Law Commons^™

A Defense Of Japanese Sovereignty Over The Senkaku/Diaoyu Islands, Ryan M. Scoville

Faculty Publications

Legal analyses on the sovereignty dispute over the Senkaku/ Diaoyu Islands have been unfavorable to Japan. The literature is populated primarily with works by commentators who argue in favor of the Chinese claim, and by others who conclude that the applicable law is simply too indeterminate to support either party. Analyses favoring Japan are rare and underdeveloped. This is a surprising state of affairs, given that Japan has the better argument. The purpose of this paper is to explain why.

The Penn State "Consent Decree": The Ncaa's Coercive Means Don't Justify Its Laudable Ends, But Is There A Legal Remedy?, Matthew J. Mitten

Faculty Publications

In a July 23, 2012 Consent Decree, the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA), acting through its Executive Committee and President Mark Emmert, imposed unprecedented sanctions on Pennsylvania State University (Penn State). This action apparently was taken in an effort to convincingly demonstrate presidential control of intercollegiate athletics after recent widely reported scandals involving violations of NCAA amateurism, academic integrity, and ethical conduct rules by persons associated with high-profile intercollegiate football programs. This unprecedented use of de facto "best interests" power to punish a member university for individual criminal activity and institutional misconduct which traditionally has not been disciplined by the …

A Regulatory Solution To Better Promote The Educational Values And Economic Sustainability Of Intercollegiate Athletics, Matthew J. Mitten, Stephen F. Ross

Faculty Publications

Currently there are several pending antitrust suits challenging NCAA rules restricting the economic benefits intercollegiate athletes may receive for their sports participation. Although remedying the inherent problems of commercialized college sports (primarily Division I football and men’s basketball) is a laudable objective, a free market solution mandated by antitrust law may have unintended adverse consequences. Judicial invalidation of these rules may inhibit universities from providing many athletes with a college education they would not otherwise receive, by eliminating or reducing the value of scholarships for many players whose economic value is less than the cost of an education. A wholly …

Compelled Diplomacy In Zivotofsky V. Kerry, Ryan M. Scoville

Faculty Publications

To the parties and lower courts, Zivotofsky v. Kerry has been a dispute primarily about the nature of the President's power to recognize foreign borders. But what if the law also raises another, entirely separate issue under Article II?

This essay explores the possibility that Section 214(d) of the Foreign Relations Authorization Act of 2003 is unconstitutional not because it recognizes a border or materially interferes with the implementation of U.S. recognition policy, but simply because it purports to compel diplomatic speech that the President opposes. From this angle, Zivotofsky presents a question about who controls official diplomatic communications, and …

An Analysis Of The Treatment Of Employee Pension And Wage Claims In Insolvency And Under Guarantee Schemes In Oecd Countries: Comparative Law Lessons For Detroit And The United States, Paul M. Secunda

Faculty Publications

To put the plight of the Detroit city employees into an international and comparative context when it comes to considering how their pension and wage claims should be treated in bankruptcy, it is instructive to consider how similar employee pension and wage claims would be treated in corporate insolvencies in other countries. It is necessary to focus on corporate insolvencies in other countries as the relevant comparison because most other countries do not have government systems in which municipalities have the same financial independence to borrow money and take on debt as municipalities do in the United States as part …

All It Ever Does Is Rain: Bruce Springsteen And The Alienation Of Labor, David Ray Papke

Faculty Publications

The popular singer and songwriter Bruce Springsteen is a product of the working-class family, and his songs often creatively capture not only working-class life but also workers' alienation from their labor. In an unsystematic way, Springsteen's lyrics portray how modern workers are alienated from the products of their labor, the process of working, other workers, and ultimately, from themselves. Although Springsteen primarily has blue-collar, industrial workers in mind, his thoughts on the alienation of labor continue to have relevance for workers in the American consumer society and in the contemporary global economy as well.