Law Commons^™

Reforming The Law Of Reputation, Frank Pasquale

Loyola University Chicago Law Journal

No abstract provided.

United States Ex Rel. Leveski V. Itt Educational Services, Inc.: The Seventh Circuit Reinvigorates The False Claims Act To Combat Recruiting Abuses By For-Profit Schools, Mark I. Labaton

Loyola University Chicago Law Journal

The False Claims Act (“FCA”) is the government’s primary tool in combatting procurement fraud. It allows the United States to litigate cases alleging fraudulent claims against governmental entities, and also allows whistleblowers (called relators) to bring such cases, litigate them on behalf of the government, and collect a share of the proceeds. The viability of the FCA depends on its ability to encourage whistleblowers to come forward and report fraud committed by contractors with the government. One limitation on whistleblowers’ ability to litigate FCA cases is the so-called public-disclosure bar, which bars claims that have been publicly exposed.1 This bar …

Planning Past Pensions, Julie Roin

Loyola University Chicago Law Journal

Evidence of state and local government dysfunction surfaces in many areas. One is the operation of employee pension plans. Free from the strictures of the Employee Retirement Income Security Act (“ERISA”), some state governments failed to adequately fund their pension promises. With the imminent retirement of the baby boom generation, these states are facing what appear to be insurmountable pension debts. Illinois is one of the worst hit states, with grossly underfunded pension plans, a state constitutional prohibition on reducing pension benefits, and a sizable non-pension-related budget deficit. Illinois courts will likely strike down recently passed pension “reforms.” There are …

Mixing Oil & Water: Why Child-Custody Evaluations Are Not Meshing With The Best Interest Of The Child, Bari L. Nathan

Loyola University Chicago Law Journal

The Illinois Marriage and Dissolution of Marriage Act provides the statutory requirements for marriage and dissolution of marriage in Illinois. Section 604(b) gives courts the discretion to appoint an evaluator in order to aid in the determination of child custody by evaluating the relevant parties and writing a report. If and when these 604(b) evaluators are appointed, there are virtually no guidelines that set forth what they may or may not do in the course of their evaluations. As a result of this lack of guidelines, 604(b) evaluators often employ clinical assessment instruments (i.e., psychological tests that assess clinical constructs …

Weighing Down The Cloud: The Public Performance Right And The Internet After Aereo, Samuel J. Dykstra

Loyola University Chicago Law Journal

In American Broadcasting Companies, Inc. v. Aereo, Inc., the Supreme Court concluded that Aereo’s streaming of broadcast television programs over the Internet to its subscribers was an infringing public performance under the Copyright Act of 1976 (“Copyright Act”). The Court interpreted the “Transmit Clause” of the Copyright Act to mean that when determining whether a performance created by a transmission is to “the public” the relevant audience is not that of a particular transmission, but of the work being transmitted. Thus, it did not matter that Aereo operated by creating unique copies and via separate transmissions available to only one …

Gearing Up For The Next Industrial Revolution: 3d Printing, Home-Based Factories, And Modes Of Social Control, Elizabeth J. Kennedy, Andrea Giampetro-Meyer

Loyola University Chicago Law Journal

While former industrial factories are being converted into modern living spaces in cities across the country, residential homes are being converted into modern factories thanks to advances in three-dimensional (“3D”) printing technology, an emerging “Maker Movement,” and the rise of online marketplaces like Etsy. Despite growing environmental, child-labor, and safety concerns, these “home-based factories” are largely unregulated. In the absence of traditional workplace protections, how can we gear up for the “next industrial revolution” while guarding against the sweatshop conditions of the last? How can we harness the Maker Movement’s commitment to do-it-yourself democracy in order to combat abuses by …

Grand Chapter, Order Of The Eastern Star Of The State Of Illinois V. Topinka: Court Upholds, But Suggests Change In, Bed Tax Law, Anton Dirnberger Ii, John Harig

Loyola University Chicago Law Journal

No abstract provided.

Department Of Homeland Security V. Maclean: What Law Is And Who Makes It, Kristine A. Bergman, Joseph Weishampel

Loyola University Chicago Law Journal

No abstract provided.

