Courts Commons^™

Balancing Religious Liberties And Antidiscrimination Interests In The Public Employment Context: The Impact Of Masterpiece Cakeshop And American Legion, Brenda Bauges

University of Richmond Law Review

Finally, this Article concludes by analyzing different potential methods for trying to balance religious liberty claims with antidiscrimination concerns, and thus Establishment Clause concerns, in public employment. This Article argues for a combination of relevant tests that balances the magnitude and likelihood of third party harm, substantiality of burden to religious liberty, and availability or prevalence of secular accommodations. This test provides room for factual inquiry and context-specific value judgments, while still allowing a workable framework, the results of which are sufficiently predictable that employers and employees are not left to wonder about the boundaries by which their relationship should …

Retroactive Justice: Toward Fundamental Fairness In Resentencing Crack Cocaine Offenders Under Section 404 Of The First Step Act, Daniel P. Peyton

University of Richmond Law Review

In analyzing these four methods, this Comment argues that Method IV best serves fundamental fairness in sentencing, in congruence with the purpose of the First Step Act. To resolve its arbitrary implementation, section 404 must be amended to require a full plenary resentencing in accordance with all updated sentencing guidelines and caselaw in effect at the time of the resentencing. This was the approach taken by the court in resentencing Mr. Rhines to time served. While the Supreme Court could rule Method IV is the correct interpretation of the statute, Congress is the more appropriate actor and should capitalize on …

Why Calls For Shifting To Brandeisian Economic Theory Are Flawed: An Evaluation Of The United States’ And European Union’S Approach To Vertical Mergers, John A. Fortin

University of Richmond Law Review

The tech industry has exploded over the last few decades and progressives are advocating for a shift in antitrust review in the United States (US).1 Seeking a modified economic theory based on the writings of the late Justice Louis Brandeis (Brandeisian economic theory), these advocates seek to control the vertical expansion of dominant tech firms such as Amazon.2 On a broad level, this position argues for a shift of US antitrust regulatory review towards the European Union’s (EU) application of antitrust regulation. This paper provides a review of both US and EU antitrust review, provides a primer on vertical merger …

Restorative Lawyering: A Toolbox That Can Change The Profession, Emily Lopynski

University of Richmond Law Review

I will begin in Part I by delving into two serious issues in the legal profession—professional dissatisfaction and client dissatisfaction. Then, in Part II, I will provide a brief overview of Restorative Justice and three of its key principles: Heal the Harm, Honor and Respect, and Empathy. In Part III, I extrapolate from these three Restorative Justice principles to create a “toolbox”13 of restorative lawyering. I will then explain how restorative lawyering will decrease professional and client dissatisfaction, distinguish restorative lawyering from alternative models, and address possible critiques and concerns.

Restorative Justice For Young Adults: Lessons From School Discipline, Caroline Perrin

University of Richmond Law Review

Public policy debates about discipline and punishment often center around a tension between punitive and rehabilitative ideals. Since the 1970s, there has been a trend in criminal justice away from rehabilitation and toward increasingly retributive forms of punishment. Both state and federal governments began to enact “zero-tolerance” laws in an effort to make up for perceived shortcomings in the criminal justice system. This led to a system where individuals were automatically punished for crimes that previously would have been addressed through more rehabilitative methods. The resulting zero-tolerance regime had a particularly disproportionate impact on the young-adult population being funneled through …

Uniform Climate Control, Anthony Moffa

University of Richmond Law Review

Part I will briefly recount the recent history of subnational environmental law in the United States and the scholarly treatment of it. Part II will do the same with the model- and uniform-law movements. Part III will focus on the most successful organization in terms of drafting and promoting model legislation at the subnational level—the American Legislative Exchange Council (“ALEC”). Because ALEC’s efforts on climate change attempt to entrench inaction for the benefit of its fossil fuel industry members, Part IV examines organizations and resources that facilitate subnational action on climate change. In doing so, it also provides a taxonomy …

Gender-Differential Effects Of Perceived Discrimination On Lawyers' Job Satisfaction: A General Strain Theory Approach., Caroline Isabelle Jalain

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to investigate the direct and indirect relationships between workplace discrimination and job satisfaction for lawyers. Using the After the JD – Wave 1 data, a national longitudinal survey of law school graduates with a sample size of 4,538, and following a general strain theory approach, structural equation models were conducted to analyze gender-differential effects of perceived discrimination on lawyer’s job satisfaction. The results indicated that men and women lawyers differ in their experience with workplace discrimination and their job satisfaction. Notably, women lawyers were found to experience more instances of workplace discrimination compared to …

