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Series

Articles

University of Minnesota Law School

2012

Articles 1 - 25 of 25

Full-Text Articles in Law

Cercla, State Law, And Federalism In The 21st Century, Alexandra B. Klass Jan 2012

Cercla, State Law, And Federalism In The 21st Century, Alexandra B. Klass

Articles

This essay discusses the continuing role of state statutory and common law remedies for remediating contaminated property at a time where federal liability under the Comprehensive Response, Compensation, and Liability Act (“CERCLA”) has, after thirty years, become an established part of the legal and business landscape. In recent years, a growing number of courts have struggled with the extent to which CERCLA does or should preempt or displace state statutory or common law governing claims for recovering costs associated with contaminated property. This essay begins with the premise that the language of CERCLA as well as general principles of federalism …


The Past, Present, And Future Of Critical Tax Theory: A Conversation, Karen B. Brown, Mary Louise Fellows, Bridget J. Crawford Jan 2012

The Past, Present, And Future Of Critical Tax Theory: A Conversation, Karen B. Brown, Mary Louise Fellows, Bridget J. Crawford

Articles

This essay endeavors to document and to preserve the story of the origins of the book Taxing America (NYU Press 1997) edited by Karen B. Brown and Mary Louise Fellows. The publication of that text was a key milestone in the development of critical tax theory as an intellectual discipline. By identifying and bringing together lawyers and scholars with an interest in the political and discriminatory aspects of tax law, Professors Brown and Fellows created one of the first working groups of critical tax theorists. In this essay, the book's two editors reflect on the book's intellectual antecedents and its …


The U.S. Sentencing Commission's Best Response To Booker Is To Do Nothing, Michael Tonry Jan 2012

The U.S. Sentencing Commission's Best Response To Booker Is To Do Nothing, Michael Tonry

Articles

No abstract provided.


Crawford V. Washington: What Would Justice Thomas Do?, Brad Clary Jan 2012

Crawford V. Washington: What Would Justice Thomas Do?, Brad Clary

Articles

No abstract provided.


Transparency And Contrarian Experts In Financial Regulation: A Brief Response To Professor Bradley, Daniel Schwarcz Jan 2012

Transparency And Contrarian Experts In Financial Regulation: A Brief Response To Professor Bradley, Daniel Schwarcz

Articles

No abstract provided.


Deidentification And Reidentification In Returning Individual Findings From Biobank And Secondary Research: Regulatory Challenges And Models For Management, William Mcgeveran, Leili Fatehi, Pari Mcgarraugh Jan 2012

Deidentification And Reidentification In Returning Individual Findings From Biobank And Secondary Research: Regulatory Challenges And Models For Management, William Mcgeveran, Leili Fatehi, Pari Mcgarraugh

Articles

No abstract provided.


Interstate Transmission Challenges For Renewable Energy: A Federalism Mismatch, Alexandra Klass, Elizabeth Wilson Jan 2012

Interstate Transmission Challenges For Renewable Energy: A Federalism Mismatch, Alexandra Klass, Elizabeth Wilson

Articles

This Article discusses current challenges to siting new electric transmission infrastructure to facilitate the growth of renewable energy. In doing so, this Article focuses on recent legal and policy developments at the federal, state, and regional levels with a specific emphasis on states with significant wind energy potential west of the Mississippi River. In many of these jurisdictions, there has been a strong emphasis on increasing renewable energy resources in recent years, particularly wind power. Each state and regional jurisdiction, however, has taken a different approach to connecting those new renewable resources to the transmission grid that is determined by …


Siblings In Law, Jill Hasday Jan 2012

Siblings In Law, Jill Hasday

Articles

No abstract provided.


Families Now: What We Don't Know Is Hurting Us, Judith T. Younger Jan 2012

Families Now: What We Don't Know Is Hurting Us, Judith T. Younger

Articles

No abstract provided.


The Myth Of The Magic Circle: Rejecting A Single Governance Model, Trey Hickman, Kristin Hickman Jan 2012

The Myth Of The Magic Circle: Rejecting A Single Governance Model, Trey Hickman, Kristin Hickman

Articles

No abstract provided.


Temptations Of The Sirens: Ethical Issues In Libraries, Herbert Cihak, Joan Howland Jan 2012

Temptations Of The Sirens: Ethical Issues In Libraries, Herbert Cihak, Joan Howland

Articles

No abstract provided.


