Rule of Law Commons^™

Fighting Conflicts Of Interest In Officialdom: Constitutional And Practical Guidelines For State Financial Disclosure Laws, Michigan Law Review

Michigan Law Review

This note will examine the individual interests in running for office and in personal financial privacy in order to determine what level of scrutiny should be applied to disclosure statutes. After concluding that only minimal scrutiny should apply--a standard certainly met by the state's strong interests--it will be argued that nonconstitutional considerations bearing on the practicality of disclosure statutes nevertheless require a careful balancing of the state interest in disclosure against the individual interests of each class of persons affected by the statutes. The discussion of the strength of the state's interest in disclosure with respect to each class will …

Deterring Misuse Of Confidential Government Information: A Proposed Citizens' Action, Joseph J. Kalo

Michigan Law Review

Part I of this article offers two examples-predicated on historical fact-that illustrate the possible adverse consequences of disclosure of confidential government information. Part I also examines present statutory and regulatory safeguards against such disclosure and analyzes their effect. Part II sets forth a proposal for reducing the possibility that confidential government information will be improperly used and for recouping government losses by means of a citizens' action. when it is so used.

Immunity Under The Speech Or Debate Clause For Republican And From Questioning About Sources, Michigan Law Review

Michigan Law Review

Gravel v. United States, which arose out of Senator Mike Gravel's attempt to publicize the Pentagon Papers, concerned the scope of the immunity conferred upon a legislator and his aide under article I, section 6, of the United States Constitution. This provision, commonly called the "speech or debate clause," provides that "for any Speech or Debate in either House, [United States Senators or Representatives] shall not be questioned in any other Place." Gravel is one of the few Supreme Court interpretations of this clause.

Disqualifications For Interest Of Lower Federal Court Judges: 28 U.S.C. § 455, Michigan Law Review

Michigan Law Review

Disqualification of a judge occurs when he is ineligible by law to sit in a particular case. At the Supreme Court level, disqualification is a personal decision of the individual justice, who seldom records the reasons for his decision. Thus, there is little material on the Court's disqualification practices that can be subjected to legal analysis. However, substantial case law on disqualification has developed in the lower federal courts, where the decision of a trial judge to sit or step down in a case may appear in the trial record and is subject to review by a court of appeals. …

The Presidential Monopoly Of Foreign Relations, Raoul Berger

Michigan Law Review

Because of the widespread ramifications of foreign relations, discussion must perforce be confined to presidential executive agreements, and whether the Senate may be excluded from knowledge of, and participation in, negotiations with foreign nations as a part of the treaty-making process. Mention only can be made of the legislative shortcomings which have contributed to the all but total takeover of foreign relations by the President, and of the need for procedural reform in the Senate if its participation is to be effective. Could we view the matter as an original question, that is, were we drafting or amending a Constitution …

Judicial Supremacy Re-Examined: A Proposed Alternative, G. Sidney Buchanan

Michigan Law Review

A citizen critic recently expressed to me his bitter opposition to the Warren Court's decisions on school prayer and school desegregation. If this critic were elected governor of a state or placed in some other position of governmental authority, he would almost certainly use his power to block public school desegregation and to encourage prayer reading in the public schools. Conceding that our critic would be acting controversially in so using his power, would he be acting unconstitutionally? This is the question which this Article will attempt to answer. More generally, this Article will consider the extent to which a …

Max Planck Institute For Comparative Public Law And International Law: Judicial Protection Against The Executive, Pieter Van Dijk

Michigan Law Review

A Review of Judicial Protection Against the Executive Edited by the Max Planck Institute for Comparative Public Law and International Law

Reapportionment--Nine Years Into The "Revolution" And Still Struggling, Michigan Law Review

Michigan Law Review

Malapportioned legislative districts traditionally have inhibited the effective working of government at the federal, state, and local levels. By 1960, the population disparities among legislative districts had attained such great magnitude "that the integrity of representative government was in many instances endangered." The underrepresented victims of malapportionment sought relief through the courts. Initially the Supreme Court, ever hesitant to enter the "political thicket," declined to address itself to reapportionment controversies. This era of judicial inaction ended in 1962 with the Court's ruling in Baker v. Carr, in which the plaintiffs overcame the formidable barrier posed by the political-question doctrine. …

The Newsman's Privilege: An Empirical Study, Vince Blasi

Michigan Law Review

Today, the statutory, common-law, and constitutional aspects of the long-dormant problem are being re-examined by many legislators, judges, and academicians. The Supreme Court is scheduled to address the constitutional question some time this term. I propose to enter this fray. In this article, I will report the results of an empirical survey that I have undertaken. In subsequent articles, I will analyze the eighteen state statutes that grant newsmen a privilege, consider whether protection for the reporter-news source relationship is compelled by existing common-law principles, and address the question whether a newsman's privilege is properly to be inferred from the …

Devising Procedures That Are Civil To Promote Justice That Is Civilized, Maurice Rosenberg

Michigan Law Review

In a democracy, process is king to a very large extent, and this is especially so in the judicial branch. Even though substantive laws command attention, procedural rules ensure respect. Why is this true? One powerful reason is that when people end up in court, their case typically is not a matter of right against wrong, but of right against right. Decent process makes the painful task of deciding which party will prevail bearable and helps make the decision itself acceptable.

