Law Commons^™

Empower The Neighborhood And Save The City; Why Courts Should Permit Neighborhood Control Of Zoning, Kenneth A. Stahl

Kenneth Stahl

Whether cities should delegate zoning authority to neighborhood groups is one of the most hotly contested issues in municipal politics, yet it is also essentially a moot point. Since a bizarre series of Supreme Court cases in the early twentieth century, it has been largely settled that cities may not constitutionally delegate the zoning power to sub-municipal groups, at least where the power is delegated specifically to landowners in a certain proximity to a proposed land use change.

This article argues that courts have erred in prohibiting cities from devolving zoning control to proximate landowners, a scheme I designate a …

Sprawl In Canada And The United States (Powerpoint), Michael E. Lewyn

Michael E Lewyn

PowerPoints for a speech explaining that sprawl in Canada is (1) less extensive than in the USA and (2) caused partially by government regulation.

Reflections On Fair Housing Law, Tim Iglesias

Tim Iglesias

This presentation offered reflections on the state of fair housing law in light of numerous studies evaluating its effectiveness. It argues that while enforcement needs to be improved, fair housing advocates must also employ complementary strategies to reform social norms.

The Abortion Informed Consent Debate: More Light, Less Heat, Nadia N. Sawicki

Nadia N. Sawicki

State abortion informed consent laws – including those requiring physicians to disclose that abortion terminates the life of a “whole, separate, unique, living human being” or display ultrasound images to patients seeking abortions – are being adopted at a rapid pace. Health law scholars who oppose these laws uniformly criticize them as being fundamentally inconsistent with the doctrine of informed consent. This Article directly challenges this conventional approach. It argues that the doctrine of informed consent does not impose nearly as significant a barrier to abortion disclosure laws as many critics claim. Rather, the ethical and legal principles of informed …

Unclear And Unconvincing: The Truthiness Requirement Of California's Ballot Pamphlet Arguments, Michael Boardman

Michael Boardman

“Truthiness,” as defined by TV satirist Steven Colbert, has found its way into the English lexicon. Unfortunately for California, its principles have also been incorporated into the state’s official ballot pamphlet. Misleading, and often demonstrably false, arguments written by special interests distort the political process yet the state continues to publish and distribute them to voters with little judicial recourse. Admirably, California permits private causes of action challenging the accuracy of these arguments, but the statutory scheme it has created to govern the challenges largely fails to promote its main goal: providing a central and convenient place for voters to …