Unfoxing Judicial Review Of Agency Policy Reversals Or “We Were Told To Like The New Policy Better” Is Not A Good Reason To Change, Richard W. Murphy

University of Richmond Law Review

Part I of this Article provides context for the debate over the Fox power by tracing the evolution of leading efforts over the last century to legitimize agency policymaking and close the “democracy deficit” that it purportedly creates. Part I focuses in particular on the courts’ development of arbitrariness review as a means of controlling agency policymaking, and it also pays particular attention to the “presidentialist” model that White House control of agency policymaking democratizes and legitimizes it. Part II takes a close look at the Fox litigation itself. This discussion reveals that Justice Scalia’s Fox power, like presidentialism, presupposes …

Prosecutors And Police: An Unholy Union, Maybell Romero

University of Richmond Law Review

This Article argues that, with the once-unheard-of step of prosecutors and police unionizing together in St. Louis, and with relationships between prosecutors and police trending toward growing closer all the time, government at all levels—federal, state, and local—should consider the potential risks of such relationships. Part I explores different types of relationships that go beyond what was once the traditional working relationship between police and prosecutors, including formalized labor unions, employee association groups, friendships, and even marriages. Part II discusses the varying conflicts and deleterious effects that such close relationships cause, unduly influencing investigation priorities and other policies. Part III …

The State Attorney General’S Duty To Advise As A Source Of Law, Winthrop Jordan

University of Richmond Law Review

This Comment seeks to help fill that gap by considering how a state attorney general’s duty to advise functions as a source of law, by proposing six general models of how the opinions of a state attorney general can alter the legal rights, duties, and relations of persons. In doing so, this Comment still seeks to acknowledge and respect the fact that each state’s individual constitution and traditions will create a unique role for its attorney general’s duty to advise in shaping state law.

What Does It Take? The Informal Factors That Are Conducive To The Passage Of A Participatory Amendment, Connor Huydic

Honors Scholar Theses

Hundreds of Constitutional revisions are proposed in our national legislature every year, yet only twenty-seven have been ratified as amendments in the 243-year history of the United States. The Constitution outlines the formal factors required to ratify an amendment, but this paper will focus on the informal factors that are integral to the eventual passage of a participatory amendment. Through case studies of the Nineteenth and Twenty-Sixth Amendments, this thesis examines the factors that contributed to the ratification of these amendments to find similarities in the circumstances that helped propel these bills to eventual adoption as amendments. Non-radical social movements, …

Looking Beyond Batson: A Different Method Of Combating Bias Against Queer Jurors, Anna L. Tayman

William & Mary Law Review

On November 27, 1978, Harvey Milk, the first openly gay elected official in California’s history, was murdered. He was shot five times, twice in the head. His murderer, Dan White, was convicted of voluntary manslaughter and served only five years in prison.

The Dan White trial is the most famous example of queer juror exclusion in American history. While White’s defense attorney, Douglas Schmidt, could not directly ask the jurors about their sexual orientation, he had another strategy: find the gays and allies and keep them out, and find the Catholics and keep them in. Schmidt struck a woman who …

The Right To A Well-Rested Jury, Caroline Howe

Michigan Law Review

The vast amount of control that state trial judges exercise over the dynamics of their courtrooms is well established. The length of trial days and jury deliberations, however, has received little scholarly attention. Longstanding research has conclusively established the disruptive effects of sleep deprivation on many of the mental facilities necessary for juries to competently fulfill their duties. By depriving juries of sleep, trial judges may be compromising the fair rights of criminal defendants for the sake of efficiency. This Note argues that trial judges must use their discretion to ensure juries are well-rested, keeping jurors’ needs in mind. Further, …

Precedent Within The High Court, Kwan Ho Lau

Research Collection Yong Pung How School Of Law

A number of Masters and a Registrar have recently indicated that they, when exercising High Court jurisdiction, are not bound strictly to follow prior decisions made by Judges in the High Court. This represents a notable departure from the position established by and within the High Court, where since the Judicature Acts of 1873 and 1875 an unquestioning obeisance of the Master and Registrar towards such decisions has been generally expected and offered. Delving into questions of power, authority and jurisdiction, and examining relevant legislation such as the Civil Procedure Rules, this article constructs and analyses various arguments for and …

Analyses Of Prosecutorial Power And Discretion In Mississippi: Evaluating Proposals To Address Misconduct And Abuse, Lucy Pruitt

Honors Theses

This thesis seeks to create a policy proposal in order to address incidences of prosecutorial misconduct and abuse of discretion in the Mississippi criminal justice system. To do so, the author has summarized and analyzed seven criminal cases in which defendants have become victims of prosecutorial misconduct in order to shed light on the lack of prosecutorial accountability in the state’s criminal justice system. In an attempt to solve the problem, the author has developed a novel grading rubric in order to objectively and systematically analyze and evaluate previously proposed policy recommendations by legal experts and justice organizations. The successes …

