Courts Commons^™

Superfund Chaos Theory: What Happens When The Lower Federal Courts Don't Follow The Supreme Court, Steven Ferrey

Michigan Journal of Environmental & Administrative Law

There is legal chaos in the national Superfund. The Supreme Court reversed decisions of eleven federal circuit courts in United States v. Atlantic Research Corp. There is no instance in modern Supreme Court history where the Court reversed every federal circuit court in the country, as it did in Atlantic Research. The Supreme Court’s reversal was through a unanimous decision. This was extraordinary: It not only reversed the entire legal interpretation of one of America’s most critical statutes, but also re-allocated billions of dollars among private parties.

The Supreme Court, when it rendered its decision, seemed to be rectifying a …

Is The “Arising Under” Jurisdictional Grant In Article Iii Self-Executing?, David R. Dow

William & Mary Bill of Rights Journal

No abstract provided.

Justice Scalia’S Bottom-Up Approach To Shaping The Law, Meghan J. Ryan

William & Mary Bill of Rights Journal

Justice Antonin Scalia is among the most famous Supreme Court Justices in history. He is known for his originalism and conservative positions, as well as his witty and acerbic legal opinions. One of the reasons Justice Scalia’s opinions are so memorable is his effective use of rhetorical devices, which convey colorful images and understandable ideas. One might expect that such powerful opinions would be effective in shaping the law, but Justice Scalia’s judicial philosophy was often too conservative to persuade a majority of his fellow Justices on the Supreme Court. Further, his regular criticisms of his Supreme Court colleagues were …

Insider Trading Law That Works: Using Newman And Salman To Update Dirks'S Personal Benefit Standard, Mark Hayden Adams

Loyola of Los Angeles Law Review

No abstract provided.

Attracting Undue Scrutiny On Appeal: An Appellate Judge's Perspective, Marshall L. Davidson Iii

The Journal of Appellate Practice and Process

No abstract provided.

Infrequently Asked Questions, Edward T. Swaine

The Journal of Appellate Practice and Process

If appellate advocates could hear from courts about topics that might be raised during oral argument—as opposed to relying solely on their ability to anticipate the issues—might their answers be better? That seems likely, but it is unlikely that research could confirm that, as judicial practice overwhelmingly favors impromptu questioning. Spontaneity may be harmless if the question was predictable, or unavoidable if a judge just thought of the question. But sometimes advocates have to answer challenging questions concerning the law, facts, or implications of a position—questions that help decide the case, either due to the quality of the answer or …

A History Of The Missouri Court Of Appeals: The Role Of Regional Conflicts In Shaping Intermediate Appellate Court Structure, Jamie Pamela Rasmussen

The Journal of Appellate Practice and Process

No abstract provided.

Arbitration Law In Tension After Hall Street: Accuracy Of Finality?, Stanley A. Leasure

University of Arkansas at Little Rock Law Review

No abstract provided.

The Court After Scalia, Kevin C. Walsh

Law Faculty Publications

In this editorial, Professor Walsh surveys the 2015-2016 U.S. Supreme Court term, with particular attention to the effects the late Justice Antonin Scalia's absence had on the Court's decisions.

Preface: One Hundred Twenty-Five Years Of The U.S. Court Of Appeals For The Second Circuit: A Brief Project Overview, Robert A. Katzmann

Fordham Law Review

An important part of that 125th anniversary examination is found in the pages that follow: essays by prominent lawyers of the Second Circuit about some of the vital areas of law emanating from our court. Much gratitude is due to the editors of the Fordham Law Review; Michael Cardozo and Bettina Plevan, who painstakingly oversaw the issue; and to the lawyers who contributed their thinking and writings. Six articles have been specially drafted on: First Amendment/civil liberties, by Floyd Abrams; white collar crime, by Robert J. Anello and Miriam L. Glaser; antitrust, by Saul P. Morgenstern, Jennifer B. Patterson, …

Introduction: Constraint, Authority, And The Rule Of Law In A Federal Circuit Court Of Appeals, John Fabian Witt

Fordham Law Review

Congress’ Evarts Act, signed into law in 1891, created a new Article III federal court designed almost exclusively to sit as an intermediate appellate court in between the federal trial courts and the U.S. Supreme Court. Congress created the new Evarts Act appellate courts to relieve pressure on the Supreme Court’s growing workload and to create a less arbitrary system of appeals for litigants in the federal trial courts. These twin goals of reducing the Supreme Court’s workload and establishing a meaningful right of appeal produced a set of circuit courts of appeals with a distinctively constrained new role. This, …

