State and Local Government Law Commons^™

Connecticut Cities, Towns Cutting Red Tape Amid Covid-19 Crisis, Sara C. Bronin

Cornell Law Faculty Publications

Over the last two weeks, Governor Ned Lamont has issued two executive orders that have brought sweeping changes in the way municipalities across Connecticut function in the COVID-19 era. This short piece summarizes the changes in the executive orders as they relate to municipal procedures and decision-making.

States’ Evolving Role In The Supplemental Nutritional Assistance Program, David A. Super

Georgetown Law Faculty Publications and Other Works

States have always been crucial to the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP, formerly food stamps). Even though the federal government has paid virtually all the program’s benefit costs, state administration has always been indispensable for several reasons. State and local governments pay their staff considerably less than the federal government, making state administration less expensive. States already administer other important antipoverty programs, notably family cash assistance and Medicaid, allowing them to coordinate the programs and minimize repetitive activities. And states have somewhat lower, and less polarizing, political footprints than does the federal government, moderating criticism of the program. In addition, …

The Federal Sentencing Guidelines: A Guideline To Remedy Ohio's Sentencing Disparities For White-Collar Criminal Defendants, Joelle Livorse

Cleveland State Law Review

Over the past few decades, white-collar crimes have significantly increased across the country, especially in Ohio. However, Ohio’s judges are ill-equipped to handle the influx of cases. Unlike federal judges who are guided by the U.S. Sentencing Commission’s Federal Sentencing Guidelines, Ohio’s judges have significantly more sentencing discretion because the Ohio legislature provides minimal guidance for these crimes. As a result, Ohio’s white-collar criminal defendants are experiencing dramatic sentencing variations. To solve this problem, Ohio should look to the Federal Sentencing Guidelines and neighboring states to adopt and create an innovative sentencing model tailored to white-collar crime. Unlike the federal …

Sherman's Missing "Supplement": Prosecutorial Capacity, Agency Incentives, And The False Dawn Of Antitrust Federalism, Daniel E. Rauch

Cleveland State Law Review

When the Sherman Act passed in 1890, it was widely expected that it would operate primarily as a "supplement" to vigorous state-level antitrust enforcement of state antitrust statutes. This did not happen. Instead, confounding the predictions of Congress, the academy, and the trusts themselves, state antitrust enforcement overwhelmingly failed to take root in the years between 1890 and the First World War. To date, many scholars have noted this legal-historical anomaly. None, however, have rigorously or correctly explained what caused it. This Article does.

Using historical and empirical research, this Article establishes that the best explanation for the early failure …

Conclusion: A Way Forward, Peter B. Edelman

Georgetown Law Faculty Publications and Other Works

Where do we go next? I have three suggestions. One is to enlarge the frame of our work on poverty and race, including a focus on the ever-widening chasm of inequality, and all of it pressing toward the center stage of national attention. A second is to consolidate our work about income, jobs, and cash assistance into a unified frame, which I call a three-legged stool. And the third is to think from a perspective of place, and what that tells us about our antipoverty work.

We need a banner, a message, a theme, a politics for ending poverty. The …

Brief Of Amici Curiae Michael L. Rosin, David G. Post, David F. Forte, Michael Stokes Paulsen, And Sotirios Barber In Support Of Presidential Electors, David F. Forte, Michael L. Rosin, David G. Post, Michael Stokes Paulsen, Sotirios Barber

Law Faculty Briefs and Court Documents

The Framers of the Constitution crafted the Electoral College to be an independent institution with the responsibility of selecting the President and Vice-President. Therefore, they intended each elector to exercise independent judgment in deciding whom to vote for. A state cannot revise the Constitution unilaterally by reducing the elector to a ministerial agent who must vote in a particular way or face a sanction. The question of each elector’s moral or political obligation is not before the Court. Nor is the desirability of the current electoral system. Rather, this case turns on what the Constitution allows, and what it prohibits. …

Abortion Case May Not Overturn Roe, But Could Effectively Nullify It, A. Benjamin Spencer

Popular Media

No abstract provided.

Congressional Power To Guarantee State Democracy, Benjamin Plener Cover

Articles

No abstract provided.

