Law Commons^™

Choice V. Chance: The Constitutional Case For Regulating Human Germline Genetic Modification, Nancy Pham

UC Law Constitutional Quarterly

With the rapid rate of advancing technology, human germline intervention ("HGGM") may be possible in the near future. But, is access to HGGM technology a constitutionally protected right? Under traditional substantive due process, constitutional protection turns on whether the right is fundamental. If the courts determine that access to HGGM is a fundamental right, then it would fall in line with the category of reproductive decision-making cases such as Griswold v. Connecticut. Moreover, such a classification would require states to have a compelling interest before restricting the right at all. However, if HGGM is not a fundamental right, then states …

Agreeing To Disagree: Cultural Relativism And The Difficulty Of Defining Terrorism In A Post-9/11 World, Sami Zeidan

UC Law SF International Law Review

Paradoxically, in a post-9/11 world where there is an unprecedented international joint response to counter-terrorism, there is still no universal, permanent and comprehensive definition of terrorism. This essay exposes the legal and political issues arising from the tension created between the universal agreement to coordinate counter-terrorism efforts on the one hand, and the proliferation of culturally relativistic definitions of terrorism on the other.

France: Banning Legal Pluralism By Passing A Law, Jessica Fourneret

UC Law SF International Law Review

On March 15, 2004, French president Jacques Chirac enacted a law prohibiting public school students from wearing clothing and insignia that manifests a religious affiliation. The clear aim of the law was to prohibit female Muslim students from wearing headscarves to public schools. Critics of the ban state that wearing the headscarf is a Muslim woman's religious duty, akin to a law she must follow. This article explores the Western system of laws and the conflict between that system and religious belief systems which impose differing sets of laws. The author examines the impossible choice imposed on school-aged children as …

Farmers In The Ip Wrench - How Patents On Gene-Modified Crops Violate The Right To Food In Developing Countries, Peter Straub

UC Law SF International Law Review

Patented gene-modified crop seeds have a growing impact on how farming is done in the countries where they are sold and used. Modem patent regimes make all plants and plant material containing modified gene-material subject to the intellectual property rights of transnational corporations. Farmers are then faced with the choice of either entering into licensing agreements, or becoming patent infringers-with all the legal consequences-by marketing the fruits of their labor. This article examines how socioeconomic rights-especially the right to food as defined by Article 11.2 of the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (CESCR)-of small-hold subsistence farmers in …

A Comparative Look At The Right To Refuse Treatment For Involuntary Hospitalized Persons With A Mental Illness, Jennifer Fischer

UC Law SF International Law Review

The issues surrounding the legal responsibility of caring for and maintaining a person with a mental illness go back almost 2500 years. There has been considerable debate about the questions of involuntary hospitalization and the right to refuse treatment in the past few decades, especially in North America and Western Europe. As the importance of mental health and rights of persons with mental disabilities take on greater significance internationally, however, the debate is moving to the rest of the world. The objective of this article is to look at the various perspectives in the current debate and at how different …

Russian Web Sites Jeopardize U.S. Users: The Dangers Of Importing Copyrighted Material Over The Internet, James Chapman

UC Law SF International Law Review

Russian web sites offer electronic versions of copyrighted music over the Internet for pennies a song. Protected by international borders and favorable domestic legal constraints, these Russian music distributors sell songs at much lower prices and without anti-piracy protections. The web sites claim the right to sell the music under Russian law, and unknowing purchasers are buying music believing they have finally found a cheap, legal, and moral alternative to domestic vendors and P2P networks. However, common misunderstandings of the copyright law may be placing purchasers of music from these Internet sites in danger of criminal and civil sanctions. This …

Queer Refuge: A Review Of The Role Of Country Condition Analysis In Asylum Adjudications For Members Of Sexual Minorities, Arwen Swink

UC Law SF International Law Review

More than 80 countries around the world have laws criminalizing sexual activity between consenting adults of the same sex. Physical and sexual abuse, harassment, detention, and extortion by police are common means of enforcing these laws. For many LGBT people who have been subjected to or who rightly fear persecution, political asylum may offer hope of protection, but the asylum process is not without its pitfalls. This article seeks to explore some of the difficulties the asylum adjudication process may pose for LGBT people seeking refuge from persecution. Specifically, this article addresses the various ways in which asylum adjudicators in …

