Law Commons^™

Covid-19 Pandemic’S Impact On Online Sex Advertising And Sex Trafficking, Coxen O. Julia, Vanessa Castro, Bridgette Carr, Glen Redin

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Disruptive social events such as the COVID-19 pandemic can have a significant impact on sex trafficking and the working conditions of victims, yet these effects have been little understood. This paper examines the effect of the COVID-19 pandemic on sex trafficking in the United States, based on analysis of over one million sexual service advertisements from the online platform Rubratings.com, using indicators of third-party management as potential proxies for trafficking. Our results show that there have been measurable changes in online commercial sexual service advertising, both with and without third-party management indicators, in the United States, with a significant decrease …

Assessing Visions Of Democracy In Regulatory Policymaking, Shoba Sivaprasad Wadhia, Christopher J. Walker

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Motivated in part by Congress’s failure to legislate, presidents in recent years seem to have turned even more to the regulatory process to make major policy. It is perhaps no coincidence that the feld of administrative law has similarly seen a resurgence of scholarship extolling the virtues of democratic accountability in the modern administrative state. Some scholars have even argued that bureaucracy is as much as if not more democratically legitimate than Congress, either in the aggregative or deliberative sense, or both.

Meeting Clean Energy Goals Will Require The Grid Of The Future, Ken Berlin, Rob Gramlich, Alexandra B. Klass, Josiah Neeley

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The transmission grid is the critical superhighway that connects energy supply and demand. But our grid was designed for the power plants of the past—not for the diverse range of resources and technologies of our clean energy future. Over 70 percent of the nation’s transmission infrastructure is more than 25 years old, and in many areas of the country constraints have already been an impediment to renewable power. To meet greenhouse gas reduction goals, we will need to expand electric transmission systems by 60 percent by 2030 and possibly triple the capacity of these systems by 2050. The Infl ation …

Reducing Prejudice Through Law: Evidence From Experimental Psychology, Sara Emily Burke, Roseanna Sommers

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Can antidiscrimination law effect changes in public attitudes toward minority groups? Could learning, for instance, that employment discrimination against people with clinical depression is legally prohibited cause members of the public to be more accepting toward people with mental health conditions? In this Article, we report the results of a series of experiments that test the effect of inducing the belief that discrimination against a given group is legal (versus illegal) on interpersonal attitudes toward members of that group. We find that learning that discrimination is unlawful does not simply lead people to believe that an employer is more likely …

The Impact Of The Covid-19 Pandemic On First-Generation Women Test-Takers: Magnifying Adversities, Stress, And Consequences For Bar Exam Performance., Freiburger Erin, Victor D. Quintanilla, Kurt Hugenberg, Sam Erman, Nedim Yel, Anita Kim, Mary C. Murphy

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By magnifying gender- and socioeconomic status-based inequalities, the COVID-19 pandemic caused stress and disrupted career progress for professional students. The present work investigated the impact of pandemic-related stress and prevailing barriers on structurally disadvantaged women preparing for a high-stakes professional exam. In Study 1, we found that among US law students preparing for the October 2020 California Bar Exam—the professional exam that enables one to become a practicing attorney in California—first-generation women reported the greatest stress from pandemic-related burdens and underperformed on the exam relative to others overall, and particularly compared to continuing-generation women. This underperformance was explained by pandemic-related …

Exclusion Cycles: Reinforcing Disparities In Medicine, Ana Bracic, Shawneequa L. Callier, Nicholson Price

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Minoritized populations face exclusion across contexts from politics to welfare to medicine. In medicine, exclusion manifests in substantial disparities in practice and in outcome. While these disparities arise from many sources, the interaction between institutions, dominant-group behaviors, and minoritized responses shape the overall pattern and are key to improving it. We apply the theory of exclusion cycles to medical practice, the collection of medical big data, and the development of artificial intelligence in medicine. These cycles are both self-reinforcing and other-reinforcing, leading to dismayingly persistent exclusion. The interactions between such cycles offer lessons and prescriptions for effective policy.

Regulating For Energy Justice, Alexandra B. Klass, Gabriel Chan

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In this Article, we explore and critique the foundational norms that shape federal and state energy regulation and suggest pathways for reform that can incorporate principles of “energy justice.” These energy justice principles—developed in academic scholarship and social movements—include the equitable distribution of costs and benefits of the energy system, equitable participation and representation in energy decision making, and restorative justice for structurally marginalized groups.

