Law Commons^™

Baby Steps Or One Fell Swoop?: The Incremental Extension Of Rights Is Not A Defensible Strategy, James M. Donovan

James M. Donovan

The problem of incrementalism emerges from the common practice of limiting certain rights only to groups on certified lists. Section I reviews this problem of the list, and how the failure of lists to include gay men and lesbians profoundly impacts their daily lives. Possible strategic responses to this problem (such as doing nothing, interpreting the current list to include us, eliminating the list altogether, or expanding the list to include us explicitly) are considered in Section II, concluding by focusing on a special kind of gradualism, list incrementalism. List incrementalism occurs when a right is extended to new groups …

Baby Steps Or One Fell Swoop?: The Incremental Extension Of Rights Is Not A Defensible Strategy, James M. Donovan

Law Faculty Scholarly Articles

The problem of incrementalism emerges from the common practice of limiting certain rights only to groups on certified lists. Section I reviews this problem of the list, and how the failure of lists to include gay men and lesbians profoundly impacts their daily lives. Possible strategic responses to this problem (such as doing nothing, interpreting the current list to include us, eliminating the list altogether, or expanding the list to include us explicitly) are considered in Section II, concluding by focusing on a special kind of gradualism, list incrementalism. List incrementalism occurs when a right is extended to new groups …

2001 Cardozo Life (Summer), Benjamin N. Cardozo School Of Law

Cardozo Life

Table of Contents:

Around Campus, page 3

Faculty Briefs, page 13

Nietzsche Comes of Age in America, page 18

Cardozo: Enjoying a Transformation, page 20

Enjoying the Jobs of Their Lives: Alumni on the Bench, page 25

Alumni News & Notes, page 32

Playing God: An Essay On Law, Philosophy, And American Capital Punishment, Samuel J. Levine

Scholarly Works

This article looks at the capital sentencer's decision: Whether a death-eligible defendant will in fact receive the death sentence. Based in part on an examination of Jewish law and philosophy, Professor Levine identifies three particular areas in which it can be said that the Supreme Court requires the capital sentencer to "play God." First, capital sentencers are asked to ascertain the degree of a defendant's culpability by looking at factors that affect free will and victim impact evidence, implicating moral luck. Capital sentencers are also required to determine a person's total moral worth by considering character evidence. Finally, the Supreme …

Mr. Carroll’S Mental State Or What Is Meant By Intent, Bruce Ledewitz

Ledewitz Papers

Published scholarship collected from academic journals, law reviews, newspaper publications & online periodicals.

Not Interaction But Melding - The "Russian Dressing" Theory Of Emotions: An Explanation Of The Phenomenology Of Emotions And Rationality With Suggested Related Maxims For Judges And Other Legal Decision Makers, Peter Brandon Bayer

Scholarly Works

Even after centuries of contrary philosophy and psychology, many commentators, jurisprudes, and law makers insist that emotions have no legitimate place in most legal decision making. This recalcitrance, of course, is misplaced in light of the powerful body of theory explaining that without emotions, decisions, including matters of law and policy, simply cannot be made. Judges, along with all societal actors, must disabuse themselves of the fallacious belief that emotions obstruct or obscure reason in all endeavors, particularly morality, law, and justice.

The project of truly apprehending emotions, however, requires more than appreciating that they play a crucial role in …

Hegel’S Theory Of Quality, David G. Carlson

Articles

This article assesses the opening three chapters of Hegel's monumental "Science of Logic," a work largely unknown in the United States but recognized in Europe as the foundation of Hegel's impressive philosophical edifice. Hegel's task was to develop a foundation-free philosophy, in which the inherent contradictions in concepts caused the self-destruction of the concept and the generation of a new, improved concept. Hegel begins his work by examining the concept of Pure Being. Being itself shows to be finite, however. Being repeals itself and propels itself into thought. "Reality" therefore gives way to "ideality." Upon entering the realm of the …

Two Men On A Plank, Claire Oakes Finkelstein

All Faculty Scholarship

Can two individuals, each of whom needs a certain resource for his survival, have equal and conflicting rights to that resource? If so, is each entitled to try to exclude the other from its use? An old chestnut of moral and legal philosophy raises the problem. Following a shipwreck, two men converge simultaneously on a plank floating in the sea. There is no other plank available and no immediate hope of rescue. Unfortunately the plank can support only one; it sinks if two try to cling to it. Is it permissible for each to attempt to secure his own survival …