Constitutional Law Commons^™

Dark Accounting Matter, Colleen Honigsberg

Seattle University Law Review

Physicists calculate that approximately 85% of the matter in the universe is composed of “dark matter” that “does not absorb, reflect, or emit electromagnetic radiation and is therefore difficult to detect.” The S&P 500 currently trades at a price-to-book value of 4.2, suggesting that book value accounts for less than 20% of the S&P 500’s market value. The remaining 80% appears nowhere in these firms’ balance sheets—it is invisible to contemporary accounting techniques and constitutes “dark accounting matter.”

Some “dark accounting matter” is composed of factors commonly described as components of “ESG.” Human capital, for example, is an intangible asset …

The Employees’ Dilemma: Balancing Internal Reporting, Whistleblowing, And Insider Trading Risks, Geeyoung Min

Seattle University Law Review

The Essay examines how recent developments in insider trading regulations and whistleblower reward programs can lead to unintended and counterproductive results of discouraging employees from using internal reporting channels within corporate compliance programs. While the presence of a robust and well-functioning corporate compliance program is a critical factor both in mitigating the level of public enforcement actions against companies and in protecting corporate managers from liability in private litigation, these programs often provide little incentive for employees to report potential misconduct internally.

Corporate compliance programs are designed to promote the upward information flow within the company, which is essential for …

How The Antidiscrimination Law Of Commercial Transactions Really Works, Helen Norton

Seattle University Law Review

A variety of businesses now cite 303 Creative when seeking First Amendment protection for their refusal to serve certain customers based on those customers’ protected class status. How this litigation will play out remains to be seen. But future courts need not, and should not, repeat the 303 Creative Court’s misunderstanding of how the antidiscrimination law of commercial transactions actually works.

Part I of this Essay explains the Court’s longstanding understanding of the antidiscrimination law of commercial transactions, and then describes the Court’s failure to engage with this precedent in 303 Creative. Part II then identifies the 303 Creative decision’s …

Cost–Benefit Analysis, Matthew D. Adler

Faculty Scholarship

This chapter will address the place of cost–benefit analysis (CBA) in constitutional law, by way of a case study. I’ll describe, and puzzle over, CBA’s absence from most U.S. constitutional doctrines, notwithstanding its major role in U.S. administrative law. The general questions that I seek to illuminate are by no means limited to the U.S. How might CBA figure within the tests that constitutional courts use to adjudicate alleged violations of constitutional rights? How might it serve to determine the structure of constitutional institutions? Would it be justified for CBA to play these doctrinal roles? But these general questions are …

Military Service Academies: The Final Battleground For Affirmative Action, Krista Trefen

American University Law Review

The future of affirmative action in the United States military service academies faces critical uncertainty following the Supreme Court's decision in Students for Fair Admissions, Inc. v. President & Fellows of Harvard College, which ended race-conscious admissions practices in higher education. Although the Court explicitly excluded the service academies from its holding, reserving space for race-conscious practices tied to national security-the Naval Academy, Military Academy, and Air Force Academy have recently indicated they will discontinue the use of affirmative action in response to changes in Department of Defense policy.

This Comment examines the historical and statutory foundations of the military …

Can Sports Leagues "Veto" Certain Online Sports Betting Wagers?, Jacob Comello

Catholic University Journal of Law and Technology

This comment will argue, in light of three Horseracing Integrity and Safety Act (HISA)-related Circuit Court cases and new guidance from the Supreme Court on the private nondelegation doctrine, that HISA provides a workable framework to resolve whether sports leagues can engage in rulemaking to prevent certain kinds of bets from taking place. Specifically, the Supreme Court and the Fifth, Sixth, and Eighth Circuits appear to have reached a large amount of common ground regarding the structure of the private nondelegation doctrine, and the Circuit Courts have found that much of HISA fits well within that structure. In light of …

A Constitutional View Of Administrative Agencies, Anthony J. Diego

Honors Undergraduate Theses

This research focuses on a nuanced area of American law and history: the constitutionality of administrative agencies. Determining their constitutionality requires a sound and fundamental understanding of administrative agencies’ history and purpose, as well as applicable constitutional principles. Reliance on core legal and historical documents founding the United States, as well as existing literature analyzing them, is essential to this determination. Administrative agencies have existed within the United States government since the Founding, though not without scrutiny and exception to government operations. Recently, Supreme Court precedent dramatically changed agency operative functions, making it now an opportune time to analyze the …

Green Dividends: A Case Study In Green Dividends And The Conditions For Private Ordering Solutions, Anne M. Tucker

Seattle University Law Review

This Essay introduces a novel private ordering solution to facilitate corporate investments in pro-social and environmental initiatives: Green dividends. Green dividends are an optional increase in shareholder dividends that are returned to the company to be reinvested in environmental initiatives or kept by a shareholder.

