Law and Politics Commons^™

Referenda And The District Of Columbia's Human Rights Act: Voting On Same-Sex Marriage In The Nation's Capital, Jacob Stewart

Legislation and Policy Brief

Beginning with Massachusetts in 2003, the courts and legislatures of many states have had to decide whether same-sex marriage is or should be a fundamental right under their respective constitutions.  Although only five states and the District of Columbia legally perform same-sex marriages, a few other jurisdictions are in the process of proposing laws moving in that direction.  However, the vast majority of states are holding fast to the traditional heterosexual definition of marriage.  Thirty-eight states have adopted some sort of Defense of Marriage Act, constitutional amendment, or similar measure that defines marriage as the union between one man and …

Attention All Internet Users: How Proposed Amendments To The Communications Decency Act Could Save Your Reputation, Niki Blumentritt

Legislation and Policy Brief

Imagine a beautiful fall day on a Southern college campus. The leaves are changing, and the sound of the band practicing for this weekend’s big game echoes throughout campus.  Jane, a college freshman, is walking through campus on the way back to her dorm from her Biology 101 class.  Usually, Jane’s walk is uneventful, aside from the occasional run-in with a friend or sorority sister; however, today is much different.  Jane notices that many people are staring, pointing, and snickering at her.  Is there something on her face?  She quickly pulls out her compact and realizes that all makeup is …

Federal Register 2.0: Public Participation In The Twenty-First Century, Lauren R. Dudley

Legislation and Policy Brief

On July 26, 2010, the Office of the Federal Register and the Government Printing Office (GPO) launched “Federal Register 2.0,” a web version of the daily Federal Register.  As of now, the site is only a prototype; therefore, “Federal Register 2.0” is not yet an official legal edition of the Federal Register, and it will not become official until the Administrative Committee of the Federal Register (ACFR) issues a regulation granting “Federal Register 2.0” official legal status.  Once “Federal Register 2.0” becomes official, the website will allow the public to receive notice of proposed agency regulations, link to a separate …

Ely At The Altar: Political Process Theory Through The Lens Of The Marriage Debate, Jane S. Schacter

Michigan Law Review

Political process theory, closely associated with the work of John Hart Ely and footnote four in United States v. Carolene Products, has long been a staple of constitutional law and theory. It is best known for the idea that courts may legitimately reject the decisions of a majority when the democratic process that produced the decision was unfair to a disadvantaged social group. This Article analyzes political process theory through the lens of the contemporary debate over same-sex marriage. Its analysis is grounded in state supreme court decisions on the constitutionality of barring same-sex marriage, as well as the high-profile, …

It’S Time To Reconsider Graduation Prayer In Public High Schools, Bruce Ledewitz

Ledewitz Papers

Published scholarship collected from academic journals, law reviews, newspaper publications & online periodicals.

The Icsid Effect? Considering Potential Variations In Arbitration Awards, Susan Franck

Scholarly Articles in Law Reviews & Journals

The legitimacy of the World Bank's dispute resolution body - The International Centre for the Settlement of Investment Disputes (ICSID) - is a matter of heated debate. Some states have alleged that ICSID is biased, withdrawn from the ICSID Convention, and advocated creating alternative arbitration systems. Using pre-2007 archival data of the population of then- known arbitration awards, this Article quantitatively assesses whether ICSID arbitration awards were substantially different from arbitration awards rendered in other forums. The Article examines variation in the amounts claimed and outcomes reached to evaluate indicators of bias. The results indicated that there was no reliable …

Social Justice In Social Security, Erin N. Cottle

All Graduate Plan B and other Reports, Spring 1920 to Spring 2023

By the year 2030 there will be twice as many retirees in the United States as today but only 18 percent more workers. This aging of the population will place considerable financial strain on the United States social security system; relatively few workers will be taxes to pay the benefits of relatively many retirees. Because of this change in demographics, the Social Security Administration will not be able to pay scheduled social security benefits as outlined by current law. Therefore, it is imperative that the government act soon to address the looming fiscal imbalance of the social security program.

The …

Issue 4: Table Of Contents

University of Richmond Law Review

No abstract provided.

Mixed Agendas And Government Regulation Of Business: Can We Clean Up The Mess?, Thomas M. Arnold, Jerry L. Stevens

University of Richmond Law Review

The purpose of this article is first to navigate through variousperspectives on government regulation in an effort to develop areasonable and consistent view for regulatory proposals. Parts II and III of this article provide a brief outline of our current regulatory environment and its evolution. Part IV presents arguments for an efficient regulation of business by using market based regulation with a separation of efficiency and equity issues, where feasible. Examples of this regulatory approach appear throughout the article along with suggested reforms.