To put my position plainly, I believe that the road to court-made justice is paved with good procedures. Later …

Title Ix - Racketeer Influenced And Corrupt Organizations, Richard Levy

University of Michigan Journal of Law Reform

Organized crime's penetration of legitimate business has long been a major congressional concern. Although the means employed to effect such penetration may vary, the result remains constant; organized crime is provided with additional economic power and a facade of legitimacy behind which it can more easily spread its influence and pursue its goals. At the same time, organized crime's monopolistic tendencies, furthered by its use of various forms of coercion, pose a serious threat to free trade and lawful ownership. Prior law proved inadequate in curtailing these abuses. Federal law was piecemeal and not designed to meet the challenge of …

Local Government In Sweden, Terrance Sandalow

Articles

Ever since the publication of Marquis Childs' The Middle Way, Americans of liberal persuasion have tended to point to Sweden as a model, a nation which simultaneously has achieved rapid economic growth, eliminated poverty, and maintained individual and political freedom. Swedish cities, and especially Stockholm, are reputed to be among the best planned in the world. Yet, for all the admiration that has been expressed, there has been surprisingly little investigation by Americans of the legal and governmental framework within which the Swedes have accomplished so much. The modest aim of this paper is to report the major outlines of …

Michigan "Freedom Of Information Act", David T. Alexander

University of Michigan Journal of Law Reform

A policy of public disclosure is as appropriate at the state level as it is at the federal level. There are comparable state agencies for almost all Federal departments concerned with commerce and the public health, safety and welfare. Through licensing and supervisory powers over businesses and individuals, state agencies exercise extensive quasi-legislative and quasi-judicial powers of immediate concern to the public. The resulting rules, records, regulations, orders and opinions serve as both the factual findings and the substantive law of the particular area administered by each agency. Recognizing this need for public disclosure at the state level, the Michigan …

Culp: Discretionary Justice: A Preliminary Inquiry, Albert J. Reiss Jr.

Michigan Law Review

A Review of Discretionary Justice: A Preliminary Inquiry by Kenneth Culp Davis

The Newsman's Privilege: Protection Of Confidential Associations And Private Communications, Wayne C. Dabb Jr., Peter A. Kelly

University of Michigan Journal of Law Reform

The purpose of this comment is to determine whether the confidential associations and-or private communications of a newsman are privileged.

Union Political Involvement And Reform Of Campaign Financing Regulation, George P. Macdonald

University of Michigan Journal of Law Reform

The spiraling costs of political campaigns 5 and the continuing significant role played by unions and corporations in the financing of those campaigns call for an examination of section 610's efficacy as a prohibitory statute. This article will focus on the use of labor union funds in the financial aspects of national politics. It will first discuss the loopholes in section 610: those loopholes created through narrow judicial interpretation of the statute and those resulting from its imprecise drafting. Particular emphasis will be placed upon an analysis of the sources of funds available to unions for political activities and the …

Fortas: Concerning Dissent And Civil Disobedience, Terrance Sandalow, Michael E. Tigar

Michigan Law Review

A Review of Concerning Dissent and Civil Disobedience by Abe Fortas

The Warren Court And The Press, John P. Mackenzie

Michigan Law Review

The conventional wisdom about the relationship between the ·warren Court and the news media runs something like this: With a few exceptions, the press corps is populated by persons with only a superficial understanding of the Court, its processes, and the values with which it deals. The Court has poured out pages of legal learning, but its reasoning has been largely ignored by a result-oriented news industry interested only in the superficial aspects of the Court's work. The Court can trace much of its "bad press," its "poor image," to the often sloppy and inaccurate work of news gatherers operating …

Friendly & Goldfarb: Crime An Publicity: The Impact Of News On The Administration Of Justice, Francis C. Sullivan

Michigan Law Review

A Review of Crime and Publicity: The Impact of News on the Administration of Justice by Alfred Friendly and Ronald L. Goldfarb

