Law Commons^™

Laïcité In The United States Or The Separation Of Church And State In Pluralist Society, Elisabeth Zoller

Indiana Journal of Global Legal Studies

No abstract provided.

Help For Hotspots: Ngo Participation In The Preservation Of Worldwide Diversity, Bradley M. Bernau

Indiana Journal of Global Legal Studies

This Note explores the role that nongovernmental organizations can and do play in the preservation of global biodiversity hotspots. The hotspot concept-developed in the late 1980s alongside the new field of conservation biology-identifies particular areas of the world that contain high levels of endemic species that are highly threatened or endangered. Some experts have argued that by focusing species conservation efforts on these areas, a maximum amount of species can be protected and preserved using a minimum amount of time, money, and effort, allowing the remaining, scarce funds and resources to be directed toward species conservation efforts elsewhere.

Without commenting …

Using Global Themes To Reframe The Bioprospecting Debate, Jonathan B. Warner

Indiana Journal of Global Legal Studies

The objective of this Note is to use global themes and perspectives to aid in reframing the bioprospecting debate. The current state of this debate, its problems, and proposed solutions are reviewed. In looking at the impact of local responses to globalization on bioprospecting themes, I propose that more internationally competitive laws could allow an escape from some of the undesired effects of bioprospecting, while promoting more desired effects. I also suggest, independently, that undesired effects could be avoided and desired effects promoted through methods that seek to recognize the global identity of concerned citizens.

Credits To Our Profession - A Frank And Far-Reaching Interview With Judge Lyle E. Strom And Judge William J. Riley (Part One Of Two), Tory L. Lucas

Faculty Publications and Presentations

Lyle E. Strom and William J. Riley have been mainstays of the Omaha legal community for decades. These legendary Omaha lawyers have enjoyed successful careers as trial lawyers in private practice, educated law students on trial practice, dedicated their time and talent to Nebraska’s legal community, motivated Boy Scouts to lead virtuous lives, mentored countless young attorneys, and served their nation as federal judges. Judge Strom currently serves as a senior judge on the United States District Court for the District of Nebraska; Judge Riley currently serves as the chief judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the …

Working With Len, James E. Westbrook

Journal of Dispute Resolution

Len Riskin joined the MU faculty in 1984. Our faculty had voted in response to a recommendation of Dean Dale Whitman to begin a new emphasis on alternative dispute resolution. My recollection is that we had a group of very capable teachers with a traditional bent. On the other hand, they had an open mind about trying something new and they got along with each other very well. The kind of faculty we had and the leadership provided by Len, Dale Whitman and a few faculty members such as Tim Heinsz enabled us to do something that surprised a lot …

Class Schedule - Summer 2006, Office Of Registrar

Semester Schedules and Information

No abstract provided.

Avoiding Absurdity, Glen Staszewski

Indiana Law Journal

American courts have always interpreted statutes contrary to their plain meaning to avoid absurd results. John Manning, a prominent new textualist scholar, has recently challenged the legitimacy of the "absurdity doctrine" on the grounds that it cannot be justified by legislative intent or squared with principles of constitutional law. His critique relies, however, upon deeply contested economic theories of the legislative process and constitutional structure that view lawmaking as a market in which self-interested participants compete for resources.

This Article provides a comprehensive theoretical defense of the absurdity doctrine that relies instead upon significant aspects of civic republican theory, as …

A Technological Theory Of The Arms Race, Lee Kovarsky

Indiana Law Journal

Although the "technological arms race" has recently emerged as a vogue-ish piece of legal terminology, scholarship has quite conspicuously failed to explore the phenomenon systematically. What are "technological" arms races? Why do they happen? Does the recent spike in scholarly attention actually reflect their novelty? Are they always inefficient? How do they differ from military ones? What role can legal institutions play in slowing them down?

In this Article I seek to answer these questions. I argue that copyright enforcement and self-help represent substitutable tactics for regulating access to expressive assets, and that the efficacy of each tactic depends on …

Juvenile Competency Statutes: A Model For State Legislation, Kellie M. Johnson

Indiana Law Journal

No abstract provided.

Reconsidering Reparations, Alfred L. Brophy

Indiana Law Journal

Eric Posner's and Adrian Vermeule's essay, Reparations for Slavery and Other Historic Injustices, seeks a framework for defining reparations and evaluating reparations claims. It explores a limited set of past reparations, as well as the connections between those asked to pay reparations and past wrongdoers, and the connections between those receiving reparations and those injured in the past. Posner and Vermeule use that framework to evaluate the morality of reparations and the legal problems that arise in implementing reparations proposals.

