Law Commons^™

Beyond Lane: Who Is Protected By The Americans With Disabilities Act, Who Should Be?, Russell Powell

Faculty Articles

This article reviews the state of disability law under the Americans with Disabilities Act ("ADA"), with particular attention paid to Lane and other recent Supreme Court cases. In Lane, the Court affirmed that Congress validly exercised its power when it made states subject to suits under the ADA, at least with regard to limitations on access to courts. While the decision addresses Title II of the ADA (restrictions on state discrimination), it does have broader implications for the Act as a whole. Lane reflects a significant shift in the ethical paradigm used by the court to decide ADA cases and …

Trade Liberalization, Food Security And The Environment: The Neoliberal Threat To Sustainable Rural Development, Carmen G. Gonzalez

Faculty Articles

This article examines the historic and contemporary roots of chronic malnutrition and environmental degradation in the developing world. It chronicles the patterns of trade and production that contribute to this problem from the colonial period until the present, and analyzes the role of contemporary trade, aid and development practices in ameliorating or exacerbating the problem. The article argues that the neoliberal economic reforms imposed on developing countries through the International Monetary Fund (IMF), the World Bank, and the World Trade Organization (WTO) exacerbate hunger and environmental degradation by reinforcing pre-existing inequities in the global trading system that relegate many developing …

Retirement Security Through Asset Protection: An Evolution Of Wealth, Privilege, And Policy, John K. Eason

Faculty Articles

This article examines post-1974 progressions in congressional and judicial thinking about asset protection as it relates specifically to the attainment of federal retirement policy goals. The article first considers the link between historical trust protections and modern federal retirement policy. That analysis reveals a more recent trend towards defining the scope of retirement plan asset protection by reference to statutory rules that grant favorable treatment to certain retirement savings devices. Those rules provide an incentive for funding future retirement through current savings. This article explains how, and why, asset protection could be similarly tailored to foster retirement income security goals. …

Preemptive War: Is It Constitutional, John B. Mitchell

Faculty Articles

When America attacked Iraq in 2002, it was the first preemptive war in the history of our nation. While there is daily debate over the wisdom and consequences of that action, the question whether the federal government even possessed the power under the Constitution to wage preemptive war does not seem to have been raised. Although the legal literature abounds with discussion about whether the President may authorize significant military operations without the explicit authorization of Congress, the author could not find a single work written in legal cases or commentary about preemptive war. This article considers this heretofore unanswered …

The Cambodian Amnesties: Beneficiaries And The Temporal Reach Of Amnesties For Gross Violation Of Human Rights, Ronald Slye

Faculty Articles

This article uses the two amnesties granted by the Cambodian government in 1994 and 1996 to explore two important legal issues raised by amnesties generally: 1) to whom is the amnesty granted; and 2) for how long will the amnesty last. The first issue addresses the beneficiary question – who is able to take advantage of an amnesty. The most interesting issue raised by the beneficiary question is whether an amnesty should be restricted to either superiors or subordinates. The article discusses this choice in the context of the Cambodian amnesties, other amnesties, and international law, and highlight the moral, …

Letters To The Editors Of Health Matrix, Ken Wing

Faculty Articles

Professor Wing presents this letter to the editor concerning the health law in the U.S. He argues that there is no severable body of principles, or even a set of issues, defined by either circumstances or type of controversy in the teaching of health law. Would health law involve the legal issues that arise in the delivery of patient care? Well, that begins to define the subject, but that is only part of what's called health law. Legal issues related to health care? To health? Those definitions may work, but what is the point of such a broad and meaningless …

The Landmark Free-Speech Case That Wasn't: The Nike V. Kasky Story, David Skover, Ronald Collins

Faculty Articles

Written as the Foreword to a Symposium entitled Nike v. Kasky and the Modern Commercial Speech Doctrine, this piece tells the background stories that brought the Nike v. Kasky players to the steps of the U.S. Supreme Court and beyond. Subsequently, it explores the principles and perspectives at tension in the Nike controversy, and charts the lessons of the Nike story - legal, political, and cultural.

