Law Commons^™

The Role Of The "Harm/Benefit" And "Average Reciprocity Of Advantage" Rules In A Comprehensive Takings Analysis, Lynda J. Oswald

Vanderbilt Law Review

A "regulatory taking" occurs when the government does not formally exercise its power of eminent domain, but enacts a law or undertakes an action that results in a de facto "taking" of property for which compensation is constitutionally mandated., The United States Supreme Court has struggled for decades to determine when a land use regulation is a valid exercise of the police power (and thus not subject to the compensation requirement of the Fifth Amendment to the United States Constitution) and when such a regulation goes "too far" and becomes a regulatory taking.

The Supreme Court has developed a number …

From Premodern To Modern American Jurisprudence: The Onset Of Positivism, Stephen M. Feldman

Vanderbilt Law Review

What distinguished premodern from modern American jurisprudence? Whereas most commentators agree that the transition from premodernism to modernism occurred around the Civil War,' recent writings reveal dissension regarding the nature of antebellum and postbellum jurisprudence. In a wonderfully detailed study of Christopher Columbus Langdell, his jurisprudence, and his case method of teaching, William P. LaPiana argues that a defining feature of Langdell's postbellum legal science was a positivism that contrasted with a natural law orientation characteristic of the earlier antebellum jurisprudence. In a provocative critical essay, Robert W. Gordon argues to the contrary: LaPiana's emphasis on natural law during the …

No More Excuses: Refusing To Condone Mere Carelessness Or Negligence Under The "Excusable Neglect" Standard In Federal Rule Of Civil Procedure 60(B)(1), Bree W. Weathersbee

Vanderbilt Law Review

Rule 60(b)' is an attempt to codify the equitable, common law practice of reforming judgments under special circumstances. The rule, inter alia, authorizes a court to relieve a party from a default judgment for "excusable neglect." This standard, however, is not defined in the rules, and courts have struggled with its meaning. Some circuits define the term liberally and often grant requests to vacate default judgments. Others adopt a strict interpretation and consistently refuse to vacate default judgments resulting from mere carelessness or negligence. Recently, in Pioneer Investment Services Co. v. Brunswick Associates Ltd. Partnership, the Supreme Court clarified the …

A Straitjacket For Employment At-Will: Recognizing Breach Of Implied Contract Actions For Wrongful Demotion, Gregory M. Munson

Vanderbilt Law Review

For over a century, employment at-will has been the law in almost all American jurisdictions.' As a result, employers can fire their employees, and employees can quit, with or without reason. In addition, employers have the authority under the at-will rule to regulate all terms and conditions of employment. During the past two decades a series of judicial exceptions to the at-will rule that prohibit termination of an employee for a variety of reasons have eroded the at-will doctrine. These exceptions fall into two categories. First, an employer may not terminate an employee for reasons that violate public policy Second, …

Constitutional Wrongs And Common Law Principles: The Case For The Recognition Of State Constitutional Tort Actions Against State Governments, T. Hunter Jefferson

Vanderbilt Law Review

Imagine an individual whose friend has allowed him to stay in a bedroom of his trailer home. This individual brings his most treasured and personal possessions along with him. Two police officers, after receiving information of potential criminal activity from an informant, enter the trailer without a warrant. Instead of obtaining a warrant, the officers solicit the consent of a third party and ransack the bedroom-leaving it in complete disarray. They find no evidence of the alleged criminal wrongdoing and seize no property. Although the police do not arrest the individual, they have humiliated him and have invaded his privacy. …

Bolivia And Coca: Law, Policy, And Drug Control, Melanie R. Hallums

Vanderbilt Journal of Transnational Law

International drug trafficking looms large in the future of international relations. Although drug production and consumption can no longer be labeled as problems belonging to a few discrete nations, some countries' identities in the international arena are still shaped by their perception as drug-producing nations. Bolivia is one such country. Coca and cocaine have dominated its modern history and will continue to dominate its future. Bolivia's experience, however, is representative of not only other Andean nations' struggles with the drug epidemic, but of the international community's struggle with drug trafficking.

