Law Commons^™

Dobbs And The Destabilization Of Clinical Trials, Allison M. Whelan

Vanderbilt Law Review

This Article explores an important yet overlooked collateral consequence of the U.S. Supreme Court’s elimination of the constitutional right to abortion in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization: the destabilization of clinical research. Specifically, this Article focuses on the harms to pregnant persons, persons capable of pregnancy, and persons of color that may transpire as a result of new barriers to clinical research in the aftermath of Dobbs. By hindering clinical research, these new obstacles will exacerbate existing health disparities experienced by these populations, which have historically been excluded from or exploited by the American healthcare and research systems.

This …

The Constitutional Right To Peremptory Challenges In Jury Selection, Richard Lorren Jolly

Vanderbilt Law Review

The peremptory challenge is one of the oldest and most well-established jury selection procedures. Its use dates back to the earliest days of English common law, and it was a firmly established and protected practice at the United States’ founding and into the early twentieth century. But while peremptory challenges are foundational, they remain perhaps the most controversial aspect of jury selection today. This is because they are regularly used by the government and private parties to advance racist, sexist, and bigoted ends. For this reason, over the last three decades, calls to abolish the practice have been regularly made …

The Ordinary Questions Doctrine, Lisa S. Bressman

Vanderbilt Law School Faculty Publications

In Loper Bright Enterprises v. Raimondo, the Supreme Court overruled Chevron as inconsistent with the Administrative Procedure Act ("APA"), which requires courts to decide "all relevant questions of law" and therefore prohibits them from deferring to agency interpretations because the relevant statutory language is ambiguous. A different approach now governs judicial review of the countless routine, often specialized questions of statutory interpretation that agencies answer in the normal course of implementing their statutes-the "ordinary" questions. But Loper Bright did not provide direction on how courts should determine which of these questions are questions of law. This issue arises because many, …

The False Promise Of Rescheduling, Robert A. Mikos

Vanderbilt Law School Faculty Publications

Over the past fifty years, marijuana advocates invested considerable effort trying to reschedule the drug under the Controlled Substances Act (CSA). Multiple times, they pe- titioned the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) to take marijuana off the highly re- strictive Schedule I and move it to one of the statute's less tightly regulated Schedules (II- V) or even deschedule the drug altogether. Along the way, they waged protracted legal battles with the agency over the tests and processes it uses for scheduling decisions. How- ever, advocates had very little to show for all their efforts. The DEA rejected every petition to …

Fragmentation In Global Climate Governance: What Lessons From Covid-19?, Sivan Shlomo Agnon

Vanderbilt Journal of Transnational Law

No abstract provided.

The Scientific Border: Dna Testing For Family Reunification, Alexa Greco

Vanderbilt Journal of Transnational Law

No abstract provided.

Closing The Asylum Gender Gap: Why "Afghan Women" Is A Compelling Particular Social Group, Mackenzie Heinrichs

Vanderbilt Journal of Transnational Law

No abstract provided.

The International Copyright System And Development: The Role Of The World Intellectual Property Organization, Faith O. Majekolagbe

Vanderbilt Journal of Transnational Law

No abstract provided.

Cross-Border Cyber Operations: Targeting Healthcare As Unlawful Intervention In The Affairs Of States, Priya Urs

Vanderbilt Journal of Transnational Law

No abstract provided.

Ultra-Slow Responses To The Ultra-Fast Fashion Problem: Combatting Forced Labor In The Global Apparel Industry With Due Diligence And Customs Regulations, Cameron Watts

Vanderbilt Journal of Transnational Law

No abstract provided.

Painting A Clearer Picture: Introducing New Federal Rule Of Evidence 107 Regulating Illustrative Aids, Daniel J. Capra, Liesa L. Richter

Vanderbilt Law Review

They say a picture is worth a thousand words—and charts, drawings, diagrams, computer animations, and even tangible items are utilized at trial in virtually every case tried in the federal and state court systems. Litigants have come to depend heavily upon such aids to engage visual learners in the jury box and to present a compelling narrative. And the creative use of trial aids has only increased with the rapid technological advancements of recent decades. The ubiquity of such aids notwithstanding, there is no written standard governing their use, no agreed-upon lexicon for describing them, and no set of uniform …

The Power Five: The Making Of Newsworthy Deal Teams, Tracey E. George, Mitu Gulati, Albert H. Yoon

Vanderbilt Law Review En Banc

No abstract provided.

