Law Commons^™

Offenses Involving Immigration, Naturalization And Passports: Model Sentencing Guidelines 211, 212, 213, 214, Nora V. Demleitner

Scholarly Articles

This article is part of the Model Sentencing Guidelines Working Group's project which is designed to develop a guidelines regime that would simplify the existing federal sentencing guidelines. Among the most frequently used guidelines in today's federal sentencing system are those pertaining to immigration offenses. Some of these guidelines are difficult and cumbersome to apply as the Commission asks courts to use too many sentencing factors, often without distinguishing them in importance. The proliferation of such factors has also restricted the power of federal courts to make their own decisions as to the severity of individual offenses. For that reason, …

The Employment Tax Challenge To The Check The Box Regulations, Brant J. Hellwig, Gregg D. Polsky

Scholarly Articles

Not available.

Where To Go From Here? The Roberts Court At The Crossroads Of Sentencing, Nora V. Demleitner

Scholarly Articles

As the Supreme Court has turned federal sentencing upside down in Booker, it has left a host of open questions in the wake of that decision. The outcome of these questions is often difficult to predict, for lower courts and commentators alike, as the Court has failed to develop an overarching sentencing philosophy to replace the rehabilitation-focused one that animated sentencing for so long. If the Court were to reach consensus on that issue, it would be better able to speak coherently on unresolved sentencing matters. This introduction to an Issue of the Federal Sentencing Reporter highlights some of the …

The End Of Preclearance As We Knew It: How The Supreme Court Transformed Section 5 Of The Voting Rights Act, Peyton Mccrary, Christopher B. Seaman, Richard Valelly

Scholarly Articles

Section 5 of the Voting Rights Act of 1965 requires certain jurisdictions with a history of racial discrimination to obtain “preclearance” of proposed electoral changes from the United States Department of Justice or a three-judge panel in the United States District Court for the District of Columbia. This provision, which is set to expire in August 2007, has successfully reduced racial and ethnic discrimination in voting.

The United States Supreme Court determined in a 5-4 decision, Reno v. Bossier Parish School Board, 528 U.S. 230 (2000), that Section 5's prohibition on the enforcement of electoral changes which have a discriminatory …

Regulation Of Political Organizations And The Red Herring Of Tax-Exempt Status, Roger Colinvaux

Scholarly Articles

Congressional codification of section 527 in 1975 largely reflected the IRS’s treatment of political organizations at the time, including that contribution income was not taxable income, and did not provide a significant tax subsidy. In 2000, Congress amended section 527 to impose reporting obligations and, simultaneously, made section 527 voluntary, thus reviving pre–1975 law. The lack of a significant subsidy undermines the effectiveness of imposing burdens on section 527 organizations where there is a choice of tax treatment. The lack of a significant subsidy also raises the constitutional bar to imposing any burdens on section 527 organizations.

The Public Trust Doctrine And Natural Law: Emanations With A Penumbra, George P. Smith Ii, Michael W. Sweeney

Scholarly Articles

In American jurisprudence, the public trust doctrine emerged as a means of protecting certain limited environmental interests, such as coastal waterways and fishing areas, which were preserved for the benefit of the public and distinguished from grants of private ownership. Modern scholars have, however, called for an expansive application of the public trust doctrine - citing, as such, the growing inventory of "changing public needs" in the environmental context, such as the need for improved air and water quality, and the conservation of natural landscape. This Article examines the history and scope of the public trust doctrine in order to …

Recordings, Transcripts And Translations As Evidence, Clifford S. Fishman

Scholarly Articles

Secretly recorded conversations often play a vital role in criminal trials. However, circumstances such as background noise, accidents, regional or national idioms, jargon, or code may make it difficult for a jury to hear or understand what was said--even if all participants were speaking English. Thus, a recording's value as evidence will often depend on whether an accurate transcript may be distributed to the jury. This Article discusses several legal issues, including: Who should prepare a transcript? What should it contain? How should its accuracy be determined, and by whom? Should the transcript be considered evidence, or only an "aid …

Jurisdiction To Adjudicate: A Revised Analysis, A. Benjamin Spencer

Scholarly Articles

Personal jurisdiction doctrine as articulated by the Supreme Court is in disarray.A s a constitutional doctrine whose contours remain imprecise, the law of personal jurisdiction has generated confusion, unpredictability, and extensive satellite litigation over what should be an uncomplicated preliminary issue. Many commentators have long lamented these defects, making suggestions for how the doctrine could be improved. Although many of these proposals have had much to offer, they generally have failed to articulate (or adequately justify or explain) a simple and sound approach to jurisdiction that the Supreme Court can embrace. This Article revises the law of personal jurisdiction by …

A Tribute To Lewis H. Larue, Andrew W. Mcthenia

Scholarly Articles

A tribute to Professor Lewis H. LaRue.