Lawless World - The Bush Administration And Iraq: Issues Of International Legality And Criminality, Philippe Sands

UC Law SF International Law Review

Sixty years ago, the United States and Great Britain spearheaded efforts to create a new world order based on international rules. Today these same two nations are leading the charge to abandon many of the global safeguards they once fought to establish. The Bush Administration has decided to turn its back on international agreements governing basic human rights, war, torture, and the environment. In this transcript from the Schlesinger Lecture held in November 2005, Professor Sands discusses how international rules are arbitrarily applied as human rights prove to be inconvenient in the face of globalizing economic forces.

Headscarf Stories, Ian Ward

UC Law SF International Law Review

The seemingly intractable issue of headscarves - when they can be worn, and when they cannot - is currently contested in much of Europe. The apparent intractability is a common experience. The purpose of this article is to present three headscarf 'stories,' and in so doing, stress the narrative nature of this intensely moral and political, as well as legal, controversy. Narrativity, it will be suggested, offers a far more effective means of approaching this kind of issue and its inevitable indeterminacies than the simple recourse to blunt legal instrumentation. While the law must, it seems, play a role in …

Majority And Dissent In Intel: Approaches To Limiting International Judicial Assistance, E. Morgan Boeing

UC Law SF International Law Review

No abstract provided.

Beyond Good Intentions: Can Hybrid Tribunals Work After Unilateral Intervention, John Dermody

UC Law SF International Law Review

The use of a hybrid tribunal - a tribunal comprised of both international and domestic elements - was advocated in the wake of the Iraq war and the capture of Saddam Hussein. The hybrid model is considered to offer significant advantages over purely international and purely domestic tribunals. Although hybrid tribunals have been used in Kosovo, East Timor, and Sierra Leone, the hybrid model has yet to be implemented after unilateral intervention. This note examines whether the hybrid model is feasible and whether the advantages of the hybrid model can be maintained in the wake of unilateral intervention.

The Emergence Of The Hellenic Deliberative Ideal: The Classical Humanist Conception Of Comparative Law, Richard Brooks

UC Law SF International Law Review

Modern comparative law is based upon the failed Enlightenment premise of comparative law as legal science. Awareness of the earlier writings of Hellenic historians, philosophers, rhetoricians, and dramatists suggest that comparative law should be conceived as a process of political deliberation. Herodotus, Thucydides, and Polybius suggest how history frames the choices which comparativists must make. Aristotle and Plato demonstrate how to deliberate about conflicting laws and legal regimes. The rhetorician, Isocrates, argues for rhetoric to be brought to bear on the debates about different legal regimes. The Greek dramatists portray the anguish and regret which necessarily follows the final choice …

Looking Over A Crowd And Picking Your Friends: Civil Rights And The Debate Over The Influence Of Foreign And International Human Rights Law On The Interpretation Of The U.S. Constitution, Stanley A. Halpin

UC Law SF International Law Review

Since the 1940s Civil Rights advocates have attempted, with little success, to use International Human Rights law to protect the rights of African Americans in the United States. However, in recent terms, the United States Supreme Court has seemingly opened the door, at least a crack, to some limited recognition of international human rights norms as a legitimate influence upon their interpretation of the Constitution. This article examines the efforts of Civil Rights Advocates to utilize human rights law and develops from this history four models of enforcement of human rights law in the United States. It details the Court's …

A Golden State Solution To The Israeli-Palestinian Water Conflict, Brandon Hollinder

UC Law SF International Law Review

Israel and the Palestinian territories face a shortage of water resources that have created tensions at the center of the current political conflict between the two parties. Many of these resources are subject to dual control and authority as well as continuing degradation and overuse, all of which exacerbate the situation. This paper offers a solution to that problem: the adoption of a Water Board with authority over the combined region of Israel and the Palestinian territories. This Board would employ and enforce laws based upon current California Water Law with a few minor, yet critical, changes. This solution offers …

Misconceptions, Miscalculations, And Mistakes: P2p, China, And Copyright, Tao Leung