Introduction From The Editors Of Volume 84, Hopi Costello, Matthew Geyer, Brandon Ruben

Fordham Law Review

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit has always held special significance for the Fordham Law Review’s student members. Ennobled by the examples of Fordham Law School and Fordham Law Review alumni Judge Irving Kaufman, Judge William Mulligan, Judge Joseph McLaughlin, and, most recently, Judge Denny Chin, the student members of the Fordham Law Review strive to impact our profession at its highest levels. It is thus with great pleasure and pride that four current students on the Fordham Law Review join this intellectual lineage by contributing the notes written for this commemorative issue, eaching tackles recent …

The English Fire Courts And The American Right To Civil Jury Trial, Jay Tidmarsh

Journal Articles

This Article uncovers the history of a long-forgotten English court system, the “fire courts,” which Parliament established to resolve dispute between landlords and tenants in urban areas destroyed in catastrophic fires. One of the fire courts’ remarkable features was the delegation of authority to judges to adjudicate disputes without juries. Because the Seventh Amendment’s right to a federal civil jury trial depends in part on the historical practice of English courts in 1791, this delegation bears directly on the present power of Congress to abrogate the use of juries in federal civil litigation.

Parliament enacted fire-courts legislation on eight occasions …

Appellate Deference In The Age Of Facts, Kenji Yoshino

William & Mary Law Review

This Article explores the question of how much appellate deference is due to “legislative” facts, or broad social facts about the world, established by the district courts. While it is axiomatic that “adjudicative” facts—which are the “whodunit” facts specific to a case—receive clear error deference on appeal, the Supreme Court has yet to address the degree of deference due to legislative facts. While the dominant view among appellate courts is that legislative facts should only receive de novo review, the practice of the courts has in actuality been much more fitful and inconsistent. The standard may be unsettled in part …

Some Thoughts Raised By Magna Carta: The Popular Re-Election Of Judges, William Hamilton Bryson

Law Faculty Publications

This essay, first presented at the Magna Carta anniversary symposium of the Baronial Order of Magna Charta on April 16, 2015, at The Cosmos Club, in Washington, D.C., takes as its inspiration the spirit of the rule of law, as laid down in the Magna Carta. Specifically, the author argues that the popular election and reelection of judges undermines the rule of law, and democracy in general, by exposing judges to the manipulations of financial corruption, political intimidation, and the often irrational shifts in popular opinion. To correct this problem, the author calls for amendment of the thirty-nine state constitutions …

Till V. Scs Credit Corporation: A "Prime-Plus-Plus" Method Tilling Courts To Consider Efficient Market Evidence, Emma J. Guido

Cardozo Law Review

No abstract provided.

An Empirical Study Of Implicit Takings., James E. Krier, Stewart E. Sterk

Articles

Takings scholarship has long focused on the niceties of Supreme Court doctrine, while ignoring the operation of takings law "on the ground" in the state and lower federal courts, which together decide the vast bulk of all takings cases. This study, based primarily on an empirical analysis of more than 2000 reported decisions ovcr the period 1979 through 2012, attempts to fill that void. This study establishes that the Supreme Court's categorical rules govern almost no state takings cases, and that takings claims based on government regulation almost invariably fail. By contrast, when takings claims arise out of government action …

Recent Decision: Reapportionment And The Courts

The Catholic Lawyer

No abstract provided.

Recent Decision: Impeachment Of Jury Verdicts

The Catholic Lawyer

No abstract provided.

Regulating Lolicon: Toward Japanese Compliance With Its International Legal Obligations To Ban Virtual Child Pornography, Cory L. Takeuchi

Georgia Journal of International & Comparative Law

No abstract provided.

Balancing A Right To Be Forgotten With A Right To Freedom Of Expression In The Wake Of Google Spain V. Aepd, Shaniqua Singleton

Georgia Journal of International & Comparative Law

No abstract provided.

Human Rights Law And Racial Hate Speech Regulation In Australia: Reform And Replace?, Dr. Alan Berman

Georgia Journal of International & Comparative Law

No abstract provided.

New Judicial Review In Old Europe, Alyssa S. King

Georgia Journal of International & Comparative Law

No abstract provided.

