Law Commons^™

Unnecessary Immunity: Fetta V. Board Of Medicine, John Paul Jones

Law Faculty Publications

Prof. Jones critiques the holding of the Supreme Court of Virginia in Fetta v. Va. Bd. of Medicine, 421 S.E.2d 410 (Va. 1992).

Lawyer Competence: Perceptual Prisms, Self-Scrutiny, And The Looking Glass, Jonathan K. Stubbs

Law Faculty Publications

In recent years legal academia has begun to reimbrace in its scholarship an old and effective teaching device: narrative. This Essay respectfully tips its analytical mortar board in the direction of this venerable tradition passed down through countless generations of teachers and learners, inside the academy and out, and acknowledges a literary "debt" to Lewis Carroll as we consider a classic exchange between Alice and Humpty Dumpty. ...

Takings Term Ii: New Tools For Attacking And Defending Environmental And Land-Use Regulation, Michael Allan Wolf

Law Faculty Publications

The 1991 October Term of the United States Supreme Court can legitimately be called "Takings Term II," a sequel to the Court's regulatory takings activism of the 1986 October Term. Unlike the previous trio of Keystone, First English, and Nollan, however, the Court's contributions in Lucas, Yee, and PFZ are as significant for what the Justices did not say as for what they contributed to the pages of the United States Reports. ...

In Defense Of Experimentation With Automatic Disclosure, Carl W. Tobias

Law Faculty Publications

It would be presumptuous of me to criticize either view articulated, and even worse form to choose sides, in the recent dispute over the merits of automatic disclosure that graced the pages of this journal. Federal civil procedure cognoscenti need no introduction to these highly respected participants in, and students of, the federal courts. Former Judge Griffin B. Bell rendered distinguished service on the United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit before President Jimmy Carter appointed him Attorney General. Senior Judge William W Schwarzer compiled an excellent record of service as a judge of the United States District …

Updating Federal Civil Justice Reform In Montana, Carl W. Tobias

Law Faculty Publications

The Montana Federal District Court has now implemented most aspects of the civil justice expense and delay reduction plan that it formally adopted in April of 1992. Moreover, all of the judicial officers and many Montana attorneys who practice in federal court have had experience with those procedures which the plan imposes. Furthermore, there have been certain new developments relating to the implementation of federal civil justice reform nationally. This article provides an update of significant developments involving federal civil justice reform at the national level and in the Montana District as the court and practitioners enter their second year …

The D.C. Circuit As A National Court, Carl W. Tobias

Law Faculty Publications

Every President since Franklin Delano Roosevelt has appointed lawyers from across the country to the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit ("D.C. Circuit") and has been accused of ignoring the members of the D.C. Bar. The tradition of nationwide recruitment for appointment to the D.C. Circuit has served the District and the nation well, yielding some of the court's and America's finest judges.

The practice of seeking nominees nationally to fill vacancies on the D.C. Circuit recently faced a serious challenge. Many members of the D.C. Bar, who have long opposed this practice, developed a …

Untenable, Unchristian, And Unconstitutional, Carl W. Tobias

Law Faculty Publications

Professor Tobias provides an account of the ultimately successful 1960 efforts to desegregate the Petersburg, Virginia Public Library.

Silver Linings In Federal Civil Justice Reform, Carl W. Tobias

Law Faculty Publications

Many observers, including most of the participants in the civil litigation symposium, have levelled considerable criticism at the Civil Justice Reform Act of 1990 ("CJRA" or "Act") and its implementation. This criticism--which encompasses numerous phenomena, as abstract as constitutional theory and as pragmatic as numerical limitations on interrogatories--emanates from several quarters and ranges across the political spectrum.

Notwithstanding the numerous criticisms that observers have lodged at the statute and its effectuation, a number of which have considerable validity, the federal reform initiative has afforded many advantages. Unfortunately, these benefits have received comparatively little recognition. Because the reform's salutary aspects could …

Closing The Gender Gap On The Federal Courts, Carl W. Tobias

Law Faculty Publications

When the Bush Administration placed comparatively few women on the bench during its initial half-term, I criticized President Bush's mediocre record. I was pleasantly surprised to learn that the Bush Administration ultimately appointed an unprecedented percentage of women to the federal courts; 36 of the 192 judges President Bush appointed were women (18.7%).