Article Five Of The Utc And The Future Of Creditors' Rights In Trusts, Robert T. Danforth

Scholarly Articles

The Uniform Trust Code ("UTC") is the first comprehensive codification of the law of trusts. Approved in 2000 by the National Conference of Commissioners on Uniform State Laws, the UTC has since been enacted (sometimes in modified form) in at least a dozen jurisdictions. The UTC has not been without controversy. In particular, Article Five of the UTC - concerning creditors' rights - has generated a veritable war of words, with opponents claiming that enactment of the UTC will result in dire consequences to the traditional creditor-protection benefits associated with spendthrift and discretionary trusts. The purpose of this article is …

Health Courts And Malpractice Claims Adjudication Through Medicare: Some Questions, Timothy Stoltzfus Jost

Scholarly Articles

No abstract provided.

The Preservation Obligation: Regulating And Sanctioning Pre-Litigation Spoliation In Federal Court, A. Benjamin Spencer

Scholarly Articles

The issue of discovery misconduct, specifically as it pertains to the pre-litigation duty to preserve and sanctions for spoliation, has garnered much attention in the wake of decisions by two prominent jurists whose voices carry great weight in this area. In Pension Committee of University of Montreal Pension Plan v. Bank of America Securities, Judge Shira Scheindlin - of the Zubulake e-discovery cases - penned a scholarly and thorough opinion setting forth her views regarding the triggering of the duty to preserve potentially relevant information pending litigation and the standards for determining the appropriate sanctions for various breaches of that …

Our Broken Health Care System And How To Fix It: An Essay On Health Law And Policy, Timothy Stoltzfus Jost

Scholarly Articles

No abstract provided.

Faith And Faithfulness In Corporate Theory, Lyman P.Q. Johnson

Scholarly Articles

No abstract provided.

The Audit Committee's Ethical And Legal Responsibilities: The State Law Perspective, Lyman P.Q. Johnson

Scholarly Articles

This paper provides a state law perspective on the post-scandal, post-reform audit committee. Federal law, along with NYSE and Nasdaq (together, "SRO") rules, recently have made sweeping changes in corporate governance, including numerous provisions that bear on audit committees. These changes are unprecedented and dramatic, and rightly have received wide attention and careful study. Certain basic principles underlying the governance functions and duties of audit committees, however, originate in, and are still determined by, state law. Moreover, state law applies to all corporations; federal law and SRO rules on audit committees apply only to those companies coming under federal law …

A Cap On The Defendant's Appeal Bond?: Punitive Damages Tort Reform, Doug Rendleman

Scholarly Articles

None available.

Terminating Calder: "Effects" Based Jurisdiction In The Ninth Circuit After Schwarzenegger V. Fred Martin Motor Co., A. Benjamin Spencer

Scholarly Articles

None available.

The Iraqi High Tribunal And Rule Of Law: Challenges, Mark A. Drumbl

Scholarly Articles

None available.

The Role Of Competition In Health Care: A Western European Perspective, Timothy Stoltzfus Jost, Diane Dawson, André Den Exter

Scholarly Articles

The Federal Trade Commission and Department of Justice 2004 report Improving Health Care: A Dose of Competition expresses a clear allegiance to competition as the organizing principle for health care. In Europe, by contrast, the key organizing principle of health care systems is solidarity. Solidarity means that all have access to health care based on medical needs, regardless of ability to pay. This is not to say that competition is not important in Europe, but competition must take place within the context of solidarity. This article critiques the report from a European perspective, describes the role of competition in Europe …

Revisiting The American Action For Public Disclosure Of Facts, Brian C. Murchison

Scholarly Articles

None available.

Lawyer Advertising And The Dignity Of The Profession, Rodney A. Smolla

Scholarly Articles

None available.

