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Full-Text Articles in Law
Why Irac Should Be Igpac, Barbara P. Blumenfeld
Why Irac Should Be Igpac, Barbara P. Blumenfeld
Faculty Scholarship
While IRAC is generally a good organizational tool, I find that the R or rule part of this formulation is often unclear to students. Despite what they are taught in class, many want to see “rule” as a general premise only, forgetting that it must also include fact specific examples of how that general premise has been applied in the past. This failure leaves them without any precedent to which they can analogize the facts of their own case.
Assessing The Evolution And Available Actions For Recovery In Cultural Property Claims, Joshua E. Kastenberg
Assessing The Evolution And Available Actions For Recovery In Cultural Property Claims, Joshua E. Kastenberg
Faculty Scholarship
United States laws regarding antiquities are not settled, but an historic legal overview provides some guidance to the direction of cultural property claims. These laws gain importance with the realization that art is second only to narcotics in worldwide illegally trafficked items. Furthermore, there is an abundance of disputed cultural property within legitimate interests, such as museums and personal collections. Thus, before taking an overview of current legal protections, it may be helpful to briefly examine two current controversies.
Elizabeth's Story: Exploring Power Imbalances In Divorce Mediation, Scott H. Hughes
Elizabeth's Story: Exploring Power Imbalances In Divorce Mediation, Scott H. Hughes
Faculty Scholarship
Case study of many spouses who enter the divorce process with severe deficits in their abilities to deal with the emotional, economic, intellectual, and logistical issues which arise. Mediation may not be adviseable when there is an inequality of bargaining power due to abuse, inexperience, ignorance, socialization and/or the grieving process.
House Passess Unbalanced Clean Water Act, Denise D. Fort
House Passess Unbalanced Clean Water Act, Denise D. Fort
Faculty Scholarship
The Clean Water Act and the associated state statutes and regulations provide the framework for New Mexico's regulation (and nonregulation) of our rivers and streams. Both the federal and state laws need improvement if they are to work in New Mexico. As readers of The Green Fire Report well know, the "improvements" contemplated by the new Congress are unlikely to improve our water. H.R. 961, the House bill recently passed by the House, is simply unacceptable. President Clinton has indicated that he will veto the bill as passed by the House. Your efforts are needed to contact your federal legislators …
Its Time For A State Environmental Policy Act, Denise D. Fort
Its Time For A State Environmental Policy Act, Denise D. Fort
Faculty Scholarship
What single law should be the first step in protecting New Mexico's environment from the consequences of our cascading population? My nomination would go to a State Environmental Policy Act, commonly called a "state NEPA." These laws are on one level very simple, requiring only that state governments "stop and think" before taking actions with significant environmental costs. After twenty-five years of experience with the federal National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA), however, we know that a law that allows citizens input into governmental action has a profound effect on governmental action.
