Law Commons^™

Strengthening The Guard: The Use Of Gps Surveillance To Enforce Domestic Violence Protection Orders, Amanda Rhodes

Amanda Rhodes

This essay examines the use of GPS surveillance in enforcing domestic violence protection orders. Part I explores the rationale for using GPS surveillance in domestic violence situations. Part II addresses the primary constitutional concerns associated with GPS monitoring in the domestic violence context. Finally, Part III discusses the effectiveness of GPS surveillance in domestic violence cases.

Statutory Presumption Of Domestic Batterers’ Unfitness As Parents: Lessons From Jordan V. Jordan, Kyle S. Karpowicz

Kyle S Karpowicz

This casenote analyzes the background and consequences 2011 D.C. Appellate Circuit decision of Jordan v. Jordan. This decision affirmed a lower court which found that though a statutory presumption of unfitness on the part of the father due to a finding of domestic violence, the presumption was rebutted and joint custody was awarded. The procedural elements of the statute and the decision are scrutinized, as well as how the decision comports with public policy and the legislative intent behind the statute.

Handbook Of The Law Of Persons And Domestic Relations. By Joseph W. Madden, Robert C. Brown

Dr Robert Brown

No abstract provided.

The Reactionary Road To Free Love: How Doma, State Marriage Amendments And Social Conservatives Undermine Traditional Marriage, Scott Titshaw

Scott Titshaw

Much has been written about the possible effects on different-sex marriage of legally recognizing same-sex marriage. This article looks at the defense of marriage from a different angle: It shows how rejecting same-sex marriage results in political compromise and the proliferation of “marriage light” alternatives (e.g., civil unions, domestic partnerships, or reciprocal beneficiaries) that undermine the unique status of marriage for everyone. In the process, it examines several aspects of the marriage debate in detail. After describing the flexibility of marriage as it has evolved over time, the article focuses on recent state constitutional amendments attempting to stop further development. …

Ncaa Football, Domestic Violence, And The Need For Reform, Hugo Israel Ortega

Hugo I Ortega

Because a disproportionate number of student-athletes abuse partners, the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) should adopt a new policy to adequately address the problem. The NCAA does not currently have a policy in place to deal with student athletes who commit domestic violence. Universities have failed to take the initiative or demonstrate leadership in handling these cases without any guidance or uniformity, which has led to significant problems. Several obstacles remain in the way of adopting a new policy. First, NCAA Football is a billion dollar business. Taking star athletes off the field for conduct relating to domestic violence could …

Defining Parenthood: Evolution Or Pendulum Swing?, Rufina D. Beem

Rufina D. Beem

This paper analyzes the evolution of the legal definition of a parent through the emergence of assisted reproductive technologies, surrogacy arrangements, and same sex marriage, with a particular emphasis on genetic ties and the marital presumption as determinative factors. It argues that the evolution in defining parenthood in recent decades may convert to more of a pendulum swing as societal views towards who can marry continues to change. If a greater portion of the population can benefit from the marital presumption in determining parenthood, then the legal definition will largely revert back to traditional roots. As such, the paper concludes …

Trouble At Home, Daniel Manne

Daniel Manne

In her Jacob Prize 2009 award-winning book, At Home in the Law: How the Domestic Violence Revolution is Transforming Privacy, Harvard Law School Professor Jeannie Suk mounts a sustained argument to the effect that under the guise of protecting women, coercive state power has weaseled its way into the hitherto sacred area of the home. Unfortunately, Professor Suk makes a number of errors in her book, including misreporting cases, misrepresenting statutes, and misunderstanding the law. Because so little is written in the area of domestic violence, it is critical to correct these errors before they have an effect on policy. …

Mandatory Reporting Of Abuse: A Historical Perspective On The Evolution Of States’ Current Mandatory Reporting Laws With A Review Of The Laws In The Commonwealth Of Pennsylvania, Leonard G. Brown Iii

Leonard G Brown III

Mandatory Reporting of Abuse: A Historical Perspective on the Evolution of States’ Current Mandatory Reporting Laws with a Review of the Laws in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania

The first states passed laws in 1963, following the publishing of a seminal article titled, “The Battered Child Syndrome.” By 1967, all fifty states had passed some form of mandatory reporting law. The federal government’s first major foray into the area of child abuse prevention occurred on January 31, 1974, when Congress enacted the Child Abuse Prevention and Treatment Act (“CAPTA”). CAPTA has no federal mandatory reporting provision, but rather requires states to …

Notification And Risk Management For Victims Of Domestic Violence, Jaime K. Dahlstedt

Jaime K. Dahlstedt

Technological advances have made possible the real-time enforcement of temporary and contested protection orders issued on behalf of victims of domestic abuse, particularly through global positioning satellite (GPS) monitoring of individuals who have been found to have committed domestic violence offenses and against whom stay away orders have been entered. Notwithstanding this capability, however, courts rarely impose GPS monitoring requirements alongside the safety provisions routinely imposed in domestic abuse cases.

