Law Commons^™

Pierce Butler: A Supreme Technician, David R. Stras

Vanderbilt Law Review

Despite serving for more than sixteen years on the Supreme Court of the United States and authoring more than 300 opinions, Pierce Butler is one of the lesser-known Justices in American history. When his name is mentioned by constitutional scholars, it is usually to deride him for being one of the so-called "Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse," a group of Justices that invalidated efforts by politicians, especially President Franklin Delano Roosevelt, to enact New Deal reforms. Scholars have characterized his role in the development of constitutional law as "minimal," and he is the subject of only one full-length book, A …

Sherman Minton: Restraint Against A Tide Of Activism, Linda C. Gugin

Vanderbilt Law Review

Sherman Minton was not a great U.S. Supreme Court Justice, but he was far better than the image that scholars have created for him would indicate. Although there are exceptions, scholars generally consider Minton to have been an ineffective Justice who was put on the bench only because he was a crony of President Harry Truman. Indeed, the scholars who periodically provide a list of the "greatest" and "worst" Justices inevitably relegate Minton to the "worst" category. For example, Bernard Schwartz, who classified Minton as one of the ten worst Justices, said Minton "was below mediocrity as a Justice. His …

The Rankings Game, James W. Ely, Jr. Professor Of Law, Mark E. Brandon Professor Of Law & Political Science

Vanderbilt Law Review

The world that law schools inhabit is obsessed with rankings. The most conspicuous example of this is the annual survey of law schools by U.S. News and World Report. Although university administrators ritually decry such rankings, their condemnations ring hollow. After all, law schools regularly rank applicants and students, as well as faculty performance. And it is common for the deans of schools that "move up" in the rankings to trumpet their success, if not to the world, then to their own faculties, alumni, students, and prospective students. Thus, the schools themselves can hardly claim an exemption from this hierarchical …

Neglected Justices: Discounting For History, G. Edward White

Vanderbilt Law Review

The category of "neglected Justices" presupposes meaningful baselines for evaluating judicial reputations. A Justice cannot be deemed "neglected" except against the backdrop of some purported consensus about that Justice's reputation and the reputations of other Justices. Moreover, when the category of "neglected Justices" encompasses the performance of Justices who served in different time periods, it also presupposes that evaluative baselines for Justices can retain their integrity in the face of historical change and historical contingency.

This Article argues that when one discounts for history in the process of evaluating judicial reputations, the effects of history are sufficiently powerful to throw …

Aggregate Litigation Across The Atlantic And The Future Of American Exceptionalism, Richard A. Nagareda

Vanderbilt Law Review

In long-running debates over civil justice reform, two points remain broadly shared: the legal regime for civil litigation in this country is exceptional by comparison to European systems as a positive matter, and the United States is much the worse for it in normative terms. The positive dimension of this account pinpoints several exceptional features of the U.S. civil justice system: class actions, primarily on an opt-out basis; contingency-fee financing of litigation; rejection of Euro-style "loser-pays" rules that link responsibility for the fees of both sides to the outcome of the litigation; extensive reliance on juries as fact finders; costly …

Between A Rock And A Hard Place: Landlords, Latinos, Anti-Illegal Immigrant Ordinances, And Housing Discrimination, Rigel C. Oliveri

Vanderbilt Law Review

In the face of federal inability to effectively police our national borders and to remove unauthorized immigrants, many local governments have recently sought to take measures into their own hands by passing anti-illegal immigrant ("Al") ordinances. These ordinances usually contain a combination of provisions restricting housing, employment, and public benefits for unauthorized immigrants, among other things.

This Article focuses on All provisions that are targeted at private rental housing, which typically take the form of sanctions against landlords who rent to unauthorized immigrants. Faced with penalties for renting to unauthorized immigrants, landlords have the clear incentive to screen their tenants' …

Corporate Voting, Robert B. Thompson, Paul H. Edelman

Vanderbilt Law Review

What are we to make of shareholder voting? Delaware law presents voting as the ideological underpinning of a corporate governance system that gives directors wide control over other people's money. In the legal commentary, there are recurring descriptions of corporations as representative democracies in which New York Alumni Chancellor's Chair in Law & Professor of Management, Vanderbilt University.

