Law Commons^™

Decoding First Amendment Coverage Of Computer Source Code In The Age Of Youtube, Facebook And The Arab Spring, Jorge Roig

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Computer source code is the lifeblood of the Internet. It is also the brick and mortar of cyberspace. As such, it has been argued that the degree of control that a government can wield over code can be a powerful tool for controlling new technologies. With the advent and proliferation in the Internet of social networking media and platforms for the publication and sharing of user-generated content, the ability of individuals across the world to communicate with each other has reached truly revolutionary dimensions. The influence of Facebook in the popular revolutions of the Arab Spring has been well documented. …

Making Irac Visible, Suzanne Darrow Kleinhaus, Nancy Chanin

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No abstract provided.

Superheroes, Bandits, And Cyber-Nerds: Exploring The History And Contemporary Development Of The Vigilante, Stephanie Juliano

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This article will first discuss what defines a vigilante, the history of vigilantes, and the contemporary vigilante's effect on the legal system as a whole. Also, this article will focus on those scenarios that bring an ordinary person to react in an illegal way to a perceived injustice. In focusing on these scenarios, this article will examine a little more closely the answers of deeper questions about the nature of law and justice, and their roles in the accelerating world of new media.

The Case Of The Retired Justice: How Would Justice John Paul Stevens Have Voted In J. Mcintyre Machinery, Ltd. V. Nicastro?, Rodger D. Citron

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No abstract provided.

Engaging Deliberative Democracy At The Grassroots: Prioritizing The Effects Of The Fiscal Crisis In New York At The Local Government Level, Patricia E. Salkin, Charles Gottlieb

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Part I of this Article discusses many of the factors contributing to the fiscal crisis at the local level in New York including historic decreases in federal and state revenue sharing, the imposition of a new property tax cap, the failure of New York to address meaningfully the subject of unfunded mandates on local governments, and the dependency of some local jurisdictions on the timely adoption of a state budget. Part II discusses concepts of deliberative democracy and how local residents might be engaged to become partners with local officials in making difficult fiscal decisions that impact all community residents. …

The Quiet Revolution And Federalism: Into The Future, Patricia E. Salkin

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This Article offers an examination of the federal role in land use planning and regulation set in the context of varying theories of federalism by presenting a historical and modern overview of the increasing federal influence in local land use planning and regulation, specifically highlighting how federal statutes and programs impact local municipal decision making in the area of land use planning. Part II provides a brief introduction into theories of federalism and their application to local land use regulation in the United States. Part III provides a brief overview of federal legislation in the United States which affected local …

Government "Green" Requirements And "Leedigation", Patricia E. Salkin, Graham Grady, Nicole Mueller, Susan Herendeen

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No abstract provided.

Peacemaking & Provocation: A Response To Professor Tracey Jean Boisseau, Dan Subotnik

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No abstract provided.

A Look At The Establishment Clause Through The Prism Of Religious Perspectives: Religious Majorities, Religious Minorities, And Nonbelievers, Samuel J. Levine

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This article traces the Court’s Establishment Clause jurisprudence through several decades, examining a number of landmark cases through the prism of religious minority perspectives. In so doing, the Article aims to demonstrate the significance of religious perspectives in the development of both the doctrine and rhetoric of the Establishment Clause. The Article then turns to the current state of the Establishment Clause, expanding upon these themes through a close look at the 2004 and 2005 cases Elk Grove Unified School District v. Newdow, Van Orden v. Perry, and McCreary County v. American Civil Liberties Union of Kentucky. The article concludes …

Court Litigation Over Arbitration Agreements: Is It Time For A New Default Rule?, Jack Graves

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Court litigation over the existence or validity of arbitration agreements is a major threat to the efficacy of international commercial arbitration. While New York Convention Article II(3) requires a court to “refer the parties to arbitration” when faced with a valid and effective arbitration agreement, it fails to provide any guidance with respect to the process for answering that question, thus leaving the issue to national law. A recalcitrant respondent may, therefore, have a variety of options for court challenges—based on a disparate array of national laws—in seeking to delay or at least complicate any claims subject to arbitration. This …

Penalty Clauses And The Cisg, Jack Graves

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Commercial agreements often provide for “fixed sums” payable upon a specified breach. Such agreements are generally enforced in civil law jurisdictions. In contrast, the common law distinguishes between “liquidated damages” and “penalty” clauses, enforcing the former, while invalidating the latter as a penalty. The UN Convention on Contracts for the International Sale of Goods (CISG) does not directly address the payment of “fixed sums” as damages, and the validity of “penalty” clauses has, traditionally, been relegated to otherwise applicable domestic national law under CISG Article 4. This traditional orthodoxy has recently been challenged—suggesting that the fate of a penalty clause …