UC Law SF International Law Review

The entertainment industry initially treated the advent of peer-to-peer ("P2P") technologies as a death-knell for copyright protections and attempted to fix the perceived problem with solutions that were misguided, litigious, ineffective, and costly. By viewing P2P technology as a threat, the industry failed to capitalize on a new technology that might have provided limitless opportunity. Moreover, the recording industry's narrow-minded attempt to curtail illegal file sharing mirrored the U.S. government's attempt to enforce intellectual property protection in China. Both the entertainment industry and the United States failed to understand the economic, social, and cultural realities in the areas in which …

The Rave Act: A Specious Solution To The Serious Problem Of Increased Ecstasy Distribution: Is It Unconstitutionally Overbroad, Erin Treacy

UC Law SF Communications and Entertainment Journal

The RAVE Act was designed to thwart use and distribution of the illegal street drug ecstasy by holding the owner of a nightclub or other venue criminally responsible for any illegal drug-related activities that occur at an electronic music concert held on his or her property. This article argues that the RAVE act is unconstitutionally overbroad because it has a real and substantial impact on the First Amendment rights of electronic music concert performers and attendees. The article further argues that the RAVE act has driven electronic music concerts underground, making them less regulated than if held in legitimate commercial …

The Conceptual Game In Copyright, Lior Zemer

UC Law SF Communications and Entertainment Journal

This article examines the nature of copyright as a concept and discusses the benefits that can be derived from understanding copyright as a vague conceptual framework, or, alternatively as an arsenal of competing interpretations and permutations, rendering its meaning essentially contested. The best way to make meaningful progress in the way we approach and think of copyright is by admitting into our discourse on copyright alternative approaches to ownership which emphasizes the public interest. We can protect the integrity of the copyright discourse by ensuring that no single voice can exclude other voices, and allow sufficient conceptual flexibility to permit …

Catching A Black Cat In A Dark Room: Evaluating The Shortcomings Of Federal And State Anti-Spyware Legislation, Josh Sugnet

UC Law SF Communications and Entertainment Journal

This note analyzes state anti-spyware legislation and the latest federal anti-spyware bill, considering criticism raised and evaluating their potential to be effective in stopping spyware. The note concludes that these laws are best aimed at regulating the use of adware, the allegedly more legitimate commercial type of spyware, but do little to protect users from more malicious types of spyware authored by hackers and cyber-criminals. Also, the federal government must regulate the software industry to ensure that a competitive market for technological solutions to these security problems exists. Only by coupling law enforcement with effective industry regulation can the federal …

Digitized Scholarship And The Library Concept: Allowing The History Of The Library Exemption To Inform How We View Google's Digitized Library, Kodj Gbegnon

UC Law SF Communications and Entertainment Journal

Google Inc., one of the most visible portals on the Internet, strives to "organize the world's information and make it universally accessible and useful." However, Google's Print Library database, which copies millions of books into a database and offers snippets of those books free of charge, may exceed the current confines of copyright law. After an in-depth look at Google's digitization projects and specific criticisms from library specialists, this article argues that the library exception to copyright infringement must be re-conceptualized to include commercial information enterprises such as Google's Print Library.

Amending Its Anti-Paparazzi Statute: California's Latest Baby Step In Its Attempt To Curb The Aggressive Paparazzi, Lisa Vance

UC Law SF Communications and Entertainment Journal

The financial rewards of celebrity photos have driven the paparazzi to increasingly dangerous tactics, often endangering celebrities and others in their pursuit of a valuable photo. In response to this danger, California amended its anti-paparazzi statute in 2005. The amended statute provides stiff penalties, including punitive and treble damages, and allows a celebrity to recover these damages for assault. However, assault requires the intent to cause apprehension of imminent contact, and much of the outrageous conduct of the paparazzi does not evidence this sort of intent. If California is serious about curbing improper behavior by the paparazzi, it should penalize …

Honor Thy Mother: The Supreme Court's Jurisprudence Of Motherhood, Laura Oren

UC Law SF Journal on Gender and Justice

The United States Supreme Court's views about motherhood must be teased out from holdings it fails to connect into a coherent whole. The Justices have considered issues relating to women's physical and social reproductive roles in four major areas: comparative family relationships (unwed mothers versus unwed fathers), dependent mothers, mothers in the workplace, and the right to choose or refuse to become a mother. Despite some positive developments and much lip service, the Court's jurisprudence of motherhood fails to follow one of the fundamental precepts of our culture - "Honor Thy Mother."

