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Full-Text Articles in Law

Constitutional Cacophony: Federal Circuit Splits And The Fourth Amendment, Wayne A. Logan Oct 2012

Constitutional Cacophony: Federal Circuit Splits And The Fourth Amendment, Wayne A. Logan

Scholarly Publications

Despite their many differences, Americans have long been bound by a shared sense of constitutional commonality. Federal constitutional rights, however, can and do often vary based on geographic location, and a chief source of this variation stems from an unexpected origin: the nation's federal circuit courts of appeals. While a rich literature exists on federal circuit splits in general, this Article provides the first empirical study of federal constitutional law circuit splits. Focusing on Fourth Amendment doctrine in particular, the Article highlights the existence of over three dozen current circuit splits, which result in the unequal allocation of liberty and …


Just Do It! Specific Rulemaking On Materiality Guidance In Insider Trading, Joan Macleod Heminway Jul 2012

Just Do It! Specific Rulemaking On Materiality Guidance In Insider Trading, Joan Macleod Heminway

Scholarly Works

Insider trading has been in the news on a relatively constant basis in the new millennium. Raj Rajaratnam and associates, Mark Cuban, and Martha Stewart have been among the many subjects of legal actions involving insider trading since the Enron debacle in 2002. Some of these cases have been garden-variety insider trading cases; others have exposed confusing and evolving elements of U.S. insider trading doctrine. Most recently, the STOCK Act — a law providing for an express congressional prohibition on insider trading — has made headlines. Public reporting in connection with both recent legal actions and the introduction and passage …


Stare Decisis In The Inferior Courts Of The United States, Joseph Mead Jul 2012

Stare Decisis In The Inferior Courts Of The United States, Joseph Mead

Law Faculty Articles and Essays

While circuit courts are bound to fallow circuit precedent under "law of the circuit" the practice among federal district courts is more varied and uncertain, routinely involving little or no deference to their own precedent. I argue that the different hierarchical levels and institutional characteristics do not account for the differences in practices between circuit and district courts. Rather, district courts can and should adopt a "law of the district" similar to that of circuit courts. Through this narrow proposal, I explore the historical stare decisis practices in federal courts that are not Supreme.


Navigating The Borders Between International Commercial Arbitration And U.S. Federal Courts: A Jurisprudential Gps, S. I. Strong Jan 2012

Navigating The Borders Between International Commercial Arbitration And U.S. Federal Courts: A Jurisprudential Gps, S. I. Strong

Faculty Publications

This article provides just that sort of guide, outlining the various ways in which U.S. federal courts can become involved in international commercial arbitration and introducing both basic and advanced concepts in a straightforward, practical manner. However, this article provides more than just an overview. Instead, it discusses relevant issues on a motion-by-motion basis, helping readers find immediate answers to their questions while also getting a picture of the field as a whole. Written especially for busy lawyers, this article gives practitioners, arbitrators and new and infrequent participants in international commercial arbitration a concise but comprehensive understanding of the unique …


Commentary, Considering Lesbian, Gay, Transgender, And Bisexual Nominees For The Federal Courts, Carl W. Tobias Jan 2012

Commentary, Considering Lesbian, Gay, Transgender, And Bisexual Nominees For The Federal Courts, Carl W. Tobias

Law Faculty Publications

Professor Tobias details the ultimately unsuccessful nomination of Edward DuMont to the United States Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit in 2010-11 to illustrate the obstacles encountered by LGBT individuals in the federal judicial selection process.


The Judicial Assault On The Clean Water Act, Mark Squillace Jan 2012

The Judicial Assault On The Clean Water Act, Mark Squillace

Publications

No abstract provided.


A Crisis In Federal Habeas Law, Eve Brensike Primus Jan 2012

A Crisis In Federal Habeas Law, Eve Brensike Primus

Reviews

Everyone recognizes that federal habeas doctrine is a mess. Despite repeated calls for reform, federal judges continue to waste countless hours reviewing habeas petitions only to dismiss the vast majority of them on procedural grounds. Broad change is necessary, but to be effective, such change must be animated by an overarching theory that explains when federal courts should exercise habeas jurisdiction. In Habeas for the Twenty-First Century: Uses, Abuses, and the Future of the Great Writ, Professors Nancy King and Joseph Hoffmann offer such a theory. Drawing on history, current practice, and empirical data, King and Hoffmann find unifying themes …


The Constitutionality Of Federal Jurisdiction-Stripping Legislation And The History Of State Judicial Selection And Tenure, Brian T. Fitzpatrick Jan 2012