While new legislation, particularly at the state level, is critical to the effort to advance energy justice, our focus here is on regulators’ ability to implement reforms now using their existing authority to advance the …

Not A Suicide Pact: Urgent Strategic Recommendations For Reducing Domestic Terrorism In The United States, Barbara L. Mcquade

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America’s Bill of Rights protects U.S. citizens’ rights to free speech, to bear arms, and to be free from unreasonable searches and seizures, among other things. But, as the Supreme Court has consistently held, no right is absolute. All rights must be balanced against other societal needs, including and especially public safety. As the threat of domestic terrorism metastasizes in the United States, Americans need to use the practical wisdom that Justice Robert L. Jackson advised in 1949 to ensure the survival of the republic.

In recognition of this growing threat, the Biden administration issued the nation’s first National Strategy …

A Congressional Review Act For The Major Questions Doctrine, Christopher J. Walker

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Last Term, the Supreme Court recognized a new major questions doctrine, which requires Congress to provide clear statutory authorization for an agency to regulate on a question of great economic or political significance. This new substantive canon of statutory interpretation will be invoked in court challenges to federal agency actions across the country, and it will no doubt spark considerable scholarly attention. This Essay does not wade into those doctrinal or theoretical debates. Instead, it suggests one way Congress could respond: by enacting a Congressional Review Act for the major questions doctrine. In other words, Congress could establish a fast-track …

Financial Toxicity During Breast Cancer Treatment: A Qualitative Analysis To Inform Strategies For Mitigation, Laila A. Gharzai, Kerry A. Ryan, Lauren Szczygiel, Susan Goold, Grace Li Smith, Sarah T. Hawley, John A.E. Pottow, Reshma Jagsi

Articles

Financial toxicity from cancer treatment is a growing concern. Its impact on patients requires refining our understanding of this phenomenon. We sought to characterize patients' experiences of financial toxicity in the context of an established framework to identify knowledge gaps and strategies for mitigation. Semistructured interviews with patients with breast cancer who received financial aid from a philanthropic organization during treatment were conducted from February to May 2020. Interviews were transcribed and coded until thematic saturation was reached, and findings were contextualized within an existing financial toxicity framework. Thirty-two patients were interviewed, of whom 58% were non-Hispanic White. The mean …

Why Are You Here? Modeling Illicit Massage Business Location Characteristics With Machine Learning, Anna White, Seth Guikema, Bridgette Carr

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Illicit massage businesses are a venue for sex and labor trafficking in the United States. Though many of their locations are made publicly available through online advertising, little is known about why they choose to locate where they do. In this work, we use inferential modeling to better understand the spatial distribution of illicit massage businesses within the U.S. Based on addresses web-scraped weekly from online advertisements over 6 months, we modeled illicit massage business prevalence at the census tract and county levels. We used publicly available data to characterize census tracts and counties, finding that the state in which …

What's Left Of The Affordable Care Act?, Helen Levy, Andrew Ying, Nicholas Bagley

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We assess the progress of the Affordable Care Act a decade after it became law. Although most of it remains intact, some parts have been repealed and others have not been implemented as expected. We review how and why the law has aged. Legal challenges have done less damage than is commonly appreciated, with the exception of the Supreme Court case that thwarted full expansion of Medicaid. Most of the important changes have other sources. Some parts were born to fail. Others were dismantled in response to interest-group pressure. Still others have failed to thrive for any number of reasons. …

Commonsense Consent, Roseanna Sommers

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Consent is a bedrock principle in democratic society and a primary means through which our law expresses its commitment to individual liberty. While there seems to be broad consensus that consent is important, little is known about what people think consent is. This Article undertakes an empirical investigation of people’s ordinary intuitions about when consent has been granted. Using techniques from moral psychology and experimental philosophy, it advances the core claim that most laypeople think consent is compatible with fraud, contradicting prevailing normative theories of consent. This empirical phenomenon is observed across over two dozen scenariosspanning numerous contexts in which …

The Coronavirus And The Risks To The Elderly In Long-Term Care, William Gardner, David States, Nicholas Bagley

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The elderly in long-term care (LTC) and their caregiving staff are at elevated risk from COVID-19. Outbreaks in LTC facilities can threaten the health care system. COVID-19 suppression should focus on testing and infection control at LTC facilities. Policies should also be developed to ensure that LTC facilities remain adequately staffed and that infection control protocols are closely followed. Family will not be able to visit LTC facilities, increasing isolation and vulnerability to abuse and neglect. To protect residents and staff, supervision of LTC facilities should remain a priority during the pandemic.