Shrinking Indian Country: A State Offensive To Divest Tribal Sovereignty, Gloria Valencia-Weber
Shrinking Indian Country: A State Offensive To Divest Tribal Sovereignty, Gloria Valencia-Weber
Faculty Scholarship
In Sac and Fox, the Oklahoma Tax Commission (OTC) argued that the Sac and Fox reservation was disestablished in the 1891 Allotment Agreement, and therefore the tribe was deprived of a cognizable land base on which it could exercise governmental power immune from the reach of the state. Based on this characterization of the land base, the OTC then argued that it could reach into Sac and Fox land and impose income and vehicle taxes. The tribe, of course, rejected any such characterization of its land base and resisted any attempt by the state to interfere with its sovereign control …
Law School Training Of American Indians As Legal-Warriors, Gloria Valencia-Weber
Law School Training Of American Indians As Legal-Warriors, Gloria Valencia-Weber
Faculty Scholarship
This article explores four areas involved in training lawyers appropriate to the needs of tribal nations. First, the American Indian tribes, as the indigenous sovereigns, present legal needs and opportunities unique from other minority groups. Development of Indian law depends on the exercise of sovereign power by the Indian nations, not constitutional equal protection of an ethnic minority. The architectural work of developing the governments, i.e., creating tribal law and operating tribal courts, calls for the legal-warrior's critical ability to meld customary perspectives with knowledge and skills acquired in legal professional training. Second, the specialty of American Indian law as …
Domestic Violence And Tribal Protection Of Indigenous Women In The United States, Christine Zuni Cruz, Gloria Valencia-Weber
Domestic Violence And Tribal Protection Of Indigenous Women In The United States, Christine Zuni Cruz, Gloria Valencia-Weber
Faculty Scholarship
The purpose of this article is to discuss openly the issue of the physical abuse of American Indian women in a manner that reflects the authors' knowledge of how American Indian people live. This article confronts presumptions or pre-existing notions about the indigenous people of the United States that pervade popular culture. Initially, this article will examine the sovereign nature of the tribal nations within the parameters of both international law and United States jurisprudence. This article will also address the way in which some international instruments relate to the rights and protection of indigenous people, including specific provisions for …
Scenes From The Continuum: Sustaining The Maccrate Report's Vision Of Legal Education Into The Twenty-First Century, J. Michael Norwood
Scenes From The Continuum: Sustaining The Maccrate Report's Vision Of Legal Education Into The Twenty-First Century, J. Michael Norwood
Faculty Scholarship
In 1992, the ABA Task Force on Legal Education and the Profession, under the leadership of its Chairman Robert MacCrate, came out with what has become popularly known as the MacCrate Report. This epochal document has redefined the scope of the current debate on how law school should be taught and what values should make up the core of legal education. In this article, Professor Norwood provides background on the Report and an overview of its contents. He then forecasts the effect it is likely to have in the coming years, noting impediments likely to arise from law schools reluctant …
Federal Environmental Citizen Provisions: Obstacles And Incentives On The Road To Environmental Justice, Eileen Gauna
Federal Environmental Citizen Provisions: Obstacles And Incentives On The Road To Environmental Justice, Eileen Gauna
Faculty Scholarship
This article attempts to examine the special problems that community-based groups in low income and minority communities might encounter in prosecuting citizen suits under highly technical environmental statutes. To set the context for this inquiry, part II of this article describes the environmental justice movement and investigates the charge that communities of color are disproportionately and unjustly burdened with environmental hazards. Part II also explores the differences in perspective that underlie much of the conflict among environmental justice activists, mainstream environmental organizations, and EPA. Part II concludes with a look at social forces that have contributed to environmental inequities and …
Book Review: Rethinking The American Constitutional Tradition: National Dimensions In The Formulation Of State Constitutions, Christian G. Fritz
Book Review: Rethinking The American Constitutional Tradition: National Dimensions In The Formulation Of State Constitutions, Christian G. Fritz
Faculty Scholarship
Founding the Far West is an important scholarly contribution to nineteenth-century American history. However, its analysis of how California, Oregon, and Nevada became states identifies a dynamic that fails to capture the tradition of American constitution-making. Only when state constitution-making is more widely studied can the dimensions of that tradition be understood in ways that will integrate the meaning of the state constitutional experience. So too, the recent interest in state constitutions as documents having an independent source of constitutional authority may curb the ingrained habit of studying American constitutional law from "the top down" and encourage scholars to bring …
Indian Culture And Spirituality: Some Reflections On The Shaping And Sharing Of Cultural Values, Sherri L. Burr
Indian Culture And Spirituality: Some Reflections On The Shaping And Sharing Of Cultural Values, Sherri L. Burr
Faculty Scholarship
This article provides an introduction to the unique conflicts over American Indian cultural objects. There is clearly an internal appreciation of Indian culture by Indians, as well as an external appreciation of Indian culture by others either for personal use or to be display in homes or museums. Through this exchange, the creator of the objects shares his or her heritage with the recipient. By sharing art and cultural items, either voluntarily or by force, a learning process ensues about the objects and about those who created them. In considering ownership of Native American cultural objects, the law has not …