Legislation Commons^™

Title Vi Disparate Impact Claims Would Not Harm National Security - A Response To Paul Taylor, 46 Harv. J. On Legis. 503 (2009), Michael T. Kirkpatrick, Margaret B. Kwoka

UIC Law Open Access Faculty Scholarship

As Paul Taylor recognizes in the previous issue of this volume of the Harvard Journal on Legislation, Congress is considering amendments to Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 to explicitly allow private plaintiffs to use the disparate impact theory to prove discrimination by recipients of federal financial assistance. This Article responds to Taylor's assertion that allowing such disparate impact claims could harm national security programs. The authors explore the history of the disparate impact theory under both Title VI and Title VII, explain that use of the theory is consistent with Congress's original intent, and argue that …

The Abolition Of The Death Penalty In New Jersey And Its Impact On Our Nation's "Evolving Standards Of Decency", Aaron Scherzer

Michigan Journal of Race and Law

In 2007, New Jersey became the first state in over forty years to abolish the death penalty legislatively. Twenty-five years earlier, in 1982, New Jersey had followed a state-level trend by reinstating its death penalty. However, during the twenty-five years between reinstatement and abolition, New Jersey did not conduct a single execution. Instead, the New Jersey Supreme Court reversed numerous death penalty cases and consistently narrowed the class of cases eligible for the death penalty. This Note posits that the supreme court's narrowing of eligible cases was one of the factors that prevented executions from taking place in New Jersey. …

Do Not (Re)Enter: The Rise Of Criminal Background Tenant Screening As A Violation Of The Fair Housing Act, Rebecca Oyama

Michigan Journal of Race and Law

Increased landlord discrimination against housing applicants with criminal histories has made locating housing in the private market more challenging than ever for individuals with criminal records. Specifically, the increased use of widely available background information in the application process by private housing providers and high error rates in criminal record databases pose particularly difficult obstacles to securing housing. Furthermore, criminal record screening policies disproportionately affect people of color due to high incarceration rates and housing discrimination. This Note examines whether the policies and practices of private housing providers that reject applicants because of their prior criminal records have an unlawful, …

The Warp And Woof Of Statutory Interpretation: Comparing Supreme Court Approaches In Tax Law And Workplace Law, James J. Brudney, Corey Distlear

Faculty Scholarship

Debates about statutory interpretation-and especially about the role of the canons of construction and legislative history-are generally framed in one-size-fits-all terms. Yet federal judges including most Supreme Court Justices-have not approached statutory interpretation from a methodologically uniform perspective. This Article presents the first in-depth examination of interpretive approaches taken in two distinct subject areas over an extended period of time. Professors Brudney and Ditslear compare how the Supreme Court has relied on legislative history and the canons of construction when construing tax statutes and workplace statutes from 1969 to 2008. The authors conclude that the Justices tend to rely on …

Rethinking Judicial Deference To Legislation Fact-Finding, Caitlin E. Borgmann

Indiana Law Journal

It is traditionally assumed that the role of ascertaining and evaluating the social facts underlying a statute belongs to the legislatures. The courts in turn are tasked with deciding the law and must defer to legislative fact-finding on relevant issues of social fact. This simplistic formula, however, does not accurately describe the courts' confused approach to legislative fact-finding. Although the courts often speak in terms of deference, they follow no consistent or predictable pattern in deciding whether to defer in a given case. Moreover, blanket judicial deference to legislative fact-finding would not be a wise general rule. Because social fact-finding …

Anti-Horse Slaughter Legislation: Bad For Horses, Bad For Society, Laura J. Durfee

Indiana Law Journal

No abstract provided.

Credit Cards, Attorney's Fees, And The Putative Debtor: A Pyrrhic Victory? Putative Debtors May Win The Battle But Nevertheless Lose The War, Jennifer M. Smith

Journal Publications

This Article addresses the current credit card industry and its detrimental impact on society, and it discusses the history and purpose of attorney's fees, as well as the pitfalls in attorney's fee legislation. It analyzes the case study under various state laws, with heavy emphasis on Florida and California law, then recommends a legislative change or judicial intervention to ensure that creditors incur financial responsibility when they erroneously sue consumers. With these changes, consumers are made whole when they must defend themselves against small claims lawsuits erroneously filed against them, so as not to become victims of needless debt.

From Judging Culture To Taxing 'Indians': Tracing The Legal Discourse Of The 'Indian Mode Of Life', Constance Macintosh

Articles, Book Chapters, & Popular Press

In this article I consider how judicial decision making characterizes Indigenous peoples’ culture outside the context of determinations under section 35(1) of the Constitution Act, 1982. I am concerned with how contemporary jurisprudence sometimes subjects Indigenous people to stereotyped tests of Aboriginality when they seek to exercise legislated rights. These common law tests of Aboriginality tend to turn on troubling oppositional logics, such as whether or not the Indigenous person engages in waged labour or commercial activities. These tests arose in historic legislation and policy that were premised on social evolutionary theory and were directed at determining whether an Indigenous …

Public Health Protection And Drinking Water Quality On First Nation Reserves: Considering The New Federal Regulatory Proposal, Constance Macintosh