The Senate: Out Of Order?, Aaron-Andrew P. Bruhl

Faculty Publications

Due to the routine use of the filibuster and related devices, today’s Senate operates as a supermajoritarian body. This Symposium Article considers whether this supermajoritarian aspect of the Senate renders it dysfunctional and, if so, what can be done about it. I contend that the Senate is indeed broken. Its current supermajoritarian features have pernicious effects. Further, and contrary to the claims of many of the Senate’s defenders, this aspect of the Senate is not part of the original design. I go on to explain why the Senate’s procedures, despite their deficiencies, have nonetheless proven resistant to reform. The impediment …

The Unconstitutionality Of The Filibuster, Josh Chafetz

Cornell Law Faculty Publications

This Article, written for the Connecticut Law Review's 2010 "Is Our Constitutional Order Broken?" symposium, argues that the filibuster, as currently practiced, is unconstitutional.

After a brief introduction in Part I, Part II describes the current operation of the filibuster. Although the filibuster is often discussed in terms of "unlimited debate," this Part argues that its current operation is best understood in terms of a sixty-vote requirement to pass most bills and other measures through the Senate.

Part III presents a structural argument that this supermajority requirement for most Senate business is unconstitutional. This Part argues that the words "passed" …

China And The New Asia: Policy Recommendations, Tasha N. Haug

Senior Honors Theses

The People’s Republic of China is an indispensable political and economic force in Asia. With the majority of the United States’ foreign economic interests invested in the Asia-Pacific region, the leading role that China is taking is a major concern. The Asia-Pacific region is strategically important to the US. How US policy makers craft foreign policy toward Asia has a direct impact on US involvement in the region. Unless the US becomes more invested in Asia, develops a comprehensive understanding of China’s role in the region, and proactively pursue strategic relationships, US influence in Asian affairs will become a thing …

Disgust And The Problematic Politics Of Similarity, Courtney Megan Cahill

Scholarly Publications

No abstract provided.

Keeping It Clean: Richard H. Bryan And Nevada Gaming, Leslie M. Niño

UNLV Gaming Law Journal

When Nevada legalized gaming in 1931, few observers could have predicted the extent to which the gaming industry would grow and evolve. The modern gaming industry has expanded across the globe, and is now regarded as a dynamic avenue of commerce. However, during the industry’s infancy, many Americans denounced gaming as a pariah. Legalized gaming was not viewed as a legitimate industry; rather, it was a haven for swindlers and cheaters. How did Nevada turn this negative perception into a positive one? Legislators and regulators resolved to create and enforce gaming regulations with the highest standards of ethics and integrity, …

Purple Haze, Clare Huntington

Michigan Law Review

It takes only a glance at the headlines every political season-with battles over issues ranging from abortion and abstinence-only education to same-sex marriage and single parenthood-to see that the culture wars have become a fixed feature of the American political landscape. The real puzzle is why these divides continue to resonate so powerfully. In Red Families v. Blue Families: Legal Polarization and the Creation of Culture, Naomi Cahn and June Carbone offer an ambitious addition to our understanding of this puzzle, illustrating pointedly why it is so hard to talk across the political divide. In a telling anecdote in the …

Re-Solidifying Racial Bloc Voting: Empirics And Legal Doctrine In The Melting Pot, D. James Greiner

Indiana Law Journal

Racial bloc voting is the central concept in judicial regulation of redistricting. For the past several decades, the definition and proof of this concept have depended on two premises: that polities can be conceptualized in biracial terms and that nearly perfect information on voting patterns can be inexpensively obtained from simple statistical methods. In fact, however, neither premise has been true for some time, as the nation has become multiracial and allegations have increased that Caucasians vote less monolithically than before, with both assertions imposing severe stress on the simple statistical methods previously used to assess voting patterns. In this …

Peter Aucoin, Mark D.Jarvis &Lori Turnbull, Democratizing The Constitution: Reforming Responsible Government, Gregory Tardi

Dalhousie Law Journal

In the aftermath of the Prorogation of Parliament on December 4, 2008, upon the advice of Prime Minister Stephen Harper to then Governor General Michaelle Jean, a particular theme in Canadian literature about governance has flourished. This theme is the influence ofconstitutionalism, democracy and legitimacy on government and politics. In the view of many scholars there is a serious imbalance between the executive branch on one hand and the legislative branch on the other. The sense ofimbalance has generated proposals for changes to the practice of Westminster-style parliamentary democracy in the service of democratic legitimacy.

Islam, Judaism And The Murders At Itamar, Bruce Ledewitz

Ledewitz Papers

Published scholarship collected from academic journals, law reviews, newspaper publications & online periodicals.