Mock Trial Team Members 2004-2005, Kellie Casey Monk

Materials from All Student Organizations

No abstract provided.

National Order Of Barristers 2004, Kellie Casey Monk

Materials from All Student Organizations

No abstract provided.

Reconstructing Electronic Surveillance Law, Daniel J. Solove

GW Law Faculty Publications & Other Works

After the September 11th attacks in 2001, Congress hastily passed the USA-Patriot Act which made several changes to electronic surveillance law. The Act has sparked a fierce debate. However, the pros and cons of the USA-Patriot Act are only one part of a much larger issue: How effective is the law that regulates electronic surveillance?

The USA-Patriot Act made a number of changes in electronic surveillance law, but the most fundamental problems with the law did not begin with the USA-Patriot Act. In this article, Professor Solove argues that electronic surveillance law suffers from significant problems that predate the USA-Patriot …

Sexual Misconduct And Ecclesiastical Immunity, Ira C. Lupu, Robert W. Tuttle

GW Law Faculty Publications & Other Works

This paper critically analyzes the possibility and structure of First Amendment defenses to actions, both private and public, arising out of sexual misconduct by members of the clergy. Part I traces the expansion of relevant theories of tort and criminal liability, and the waning of immunities, constitutional and statutory, that once applied to such actions. Part II of the paper advances a normative theory of the constitutional distinctiveness of religion, and ties that theory to the possibility of ecclesiastical immunity. Most conceptions of such immunity represent assertions of the liberty of religious organizations, and are grounded in the Constitution's Free …

Transgovernmental Networks Vs. Democracy: The Case Of The European Information Privacy Network, Francesca Bignami

GW Law Faculty Publications & Other Works

Under the European Data Protection Directive, responsibility for implementation and enforcement is generally left to the member states. The exception is for transfers to third countries: a complex network of national regulators, the European Commission, and a transnational comitology committee are responsible for blocking or permitting transfers to countries without adequate privacy guarantees. This article reviews the operation of the network and then poses two questions, one causal and the other normative. First, what explains the pattern of delegation (and non-delegation) of powers to the network? Second, does the network allow for adequate participation rights and judicial review and for …

The Biological Basis Of Commitment: Does One Size Fit All?, Naomi R. Cahn, June Carbone

GW Law Faculty Publications & Other Works

Understanding the biological roots of intimate behavior is a complex undertaking that involves the integration of evolutionary biology, evolutionary psychology, neuroscience, anthropology and sociology. Evolutionary biology describes theories that explain the persistence of certain types of behavior in terms of presumed evolutionary pressures or advantages, focusing on the human mind. Evolutionary biologists assume that behavior that maximizes the presence of associated genes in the next generation is the behavior most likely to persist. In this paper, we take the growing insights that arise from the study of the biology of attachment to frame the emerging policy choices underlying the governance …

Promoting Social And Economic Justice Through Interdisciplinary Work In Transactional Law, Susan R. Jones

GW Law Faculty Publications & Other Works

Drawing upon the author's experience with a law school Small Business Clinic, this article claims that business law transactional practice is inherently interdisciplinary, involving collaboration from various disciplines, including law, business, accounting, finance, engineering, computer science, and the social sciences. The author explores the need for legal assistance for entrepreneurs and other small businesses, especially for women and minority business owners, and discusses the recent rise in small business clinics and community economic development (CED) clinical programs, which the author attributes to a trend away from government entitlements and toward personal responsibility and economic self-sufficiency, the failure of the litigation …

Fear And Loathing In Massachusetts: Same-Sex Marriage And Some Lessons From The History Of Marriage And Divorce, Joanna L. Grossman