This Note sheds light on the legal tools to address …

Barring Foul Blows: An Argument For A Per Se Reversible-Error Rule For Prosecutors' Use Of Religious Arguments In The Sentencing Phase Of Capital Cases, Brian C. Duffy

Vanderbilt Law Review

Ninety-five percent of Americans profess belief in God, and seventy percent are members of a church or synagogue. Consequently, religious arguments, such as the prosecutor's invocation of Romans 13:1-7 from the Bible as excerpted above, will likely resonate with a jury consisting of "a fair cross-section" of a defendant's community and have a substantial impact on the decision-making process of its members. The impact of religious arguments is especially strong in the sentencing phase of capital cases when jurors must weigh a myriad of factors to determine whether a particular individual's life should end.

Notwithstanding the great risk, indeed likelihood, …

Ioltas Unmasked: Legal Aid Programs' Funding Results In Taking Of Clients' Property, Kevin H. Douglas

Vanderbilt Law Review

States have implemented Interest on Lawyers' Trust Account programs ('IOLTAs")' to generate revenue for legal aid. IOLTAs raise money through the creation of an economy of scale by directing attorneys to place clients' trust funds that could not profitably draw interest in individual checking accounts into an unsegregated interest- bearing bank account ("IOLTA account"). By significantly reducing the expense that results from opening and maintaining separate accounts for individual clients, the IOLTA account profitably draws interest when individual client accounts could not. The interest generated from the IOLTA account is used to fund legal aid programs according to the specifications …

Statutory Findings And Insider Trading Regulation, Steve Thel

Vanderbilt Law Review

Insider trading has presented some of the most unsettled and contentious issues of corporate law. These issues have been particularly difficult because often it has not even been clear whether the law forbids those who possess material nonpublic information to trade securities. Even as commentators have debated whether insider trading ought to be forbidden, the courts have disagreed on the more basic question of when and whether such trading is, in fact, forbidden.

The law governing insider trading has been unclear because the scope of the SEC's authority to regulate insider trading has been unclear. For a while, courts uniformly …

Melting The Plastic Theories: Advocating The Common Law Of Fraud In Credit Card Non-Dischargeability Actions Under 11 U.S.C. § 523(A)(2)(A), Craig A. Bruens

Vanderbilt Law Review

If credit card-holders purchase items they cannot afford, they may make minimum payments and avoid default. Most people carry debt on their credit cards,' and card-issuers who profit from interest on these balances encourage consumers to carry a balance. When a debtor acquires too much debt and files for bankruptcy, the debtor may generally discharge all of his debts to gain a "fresh start." This discharge of debts completely bars creditors from collecting the money owed to them, and the resulting losses have frustrated the credit card industry.

To prevent debts from becoming uncollectible due to discharge, credit card-issuers frequently …

Unfunded Mandates And Fiscal Federalism: A Critique, Robert W. Adler

Vanderbilt Law Review

The term "unfunded federal mandates" is used to challenge federal obligations imposed on states and localities without accompanying funding. Unfunded mandates were alluded to by both the majority and dissenting opinions in Printz v. United States, in which provisions of the Brady Handgun Violence Protection Act were invalidated by the U.S. Supreme Court on Tenth Amendment grounds. In this Article, Professor Adler critiques the fiscal, legal, and policy arguments against unfunded federal mandates. This analysis, in turn, raises two broader issues. First, is the concept of unfunded mandates independently useful to the nation's ongoing debate about federal- ism? Second, does …

Realizing The Re-Emergence Of The Chinese Stock Market: Fact Or Fiction?, Ann P. Vandevelde