Articles, Book Chapters, & Popular Press

In January 2009, the federal government issued a discussion paper that details its preferred regulatory route for enabling a legislative framework. This route is to referentially incorporate provincial legislation regarding operational standards through a framework statute, and then develop the details of the regime through regulations to be developed in consultation with First Nations over the next few years. Importantly, the opening sentence of the discussion paper's executive summary expressly connects water and public health. It reads: "The provision of safe drinking water and the effective treatment of wastewater are critical in ensuring the health and safety of First Nations …

Social And Economic Rights In Canada: What Are They And Who Can Best Protect Them?, A. Wayne Mackay

Articles, Book Chapters, & Popular Press

This article examines the development and current status of positive social and economic rights in Canada. Exploring the comparative competence of legislatures, courts and human rights tribunals, Wayne MacKay suggests that courts should depart, with caution, from their traditional deferential role to legislators. Due to their flexibility and accessibility, HR Tribunals should supplement the role of the courts and legislatures in giving effect to social and economic rights, which should form part of a holistic package of human rights in Canada.

The Upc Addresses The Class-Gift And Intestacy Rights Of Children Of Assisted Reproduction Technologies, Lawrence W. Waggoner, Sheldon F. Kurtz

Articles

Editor's Synopsis: Recent years' advances in assisted reproduction technology have enabled the conception of children in ways in addition to the traditional way. The Uniform Probate Code was amended last year to address the status of children born from assisted reproductive technologies for intestacy and class-gift purposes. This article discusses the relevant UPC provisions and offers several hypothetical cases to show how they operate. The article concludes expressing the hope that states will consider the new UPC approach.

Thou Good And Faithful Servant, Carl E. Schneider

Articles

Lawmakers are stewards of social resources. A current debate-over screening newborns for genetic disorders-illuminates dilemmas of that stewardship that have particularly plagued bioethics. Recently in the Report, Mary Ann Baily and Thomas Murray told the story of little Ben Haygood. He died from MCADD, a genetic disorder that can make long fasting fatal. Screening at birth would have let doctors alert Ben's parents. "After Ben died," Baily and Murray wrote, "his father became a passionate advocate for expanding Mississippi's newborn screening program to add MCADD and other disorders." Soon, the Ben Haygood Comprehensive Newborn Screening Act increased the number …

Pregnancy Discrimination And Social Change: Evolving Consciousness About A Worker's Right To Job-Protected, Paid Leave, Patricia Shiu, Stephanie Wildman

Faculty Publications

This Article examines the change over the past few decades in U.S. law and societal attitudes concerning a worker's right to job-protected, paid leave. Though common around the world, job-protected, paid leave eludes the U.S. workforce. The authors begin by considering the concept of work, its relation to identity, and the construction of safety nets for workers when they need income replacement. The Article considers the movement to establish job-protected, paid leave that encompasses and values a worker's work, family, and personal life.

The modern movement originated with pregnant workers' need for time away from work during pregnancy. Women who …

Full Faith And Credit In The Early Congress, Stephen E. Sachs

Faculty Scholarship

After more than 200 years, the Full Faith and Credit Clause remains poorly understood. The Clause first issues a self-executing command (that "Full Faith and Credit shall be given"), and then empowers Congress to prescribe the manner of proof and the "Effect" of state records in other states. But if states must accord each other full faith and credit-and if nothing could be more than full-then what "Effect" could Congress give state records that they wouldn't have already? And conversely, how could Congress in any way reduce or alter the faith and credit that is due?

This Article seeks to …

Revisiting The Un Protocol On Human Trafficking: Striking Balances For More Effective Legislation, Kalen Fredette

Cardozo Journal of International and Comparative Law

Human trafficking is a growing global criminal concern. This paper assesses several national and multi-national efforts to combat human trafficking, focusing particularly on the UN Protocol to Prevent, Suppress and Punish Trafficking in Persons, Especially Women and Children (Protocol). Ultimately, the rise in trafficking offenses compared to the sparse number of convictions strongly suggests the inadequacy of the national and multinational efforts currently in play. This paper will take a fresh look at key provisions of the recent Protocol in light of newly published data on trafficking, and will explore possible modifications to the instrument which may increase its effectiveness. …

2007-2008 Legislative Review, Nancy R. Hoffman, Robin C. Mcginnis

Animal Law Review

No abstract provided.