The Race To The Middle, William Magnuson

Notre Dame Law Review

How does federalism affect the quality of law? It is one of the fundamental questions of our constitutional system. Scholars of federalism generally fall into one of two camps on the question. One camp argues that regulatory competition between states leads to a “race to the bottom,” in which states adopt progressively worse laws in order to pander to powerful constituencies. The other camp, conversely, argues that regulatory competition leads to a “race to the top,” incentivizing states to adopt progressively better laws in the search for more desirable outcomes for their constituencies. Despite their apparent differences, however, both the …

Putting Texas Back In Texas Hold 'Em, Scott Sloan

Student Scholarship

Texas takes pride in its unique Western heritage and its adventurously independent spirit. However; the Texas Legislature has spurned a widely popular and uniquely Texan pastime, Texas Hold 'E. Despite praising Texas's cultivation of Texas Hold 'Em, Texas low condemns participation in the game to the secrecy of Texans homes. Tronically, while maintaining an allegedly strict stance against commercial gambling, Texas manages its own lottery and administers pari-mutuel wagering on dog and horse racing tracks.

In a futile attempt to exploit perceived loopholes in Texas's private-gambling exception, some Texans have opened businesses, dubbed "Private Card Rooms" that invite individuals to …

The Dormant Commerce Clause And State Clean Energy Legislation, Kevin Todd

Michigan Journal of Environmental & Administrative Law

This Note analyzes recent litigation concerning the constitutionality of state renewable portfolio standards (RPSs) and similar environmental legislation designed to promote clean energy. It begins with a discussion of the current state of both federal and state responses to climate change. From there, it analyzes several legal challenges to state RPSs and other climate-related laws that focus on potential violations of the dormant Commerce Clause. It concludes with a brief exploration of how these cases fit the history and purpose of the dormant Commerce Clause. The Note argues that a narrow view of the doctrine is consistent with the purpose …

Medical And Mental Health Implications Of Gestational Surrogacy And Trends In State Regulations On Compensated Gestational Surrogacy: A Report Submitted To The New York State Legislature, Steven Spandorfer, Allison Petrini, Sital Kalantry

Cornell Law Faculty Publications

As the New York State legislature considers legalizing compensated gestational surrogacy this legislative session, this report provides insight into (1) the impact of surrogacy on the medical and mental health of women who become surrogates and the children born through gestational surrogacy, and (2) how other state legislatures have addressed compensated gestational surrogacy in recent years.

Medical research demonstrates that there is significant growth in gestational surrogacy in the United States. The number of families working with gestational surrogates has quadrupled in the new millennium. Weill Cornell Medicine physicians and medical students reviewed the published literature on the medical and …

Shared Histories: The Feminist And Gay Liberation Movements For Freedom In Public, Elizabeth Sepper, Deborah Dinner

University of Richmond Law Review

This Symposium on the fiftieth anniversary of the Stonewall Rebellion presents the opportunity to evaluate the regulation and deregulation of gender and sexuality in public space. In 1969, LGBTQ people erupted against policing, harassment, and exclusion in public spaces. While they had engaged in earlier, smaller protests and reforms, Stonewall ignited a mass gay liberation movement and sparked popular awareness of LGBTQ people’s civil rights struggles. LGBTQ activists demanded their rights to express identity, associate with one another, and engage in queer behavior. That same year, the newly burgeoning feminist movement also launched protests and called for women’s equality in …

From The Mattachine Society To Megan Rapinoe: Tracing And Telegraphing The Conformist/Visionary Divide In The Lgbt Rights Movement, Kyle C. Velte

University of Richmond Law Review

From the beginning of the LGBT civil rights movement, there has been an intracommunity debate concerning strategies and tactics to effect legal and social change. On one end of the spectrum, the lesbian and gay organizations of the 1950s—the Mattachine Society and the Daughters of Bilitis—advocated an assimilationist strategy that sought tolerance rather than full acceptance and integration. The tactics to affect this strategy are best described as conservative and conventional—to look and act as “straight” as possible in order to convince courts, legislatures, and the public that lesbians and gay men should be left alone rather than fired from …