.. Professor of Mathematics and Law, Vanderbilt University. We have benefited from the comments of Jeff Gordon, Sam Issacharoff, Curtis Milhaupt, Larry Ribstein, Lynn Stout, and participants at workshops at New York University, the University of Connecticut, and Emory University, colloquia at …

Rico Overreach: How The Federal Government's Escalating Offensive Against Gangs Has Run Afoul Of The Constitution, Matthew H. Blumenstein

Vanderbilt Law Review

The United States has a problem with gangs. According to the Department of Justice, there are more than twenty thousand gangs in the United States today, with over one million members. There are gangs in every state and in the District of Columbia. This is a dire problem in the eyes of federal government officials. According to Attorney General Michael Mukasey, "Gangs threaten our society .... They bring a culture of violence and drugs to our doorsteps, creating an atmosphere of fear, diminishing the quality of life, and endangering the safety, well-being, and future of our children." In response, the …

Will Aggregate Litigation Come To Europe?, Samuel Issacharoff, Geoffrey P. Miller

Vanderbilt Law Review

The current wave of deregulation and market liberalization in Europe has had major repercussions for the prospect of litigated forms of collective redress. Once decried as the perversity of rapacious Americans, class actions are now the focus of significant reform efforts in many European countries and even at the level of the European Union. There are, no doubt, many reasons for the relatively sudden attention to means of collective redress. Some have to do with the need to create effective ex post accountability mechanisms to contain the potential adverse effects of goods and services freely entering the market. Others seek …

Pragmatic Selective Waiver: Re-Aligning Corporate Executives' Personal Interests With Those Of The Corporation Amidst Government Investigations, Erin M. Carter

Vanderbilt Law Review

In the corporate setting, government investigators increasingly ask corporations to waive the attorney-client privilege as part of the "cooperation" necessary to receive incentives. In practice, however, these cooperation incentives have led to what has become known as a "culture of waiver," where waiver of the privilege in the face of investigation has become virtually essential. One way courts have sought to diminish the negative externalities of waiver is through the doctrine of selective waiver. Selective waiver allows the corporation to waive the attorney-client privilege, but only to the government agency during the course of the investigation, while still retaining the …

Attorneys, Accountants, And Bankers, Oh My! Primary Liability For Secondary Actors In The Wake Of "Stoneridge", Robert J. Grubb

Vanderbilt Law Review

Mervin "Buddy" Schwartz, Jr., embodied the American Dream. A Pennsylvania resident, Schwartz began working for Hershey Foods in 1961 as a maintenance mechanic.' He eventually became a member of the local union's executive board. A hard worker providing for his family, Schwartz had a thirteen-year perfect attendance record and often worked overtime. He even managed to attend night classes and obtained an associate's degree in Bible studies.

Lacking any financial training, Buddy Schwartz relied on the retirement plan and 401k5 Hershey provided for his retirement. Because he contributed the maximum allowable amount out of each paycheck to his 401k, he …

A Unified Theory Of 28 U.S.C. § 1331 Jurisdiction, Lumen N. Mulligan

Vanderbilt Law Review

Section 1331, Title 28 of the United States Code is the general federal question jurisdictional statute, which grants federal district courts with original subject matter jurisdiction over "all civil actions arising under the Constitution, laws, or treaties of the United States."' This statute grounds the majority of civil actions heard in federal court. Given the weighty doctrinal3 and pragmatic consequences that flow from determining whether a claim falls within the scope of § 1331, it is surprising to learn that we lack a coherent view of what statutory federal question jurisdiction entails. Professor Mishkin famously forwarded the classic theory that …

An Empirical Investigation Into Appellate Structure And The Perceived Quality Of Appellate Review, Jonathan R. Nash, Rafael I. Pardo

Vanderbilt Law Review

What is the ideal structure for appellate review? Without providing a definitive answer to the question, commentators have suggested several factors that may improve the process, and thus perhaps the accuracy, of appellate review. First, it is said that panels of judges are preferable to review by a single judge. Second, expertise in the relevant area of law is a benefit. Third, other indicia of lawfinding ability-such as the ability of lawyers and judges to focus on legal issues without the distraction of factual conflicts and the amenability of judges' schedules to careful contemplation and reflection-contribute to the quality of …

"The Threes": Re-Imagining Supreme Court Decisionmaking, Tracey E. George, Chris Guthrie

Vanderbilt Law Review

Article III is odd. In contrast to Articles 12 and II, which specify in some detail how the legislative and executive branches are to be assembled, Article III says virtually nothing about the institutional design of the Supreme Court.

Consistent with this Constitutional silence, the Court's look, shape, and behavior have adapted to changed circumstances. For example, the Court's membership has changed substantially. Initially, six Justices sat on the Court; in time, the Court grew to ten and shrank to seven. Only in 1869 did it settle at nine. Likewise, the Court's jurisdiction has changed, first expanding, then contracting, and …

If The "Shoe" Fits: Reconciling The "International Shoe" Minimum Contacts Test With The Anticybersquatting Consumer Protection Act, John A. Greer

Vanderbilt Law Review

The desire to assume a false identity is one that transcends cultures and time periods. Even the most socially confident and successful person has, at some point, contemplated the possibility of changing or masking his or her identity-if only temporarily-with the hope of gaining some sort of competitive advantage. History and popular culture are replete with instances of such conduct, with varying degrees of success. One of the most famous historical examples, originating in Greek mythology, is the legend of the Trojan horse: the Greeks' surprise invasion of Troy using a hollow, wooden horse.