Green dividends pose an alternative to the current gridlocked debate that corporations can’t, won’t, shouldn’t, and shouldn’t even try to act in pro-social or environmental ways. Turning the common refrains on their head converts each narrative into an element for a successful private ordering solution: authority, accountability, shareholder buy-in, and government- backed enforcement. With Green …

Does Climate Disclosure Work To Reduce Greenhouse Gas Emissions? Emerging Evidence Suggests Cautious Optimism, Cynthia A. Williams

Seattle University Law Review

Significant regulatory resources have been spent developing global, voluntary climate and sustainability disclosure standards, such as the TCFD, TNRD, and ISSB’s Sustainability and Climate Disclosure standards, or domestically required disclosures, such as in the EU and in the U.S. Thus, it is important to evaluate whether this disclosure, particularly voluntary, qualitative disclosure, will have the power to shift the allocation of capital, will have a significant effect on the management of climate risk within firms, and ultimately will reduce climate change risk and biodiversity loss.

In this Article, several interrelated questions will be discussed. First, what does the empirical evidence …

Denied By Dysfunctional Design: How The Dd-293 Application Form Thwarts Pro Se Veteran Applicants’ Discharge Upgrade Requests., Jessica Lynn Wherry

American University Law Review

Although most military service members receive an Honorable discharge at the completion of their service, thousands of former service members are discharged under less-than-honorable conditions, often for misconduct that is likely the result of a mental health condition, including post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD ), traumatic brain injury, sexual assault, or sexual harassment. Veterans with a less-than-honorable discharge are ineligible for most veterans benefits. The consequences can be dire for these former service members, including homelessness, unemployment, mental health conditions, criminal involvement, and suicide. These veterans can restore their access to benefits by appealing to a military discharge review board, seeking …

Administrative Forum Shopping, Amy L. Stein

UF Law Faculty Publications

Allowing private parties in litigation to stack the deck in their favor through forum shopping is standard fare in the United States. But not everyone realizes that public legislators engage in a similar exercise when they stack the deck in one party’s favor through “jurisdiction-stripping” or “jurisdiction-channeling” provisions. Congress can strip federal courts of all or some of its jurisdiction, channel jurisdiction over a particular class of cases into one particular court, and even strip the U.S. Supreme Court of its appellate jurisdiction. Understandably, this last category has received the most attention, as scholars are drawn to the penultimate conflict …

The Rise And [?] Of Anti-Administrativism, Gary Lawson

UF Law Faculty Publications

Scholars have proclaimed the administrative state to be "Under Siege" or subject to a "Never-Ending Assault." Was the election of President Donald Trump on November 5, 2024 the sixth, if not yet the seventh, day around the walls? 

This seems an appropriate time to consider the present and future of opposition to the administrative state – something that has come to be dubbed "anti-administrativism." The first task, as is usually the case when one seeks intellectual clarity, is to figure out what one is talking about. What is this "anti-administrativism"? Without knowing the answer to that seemingly simple question, one …

Evaluating Competitive Equality: The Department Of Education’S Regulations And Impact On Title Ix In Women’S Sports, Lola-Marie Pyros

Touro Law Review

Title IX was enacted to guarantee women equal opportunities in athletics by preserving competitive fairness. That objective has been challenged by evolving policies on transgender participation in women’s sports. Proponents of inclusion frame the issue as a matter of civil rights, while opponents emphasize physiological differences between the sexes that remain even after medical transition. Shifting interpretations by the Department of Education, influenced by changes in presidential administrations, have created legal uncertainty, culminating in Tennessee v. Cardona, which rejected an expansive definition of “sex” to include gender identity. This Note argues that maintaining the integrity of women’s athletics requires recognition …

Beyond Jarkesy: Rethinking The Role Of Administrative Law Judges In Sec Administrative Proceedings, Mark T. Uyeda, Jaime Marinaro

Fordham Journal of Corporate & Financial Law

No abstract provided.

