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Our Sovereign Body: Narrating The Fiction Of Sovereign Immunity In The Supreme Court: Part I-A English Stories, Marc L. Roark

ExpressO

This is part I-A of a Book I am working towards on the narratives and fictions of sovereign immunity. The goal in this part is to look before the American republic and towards the background in which American Sovereignty came to be shaped by -- the feudal notion of the sovereign; the Lockean response, and the Blackstonean doctrine. The first part looks at the legal fictions surrounding the kingship, their sources and their effects. The Second part looks to the specific ways of treating the sovereign in law, namely viewing King as Property owner or patriarch, Trustee, and Constitution.

Our Sovereign Body: Narrating The Fiction Of Sovereign Immunity In The Supreme Court, Marc L. Roark

ExpressO

This is the introduction to a book I am preparing on the Normative and Narrative aspects of the U.S. Sovereign Immunity Doctrine. The introduction sets up the problem of a doctrine that is not exactly coherent with the national narrative.

Foundations Of Federalism: An Exchange, Randall P. Bezanson, Steven Moeller

ExpressO

Our manuscript entitled "The Foundations of Federalism: An Exchange" is occasioned by the Supreme Court's federalism jurisprudence which, in our judgment, calls for a broad ranging exploration of the constitutional concept of federalism itself. That exploration takes place in the form of a dialog between us which, while rewritten from its original form, nevertheless reflects our actual exchanges over an 18 month period. Our conclusion is that such terms as "sovereignty" generally have no place in American constitutional federalism, that the Supreme Court's efforts to enforce federalism limitations have been ineffective and, in some instances, counterproductive, and most basically that …

Privacy And Access To Public Records In The Information Age, Sol Bermann

ExpressO

Online public record access brings a wealth of benefits ranging from greater government access and accountability to increased cost-savings and efficiencies. However, due to the presence of highly sensitive, personal data, an increase in public records access also brings potential dangers, including heightened risk of identity theft and frivolous snooping into the affairs of others.

Historically, public records have had some measure of public accessibility in order to empower citizens with the ability to observe the goings-on of government, leading to greater government accountability. Until the rise of the internet, citizens have had their privacy protected through practical obscurity (the …

Buried Online: State Laws That Limit E-Commerce In Caskets, Jerry Ellig, Asheesh Agarwal

ExpressO

Consumers seeking to purchase caskets online could benefit from the Supreme Court’s 2005 decision that states cannot discriminate against interstate direct wine shipment. Federal courts have reached conflicting conclusions when asked whether state laws requiring casket sellers to be licensed funeral directors violate the U.S. Constitution’s Due Process Clause. In Powers v. Harris, the 10th Circuit even offered an unprecedented ruling that economic protectionism is a legitimate state interest that can justify otherwise unconstitutional policies. In Granholm v. Heald, however, the Supreme Court declared that discriminatory barriers to interstate wine shipment must be justified by a legitimate state interest, and …

Backlash To Globalization In The Form Of State Legislation: Constitutional Implications, John R. Weber

ExpressO

This paper will examine the Constitutional issues raised by the influx of state anti-outsourcing legislation using a recently enacted New Jersey statute. The New Jersey statute is very similar to, and contains many of the same features as, many other bills introduced in legislatures across the nation. Moreover, the political impetus for the introduction and enactment of the legislation reflects the struggle over the outsourcing issue that is occurring in communities nationwide.

“It’S The [Tort System], Stupid:” Consumer Deductibles; How To More Equitably Distribute The Risks Of Medical Malpractice And Adequately Compensate Victims Without Statutory Damage Caps., Bradford Luke Ledbetter

ExpressO

No abstract provided.

The History Of Slave Marriage In The United States, 39 J. Marshall L. Rev. 299 (2006), Darlene C. Goring

UIC Law Review

No abstract provided.

Manson V. Brathwaite: The Supreme Court's Misunderstanding Of Eyewitness Identification, 39 J. Marshall L. Rev. 539 (2006), Ruth Yacona

UIC Law Review

No abstract provided.

Making Our Congressional Elections More Competitive; A Proposal For A Limited Number Of Statewide At-Large Elections In Our More Populous States, 39 J. Marshall L. Rev. 1425 (2006), Walter M. Frank

UIC Law Review

No abstract provided.