Empowering Diversity Ambition: Brummer And Strine’S Duty And Diversity Makes The Legal And Business Case For Doing More, Doing Good, And Doing Well, Lisa M. Fairfax

Vanderbilt Law Review En Banc

No abstract provided.

The Diversity Risk Paradox, Veronica Root Martinez

Vanderbilt Law Review En Banc

No abstract provided.

A Duty To Diversify, Anat Alon-Beck, Michal Agmon-Gonnen, Darren Rosenblum

Vanderbilt Law Review En Banc

No abstract provided.

Diversity And Reimagining The Internal-External Dichotomy, Elizabeth Pollman

Vanderbilt Law Review En Banc

No abstract provided.

Rationalizing A Spousal Confidential Communications Privilege Fit For The Twenty-First Century, Emily Crawford Sheffield

Vanderbilt Law Review En Banc

No abstract provided.

Deciding Not To Decide: Mahanoy Area School District V. B.L. And The Supreme Court’S Ambivalence Towards Student Speech Rights, Jenny Diamond Cheng

Vanderbilt Law Review En Banc

No abstract provided.

Going Private: Climate Action By Businesses And Individuals, Daniel A. Farber

Vanderbilt Law Review En Banc

No abstract provided.

Patent Prior User Rights: What's The Fuss, Jacob Neu

Vanderbilt Law Review En Banc

No abstract provided.

Viscusi Circular A-4 Peer Review Comments, W. Kip Viscusi

Vanderbilt Law School Faculty Publications

This working paper provides commentary on my 2023 peer review panel comments on the 2023 Office of Management and Budget (OMB) Circular A-4. The Prologue section introduces my official peer review comments and indicates how the structure of my comments was tailored to the guidelines established by the OMB. The main section consists of my 2023 peer review comments as they were submitted to OMB. I recommended changes in the draft Circular A-4 to increase the discount rate from the 1.7% rate that OMB proposed, to report domestic benefits whenever global benefits are reported, to adopt a behavioral transfer test …

Committing To Agency Independence, Nicholas Almendares

Vanderbilt Law Review En Banc

No abstract provided.

Chancery Court Declares Corwin Unavailable To Defend Against Unocal Claim For Injunctive Relief, Robert S. Reder, Kathleen E. Sharkey

Vanderbilt Law School Faculty Publications

In Corwin v. KKR Financial Holdings LLC, 125 A.3d 304 (Del.2015) ("Corwin"), the Delaware Supreme Court ruled that "a fully informed, uncoerced vote of a majority of the company's disinterested stockholders" precludes application of the fact-based enhanced scrutiny standard of review under Revlon, Inc. v. MacAndrews & Forbes Holdings, Inc., 506 A.2d 173 (Del. 1986) ("Revlon"). See In re Edgio, Inc. Shareholders Litigation, C.A. No. 2022-0624, 2023 WL 3167648, at *10 (Del. Ch. May 1, 2023) ("Edgio"). Because application of Corwin "restore[s] business judgment review," alleged breaches of so-called Revlon duties by corporate directors effectively are "cleansed" by a qualifying …

Chancery Court Demonstrates Willingness To Apply Context-Specific Tests In Assessing Challenges To Advance Notice Bylaws, Robert S. Reder, Noah Nance

Vanderbilt Law School Faculty Publications

It is well established," under Delaware law, "that stockholders have a fundamental right to 'vote for the directors that the s[tock]holder[s] want [] to oversee the firm.'" Sternlicht v. Hernandez, 2023 WL 3991642 (Del. Ch. June 14, 2023) ("Sternlicht"). Moreover, "[s]ubsumed within that fundamental right to vote is the right to nom- inate a competing slate." Despite this recognition, the Delaware Gen- eral Corporation Law "is silent as to how a stockholder may propose a nominee for election." Strategic Inv. Opportunities LLC v. Lee Enters., Inc., 2022 WL 453607 (Del. Ch. Feb. 14, 2022) ("Strategic Investment Opportunities"). "[T]o fill this …

The Prohibition Of Annexations And The Foundations Of Modern International Law, Ingrid W. Brunk, Monica Hakimi

