Law Commons^™

Symposium: Fighting Corruption In American And Abroad: Foreword, Jed Handelsman Shugerman

Faculty Scholarship

This Foreword focuses on a few related observations from the symposium. First, it summarizes Teachout's book, which inspired this symposium and which relied on history to undermine Citizens United. Second, it suggests that a more recent case in this Court's Term, Williams-Yulee vs. Florida Bar,⁸ also erodes Citizens United, at least a bit, by recognizing a compelling state interest in combating the appearance of corruption and bias in a new context: by embracing that corruption lurks in gray areas and the banality of campaign fundraising. Third, Pamela Karlan and Samuel Issacharoff once observed that money in politics …

Combatendo A Corrupção Nos Estados Unidos, Paul Marcus

Faculty Publications

The article discusses the problematic of the fight against the corruption by the criminal justice system of the United States, mainly the white-collar crimes. It is emphasized, first, that in most of the cases does not result in trial, but in plea bargains, and, second, in many cases the encouragement from an undercover agent has served as an effective defense instrument. Finally, it is discussed the problematic of the use of information obtained from the technological devices and its probable violation to the right privacy.

This article is in Portuguese.

The Price Of Corruption, Usha Rodrigues

Scholarly Works

The Supreme Court recently held that campaign contributions under $5200 do not create a “cognizable risk of corruption.” It was wrong. This Essay describes a nexus of timely contributions and special-interest legislation. In the most noteworthy case, a CEO made a first-time $1000 donation to a member of Congress. The next day that representative introduced a securities bill tailored to the interests of the CEO’s firm.

Armed with this real-world account of how small-dollar campaign contributions coincided with favorable legislative action, the Essay reads McCutcheon v. Federal Election Commission with a critical eye. In McCutcheon the Supreme Court assumed that …

Human Rights Provisions In Free Trade Agreements: Do The Ends Justify The Means?, Meredith Kolsky Lewis

Journal Articles

Numerous Free Trade Agreements (FTAs) contain provisions imposing human rights-related obligations, particularly in the case of agreements between the European Union and a developing country (often a former colony). Such obligations often consist of hortatory “best endeavors” language rather than legally binding provisions. Even the small number of provisions that are binding are very rarely enforced. Furthermore, even if an FTA features human rights-related provisions, it may contain other terms that have negative implications for human rights. Thus, including human rights provisions in FTAs will not necessarily result in better human rights outcomes. There are additional reasons to be cautious …

Rebuilding Bell, California: Review And Recommendations For Continued Improvement Of Accountability, Oversight, And Transparency, Jennifer Rodgers, Jacob Watkins

Center for the Advancement of Public Integrity (Inactive)

In 2010, Bell, California was a small city with a big corruption problem. Its city manager at that time, Robert Rizzo, had developed a plan to enrich himself at the city’s expense, and covered his tracks by involving numerous other city officials in his corrupt scheme, including the city councilmembers who were supposed to serve as a check on Rizzo’s power. Because virtually all of Bell’s top-level officials ended up implicated in the criminal conduct, the limited number of checks and balances built into Bell’s governing structure failed. And because Bell did not have any formal anti-corruption mechanisms in place …

The Trials Of John Sampson And Thomas Libous, Center For The Advancement Of Public Integrity

Center for the Advancement of Public Integrity (Inactive)

This July, two high-ranking New York State Senators faced trials for public corruption. Both were found guilty. Just the most recent in a long list of recent corruption scandals, the details of their cases provide a window into the culture of impunity in Albany.

Profile In Public Integrity: Lawrence Yealue, Center For The Advancement Of Public Integrity

Center for the Advancement of Public Integrity (Inactive)

Lawrence Yealue is the West Africa Representative of Accountability Lab, an incubator for local-level integrity initiatives with an emphasis on generating sustainable development. Based in Monrovia, Liberia, Yealue’s career has centered on community-driven approaches to responsible reform. His previous work includes serving as Electoral Commissioner for the Liberian Student Association-Ghana, National Coordinator for the World Youth Spirit Council, Project Director for the Rotary Club of Wisconsin, and as a volunteer for Africa Peace’s HIV/AIDS Education & Peace Initiative. Yealue also founded and directs the Liberian Youth for Peace & Development community group. Yealue holds a B.A. in Human Resource Management …

Profile In Public Integrity: Daniel E. Karson, Center For The Advancement Of Public Integrity

Center for the Advancement of Public Integrity (Inactive)

Daniel E. Karson is Chairman of Kroll, based in the New York office. Dan has more than 40 years’ experience directing investigations of business crimes. His practice areas include major fraud investigations, the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act, litigation support, contests for corporate control, Internet crimes, financial crimes, asset searches, product counterfeiting and due diligence.

Dan launched Kroll’s European operations, opening its London office and serving as its first Managing Director in 1986. Dan also opened Kroll offices in Boston and Philadelphia, and served as Kroll’s General Counsel for eleven years.

Prior to joining Kroll, Dan was General Counsel and Assistant …

Profile In Public Integrity: Sam Koim, Center For The Advancement Of Public Integrity

Center for the Advancement of Public Integrity (Inactive)

Sam Koim currently serves in Papua New Guinea as Chairman of the Investigation Task-Force Sweep (ITFS) and as Principal Legal Officer at the Department of Justice and Attorney General. ITFS is an inter-agency team that brings together the Police Force, Public Prosecutor’s Office, Internal Revenue Commission, and Auditor General’s Office amongst others, to root out corruption nationwide.

Profile In Public Integrity: Jeff Gottlieb, Center For The Advancement Of Public Integrity

Center for the Advancement of Public Integrity (Inactive)

Jeff Gottlieb is a senior writer at the Los Angeles Times. He shared the Pulitzer Prize for public service in 2011 for uncovering corruption in Bell. He also received the George Polk and the Selden Ring awards, among others. He previously won a Polk award while working at the San Jose Mercury News for uncovering Stanford’s questionable spending of federal funds. He received a bachelor’s in sociology from Pitzer College in Claremont and a master’s in journalism from Columbia University.

Culpability And Modern Crime, Samuel W. Buell

Faculty Scholarship

Criminal law has developed to prohibit new forms of intrusion on the autonomy and mental processes of others. Examples include modern understandings of fraud, extortion, and bribery, which pivot on the concepts of deception, coercion, and improper influence. Sometimes core offenses develop to include similar concepts, such as when reforms in the law of sexual assault make consent almost exclusively material. Many of these projects are laudable. But progressive programs in substantive criminal law can raise difficult problems of culpability. Modern iterations of criminal offenses often draw lines using concepts involving relative mental states among persons whose conduct is embedded …

Review Of Corruption In America: From Benjamin Franklin's Snuff Box To Citizens United By Zephyr Teachout, Robert L. Tsai

Faculty Scholarship

This is a review of Zephyr Teachout's book on the anticorruption principle, "Corruption in America" (Harvard 2014).

The Price Of Corruption, Usha Rodrigues

Scholarly Works

The Supreme Court recently held that campaign contributions under $5200 do not create a “cognizable risk of corruption.” It was wrong. This Essay describes a nexus of timely contributions and special-interest legislation. In the most noteworthy case, a CEO made a first-time $1000 donation to a member of Congress. The next day that representative introduced a securities bill tailored to the interests of the CEO’s firm.

Armed with this real-world account of how small-dollar campaign contributions coincided with favorable legislative action, the Essay reads McCutcheon v. Federal Election Commission with a critical eye. In McCutcheon the Supreme Court assumed that …