole

Testimony Before Congress

No abstract provided.

Brief Of Respondents In Opposition, In Re Green Tree Financial Corp., No. 03-1243 (U.S. Apr. 22, 2004), Cornelia T. Pillard

U.S. Supreme Court Briefs

No abstract provided.

Appropriate Role Of Foreign Judgments In The Interpretation Of American Law: Hearing Before The H. Comm. On The Judiciary, 108th Cong., Mar. 25, 2004 (Statement Of Vicki C. Jackson, Prof. Of Law, Geo. U. L. Center), Vicki C. Jackson

Testimony Before Congress

No abstract provided.

Brief For American Public Health Association Et Al. As Amici Curiae Supporting Respondents, Department Of Transportation V. Public Citizen, No. 03-358 (U.S. Mar. 12, 2004), Hope M. Babcock, Lisa Goldman

U.S. Supreme Court Briefs

No abstract provided.

Democracy In Hong Kong: Hearing Before The Subcomm. On East Asian And Pacific Affairs Of The S. Comm. On Foreign Relations, 108th Cong., Mar. 4, 2004 (Statement Of Professor James V. Feinerman, Geo. U. L. Center), James V. Feinerman

Testimony Before Congress

No abstract provided.

Trade And Human Rights: The Future Of U.S.-Vietnamese Relationships: Hearing Before The S. Comm. On Foreign Relations, 108th Cong., Feb. 12, 2004 (Statement Of Viet D. Dinh, Prof. Of Law, Geo. U. L. Center), Viet D. Dinh

Testimony Before Congress

No abstract provided.

Toward A New Constitutional Anatomy, Victoria Nourse

Georgetown Law Faculty Publications and Other Works

There is an important sense in which our Constitution's structure is not what it appears to be--a set of activities or functions or geographies, the 'judicial" or the "executive" or the "legislative" power, the "truly local and the truly national. "Indeed, it is only if we put these notions to the side that we can come to grips with the importance of the generative provisions of the Constitution: the provisions that actually create our federal government; that bind citizens, through voting, to a House of Representatives, to a Senate, to a President, and even, indirectly, to a Supreme Court. In …

Brief Amici Curiae Of Legal Historians Listed Herein In Support Of The Petitioners, Rasul V. Bush, Nos. 03-334 & 03-343 (U.S. Jan. 14, 2004), James Oldham

U.S. Supreme Court Briefs

No abstract provided.

Brief Of International Law And Jurisdiction Professors As Amici Curiae Supporting Petitioners, Rasul V. Bush, Nos. 03-334 & 03-343 (U.S. Jan. 12, 2004), Barry E. Carter

U.S. Supreme Court Briefs

No abstract provided.

Constitutional Dialogue And Human Dignity: States And Transnational Constitutional Discourse, Vicki C. Jackson

Georgetown Law Faculty Publications and Other Works

The U.S. Supreme Court has been slower than some other national courts to become familiar with and discuss, distinguish, or borrow from related constitutional approaches of other nations and systems. The growth in transnational judicial discourse, especially on constitutional issues relating to human rights, has been remarked by many. National courts in Argentina, Botswana, Canada, Germany, India, South Africa, and elsewhere not infrequently refer to the constitutional jurisprudence of other nations in resolving domestic constitutional questions. Although such references are not unheard of in the United States, transnational discourse involving national courts, supranational and international tribunals is still subject to …

Promissory Fraud Without Breach, Gregory Klass, Ian Ayres

Georgetown Law Faculty Publications and Other Works

This Article, in keeping with the theme of this Symposium, explores the possibility of promissory fraud liability where there is no breach of contract. It is well known that mere breach of contract is not sufficient to make out a claim of promissory fraud. This rule makes eminent sense, for a promisor who initially intended to perform may have later changed her mind. Here we pose the converse question: is it possible to have promissory fraud liability without a breach?

