Law Commons^™

Judging Sex In War, Karen Engle

Michigan Law Review

Rape is often said to constitute a fate worse than death. It has long been deployed as an instrument of war and outlawed by international humanitarian law as a serious-sometimes even capital-crime. While disagreement exists over the meaning of rape and the proof that should be required to convict an individual of the crime, today the view that rape is harmful to women enjoys wide concurrence. Advocates for greater legal protection against rape often argue that rape brings shame upon raped women as well as upon their communities. Shame thus adds to rape's power as a war weapon. Sexual violence …

March 31, 2008: What's Wrong With Progressive Religion?, Bruce Ledewitz

Hallowed Secularism

What's Wrong with Progressive Religion?

March 29, 2008: Secularists And Tibet, Bruce Ledewitz

Hallowed Secularism

Secularists and Tibet

March 21, 2008: March Atlantic Monthly And The Influence Of Religion, Bruce Ledewitz

Hallowed Secularism

March Atlantic Monthly and the Influence of Religion

March 15, 2008: Senator Obama Doesn't Get The Pennsylvania Primary, Bruce Ledewitz

Hallowed Secularism

Senator Obama Doesn't Get the Pennsylvania Primary

March 11, 2008: The Democratic Party Turns To Religion, Bruce Ledewitz

Hallowed Secularism

The Democratic Party Turns to Religion

March 7, 2008: Progressive Religion And Hallowed Secularism, Bruce Ledewitz

Hallowed Secularism

Progressive Religion and Hallowed Secularism

Unconscious Bias And The 2008 Presidential Election, Gregory S. Parks, Jeffrey J. Rachlinski

Cornell Law Faculty Publications

The 2008 presidential campaign and election will be historic. It marks the first time a Black person (Barack Obama) and a woman (Hillary Clinton) have a real chance at winning the Presidency. Their viability as candidates symbolizes significant progress in overcoming racial and gender stereotypes in America. But closer analysis of the campaigns reveals that race and gender have placed enormous constraints on how these two Senators can run their candidacy. This is not surprising in light of the history of race and gender in voting and politics in America. But what is perhaps more surprising is how the campaigns …

March 4, 2008: Anne Lamott, Bruce Ledewitz

Hallowed Secularism

Anne Lamott

Close To Crucial: The H-2b Visa Program Must Evolve, But Must Endure, Lindsay M. Pickral

University of Richmond Law Review

No abstract provided.

February 28, 2008: Abortion And Gay Marriage, Bruce Ledewitz

Hallowed Secularism

Abortion and Gay Marriage

February 22, 2008: Amy Sullivan--The Party Faithful: How And Why Democrats Are Closing The God Gap, Bruce Ledewitz

Hallowed Secularism

Amy Sullivan--The Party Faithful: How and Why Democrats Are Closing the God Gap

Fbruary 16, 2008: How Secularists Knocked Down The Wall Of Separation Between Church And State, Bruce Ledewitz

Hallowed Secularism

How Secularists Knocked Down the Wall of Separation Between Church and State

February 12, 2008 More On E.J. Dionne Jr., Bruce Ledewitz

Hallowed Secularism

More on E.J. Dionne Jr.

February 11, 2008: Religious Talk Is Not Enough To Close The God Gap, Bruce Ledewitz

Hallowed Secularism

Religious Talk is not Enough to Close the God Gap

Book Review: Justice In Robes By Ronald Dworkin (2006), Dan Priel

All Papers

Since the 1960's Ronald Dworkin has been arguing for a particular account of law that he believed was both explanatorily superior to the one offered by competing theories, and also the basis for normative arguments for producing right answers to legal questions. Justice in Robes collects Dworkin's most recent essays on this subject and thus provides the appropriate opportunity for assessing the legal theory of one of the more influential legal philosophers. In this Review I seek to offer a clearer account than appears in the book itself of Dworkin's project, and in this way offer a measured assessment of …

January 29, 2008: Randall Balmer On Fresh Air, Bruce Ledewitz

Hallowed Secularism

Randall Balmer on Fresh Air

January 17, 2008: The Michigan Primary, Bruce Ledewitz

Hallowed Secularism

The Michigan Primary

January 8, 2008: Why I Don't Support Senator Clinton For President, Bruce Ledewitz

Hallowed Secularism

Why I Don't Support Senator Clinton for President

January 6, 2008: The Need For Religion, Bruce Ledewitz

Hallowed Secularism

The Need for Religion

When Bias Is Bipartisan: Teaching About The Democratic Process In An Intellectual Property Law Republic, Ann Bartow

Law Faculty Scholarship

[Introduction]: Intellectual property law courses offer law professors the opportunity to teach a subject area rich with complicated statutory and court-made doctrines about which students do not usually have strong or extensively delineated moral views. I It also gives everyone in the classroom a refreshing break from the traditional partisanship of political party politics. Identification as a Democrat or Republican does not provide too much guidance or create too many expectations about a person's views of intellectual property issues, freeing classroom debates from the constrictions that political loyalties impose in so many other contexts.

