Law Commons^™

An Alternate Approach To Channeling?, Mark P. Mckenna

Journal Articles

Intellectual property law has developed a variety of doctrines to police the boundaries between various forms of protection. Courts and scholars alike overwhelmingly conceive of these doctrines in terms of the nature of the objects of protection. The functionality doctrine in trademark law, for example, defines the boundary between trademark and patent law by identifying and refusing trademark protection to features that play a functional role in a product’s performance. Likewise, the useful article doctrine works at the boundary of copyright and patent law to identify elements of an article’s design that are dictated by function and to channel protection …

A Hands-Off Approach To Religious Doctrine: What Are We Talking About?, Richard W. Garnett

Journal Articles

At the 2008 Annual Meeting of the American Association of Law Schools, the program organized by the Section on Law and Religion presented for consideration the claim that “the United States Supreme Court has shown an increasing unwillingness to engage in deciding matters that relate to the interpretation of religious practice and belief.” The Court, it was proposed, is — more and more — taking a “hands-off approach to religious doctrine.”

This proposal was, and remains, timely and important, as is illustrated by — to mention just a few, diverse examples — the ongoing property-ownership dispute between several “breakaway” Episcopal …

The Idea Of Pollution, John Copeland Nagle

Journal Articles

Pollution is the primary target of environmental law. During the past forty years, hundreds of federal and state statutes, administrative regulations, and international treaties have established multiple approaches to addressing pollution of the air, water, and land. Yet the law still struggles to identify precisely what constitutes pollution, how much of it is tolerable, and what we should do about it.

But environmental pollution is hardly the only type of pollution. Historically, the idea of pollution referred to a host of effects upon human environments. This remains evident in contemporary anthropological literature, which studies the pollution beliefs of cultures throughout …

Taking Strickland Claims Seriously, Stephen F. Smith

Journal Articles

Every criminal defendant is promised the right to the effective assistance of counsel. Whether at trial or first appeal of right, due process is violated when attorney negligence undermines the fairness and reliability of judicial proceedings. That, at least, is the black-letter law articulated in Strickland v. Washington, 466 U.S. 688 (1984). In practice, however, the right to effective representation has meant surprisingly little over the last two decades. Under the standards that emerged from Strickland, scores of defendants have received prison or death sentences by virtue of serious unprofessional errors committed by their attorneys.

This Essay canvasses a line …

Rethinking Adequacy Of Representation, Jay Tidmarsh

Journal Articles

This article questions the usefulness of traditional tests for adequacy of representation in class action proceedings. When determining whether to certify a class, courts have sought to avoid endorsing those classes marred by conflicting interests or the possibility of collusion. Yet, such conflicts of interest are an intrinsic characteristic of class actions, stemming from the very policy rationales that have prompted the judiciary to allow litigation by classes. As a result, the current doctrine of adequate representation has left the courts without a bright-line rule; instead, the courts' inquiries into adequacy of representation must focus primarily on the degree of …

Baze V. Rees: Merging Eighth Amendment Precedents Into A New Standard For Method Of Execution Challenges, Molly E. Grace

Maryland Law Review

No abstract provided.

What Will The Life Of Riley V. Kennedy Mean For Section 5 Of The Voting Rights Act?, Michael J. Pitts

Maryland Law Review

No abstract provided.

Last Best Chance For The Great Writ: Equitable Tolling And Federal Habeas Corpus, Anne R. Traum

Maryland Law Review

No abstract provided.

Orwell’S Vision: Video And The Future Of Civil Rights Enforcement, Howard M. Wasserman

Maryland Law Review

No abstract provided.

Janice M. V. Margaret K.: Eliminating Same-Sex Parents’ Rights To Raise Their Children By Eliminating The De Facto Parent Doctrine, Emily R. Lipps

Maryland Law Review

No abstract provided.

Tributes To Dean Karen H. Rothenberg, Martin J. O'Malley, Benjamin L. Cardin, Robert M. Bell, Andre M. Davis

Maryland Law Review

No abstract provided.

Whistleblowing Attorneys And Ethical Infrastructures, Alex B. Long

Maryland Law Review

No abstract provided.

District Of Columbia V. Heller: Failing To Establish A Standard For The Future, Lindsay Goldberg

Maryland Law Review

No abstract provided.

Engquist V. Oregon Department Of Agriculture: No Harm Meant? The Vanquished Requirement Of Ill-Will In Class-Of-One Equal Protection Claims And The Erosion Of Public Employees’ Constitutional Rights, Kerstin Miller

Maryland Law Review

No abstract provided.

Conaway V. Deane: To Have And To Hold, From This Day Forward—Maryland’S Unfit Marriage To Federal Equal Protection Analysis, Rachel A. Shapiro

Maryland Law Review

No abstract provided.

State V. Baby: One Step Forward For Maryland— Protecting A Woman’S Right To Withdraw Consent, But Sending A Conflicting Message To Appellate Courts Reviewing Multiple-Conviction Cases, Michelle D. Albert

Maryland Law Review

No abstract provided.

Tributes To Dean James Forsyth , Lynne A. Battaglia, William Reynolds, David S. Bogen, Alan D. Hornstein

Maryland Law Review

No abstract provided.

Like A Hole In The Head, Lief H. Carter

Maryland Law Review

No abstract provided.