This Article examines and critiques this prevailing practice. This Article argues that the procedural, substantive and logistical objections to GPS monitoring do not sufficiently justify the systemic failure to impose …

Babies Without Borders: Human Rights, Human Dignity And The Regulation Of International Commercial Surrogacy, Yasmine Ergas

Yasmine Ergas

In recent decades, a robust international market in commercial reproductive surrogacy has emerged. But, as German citizens Jan Balaz and Susan Lohle discovered when they struggled to engineer the last-minute diplomatic compromise that saved their commissioned twins from becoming wards of the Indian state, conflicts among legal frameworks have placed the children born at risk of being “marooned, stateless and parentless.” States have tried to address the individual dramas through ad hoc solutions – issuing emergency entry documents for children caught at borders or compelling administrative authorities to recognize birth certificates related to surrogacy arrangements that run counter to domestic …

Babies Without Borders: Human Rights, Human Dignity And The Regulation Of International Commercial Surrogacy, Yasmine Ergas

Yasmine Ergas

In recent decades, a robust international market in commercial reproductive surrogacy has emerged. But, as German citizens Jan Balaz and Susan Lohle discovered when they struggled to engineer the last-minute diplomatic compromise that saved their commissioned twins from becoming wards of the Indian state, conflicts among legal frameworks have placed the children born at risk of being “marooned, stateless and parentless.” States have tried to address the individual dramas through ad hoc solutions – issuing emergency entry documents for children caught at borders or compelling administrative authorities to recognize birth certificates related to surrogacy arrangements that run counter to domestic …

For Better And For Better: The Case For Abolishing Civil Marriage, Anibal Rosario Lebron

Anibal Rosario Lebron

This article examines – on the eve of next term U.S. Supreme Court’s review of same-sex marriage equality cases (The DOMA Cases) – whether extending the protections and benefits of marriage to more groups is the appropriate solution for attaining a more egalitarian society or whether it would be better to simply abolish civil marriage in order to achieve such a goal. The piece explores why we still adhere to the unequivocal definition of the family as a bureaucratized, monogamous, sexuated married couple with children, and how we could achieve familial disestablishment (requiring the state to recognize the existence of …

16 And Pregnant: Minors' Consent To Abortion And Adoption, Malinda L. Seymore

Malinda L. Seymore

A minor girl’s decision about the resolution of an unplanned pregnancy is a highly contested issue. Especially contentious is the minor’s ability to consent to an abortion without the assistance of an adult such as her parents or a judge. That issue has received substantial attention from policy makers, scholars, judges and legislators. Almost no attention has been paid, however, to the decision of a minor parent to continue her pregnancy, relinquish her constitutionally-protected parental rights and place a child for adoption. In 37 states, a minor’s abortion decision is regulated differently from the decision of an adult’s, while in …

Congress, Federal Courts, And Domestic Relations Exceptionalism, Mark Strasser

Mark Strasser

Family law is often cited as a paradigmatic example of state law, and the Supreme Court has often trumpeted the “domestic relations exception” as a justification for preventing federal involvement in family matters. Yet, it is of course true that a variety of federal programs affect the family, so it is important to figure out which areas are reserved for the states and which are not. Further, the federal courts have heard a variety of cases involving family matters, so it is not as if the courts never have jurisdiction to hear such cases. The tests for determining when the …

Slaves In The Family: Testamentary Freedom And Interracial Deviance, Kevin Noble Maillard

College of Law - Faculty Scholarship

This Article addresses the deviance of interracial sexuality acknowledged in testamentary documents. The language of wills calls into question the authority of probate and family law by forcing issues of deviance into the public realm. Will dramas, settled in or out of court, publicly unearth insecurities about family. Many objections to the stated intent of the testator generate from social prejudices toward certain kinds of interpersonal relationships: nonmarital, homosexual, and/or interracial. When pitted against an issue of a moral or social transgression, testamentary intent often fails. In order for these attacks on testamentary validity to succeed, they must be situated …