The Constitutional Dimension Of Unilateral Change In Public-Sector Collective Bargaining, Stephen F. Befort Jan 2012

The Constitutional Dimension Of Unilateral Change In Public-Sector Collective Bargaining, Stephen F. Befort

Articles

During cycles of public sector budgetary crises, governmental entities frequently undertake efforts to reduce workforce costs. Sometimes these efforts have gone beyond layoffs and furloughs to include modifications to the terms of existing collective bargaining agreements. In the private sector, such a unilateral alteration would be an unlawful breach of contract and an unfair labor practice. But, unilateral change is more prevalent in the public sector, particularly due to the constitutional structure of state government. This article examines two of these constitutional dimensions. The article first discusses diffused management authority resulting from the separation of powers with particular reference to …


Public-Sector Employment Under Siege, Stephen F. Befort Jan 2012

Public-Sector Employment Under Siege, Stephen F. Befort

Articles

This article was prepared for a symposium at Indiana University Maurer School of Law on Labor and Employment Law under the Obama Administration. The article analyzes the current spate of attacks on public employees with particular reference to three sub-topics: teacher tenure and evaluation “reform,” the periodic cycles of public sector fiscal crises, and the unilateral modification of public sector collective bargaining agreements. The article concludes with the assessment that cyclical attacks on public sector workers reflect a skewed viewpoint that public employees owe first-class obligations but possess only second-class rights.


Renewable Energy And The Public Trust Doctrine, Alexandra B. Klass Jan 2012

Renewable Energy And The Public Trust Doctrine, Alexandra B. Klass

Articles

This Article explores the role of the public trust doctrine in current efforts to site large-scale wind and solar projects on public and private lands. Notably, both proponents and opponents of such renewable energy projects have looked to the public trust doctrine to advance their goals. Proponents of large-scale renewable energy projects point to the environmental and climate change benefits associated with renewable energy development and argue that the use of public lands and large tracts of private lands to facilitate such projects are both in the public interest and consistent with the public trust doctrine. At the same time, …


Women In The Post-Conflict Process: Reviewing The Impact Of Recent Un Actions In Achieving Gender Centrality, Dina Francesca Haynes, Naomi Cahn, Fionnuala Ní Aoláin Jan 2012

Women In The Post-Conflict Process: Reviewing The Impact Of Recent Un Actions In Achieving Gender Centrality, Dina Francesca Haynes, Naomi Cahn, Fionnuala Ní Aoláin

Articles

The post-conflict terrain provides multiple opportunities for transformation on many different levels: protecting civilians, providing accountability for human rights violations committed during hostilities, reforming local and national laws, reintegrating soldiers, rehabilitating and providing redress for victims, establishing or re-establishing the rule of law, creating human rights institutions and new governance structures, altering cultural attitudes, improving socioeconomic conditions, and transforming gender roles and women’s status. This Article explores the effort to make gender central in the various legal and political regimes and processes in operation post-conflict, and specifically reviews SCR 1325 and its successor resolutions to assess their real contributions towards …


Bankers Behaving Badly? The Limits Of Regulatory Reform, Claire Hill Jan 2012

Bankers Behaving Badly? The Limits Of Regulatory Reform, Claire Hill

Articles

We may finally be emerging from a "Great Recession." But the economy remains quite fragile. What bankers did was an important cause of the recession. They structured, sold and bought "toxic" securities, taking excessive risks with other people's money. Sometimes they did so recklessly, because they did not sufficiently understand the securities. Other times, they did understand the securities, and sold them to those who didn't, sometimes omitting much relevant information. Some evidence suggests that bankers knew the quality of mortgages being securitized was plummeting; indeed, given the dramatically increasing volume of mortgages being securitized, they had to at least …


Financial Regulation Reform And Too Big To Fail, Brett Mcdonnell Jan 2012

Financial Regulation Reform And Too Big To Fail, Brett Mcdonnell

Articles

Perhaps the leading critique of the Dodd-Frank Act is that it does too little to address the problem of too big to fail (“TBTF”) financial institutions. The critique of TBTF institutions has two main components. The economic argument focuses on a major moral hazard problem. The political argument focuses on the political clout of TBTF institutions. There are important truths in both the economic and the political argument against TBTF institutions. However, there are also important limits to the truth of both arguments. I believe the limits are more central than the truths, and that if anything Dodd-Frank has gone …


Litigation's Role In The Path Of U.S. Federal Climate Change Regulation: Implications Of Aep V. Connecticut, Hari M. Osofsky Jan 2012

Litigation's Role In The Path Of U.S. Federal Climate Change Regulation: Implications Of Aep V. Connecticut, Hari M. Osofsky

Articles

This symposium analyzes the role of litigation in climate change regulation, with a particular focus on the U.S. Supreme Court's June 2011 decision in American Electric Power Co. v. Connecticut ("AEP"). 1 This Essay adds to that conversation by exploring the significance of AEP for U.S. federal legal approaches to regulating climate change.