Overcoming Resistance To Diversity In The Executive Suite: Grease, Grit, And The Corporate Tournament, Donald C. Langevoort

Georgetown Law Faculty Publications and Other Works

Once we open the corporate governance/human resources nexus to deeper inquiry, mutual scholarly interest in diversity and discrimination follows naturally. Firms have complex motives to take nondiscrimination and the promotion of diversity seriously. First, at least certain forms of discrimination are both unlawful and socially illegitimate and hence present threats of potential liability and injury to reputation. Second, human resources demands are such that attracting and motivating a diverse workforce is a competitive imperative. At the same time, however, offsetting economic forces may exist that favor subtle forms of discrimination and hostility to diversity, even if intentional and overt racial …

The Lawyer's Role(S) In Deliberative Democracy, Carrie Menkel-Meadow

Georgetown Law Faculty Publications and Other Works

In this paper I will explore the idea of a "neutral" lawyer who may have neither "client" (in the conventional sense of client) to represent nor advocacy to perform, yet still be functioning fully as a lawyer or "learned professional" schooled in the law. Indeed, in this paper I will suggest that lawyers may be especially useful in performing a variety of "new" functions that depart from traditional conceptions of the lawyer's role, but which lawyers may be especially well suited to perform. It may be counter-cultural to think of lawyers as "consensus builders," rather than as advocates or makers …

Aliens, The Internet, And "Purposeful Availment": A Reassessment Of Fifth Amendment Limits On Personal Jurisdiction, Wendy Collins Perdue

Georgetown Law Faculty Publications and Other Works

This Article first considers the Fourteenth Amendment cases and argues that the constitutional limits on the jurisdictional authority of state courts reflect a view about the limits of state authority. It then turns to the Fifth Amendment and, after considering the practices of other nations and lessons from prescriptive jurisdiction, argues that the United States's sovereign authority should allow it to assert personal jurisdiction solely on the basis of effects in the United States, without a requirement of "purposeful availment." It further argues that concerns about reasonableness should be addressed at the subconstitutional level. This Article is built on two …

The Coiled Serpent Of Argument: Reason, Authority, And Law In A Talmudic Tale, David Luban

Georgetown Law Faculty Publications and Other Works

One of the most celebrated Talmudic parables begins with a remarkably dry legal issue debated among a group of rabbis. A modern reader should think of the rabbis as a collegial court, very much like a secular appellate court, because the purpose of their debate is to generate edicts that will bind the community. The issue under debate concerns the ritual cleanliness of a baked earthenware stove, sliced horizontally into rings and cemented back together with unbaked mortar. Do the laws of purity that apply to uncut stoves apply to this one as well? This stove is the so-called "oven …

Litigation Campaigns And The Search For Constitutional Rules, Mark V. Tushnet

Georgetown Law Faculty Publications and Other Works

This Journal's focus on appellate practice and procedure suggests that it might be appropriate and productive to take a somewhat unusual approach to Brown and its significance. Brown was most important, of course, for its role in the transformation of American race relations. From the point of view of the appellate courts, Brown is significant in another way. Brown was the culmination of a sustained campaign of strategically designed litigation-or so it came to be thought. Lawyers subsequently took the strategic litigation campaign they saw ending in the triumph of Brown as a model for their own causes, and developed …

Deans And Stories, William Michael Treanor

Georgetown Law Faculty Publications and Other Works

Professor Howard Gardner's superb book Leading Minds is a study of leadership that, while prominent in the discipline of education, has received relatively little attention in the legal literature. Leading Minds thoughtfully argues that effective story-telling is critical to effective leadership. In this essay, the author explores in a very preliminary way the relationship between Gardner's thesis and what deans do or should do in order to lead their law schools and, more broadly, the different constituencies they represent.

In his group of 11 leaders, Gardner includes an academic leader--Robert Maynard Hutchins, who was dean of Yale Law School and …

The Varied Policies Of International Juridical Bodies: Reflections On Theory And Practice, John H. Jackson

Georgetown Law Faculty Publications and Other Works

I would like to turn to how my current thinking and writing relate to the broader issues of international law norm creation. One such article is quite recent and it represents some of my thinking in these broader general issues. It is entitled Sovereignty Modern, and it is a close look at the question of sovereignty and how it affects the fundamental logic of international law. I do not pretend that I have finalized my views, but fundamentally very few people really accept the original, Westphalian idea of sovereignty anymore. There are many other constructs of what sovereignty currently means, …