The Reedy Creek Improvement District: A Comparative Analysis Underscoring The Problems In Hampering Special Districts, J. Patrick Moll

Dickinson Law Review (2017-Present)

In 2022, the Florida legislature passed a bill that removed the administration of the Reedy Creek Improvement District, the special district governing the Walt Disney World Resort. The bill replaced it with the Central Florida Tourism Oversight District. Governor Ron DeSantis hailed this legislation as a success in reigning in a corporation operating with unchecked and unprecedented levels of governmental authority. Since its inception, however, the replacement administration has contended with claims of ethical violations, inefficiency, and unconstitutional enactment. Before the repeal of the Walt Disney World special district, special districts themselves were not often present in the Nation’s everyday …

Internet Search Engines’ Privacy Violations And The Lack Of Federal Regulation To Protect Consumers Rights, Elsa M. G. Rodriguez Ogando

Dickinson Law Review (2017-Present)

The United States’ current legal framework regarding internet search engines is disadvantageous to consumers. Federal privacy laws (although not encompassing search engines) grant businesses a strong legal basis in privacy claims and alibies for arbitrary behavior; these laws favor businesses over consumers. Moreover, state privacy laws empower nonspecific agencies to oversee privacy matters and enforce consumers’ rights. Thus, the U.S. privacy legal framework is in need of a new federal law that establishes consumers’ rights, as well as a federal agency dedicated solely to privacy matters. This Article proposes a federal law recommendation based on the standards of the California …

Structuring The President’S Removal Power: An Agency-Specific Approach, Peter Margulies

American University Law Review

Recent Supreme Court decisions have taken a broad view of the President’s power to remove executive branch officials. According to the Court, the President’s Article II obligation to “take Care that the Laws be faithfully executed” generally requires that the President have authority to remove officials at will. The Court has thus far declined to overrule Humphrey’s Executor v. United States, a 1935 decision upholding “forcause” restrictions on removal for multi-member “quasi-judicial” bodies such as the Federal Trade Commission (FTC). Nonetheless, recent Court decisions have eroded the rationale in the earlier case, which has received additional attention because of efforts …

The Administrative State's Second Face, Emily R. Chertoff, Jessica Bulman-Pozen

Georgetown Law Faculty Publications and Other Works

We often assume that there is one administrative state, with one body of administrative law that governs it. In fact, the administrative state has two distinct faces: one turned toward regulation and benefits distribution, and one turned toward physical force and surveillance. The two faces are growing further apart under the Roberts Court, which has hemmed in the first face with decisions like Loper Bright while showing solicitude for national security and law enforcement agencies.

This Article delineates the two faces of the administrative state. It provides a descriptive account of the second face and the distinctive administrative law that …

Emergency Oversight, Catherine Baylin Duryea

FIU Law Review

This Article examines one of the most pressing questions in administrative law: How much judicial oversight should administrative agencies face during an emergency? This issue was particularly salient during the COVID epidemic, but it is not new. The Second World War saw a significant expansion and consolidation of the power of administrative agencies as well as experimentation with the appropriate oversight role for courts. This Article analyzes one such experiment: judicial oversight of agencies implementing wartime anti-inflationary measures, i.e. price controls and rationing. During the war, Congress created a specialized court, the Emergency Court of Appeals (ECA), to hear disputes …

The Great Unsettling: Administrative Governance After Loper Bright, Cary Coglianese, Daniel E. Walters

Faculty Scholarship

“Chevron is overruled.” These three words surely captured more attention than any others in the U.S. Supreme Court’s thirty-five-page opinion in Loper Bright Enterprises v. Raimondo. For forty years, the Chevron doctrine had been virtually synonymous with administrative law. Now that the Court has taken a step that many scholars thought unfathomable even just a few years ago, speculation abounds about the possible downstream impacts of Loper Bright on both what agencies will be able to do in the future and how lower courts will respond when reviewing agency action. The vast majority of early expert commentaries suggest …

The Score Act Is Unconstitutional: Private Nondelegation Problems With Congress’S Latest Attempt To Regulate College Sports, Sam C. Ehrlich, Ryan M. Rodenberg