Notwithstanding the Bush Administration's efforts, the percentage of female judges remains significantly lower than the representation of women in the legal profession. Moreover, President Bush left 100 open judgeships. These vacancies mean that President Bill Clinton can greatly increase the numbers and percentages of female judges and …

The Right Of The People To Be Secure, Ronald J. Bacigal

Law Faculty Publications

Part I of this Article defines searches and seizures of property and person, discussing the Supreme Court's initially broad interpretation of the Fourth Amendment and its subsequent narrowing in later decisions. Part II discusses several police "chase cases" leading up to the elimination of accidental and attempted seizures from Fourth Amendment protection in Brower v. County of Inyo and California v. Hodari D. Part Ill analyzes the Brower decision and its effect on accidental seizures, concluding that the analysis set forth therein should be abolished and advocating an alternate test. Part IV confronts the Court's elimination of attempted seizures from …

The Right To Religion-Based Exemptions In Early America: The Case Of Conscientious Objectors To Conscription, Ellis M. West

Political Science Faculty Publications

One of the more controversial decisions handed down by the Supreme Court in recent years was its decision in the case of Employment Division, Oregon v. Smith, which raised the basic issue of whether the free exercise clause of the First Amendment guarantees a right to religion-based exemptions, i.e., whether it gives persons and groups a prima facie right to be exempt from having to obey valid laws when they have religious reasons for noncompliance. More specifically, in Smith, two Native Americans claimed that their prosecution for using an illegal drug, peyote, was precluded by the free exercise clause …

Finding The New Federal Civil Procedures, Carl W. Tobias

Law Faculty Publications

This issue includes a notice informing subscribers that Congress took no action on the package of amendments to the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure which the Supreme Court transmitted on April 22, 1993 and that those amendments became effective on December 1, 1993. Readers might assume that the amendments which are reprinted in Volume 146 of Federal Rules Decisions now have nationwide applicability. This assumption is correct for most of the amendments, such as the significant revisions in Rule 4 governing service and in Rule 11 covering sanctions.

The assumption is not true, however, for some of the amendments, several …

A Retributive Theory Of The Pardoning Power?, Hugo Adam Bedau

University of Richmond Law Review

During the past two decades; the retributive theory of punishment has made remarkable strides in recapturing the affections of penologists. The story has been told elsewhere and need not be reviewed here. For philosophers, if not for others interested in the theory and practice of punishment, a retributive approach holds a double attraction.

Executive Clemency In Post-Furman Capital Cases, Michael L. Radelet, Barbara A. Zsembik

University of Richmond Law Review

In the 1972 case of Furman v. Georgia, the United States Supreme Court invalidated virtually all existing death penalty statutes in the United States. Consequently, those jurisdictions that wanted to continue to execute were forced to revise their capital sentencing procedures. Since Furman,nearly all aspects of American death penalty law have been rewritten. Left unchanged by both the courts and the legislatures, however, are the ways in which states decide which death-sentenced inmates will have their sentences commuted through the powers of executive clemency.

The Quality Of Mercy: Race And Clemency In Florida Death Penalty Cases, 1924-1966, Margaret Vandiver

University of Richmond Law Review

The scholarly literature on capital punishment includes few empirical studies of executive clemency. Commutations in capital cases have been rare since 1972 when the current era of capital punishment began with the United States Supreme Court's ruling in Furman v. Georgia. A large proportion of pre-1972 death sentences were commuted; examination of clemency decisions in those cases promises to reveal much about the history of capital punishment in the United States. The present study attempts to identify factors which influenced decisions to grant commutations of Florida death sentences pre-Furman, focusing particularly on whether the race of defendants and victims influenced …