An Open Letter To The Ohio Supreme Court: Setting A Uniform Standard On Anders Briefs, Matthew D. Fazekas

Cleveland State Law Review

Attorneys are faced with an ethical dilemma when they represent indigent defendants who wish to appeal a criminal sentence, but that appeal would be frivolous. In 1967, the United States Supreme Court, in Anders v. California, introduced a procedure protecting the rights of indigent defendants that balanced the ethical concerns of an attorney forced to file a frivolous appeal. In 2000, the Court in Smith v. Robbins held that the states can set their own procedure for the aforementioned ethical dilemma, so long as it protects the rights of indigent defendants in compliance with the Fourteenth Amendment. This has …

Decoding Judicial Reasoning In China: A Comparative Empirical Analysis Of Guiding Cases, Runhua Wang

Cleveland State Law Review

The judicial system in China recently started using legal precedents—known as guiding cases—as a new legal source to eliminate adjudicative inconsistency. Guiding cases (“GCs”) present the current judicial reasoning to some extent and can be used to predict the future of judicial reasoning in China. What are GCs? What legal issues do GCs address? How do they address legal issues? How do GCs affect the legal system and adjudication in China? This Article answers these questions with empirical evidence and comparisons to judicial reasoning in the United States. It is the first empirical research providing a systematic review of all …

Land Of The Free, If You Can Afford It: Reforming Mayor's Courts In Ohio, Lucia Lopez-Hisijos

Cleveland State Law Review

Unlike most states in America, Ohio has a unique system of punishing minor misdemeanors and ordinance violations through municipal institutions called mayor’s courts. In 2017, Ohio had 295 of these courts, and they heard nearly 300,000 cases. But these are not normal courts. Ohio’s mayor’s courts do not conduct ability to pay hearings and can jail defendants who fail to pay court fines. With the author’s original research into Ohio’s mayor’s courts, this Note argues that these institutions can function like modern-day debtor’s prisons and violate indigent defendants’ constitutional right to Due Process. Ultimately, this Note proposes a model bill …

Law School News: Rwu Law Professors Win Release For Two Immigrants At Risk For Covid-19 04-24-2020, Roger Williams University School Of Law

Life of the Law School (1993- )

No abstract provided.

Fmc Corp. V. Shoshone-Bannock Tribes, Seth T. Bonilla

Public Land & Resources Law Review

In 1998, FMC Corporation agreed to submit to the Shoshone-Bannock Tribes’ permitting processes, including the payment of fees, for clean-up work required as part of consent decree negotiations with the Environmental Protection Agency. Then, in 2002, FMC refused to pay the Tribes under a permitting agreement entered into by both parties, even though the company continued to store hazardous waste on land within the Shoshone-Bannock Fort Hall Reservation in Idaho. FMC challenged the Tribes’ authority to enforce the $1.5 million permitting fees first in tribal court and later challenged the Tribes’ authority to exercise civil regulatory and adjudicatory jurisdiction over …

The Truthsayer And The Court: Expert Testimony On Credibility, Michael W. Mullane

Maine Law Review

The purpose of this Article is to analyze the admissibility of expert testimony on credibility. State v. Woodburn serves as a lens to focus on the broader issues. The primary issue is an examination of expert testimony on credibility in light of the Federal Rules of Evidence and their progeny. The Rules of Evidence mandate admission or exclusion of expert testimony based on certain criteria. How are these criteria applied to expert testimony on credibility? How should they be applied? The surprising survivability of other criteria discarded by the Rules is also considered.

Judge, J. Peter Byrne

Maine Law Review

The Editorial Board and Staff of Volume 43 of the Maine Law Review enthusiastically dedicate this issue to Judge Frank M. Coffin. Judge Coffin was appointed to the United States Court of Appeals for the First Circuit by President Lyndon Baines Johnson on October 2, 1965, and took the oath of office six weeks later. Since his retirement on February 1, 1989, he has continued to serve the federal judiciary with distinction in the capacity of a United States Senior Circuit Judge. Each of the four tributes that follow, though brief, resonate with the respect and affection inspired by the …

An Advocate's Perception, Margaret D. Mcgaughey

Maine Law Review

The Editorial Board and Staff of Volume 43 of the Maine Law Review enthusiastically dedicate this issue to Judge Frank M. Coffin. Judge Coffin was appointed to the United States Court of Appeals for the First Circuit by President Lyndon Baines Johnson on October 2, 1965, and took the oath of office six weeks later. Since his retirement on February 1, 1989, he has continued to serve the federal judiciary with distinction in the capacity of a United States Senior Circuit Judge. Each of the four tributes that follow, though brief, resonate with the respect and affection inspired by the …