Vanderbilt Journal of Transnational Law

The stock market which currently exists in the People's Republic of China (PRC) is a product of the "open door policy" introduced by Deng Xiaoping in 1978, following the death of Mao Zedong, to promote economic development over class struggle. Following limited experimentation with stock issuance at the local level, the Shanghai and Shenzhen stock exchanges opened in 1990 and 1991 respectively. Since its recent inception, China's stock market--which comprises the trading of domestically owned A-Shares and foreign-owned B-Shares--has experienced impressive growth together with periods of volatility as well as lackluster performance. Recent performance of A-Share trading has been strong, …

Toward A Fair And Practical Definition Of "Willfully" In The Medicare/Medicaid Anti-Kickback Statute, Tamsen D. Love

Vanderbilt Law Review

Health care fraud takes on a variety of forms-from billing insurance companies for services not provided, to falsifying injuries for tort plaintiffs, to practicing medicine without a license.' All these types of fraud contribute to the astronomical cost of health care in the United States. As federal policymakers have focused on ways to contain these costs, health care fraud has become an increasing object of scrutiny. At the same time, the health care industry is experiencing significant institutional change, particularly with the emergence of health maintenance organizations ("HMOs") and other managed care systems. The Medicare/Medicaid anti-kickback statute, which prohibits payments …

State User Fees And The Dormant Commerce Clause, Dan T. Coenen

Vanderbilt Law Review

The law takes shape as great principles collide in the context of concrete cases. In the field of constitutional law, the task of reconciling key precepts falls, of necessity, to the Supreme Court. Indeed, much of the Court's work involves delineating the borders of competing constitutional principles that the Court itself has created.

This Article considers the interplay of two central tenets of the Court's dormant commerce clause jurisprudence. The first of these principles exempts from the general proscription on discrimination against interstate commerce a state's actions as a "market participant," rather than as a "market regulator."' The second principle, …

Smoke And Mirrors: Florida's Tobacco-Related Medicaid Costs May Turn Out To Be A Mirage, Christopher May

Vanderbilt Law Review

Since the 1950s, anti-tobacco forces and the United States government have widely publicized the harm that the consumption of cigarettes can cause to humans. Smoking causes diseases of the oral cavity, cardio-pulmonary system, larynx, and bladder. In addition, the use of tobacco may also be related to sterility, ulcers, cancers of several internal organs, and even blindness. The severity of the consequences increases with the amount of consumption.

Experts estimate that 400,000 Americans die each year from smokings almost one out of every five deaths. In addition, the Surgeon General reports that as many as 2,400 deaths occur annually because …

Concern With Public Concern: Toward A Better Definition Of The "Pickering / Connick" Threshold Test, Karin B. Hoppmann

Vanderbilt Law Review

The term "public employer" is something of a legal oxymoron. Although the law has established a jurisprudence for the employer, consisting of a network of state and federal statutory requirements,' and a jurisprudence for the governmental body, governed by the Constitution, the public employer belongs to neither of these. It is an entity that functions as a private business, charged with maintaining an efficient and productive workplace. It is constantly under pres- sure to improve performance, and it is just as concerned with discipline, morale, and efficiency as any private employer. Yet it is also part of the sovereign and …

The Hidden Costs Of The Progressivity Debate, Nancy C. Staudt

Vanderbilt Law Review

Progressive taxation-taxing high income individuals at a proportionally higher level than low income individuals-has sparked more than a century of controversy. Those who support progressive taxation have heralded it as a policy that promotes the greatest good for the greatest number in society protects traditional democratic values, reflects the communitarian world-view of women who see themselves as responsible for the well-being of all individuals, and reveals the "aesthetic judgment" that income inequality is "distinctly evil or unlovely." At the same time, critics have condemned progressive income taxation as social policy that amounts to theft and involuntary servitude, reflects the democratic …

United States V. Virginia's New Gender Equal Protection Analysis With Ramifications For Pregnancy, Parenting, And Title Vii, Candace S. Kovacic-Fleischer