This same desire to gain a …

"Brady" Obligations, Criminal Sanctions, And Solutions In A New Era Of Scrutiny, Andrew Smith

Vanderbilt Law Review

Six days after terrorist attacks shook New York City and Washington, D.C., the FBI raided an apartment complex in a suburb of Detroit and apprehended three North African men.1 Among the men's possessions were hand-drawn sketches potentially detailing targets for terrorist attacks abroad. Four men were charged with providing material support for terrorism and document fraud and were brought to trial two years later. Richard Convertino, an assistant United States attorney with a strong track record in the DOJ, was tapped to prosecute the case and won convictions against three of the four defendants. Attorney General John Ashcroft personally and …

Standardization And Pluralism In Property Law, Nestor M. Davidson

Vanderbilt Law Review

At the heart of contemporary property theory stands an intriguing puzzle. Unlike the relatively unconstrained freedom that contract law provides for private ordering, property law recognizes only a limited and standard list of mandatory forms. This standardization-known as the numerus clausus from the civil law concept that the "number is closed"-poses a basic conundrum: what can explain a persistent feature of the law that seems, at first glance, so clearly to restrict the autonomy and efficiency gains conventionally associated with private property?

This puzzle has garnered significant scholarly attention in recent years. Some scholars have argued that standardization, although paternalistic, …

"Does That Sound Familiar?": Creators' Liability For Unconscious Copyright Infringement, Christopher B. Jaeger

Vanderbilt Law Review

In 1953, a twenty-seven year old man underwent brain surgery to treat the severe epilepsy that had plagued him during his youth. The surgeon, Dr. William Scoville, removed portions of the young man's brain that were involved in memory processing. Most notably, Dr. Scoville removed most of his patient's hippocampus. The surgery left the young man, now known to psychologists as H.M., with anterograde amnesia: he still had a short-term memory, but he was unable to convert any of his short-term memories into new long-term memories. Although H.M. could not form new long-term memories, psychologists found that he still could …

A Darwinist View Of The Living Constitution, Scott Dodson

Vanderbilt Law Review

There is much debate, and has been for some time, over whether we have a "living" Constitution, one that adapts to changing circumstances and evolves over time. The metaphor arose and gained initial force during the Progressive Era and has been at the forefront of the debate on constitutional interpretation ever since. There is a more recent division, most prominently marked by Professor Owen Jones and Professors Brian Leiter and Michael Weisberg, over whether biology has a meaningful role to play in legal developments. Professor Jones has written many articles promoting the potential utility of behavioral and evolutionary science to …

The (Not So) Puzzling Behavior Of Angel Investors, Darian M. Ibrahim

Vanderbilt Law Review

Where do entrepreneurs turn for funding once their credit cards are maxed out, friends and family are no longer taking their calls, but it is still too early for venture capitalists to invest? They turn to "angel" investors. Angel investors are wealthy individuals who personally finance the same high-risk, high-growth start-ups as venture capitalists but at an earlier stage. Well-known angels include Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen, EDS founder H. Ross Perot, and Dallas Mavericks' owner Mark Cuban. But the prototypical angel may still be rich old Uncle Joe, the wealthy, distant relative or family acquaintance. Angels come in many forms, …

The Iphone And The Dmca: Locking The Hands Of Consumers, John Haubenreich

Vanderbilt Law Review

On August 24, 2007, less than two months after its initial release for sale, the Apple iPhone was unlocked, untethering the phones from the AT&T cellular network. Because AT&T has exclusive rights to provide coverage for the iPhone until the year 2010, hackers and computer enthusiasts worked feverishly to be the first to use the iPhone on a network other than AT&T. Although the practice of cell phone unlocking has been occurring for years, the tremendous public interest surrounding the launch of the iPhone focused attention on the issue like never before.

Wireless carriers can use software locks, hardware locks, …

Individualized Justice In Disputes Over Dead Bodies, Frances H. Foster

Vanderbilt Law Review

In February 2007, the world had a ringside seat to a truly macabre fight. Under the glare of television cameras, Anna Nicole Smith's nearest but not dearest' battled in a Florida probate court over custody of her body. The parties agreed on only one point: "Anna Nicole Smith's appearance was a paramount issue to her." Yet, those same parties denied Anna Nicole after death the beauty she prized during life. Because of their protracted legal wrangling, Anna Nicole went to her grave a decomposed corpse in a closed casket. Anna Nicole Smith's tragic fate is by no means unique. For …

Managing Manure: Using Good Neighbor Agreements To Regulate Pollution From Agricultural Production, Tory H. Lewis

Vanderbilt Law Review

In an episode of the popular television series Seinfeld, George Costanza narrowly avoids stepping in a pile of horse manure and emphatically declares, "[M]anure's not that bad. I don't even mind the word 'manure.' You know, it's, it's 'nure,' which is good and a 'ma' in front of it. MA-NURE. When you consider the other choices, 'manure' is actually pretty refreshing."'