Faculty Journal Articles and Book Chapters

When Massachusetts became the first and only state in the union to issue legal marriage licenses to same-sex couples last May, the state's Governor, Mitt Romney, warned that "Massachusetts should not become the Las Vegas of same-sex marriage." Romney's warning makes sense only as a reference to Las Vegas' reputation for the "quickie" divorce - a heavily disparaged historical practice in which residents of other states would seek a divorce in Nevada because their home states would not grant them one, at least not on the terms or at the pace they desired. This essay retraces the history of divorce …

Employment Law - Racial Discrimination - Circumstantial Evidence Of Racial Discrimination May Be Introduced To Raise A Genuine Issue Of Material Fact, Patricia W. Moore

Faculty Articles

In Hopson v. DaimlerChrysler, the United States Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit decided whether summary judgment was appropriate for the defendant on racial discrimination claims based on violations of Title VII, 42 United States Code § 2000e-2000e-17 and the Elliott-Larsen Civil Rights Act, Michigan Compiled Laws Annotated 37.2101.

Comparative Study Of The Formation Of Electronic Contracts In American Law With References To International And Mexican Law, Roberto Rosas

Faculty Articles

No abstract provided.

Misrepresentation By Lawyers About Credentials Or Experience, Vincent R. Johnson, Shawn M. Lovorn

Faculty Articles

Authorities appropriately condemn dishonesty by attorneys in the broadest terms. In moving from moral principles to legal liability, however, it is important to think carefully about when a lawyer’s conduct misleads a client in a way that is actionable. Whether liability will be imposed depends upon the nature of the misrepresentation, the status of the plaintiff, the theory of liability, and the presence of competing interests or special considerations.

Basic principles of American tort law provide useful guidance in defining the disclosure obligations of attorneys. But like tort law itself, the answers are not simple. What an attorney may, must, …

Status And Tenure For Academic Law Librarians: A Survey, Robert H. Hu, Sharon Blackburn, Masako Patrum, Sharon K. Scott

Faculty Articles

The debate surrounding the issue of faculty and academic status for librarians has captured the attention of contributors to library literature for many years. This ongoing concern eventually led to collective action: in 1959, a report of the University Libraries Section of the Academic Status Committee of the Association of College and Research Libraries (ACRL) “strongly recommended” professional librarians be granted academic status and privileges. Opinion pieces have since abounded, with some convinced that the perceived benefits attached to “faculty status” are the due of the librarian, while others are just as strongly convinced that “status” too often comes with …

Maternity Rights In Mexico: With References To The Spanish And American Codes, Roberto Rosas

Faculty Articles

Mexico, the United States, and Spain approach maternity rights and benefits from differing perspectives within diverse legal frameworks. Maternity and pregnancy deserve legal protection in the workplace by virtue of their vital role to society. Women worldwide share a concern for maternity rights and benefits, but countries approach legal rights related to motherhood and pregnancy from differing perspectives.

The laws in Mexico and Spain regarding maternity share many similarities, including protecting not only the mother and fetus, but also the infant and father. In contrast, the laws in the United States solely protect the mother and unborn fetus. The laws …

Review Of Jennifer Klein, For All These Rights: Business, Labor And The Shaping Of America’S Public-Private Welfare State, Frank W. Munger

Other Publications

No abstract provided.

Job Security Without Equality: The Family And Medical Leave Act Of 1993, Joanna L. Grossman

Faculty Journal Articles and Book Chapters

This piece reevaluates the passage and implementation of the Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) against the egalitarian ideal described by the Supreme Court in its recent decision in Nevada Department of Human Resources v. Hibbs. The Court in Hibbs upheld the FMLA against an Eleventh Amendment challenge, concluding that Congress enacted the law as a congruent and proportional remedy to the longstanding history of state-sponsored discrimination against working women. According to the Court, Congress enacted the FMLA to remedy a longstanding history of discrimination against working women by forcing employers to offer caretaking leave on gender-neutral terms. At least …

Contracting With Tortfeasors: Mandatory Arbitration Clauses And Personal Injury Claims, Elizabeth G. Thornburg

Faculty Journal Articles and Book Chapters

People thinking about contractual arbitration clauses usually envision the resulting disputes as contractual in nature. However, there is also a group of cases in which the clauses are used to compel arbitration of personal injury claims. This article examines those cases, including the impact of the Federal Arbitration Act on their enforcement. Next, the article considers the ways in which these pre-dispute, mandatory arbitration clauses can disturb the traditional values of procedural justice, contractual fairness, and the enforcement of tort-based duties. Finally, the article proposes changes in the law of arbitration and evaluates whether such changes are politically feasible.

