Open Access. Powered by Scholars. Published by Universities.®
- Keyword
-
- Administrative law (2)
- Agency (2)
- Blethen (2)
- Disclosure (2)
- Foaa (2)
-
- Freedom of access act (2)
- Public disclosure (2)
- Public records (2)
- Access to information (1)
- Accountability (1)
- Administrative lawmaking (1)
- Agency nonacquiescence (1)
- Andrew S. Gold (1)
- Attorney general (1)
- Clean water act (1)
- Criminal responsibility (1)
- Cwa (1)
- Cyr (1)
- Discharge permits (1)
- Doctrine of command responsibility (1)
- Doctrine of the unitary executive (1)
- ERISA (1)
- Easterbrook (1)
- Employee Retirement Income Security Act (1)
- Environmental law (1)
- Executive session (1)
- Exhaustion Doctrine (1)
- FOAA (1)
- Fair and reasonable rate of return (1)
- First amendment (1)
Articles 1 - 11 of 11
Full-Text Articles in Law
Blethen Maine Newspapers, Inc. V. State: Balancing The Public's Right To Know Against The Privacy Rights Of Victims Of Sexual Abuse, Kenleigh A. Nicoletta
Blethen Maine Newspapers, Inc. V. State: Balancing The Public's Right To Know Against The Privacy Rights Of Victims Of Sexual Abuse, Kenleigh A. Nicoletta
Maine Law Review
In Blethen Maine Newspapers, Inc. v. State, a sharply divided Maine Supreme Judicial Court, sitting as the Law Court, held that release of records relating to Attorney General G. Steven Rowe's investigation of alleged sexual abuse by Catholic priests was warranted under Maine's Freedom of Access Act (FOAA). Although such investigative records are designated confidential by statute, the majority held that the public's interest in the contents of the records mandated their disclosure after all information identifying persons other than the deceased priests had been redacted. The concurrence asserted that the majority had reached the correct conclusion, but in so …
A "Delicate Balance": How Agency Nonacquiescence And The Epa's Water Transfer Rule Dilute The Clean Water Act After Catskill Mountains Chapter Of Trout Unlimited, Inc. V. City Of New York, Kevin J. Haskins
Maine Law Review
Congress enacted the Clean Water Act (CWA) in 1972 with the express objective of restoring and maintaining the health of the nation’s waters. To achieve this objective, Congress declared that discharges of pollutants into the nation’s waters are prohibited unless they comply with permit requirements. The CWA’s primary vehicle for regulating discharge permits is the National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System, or NPDES. The CWA defines the phrase “discharge of a pollutant” as the “addition of any pollutant to navigable waters from any point source.” Although the CWA further defines the terms “pollutant,” “navigable waters,” and “point source,” it fails to …
Taking Notes In School (Committee): Cyr V. Madawaska, Blethen V. Portland School Committee, And The Public's Right To Know, Benjamin J. Tucker
Taking Notes In School (Committee): Cyr V. Madawaska, Blethen V. Portland School Committee, And The Public's Right To Know, Benjamin J. Tucker
Maine Law Review
In 2007, the Maine Supreme Judicial Court, sitting as the Law Court, decided Cyr v. Madawaska School Department, and recently decided Blethen Maine Newspapers Inc. v. Portland School Committee. These decisions will guide the actions and behavior of municipal, school department, and elected officials in Maine, and will also affect public access to information under Maine’s broad “right to know” law, the Freedom of Access Act (FOAA). In Cyr, a split court held that an investigative report commissioned by the Madawaska School Department must be redacted to maintain the confidentiality of information relating to the personal history, general character, or …
Judicial Performance And Policy Implications In Moore V. Abbott, Andrew C. Helman
Judicial Performance And Policy Implications In Moore V. Abbott, Andrew C. Helman
Maine Law Review
In Moore v. Abbott, a divided Maine Supreme Judicial Court, sitting as the Law Court, held that a three-member panel organized by the Attorney General to investigate alleged misconduct by prosecutors and law enforcement officers did not constitute an "agency" or "public official" under Maine's Freedom of Access Act (FOAA). Therefore, the panel did not have to release records compiled during its review of the investigation and prosecution of Dennis Dechaine, who was convicted for the 1988 murder of Sarah Cherry. Justice Alexander, writing for the majority, applied a four-part test looking to whether the panel was the functional equivalent …
Ideological Plaintiffs, Administrative Lawmaking, Standing, And The Petition Clause, Karl S. Coplan
Ideological Plaintiffs, Administrative Lawmaking, Standing, And The Petition Clause, Karl S. Coplan
Maine Law Review
Although Article I of the Constitution vests legislative power in the Congress, the lawmaking process in this country has evolved to involve all three branches. Congress enacts regulatory programs, but delegates to the executive branch the task of formulating and legislating the details of implementation through regulations. Once the executive branch agencies have acted, Article III courts routinely step in to review the consistency of these regulations with congressional mandates. In many cases, especially in the case of controversial regulations, the lawmaking process is not complete until judicial review. Entities burdened by such regulations-so-called "regulatory objects"-enjoy presumed standing to challenge …