Framing Legislation Banning The "Gay And Trans Panic" Defenses, Jordan Blair Woods

University of Richmond Law Review

This Article, prepared for the University of Richmond Law Reviewsymposium commemorating the fiftieth anniversary of the Stonewall Riots of 1969, uses the Stonewall Riots as an opportunity to analyze and theorize the political dimensions of legislation banning the gay and trans panic defenses. As a moment of resistance to state violence against LGBTQ people, the Stonewall Riots are a useful platform to examine the historical and current relationship between the state and the gay and trans panic defenses. Drawing on original readings of medical literature, this Article brings the historical role of the state in the growth of gay …

Building Queer Families And The Ethics Of Gestational Surrogacy, Kimberly Mutcherson

University of Richmond Law Review

Throughout American history, government has used the law to deny some citizens the right to create or sustain families with children to show contempt for those citizens. As LGBT people fought for dignity, equality, and justice from Stonewall to the present, one of the greatest success stories of that fight is the change in how the law defines and protects families. Into the 1990s, people in samesex relationships had cause to fear that their sexual orientation could be used to deprive them of custody of their children. Now, many states, through statute or case law, routinely recognize two parents of …

Lgbt Rights In The Fields Of Criminal Law And Law Enforcement, Carrie L. Buist

University of Richmond Law Review

In couching this discussion within the theoretical and practical application of queer criminology, this Essay will highlight the marginalization of LGBTQ+ folks and explore the impact that intersectionality has on the experiences of the LGBTQ+ community with special attention on law enforcement. For example, queer criminology studies the persistent distrust that the LGBTQ+ community has of police as well as the experiences of LGBTQ+ identified police officers and other agents within the criminal legal system. Further, as the current Administration continues to roll back the rights and liberties of the LGBTQ+ community, there must be a focus on how past …

Gender Stereotypes And Gender Identity In Public Schools, Dara E. Purvis

University of Richmond Law Review

Given the changing interpretation of Title IX, both statutory and constitutional arguments supporting the right of public school students to express their gender in any manner contrary to traditional gendered norms have renewed vitality. In the decades since Stonewall, students facing school discipline for nonconforming gender presentation that violated school dress codes have attempted to challenge the dress codes as violating their First Amendment free expression rights. Tracing these arguments is not only helpful as a historical exercise, but also to present alternative arguments under an unsympathetic presidential administration and Supreme Court. In today’s world in which the Trump administration …

Queering Reproductive Justice, Marie-Amélie George

University of Richmond Law Review

Queer reproductive justice applies the reproductive justice movement’s principles to queer needs and interests. The reproductive justice movement differs from the reproductive rights struggle by emphasizing that reproductive rights are about much more than whether and how to terminate a pregnancy.3 Founded in the mid- 1990s by feminists of color, this movement adopted a holistic approach to reproductive rights. As advocates argued, people’s ability to exercise personal bodily autonomy, decide to have or not have children, and raise any children they had were also reproductive rights concerns. Reproductive justice work thus encompasses a range of topics, including accessing sex education …

Acknowledgements, Athena M. Dufour

University of Richmond Law Review

No abstract provided.

Dead Hand Vogue, Anthony Michael Kreis

University of Richmond Law Review

For decades, courts read employment antidiscrimination laws’ prohibition of sex discrimination to exclude gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender workers’ sexual orientation and gender identity discrimination claims—purportedly because the claims were not linked to employees’ status as a man or a woman. And while significant doctrinal developments have afforded some gender-nonconforming persons critical workplace safeguards under sex antidiscrimination laws, many older decisions that deemed sexual orientation and transgender discrimination claims to be outside the ambit of sex discrimination still control. These decades-old precedents all suffer from the same analytical error: a failure to adhere to the principle that antidiscrimination law does …

Riding The Storm Out After The Stonewall Riots: Subsequent Waves Of Lgbt Rights In Family Formation And Reproduction, Colleen Marea Quinn