Rethinking Children As Property, Kevin Noble Maillard

College of Law - Faculty Scholarship

Despite the collective view in law and social practice that it is intrinsically taboo to consider human beings as chattel, the law persists in treating children as property. Applying principles of property, this Article examines paternity disputes to explain and critique the law’s view of children as property of their parents. As evidenced in these conflicts, I demonstrate that legal paternity exposes a rhetoric of ownership, possession, and exchange. The law presumes that a child born to a married woman is fathered by her husband, even when irrefutable proof exists that another man fathered the child. Attempts by the non-marital …

Taking Religion Out Of Civil Divorce, Julia Halloran Mclaughlin

Julia Halloran McLaughlin

How Do I Love Thee, Let Me Count The Days: Deathbed Marriages In America, Terry L. Turnipseed

College of Law - Faculty Scholarship

Should you be able to marry someone who has only days to live? If so, should the government award the surviving spouse the many property rights that ordinarily flow from such a marriage? In almost every state, the only person allowed to challenge the validity of a marriage (or, by extension, the property consequences thereof) after the death of one of the spouses is the surviving spouse! Seems incredible does it not? The heirs of a dying man (or woman) who marries on his (or her) deathbed cannot challenge the marriage post-death. Ironically, the one person allowed to challenge is …

Scalia’S Ship Of Revulsion Has Sailed: Will Lawrence Protect Adults Who Adopt Lovers To Help Ensure Their Inheritance From Incest Prosecution?, Terry L. Turnipseed

College of Law - Faculty Scholarship

SCALIA’S SHIP OF REVULSION HAS SAILED: WILL LAWRENCE PROTECT ADULTS WHO ADOPT LOVERS TO HELP ENSURE THEIR INHERITANCE FROM INCEST PROSECUTION? Terry L. Turnipseed Associate Professor of Law Syracuse University College of Law in•cest (ĭn'sěst') Sexual relations between family members or close relatives, including children related by adoption. There is a growing trend in this country – startling to many – of adopting one’s adult lover or spouse for various reasons, mostly inheritance-based. Should one who adopts his or her adult lover or spouse be prosecuted for incest? Think about it: the person is having sexual relations with his or …

Towards Determining Legal Parentage By Agreement In Israel, Yehezkel Margalit

Hezi Margalit

In Israel as in other parts of the world, families, parenthood, and relations between parents and children have changed dramatically over the past few decades. So, too, developments in modern medicine have enhanced the ability to separate sexuality from fertility and parenthood. Many researchers feel that the legal system has not kept pace with these changes, and that traditional models of familial relationships no longer provide adequate tools for dealing with them. In order to bridge the gap between a desired social status and current law, a growing number of parents seek to regulate the status, rights, and obligations of …

South Carolina Women Are Not Preexisting Conditions, Elizabeth A. Hoskins

South Carolina Law Review

No abstract provided.

Determining Legal Parenthood By Agreement As A Possible Solution To The Challenges Of The New Era, Yehezkel Margalit

Hezi Margalit

Over the past decades, we witnessed changes in the matrimonial and parenting institutions. Medical innovations have further created ethical-legal dilemmas. It is, therefore, essential to create a theory and framework that will determine ways to deal with the resulting dilemma in a fully developed manner. This paper surveys the current, conflicting shifts in family structure and the definition of legal parenthood. In it, I deal with the importance and various aspects of defining legal parenthood. I will also focus on the singularity of this dilemma as it is increasingly apparent in the various fertility treatments. I present the sociological-legal roots …

The Plenary Power Immigration Doctrine: The Post 9/11 Hijacking Of State Legislatures, Geordan S. Kushner

Geordan S Kushner

The Supreme Court has determined Congress’ authority over immigration policy to be one of its plenary powers. Classifying immigration as a plenary power effectively precludes any external involvement and/or interference from any other entity. From the early 1900s and into the 21st Century, Congressional plenary authority over immigration had come to be expected and desired in the United States. However, one event changed this, essentially rendering that power over immigration unconstitutional when taken in light of other doctrines the Court has iterated.

The event that brought about this transformation was the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001. The attacks transformed …

Family Law's Challenge To Religious Liberty, Raymond C. O'Brien Professor

Raymond C. O'Brien Professor

FAMILY LAW’S CHALLENGE TO RELIGIOUS LIBERTY Raymond C. O’Brien ABSTRACT Towards the end of the 1960s, states began to enact no-fault divorce; eventually every state would permit marriages to be dissolved without extensive litigation, often on the ground of separation for a minimum period of time, or irreconcilable differences. Such innovative family law legislation challenged the heretofore dominant worldview, which viewed marriage as dissoluble only when circumstances were extreme. Throughout the 1970s an increasing number of adult men and women cohabited as same and opposite sex couples; their rights as nonmarital cohabitants protected under expanding Constitutional guarantees and judicial decisions. …

