Law Commons^™

Ocasio V. United States: The Supreme Court’S Sudden Expansion Of Conspiracy Liability (And Why Bribe-Taking Foreign Officials Should Take Note), Michael F. Dearington

Washington and Lee Law Review Online

Last year, the United States Supreme Court decided a Hobbs Act conspiracy case that could significantly expand the bounds of the general federal conspiracy statute. In Ocasio v. United States, 136 S. Ct. 1423 (2016), the Court held that, under “age-old principles of conspiracy law,” a police officer could conspire with shop owners to extort those very same shop owners in violation of the Hobbs Act. The corollary is that a shop owner can, in theory, conspire to extort himself. If a shop owner can conspire to extort himself as a matter of law, why can’t a bribe-taking foreign …

Federal Railroad Power Versus Local Land-Use Regulation: Can Localities Stop Crude-By-Rail In Its Tracks?, Matthew C. Donahue

Washington and Lee Law Review Online

No abstract provided.

Trial By Formula: The Use Of Statistical Sampling And Extrapolation In Establishing Liability Under The False Claims Act, Peter T. Thomas

Washington and Lee Law Review Online

No abstract provided.

Rationality Revisited: A Response To Professor Greenberg, S.I. Strong

Washington and Lee Law Review Online

Scholarly debate is meant to improve the legal community’s understanding of both the value and the limitations of a particular strand of research. While it is useful to identify areas of principled disagreement, there are times when criticism is not based on different interpretations of law or theory but instead on a misapprehension of the underlying facts or the context in which the initial analysis is placed. In those types of situations, it is necessary for the original author to provide a formal response to keep errors from entering into the legal literature.

This Article provides just such a response …

The Death Penalty's Darkside: A Response To Phyllis Goldfarb's Matters Of Strata: Race, Gender, And Class Structures In Capital Cases, Kevin Barry, Bharat Malkani

Washington and Lee Law Review Online

In Matters of Strata: Race, Gender, and Class Structures in Capital Cases, Professor Phyllis Goldfarb examines the ways in which race, class, and gender affect the American criminal justice system generally, and its death penalty system in particular. This Response focuses on one of Goldfarb’s observations: The relationship between slavery and the death penalty. This relationship helps to explain why, over the past four decades, the thirteen states that comprised the former Confederacy have been responsible for nearly all of this nation’s executions. Although the U.S. Supreme Court has repeatedly failed to address the death penalty’s roots in slavery, …

Cannabis Trademarks: A State Registration Consortium Solution, Russell W. Jacobs

Washington and Lee Law Review Online

This article proposes a solution to a problem in the cannabis industry resulting from the unavailability of federal trademark registration for that sector. The author offers modest changes to the existing state trademark registration systems to make up for the gaps at the federal level. The proposed reforms would strengthen the trademark framework by conferring on cannabis trademark registrations presumptions of ownership, exclusive rights, and validity beyond the presumption of registration currently afforded under state laws. To extend protection throughout the geographic breadth of the cannabis marketplace, the states with legalized recreational cannabis would offer reciprocal recognition of state cannabis …

The Ttab Should Drink A Beer And Relax: Implications For Trademark Consent Agreements In The Craft Brewing Industry After In Re Bay State Brewing Company, Inc., Spencer T. Wiles

Washington and Lee Law Review Online

No abstract provided.

Contemplating Masterpiece Cakeshop, Terri R. Day, Danielle Weatherby

Washington and Lee Law Review Online

Next term, in Masterpiece Cakeshop v. Colorado Civil Rights Commission, the Supreme Court will consider whether a baker’s religious objection to same-sex marriage justifies his violation of Colorado’s public accommodation law in refusing to bake a cake for a same-sex wedding. At the centerpiece of Masterpiece Cakeshop is a clash between the First Amendment’s Free Exercise Clause and the Fourteenth Amendment’s Equal Protection Clause or, more precisely, the principles of equality in commercial life as grounded in Colorado’s public accommodation law. In exploring the purpose inherent in regulating private conduct through public accommodation laws, this Essay suggests that …

Realizing The Gap Between Rationality And Information, Elayne E. Greenberg

Washington and Lee Law Review Online

The Online Journal requested that I evaluate Professor Strong’s empirical research, “Realizing Rationality: An Empirical Assessment of International Commercial Mediation,” reported in 23 Wash. & Lee. L. Rev. 1973 (2016). The purpose of Professor Strong’s research is to help “fill the informational gap” about international commercial mediation for the United Nations Commission on International Trade (hereinafter UNICITRAL) Working Group II (Arbitration and Conciliation) so that the Working Group could better assess whether, in fact, there is a need for a new UNCITRAL instrument to enforce global commercial mediation agreements. Professor Strong’s research offers insightful nuggets about international commercial mediation that …