Is There A Paradox In Amending A Sacred Text?, Beau Breslin

Maryland Law Review

No abstract provided.

Biblical Interpretation, Constitutional Interpretation, And Ignoring Text, Henry L. Chambers Jr.

Maryland Law Review

No abstract provided.

Atmospheric Harms In Constitutional Law, Frederick Mark Gedicks

Maryland Law Review

No abstract provided.

The Dueling First Amendments: Government As Funder, As Speaker, And The Establishment Clause, Carol Nackenoff

Maryland Law Review

No abstract provided.

Asbestos Fraud Should Lead To Fairness: Why Congress Should Enact The Fairness In Asbestos Injury Resolution Act, Elise Gelinas

Maryland Law Review

No abstract provided.

Teaching Transactional Skills In A Clinic, Robert Statchen, Serge Martinez

Faculty Scholarship

In May 2008, the Center for Transactional Law and Practice at Emory University School of Law held a conference entitled “Teaching Drafting and Transactional Skills—The Basics and Beyond.” This Article reflects the Authors’ discussion of teaching drafting and transactional skills to law students in the context of a law school clinic.

No More Secret Laws: How Transparency Of Executive Branch Legal Policy Doesn't Let The Terrorists Win, Sudha Setty

Faculty Scholarship

One of the key hallmarks of a democratic nation is that there are no secret laws. In the post-September 11, 2001 era, the George W. Bush administration relied on national security concerns and the unitary executive theory of presidential power as justifications for maintaining secret legal policies that govern parts of the war on terrorism that affect serious issues of human rights and civil liberties. These legal policies sometimes staked out positions that are at odds with legislation, treaties, and court decisions—but the parameters of the executive branch legal policies were sometimes unknown because of the lack of public disclosure. …

Taming The Employment Sharks: The Case For Regulating Profit-Driven Labor Market Intermediaries In High Mobility Labor Markets, Harris Freeman, George Gonos

Faculty Scholarship

Over the last quarter century, a profound restructuring of U.S. labor markets has occurred. Long-term job tenure, internal labor markets, and employer-sponsored benefits have waned under the pressures of neoliberal globalization. The trend is toward increasingly precarious, shorter-term, serial employment relationships that offer significantly lower wages, reduced job-related benefits, and formidable obstacles to the exercise of employment rights. This fundamental shift has moved so-called “non-standard” employment arrangements, once viewed as marginal, into the core economy. As a result, a remarkable array of profit-driven labor market intermediaries (LMIs) are now embedded in mainstream labor markets. Temporary help and staffing agencies, payrolling …

Working Group On Chapter 4 Of The Proposed Restatement Of Employment Law: The Tort Of Wrongful Discipline In Violation Of Public Policy, Pauline Kim, Joseph R. Grodin, Paul M. Secunda, Richard A. Bales, Catherine Fisk, Roberto L. Corrada

Scholarship@WashULaw

The purpose of this commentary on Chapter 4 of the Proposed ALI Restatement of Employment Law, concerning the tort of wrongful discipline in violation of public policy, is to closely evaluate the current draft in light of the appropriate purposes for a Restatement. Although some value exists in merely stating the consensus respecting these rules, the mission of the ALI extends beyond that, to better adapt the law to social needs and secure the better administration of justice. Our principal problem with the current Restatement draft is that it does not adequately recognize the dynamic nature of this area of …

Privacy And The Limits Of History, Neil M. Richards

Scholarship@WashULaw

A short review essay of Lawrence Friedman's "Guarding Life's Dark Secrets: Legal and Social Controls over Reputation, Propriety, and Privacy" (Stanford Press 2007). The essay argues that Friedman tells a nuanced and compelling story of the rise and fall of the "Victorian Compromise," a series of interlocking legal doctrines protecting the reputations of elites around the turn of the twentieth century. "Dark Secrets" undeniably advances our understanding of both the genesis of privacy law and the relationships between law and culture in the Gilded Age. As a work of legal history, it is an instant classic–a must-read for anyone interested …

Rethinking Free Speech And Civil Liability, Neil M. Richards, Daniel J. Solove

Scholarship@WashULaw

One of the most important and unresolved quandaries of First Amendment jurisprudence involves when civil liability for speech will trigger First Amendment protections. When speech results in civil liability, two starkly opposing rules are potentially applicable. Since New York Times v. Sullivan, the First Amendment requires heightened protection against tort liability for speech, such as defamation and invasion of privacy. But in other contexts involving civil liability for speech, the First Amendment provides virtually no protection. According to Cohen v. Cowles, there is no First Amendment scrutiny for speech restricted by promissory estoppel and contract. The First Amendment rarely requires …

Deliberation And Strategy On The United States Courts Of Appeals: An Empirical Exploration Of Panel Effects, Pauline Kim

Scholarship@WashULaw

Recent studies have established that decision-making by federal court of appeals judges is influenced not only by the preferences of the judge, but also the preferences of her panel colleagues. Although the existence of these panel effects is well documented, the reasons they occur are less well understood. Scholars have proposed a number of competing theories to explain panel effects, but none has been established empirically. In this Article, I report an empirical test of two competing explanations of panel effects - one emphasizing deliberation internal to a circuit panel, the other hypothesizing strategic behavior on the part of circuit …