The Constitutionality Of Federal Jurisdiction-Stripping Legislation And The History Of State Judicial Selection And Tenure, Brian T. Fitzpatrick

Vanderbilt Law School Faculty Publications

Few questions in the field of Federal Courts have captivated scholars like the question of whether Congress can simultaneously divest both lower federal courts and the U.S. Supreme Court of jurisdiction to hear federal constitutional claims and thereby leave those claims to be litigated in state courts alone. Such a divestiture is known today as “jurisdiction stripping,” and, despite literally decades of scholarship on the subject, scholars have largely been unable to reconcile two widely held views: jurisdiction stripping should be unconstitutional because it deprives constitutional rights of adjudication by independent judges and jurisdiction stripping is nonetheless perfectly consistent with …


Justifying Diversity In The Federal Judiciary, Carl W. Tobias Jan 2012

Justifying Diversity In The Federal Judiciary, Carl W. Tobias

Law Faculty Publications

This Essay thus scrutinizes Obama’s judicial selection effort, which confirms many ideas that Scherer espouses while showing how political deficiencies in the modern selection process erode diversity and legitimacy, and perhaps Scherer’s provocative solution. This response ultimately discusses some promising measures beyond Scherer’s recommendation that could enhance diversity and legitimacy in light of the threat that politicization poses


The Law Of Nations As Constitutional Law, Anthony J. Bellia, Bradford R. Clark Jan 2012

The Law Of Nations As Constitutional Law, Anthony J. Bellia, Bradford R. Clark

Journal Articles

Courts and scholars continue to debate the status of customary international law in U.S. courts, but have paid insufficient attention to the role that such law plays in interpreting and upholding several specific provisions of the Constitution. The modern position argues that courts should treat customary international law as federal common law. The revisionist position contends that customary international law applies only to the extent that positive federal or state law has adopted it. Neither approach adequately takes account of the Constitution’s allocation of powers to the federal political branches in Articles I and II or the effect of these …


The Law Of Nations As Constitutional Law, Bradford R. Clark, Anthony J. Bellia Jr. Jan 2012

The Law Of Nations As Constitutional Law, Bradford R. Clark, Anthony J. Bellia Jr.

GW Law Faculty Publications & Other Works

Courts and scholars continue to debate the status of customary international law in U.S. courts, but have paid insufficient attention to the role that such law plays in interpreting and upholding several specific provisions of the Constitution. The modern position argues that courts should treat customary international law as federal common law. The revisionist position contends that customary international law applies only to the extent that positive federal or state law has adopted it. Neither approach adequately takes account of the Constitution’s allocation of powers to the federal political branches in Articles I and II or the effect of these …


Border Skirmishes: The Intersection Between Litigation And International Commercial Arbitration, S. I. Strong Jan 2012

Border Skirmishes: The Intersection Between Litigation And International Commercial Arbitration, S. I. Strong

Faculty Publications

This essay considers the tension between the autonomous theory of international commercial arbitration and the more interactive theory advanced by Gary Born during his keynote address at the recent “Border Skirmishes” symposium at the University of Missouri School of Law. In his presentation, Born considered the relationship between litigation and international commercial arbitration and distinguished between permissible “border crossings” and impermissible “border incursions.” This essay considers how these concepts play out both in routine interactions between courts and tribunals and more in difficult scenarios, such as those involving anti-suit injunctions. The discussion also presents statistics concerning the amount of ancillary …


Allegedly “Biased,” “Intimidating,” And “Incompetent” State Court Judges And The Questionable Removal Of State Law Class Actions To Purportedly “Impartial” And “Competent” Federal Courts—A Historical Perspective And An Empirical Analysis Of Class Action Dispositions In Federal And State Courts, 1925-2011, Willy E. Rice Jan 2012

Allegedly “Biased,” “Intimidating,” And “Incompetent” State Court Judges And The Questionable Removal Of State Law Class Actions To Purportedly “Impartial” And “Competent” Federal Courts—A Historical Perspective And An Empirical Analysis Of Class Action Dispositions In Federal And State Courts, 1925-2011, Willy E. Rice

Faculty Articles

Judges as well as members of plaintiffs’ and defense bars agree: a class action is a superior, efficient, and inexpensive procedural tool to litigate disputes that present similar questions of fact and law. To be sure, corporations and insurers have a long history of filing successful class actions against each other in state courts. Yet those corporate entities convinced Congress to embrace an uncommon view: continuing to allow allegedly “hostile” and “biased” state judges and juries to hear and decide everyday consumers’ “purely substantive state law class actions” is unfair and inefficient. Responding to the plea, Congress enacted the Class …