A Tribute To Judge Coffin, Stephen Breyer

Maine Law Review

The Editorial Board and Staff of Volume 43 of the Maine Law Review enthusiastically dedicate this issue to Judge Frank M. Coffin. Judge Coffin was appointed to the United States Court of Appeals for the First Circuit by President Lyndon Baines Johnson on October 2, 1965, and took the oath of office six weeks later. Since his retirement on February 1, 1989, he has continued to serve the federal judiciary with distinction in the capacity of a United States Senior Circuit Judge. Each of the four tributes that follow, though brief, resonate with the respect and affection inspired by the …

Judge Frank M. Coffin, Edmund S. Muskie

Maine Law Review

The Editorial Board and Staff of Volume 43 of the Maine Law Review enthusiastically dedicate this issue to Judge Frank M. Coffin. Judge Coffin was appointed to the United States Court of Appeals for the First Circuit by President Lyndon Baines Johnson on October 2, 1965, and took the oath of office six weeks later. Since his retirement on February 1, 1989, he has continued to serve the federal judiciary with distinction in the capacity of a United States Senior Circuit Judge. Each of the four tributes that follow, though brief, resonate with the respect and affection inspired by the …

State V. Violette: Harsher Resentencing Encounters A Bolder Resumption Of Vindictiveness, Thomas C. Bradley

Maine Law Review

Twenty-one years ago, in Weeks v. State, the Maine Supreme Judicial Court, sitting as the Law Court, adopted a rule to prevent judicial vindictiveness when resentencing defendants who had successfully appealed their conviction and been reconvicted. The Weeks court adopted as a state due process protection the United States Supreme Court's rule laid down the preceding year in North Carolina v. Pearce. The Pearce rule provides that harsher resentencing of such defendants creates a presumption of constitutionally prohibited vindictiveness unless the harsher sentence is explicitly based on some identifiable misconduct by the defendant since the prior sentencing. Thus, the Law …

Vincent L. Mckusick And The Maine Rules Of Civil Procedure: A Thirty-Five Year Perspective, L. Kinvin Wroth

Maine Law Review

The Editorial Board and Staff of Volume 43 of the Maine Law Review enthusiastically dedicate this issue to Vincent L. McKusick, Chief Justice of the Maine Supreme Judicial Court. Chief Justice McKusick took the oath of office on September 16, 1977, having been appointed the previous month by Governor James B. Longley, and will retire on February 28, 1992. As the following tributes make clear, the contributions he has made to the betterment of state and national legal institutions during his tenure evidence the same qualities of integrity and excellence that have been the hallmarks of his long and distinguished …

Structure Of The Maine Court System, 1956-1991, Edward S. Godfrey

Maine Law Review

The Editorial Board and Staff of Volume 43 of the Maine Law Review enthusiastically dedicate this issue to Vincent L. McKusick, Chief Justice of the Maine Supreme Judicial Court. Chief Justice McKusick took the oath of office on September 16, 1977, having been appointed the previous month by Governor James B. Longley, and will retire on February 28, 1992. As the following tributes make clear, the contributions he has made to the betterment of state and national legal institutions during his tenure evidence the same qualities of integrity and excellence that have been the hallmarks of his long and distinguished …

Law As Integrity: Chief Justice Mckusick's Common Law Jurisprudence, Eric R. Herlan

Maine Law Review

The Editorial Board and Staff of Volume 43 of the Maine Law Review enthusiastically dedicate this issue to Vincent L. McKusick, Chief Justice of the Maine Supreme Judicial Court. Chief Justice McKusick took the oath of office on September 16, 1977, having been appointed the previous month by Governor James B. Longley, and will retire on February 28, 1992. As the following tributes make clear, the contributions he has made to the betterment of state and national legal institutions during his tenure evidence the same qualities of integrity and excellence that have been the hallmarks of his long and distinguished …

Vincent L. Mckusick: Chief Justice Of The Maine Supreme Judicial Court, Fred C. Scribner Jr.

Maine Law Review

The Editorial Board and Staff of Volume 43 of the Maine Law Review enthusiastically dedicate this issue to Vincent L. McKusick, Chief Justice of the Maine Supreme Judicial Court. Chief Justice McKusick took the oath of office on September 16, 1977, having been appointed the previous month by Governor James B. Longley, and will retire on February 28, 1992. As the following tributes make clear, the contributions he has made to the betterment of state and national legal institutions during his tenure evidence the same qualities of integrity and excellence that have been the hallmarks of his long and distinguished …