What About The Morality Of Torture, Results Aside?, Bruce Ledewitz

Ledewitz Papers

Published scholarship collected from academic journals, law reviews, newspaper publications & online periodicals

Federal Earmarks In The State Of Georgia, Jeffrey Lazarus

Georgia Journal of Public Policy

Earmarks have been controversial ever since becoming a prominent part of the congressional spending process. Critics charge that earmarks fund projects with little or no economic value (for instance Ted Stevens’ “Bridge to Nowhere,”) but instead allow Congress members to direct government spending to campaign contributors (the charge leading to a federal investigation of the now-defunct lobbying firm PMA Group). On the other side of the controversy, congressional earmarks do fund a number of community improvements which are very valuable, at least locally. In Georgia, the fiscal 2010 appropriations bills included earmarks which allocated $450,000 to update College Park’s emergency …

Modeling The Congressional End-Run Constraint, Luke M. Milligan

University of Richmond Law Review

No abstract provided.

Sorry Seems To Be The Hardest Word: The Fair Sentencing Act Of 2010, Crack, And Methamphetamine, Kyle Graham

University of Richmond Law Review

No abstract provided.

Government Policies Must Keep Business On Tight Rein, Paul Donnelly, John Hogan, Brendan O'Rourke

Articles

The unethical behaviour that helped create the economic and banking crisis has caught the attention of some parties.

Reimagining Democratic Theory For Social Individuals, Steven L. Winter Walter S. Gibbs Distinguished Professor Of Constitutional Law

Law Faculty Research Publications

The Western conception of the individual as a rational, self-directing agent is a mythology that organizes and distorts religion, science, economics, and politics. It produces an abstracted and atomized form of engagement that is fatal to collective self-governance. And it turns democracy into the enemy of equality. Considering the meaning of democracy and autonomy from a perspective that takes the subject as truly social would refocus our attention on the constitutive contexts and practices necessary for the production of citizens who are capable of meaningful self-governance. Under modern conditions, it is in the development of sexual autonomy that we learn …

May It Please The Senate: An Empirical Analysis Of The Senate Judiciary Committee Hearings Of Supreme Court Nominees, 1939-2009, Lori A. Ringhand, Paul M. Collins Jr.

Scholarly Works

This paper examines the questions asked and answers given by every Supreme Court nominee who has appeared to testify before the Senate Judiciary Committee since 1939. In doing so, it uses a new dataset developed by the authors. This database, which provides a much-needed empirical foundation for scholarship in emerging areas of constitutional law and political science, captures all of the statements made at the hearings and codes these comments by issue area, subissue area, party of the appointing president, and party of the questioning senator. The dataset allows us to quantify for the fist time such things as which …

We Live In A Country Of Unhcr: The Un Surrogate State And Refugee Policy In The Middle East, Michael Kagan

Scholarly Works

Many gaps in the protection of refugees can be connected to a de facto transfer of responsibility for managing refugee policy from sovereign states to United Nations agencies. This phenomenon can be seen in dozens of countries in the Middle East, Africa and Asia, where the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) or the UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) manage refugee camps, register newly arrived asylum-seekers, carry out refugee status determination, and administer education, health, livelihood and other social welfare programs.

In carrying out these functions, the UN acts to a great …

After Deference: Formalizing The Judicial Power For Foreign Relations Law, Deborah Pearlstein

Articles

How much deference should courts afford executive branch interpretations of statutes and treaties? The question that has long engaged foreign relations scholars has found new salience as it has become apparent in recent years that the Supreme Court will neither abstain nor reliably defer to presidential judgment even in cases implicating national security. As the courts grapple with the scope of detention authority granted by Congress’ 2001 Authorization for the Use of Military Force, or the limits on that authority under the Geneva Conventions, a number of scholars have embraced administrative law deference doctrines such as that in Chevron v. …

The Incredible Shrinking Free Exercise Clause, Bruce Ledewitz

Ledewitz Papers

Published scholarship collected from academic journals, law reviews, newspaper publications & online periodicals.

The Creativity Effect (With C. Sprigman), Christopher J. Buccafusco

All Faculty Scholarship

No abstract provided.

A Prediction Market For Climate Outcomes, Shi-Ling Hsu

Scholarly Publications

This Article proposes a way of introducing some organization and tractability in climate science, generating more widely credible evaluations of climate science, and imposing some discipline on the processing and interpretation of climate information. I propose a two-part policy instrument consisting of (1) a carbon tax that is indexed to a “basket” of climate outcomes, and (2) a cap-and-trade system of emissions permits that can be redeemed in the future in lieu of paying the carbon tax. The amount of the carbon tax in this proposal (per ton of CO2) would be set each year on the basis of some …