Exemptions Under Article 79 Of The Vienna Sales Convention, Peter Winship

Faculty Journal Articles and Book Chapters

No abstract provided.

Wasting Resources: Reinventing The Scope Of Waiver Resulting From The Advice-Of-Counsel Defense To A Charge Of Willful Patent Infringement, David O. Taylor

Faculty Journal Articles and Book Chapters

Patent infringement cases may be the very definition of “high-stakes litigation.” In addition to issuance of permanent injunctions and high-dollar damage awards, judges have discretion to award treble damages and attorney’s fees in patent cases. Judges may exercise this discretion when infringement is found to be willful. One way for an alleged willful infringer to rebut an allegation of willfulness is to introduce an opinion of counsel evidencing the alleged willful infringer’s good faith effort to investigate the patent at issue after receiving notice of potential infringement. Disclosure of such an opinion, however, waives attorney-client privilege and work-product immunity. District …

Is Lawrence Libertarian?, Dale Carpenter

Faculty Journal Articles and Book Chapters

The Supreme Court’s decision in Lawrence v. Texas is no doubt a shock to those pursuing an antihomosexual agenda. To most Americans, however, the decision is less an ipse dixit announcing radical social change than it is a belated recognition of what they had already learned about the humanity and dignity of gay people. Rather than radically changing constitutional principle, the Court has corrected its own erroneous understanding of the facts that underlay its application of constitutional principle in the past. Rather than leading the nation, the Court has caught up to it.

Part I of this essay lays out …

Grutter And Gratz: A Critical Analysis, Lackland H. Bloom Jr.

Faculty Journal Articles and Book Chapters

This Article will analyze the Grutter and Gratz opinions, especially Justice O'Connor's important opinion for the majority in Grutter, and will consider the significance of these decisions in terms of university admissions policy, justifications for racial preferences, and equal protection doctrine. The article will conclude that the Court's defense of the use of racial preferences does not square well with the Powell opinion in Bakke on which it relied so heavily. It will suggest that the Court could have offered a more persuasive explanation for the result it reached but probably felt precluded by precedent from doing so.

Copyright Under Siege: The First Amendment Front, Lackland H. Bloom Jr.

Faculty Journal Articles and Book Chapters

Over the past decade, the law of copyright - traditionally an arcane and obscure specialty - has evolved into an extraordinarily controversial legal arena. To a significant extent, though not exclusively, this has been caused by the emerging clashes between copyright on the one hand and digital technology and the internet on the other. Some see copyright as the aggressor in the copyright wars, guilty of threatening the digital revolution, the internet, information policy, privacy, freedom of speech and the public domain. Much of this assault on copyright is culturally driven by the Internet's champions. Inevitably, this cultural challenge is …

New Sources, New Growth And The Clean Water Act, Jeffrey M. Gaba

Faculty Journal Articles and Book Chapters

This Article is discusses the means by which the federal Clean Water Act addresses the problem of growth in connection with the achievement and maintenance of water quality standards. The article discusses those existing water quality standards requirements that most directly affect the issue of growth. These include two distinct, and largely unrelated, sets of requirements. First, the Article discusses those provisions that affect the regulation of new or expanded discharges on waters not yet meeting water quality goals. These include, among others, the provisions of the TMDL process that address the allocation of waste loads to account for growth, …

Environmental Law, Jeffrey M. Gaba

Faculty Journal Articles and Book Chapters

No abstract provided.