The Crime Of Conviction Of John Choon Yoo: The Actual Criminality In The Olc During The Bush Administration, Joseph Lavitt
The Crime Of Conviction Of John Choon Yoo: The Actual Criminality In The Olc During The Bush Administration, Joseph Lavitt
Maine Law Review
At the outset of the administration of President Barack Obama, there is intense debate about whether to prosecute members of the former administration of President George W. Bush. This Article first considers whether officers who were in command and control of the Executive Branch of the government of the United States during the Bush administration can be excused from criminal responsibility on charges of illegal torture, based on their claim to have acted in good faith reliance upon the advice of attorneys employed by the Department of Justice. Focus then turns to the accountability, if any, of those attorneys in …
Anthem Health Plans Of Maine, Inc. V. Superintendent Of Insurance: Judicial Restraint Or Judicial Abdication?, David E. Sorensen
Anthem Health Plans Of Maine, Inc. V. Superintendent Of Insurance: Judicial Restraint Or Judicial Abdication?, David E. Sorensen
Maine Law Review
When Maine’s Superintendent of Insurance told the state’s largest health insurer that it could not profit in 2009, her decision ended up on appeal before the Maine Supreme Judicial Court, sitting as the Law Court, in Anthem Health Plans of Maine, Inc. v. Superintendent of Insurance. As part of its annual rate approval process, Anthem had requested a 3% profit and risk margin on its individual lines of health insurance in Maine. Superintendent Mila Kofman denied this request under her statutory authority to deny any rate increase proposals that are “excessive, inadequate or unfairly discriminatory.” The Superintendent held that a …
Textualism And The Problem Of Scrivener's Error, John David Ohlendorf
Textualism And The Problem Of Scrivener's Error, John David Ohlendorf
Maine Law Review
Scrivener’s errors make easy prey for the gentle comedy of the bench and bar, much in the way that typographical errors in billboards, newspaper headlines, and church bulletins form an endless source of humor for late night talk show hosts. But theorists of legal interpretation have long seen that scrivener’s errors pose a more serious problem. The doctrine surrounding scrivener’s error stands considered as something of a cousin to the absurdity doctrine, which has roots extending to the earliest days of the American Republic. More recently, the post-legal-process revival of formalist approaches to statutory interpretation on the bench, and their …
Obesity Prevention Policies At The Local Level: Tobacco's Lessons, Paul A. Diller
Obesity Prevention Policies At The Local Level: Tobacco's Lessons, Paul A. Diller
Maine Law Review
For at least a decade, commentators have speculated that obesity is the next tobacco, a public health scourge that might nonetheless offer a gold mine to ambitious plaintiffs’ lawyers. Successful lawsuits, as in the tobacco context, might spur the food industry to reform its practices so as to help reduce the alarmingly high national obesity rate. The obesity narrative, however, has not played out accordingly to the same script as tobacco. Relatively quick action by most state legislatures immunized the food industry to tort lawsuits seeking obesity-related damages, and the scant judicial opinions on the issue have skeptically assessed plaintiffs’ …
Fuhrmann V. Staples Office Superstore East, Inc.: A Split In The Law Court As To The Definition Of "Employer" Demonstrates The Need For Legislative Action To Amend The Maine Human Rights Act In Order To Protect Maine Employees, Stephen B. Segal
Maine Law Review
In Fuhrmann v. Staples Office Superstore East, Inc., Jamie Fuhrmann submitted a complaint to the Maine Human Rights Commission (Commission) against her former employer, Staples Office Superstore East, Inc. (Staples), and four of her individual supervisors. After the Commission granted her right to sue, she filed a complaint in court alleging whistleblower retaliation under the Whistleblowers’ Protection Act (WPA) and the Maine Human Rights Act (MHRA), as well as sex discrimination under the MHRA. The Superior Court granted Staples’ motion for summary judgment on all counts, and granted the four supervisors’ motions to dismiss on the grounds that individual supervisor …
Exhausted Yet? Stephens V. Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation And The Application Of The Exhaustion Doctrine To Statute-Based Erisa Claims, Carson D. Phillips-Spotts
Exhausted Yet? Stephens V. Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation And The Application Of The Exhaustion Doctrine To Statute-Based Erisa Claims, Carson D. Phillips-Spotts
Maine Law Review
By 1974, the U.S. Congress recognized that employer-provided retirement pension plans had “become an important factor affecting the stabilization of employment and the successful development of industrial relations” and enacted the Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA) with the aim of protecting “the interests of participants in employee benefit plans and their beneficiaries.” In enacting ERISA, Congress established “standards of conduct, responsibility, and obligation[s] for fiduciaries of employee benefit plans” and provided for “appropriate remedies, sanctions and ready access to the Federal courts.” Apart from creating federal causes of action to ensure efficient and equitable administration of private pension plans, …