University of Richmond Law Review

This Article will explore how LGBT family formation has evolved since the Stonewall Riots. The primary means for LGBT families to build their families, other than traditional intercourse between a man and a woman, were and continue to be through adoption and Assisted Reproductive Technologies (“ART”). In the world of assisted reproduction, typically a lesbian couple or a single woman use donor sperm, either known or unknown, coupled with artificial insemination. Gay men traditionally utilize a traditional or true surrogate (who is genetically related to the child) along with artificial insemination using the sperm of an intended father. As medical …

Packing And Unpacking State Courts, Marin K. Levy

William & Mary Law Review

When it comes to court packing, questions of “should” and “can” are inextricably intertwined. The conventional wisdom has long been that federal court packing is something the President and Congress simply cannot do. Even though the Constitution’s text does not directly prohibit expanding or contracting the size of courts for political gain, many have argued that there is a longstanding norm against doing so, stemming from a commitment to judicial independence and separation of powers. And so (the argument goes), even though the political branches might otherwise be tempted to add or subtract seats to change the Court’s ideological makeup, …

The Secret Sauce Of Ballot Initiative Approval: Eliminating Issues Within Arkansas's Pre-Circulation Review, Nancy Smith

Arkansas Law Review

As Justice Thurgood Marshall once said, “Where you see wrong or inequality or injustice, speak out, because this is your country. This is your democracy. Make it. Protect it. Pass it on.” Democracy is essential to the American political system. Direct democracy, however, exists in only twenty-four states. Known as citizen lawmaking, direct democracy allows citizens to place constitutional amendments and statutes on statewide ballots without legislative support or intervention. It places power directly into the hands of citizens through a petition process that cumulates in voters making the ultimate decision.

Dankruptcy: When The Green Runs Out, Marijuana Debtors Have Few Options, Jorge J. Rodriguez

Arkansas Law Review

The legalized marijuana industry is lucrative but surrounded with uncertainties. The divergence between state and federal law has pushed this industry into a state of limbo. Furthermore, at the federal level, the lack of enforcing the prohibition has only exacerbated the uncertainty. Historically, the federal government has taken a very relaxed approach and allowed marijuana businesses to operate with minimal interference. As a result, there is a thriving legalized marijuana industry operating throughout the majority of the United States. However, there are many obstacles which plague and threaten the future of this relatively young industry. Of particular importance, and the …

Appeal No. 0951: Jeffrey Paczewski V. Division Of Oil & Gas Resources Management, Ohio Oil & Gas Commission

Ohio Oil & Gas Commission Decisions

Review of Chief's Order 2017-452 (Peters Unit; Antero Resources Corporation)

Appraising Policy: A Taxonomy Of Ex Ante Impact Assessments, Aaron Hurd

Indiana Journal of Constitutional Design

In the pursuit of better policy, many nations have turned to Impact Assessments as a potential solution. However, in order to make Impact Assessments as effective and impactful as possible, governments must think critically about which body should write Impact Assessments and what should go into these documents. In this Paper, I survey different Impact Assessment structures and the various government bodies formed to draft or review them. After completing this survey, I conclude that presidential and parliamentary systems should form their Impact Assessment offices differently in order to complement their differing governmental structures. While presidential systems would be best …

Event Program, Emory Law Journal

Randolph W. Thrower Symposium

Full event program for the 39th Annual Randolph W. Thrower Symposium held on Thursday, February 6th 2020 at the Emory University School of Law.

Standing In The Way Of Parental Rights--The Texas Supreme Court Resolves Courts Of Appeals Split In Favor Of Nonparents, Madison Bertrand

SMU Law Review Forum

No abstract provided.

In Re Cook And The Franklin Proceeding: New Door, Same Dilapidated House, Christopher Hawthorne, Marisa Sacks

Loyola of Los Angeles Law Review

The California Supreme Court’s decision in In re Cook was supposed to bring about a sea change in the way trial courts conduct Franklin mitigation hearings for youthful offenders. In fact, while Cook changed the procedure for initiating a post-conviction Franklin proceeding, little else has changed, including the lack of agreement among attorneys concerning best practices in these proceedings, and a less than less-than-enthusiastic response from the criminal defense bar. Absent any guidance from higher courts, the Franklin proceeding is limited by the personal and institutional energies and preferences of judges, prosecutors, public defenders and private defense counsel. The authors …