Law Commons^™

Ecosystem-Based Management Of Terrestrial And Coastal Water Resources: Can Rapanos Teach Us Anything About The Future Of Integrated Water Management, Chad J. Mcguire

Chad J McGuire

State Habeas Relief For Federal Extrajudicial Detainees, Todd E. Pettys

Todd E. Pettys

I argue that the Court’s nineteenth-century rulings in Ableman v. Booth and Tarble’s Case marked a little-known but sharp break with state courts’ decades-long practice of granting habeas relief to federal extrajudicial detainees. I contend that the Court’s reasoning in those cases is unpersuasive, and that modern efforts to rationalize those cases’ outcomes fare no better. I also argue that the Suspension Clause bars Congress from stripping state courts of their power to grant habeas relief to persons being extrajudicially detained by federal authorities.

Waivers Of Immunity In Federal Environmental Statutes Of The Twenty-First Century: Correcting A Confusing Mess, Kenneth M. Murchison

Kenneth M Murchison

This article traces the confusion that characterizes the waivers of immunity in federal environmental statutes. It summarizes the complicated story of increasingly broad statutory provisions combined with Supreme Court adherence to the rule of construction and explains how this historical development has produced different waivers that serve no coherent purpose. After describing the confusing array of current statutes, it offers concrete suggestions for legislative and judicial solution to the mess that constitutes the current law.

Saving Savings Clauses From Judicial Preemption, Sandra Zellmer

Sandi Zellmer

Savings clauses can be found in an array of federal statutes governing public health, welfare, and environmental quality. Like explicit preemption provisions, the function of a savings clause is to differentiate the boundaries of federal and state authority. Unlike preemption clauses, however, savings clauses strike the balance in favor of the states and state law remedies. Despite the existence of savings clauses, many of the Supreme Court’s recent preemption opinions have invalidated state laws that are more stringent than the federal regulatory threshold, based on a crabbed interpretation of statutory language, a myopic view of congressional purposes, or both. Even …

The Foreign Affairs Power: Does The Constitution Matter?, D. A. Jeremy Telman

D. A. Jeremy Telman

Peter Irons’ WAR POWERS favors congressional initiative in questions of war and peace but makes a historical argument that our government has strayed from the constitutional design in the service of an imperialist foreign policy. John Yoo’s THE POWERS OF WAR AND PEACE seeks to overthrow the traditional perspective on war powers espoused by Irons in favor of executive initiative in war. Yoo also pursues a revisionist perspective on the treaty power, which favors executive initiative in treaty negotiation and interpretation but insists on congressional implementation so as to minimize the impact of international obligations on domestic law. This Essay …

Federalism And The State Recognition Of Native American Tribes: A Survey Of State-Recognized Tribes And State Recognition Processes Across The United States, Alexa Koenig, Jonathan Stein

Alexa Koenig

This article provides a national overview of the legal status of state-recognized American Indian tribes—tribes that have been recognized by their respective states, but not the federal government. Part One discusses how state recognition functions within our federalist system and why it is becoming increasingly important for states and tribes today. Part Two categorizes the various recognition schemes utilized by states into state law, administrative, legislative and executive recognition processes. Part Three provides a summary of the tribes recognized by each state, each state’s regulatory approach to tribal-state relations, and any state Indian reservations. Part Four concludes with a brief …

Holding Enemy Combatants In The Wake Of Hamdan, Ronald D. Rotunda

Ronald D. Rotunda

The article offers, inter alia, a succinct survey of the historical and jurisprudential background for the detainee cases and military commissions cases - including a number of important factual details glossed over in most reporting on the cases (e.g., Padilla has stipulated that he was an enemy spy sent to the United States; it was Hamdan's own defense counsel who had asked to exclude him from the voir dire portion of the proceedings) - as well as legal issues that may still arise.

In Defense Of Complete Preemption, Paul E. Mcgreal

Paul E. McGreal

Recent writings by Professors Gil Seinfeld and Trevor Morrison criticize the Supreme Court's complete preemption doctrine as misguided and unconstitutional, respectively. Professor Seinfeld suggests reforming the doctrine around field preemption, and Professor Morrison rejects complete preemption as inconsistent with separation of powers. This response defends the Supreme Court's doctrine as it currently stands: A state law claim arises under federal law (and so may be removed to federal court) when a federal statute both preempts the claim and supplies an exclusive federal remedy. This doctrine is a sensible application of the well-pleaded complaint rule that prevents improper circumvention of federal …

Federalism And The Tug Of War Within: Seeking Checks And Balance In The Interjurisdictional Gray Area, Erin Ryan

Erin Ryan

Federalism and the Tug of War Within explores tensions that arise among the underlying values of federalism when state or federal actors regulate within the “interjurisdictional gray area” that implicates both local and national concerns. Drawing examples from the failed response to Hurricane Katrina and other interjurisdictional problems to illustrate this conflict, the Article demonstrates how the trajectory set by the New Federalism’s “strict-separationist” model of dual sovereignty inhibits effective governance in these contexts. In addition to the anti-tyranny, pro-accountability, and localism-protective values of federalism, the Article identifies a problem-solving value inherent in the capacity requirement of American federalism’s subsidiarity …

The Religion Clauses And The “Really New” Federalism, Martin H. Belsky

Martin H. Belsky

It had been a principle of contemporary constitutional law that once a provision of the Bill of Rights was “fully” incorporated, such as with the First Amendment, it established a constitutional minimum. A state could provide, either by constitutional or statutory provision, additional protections to its citizens, so long as this did not create a conflict with other federal law. Another principle, until recently, was that the federal government had the ability by legislation to provide additional or enhanced rights to Americans, and that these rights applied uniformly to residents of all states.

The application of these two principles?at least …

The Domestic Response To Global Climate Change: What Role For Federal, State, And Litigation Initiatives?, Alice Kaswan

Alice Kaswan

Although the United States is not a party to the Kyoto Protocol, a multitude of alternative domestic approaches to combat climate change have emerged at all levels of government. The article takes as given that climate change is a serious environmental problem that requires a legal response. Building on conference presentations at a USF symposium in March 2007, this article evaluates the most significant existing federal and state measures, including federal voluntary measures, California's vehicle emissions standards and global warming legislation, and the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative. The article also addresses three litigation initiatives: Massachusetts v. EPA, Friends of the …

Federalism And The State Recognition Of Native American Tribes: A Survey Of State-Recognized Tribes And State Recognition Processes Across The United States, Alexa Koenig

Alexa Koenig

Federalism and the State Recognition of Native American Tribes provides an overview of the legal status of state-recognized Native American tribes—tribes that have been recognized by their respective states, but not the federal government. In the article, the authors discuss how state recognition functions within our federalist system and why state recognition has become increasingly important for states and tribes. The authors also categorize the various recognition schemes utilized by states into state law, administrative, legislative and executive recognition processes. Further, the authors provide a summary of the tribes recognized by each state and each state’s regulatory approach to tribal-state …

A Localist's Case For Decentralizing Immigration Policy, Matthew J. Parlow

Matthew Parlow