Nominate Judge Koh To The Ninth Circuit Again, Carl Tobias

Washington and Lee Law Review Online

During February 2016, President Barack Obama nominated United States District Judge Lucy Haeran Koh to a “judicial emergency” vacancy on the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit. She has capably served over multiple years in the Northern District of California competently deciding numerous high-profile lawsuits, specifically regarding intellectual property. Accordingly, the President’s efforts to confirm her were unsurprising. However, 2016 was a presidential election year when judicial nominations traditionally slow and ultimately halt. This difficulty was exacerbated when Republicans consistently refused to implement any confirmation process for United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia …

Mandating Rule 11 Sanctions? Here We Go Again!, Edward D. Cavanagh

Washington and Lee Law Review Online

The House of Representatives has passed H.R. 720, a bill that would amend Rule 11 of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure by re‑instituting mandatory sanctions for Rule 11 violations and essentially restoring Rule 11 to its contents under the 1983 amendments to the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure. The legislation would mandate imposition of monetary sanctions and eliminate any restrictions on when a Rule 11 motion could be filed. The bill would thus scuttle the 1993 Amendments, which (1) entrusted the sanctions decision to the sound discretion of the trial court; (2) provided a 21‑day safe harbor period that …

Zika, Feminism, And The Failures Of Health Policy, Johanna Bond

Washington and Lee Law Review Online

The Zika epidemic caused serious concerns about fetal health throughout Latin America and some southern states in the United States. The prevailing governmental response throughout the region continues to emphasize two disease control factors: pregnancy delay and mosquito abatement. This essay argues that the current health policy approach of the World Health Organization, the Centers for Disease Control, and various national governments fails in three primary ways. First, the approach does not adequately consider the intersection of gender and poverty; thus, the current policy fails to respond to the needs of women living in poverty. Second, the health policy response …

Getting Specific About The Policy And Tools Of Securities Regulation: A Limited Response To Diversifying To Mitigate Risk: Can Dodd–Frank Section 342 Help Stabilize The Financial Sector?, Joan Macleod Heminway

Washington and Lee Law Review Online

No abstract provided.

Recalibrating Judicial Renominations In The Trump Administration, Carl Tobias

Washington and Lee Law Review Online

Now that President Donald Trump has commenced the fifth month of his administration, federal courts experience 121 circuit and district court vacancies. These statistics indicate that Mr. Trump has a valuable opportunity to approve more judges than any new President. The protracted open judgeships detrimentally affect people and businesses engaged in federal court litigation, because they restrict the expeditious, inexpensive and equitable disposition of cases. Nevertheless, the White House has been treating crucial issues that mandate careful attention—specifically establishing a government, confirming a Supreme Court Justice, and keeping numerous campaign promises. How, accordingly, can President Trump fulfill these critical duties …

An Indigent Criminal Defendant Is Entitled To “An Expert Of His Own”, Fredrick E. Vars

Washington and Lee Law Review Online

The Supreme Court recently heard the case of an Alabama death row inmate, James McWilliams. A thus far overlooked argument could save his life and help level the playing field in other capital cases. The Court in 1985 promised independent expertise. Now is its chance to make good on that promise.

Data Flow Maps—Increasing Data Processing Transparency And Privacy Compliance In The Enterprise, Jeremy Berkowitz, Michael Mangold, Stephen Sharon

Washington and Lee Law Review Online

In recent years, well-known cyber breaches have placed growing pressure on organizations to implement proper privacy and data protection standards. Attacks involving the theft of employee and customer personal information have damaged the reputations of well-known brands, resulting in significant financial costs. As a result, governments across the globe are actively examining and strengthening laws to better protect the personal data of its citizens. The General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) updates European privacy law with an array of provisions that better protect consumers and require organizations to focus on accounting for privacy in their business processes through “privacy-by-design” and “privacy …

The Market’S Law Of Privacy: Case Studies In Privacy/Security Adoption, Chetan Gupta

Washington and Lee Law Review Online

This paper examines the hypothesis that it may be possible for individual actors in a marketplace to drive the adoption of particular privacy and security standards. It aims to explore the diffusion of privacy and security technologies in the marketplace. Using HTTPS, Two-Factor Authentication, and End-to-End Encryption as case studies, it tries to ascertain which factors are responsible for successful diffusion which improves the privacy of a large number of users. Lastly, it explores whether the FTC may view a widely diffused standard as a necessary security feature for all actors in a particular industry.