Coercion In California: Eugenics Reconstituted In Welfare Reform, The Contracting Of Reproductive Capcity, And Terms Of Probation, Janet Simmonds

UC Law SF Journal on Gender and Justice

In an era where courts are expanding the scope of a constitutionally protected right to privacy, it is hard to imagine that the exercise of that right is being legally perverted to promote eugenic ideals. This, however, is precisely what has been happening in the state of California. This Note explores how modern day policies and practices, such as the family cap component of welfare policy, the sale of the reproductive capacity of drug addicts, and prohibitions on procreation as a term of probation, are used to coerce women with regard to their reproductive decisions

Expedited Removal: Suggestions For Reform In Light Of The United States Commission On International Religious Freedom Report And The Real Id Act, Simona Agnolucci

UC Law Journal

Undocumented persons enter the United States every day. Even though many of them seek asylum, under a law passed by Congress in 1996, ninety-nine percent of undocumented persons are returned to their home countries through "Expedited Removal." Those who enter the United States are detained, often under horrible conditions and sometimes for years. When they finally appear before an immigration judge, many are denied entry because of alleged inconsistencies between their testimony before the judge and statements they originally made at the point of entry, even though their testimony and prior statements are often consistent.

This Note examines the practice …

The Experimental Use Exception To Patent Infringement: Do Universities Deserve Special Treatment?, Elizabeth A. Rowe

UC Law Journal

The experimental use exception has recently come under attack by many who consider it too narrow. Much of this discontent with the doctrine has been spurred by a relatively recent Federal Circuit opinion, Madey v. Duke University, which makes clear that a research university does not receive immunity under the experimental use exception when its researchers engage in research or conduct experiments using patented inventions. To determine whether such a narrowing is proper, one must consider the overarching theoretical question about the tradeoff between protecting patentees' rights and maintaining incentives to innovate. In the context of the experimental use exception, …

Keynote Address, Roderick E. Walston

UC Law Journal

No abstract provided.

Hetch Hetchy: To Drain Or Not To Drain, Hastings Law Journal

UC Law Journal

Can California afford to lose a major reservoir, even if it restores a jewel of Yosemite Valley? The California Department of Water Resources is scheduled to release a report (requested by Governor Schwarzenegger) on the feasibility of draining the Hetch Hetchy Reservoir and restoring the valley that John Muir referred to as "one of natures rarest and most precious mountain temples." Proponents and opponents disagree over the cost of dam removal and valley restoration. This Panel of experts discussed and debated the numerous issues related to this matter.

Desalination In California: Should Ocean Waters Be Utilized To Produce Freshwater?, Hastings Law Journal

UC Law Journal

According to the California Coastal Commission, more than twenty proposed desalination plants along the coast are in various stages of planning and permitting. Several desalination plants, including an experimental plant in Marin and a plant in Carlsbad, are coming online in the very near future. In addition, desalination is receiving substantial subsidies from the Department of Water Resources to encourage the development of new water supplies through desalination. This Panel discussed these issues, potential regulatory and legislative proposals, and the costs and benefits of desalination in California.

Ip's Problem Child: Shifting The Paradigms For Software Protection, Jacqueline D. Lipton

UC Law Journal

Computer software is somewhat of a problem child for intellectual property law. Courts and legislatures have struggled to find a balance between encouraging innovation in software development and avoiding undesirable digital information monopolies. Although neither the patent nor the copyright system has provided a particularly satisfactory paradigm for software protection, copyright arguably creates more insidious undercurrents in today's marketplace. If lawmakers do not act expeditiously to stem the tide of copyright protection, the software industry could be facing an intellectual property grab of great proportions which might ultimately impede innovations in software development.

This Article argues for a shifting of …

Progressive Reform Panel, Shaun Marshall, Chris Daly, Medea Benjamin, Brad Seligman

UC Law Journal of Race and Economic Justice

No abstract provided.

Social Security Panel, Reuel Schiller, Peter Edelman, David Levine, Thomas Davidoff

UC Law Journal of Race and Economic Justice

No abstract provided.