Family Law's Challenge To Religious Liberty, Raymond C. O'Brien Professor

Raymond C. O'Brien Professor

FAMILY LAW’S CHALLENGE TO RELIGIOUS LIBERTY Raymond C. O’Brien ABSTRACT Towards the end of the 1960s, states began to enact no-fault divorce; eventually every state would permit marriages to be dissolved without extensive litigation, often on the ground of separation for a minimum period of time, or irreconcilable differences. Such innovative family law legislation challenged the heretofore dominant worldview, which viewed marriage as dissoluble only when circumstances were extreme. Throughout the 1970s an increasing number of adult men and women cohabited as same and opposite sex couples; their rights as nonmarital cohabitants protected under expanding Constitutional guarantees and judicial decisions. …

Family Law's Challenge To Religious Liberty, Raymond O'Brien

Raymond C. O'Brien Professor

FAMILY LAW’S CHALLENGE TO RELIGIOUS LIBERTY Raymond C. O’Brien ABSTRACT Towards the end of the 1960s, states began to enact no-fault divorce; eventually every state would permit marriages to be dissolved without extensive litigation, often on the ground of separation for a minimum period of time, or irreconcilable differences. Such innovative family law legislation challenged the heretofore dominant worldview, which viewed marriage as dissoluble only when circumstances were extreme. Throughout the 1970s an increasing number of adult men and women cohabited as same and opposite sex couples; their rights as nonmarital cohabitants protected under expanding Constitutional guarantees and judicial decisions. …

Family Law's Challenge To Religious Liberty, Raymond C. O'Brien Professor

Raymond C. O'Brien Professor

FAMILY LAW’S CHALLENGE TO RELIGIOUS LIBERTY Raymond C. O’Brien ABSTRACT Towards the end of the 1960s, states began to enact no-fault divorce; eventually every state would permit marriages to be dissolved without extensive litigation, often on the ground of separation for a minimum period of time, or irreconcilable differences. Such innovative family law legislation challenged the heretofore dominant worldview, which viewed marriage as dissoluble only when circumstances were extreme. Throughout the 1970s an increasing number of adult men and women cohabited as same and opposite sex couples; their rights as nonmarital cohabitants protected under expanding Constitutional guarantees and judicial decisions. …

Family Law's Challenge To Religious Liberty, Raymond C. O'Brien Professor

Raymond C. O'Brien Professor

FAMILY LAW’S CHALLENGE TO RELIGIOUS LIBERTY Raymond C. O’Brien ABSTRACT Towards the end of the 1960s, states began to enact no-fault divorce; eventually every state would permit marriages to be dissolved without extensive litigation, often on the ground of separation for a minimum period of time, or irreconcilable differences. Such innovative family law legislation challenged the heretofore dominant worldview, which viewed marriage as dissoluble only when circumstances were extreme. Throughout the 1970s an increasing number of adult men and women cohabited as same and opposite sex couples; their rights as nonmarital cohabitants protected under expanding Constitutional guarantees and judicial decisions. …

Family Law's Challenge To Religious Liberty, Raymond C. O'Brien Professor

Raymond C. O'Brien Professor

FAMILY LAW’S CHALLENGE TO RELIGIOUS LIBERTY Raymond C. O’Brien ABSTRACT Towards the end of the 1960s, states began to enact no-fault divorce; eventually every state would permit marriages to be dissolved without extensive litigation, often on the ground of separation for a minimum period of time, or irreconcilable differences. Such innovative family law legislation challenged the heretofore dominant worldview, which viewed marriage as dissoluble only when circumstances were extreme. Throughout the 1970s an increasing number of adult men and women cohabited as same and opposite sex couples; their rights as nonmarital cohabitants protected under expanding Constitutional guarantees and judicial decisions. …

Family Law's Challenge To Religious Liberty, Raymond C. O'Brien Professor

Raymond C. O'Brien Professor

FAMILY LAW’S CHALLENGE TO RELIGIOUS LIBERTY Raymond C. O’Brien ABSTRACT Towards the end of the 1960s, states began to enact no-fault divorce; eventually every state would permit marriages to be dissolved without extensive litigation, often on the ground of separation for a minimum period of time, or irreconcilable differences. Such innovative family law legislation challenged the heretofore dominant worldview, which viewed marriage as dissoluble only when circumstances were extreme. Throughout the 1970s an increasing number of adult men and women cohabited as same and opposite sex couples; their rights as nonmarital cohabitants protected under expanding Constitutional guarantees and judicial decisions. …