Penalty Clauses And The Cisg, Jack Graves

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Commercial agreements often provide for “fixed sums” payable upon a specified breach. Such agreements are generally enforced in civil law jurisdictions. In contrast, the common law distinguishes between “liquidated damages” and “penalty” clauses, enforcing the former, while invalidating the latter as a penalty. The UN Convention on Contracts for the International Sale of Goods (CISG) does not directly address the payment of “fixed sums” as damages, and the validity of “penalty” clauses has, traditionally, been relegated to otherwise applicable domestic national law under CISG Article 4. This traditional orthodoxy has recently been challenged—suggesting that the fate of a penalty clause …

Antitrust Review Of The At&T/T-Mobile Transaction, Maurice Stucke, Allen Grunes

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In this Essay, we review AT&T Inc.’s proposed $39 billion acquisition of T-Mobile USA, Inc., under federal merger law, under the U.S. Department of Justice and Federal Trade Commission’s 2010 Horizontal Merger Guidelines, and with a focus on possible remedies. We find, under a rule of law approach, that the proposed acquisition is presumptively anticompetitive, and the merging parties in their public disclosures have failed to overcome this presumption. Next we find that under the Merger Guidelines, there is reason to believe that the transaction may result in higher prices to consumers under several different plausible theories. Finally, we turn …

Cross-Cultural Readings Of Intent: Form, Fiction, And Reasonable Expectations, Deborah Waire Post

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No abstract provided.

The Diminishing Returns Of Incentive Pay In Executive Compensation Contracts, Gregg D. Polsky, Andrew Lund

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For the past 30 years, the conventional wisdom has been that executive compensation packages should include very large proportions of incentive pay. This incentive pay orthodoxy has become so firmly entrenched that the current debates about executive compensation simply take it as a given. We argue, however, that in light of evolving corporate governance mechanisms, the marginal net benefit of incentive-laden pay packages is both smaller than appreciated and getting smaller over time. As a result, the assumption that higher proportions of incentive pay are beneficial is no longer warranted.

A number of corporate governance mechanisms have evolved to duplicate …

Ncaa Transgender Student-Athlete 'Policy': Analysis, Shawn Crincoli

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No abstract provided.

Injecting Law Student Drama Into The Classroom: Transforming An E-Discovery Class (Or Any Law School Class) With A Complex, Student-Generated Simulation, Paula Schaefer

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Gem Finch, Boone Radley, and Pickle Harris are just three of the characters who play a dramatic – and key – role in my e-discovery focused pre-trial litigation class. I did not originally invite them into the class for the drama. I was interested in their email. In 2009, I was planning a pre-trial litigation class that would include e-discovery issues. But I could not find a pre-packaged case that included ESI – the electronically stored information that is the mainstay of e-discovery practice. The case materials included in most pre-trial litigation books involved car accidents and simple contract disputes. …

Behavioral Antitrust, Maurice Stucke, Amanda P. Reeves

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Competition policy is entering a new age. Interest in competition laws has increased world-wide, and the United States no longer holds a monopoly on antitrust policy. In the aftermath of the financial crisis, the question for competition authorities is whether and to what extent does bounded rationality, self-interest and willpower matter. This article explores how the behavioral economics literature will advance competition policy. With increasing interest in the United States and abroad in the implications of behavioral economics for competition policy, this Article first provides an overview of behavioral economics. It next discusses how the assumption of rational, self-interested profit …

Transactional Lawyers And Inadvertent Disclosure, Paula Schaefer

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The problems associated with inadvertent disclosure are often thought to be unique to litigators. The American Bar Association and most states seem to subscribe to that view. Model Rule of Professional Conduct 4.4(b) and equivalent rules in a majority of states provide that if a confidential document is inadvertently disclosed, the receiving lawyer is only obligated to notify the lawyer who made the mistake. Whether the receiving lawyer must return the document or take other steps, the Rule’s comment provides, “is a matter of law beyond the scope of these Rules.” In other words, if the disclosing lawyer wants the …

The Freewheelin' Judiciary: A Bob Dylan Anthology, Alex B. Long

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This paper, presented as part of a symposium on Bob Dylan and the Law at the Fordham University School of Law, explores the ways in which judges have used the lyrics of Bob Dylan in their opinions.

Crony Capitalism And Antitrust, Maurice Stucke

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In August 2011, the United States brought a landmark antitrust lawsuit to prevent the merger of two of the nation’s four largest mobile wireless telecommunications services providers, AT&T Inc. and T‑Mobile USA, Inc. But why are so many elected officials asking the Obama administration to intercede in the Department of Justice’s lawsuit to force a settlement? Why are they approving a merger that would likely lead to higher prices, fewer jobs, less innovation, and higher taxes for their constituents? Does it have anything to do with the money they are receiving from AT&T and T-Mobile?