Cardozo Law Review de•novo

The Student Compensation and Opportunity through Rights and Endorsements Act (“SCORE Act”) is Congress’s most ambitious effort yet to bring stability to college sports, codifying the recent House settlement while granting sweeping regulatory power to private athletic associations such as the National Collegiate Athletic Association (“NCAA”) and the College Sports Commission (“CSC”). However, by delegating policymaking authority to these private, self-interested entities without any sort of public oversight, the bill raises serious constitutional concerns under the private nondelegation doctrine. Drawing on parallels to a string of litigation involving the Horseracing Integrity and Safety Act (“HISA”) and recent Supreme Court signals, …

Avoiding Spacex's Giant Leap Backwards For Mankind: Why The Nlrb Leadership Is Constitutionally Protected And How To Keep It That Way, Clara Goldrich

Brooklyn Law Review

Companies like SpaceX and Amazon are arguing in federal court that the structure of the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) unconstitutionally protects its Members and administrative law judges (ALJs) from presidential removal. President Donald Trump’s firing of Member Gwynne Wilcox, the ensuing litigation, and the Supreme Court’s grant of certiorari in an analogous case, Trump v. Slaughter, has kicked the constitutional question of NLRB leadership removal protections into high gear. This Note examines the constitutionality of NLRB Member and ALJ removal protections. Under current Supreme Court precedent, NLRB Member removal protections are likely constitutional. However, the Court has recently signaled …

The Keys To The Kingdom: The Unexpectedly Unsettled Definitions Of Security And Sale And The Overruling Of Chevron, Joel Seligman

Scholarship@WashULaw

This article explores two important unresolved questions for the Federal Securities regulation under the Securities Act of 1933 and the Securities Exchange Act of 1934. The definition of security and the definition of sale were increasingly contested and potentially unstable before the United States Supreme Court decision in Loper Bright Enterprises v. Raimondo overruled the Chevron doctrine.

Separation-Of-Powers Lochnerism, Andrea Scoseria Katz

Scholarship@WashULaw

One hundred and twenty years ago, the Supreme Court handed down one of the single most notorious opinions ever rendered, striking down a New York labor law for violating a right to contract found nowhere in the text of the Constitution. The era of Lochner v. NY (1905) is well past us, but not the judicial impulses that gave rise to the case. With a new champion in the Roberts Court, Lochnerism is alive and well, deployed in a new context to redefine the relationships between the President, Congress, federal agencies, and the courts. Bringing together two lines of case-law-on …

Pengakuan Hak Masyarakat Adat Dalam Hukum Pengelolaan Sumber Daya Alam: Studi Perbandingan Indonesia–Australia, Farid Al Hadana, Sukarman Sukarman, Farhan Margono, Hamzah Hamzah

Jurnal Hukum & Pembangunan

Meskipun terdapat pengakuan konstitusional di Indonesia dan Australia, hak-hak masyarakat adat dalam tata kelola sumber daya alam masih lemah perlindungannya, terutama karena kerangka kerja Indonesia yang terfragmentasi dan tersentralisasi gagal mewujudkan keadilan lingkungan. Makalah ini membandingkan rezim hukum Indonesia dan Australia terkait tata kelola lahan dan sumber daya masyarakat adat untuk mengidentifikasi bagaimana pengakuan dapat diubah menjadi hak yang dapat ditegakkan dan untuk merumuskan model reformasi yang berorientasi pada keadilan bagi Indonesia. Dengan menggunakan analisis hukum komparatif kualitatif, makalah ini menggabungkan observasi doktrinal terhadap yurisprudensi konstitusional, peraturan-undangan, dan yurisprudensi dengan pemeriksaan dokumen kebijakan dan konflik ilustratif yang melibatkan wilayah masyarakat …

Ius Constituendum Pengaturan Ambang Batas Parlemen Berdasarkan Putusan Mahkamah Konstitusi Nomor 116/Puu-Xxi/2023, Arsyianti Mega Nanda, Erland Ferdinansyah