Vanderbilt Law Review

In this Article, Professor Kovacic-liTeischer argues that the Supreme Court's recent decision in United States v. Virginia raises gender equal protection analysis to the level of strict scrutiny. Professor Kovacic-Fleischer asserts that the Court's refusal to accept as immutable VMI's single-sex institutional design, and the Court's requirement that VMT make adjustments and alterations that will enable qualified women to undertake VM's curriculum evidences this shift in gender equal protection analysis. Professor Kovacic-Fleischer then turns to the significance of the Court's citation to California Federal Savings & Loan Association v. Guerra. She asserts that this citation indicates that the Court effectively …

Still Lost In The Political Thicket (Or Why I Don't Understand The Concept Of Vote Dilution), Larry Alexander

Vanderbilt Law Review

I still don't get it. I can see why as partisans of this or that set of policies we will still care about how district lines are drawn, even if each district has an equal number of voters. We might wish to maximize black representation. We might wish to elect Democrats, or liberals, or incumbents. What I cannot see, however, is why the Constitution, or a supposedly nonpartisan measure like the Voting Rights Act,I should be enlisted in these partisan battles.

Professor Karlan does an admirable job of exploring whether and to what extent blacks benefit politically from being concentrated …

Reconceptualizing Strict Liability In Tort: An Overview, Martin A. Kotler

Vanderbilt Law Review

In a series of books and articles, Professor Marshall Shapo has developed the idea of American tort law as a "cultural mirror"--a legal system reflecting cultural norms that serves as the "intellectual and practical foundation for society's response to injuries." The "cultural mirror" metaphor captures both the notion that there is a substantive normative basis for tort law that exists within society and the procedural notion that tort law ensures that those underlying norms are reflected in the resolution of tort disputes.

Although I believe Professor Shapo's description to be fundamentally correct, it is also incomplete, and, as a result, …

Public Choice And The Future Of Public-Choice-Influenced Legal Scholarship, David A. Skeel, Jr.

Vanderbilt Law Review

By many yardsticks, public choice is the single most successful transplant from the world of economics to legal scholarship., As with other law-and-economics scholarship, critics have attacked its assumptions, its methodology, and its conclusions. But nearly everyone concedes the power of at least some of the insights of public choice, and many of its terms, including "public choice" itself, have become common coinage in the legal literature, even among those who would never overtly rely on law-and-economics perspectives in their work.

Although both Maxwell Stearns's collection of readings and commentary, Public Choice and Public Law, and much of this Review …

Introduction: Current Issues In Mental Health Care - Special Edition, Tamsen D. Love

Vanderbilt Law Review

Today we think we know a lot more about mental health care than our country's founders did. Yet in many ways we are in no better position than our eighteenth-century predecessors. Certainly, the decisions we as a society face about mental illness are just as difficult. The vocabulary we employ is more complex--"behavioral health organization," "psychopharmacology," "cost containment"--but the issues are the same: Who should pay for mental health care? How much care is appropriate? And, more fundamentally, what exactly is mental health?

This year's Special Project addresses these issues. The Notes focus on particular legal issues in the mental …

The Early And Periodic Screening, Diagnostic, And Treatment Program And Managed Medicaid Mental Health Care: The Need To Reevaluate The Epsdt In The Managed Care Era, John A. Flippen

Vanderbilt Law Review

For a majority of Medicaid recipients, managed health care is fast becoming a reality. As state governments seek to control Medicaid costs in a world of limited resources, unlimited reimbursement for any treatment a doctor deems necessary is no longer feasible. One major tool for cost containment has been the privatization of the delivery of Medicaid coverage into managed care organizations. The shift to a managed plan means that services will be rationed. This rationing occurs because capitated rates, for example, require that private managed care organizations ("MCOs") bear the risk of providing services to the Medicaid population and attempt …

Returning To The True Goal Of The Individuals With Disabilities Education Act: Self-Sufficiency, Robert C. Hannon

Vanderbilt Law Review

This country has long recognized the necessity of an education in order to function productively in society. As suggested by one of the founding fathers, Thomas Jefferson, "some degree of education is necessary to prepare citizens to participate effectively and intelligently in our open political system." More recently, the Supreme Court recognized the importance of education in Brown v. Board of foreclose the means by which that group might raise the level of es- teem in which it is held by the majority .... Illiteracy is an enduring disability."