Albert Einstein, Esq., Steven Goldberg

Georgetown Law Faculty Publications and Other Works

Albert Einstein’s 1905 paper setting forth the special theory of relativity is one of the most famous scientific articles ever written. Peter Galison’s influential book, Einstein’s Clocks, Poincaré’s Maps: Empires of Time (2003), demonstrates that Einstein’s paper was fundamentally shaped by his work as a patent examiner by showing that arguments previously seen as abstract thought experiments were instead derived from Einstein’s work on patent applications for devices that coordinate clocks. Moving beyond Galison’s insights, we can see portions of Einstein’s paper as reflecting the quasi-judicial role of a patent examiner. Like trial judges, patent examiners must apply settled legal …

Washington, D.C. Movable Feast: The Odds On Leviathan - Dispute Resolution And Washington D.C.'S Culture, Carrie Menkel-Meadow

Georgetown Law Faculty Publications and Other Works

The field of dispute resolution has benefited enormously from a great wave of enthusiasm during its first two decades. But "youth's a stuff will not endure," and the first flush of ardor is an uncertain basis for confidence in the long term. Now, there is reason to believe that our field, like its predecessor professional fields, is vulnerable to the incentive structures built in to both academic and practice careers. At the same time, what we think of as a national (or larger) movement may be increasingly affected by local cultures.

The Human Rights Of Persons With Mental Disabilities: A Global Perspective On The Application Of Human Rights Principles To Mental Health, Lawrence O. Gostin, Lance Gable

Georgetown Law Faculty Publications and Other Works

This Article examines the human rights of persons with mental disabilities and the application and development of these rights by the various international and regional systems that have been established to protect human rights. An international system of human rights with universal application has been developed under the auspices of the United Nations. Regional human rights systems have applied additional human rights protections to their respective geographic regions. Both the international and regional systems have addressed the human rights of persons with mental disabilities through treaties, declarations, and thematic resolutions. Moreover, regional institutions have incrementally formulated a body of law …

Introduction: Rawls And The Law, William Michael Treanor

Georgetown Law Faculty Publications and Other Works

Professor John Rawls of Harvard University, who died in November of 2002, is widely regarded as the most important political philosopher of the twentieth century, and his influence on legal thought was particularly profound. There have been a number of conferences or symposia on Rawls's individual books, such as A Theory of Justice and Political Liberalism, but, astonishingly, until the symposium presented in this issue of the Fordham Law Review was held in November 2003, no symposium or conference had focused on the implications of his work for the law. Simply because of its subject, then, this symposium was of …

The Politics Of (Mis)Recognition: Islamic Law Pedagogy In American Academia, Lama Abu-Odeh

Georgetown Law Faculty Publications and Other Works

The combination of presence (of Islamic law) and absence (of legal transplant) in the course materials assigned by Islamic law instructors, the scholarship on law in the Islamic world by Islamic law scholars as well as by Comparatists, betrays an ideological project. I would describe it as an identitarian one with an underlying teleological notion of history. By identitarian I mean the positing of a common identity shared by all "Muslims" based on their religio/legal beliefs, a project that to my mind recalls what I called earlier the "fantasy effect." "[F]antasy is the means by which real relations of identity …

The Threat To Constitutional Academic Freedom, J. Peter Byrne

Georgetown Law Faculty Publications and Other Works

Since the late 1980s, the academic authority of colleges and universities has been subjected to continuing blasts of criticism. Culture warriors portray decayed institutions where sixties radicals have seized control and terrorize students and the few remaining honest faculty with demands for political conformity or bewilder them with incomprehensible theorizing. Some valid criticisms by these writers can be gleaned among their towering hyperbole and tendentious accusations. But the overall effect has been to paint for the broader public an alarming, misleading picture of intolerance and cant. The prevalence of this picture, however false it may be, imperils the constitutional autonomy …

Clients As Teachers, Jane H. Aiken

Georgetown Law Faculty Publications and Other Works

I am deeply honored to have been selected to hold the William Van Cleve Chair. After the announcement several months ago, I have had the pleasure of having people tell me just how wonderful a man Bill Van Cleve was and how lucky I am to have this chair in honor of him. The picture that I have gotten of this man is truly that of the lawyer statesman. He took his profession very seriously. He approached his work with dedication and passion but, more significantly, he loved his profession in the broadest sense. He understood that the practice of …