Jurnal Hukum & Pembangunan

Pemilu merupakan wujud pelaksanaan kedaulatan rakyat di Indonesia yang menganut sistem presidensial dan multipartai. Namun, banyaknya partai memicu instabilitas koalisi dan melemahkan dukungan terhadap presiden. Untuk mengatasi hal ini diterapkan ambang batas parlemen (Parliamentary Threshold). Putusan MK No. 116/PUU-XXI/2023 menyatakan ambang batas 4% konstitusional untuk Pemilu 2024, namun inkonstitusional untuk Pemilu selanjutnya. Putusan ini menegaskan perlunya ambang batas baru yang tidak hanya menyederhanakan sistem kepartaian, tetapi juga menjamin keadilan suara dan proporsionalitas sesuai prinsip kedaulatan rakyat. Penelitian ini menggunakan metode yuridis normatif dengan pendekatan kualitatif-deskriptif. Pengumpulan data dilakukan melalui studi kepustakaan. Kerangka teori yang digunakan dalam penelitian ini meliputi teori …

Menguak Status Dan Legalitas Rupiah Digital Sebagai Legal Tender (Perspektif Teori Keadilan Bermartabat), Sylvia Setjoatmadja, Jeferson Kameo

Jurnal Hukum & Pembangunan

Digital technology and modern telecommunications have been and will continue to be key factors in the emergence of various innovative products. One such innovative product is digital currency, specifically Central Bank Digital Currency (CBDC). In Indonesia, advancements in digital technology and telecommunications have encouraged the government to issue a CBDC, which will be named Digital Rupiah. The initiative to issue Digital Rupiah also responds to global trends and the public's need for secure, efficient, and sustainable payment instruments.

However, the plan to issue Digital Rupiah is not without challenges, particularly regarding the clarity of its legal status as a lawful …

Dekolonisasi Hukum Perdata Indonesia: Kritik Terhadap Warisan Kolonial Dan Implikasinya Terhadap Pembangunan Hukum Berkeadilan, R. Mustar Lofi

Jurnal Hukum & Pembangunan

Hukum perdata Indonesia hingga kini masih berada di bawah bayang-bayang warisan kolonial, terutama melalui keberlakuan Burgerlijk Wetboek (BW) 1848 yang diwarisi dari Belanda. Meskipun berbagai peraturan baru telah diundangkan, fondasi utama hukum perdata belum sepenuhnya lepas dari struktur, nilai, dan cara pandang kolonial. Artikel ini mengkaji secara kritis bagaimana dominasi hukum kolonial masih berpengaruh dalam pembentukan dan penegakan hukum perdata di Indonesia, serta mengapa dekolonisasi menjadi penting dalam pembangunan sistem hukum yang berkeadilan. Dengan menggunakan pendekatan yuridis-normatif dan analisis interdisipliner dari perspektif sosiologis hukum dan filsafat hukum, tulisan ini menelusuri bagaimana warisan hukum kolonial menciptakan ketimpangan, terutama dalam hal akses …

Digital Constitutionalism: Resistensi Kebebasan Berpendapat Di Indonesia Dalam Hegemoni Algoritma Ruang Digital, Yuniar Prehatini, Linda Noviana Mita Devi

Jurnal Hukum & Pembangunan

Era digital membawa transformasi dalam segala aspek kehidupan. Perkembangan teknologi menghadirkan perkembangan zaman pada sisi positif dan negatif dimana penggunaan ruang digital yang dapat diakses tanpa batasan wilayah. Kebebasan diartikan melalui teknologi dengan adanya akses ruang digital memberikan kemudahan akses kepada siapa pun. Melalui algoritma digital, segala hal baik dari aspek budaya, politik, maupun ekonomi dapat diketahui sehingga hal ini juga dapat menimbulkan keresahan apabila tidak diatur batasan akan keberadaannya. Penelitian ini menggunakan penelitian normatif yang fokus pada analisis terhadap norma, asas, doktrin, dan teori hukum yang berkaitan dengan perlindungan hak asasi manusia di ruang digital. Hasil penulisan ini menunjukkan …

Pertanggungjawaban Etik Dokter Dalam Melakukan Aksi Mogok Kerja Di Indonesia, Farel Rifandanu

Jurnal Hukum & Pembangunan

The implementation of strikes by doctors is a complex phenomenon with significant implication that give rise to ethical dilemma. Doctors have a responsibility to provide health services, so that a strike can endanger the health care system. On the other hand, doctors also have the right to fight for fair and decent working conditions. In view of these problems, this study has two (2) problem formulations, how the legal regulations regarding the actions of doctors who go on strike and how the ethical responsibilities of doctors who go on strike. This study uses a normative legal research method that …