Law Commons^™

Religious Liberties: The International Religious Freedom Act, Richard W. Garnett, Thomas F. Farr, T. Jeremy Gunn, William L. Saunders

Journal Articles

MR. SAUNDERS: Welcome to this panel, put on by the Religious Liberties Practice Group. Any of you who would like to join that Practice Group, you are cordially invited to do so. Welcome to the Federalist Society Annual Convention. My name is Bill Saunders. I am a Senior Fellow at the Family Research Council, and I am the Chairman of the Religious Liberties Practice Group at the Federalist Society.

Our aim today is: to talk about religious freedom, to talk about whether it should be an aspect of U.S. foreign policy, how best to make it so if you believe …

Taking Strickland Claims Seriously, Stephen F. Smith

Journal Articles

Every criminal defendant is promised the right to the effective assistance of counsel. Whether at trial or first appeal of right, due process is violated when attorney negligence undermines the fairness and reliability of judicial proceedings. That, at least, is the black-letter law articulated in Strickland v. Washington, 466 U.S. 688 (1984). In practice, however, the right to effective representation has meant surprisingly little over the last two decades. Under the standards that emerged from Strickland, scores of defendants have received prison or death sentences by virtue of serious unprofessional errors committed by their attorneys.

This Essay canvasses a line …

The Securities Laws And The Mechanics Of Legal Change, Barry Cushman

Journal Articles

This essay, prepared for the Virginia Law Review symposium marking the 75th anniversary of the Securities Exchange Commission, explores the mechanisms through which the Roosevelt Administration secured the Supreme Court's approval of various features of the New Deal's securities law program.

An Alternate Approach To Channeling?, Mark P. Mckenna

Journal Articles

Intellectual property law has developed a variety of doctrines to police the boundaries between various forms of protection. Courts and scholars alike overwhelmingly conceive of these doctrines in terms of the nature of the objects of protection. The functionality doctrine in trademark law, for example, defines the boundary between trademark and patent law by identifying and refusing trademark protection to features that play a functional role in a product’s performance. Likewise, the useful article doctrine works at the boundary of copyright and patent law to identify elements of an article’s design that are dictated by function and to channel protection …

International Human Rights Law And Security Detention, Douglass Cassel

Journal Articles

This article analyzes the grounds, procedures, and conditions required by International Human Rights Law for preventive detention of suspected terrorists as threats to security. Such detention is generally permitted, provided it is based on grounds and procedures previously established by law; is not arbitrary, discriminatory, or disproportionate; is publicly registered and subject to fair and effective judicial review; and the detainee is not mistreated and is compensated for any unlawful detention. In Europe, however, preventive detention for security purposes is generally not permitted. If allowed at all, it is permitted only when a State in time of national emergency formally …

Judicial Review, Local Values, And Pluralism, Richard W. Garnett

Journal Articles

At the Federalist Society's 2008 National Student Symposium, a panel of scholars was asked to consider the question, does pervasive judicial review threaten to destroy local identity by homogenizing community norms? The answer to this question is yes, pervasive judicial review certainly does threaten local identity, because such review can homogenize[e] community norms, either by dragging them into conformity with national, constitutional standards or (more controversially) by subordinating them to the reviewers' own commitments. It is important to recall, however, that while it is true that an important feature of our federalism is local variation in laws and values, it …

Religious Freedom, Church Autonomy, And Constitutionalism, Richard W. Garnett

Journal Articles

Our topic at this symposium is "religion, the state, and constitutionalism"-not "the Constitution," or "the First Amendment," but "constitutionalism." Countless conferences, cases, books, and articles have wrestled with one version or another of the question, "how does our Constitution, with its First Amendment and its religion clauses, promote, protect, or perhaps restrain religion?" We are considering, it seems to me, a question that is different, and that is different in interesting and important ways: What are connections between religion and religious freedom, on the one hand, and constitutionalism, on the other?

Proportional Mens Rea, Stephen F. Smith

Journal Articles

This Essay makes the case for "proportional mens rea," a proportionality-based approach to mens rea selection. Proportional mens rea would provide proportionality safeguards that are otherwise entirely lacking in substantive criminal law and,as a practical matter, unavailable in constitutional law. Creating implied mens rea requirements, where necessary to ensure proportional punishment, is not a judicial usurpation of a legislative function. Rather, it is to take seriously the role that courts play, under both constitutional and substantive criminal law, to ensure that punishment "fits" the crime. Moreover, proportional mens rea would represent a needed counterweight to prosecutorial behavior whereas current doctrine …

Reinsurance: The Silent Regulator?, Aviva Abramovsky

Journal Articles

No abstract provided.