A Tribute To Professor Willie Moore, Okianer Christian Dark

University of Richmond Law Review

I first met Professor Willie Moore during the 1989-90 recruitment season for law faculty. Willie came to our law school to meet with the Dean, faculty and students. There was much excitement among the faculty concerning his visit to the law school. Many persons had already reviewed his credentials - valedictorian of his high school class; an honors graduate of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill; graduate of Yale University Law School; law clerk to Judge Damon J. Keith on the Federal Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit; former associate at Mitchell, Silberberg & Knupp in Los …

Freedom Of Speech As A Product Of Democracy, Arnold H. Loewy

University of Richmond Law Review

There are very nearly as many (if not more) rationales for freedom of speech as there are books and articles on the subject. Without attempting to canvass them all, I think that they can be divided into two generic theories. One theory suggests that freedom of speech is essentially teleological or consequentialist, i.e. it exists to serve some other goal, usually effective participation in the democratic process. The other theory, which is deontological or normative, suggests that freedom of speech exists as an end in itself rather than as a means towards accomplishing something else. Of course, these theories are …

Annual Survey Of Virginia Law: Bankruptcy Law, Michael A. Condyles

University of Richmond Law Review

This article is intended to advise the general practitioner of significant recent developments that have occurred in the bankruptcy area during the period April 1992 through April 1993. Virginia and federal decisions issued by the Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit involving bankruptcy related matters are the main focus of this article.

Annual Survey Of Virginia Law: Criminal Law And Procedure, Steven D. Benjamin

University of Richmond Law Review

During the past year, the Court of Appeals of Virginia continued to be the major contributor to the development of substantive and procedural criminal law in the Commonwealth. Many of the court's decisions concerned the characterization of. police-citizen encounters in the context of both Fourth Amendment law and the rights of an accused under Miranda v. Arizona. A number of cases concerned the admissibility of uncharged misconduct, and the numerous double jeopardy opinions involved case-by-case application of Grady v. Corbin, Blockburger v. United States, and related statutes. A growing body of procedural law concerned the propriety of impanelling jurors of …

Annual Survey Of Virginia Law: Wills, Trusts, And Estates, J. Rodney Johnson

University of Richmond Law Review

The 1993 session of the General Assembly enacted legislation dealing with wills, trusts, and estates that added, amended, or repealed a number of sections of the Code of Virginia (the code). In addition to this legislation, there were five cases from the Supreme Court of Virginia in the year ending June 1, 1993 which involve issues of interest to both the general practitioner and the specialist in wills, trusts, and estates. This article analyzes each of these leg- islative and judicial developments.

Kroger Co. V. Morris: The Diminution Of Hearing Officers, Cullen D. Seltzer

University of Richmond Law Review

In Kroger Co. v. Morris the Court of Appeals of Virginia reached two contradictory conclusions. On one hand the court held that the Virginia Workers' Compensation Commission could overrule a deputy commissioner's fact findings based solely on evidence contained in the record below. On the other hand, the court concluded that it was itself unable to make such fact findings based solely on the record.

Retracing First Amendment Jurisprudence Under The Free Exercise Clause: Culmination In Church Of The Lukumi Babalu Aye, Inc. V. City Of Hialeah And Resolution In The Religious Freedom Restoration Act, Laura A. Colombell

University of Richmond Law Review

The above comments of Justice Stewart recognize the myriad of religious beliefs and practices which exist in our nation of diverse people. Protecting them all from government infringement has become an increasingly lofty aim as the number and nature of religions in the United States continue to grow.

President Clinton's Covenant And The Federal Courts, Carl W. Tobias

Law Faculty Publications

President Bill Clinton has eloquently invoked the concept of a new covenant with the American people. Claiming that the populace elected him with a mandate for change, the President has appointed individuals to high-level positions, particularly in the Cabinet, who have made the new government look like America. In no branch of the federal government are these ideas more apposite than the Third Branch.