Reporting On Palin: Negotiations In Political Theater, Erin Ryan

Scholarly Publications

This short essay uses negotiation theory as a lens to analyze the McCain campaign's efforts to manipulate its media coverage during the 2008 presidential election. It offers a timely consideration of the troubling dynamic that can arise between the media and the campaigns that they cover, which often approximates a formal negotiation. The essay compares the campaign's strategies for managing press coverage of its candidates to the well-researched techniques of competitive bargainers, including anchoring tactics, the scarcity effect, and psychological warfare. It reviews how reporters are uniquely hamstrung in coping with competitive bargaining tactics compared to ordinary negotiators, and tailors …

Puerto Rico As A Critical Locality: Is A Post-Colonial Puerto Rico Possible - A Game-Theoretic Analysis Of The Impasses Over Puerto Rico's Status, F.E. Guerra Pujol

St. Thomas Law Review

The author applies the game-theoretic concept of the truel (or three-person duel) to the Puerto Rico status debate. In summary, the debate over Puerto Rico's future political status resembles a three-person, sequential, random-order truel in which no single player is able to eliminate the other two players. In addition, the author applies some concepts from evolutionary biology (path dependence) and behavioral economics (loss aversion) to explain the current impasse over Puerto Rico's status. Finally, the author examines recent strategic behavior in the U.S. Congress over Puerto Rican status.

Legacy Of The Clinton Bubble, Timothy Canova

Law Faculty News Articles, Editorials, and Blogs

This article looks at the economy following the Clinton administration period in the White House.

Friction By Design: The Necessary Contest Of State Judicial Power And Legislative Policymaking, Michael L. Buenger

University of Richmond Law Review

No abstract provided.

Book Review, Angela Mae Kupenda

Journal Articles

YOUR BLUES AIN’T LIKE MINE is an excellently written, fictionalized account of the lives of several people set in the fifties as a rural Mississippi community reacts to impending school racial desegregation and the killing of a fifteen year old black boy who had the misfortune of speaking French in the direction of a white woman. I’ve used this book to facilitate discussion on issues of race, gender, the law, class, and politics in several of my law school classes such as Race and the Law, Gender and the Law, and Civil Rights.

Proper Assertion Of The Deliberative Process Privilege: The Agency Head Requirement, Shilpa Narayan

Fordham Law Review

Can any employee of an executive agency assert the deliberative process privilege in order to withhold information in response to a valid request? This Note examines the agency head requirement for assertion of the deliberative process privilege and concludes that only executive officials possessing policy-making authority may invoke the privilege. Such privilege determinations must come from a policy-making official in order to curb abuse and maintain the integrity of executive decisions. Recognition of such a policy-making distinction with regard to the agency head requirement will serve both the Executive’s and the public’s interest in ensuring effective governance.

Indigenous Self-Determination: A Global Perspective, David E. Wilkins

Jepson School of Leadership Studies articles, book chapters and other publications

The concepts of self-determination and sovereignty, from an Indigenous perspective, embrace values, attitudes, perspectives, and actions. Of course, as a result of the historical phenomenon known as colonialism, in which expansive European states sought to dominate the rights, resources, and lands of aboriginal people worldwide, one cannot discuss Indigenous self-determination and sovereignty without some corresponding discussion of how states and their policy makers understand these politically charged terms as well.

I have been thinking, acting, researching, and writing on these two vital concepts, intergovernmental relations, critical legal theory, and comparative Indigenous politics for nearly two decades. Along with this, I …

The Story Of The Steel Seizure Case, Patricia L. Bellia

Book Chapters

In 1952, during the Korean War, President Truman seized control of American steel mills to prevent a strike that threatened the war effort. This action, prompted by a labor dispute between steelworkers and operators, led to a landmark Supreme Court case, Youngstown Sheet & Tube Co. v. Sawyer. The Court ultimately ruled that the President lacked the authority to seize the steel mills without explicit congressional authorization, establishing limits on presidential power.

Only Skin Deep: The Cost Of Partisan Politics On Minority Diversity Of The Federal Bench: Why Care Whether Judges Look “Like America” If, Because Of Politics, A “Voice Of Color” Has Become A “Whisper Of Color”?, Sylvia R. Lazos

Scholarly Works

This article explores the difficulties encountered in diversifying the federal bench and why the partisanship of the confirmation process decreases the diversity of viewpoints on the bench. Presidents value diversity in nominating judges. While Bill Clinton and George W. Bush had very contrasting political styles and judicial philosophies, the judges appointed by these two presidents now account for almost 80% of the current active federal minority judges. There has been progress in the area of descriptive diversity; currently 18% of the active federal bench is made up of minority judges according to data compiled from the Judicial Center. However, there …