Just Because It's Legal Doesn't Mean You Can Do It: The Legality Of Employee Eavesdropping And Illinois Workplace Recording Policies, Michael J. Gibson

Loyola University Chicago Law Journal

In March 2014, in People v. Clark and People v. Melongo the Illinois Supreme Court held unconstitutional a large portion of the Illinois Eavesdropping Act (“IEA”), one of the nation’s strictest criminal eavesdropping statutes. However, on December 30, 2014, outgoing Governor Pat Quinn signed into law a new eavesdropping statute remedying what Clark and Melongo deemed unconstitutional. Prior to 2014, under the IEA, if employers caught employees recording conversations at work, the employer hardly needed a justification for employee discipline or discharge: the employee was violating the law. Thus, Clark, Melongo, and the December changes to the IEA raise questions …

Holt V. Hobbs: Rluipa Requires Religious Exception To Prison's Beard Ban, Jonathan J. Sheffield, Alex S. Moe, Spencer K. Lickteig

Loyola University Chicago Law Journal

No abstract provided.

Evidence Of A Third Party's Guilt Of The Crime That The Accused Is Charged With: The Constitutionalization Of The Soddi (Some Other Dude Did It) Defense 2.0, Edward J. Imwinkelried

Loyola University Chicago Law Journal

No abstract provided.

The Statement And Account Clause As A National Security Freedom Of Information Act, Lawrence Rosenthal

Loyola University Chicago Law Journal

The amount of the aggregate annual appropriations for the civilian and military intelligence programs is the only aspect of intelligence spending that is publicly disclosed. As a consequence, a great deal of information about how public funds are spent remains secret, potentially insulating from ordinary processes of political accountability not only waste, inefficiency, and abuse, but also what the public may regard as unwarranted intrusions on its privacy. This Article offers a constitutional vehicle for greater transparency—the Constitution’s Statement and Account Clause, which provides that “a regular Statement and Account of the Receipts and Expenditures of all public Money shall …

Defamation And The Government Employee: Redefining Who Constitutes A Public Official, Jeffrey Omar Usman

Loyola University Chicago Law Journal

No abstract provided.

Privileged Access To Financial Innovation, Cary Martin Shelby

Loyola University Chicago Law Journal

Access to private funds is limited to an elite class of investors—wealthy individuals and large institutions. Individuals of more modest means—“retail investors”—face more limited investment choices; generally they can only invest in mutual funds. Despite this inequitable division, the current regulatory climate will lead to an even further expansion of the private fund industry. This Article argues that this loosening regulatory climate could lead to a talent drain amongst registered funds, could narrow the investment choices available to retail investors, and could deepen the already troubling income gap between wealthy and average earners. With respect to a possible talent drain, …

Introduction To Issue 2

Loyola University Chicago Law Journal

No abstract provided.

All Life Is An Experiment: (Sometimes It Is A Controlled Experiment), Jane R. Bambauer

Loyola University Chicago Law Journal

No abstract provided.

Exploration And Exploitation: An Essay On (Machine) Learning, Algorithms, And Information Provision, Deven Desai

Loyola University Chicago Law Journal

Legal and regulatory understandings of information provision miss the importance of the exploration-exploitation dynamic. This Essay argues that is a mistake and seeks to bring this perspective to the debate about information provision and competition. A general, ongoing problem for an individual or an organization is whether to stay with a familiar solution to a problem or try new options that may yield better results. Work in organizational learning describes this problem as the exploration-exploitation dilemma. Understanding and addressing that dilemma has become a key part of an algorithmic approach to computation, machine learning, as it is applied to information …

The Case That Won't Be Forgotten, Julia Powles

Loyola University Chicago Law Journal

In May 2014, Europe’s highest court planted a flag in the digital rights desert, declaring that individuals have limited, conditional rights against search engines. Popularized as the “right to be forgotten,” the case affirmed a right to data delisting. Specifically, European law provides a right to correct or block personal information from appearing on name searches if that information has lost its timeliness, relevance, or accuracy, and if it holds no public interest.