Not everyone shares George's enthusiasm for animal excrement. Agricultural waste has been a source of community distress for generations. In 1932, a California appellate court determined that a dairy, hog-raising, and cattle-raising operation constituted a nuisance under state law. …

The Effects Test: Extraterritoriality's Fifth Business, Austen Parrish

Vanderbilt Law Review

The world has recently seen a tremendous expansion in countries using extraterritorial laws'-laws that regulate the activities of foreigners outside a country's borders. In the United States, domestic laws now commonly regulate extraterritorial conduct and transnational litigation has blossomed. No longer limited to the antitrust and commercial contexts, courts apply all sorts of public and private laws to activity occurring abroad. Academics have encouraged the trend, finding the notion that law should be tied to territory to be an archaic remnant of a preglobalized world. In an age of globalization, the argument goes, law should find national and political borders …

Arbitration And Article Iii, Peter B. Rutledge

Vanderbilt Law Review

Arbitration implicates serious constitutional concerns that have not received adequate attention in case law or commentary. Recent litigation in the D.C. Circuit over the constitutionality of the North American Free Trade Agreement ("NAFTA") represents the most recent, high-profile example. A centerpiece of NAFTA and its implementing legislation is an arbitration mechanism that divests Article III courts of virtually all jurisdiction over countervailing duty and anti-dumping claims and invests that authority in panels of Associate Professor of Law, Columbus School of Law, Catholic University of America. Arbitration implicates serious constitutional concerns that have not received adequate attention in case law or …

What's In A Song? Copyright's Unfair Treatment Of Record Producers And Side Musicians, Gabriel J. Fleet

Vanderbilt Law Review

As they say in the music business, "It all begins with a song."' This is true from a commercial perspective, as it would be difficult to record albums, film videos, license music for video games, sell sheet music, or promote concerts without the basic building block of the musical composition. It is also true on the metaphysical level, because the organization of sounds into compositional form creates the necessary order that distinguishes music from noise.

Yet despite the centrality of the song, for legal purposes it is difficult to answer the question, "What is a song?" Or, to use a …

The Court, The Constitution, And The History Of Ideas, Scott D. Gerber

Vanderbilt Law Review

Several of the nation's most influential constitutional law scholars have been arguing for the better part of a decade that judicial review should be sharply limited, or eliminated altogether. The list includes such prominent thinkers as Professor Mark V. Tushnet of Harvard Law School, Professor Cass R. Sunstein of the University of Chicago Law School, and Dean Larry D. Kramer of Stanford Law School. In place of the doctrine made famous by Chief Justice John Marshall in Marbury v. Madison, these leading voices of the legal academy call for "popular constitutionalism": a constitutional law that is defined outside of the …

Democracy And Opportunity: A New Paradigm In Tax Equity, James R. Repetti

Vanderbilt Law Review

Academics and policymakers pay little attention to the interaction of a tax system with the objectives of a just government. For example, in the debate about whether the United States should retain an income tax or adopt a consumption tax, most discussions focus on the relative efficiency and equity of the taxes. Proponents of a consumption tax worry that an income tax is inefficient because it burdens investment income. Advocates of an income tax fear that a consumption tax is not equitable because low-income taxpayers consume a greater percentage of their income than wealthy taxpayers. These concerns date at least …

Giving The Terminally Ill Their Due (Process): A Case For Expanded Access To Experimental Drugs Through The Political Process, Linda K. Leibfarth

Vanderbilt Law Review

The stated purpose of the Food and Drug Administration ("FDA" or "Agency") is "to promote and protect the public health." In furtherance of this end, the FDA has created a regulatory framework to ensure that drugs marketed to the general public are both safe and effective. However, critics insist that the FDA's paternalistic drug approval process does little to achieve its goal. At the onset of the AIDS epidemic in the 1980s, criticism of the FDA intensified, as the FDA's lengthy and expensive drug approval process hindered terminally ill AIDS patients' access to potentially lifesaving treatment. Advocates for these patients …

The Constitutional Dimension Of Immigration Federalism, Clare Huntington

Vanderbilt Law Review

In Farmers Branch, Texas, the city council enacted a measure to fine landlords who rent their premises to unauthorized migrants,' and in Arizona, the state legislature passed a law imposing stiff penalties on employers who intentionally or knowingly hire unauthorized migrants. In San Francisco, the board of supervisors passed a measure that bars law enforcement officers from inquiring into the immigration status of an individual in the course of a criminal investigation. In Alabama and Florida, state officials have entered into agreements with the federal government permitting state law enforcement officers to arrest and detain non-citizens on immigration charges. Other …