Based on the case studies …

Combating The Ninth Circuit Judicial Vacancy Crisis, Carl Tobias

Washington and Lee Law Review Online

No abstract provided.

Explaining The Persistence Of The “Ample Alternative Channels” Test, Thomas Berry

Washington and Lee Law Review Online

No abstract provided.

Privacy In The Age Of Autonomous Vehicles, Ivan L. Sucharski, Philip Fabinger

Washington and Lee Law Review Online

To prepare for the age of the intelligent, highly connected, and autonomous vehicle, a new approach to concepts of granting consent, managing privacy, and dealing with the need to interact quickly and meaningfully is needed. Additionally, in an environment where personal data is rapidly shared with a multitude of independent parties, there exists a need to reduce the information asymmetry that currently exists between the user and data collecting entities. This Article rethinks the traditional notice and consent model in the context of real-time communication between vehicles or vehicles and infrastructure or vehicles and other surroundings and proposes a re-engineering …

Bringing Racial Justice To The Courtroom And Community: Race Matters For Juvenile Justice And The Charlotte Model, Susan Mccarter, Elisa Chinn-Gary, Louis A. Trosch, Jr., Ahmed Toure, Abraham Alsaeedi, Jennifer Harrington

Washington and Lee Law Review Online

This article describes regional institutional organizing efforts to bring racial justice to the Charlotte courts and community through a collaborative called Race Matters for Juvenile Justice (RMJJ). The authors explain community and institutional organizing in-depth using the example of minority overrepresentation in the juvenile justice system, but recognize the pervasiveness of racial and ethnic disparities. Moreover, as the Race Matters for Juvenile Justice-Charlotte Model has gained national prominence, many jurisdictions seek to replicate the collaborative and the authors, therefore, provide RMJJ’s history as well as strategies for changing the narrative through communication and education, workforce development, data and research, community …

The Limits Of Gatekeeper Liability, Andrew F. Tuch

Washington and Lee Law Review Online

No abstract provided.

The Quality Of Mercy, Paul Rosenzweig

Washington and Lee Law Review Online

No abstract provided.

Changing The Culture Of Disclosure And Forensics, Valena Beety

Washington and Lee Law Review Online

This Essay responds to Professor Brandon Garrett’s Constitutional Regulation of Forensic Evidence, and, in particular, his identification of the dire need to change the culture of disclosing forensic evidence. My work on forensics is—similarly to Garrett’s—rooted in both scholarship and litigation of wrongful convictions. From this perspective, I question whether prosecutors fully disclose forensics findings and whether defense attorneys understand these findings and their impact on a client’s case. To clarify forensic findings for the entire courtroom, this Essay suggests increased pre-trial discovery and disclosure of forensic evidence and forensic experts. Forensic analysts largely work in police-governed labs; therefore, …

Post-Trial Plea Bargaining And Predictive Analytics In Public Law, Harold J. Krent

Washington and Lee Law Review Online

Adam Gershowitz’s article calling for post-trial plea bargaining in capital cases reasons that governors should commute sentences to life in prison, in exceptional cases, to limit the costs of protracted post-trial litigation over imposition of the death penalty. The commutation power, in his view, resembles pre-trial plea bargaining in that both the state and the criminal defendant can benefit—the state saves resources while the defendant gets off death row.

Gershowitz’s article, therefore, affords a window into the increasing use of predictive analytics in deciding whether to bring or resolve litigation. Sifting through data on all prior capital cases can yield …

The Supreme Court's Limited Public Forum, Sonja R. West

Washington and Lee Law Review Online

When discussing the issue of transparency at the United States Supreme Court, most commentators focus on the line between public and private. Yet, transparency is not always such a black-or-white issue. There are, in fact, a surprising number of significant Court moments that occur neither wholly in public nor completely in private. Through policies that obstruct access by the general public and exploit real-world limitations on the press and practitioners, the justices have crafted a grey area in which they can be “public,” yet only to select audiences. The effect is that few outside the courtroom ever learn about these …

The Inequality Of America‘S Death Penalty: A Crossroads For Capital Punishment At The Intersection Of The Eighth And Fourteenth Amendments, John D. Bessler

Washington and Lee Law Review Online

No abstract provided.