This Essay takes up the Posner-Vermeule analysis at several points. It challenges their limited definition of reparations and their limited …

Let History Be Our Guide: Using Historical Analogies To Analyze State Response To A Post-Granholm Era, Matthew B. Mills

Indiana Law Journal

No abstract provided.

Dworkin In The Desert Of The Real, David G. Carlson

Articles

The article critically examines Ronald Dworkin's jurisprudence, particularly his theory of right answers, and defends it against critiques that his approach to law and language creates an unbridgeable gap between theory and practice. Dworkin's central argument is that law has an essence that judges must discover through reflective equilibrium, emphasizing the incommensurability between the judge's act and the symbolic order of law. While critics argue that this approach leads to nihilism, Dworkin counters by asserting that conventionalists are contradictory and that justice, as a decision, necessarily transgresses the domain of law.

Equality And The Dialectic Between Identity And Difference, Michel Rosenfeld

Articles

Modern equality as derived from the Enlightenment has always had problems with difference. Whereas feudalism set inequality as the baseline, modern society sets equality as the baseline, but allows for unequal treatment based on differences. Thus, differences among the sexes have been invoked to treat women as inferiors and racial differences to deprive racial minorities of equal treatment. Liberalism has countered these moves by promoting a conception of equality as identity according to which race or gender-based differences are irrelevant for purposes of political participation or employment. More recent claims for equality based on identity politics which callfor a type …

Copyright And Incomplete Historiographies: Of Piracy, Propertization, And Thomas Jefferson, Justin Hughes

Articles

Because we learn from history, we also try to teach from history. Persuasive discourse of all kinds is replete with historical examples – some true and applicable to the issue at hand, some one but not the other, and some neither. Beginning in the 1990s, intellectual property scholars began providing descriptive accounts of a tremendous strengthening of copyright laws, expressing the normative view that this trend needs to be arrested, if not reversed. This thoughtful body of scholarly literature is sometimes bolstered with historical claims – often casual comments about the way things were. The claims about history, legal or …

Unnatural Rights: Hegel And Intellectual Property, Jeanne L. Schroeder

Articles

The article challenges the common misconception that Hegel's legal philosophy supports the romantic view of intellectual property as an extension of personality or natural right. Instead, it argues that Hegel's framework, rooted in the concept of "abstract right," views property, including intellectual property, as a legal construct created to facilitate freedom and legal subjectivity. The analysis emphasizes the pragmatic and utilitarian aspects of adopting intellectual property regimes within a modern constitutional republic, while rejecting the notion of natural law and highlighting the realization of property rights through alienation and contract.

An Unprecedented Threat To Civil Liberties: An Essay In Honor Of Nadine Strossen, Erwin Chemerinsky

Tulsa Law Review

No abstract provided.

Why The Aclu Was Wrong About Nike, Inc. V. Kasky, Tamara R. Piety

Tulsa Law Review

No abstract provided.

Modern Condottieri In Iraq: Privatizing War From The Perspective Of International Human Rights Law, Antenor Hallo De Wolf

Indiana Journal of Global Legal Studies

No abstract provided.

Data Note: Relationship Between Ssi Recipients Who Work And State Unemployment Rate, Katherine Fichthorn, Dana Scott Gilmore

Data Note Series, Institute for Community Inclusion

The Supplemental Security Income program (SSI) administered by the Social Security Administration provides cash assistance to low-income individuals who are seniors, blind, or have a disability.

Research To Practice: The National Survey Of Community Rehabilitation Providers, Fy2004-2005 Report 1: Employment Outcomes Of People With Developmental Disabilities In Integrated Employment, Heike Boeltzig, Dana Scott Gilmore, John Butterworth

Research to Practice Series, Institute for Community Inclusion

Where do people with mental retardation and developmental disabilities work? What are their hours, wages, and benefits? This brief covers partial results from a survey that gives a snapshot of the outcomes for recently employed people with developmental disabilities.

Research To Practice: Trends And Emerging Issues Regarding Ssa/Vr Reimbursements For Ssi/Ssdi Recipients, John Halliday, Dana Scott Gilmore, Katherine Fichthorn

Research to Practice Series, Institute for Community Inclusion

This brief discusses the declining amount of reimbursement paid to public VR agencies from federal fiscal year (FFY) 2002 to FFY 2005 by considering the impact that fewer claims submitted and a rising SGA level may have on the amount of reimbursement paid.