Champions Of Change: Reinventing Democracy Through Land Law Reform, John R. Nolon

Elisabeth Haub School of Law Faculty Publications

This Article explores the prospects of achieving policy coherence in the field of land use regulation. It explains how, as municipal governments react to pressures and crises at the local level, they discover and adopt new strategies in a constant process of experimentation. Through a properly constructed legal framework, critical information can be relayed from local to higher levels of government, state and federal legislators and judges can respond, and a "system" of law can evolve. Using theories developed in the fields of systems analysis and diffusion of innovations, the Article describes the process by which local communities perceive land …

Katrina And The Rhetoric Of Federalism, Christina E. Wells

Faculty Publications

The public's desire to assign blame for government's inadequate response to Hurricane Katrina has largely focused on the federal government's slow and seemingly inept response to the storm. In their own defense, federal officials cast federalism--the system that divides power among federal, state, and local governments--as the main culprit underlying their inadequate response to hurricane victims. Had power and authority not been split among three different units of government, the argument goes, the federal government might have been able to act more quickly to save lives and prevent suffering. In effect, federal authorities claim to have been hamstrung by a …

Final Report Of The Cuyahoga County Election Review Panel, S. Candice Hoke, Ronald B. Adrine, Tom J. Hayes

Law Faculty Reports and Comments

The Panel was charged with identifying the deficiencies in the May 2, 2006 Cuyahoga County election, ascertain the causes and contributing factors of those deficiencies and provide recommendations to remedy the deficiencies.

Home Rule And Local Political Innovation, Richard Briffault

Faculty Scholarship

As demonstrated by San Francisco's recent adoption of instant runoff voting and New York City's recent expansion of its program for funding candidates for municipal office, local governments around the country have been actively engaged in examining and revising electoral and governmental processes. These local initiatives include alternative voting systems, campaign finance reforms, conflicts of interest codes, term limits, and revisions to tax, budget and legislative procedures. These local innovations illustrate both the capacity of local governments to restructure basic features of their political organization and their interest in doing so. Local political innovations also test the scope of local …

Breaking The Bank: Revisiting Central Bank Of Denver After Enron And Sarbanes-Oxley, Celia Taylor

ExpressO

No abstract provided.

Do Institutions Really Matter? Assessing The Impact Of State Judicial Structures On Citizen Litigiousness, Jeff L. Yates, Paul Brace, Holley Tankersley

ExpressO

No abstract provided.

Out Of Bounds: San Francisco's Homeless Policies, Alexandra Flynn

ExpressO

Homelessness, both a legal and public policy issue, has dominated the City of San Francisco government agenda for over fifteen years. Despite the front-and-center nature of homelessness, the policies enacted have done little to reduce the count. This paper, first, presents San Francisco’s new approach to the issue; namely, the creation of a new and far more limited class of “chronically homeless” persons. This first section includes an examination of the causes of homelessness, the physical alienation of homeless persons through “quality of life” laws, and recent policy initiatives used to social exclude the bulk of homeless persons by limiting …

Internet Voting With Initiatives And Referendums: Stumbling Towards Direct Democracy, Rebekah K. Browder

Seattle University Law Review

Imagine that it is Tuesday, November 4, 2008, and you realize that you have not yet voted for the candidate that you want to be President of the United States. The polls close at 7 p.m., and it is already 6:45 p.m. Instead of rushing off to the nearest polling place, you simply go to your computer, log in, fill out a ballot, and email your ballot to your designated polling website. The whole process takes fewer than ten minutes, and you have done your civic duty. Leading proponents of Internet voting point to five possible benefits of electronic voting: …

Partisanship Redefined: Why Blanket Primaries Are Constitutional, Deidra A. Foster

Seattle University Law Review

In 2003, the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals rendered a decision that would pave the way for drastic changes in Washington State's election process. In Democratic Party of Washington v. Reed, the court held that Washington's nearly seventy-year-old blanket primary was unconstitutional, and the Supreme Court declined to review the case. The Ninth Circuit professed to be bound by California Democratic Party v. Jones, the Supreme Court case that ruled California's blanket primary unconstitutional just three years earlier, ignoring the argument that Washington's blanket primary differed materially from California's. What followed was a melee of voter disapproval and …

Voting Rights At A Crossroads: Return To The Past Or An Opportunity For The Future, Barbara Arnwine

