Law Commons^™

Responsibility In Capital Sentencing, Steven Semeraro

San Diego Law Review

Although modem doctrine is worth preserving, it could be improved significantly by focusing explicitly on heightening individual responsibility. Two concrete ways to improve it would be to (1) explain the sentencer' s role in the narrative voice, a way of speaking that, at least in American society, appears to be associated with the assignment of responsibility; and (2) require heightened scrutiny of death sentences by state appellate courts, bringing the responsibility of state appellate judges in capital cases in line with the responsibility they bear in constitutional cases dealing with analogous mixed questions of fact and law under the First, …

Internet Gambling: Should Fantasy Sports Leagues Be Prohibited?

San Diego Law Review

This Comment will examine fantasy sports leagues as a form of gambling. Part II considers various federal restrictions on gambling. State perspectives on gambling are addressed in Part III. Policy arguments are presented in Part IV, and practical issues are explored in Part V. Part VI concludes that Internet fantasy sports leagues violate gambling prohibitions. Finally, the Appendix sets out the gambling laws of each state.

Masthead

San Diego Law Review

No abstract provided.

Ethnography And The Idealized Accounts Of Science In Law, David S. Caudill

San Diego Law Review

n Part I, I confirm the idealizations of science in law and their implications for legal scholarship and practice. In Part II, I describe the ethnographic method used by science studies scholars, with reference to my own ethnographic analysis of interviews with three neuroscientists. I conclude Part II by identifying various social aspects of science that comprise a complex picture of scientific activity. In Part ill, I discuss the implications of ethnomethodology for trial practice, including deposition analysis, Daubert-type hearings, cross-examination techniques, and drafting jury instructions. Part IV addresses anticipated criticisms of my arguments.

California's Duty Of Confidentiality: Is It Time For A Life-Threatening Criminal Act Exception?, Kevin E. Mohr

San Diego Law Review

In August 2001, the House of Delegates of the American Bar Association (ABA) voted in favor of a revision to the duty of confidentiality contained in the ABA's Model Rules of Professional Conduct, a set of ethics rules that has been adopted in some form by over forty states. Specifically, the House voted to broaden the exception in Model Rule 1.6 that permits a lawyer to reveal confidential information of the client to the extent the lawyer reasonably believes

necessary to prevent likely death or substantial bodily harrn.

It is

uncertain whether that vote will have any effect on the …

Feminist Legal Writing, Kathryn M. Stanchi

San Diego Law Review

Because feminist legal advocates must use legal writing to persuade

their audience and push for change in the law, they must confront the dilemma of whether to follow legal writing conventions and risk altering or losing their feminist message or whether to break from convention and risk losing the legal audience. Feminist legal scholarship, in many different ways, has made great progress in dealing with this dilemma. The focus of this Article, however, is on several pieces of feminist legal scholarship that have confronted the dilemma by pushing the bounds of conventional legal language and legal writing. These pieces, by …

Public Defender's Conundrum: Signaling Professionalism And Quality In The Absence Of Price, Robert J. Aalberts, Thomas Boyt, Lorne H. Seidman

San Diego Law Review

This Essay, the result of an

extensive empirical study in the state of Nevada, attempts to ascertain factors among criminal defendants that may predict how they perceive a level of quality and satisfaction with their lawyers as service providers, as well as policy proposals for improving the perceptions of public defenders.

Why Repeal Of The Death Tax Means The Second Demise Of Substantive Due Process, Paul E. Mcgreal

San Diego Law Review

Death and taxes. For the first two centuries of American democracy, the former has been the province of Providence, the latter the concern of Congress. Congress has focused on the Internal Revenue Code, leaving death to the aging process, human folly, religion, and Darwinian forces. In a stunning power grab, Congress recently upset this order, asserting control over both domains. No longer satisfied to allow life to run its

course, Congress has sought to hasten accrual of the Death Tax. simply, Congress has sanctioned the killing of rich Baby Boomers.

Membership Denied: Subordination And Subjugation Under United States Expansionism, Ediberto Roman, Theron Simmons

San Diego Law Review

Despite the allegedly neutral and liberating notions of justice and

equality that are associated with American legal rhetoric, particularly

citizenship law, an examination of America's nineteenth and twentieth

century expansionism reveals that these principles fail to apply to all

persons associated with America. international movements calling for self-determination of colonized peoples

Notwithstanding this nation's role in

can be described as colonies. In an era of self-determination and in the

decade dedicated to the eradication of colonialism, free world and great emancipator of the oppressed has maintained a colonial regime

To Breathe, Or Not To Breathe: Passive Alcohol Sensors And The Fourth Amendment

San Diego Law Review

No abstract provided.