Anticipating An Evil Which May Never Exist: Minnesota's Anachronistic Identifying Mark Statute, Michael Freiberg

Faculty Scholarship

In the aftermath of the 2008 senatorial election race in Minnesota, several election laws were scrutinized by state officials and the public. Specifically, Minnesota statute 204C.22 was attacked; this statute voids ballots containing "identifying" or "distinguishing" marks made in such a way as to make it evident that "the voter intended to identify the ballot". Secretary of State Ritchie proposed narrowing the scope of the identifying mark statutes, and though legislation was introduced in the state legislature, it was not adopted. The existence of these legislative initiatives makes it appropriate to examine the history of statutes prohibiting identifying marks, the …

The Missing Jurisprudence Of The Legislated Constitution, Robin West

Georgetown Law Faculty Publications and Other Works

Does the fourteenth Amendment and its Equal Protection Clause — the promise that "no state shall deny equal protection of the laws" — have any relevance to the progressive project of reducing economic inequality in various spheres of life or, more modestly, of ameliorating the multiple vulnerabilities of this country's poor people? The short answer, I believe, is, it depends. It will depend, in 2020, just as it depends now, on what we mean by the Constitution we are expounding: the Constitution as read and interpreted by courts — the adjudicated Constitution — or what I propose to call the …

Determining If Mandatory Arbitration Is “Fair”: Asymmetrically Held Information And The Role Of Mandatory Arbitration In Modulating Uninsurable Contract Risks, Paul B. Marrow

NYLS Law Review

No abstract provided.

The Niesig And Nlra Union: A Revised Standard For Identifying High-Level Employees For Ex Parte Interviews, Bran C. Noonan

NYLS Law Review

No abstract provided.

The Role Of Litigation In Combating Obesity Among Poor Urban Minority Youth: A Critical Analysis Of Pelman V. Mcdonald's Corp., Ashley B. Antler

Cardozo Journal of Equal Rights & Social Justice

The note argues that litigation, particularly when focused on low-income urban minority youth, could serve as a strategic tool to address childhood obesity by reframing the issue and catalyzing policy and industry change. It critiques the Pelman v. McDonald's Corp. lawsuit for failing to address the socioeconomic and racial disparities underlying obesity rates, thereby missing an opportunity to advance meaningful solutions. The analysis suggests that public health litigation, when strategically framed, can complement broader advocacy efforts and push for environmental changes to combat the obesity epidemic.

Chicago 2016 Olympics: Legislative Impact On Construction, The Public And The Affordable Housing Market, Chantal Kazay

Public Interest Law Reporter

No abstract provided.

Crises, Congress, And Cognitive Biases: A Critical Examination Of Food And Drug Legislation In The United States, Sharon B. Jacobs

Publications

No abstract provided.

You Can't Always Get What You Want, But If You Try Sometimes You Can Steal It And Call It Fair Use: A Proposal To Abolish The Fair Use Defense For Music, William Henslee

Journal Publications

The fair use doctrine in copyright has become the excuse for every creatively challenged author who gets caught using someone else's intellectual property without paying for it and tries to pass it off as his or her own. Fair use has also become the means to use someone else's work for purposes unrelated to the original without paying for the use.

While there are scholars who believe fair use should be more widely applicable than it already is, this Article will discuss how the fair use defense in music has been expanded far beyond the original legislative intent and has …

Scientific Avoidance: Toward More Principled Judicial Review Of Legislative Science, Emily H. Meazell

Indiana Law Journal

Courts increasingly confront legislative enactments made in light of scientific uncertainty. Even so, the degree of deference appropriate to this type of judicial review is a moving target, seemingly determined on an ad hoc, unprincipled basis. On one hand, the decision of how to legislate in light of scientific uncertainty is quintessentially one of policy, suggesting that the highest degree of deference is appropriate. But certain classes of cases, and certain types of scientific questions, seem singularly inappropriate for extreme judicial deference. While significant scholarly attention has focused on the comparative institutional competence of courts and legislatures with respect to …

Money For Nothing And Music For Free? Why The Riaa Should Continue To Sue Illegal File-Sharers, William Henslee

Journal Publications

The Recording Industry Association of America ("RIAA") has sued over 35,000 people for illegal file-sharing music, or uploading and downloading music. The RIAA has sued anyone under its "making available" theory, or anyone who offers to distribute copyrighted music without the owner's consent. However, the United States Circuit Courts of Appeals are split on whether copyright infringement occurs when a file is "made available" or when there is actual dissemination of a file. Due to this split, the RIAA has negotiated deals with internet service providers to penalize individuals who illegally share files. This article analyzes a recent decision, Capitol …

Rebalancing The Scales: Restoring The Availability Of Disparate Impact Causes Of Action In Title Vi Cases, Victor Suthammanont

NYLS Law Review

No abstract provided.

Tuck-It-Away Associates, L.P. V. Empire State Development Corp., Kelly D. Fisher

NYLS Law Review

No abstract provided.

Where’S The Penalty Flag? The Unauthorized Practice Of Law, The Ncaa, And Athletic Compliance Directors, Megan Fuller

NYLS Law Review

No abstract provided.

The Hidden Legacy Of Holy Trinity Church: The Unique National Institution Canon, Anita S. Krishnakumar

Faculty Publications

This Article explores an underappreciated legacy of the Supreme Court's (in)famous decision in Church of the Holy Trinity v. United States. Although Holy Trinity has been much discussed in the academic literature and in judicial opinions, the discussion thus far has focused almost exclusively on the first half of the Court's opinion—which declares that the "spirit" of a statute should trump its "letter"—and relies on legislative history to help divine that spirit. Scholars and jurists have paid little, if any, attention to the opinion's lengthy second half. In that second half, the Court tells a detailed narrative about the country's …