Seattle University Law Review

This keynote address for the 2005 Symposium: Where's My Vote? Lessons Learned from Washington State's Gubernatorial Election was presented by Barbara Arnwine. The focus of the presentation was on "Voting Rights at a Crossroad: Return to the Past or an Opportunity for the Future?" To students who are on the career path to becoming practitioners of law, and to attorneys and law professors, no role is more important than enhancing democracy. Ms. Arnwine's speech addresses the topics of voting rights from a national perspective highlighting the most pressing challenges. In addressing this theme, four areas of voting rights are covered …

The Washington 2004 Gubernatorial Election Crisis: The Necessity Of Restoring Public Confidence In The Electoral Process, Joaquin G. Avila

Seattle University Law Review

This Article details the plethora of problems associated with Washington State's 2004 gubernatorial election and explores the proposed electoral reforms in light of prior threats to the electoral process. The Article postulates that electoral reforms in the administration of elections also present an important opportunity to provide minority communities with greater access to the political process. Part II of this Article begins with a history ofvoting discrimination in the United States. This history provides a context to the 2004 gubernatorial election in Washington. In addition, this history provides an important background context for assessing whether reforms in the administration of …

Just Blowing Smoke? Politics, Doctrine, And The Federalist Revival After Gonzales V. Raich, Ernest A. Young

Faculty Scholarship

No abstract provided.

Competing Values Or False Choices: Coming To Consensus On The Election Reform Debate In Washington State And The Country, Tova Andrea Wang

Seattle University Law Review

This Article examines the problems revealed in Washington State's election system as a result of its staggeringly close gubernatorial election, and compares such problems to those encountered by other states in the 2004 election. It examines the challenge of fixing these problems through the prism of the ongoing debate over what values and goals are most important when making election administration decisions. The various values and goals of expanding voter access, increasing voter participation and election efficiency, preventing voter fraud, ensuring the count of every vote, and creating finality in the voting system are included in this examination. Throughout this …

Re-Balancing State And Federal Power: Toward A Political Principle Of Subsidiarity In The United States, Jared Bayer

American University Law Review

No abstract provided.

Term Limits In State Legislative Elections: Less Value For More Money?, Steven F. Huefner

Indiana Law Journal

No abstract provided.

The Effects Of Quebec's Municipal Merger Law On Montreal: Mega-City Or Mega-Blunder?, Chad E. Tepper

Cardozo Journal of International and Comparative Law

The note examines the impact of Quebec's Municipal Merger Law, enacted in 2000, on the Anglophone community, arguing that the law has eroded Anglophone rights, reduced political representation, and exacerbated linguistic tensions. The law, upheld by courts as constitutional, amalgamated 64 municipalities into five megacities, including Montreal, and designated Montreal as unilingually French, contrary to prior bilingual frameworks. The merger process was criticized for its undemocratic nature, lack of public consultation, and disproportionate harm to Anglophone civil service employment. The analysis highlights the long-standing tensions between Anglophone and Francophone communities and explores the high costs and political challenges of reversing …

To Elect Or Not To Elect: A Case Study Ofjudicial Selection In New York City 1977-2002, Steven Zeidman

University of Michigan Journal of Law Reform

This Article examines the process of judicial selection in New York State in light of the recent court decisions in White and Spargo, which have paved the way for increased campaign speech in judicial elections. Relying on empirical data to compare judicial elections and appointments in New York City between 1977 and 2002, the Article finds that elections produce a judiciary that is more beholden to interest groups than one generated through appointments. The consequence of this greater special interest involvement is an erosion of public trust and confidence in the judiciary. Moreover while elections arguably have increased diversity in …

The Continuing Showdown Over Who Should Regulate Amusement Attraction Safety: A Critical Analysis Of Why Fixed-Site Amusement Attraction Safety Should Remain State-Governed. , Chad Emerson

ExpressO

No abstract provided.

Judicial Independence In Virginia, W. Hamilton Bryson

University of Richmond Law Review

No abstract provided.

Integrating Animal Interests Into Our Legal System, David Favre

Animal Law Review

This article explores the obstacles to obtaining legal rights for animals both within the animal rights movement and within the broader political context. The author examines in which arena legal change might best be sought—the courts, the legislature, state governments, or the federal government. Finally, it makes a number of suggestions as to what type of laws would be the most successful in advancing the interests of animals.