This Essay examines the recent …

Samantar And Executive Power, Peter B. Rutledge

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This essay examines Samantar v. Yousuf in the context of broader debate about the relationship between federal common law and executive power. Samantar represents simply the latest effort by the Executive Branch to literally shape the meaning of law through a process referred to in the literature as “executive lawmaking.” While traditional accounts of executive lawmaking typically have treated the idea as a singular concept, Samantar demonstrates the need to bifurcate the concept into at least two different categories: acts of executive lawmaking decoupled from pending litigation and acts of executive lawmaking taken expressly in response to litigation. As Samantar …

Samantar, Official Immunity And Federal Common Law, Peter B. Rutledge

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This essay examines the theoretical underpinnings of the immunity of foreign government officials following the Supreme Court's recent decision in Samantar. Part of a forthcoming symposium with the Lewis and Clark Law Review, the paper tackles the federal common law in the Court's decision and, more broadly, international civil litigation. It criticizes the Court's unexamined assumption that its federal common law power extended to create an immunity that, at best, coexists only uncomfortably alongside the legislative framework of the FSIA. It explains the problematic implications of this assertion of federal common law, both for suits against foreign officials and for …

To Lynch A Child: Bullying And Gender Non-Conformity In Our Nation's Schools, Michael J. Higdon

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“Lynching is a terror that has many forms; there is the lynching of men’s spirits as well as their bodies.” -- Richard Wright

In January 2010, a 9-year old boy named Montana Lance hung himself in a bathroom at the Texas elementary school he attended. Although certainly shocking, such acts are unfortunately becoming less and less unusual. In fact, the suicide of Montana Lance is very reminiscent of what happened in April 2009 when two 11-year-old boys, one in Massachusetts and one in Georgia, likewise committed suicide just days apart. What would cause these children to end their lives? The …

Why More Antitrust Immunity For The Media Is A Bad Idea, Maurice Stucke, Allen Grunes

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With their financial difficulties, some traditional media firms have called for greater leniency under the federal antitrust laws. The Federal Trade Commission, for example, in recent hearings inquired as to whether antitrust immunity is necessary for newspapers’ collaboration and under what circumstances, if any, antitrust immunity for certain joint conduct could be justified.

Our essay explores why relaxing the federal antitrust laws for traditional media will not help consumers or the marketplace of ideas. We discuss the past problems with antitrust immunity generally and for the media industries specifically. We address the failures of the Newspaper Preservation Act, how deregulation …

Proceed At Your Peril: Crowdfunding And The Securities Act Of 1933, Joan Macleod Heminway

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A promising Web-based funding model for small business firms has emerged over the past few years. Crowdfunding (as this model has come to be known) actually includes a variety of business models, all of which use the Internet to fund business ventures by connecting promoters of businesses or projects needing funding with potential funders. Most of these funders are not professional investors; instead, they are just members of the Internet “crowd” that like the business idea of a particular entrepreneur and want to help him or her out with a nominal amount of funding — even $10.

Some (but not …

Values As Part Of The Clinical Experience, Jaime Baker Roskie

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This essay is based on a short talk I gave at the “Practically Grounded” conference hosted by Pace Law School’s Land Use Law Center. This piece discusses the University of Georgia (UGA) Land Use Clinic, specifically why and how I interact with my students in the classroom about values as part of the clinic experience. It attempts to tie my own teaching methods to those suggested in Best Practices for Legal Education.

Contract And Procedure, Peter B. Rutledge, Christopher R, Drahozal

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This paper examines both the theoretical underpinnings and empirical picture of procedural contracts. Procedural contracts may be understood as contracts in which parties regulate not merely their commercial relations but also the procedures by which disputes over those relations will be resolved. Those procedural contracts regulate not simply the forum in which disputes will be resolved (arbitration vs litigation) but also the applicable procedural framework (discovery, class action waivers, remedies limitations, etc.). At a theoretical level, this paper explores both the limits on parties' ability to regulate procedure by contract (at issue in the Supreme Court's recent Rent-A-Center decision) and …

Self-Conscious Dicta: The Origins Of Roe V. Wade’S Trimester Framework, Randy Beck

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One of the controversies arising from Roe v. Wade (1973), has concerned whether the conclusions undergirding the opinion's “trimester framework” should be considered part of the holding of the case, or instead classified as dicta. Different Supreme Court opinions have spoken to this question in different ways. This article reviews materials from the files of Justices who participated in Roe, seeking insight as to what the Court thought about the issue at the time. The article concludes that Justices in the Roe majority understood the opinion’s trimester framework to consist largely of dicta, unnecessary to a ruling on the constitutionality …

From Oglethorpe To The Overthrow Of The Confederacy: Habeas Corpus In Georgia, 1733-1865, Donald E. Wilkes Jr.

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This Article will provide, for the first time, a comprehensive account of the writ of habeas corpus in Georgia not primarily focused on use of the writ as a postconviction remedy. The Article covers the 132-year period stretching from 1733, when the Georgia colony was established, to 1865, when the Confederate States of America was finally defeated and the American Civil War came to a close.