Mediating Ethically: The Limits Of Codes Of Conduct And The Potential Of A Reflective Practice Model, Julie Macfarlane

Osgoode Hall Law Journal

Discussions regarding the appropriate ethical behaviours for mediators and the subsequent development of formal codes of conduct have focused on hallmark issues such as third party impartiality and party self-determination. However, in an informal process, ethical choices are inherent in every intervention made by a mediator. In adopting the standard-setting approach of an adjudicative model, mediator codes of conduct are a poor fit with the conceptual and structural characteristics of this fluid, uncertain, and essentially private process. Confining the substantive and conceptual debate over mediation ethics to formal codes dangerously underestimates both the scope and the significance of choices faced …

Foreword: The Legal History Of The Great Sit-In Case Of Bell V. Maryland, William L. Reynolds

Faculty Scholarship

Reviews the environment and history of the 1960 Baltimore sit-in case that eventually made its way to the United States Supreme Court.

Deconstructing The Slums Of Baltimore, Garrett Power

Faculty Scholarship

No abstract provided.

Twenty-Five Years Later With Promises To Keep: Legal Education In Dispute Resolution And Training Of Mediators, Lela P. Love

Articles

No abstract provided.

Toward The Formation Of "Innocence Commissions" In America, Barry C. Scheck, Peter J. Neufeld

Articles

The article advocates for the establishment of "innocence commissions" to investigate and address wrongful convictions in the U.S. criminal justice system. Drawing parallels to the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB), which investigates transportation accidents, the authors propose that these commissions would identify systemic defects leading to wrongful convictions and recommend reforms to prevent future miscarriages of justice. They emphasize the need for independence, subpoena power, and public accountability to ensure the commissions' effectiveness.

Personal Privacy And Common Goods: A Framework For Balancing Under The National Health Information Privacy Rule, Lawrence O. Gostin, James G. Hodge Jr.

Georgetown Law Faculty Publications and Other Works

In this Article, we discuss how these principles for balancing apply in a number of important contexts where individually identifiable health data are shared. In Part I, we analyze the modern view favoring autonomy and privacy. In the last several decades, individual autonomy has been used as a justification for preventing sharing of information irrespective of the good to be achieved. Although respect for privacy can sometimes be important for achieving public purposes (e.g., fostering the physician/patient relationship), it can also impair the achievement of goals that are necessary for any healthy and prosperous society. A framework for balancing that …

Academic Support Programs: Effective Support Through A Systemic Approach, Adam Todd

School of Law Faculty Publications

Academic support programs in American law schools ("ASPs") are often implemented with the express purpose of promoting social, racial, and economic diversity in the legal profession, which has historically excluded these populations. This progressive purpose, however, may not ultimately be achieved unless academic support is fully integrated into the law school academy. This Article argues that an ASP needs to go beyond one-on-one counseling of students in academic difficulty.

Further, ASPs need to engage the faculty and administration of a law school in the academic support mission. This Article also suggests concrete steps that ASP professionals can follow to improve …

In Touch With The People He Serves, Paul J. Noah

North Dakota Law Review

No abstract provided.

Photographs In The North Dakota Law Review, Ted Smith

North Dakota Law Review

No abstract provided.

Insurance - Automobile Insurance: The North Dakota Supreme Court Rules That Head Of Household's Liability Under The Family Car Doctrine Is Not Necessarily Covered By His Automobile Insurance Policy, Mitchell D. Armstrong

North Dakota Law Review

No abstract provided.

The Law Of Environmental 'Ppms' In The Wto: Debunking The Myth Of Illegality, Steve Charnovitz

GW Law Faculty Publications & Other Works

This Article explains and appraises the WTO law of Processes and Production Methods (“PPMs”). A better understanding of the law and of how PPMs operate can help governments and stakeholders improve the management of outwardly directed PPMs. Governments presently have divergent views about WTO rules. These diverging views have led to an inside-out debate from which a political consensus cannot easily emerge. This Article examines the relevant WTO case law on the issue of PPMs and concludes that PPMs are, contrary to some commentators, not prohibited by the WTO. Finally, the Article shows how a correct legal reading may enable …

Triangulating The World Trade Organization, Steve Charnovitz

GW Law Faculty Publications & Other Works

This Article presents an analytic method for considering proposals to expand the scope of the WTO. In doing so, the Article organizes competing ideas concerning the rationale for the WTO and shows how varying assumptions can lead to different conclusions on the proper content of international trade law. This Article seeks to advance the debate by comparing these assumptions and also considering the key literature about trade linkage. The Article proceeds in three parts. Part I shows why the purpose of the WTO is not self-evident and how a framework can be useful for improving the debate about the organization's …

The Seventh Amendment Right To A Civil Jury Trial: The Supreme Court Giveth And The Supreme Court Taketh Away, Joan E. Schaffner

GW Law Faculty Publications & Other Works

This article examines the Supreme Court’s jurisprudence relating to the historic Seventh Amendment right to a jury trial. I describe the three-prong analysis that the Court employs, analyze the Court’s decisions that analyze the jury trial, and conclude that the Court’s decisions are consistent with its Seventh Amendment line of cases in which it emphasizes the preservation of the basic right to jury under the first inquiry, while it de-emphasizes the essence and scope of that right under the second and third inquiries.