The Max-Planck-Institute: Liability Of The State For Illegal Conduct Of Its Organs, Pierre Mathijsen

Michigan Law Review

A Review of Liability of the State for Illegal Conduct of its Organs by The Max-Planck-Institut für Ausländishces Öffentliches Recht und Völkerrecht

Toward Supremacy Of Treaty-Constitution By Judicial Fiat: On The Margin Of The Case, Eric Stein

Michigan Law Review

Increased interdependence of states in modem times has shaken the nineteenth century doctrines of extreme dualism and positivism. These doctrines would build an impenetrable wall between the international and national legal orders; they would elevate the state to the position of exclusive actor and deny the individual any standing in the international legal order; and, in the interpretation of a rule of law, they would exclude any regard for the political, economic, and social context in which the rule is applied.

Review Of The Soviet Legal System And How Russia Is Ruled, Whitmore Gray

Reviews

Is there a legal system in the Soviet Union, and if so, what is its role in post-Stalin Soviet society? The Soviet Legal System for the first time makes it possible for a lawyer or law teacher to plunge directly into a very rich collection of translations of case decisions, statutes and doctrinal commentary. Even without a background in Soviet studies, the authors' valuable commentary and the reader's own legal training should make it possible for him to evaluate the material presented. With the help of the new edition of Fainsod's How Russia Is Ruled he can see the development …

Grzybowski: Soviet Legal Institutions: Doctrines And Social Functions, Isaac Shapiro

Michigan Law Review

A Review of Soviet Legal Institutions: Doctrines and Social Functions. By Kazimierz Grzybowski.

Territorial Courts And The Law: Unifying Factors In The Development Of American Legal Institutions-Pt.Ii-Influences Tending To Unify Territorial Law, William Wirt Blume, Elizabeth Gaspar Brown

Michigan Law Review

With the exception of Kentucky, Vermont, Texas, California, and West Virginia, all parts of continental United States south and west of the present boundaries of the original states came under colonial rule, and were governed from the national capital through territorial governments for varying periods of time. All territories in this area were "incorporated" in the sense that they were destined to become states of the United States. All became states by 1912, leaving only Alaska and Hawaii for future statehood. Now that these territories have become states, it seems desirable to review legal developments in all of these "incorporated" …

Territorial Courts And Law: Unifying Factors In The Development Of American Legal Institutions-Pt.1-Establishment Of A Standardized Judicial System, William Wirt Blume, Elizabeth Gaspar Brown

Michigan Law Review

The United States first became a sovereign nation when individual states of the Confederation ceded to the states collectively their several interests in the lands west of the Appalachians which lay east of the Mississippi, north of Spanish Florida, and south of the Great Lakes. This area had been relinquished by Great Britain by the Treaty of 1783 and, with the exception of Kentucky, now became the property of the United States. It was the first area over which the states as a group had complete sovereignty, subject only to the claims of the various Indian tribes. Colonies fresh from …

Murphy: Congress And The Court, Robert B. Mckay

Michigan Law Review

A Review of Congress and the Court. By Walter F. Murphy

Mcdougal & Feliciano: Law And Minimum World Public Order, Claude B. Mickelwait

Michigan Law Review

A Review of Law and Minimum World Public Order. By Myres S. McDougal and Florentino P. Feliciano

Soviet Legal Institutions: Doctrines And Social Functions, Kazimierz Grzybowski

Michigan Legal Studies Series

This book represents the highlight of a career of scholarship by its author and a most significant contribution to the literature, which will bring to those who seek it an understanding of the role law plays in Soviet Russia. More important, it will bring that understanding in a comparative context which sharpens the impact and compels a careful analysis of the social function legal institutions perform in both systems. Though Soviet jurists may deny the validity of comparative methodology as applied to the Soviet legal order, the analysis which is here presented proves not only that comparisons are possible but …

Legislation On The American Frontier: Adoption Of Laws By Governor And Judges-Northwest Territory 1788-1798: Indiana Territory 1800-1804; Michigan Territory 1805-1823, William Wirt Blume

Michigan Law Review

The Northwest Ordinance of 1787 made provisions for legislation by the territorial government in two stages: (1) adoption of laws by the governor and judges from the laws of the original states, and (2) enactment of statutes by a legislature made up of the governor, a council, and elected representatives. The first method was to be followed until the population should reach 5,000 and the second method thereafter. The present study is limited to the first stage.

International Commission Of Jurists: The Rule Of Law In A Free Society: A Report On The International Congress Of Jurists, William B. Harvey

Michigan Law Review

A Review of The Rule of Law in a Free Society: a Report on the International Congress of Jurists. Geneva, Switzerland: International Commission of Jurists, 1960.