The European case has inspired a tremendous and vigorous public debate, marked by the general sentiment that it represents a worrying development for the Internet. Yet, the …

The Lanham Act's Wonderful Complement To The Fdca: Pom Wonderful V.Coca-Cola Enhances Protection Against Misleading Labeling Through Integrated Regulation, Jennifer Thurswell Radis

Loyola University Chicago Law Journal

POM Wonderful sued Coca-Cola under the Lanham Act claiming that it suffered losses due to the misleading label on Coca-Cola’s Minute Maid brand’s Pomegranate Blueberry juice blend. Reversing the Ninth Circuit’s decision in June 2014, the Supreme Court found that POM’s claim was not precluded even though the label was regulated by the FDCA. In fact, the Court acknowledged the complementary nature of private enforcement with FDA regulation, as it did in Wyeth v. Levine in 2009. This Article submits that POM exemplifies the Court’s willingness to strengthen the Lanham Act’s protections against misleading labeling, as it did the same …

Condoning The Crime: The Elusive Mens Rea For Complicity, Alexander F. Sarch

Loyola University Chicago Law Journal

There is a long history of disagreement about what the mens rea for complicity is. Some courts take it to be the intention for the underlying crime to succeed while others take mere knowledge of the underlying crime to be sufficient. Still others propose that the mens rea for complicity tracks the mens rea of the underlying crime—the so-called “derivative approach.” However, as argued herein, these familiar approaches face difficulties. Accordingly, we have reason to continue our search for the elusive mens rea for complicity. This Article develops a new account of the mens rea for complicity, drawing on an …

The Transparent Citizen, Joel R. Reidenberg

Loyola University Chicago Law Journal

This Article shows that the transparency of personal information online through ubiquitous data collection and surveillance challenges the rule of law both domestically and internationally. The Article makes three arguments. First, the transparency created by individuals’ interactions online erodes the boundary between public and private information and creates a “transparent citizen.” Second, the transparent citizen phenomenon undermines the state’s faithfulness to the ideals of the rule of law and to citizens’ respect for the rule of law. Transparency enables government to collect and use personal information from the private sector in ways that circumvent traditional political and legal checks and …

Sharing Shortcoming, Derek E. Bambauer

Loyola University Chicago Law Journal

Current cybersecurity policy emphasizes increasing the sharing of threat and vulnerability information. Legal reform is seen as crucial to enabling this exchange, both within the public and private sectors and between them. Information sharing is due for some skepticism though, and this Essay (part of a symposium entitled Privacy in a Data Collection Society) attempts to provide it. Not only are there few real legal barriers to data exchange, but greater sharing will generate little benefit and will create significant privacy risks. This Essay creates a typography of vertical and horizontal information sharing, and argues that while top-down communication could …

Congressional Dysfunction, Public Opinion, And The Battle Over The Keystone Xl Pipeline, Evan C. Zoldan

Loyola University Chicago Law Journal

When President Obama vetoed the Keystone XL Pipeline Approval Act in early 2015, he signaled the end of a political drama that pitted Congress against the President, Democrats against Republicans, and the promise of jobs against concern for the environment. Like most drama in Washington, it burned bright and hot, but soon was overtaken by other, suddenly more urgent, matters. Although news coverage of the pipeline has waned, the Keystone XL legislation represents the serious and enduring problem of congressional dysfunction. Using the Keystone XL legislation as a point of departure, this Article offers insights into the inner workings of …

No Satisfaction: Italicized:Mellouli V. Lynch Rejects Deportation For Hidden Sock Pills, Thai-Binh H. Tran

Loyola University Chicago Law Journal

No abstract provided.

Linking Patent Reform And Civil Litigation Reform, Greg Reilly

Loyola University Chicago Law Journal

Patent reform increasingly focuses on discovery. Discovery is perceived as disproportionately expensive and burdensome in patent cases. Excessive discovery is said to fuel so-called “patent trolls” and impose an unhealthy tax on innovation and competition. These supposedly exceptional problems have led to exceptional patent-only reform proposals, such as delaying most discovery for over a year and reversing the seventy-five-year-old allocation of discovery costs. Treating patent litigation as exceptional has a siloing effect. Patent reform debates ignore parallel debates over general civil litigation reform that raise the same arguments about disproportionately expensive and burdensome discovery and propose their own set of …