Trans-Parliamentary Associations In Global Functional Agencies, Steve Charnovitz

GW Law Faculty Publications & Other Works

This article examines a new phenomenon, transparliamentary activism that focuses on particular international issues or international organizations. For example, the Parliamentary Conference on the World Bank. Such parliamentary organizing has a political significance beyond the usual transnational NGO activities because parliamentarians are elected officials. The transparliamentary activism discussed here differs from the traditional interparliamentary association going back over a hundred years. The article discusses the recent developments in the World Trade Organization and the World Bank.

Transitional Justice In Afghanistan: The Promise Of Mixed Tribunals, Laura T. Dickinson

GW Law Faculty Publications & Other Works

In the wake of the September 11th attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon, how to apprehend, question, and punish the perpetrators remains a difficult question to answer. Moreover, the question of where, and how, to try suspects raises a series of deeper questions about the role of criminal accountability in times of conflict and war.

Scholars in the emerging field of transitional justice do not focus on the question of terrorism specifically, however, they study the ways in which societies that are attempting to confront past and lingering mass atrocities do so through a variety of means: …

Using Legal Process To Fight Terrorism: Detentions, Military Commissions, International Tribunals, And The Rule Of Law, Laura T. Dickinson

GW Law Faculty Publications & Other Works

Following the 9/11 terrorist attacks, those arguing that international law cannot serve as an effective tool in the fight against terrorism have grown. The ranks of international relations realists, who view international law primarily as a cover for strategic interests and thereby as lacking any independent bite, has swelled. In November 2001, President Bush issued an executive order asserting the authority to use military commissions to try individual terrorism suspects captured by the United States. Such commissions would be conducted unilaterally and would not be required to include procedural safeguards to protect the rights of the accused. This crisis has …

Patents For Environmentalists, F. Scott Kieff

GW Law Faculty Publications & Other Works

This essay, written for the National Association of Environmental Law Societies' (NAELS) annual meeting, explains how patent law operates generally with an emphasis on how it may impact the environment in particular. In so doing, the essay addresses from a patent perspective some representative concerns relating to patents that appear to be prevalent in the environmental literature and shows how the patent system may provide substantial benefit for those favoring the environment.

Current Issues In The Changing Roles And Practices Of Community Economic Development Lawyers, Susan R. Jones

GW Law Faculty Publications & Other Works

This Article, part of a symposium entitled "Lawyering for a New Democracy," explores current issues related to the changing roles of public interest lawyers engaged in Community Economic Development (CED) in a new democracy. After discussing current issues and trends in CED practice, the author concludes that CED is inherently privatized and is becoming more so with the national emphasis on economic self-sufficiency. The author provides lessons from law school clinical practice of enhanced strategic collaborations and highlights current trends and issues involving technology, leadership development, community organizing, asset accumulation, and social capital. Furthermore, leadership development and community organizing are …

The Middle Way: What Contemporary Liberal Legal Theorists Can Learn From Aristotle, Miriam Galston

GW Law Faculty Publications & Other Works

American legal theorists frequently ask whether and how theorists, citizens, lawmakers, judges, and other public officials can attain truth, correctness, or certainty in their legal and moral views. This essay discusses the views of contemporary liberal legal theorists who have attempted to answer these questions in a way that is neither objectivist nor formalist, on the one hand, nor subjectivist or relativist, on the other, referring to authors that make up this group as theorists of the "middle way." The essay suggests areas in which such legal thinkers might profit from studying Aristotle's writings about ethics and politics. Two approaches …

Regulating Electronic Commerce, Gregory E. Maggs

GW Law Faculty Publications & Other Works

This is not an ordinary law review article. It is a report submitted at the 16th International Congress of Comparative Law, held in Brisbane, Australia, on July 14-20, 2002. The report addresses a number of subjects identified by Dr. Anne Fitzgerald, the General Reporter for the section on Electronic Commerce. The general purpose of the report is to summarize the current state of the law in the United States. At the conference, other reporters summarized the current state of the law in their own countries.