Down But Not Out! How Law School Clinics Can Help Bridge The Small Claims Court Access To Justice Gap, Rebecca Nieman

Buffalo Public Interest Law Journal

No abstract provided.

Shedding Light On The "Going Dark" Problem And The Encryption Debate, John Mylan Traylor

University of Michigan Journal of Law Reform

In an effort to protect the enormous volume of sensitive and valuable data that travels across the Internet and is stored on personal devices, private companies have created encryption software to secure data from criminals, hackers, and terrorists who wish to steal it. The greatest benefit of encryption also creates the biggest problem: Encryption software has become so secure that often not even the government can bypass it. The “Going Dark” problem—a scenario in which the government has obtained the legal authority to search a suspected criminal’s encrypted device but lacks the technical ability to do so—is becoming increasingly common. …

A Legal Obituary For Ramiro, Sheri Lynn Johnson

University of Michigan Journal of Law Reform

Most death penalty lawyers who practice long enough will watch the execution of a client. It is always, always terrible, but not always terrible in the same way. With each client’s execution, a lawyer is confronted with the death of a human being—not an accidental death, not an inevitable death, but an avoidable one—and with his or her own failure to prevent that death. Some executions also involve a very personal loss for the lawyer because of their relationship with the client. Other executions are horrific because things go awry and impose extreme suffering on the executed individual. No matter …

Between Judicial Oligarchy And Parliamentary Supremacy: Understanding The Court's Dilemma In Constitutional Judicial Review, Seow Hon Tan

Research Collection Yong Pung How School Of Law

This article considers the dilemma that constitutional judicial review presents to the most well-meaning of judges — that of navigating the narrow and difficult road between parliamentary supremacy and judicial oligarchy. It examines the Singapore Court of Appeal’s delineation of legal and extra-legal considerations in view of Ronald Dworkin’s theory of adjudication in determining the constitutionality of section 377A of the Penal Code in Lim Meng Suang v. Attorney General. It proposes an alternative natural law approach to constitutional judicial review based on Radbruch’s formula, which helps courts to avoid the pitfalls of judicial idiosyncrasies and usurpation of legislative mandate …

Texas: Impact Of The Expedited Action Rules On The Texas County Courts At Law, Paula Hannaford-Agor, Scott Graves

Faculty Publications

Amendments to the Texas Rules of Civil Procedure were enacted by the Texas Supreme Court in response to legislative policy initiatives intended to reduce expense and delay of civil litigation while maintaining fairness to litigants. The 2013 amendments provided specific procedural rules for dismissals for baseless actions, and an expedited process and limitation on discovery for cases in which claimants seek monetary relief of $100,000 or less (expedited actions).

The National Center for State Courts (NCSC) undertook this evaluation in cooperation with the Texas Office of Court Administration (OCA) to assess the impact of the expedited Actions Rules. The intent …

United States Courts And Imperialism, David H. Moore

Washington and Lee Law Review Online

When U.S. Courts adjudicate transnational matters, they risk two forms of judicial imperialism. The first—unilateral imperialism—involves adjudication by a single state at the expense of multilateral forms of resolution or global governance. The second—sovereigntist imperialism—threatens the sovereignty of other states who might wish to resolve the controversy themselves. The risk of imperialism may lead U.S. courts to hesitate to adjudicate transnational claims. In Foreign Governments as Plaintiffs in U.S. Courts and the Case Against “Judicial Imperialism,” Professor Hannah Buxbaum highlights that in addition to facing involuntary adjudication in U.S. courts, foreign states voluntarily sue in U.S. courts as well. The …

The Torturers: Evaluating The Senate Select Intelligence Committee’S Torture Report And Assessing The Legal Liability Of “Company Y” Under The Alien Tort Statute, David J. Satnarine

Pace International Law Review

This analysis seeks to argue that ‘Company Y’ is responsible for its role in the use of inhumane and tortious interrogation techniques during the CIA’s Interrogation and Detention Program under the Alien Tort Statute. Furthermore, this analysis will seek to reconcile case law in light of the Supreme Court’s decision in Kiobel v. Royal Dutch Petroleum Co., et. al., and subsequent court decisions opining on the extraterritorial reach of the Alien Tort Statute. Significantly, this analysis will also answer questions left open in the Kiobel decision by arguing that corporate entities, such as Company Y, may be held liable …