Financing The World Health Organization: What Lessons For Multilateralism?, Kristina Daugirdas, Gian Luca Burci

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When it comes to financing the work of international organizations, voluntary contributions from both state and nonstate actors are growing in size and importance. The World Health Organization (WHO) is an extreme case from this perspective, with voluntary contributions - mostly earmarked for particular purposes - comprising more than 80 percent of its funds. Moreover, nonstate actors are by now supplying almost half of WHO’s funds, with the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation ranking as the second-highest contributor after the United States. A number of public-health and international relations scholars have expressed alarm over these trends, arguing that heavy reliance …

International Law And Political Philosophy: Uncovering New Linkages, Steven R. Ratner

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The legal regime regulating cross-border investment gives key rights to foreign investors and places significant duties on states hosting that investment. It also raises distinctive moral questions due to its potential to constrain a state’s ability to manage its economy and protect its people. Yet international investment law remains virtually untouched as a subject of philosophical inquiry. The questions of international political morality surrounding investment rules can be mapped through the lens of two critiques of the law – that it systemically takes advantage of the global South and that it constrains the policy choices of states hosting investment. Each …

Introduction, Shari S. Diamond, Richard O. Lempert

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Experts bedeviled the legal system long before seventeenth-century Salem, when the town's good citizens relied on youthful accusers and witchcraft experts to identify the devil's servants in their midst. As in Salem, claims of expertise have often been questioned and objections raised about the bases of expert knowledge. Expertise, then and now, did not have to be based on science; but the importance of science and the testimony of scientific experts has since medieval times been woven into the fabric of the English jurisprudence that Americans inherited. In cases as long ago as 1299 we find examples of courts seeking …

Are Trump's Attacks On The Media Adversely Affecting Public Opinion?, Leonard M. Niehoff

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Both during the election cycle and as president of the United States, Donald Trump has enthusiastically and aggressively attacked the media. On Twitter, in speeches, and at rallies he has repeatedly deployed his favorite “f words” against mainstream broadcast, print, and online news sources: “fake,” “fraudulent,” “failing,” and (phonetically) “phony.” Some attacks have been personal to individual journalists, some have been more institutionally focused, and some have been made in contexts that appeared to create physical risk to reporters who were present. But whatever the variation in lavors, the frequency of the attacks has remained constant. Indeed, Trump has devoted …

Multinational Firms And Tax Havens, Anna Gumpert, James R. Hines Jr., Monika Schnitzer

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Multinational firms with operations in high-tax countries can benefit the most from reallocating taxable income to tax havens, though this is sufficiently difficult and costly that only 20.4% of German multinational firms have any tax haven affiliates. Among German manufacturing firms, a 1 percentage point higher foreign tax rate is associated with a 2.3% greater likelihood of owning a tax haven affiliate. This is consistent with tax avoidance incentives and contrasts with earlier evidence for U.S. firms. The relationship is less strong for firms in service industries, possibly reflecting the difficulty of reallocating taxable service income.

Sources Of Information On The Trans-Pacific Partnership, Barbara H. Garavaglia

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The Trans-Pacific Partnership Agreement (TPP) is a free trade agreement between 12 countries in the Asia Pacific region: Australia, Brunei Darussalam, Canada, Chile, Japan, Malaysia, Mexico, New Zealand, Peru, Singapore, the United States, and Vietnam. The agreement, signed by the U.S. and other participating countries in Auckland, New Zealand on February 4, 2016, “promotes economic integration to liberalise trade and investment” and “bring economic growth” to the region and participating countries. One reason for the sense of uncertainty, unease, and concern surrounding free trade agreements in general and the TPP in particular is that the negotiations are not public and …

Potential Responses To The Melendez-Diaz Line Of Cases, Richard D. Friedman

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Criminal prosecution is increasingly dependent on proof of the results of forensic laboratory tests. They are used, for example, to prove that a given substance contains cocaine; the prove what a driver’s blood alcohol content was; and to demonstrate that the DNA profile of some substance found at the crime scene matches that of the accused.