Poison Gas Proliferation: Paradox, Politics, And Law, John Paul Jones

Law Faculty Publications

After the outbreak of the 1991 Gulf War, Israeli civilians within the range of Iraqi SCUD missiles and allied troops in Operation Desert Storm braced themselves for a chemical weapons attack. Despite experts' assessments that Iraq possessed enough chemical weapons to mount a devastating attack, and Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein's threats to use those weapons,3 the fighting ended without a chemical attack. President Bush's veto and the Iraqis' restraint represent just two of the many paradoxes surrounding the proliferation of the "poor man's atom-bomb." This Article analyzes a series of paradoxes emanating from President Bush's campaign against chemical weapons.

Part …

Products Liability Tort Reform: Why Virginia Should Adopt The Henderson Twerski Proposed Revision Of Section 402a, Restatement (Second) Of Torts, Peter N. Swisher

Law Faculty Publications

The purpose of this Article is fourfold: first, to illustrate that there is currently a newer, more balanced consensus view in American products liability law today; second, to demonstrate that this current, realistically balanced, consensus in American products liability law is persuasively codified in a proposed revision to section 402A, Restatement (Second) of Torts, by Professors James Henderson and Aaron Twerski; third, to compare and contrast current Virginia products liability law with the Henderson- Twerski proposed revision of section 402A; fourth, to propose new legislation in Virginia that would incorporate the Henderson-Twerski proposal, and would realistically reform existing Virginia products …

Pardon For Good And Sufficient Reasons, Kathleen Dean Moore

University of Richmond Law Review

The preamble to an executive grant of clemency from the Presi- dent of the United States implies that pardons are granted on the basis of "premises,... good and sufficient reasons." Yet, pardons have not always been regarded as the sort of acts that need to be justified by argument. In fact, most presidential pardons are issued without any statement of justification beyond the assurance that good reasons do exist. As a result, the issue of what constitutes good and sufficient reasons for a presidential pardon is seldom addressed and still unresolved.

Some Reflections On Multiculturalism, "Equal Concern And Respect," And The Establishment Clause Of The First Amendment, Sanford Levinson

University of Richmond Law Review

I was born and grew up in Hendersonville, North Carolina, a small town of about 6000 people in the western part of the state. There were about 30 Jewish families in Hendersonville, and I knew from a very early age that I was Jewish and, consequently, that I was different in an important way from almost all of my neighbors and classmates. The most evident way, especially to a child, involved dietary prohibitions against eating pork. I also knew that I was allowed absences from school (Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur) while other children were not. Inevitably, my Jewishness accounts …

University Of Richmond Law Review Index

University of Richmond Law Review

No abstract provided.

Transformations In Supreme Court Thought: The Irresistible Force (Federal Indian Law & Policy) Meets The Movable Object (American Indian Tribal Status), David E. Wilkins

Jepson School of Leadership Studies articles, book chapters and other publications

This article is a content analysis examination of 107 federal court cases involving American Indian tribal sovereignty and federal plenary power rendered between 1870 and 1921. Our focus, however, is the U.S. Supreme Court's Indian Law jurisprudence; thus ninety of the cases analyzed were Supreme Court opinions. The cases seemingly entail two separate braces of opinions. One brace included decisions which affirmed tribal sovereignty. The other brace entailed cases which negatively affected tribal sovereignty. These negative decisions generally relied on doctrines such as plenary power, the political question doctrine, or the so- called “guardian-ward” relationship. We argue that the Supreme …

Rethinking Federal Judicial Selection, Carl W. Tobias

Law Faculty Publications

The inauguration of President Bill Clinton, who will appoint more than three hundred new federal judges, affords an auspicious occasion for rethinking the process of federal judicial selection. The current federal bench, two-thirds of whose members were appointed by Presidents Ronald Reagan and George Bush, reflects increased conservatism and is quite homogeneous in terms of race, gender, and political perspectives. For instance, President Reagan appointed a dramatically smaller, and President Bush named a substantially lower, percentage of African-Americans than did President Jimmy Carter. The Republican chief executives made these appointments although they had much larger, more experienced, pools of female …