Suburban Climate Change Efforts: Possibilities For Small And Nimble Cities Participating In State, Regional, National, And International Networks, Hari M. Osofsky Jan 2012

Suburban Climate Change Efforts: Possibilities For Small And Nimble Cities Participating In State, Regional, National, And International Networks, Hari M. Osofsky

Articles

This Article provides a novel analysis of the capacity of suburbs to play a constructive role in addressing climate change. Small suburban cities represent the majority of metropolitan populations and emissions; encouraging their mitigation efforts, in addition to those of large center cities, is critical. In contrast to the conventional critique of suburbs as an undifferentiated group of sprawling emitters, the Article analyzes pathways for different types of small, nimble, suburban governments to learn from other localities and find cost-effective approaches to reducing emissions. It intertwines scholarship on (1) cities, suburbs, and climate change, (2) the complex demography of suburbs, …


Theories Of Contract Law And Enforcing Promissory Morality: Comments On Charles Fried, Brian H. Bix Jan 2012

Theories Of Contract Law And Enforcing Promissory Morality: Comments On Charles Fried, Brian H. Bix

Articles

This article considers two important themes connected with Charles Fried’s great work, "Contract as Promise": first, the nature of the theoretical claims in that book; and second, the question of whether contract law, especially when this area is equated with the enforcement of promises, is in tension with John Stuart Mill’s “Harm Principle.” While in the end I do not think that Fried's book makes out its apparent ambition of a promissory theory of contract law (or of American contract law), this is largely because the book's claims, when more carefully scrutinized, were never that ambitious to begin with. What …


Discipline And Discharge Of Public-Sector Employees: An Empirical Study Of Arbitration Awards, Laura J. Cooper Jan 2012

Discipline And Discharge Of Public-Sector Employees: An Empirical Study Of Arbitration Awards, Laura J. Cooper

Articles

Commentators frequently assert that government employees enjoy a level of protection from discharge far greater than privatesector employees, and, indeed, that government employers are actually unable to fire public employees who perform poorly or engage in misconduct. For example, author Mortimer B. Zuckerman maintained in a 2010 U.S. News & World Report article that there were "two Americas" with a division that "affronts a sense of fairness" between the protections afforded public-sector workers and those available to workers in the private sector.1 He stated, "it is almost impossible to fire government workers except after a long process and only for …


Applying International Human Rights Standards To The Restraint And Seclusion Of Students With Disabilities, David Weissbrodt, Willy Madeira, Daniel Stewart, William Dikel Jan 2012

Applying International Human Rights Standards To The Restraint And Seclusion Of Students With Disabilities, David Weissbrodt, Willy Madeira, Daniel Stewart, William Dikel

Articles

No federal law in the United States prohibits school administrators from physically restraining or secluding students. 1 State laws diverge widely. 2 Unlike in medical, psychiatric, and law enforcement settings, where strict national standards govern the use of physical restraint and seclusion, many schools may have no, or inconsistent, guidelines to follow in deciding when the use of force upon students is appropriate. 3 This lack of industry-approved protocol and standardized training of school personnel makes restraint and seclusion susceptible to misapplication and abuse. 4


Cognitive Warfare And Young Black Males In America, Perry L. Moriearty, William Carson Jan 2012

Cognitive Warfare And Young Black Males In America, Perry L. Moriearty, William Carson

Articles

The result was a veritable feedback loop whose cognitive output, the mental imprint of "morally impoverished" "super- predators,"14 continually fed its input. [...]even as crime rates among black youth have dropped steadily since the mid-1990s, these selfreinforcing associations and dissociations have prompted lawmakers and their constituents to continue to support laws and policies that they know disproportionately punish and incapacitate young black males. [...]is the apparent extent to which even subliminal racial primes can influence our perceptions of individuals.


Advancing Feminist Positioning In The Field Of Transitional Justice, Fionnuala Ní Aoláin Jan 2012

Advancing Feminist Positioning In The Field Of Transitional Justice, Fionnuala Ní Aoláin

Articles

No abstract provided.


Environmental Justice And The Bp Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill, Hari M. Osofsky, Kate Baxter-Kauf, Bradley Hammer, Ann Mailander, Brett Mares, Amy Pikovsky, Andrew Whitney, Laura Wilson Jan 2012

Environmental Justice And The Bp Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill, Hari M. Osofsky, Kate Baxter-Kauf, Bradley Hammer, Ann Mailander, Brett Mares, Amy Pikovsky, Andrew Whitney, Laura Wilson

Articles

This Article analyzes the environmental justice implications of the BP Deepwater Horizon oil spill and proposes ways to better address these concerns currently and in the future. It explores the justice problems that have arisen with respect to the spill response, compensation, and employment and workers. The Article argues that these problems result from a mix of inadequate information, failure to incorporate environmental justice into planning, and statutory provisions that favor oil companies and limit protections for vulnerable populations. It proposes ways in which to address these causes in the context of this disaster and more broadly.