Today this need to educate remains just as pressing. Our country …

Conservatives, Liberals, Romantics: The Persistent Quest For Certainty In Constitutional Interpretation, Frederick M. Gedicks

Vanderbilt Law Review

From the time that Robert Bork issued his first attack on the Warren Court, originalism has belonged to political conservatives. This interpretive theory, which holds that the understanding of the Constitution at the time it was drafted and ratified controls its contemporary meaning, has been regularly utilized by conservative judges and politicians over the last two decades to question the legitimacy of various (mostly liberal) Supreme Court decisions. Given the liberal tilt of the legal academy, it is not suprising that advocates of originalism constitute a minority of constitutional scholars.

Recently, a prominent constitutional theorist with unmistakably liberal credentials announced …

Current Issues In Mental Health Care, David A. Skeel, Jr.

Vanderbilt Law Review

When America was founded in the late eighteenth century, doctors treated mental illness with beatings, isolation, and physical restraint-all thought to help the patient regain inner reason., People exhibiting strange behavior were often forced onto the streets, run out of town, or thrown into jail.

Today we think we know a lot more about mental health care than our country's founders did. Yet in many ways we are in no better position than our eighteenth-century predecessors. Certainly, the decisions we as a society face about mental illness are just as difficult. The vocabulary we employ is more complex--"behavioral health organization," …

Legislative "Subterfuge"?: Failing To Insure Persons With Mental Illness Under The Mental Health Parity Act And The Americans With Disabilities Act, Christopher A. Jones

Vanderbilt Law Review

The two primary problems with providing health care in the United States are cost and access., The cost of health care rose dramatically during the 1970s and 1980s and continues to increase, making coset containment crucial to the availability of care. In addition, many Americans are either entirely without health insurance or are underinsured for catastrophic illness. While individually these two issues are important, equally problematic is the tension that exists between them. Providing greater access to additional services results either in a cost increase or the loss of other services. Ultimately, however, a general plan to contain costs can …

The Dynamics Of Democracy: Travel, Premature Predation, And The Components Of Political Identity, Nicholas S. Zeppos

Vanderbilt Law Review

Democracy is indeed an elusive concept and any effort to develop the constituent elements of so important a political idea ought to be encouraged. From any number of perspectives it is clear that democracy must include more than simply ratifying the outcomes of either citizen or representative voting., And when a court is asked to set aside the results of a process some describe as democratic, the challenge to enrich the concept becomes even more pressing, particularly when the judicial power is invoked in the name of enhancing democracy. The Supreme Court's decision in Romer v. Evan dramatically poses the …

The Black Public Sphere And Mainstream Majoritarian Politics, Regina Austin

Vanderbilt Law Review

As a person who pays only passing attention to formal black electoral politics, let alone the Voting Rights Act and the Supreme Court's attempts to decimate it, it is a privilege and a daunting challenge to respond to Professor Karlan's Article, Loss and Redemption: Voting Rights at the Turn of a Century. At the outset, I felt inadequate to the task. My research has largely focused on informal black socioeconomic development and discourse, most of which occurs far from the spotlight of the political mainstream., The only formal politics with which I am concerned occurs primarily at the local, grass- …

Formal Neutrality In The Warren And Rehnquist Courts: Illusions Of Similarity, Rebecca L. Brown

Vanderbilt Law Review

I read recently that if one compares the genetic structure of humans to that of dogs, one finds that ninety-six percent of the DNA in the two species is identical. That is a lot of common ground. Yet it may not be enough to draw meaningful conclusions about the sameness of the two creatures. Without suggesting that either of the two Courts discussed in her Article is a "dog," I do think it is fair to say that Professor Sherry has perhaps underestimated the relative importance of the divergent four percent.

Professor Sherry argues that in the defining areas of …