Jurisdiction And The Internet: Returning To Traditional Principles To Analyze Network-Mediated Contacts, A. Benjamin Spencer

Scholarly Articles

Courts have been evaluating the issue of personal jurisdiction based on Internet or "network-mediated" contacts for some time. The U.S. Supreme Court has remained silent on this issue, permitting the federal appeals courts to develop standards for determining when personal jurisdiction based on network-mediated contacts is appropriate. Unfortunately, the circuit approaches - which emphasize a website's "interactivity" and "target audience" - are flawed because they are premised on an outdated view of Internet activity as uncontrollably ubiquitous. This view has led courts to depart from traditional jurisdictional analysis and impose elevated and misguided jurisdictional standards. This Article argues that courts …

The Supreme Court's Casual Use Of The Assignment Of Income Doctrine, Brant J. Hellwig

Scholarly Articles

In early 2005, the U.S. Supreme Court answered a question that had been plaguing courts for years: whether plaintiffs should be taxed on the portion of contingent fee awards paid to their attorneys. The Court determined that they should. In this article, Professor Brant J. Hellwig focuses on the analysis employed by the Court to reach its conclusion in Commissioner v. Banks and the implications of that analysis for future cases. Although Professor Hellwig believes that the Court correctly ascertained the plaintiff's tax burden, he suggests that the Court's use of the assignment of income doctrine was both unnecessary to …

The Cabining Of Rosenberger: Locke V. Davey And The Broad Nondiscrimination Principle That Never Was, Alan M. Trammell

Scholarly Articles

In Rosenberger (1995), the Supreme Court decided that the University of Virginia could not exclude religious organizations from an activities fund that subsidized student organizations. Nine years later, the Court in Locke v. Davey held that Washington could exclude students of devotional theology from a generally available scholarship program; there was, in the Court’s words, “play in the joints” between what the Establishment Clause forbids and what the Free Exercise Clause requires. The cases seemed to contradict one another.

This Note explores whether Rosenberger announced a broad principle of nondiscrimination with respect to religion and whether Davey reneged on that …

In Booker'S Shadow: Restitution Forces A Second Debate On Honesty In Sentencing, Melanie D. Wilson

Scholarly Articles

The Supreme Court's January 2005 decision in Booker should induce Congress to enact legislation to remedy the constitutional invalidity of the MVRA and encourage the Department of Justice to revisit how restitution is charged, indicted, negotiated in plea agreements, proven at trial, and presented at sentencing hearings. The Booker decision is also a reminder to lower federal courts to adhere to the rule announced by the Supreme Court in Hughey v. United States, which limits the reach of orders of restitution. Congress, DOJ, and the federal courts should insist on candor in charging and sentencing to remedy the restitution …

The Price Of Pretrial Release: Can We Afford To Keep Our Fourth Amendment Rights?, Melanie D. Wilson

Scholarly Articles

The Fourth Amendment serves an important constitutional function. It protects the privacy of Americans from intrusions on their personal security. Few rights are held more sacred. When a person is arrested and faces the real likelihood of pretrial detention in jail, the person risks not only a reduction in his privacy rights, but also a loss of his liberty. In such circumstances, the arrested person should be able to bargain away some of his Fourth Amendment rights in exchange for the additional freedoms associated with release to home.

Undoubtedly, defendants forced to choose between incarceration and Fourth Amendment rights will …

Mara’Abe V. Prime Minister Of Israel, Geoffrey R. Watson

Scholarly Articles

No abstract provided.

Rethinking Bibliographic Services – The University Of California Libraries Asks How They Can Provide Better End-User Services Through Bibliographic Processing, Elizabeth A. Edinger

Scholarly Articles

No abstract provided.

The New Religious Prisons And Their Retributivist Commitments, Marc O. Degirolami

Scholarly Articles

This essay explores the criminological commitments of religious prisons. Though religious prisons serve rehabilitative aims, this essay emphasizes the importance of their retributive goals-what Professor R.A. Duff has termed the censure-communicating purpose of punishment and the "Three 'R's of Punishment" (repentance, reform, and reconciliation)9-in justifying the use of religious programming in prisons. The focus of this article is narrow: it offers an argument in response to skeptics who claim that religious programming serves no criminological purpose absent an unequivocal showing of rehabilitative effectiveness. It claims that even if the evidence of reduced recidivism has been inflated or manipulated, as many …

The “Rootkit Debacle”: The Latest Chapter In The Story Of The Recording Industry And The War On Music Piracy, Megan M. La Belle

Scholarly Articles

In the age of digital music, illicit copying or burning of CDs is a rampant problem that undermines the rights of copyright holders, record labels, and artists alike. The recording industry has attempted to address this problem by manufacturing and releasing CDs with various types of digital rights management (DRM) technologies. Most recently, Sony BMG introduced CDs containing DRM software that was intended, among other things, to limit the number of copies of the CD the user could make, and prevent the user from sharing the content of the CD on peer-to-peer networks. However, the manner in which this software …