In Melendez-Diaz v. Massachusetts, 129 S.Ct. 2527 (2009), the United States Supreme Court resolved a question that had divided the lower courts in the wake of Crawford v. Washington, 541 U.S. 36 (2004). The Melendez-Diaz Court held by a 5-4 vote that forensic laboratory …

Searching For Effective And Constitutional Responses To Homegrown Terrorists, Barbara L. Mcquade

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Thank you, Brad, and thank you to the Law Review for inviting me here today. Protecting national security while honoring civil liberties is the greatest challenge of our generation. As a prosecutor, I am charged with protecting national security, and I understand the importance of protecting the public from acts of terrorism. But prosecutors are also sworn to uphold the Constitution. In fact, at the U.S. Attorney's Office, we are also charged with prosecuting violations of civil rights. So in every case, we understand how important it is to protect people's constitutional rights, such as First Amendment rights to free …

A Response To The Durham Statement Two Years Later, Margaret A. Leary

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This response to The Durham Statement Two Years Later, published in the Winter 2011 issue of Law Library Journal, addresses that article's call for an end to print publication of law journals and its failure to sufficiently consider the national and international actors and developments that will determine the future of digital libraries.

Discovering William Cook: Ten Sources For Reconstructing The Life Of A Lawyer, Margaret A. Leary

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Ms. Leary uses a case study to describe ten categories of resources for reconstructing a Manhattan lawyer's life. These resources answer questions about his law practice, scholarship, personal life, personality, values, and philanthropy. The case study uses today's resources to look far back into the details of the life of William W. Cook, who gave his fortune to the University of Michigan Law School.

Empirical Research For Public Policy: With Examples From Family Law, Richard O. Lempert

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Perhaps more than in any other field, legal scholarship has aimed directly at influencing public policy. Hence, it is not surprising that empirical scholarship on law related issues often seems to have an agenda that extends beyond the common social science goals of adding to our knowledge base and understanding of human behavior to suggesting to policy makers and practitioners legal and administrative changes that will ameliorate problems they confront and, by the researcher’s lights, make this a better world in which to live.

Building A Home For The Laws Of The World: Part Ii: Hoping, Hunting, And Honing, Margaret A. Leary

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The following feature is the second, concluding portion of the edited version of "Building a Foreign Law Collection at the University of Michigan Law Library, 1910-1960,"© Margaret A. Leary, 2002, which originally appeared at 94 Law Library Journal 395-425 (2002), and appears here with permission of the author. The first part of the article (46.2 Law Quadrangle Notes 46-53 [Summer 2003] detailed how the vision of Dean Henry Bates, generosity of graduate William W. cook, and skills of librarian/traveler/negotiator Hobart Coffey combined to launch the building of the Law Library's international collection into one of the best in the world.

Building A Home For The Laws Of The World: Part 1: Bates, Cook, And Coffey, Margaret A. Leary

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The following feature is an edited version of "Building a Foreign Law Collection at the University of Michigan Law Library, 1910-1960."© Margaret A. Leary, 2002, which originally appeared at 94 Law Library Journal 395-425 (2002), and appears here with permission of the author. The first part of the article appears here; the conclusion will appear in the next issue of Law Quadrangle Notes.

Why Theories Of Law Have Little Or Nothing To Do With Judicial Restraint, Philip E. Soper

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The question I explore here, stated in its broadest form, is this: What is the connection between theory and practice between academic claims about how judges should decide cases and the actual behavior of judges as revealed in the opinions they write? More particularly, do theories about the nature of law have any implications for the question whether a judge should adopt an "activist" or a "restrained" approach to deciding cases? As you might infer from my title, I defend here what I call "the skeptical thesis" in answer to both the general and particular questions. Judges pay little or …

'A Time To Build' - William W. Cook And His Architects: Edward York And Philip Sawyer, Margaret A. Leary

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The following narrative outlines the role of donor William W. cook and the architects who built the Law Quadrangle 70 years ago. The report is excerpted and adapted from 94 Law Library Journal 395-425 (2002-26). The author is director of the University of Michigan Law School's Law Library.

Sex, Gender, And September 11, Hilary Charlesworth, Christine M. Chinkin

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The October 2001 issue of the American Journal ofInternational Law contained several editorials on the international law implications of the hijackings of September 11, 2001, and their aftermath.' In one respect these editorials resemble other writings on these events in academic and popular media: questions of sex and gender are largely overlooked.' In our view, however, concepts of sex and gender provide a valuable perspective on these devastating actions.' We use the term "sex" here to refer to issues about women as distinct biological beings from men, and the term "gender" to encompass social understandings of femininity and masculinity. Although …