Cops, Robbers, And Search Engines: The Questionable Role Of Criminal Law In Contributory Infringement Doctrine, Mark Bartholomew

Journal Articles

Online technologies have created a new litigation locus for intellectual property rights holders, one that targets intermediaries, not direct infringers. This unprecedented litigation strategy has put sudden pressure on the courts to evaluate the liability of indirect infringers. Without a developed body of precedent at their disposal, judges have resorted to analogies from the criminal law of accomplice liability to set the boundaries of contributory infringement. Does it make sense for intellectual property regulation to depend on the same principles that animate criminal law? This Article maintains that it would be a mistake to remake contributory infringement law in criminal …

Loo Law: The Public Washroom As A Hyper-Regulated Space, Irus Braverman

Journal Articles

The article suggests that the public washroom is the most regulated of all public spaces, at least in the United States. It offers several possible explanations for this hyper-juridical attention. First and foremost, the article argues, such hyper-regulation of the public washroom has to do with the sanitary and moral significance of this space. Secondly, the intensity of washroom regulation is due to its ambiguous public/private properties. Finally, the intense regulation of the public washroom is the result of physio-anatomical functions performed in it. Utilizing the State of New York as a lens through which to observe the various issues …

Follow The Money: Federal, State, And Local Funding Strategies For Child Welfare Services And The Impact Of Local Levies On Adoptions In Ohio, Susan V. Mangold, Catherine Cerulli

Journal Articles

No abstract provided.

The Idea Of Pollution, John C. Nagle

Journal Articles

Pollution is the primary target of environmental law. During the past forty years, hundreds of federal and state statutes, administrative regulations, and international treaties have established multiple approaches to addressing pollution of the air, water, and land. Yet the law still struggles to identify precisely what constitutes pollution, how much of it is tolerable, and what we should do about it.

But environmental pollution is hardly the only type of pollution. Historically, the idea of pollution referred to a host of effects upon human environments. This remains evident in contemporary anthropological literature, which studies the pollution beliefs of cultures throughout …

Standing, Spending, And Separation: How The No-Establishment Rule Does (And Does Not) Protect Conscience, Richard W. Garnett

Journal Articles

The First Amendment’s “Establishment Clause” is widely thought to protect “conscience.” Does it? If so, how? It is proposed in this paper that the no-establishment rule does indeed promote and protect religious liberty, and does safeguard conscience, but not (or, at least, not only) in the way most people think it does, namely, by sparing those who object from the asserted injury to their conscience caused by public funding of religious activity.

The Supreme Court’s decision in Hein v. Freedom from Religion Foundation - a case in which the Justices limited taxpayer standing to bring Establishment Clause claims - reminds …

Does "Proceeds" Really Mean "Net Profits"? The Supreme Court's Efforts To Diminish The Utility Of The Federal Money Laundering Statute, Jimmy Gurule

Journal Articles

The Supreme Court’s decision in United States v. Santos is severely hampers the fight against drug traffickers, terrorists, mobsters and white collar criminals. It restricts the scope of the money laundering statute, defining the term “proceeds” in it as net profits, not gross receipts from unlawful activity. This imposes an unreasonable and unwarranted burden on prosecutors to prove net criminal profits, money acquired beyond the defendant’s overhead expenses from unlawful activities. The court’s holding also restricts other provisions of the money laundering statute, such as the concealment theory of money laundering, and it creates confusion over whether the Court’s restrictive …

The Federal Common Law Of Nations, Anthony J. Bellia, Bradford R. Clark

Journal Articles

Courts and scholars have vigorously debated the proper role of customary international law in American courts: To what extent should it be considered federal common law, state law, or general law? The debate has reached something of an impasse, in part because various positions rely on, but also are in tension with, historical practice and constitutional structure. This Article describes the role that the law of nations actually has played throughout American history. In keeping with the original constitutional design, federal courts for much of that history enforced certain rules respecting other nations' perfect rights (or close analogues) under the …

A Most Interesting Part Of Baseball's Monetary Structure - Salary Arbitration In Its Thirty-Fifth Year, Ed Edmonds

Journal Articles

This article explores the history and evolution of baseball's arbitration system, focusing on players with arbitration eligibility in 2009. The article also explores teams' use of the "file-and-go" strategy.