Presidential Signing Statements And Executive Power, Eric A. Posner, Curtis A. Bradley

Public Law and Legal Theory Working Papers

A recent debate about the Bush administration’s use of presidential signing statements has raised questions about their function, legality, and value. We argue that presidential signing statements are legal and that they provide a useful way for the president to disclose his views about the meaning and constitutionality of legislation. Although President Bush has challenged more statutory provisions in signing statements than prior administrations have, his signing statements are similar in many respects to the signing statements issued by prior presidents, such as President Clinton. In addition, basic tenets of positive political theory suggest that signing statements do not undermine …

The People’S Agent: Executive Branch Secrecy And Accountability In An Age Of Terrorism, Sidney A. Shapiro, Rena I. Steinzor

Law and Contemporary Problems

Shapiro and Steinzor apply the agency theory to the question of how much secrecy is too much. They use the theory to evaluate the impact of burgeoning secrecy in the likelihood that the executive branch officials will engage in faithful and forceful implementation of statutory materials, particularly in the arenas of protecting public health, safety, and natural resources.

Journal Staff

Law and Contemporary Problems

No abstract provided.

Bankruptcy, James D. Walker Jr., Amber Nickell

Mercer Law Review

Never underestimate the persistence of the credit lobby. In the most significant development in bankruptcy law since last year's Article, Congress finally, after eight years of trying, enacted bankruptcy reform legislation in the form of the Bankruptcy Abuse Prevention and Consumer Protection Act ("BAPCPA" or the "Act"). At least one judge has stated that "to call the Act a 'consumer protection' Act is the grossest of misnomers." Indeed, the Act creates new roadblocks for entrance into bankruptcy, such as the pre-petition credit counseling requirement and Chapter 7 means testing; limiting or eliminating the protection of the automatic stay for repeat …

Evidence, Marc T. Treadwell

Mercer Law Review

This survey year saw the continuation of what has become a clear trend in Eleventh Circuit evidence decisions. In stark contrast to the days when the Eleventh Circuit rigorously examined district court evidentiary decisions and freely reversed those decisions, the Eleventh Circuit now studiously defers to district judges. The reason for this trend can be debated. Perhaps because most evidentiary issues addressed by the Eleventh Circuit arise in the context of criminal cases, and because Eleventh Circuit judges are more conservative today, the Eleventh Circuit is less likely to reverse criminal convictions, particularly on evidentiary grounds. Or perhaps that the …

Federal Taxation, Michael H. Plowgian, Svetoslav S. Minkov, T. Wesley Brinkley

Mercer Law Review

The courts in the Eleventh Circuit were involved in a number of relatively prominent tax related cases in 2005. Two cases that were previously highlighted in this publication were overturned on appeal. The United States Supreme Court reversed and remanded the Eleventh Circuit in the tax procedure case of Ballard v. Commissioner. In addition, the Eleventh Circuit reversed the United States District Court for the Southern District of Florida in American Bankers Insurance Group, Inc. v. United States, holding that the federal telecommunications excise tax did not apply to telecommunications services for which the charge varied by time, but not …

Detention Of Non-Citizens: The Supreme Court's Muddling Of An Already Complex Issue, Blake Sharpton

Mercer Law Review

Emma Lazarus's poem was engraved on a plaque and affixed to the base of the Statue of Liberty in 1903. Ms. Lazarus's words may have reflected the sentiment of the country in 1903, but the United States no longer throws its doors open to any and every person hoping for a better life. Rather, potential immigrants are faced with a labyrinth of legal hurdles in order to gain entry into the United States.

Under current U.S. immigration law, every person in the world is either a United States "national" or an "alien." With few exceptions, the term national today basically …

Roper V. Simmons: A Dead-End For The Juvenile Death Penalty, Robert F. Glass

Mercer Law Review

In Roper v. Simmons, the United States Supreme Court held that executing a person under the age of eighteen constituted cruel and unusual punishment as prohibited by the Eighth Amendment to the United States Constitution. Relying on support ranging from scientific and sociological studies to the laws of foreign countries, the Court reversed its 1989 ruling in Stanford v. Kentucky, which upheld the constitutionality of juvenile execution. This case is important because it (1) represents the Court's increasingly restrictive view with regard to permissible punishment under the Eighth Amendment's prohibition of cruel and unusual punishment and (2) raises significant questions …

The Religious Land Use And Institutionalized Persons Act Of 2000 And Its Effect On Eleventh Circuit Law, Christina Harrison Schnizler

Mercer Law Review

The Religious Land Use and Institutionalized Persons Act of 2000 ("RLUIPA") was enacted by Congress in response to the Supreme Court overruling the Religious Freedom Restoration Act of 1993 ("RFRA") and as an extension of the Civil Rights of Institutionalized Persons Act. RLUIPA is intended "to protect religious liberty" and prohibits discrimination based on religion in two areas: land use regulations and religious rights for institutionalized persons. Generally, the religious land use provisions prevent state and local governments from creating improper zoning restrictions that unduly prohibit religious organizations from holding meetings, locating in a specific area, or expanding their current …