Vanderbilt Law School Faculty Publications

The international legal norm that prohibits forcible annexations of territory is foundational to modern international law. It lies at the core of three projects that have been central to the enterprise: (1) to settle title to territory as the basis for establishing state authority; (2) to regulate the use of force across settled borders; and (3) to provide for people within settled borders collectively to determine their own fates. Prohibiting forcible annexations is integral to each of these projects independently, and by tying them together, has had a transformative effect on the legal system as a whole. However, its significance …

The Needless Search For A Founding-Era "Hearsay" Definition, Jeffrey Bellin

Vanderbilt Law School Faculty Publications

Modern Confrontation Clause doctrine permits only unconfronted "out-of-court statements that would have been admissible in a criminal case at the time of the founding." To operationalize this concept, the Supreme Court identifies "testimonial hearsay" as the Clause's primary concern. Its opinions regularly dive into the historical record to refine what counts as "testimonial" but ignore that record in defining "hearsay." This omission cannot last. Cases in the lower courts, and one on the Court's recent docket, concern testimonial but (arguably) non-hearsay statements. And while confrontation jurisprudence is supposed to be tied to founding-era evidence law, the "hearsay" definition, casually referenced …

A "Profoundly Contractarian Predisposition": Delaware Courts Decide Recent Drafting Disputes By Limiting Their Review To Four Corners Of Contracts, Robert S. Reder, Kathleen E. Sharkey

Vanderbilt Law School Faculty Publications

In the decisions discussed herein, both the Delaware Supreme Court ("Supreme Court") and the Delaware Court of Chancery ("Chancery Court") reaffirmed the Delaware judiciary's commitment to honoring contract language, whenever possible, to settle contractual disputes. Absent irreconcilable ambiguity, no coloring outside the lines will be considered. The goal generally is to reflect the intent of the parties while avoiding absurd or illogical results. Ironically, in each of these cases, better drafting could have ensured the parties were on the same page: " In Arwood v. AW Site Services, Vice Chancellor Slights, confirming Delaware's status as "'more contractarian' than most states," …

Societal Implications Of The Dobbs V Jackson Women's Health Organization Decision, Ellen Wright Clayton, Claire D. Brindis Dr., Ph.D., Melissa H. Laitner, Ph.D., Susan C. Scrimshaw, Ph.D., Barbara J. Grosz, Ph.D., Lisa A. Simpson, Md.

Vanderbilt Law School Faculty Publications

On June 24, 2022, the US Supreme Court's decision in Dobbs v Jackson Women's Health Organization marked the removal of the constitutional right to abortion in the USA, introducing a complex ethical and legal landscape for patients and providers. This shift has had immediate health and equity repercussions, but it is also crucial to examine the broader impacts on states, health-care systems, and society as a whole. Restrictions on abortion access extend beyond immediate reproductive care concerns, necessitating a comprehensive understanding of the ruling's consequences across micro and macro levels. To mitigate potential harm, it is imperative to establish a …

Patent Law's Role In Protecting Public Health, Sean B. Seymore

Vanderbilt Law School Faculty Publications

Innumerable inventions implicate public health-including drugs, vac- cines, dietary supplements, and sewage treatment plants. Over the past cen- tury, the Patent Office and the courts have modulated the ability to obtain or enforce patents for these inventions-whether in response to a public health crisis or to protect the credulous public from unscrupulous inventors. While normative and policy-based arguments can justify these interventions, they've disrupted the delicate balance of two competing policy objectives in patent law- enhancing public welfare and promoting innovation. This Article offers a new approach for courts to protect public health in patent cases-by making public health an …

Principles Of Prosecutor Lenience, Jeffrey Bellin

Vanderbilt Law School Faculty Publications

Once "the Darth Vader of academic writing,"' American prosecutors are making a comeback. In recent years, "progressive prosecutors" have leveraged prosecutors' one true superpower-lenience-to "reform the criminal justice system from the inside." There is so much scholarly enthusiasm for this project that the existing commentary can be summarized as offering a one-word principle to govern considerations of prosecutorial lenience: yes. But there is surely more to say. American criminal law covers a broad array of offenses with vast differences in punitiveness across jurisdictions and courts. And even harsh critics of the system's severity tend to pivot when it comes to …