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Full-Text Articles in Law

Leveling The Playing Field: Federal Rules Of Evidence 412 & 415: Evidence Class As A Platform For Larger (More Important) Lessons, Jane H. Aiken Jan 2003

Leveling The Playing Field: Federal Rules Of Evidence 412 & 415: Evidence Class As A Platform For Larger (More Important) Lessons, Jane H. Aiken

Georgetown Law Faculty Publications and Other Works

Teachers often approach Federal Rules of Evidence 412 and 415 with trepidation. After all, it means that a law teacher will have to talk about sex, with a group (often a large group) of law students - many of whom are in their early twenties and have never had a non-peer conversation about sex. It looks like a recipe for disaster. Let me suggest just the opposite - it offers the law teacher an opportunity to address perhaps one of the most important lessons of law school: the law only works if there is a level playing field.


Protecting Plaintiffs' Sexual Pasts: Coping With Preconceptions Through Discretion, Jane H. Aiken Jan 2002

Protecting Plaintiffs' Sexual Pasts: Coping With Preconceptions Through Discretion, Jane H. Aiken

Georgetown Law Faculty Publications and Other Works

Part I of this Article traces the development of the civil application of Rule 412, the so-called “Rape Shield Rule”. Part II analyzes the inconsistencies within the cases decided under the new civil rule and links those inconsistencies to the language of the rule. It identifies the trends within the cases about what constitutes probative value for purposes of the rule and how courts assess prejudice. The Article concludes that rules of evidence designed to remedy bias of fact finders should not be cast as discretionary. Many of the problems that arise in the interpretation of Rule 412 could be …


Secrecy, Guilt By Association, And The Terrorist Profile, David Cole Jan 2001

Secrecy, Guilt By Association, And The Terrorist Profile, David Cole

Georgetown Law Faculty Publications and Other Works

In this essay, I will argue that the use of secret procedures and guilt by association in immigration trials is not only unconstitutional but counterproductive. I will begin with a case study, then discuss in turn the practices of secret evidence and guilt by association, and finally conclude with a consideration of how these two tactics perpetuate invidious stereotypes about Arabs and Muslims.