Rethinking Adequacy Of Representation, Jay Tidmarsh

Journal Articles

This article questions the usefulness of traditional tests for adequacy of representation in class action proceedings. When determining whether to certify a class, courts have sought to avoid endorsing those classes marred by conflicting interests or the possibility of collusion. Yet, such conflicts of interest are an intrinsic characteristic of class actions, stemming from the very policy rationales that have prompted the judiciary to allow litigation by classes. As a result, the current doctrine of adequate representation has left the courts without a bright-line rule; instead, the courts' inquiries into adequacy of representation must focus primarily on the degree of …

The Limits Of Administrative Guidance In The Interpretation Of Tax Treaties, Michael Kirsch

Journal Articles

This Article addresses the increasingly important role of administrative guidance in interpreting the United States' international treaty obligations. The relationship between administrative guidance and treaties raises important issues at the intersection of international law, constitutional law, and administrative law. These issues are explored in the context of the United States' extensive tax treaty network. Tax treaties play an important role in a global economy, attempting to reconcile the complex and ever-changing internal tax laws of different countries. The Treasury Department is considering the increased use of administrative guidance to interpret the meaning and application of tax treaties, particularly in response …

"But For The Grace Of God There Go I": Justice Thomas And The Little Guy, Nicole Stelle Garnett

Journal Articles

This Essay, prepared for a NYU Journal of Law and Liberty symposium on “The Unknown Justice Thomas,” challenges the oft-repeated criticism that Justice Clarence Thomas’s opinions reflect a lack of empathy for the less fortunate. The Essay argues that, on the contrary, Justice Thomas’s opinions are replete with expressions of concern for the “little guy,” which are frequently overlooked or misinterpreted. The Essay explores three themes reflecting this concern in Thomas’s opinions.

Politics At The Pulpit: Tax Benefits, Substantial Burdens, And Institutional Free Exercise, Lloyd Hitoshi Mayer

Journal Articles

More than fifty years ago, Congress enacted a prohibition against political campaign intervention for all charities, including churches and other houses of worship, as a condition for receiving tax deductible contributions. Yet the IRS has never taken a house of worship to court for alleged violation of the prohibition through political comments from the pulpit, presumably at least in part because of concerns about the constitutionality of doing so. This decision is surprising, because a careful review of Free Exercise Clause case law - both before and after the landmark Employment Division v. Smith decision - reveals that the prohibition …

Does Free Exercise Of Religion Deserve Constitutional Mention?, John M. Finnis

Journal Articles

The article discusses the inclusion of the free exercise of religion among a society's constitutional guarantees in the U.S. It cites Christopher Eisgruber and Lawrence Sager, authors of the book "Religious Freedom and the Constitution," who hold that religion does not deserve constitutional mention on account of any special value. It disputes this view and states that religion does deserve constitutional mention and that the constitution should protect a citizen's right to practice his or her religion.

Honduras: Coup D’Etat In Constitutional Clothing?, Douglass Cassel

Journal Articles

Legal confusion has clouded the recent de facto change of government in Honduras. Some of this arises from the passionate political debate over President Manuel Zelaya and his de facto removal. Without entering that debate, this analysis addresses only questions of international law and related questions of law.

Despite the condemnation of the coup d’état by the United Nations, the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights, and the OAS, and by many governments including the United States, and despite suspension of Honduras from receipt of U.S. and European aid, and from participation in the OAS, diplomatic efforts to return President Zelaya …

A Modern Legal Ethics: Adversary Advocacy In A Democratic Age, Robert E. Rodes

Journal Articles

Professor Markovits has given us in A Modern Legal Ethics a profound, provocative, and closely argued philosophical treatment of his subject. He begins by asserting "that adversary advocates commonly do, and indeed are often required to do, things in their professional capacities, which, if done by ordinary people in ordinary circumstances, would be straightforwardly immoral" (1). Noting that lawyers commonly take issue with such a claim, he sets out to prove it in a chapter called "The Lawyerly Vices," divided into two sections: "Lawyers Lie," and "Lawyers Cheat." Against these, he sets the "lawyerly virtues" of "professional detachment" and "fidelity."

Introduction: Unsettling Questions, Disquieting Stories, Mae Kuykendall, David A. Westbrook

Journal Articles

The Business Law and Narrative Symposium, held at Michigan State University on September 10-11, 2009, brought together nationally known legal scholars, and scholars from other disciplines, to discuss whether and how the institution of the corporation was embedded in social narratives, public stories. This introductory essay reviews the responses of these scholars to the thesis of Kuykendall's article, No Imagination: The Marginal Role of Narrative in Corporate Law. The authors conclude with a hope that corporate law might offer a more literary sensibility by which to make our lives in global capitalism more comprehensible.