State and Local Government Law Commons^™

Takings Liability And Coastal Management In Massachusetts, Melissa Chalek

Marine Affairs Institute Staff Publications

No abstract provided.

The Nature Of Standing, Matthew I. Hall, Christian Turner

Scholarly Works

Standing to raise a claim before a judicial tribunal is notoriously contested. Federal courts during the last century developed an increasingly rule-like and rigid doctrine around the concept of private injury to govern access to the federal forum. Some states followed the federal lead. Others have created important exceptions, and even in federal courts, issues like organizational standing, legislative standing, and standing of qui tam relators have proved controversial. We describe a broader taxonomy of agenda control rules, of which standing rules are a special case, to understand why and how courts and other institutions govern their choices of what …

Fostering States As Laboratories, Myrisha S. Lewis

Popular Media

No abstract provided.

Same Grid, Different Results: Criminal Sentencing Disparities Between Arkansas Counties, Alexis Stevens

Arkansas Law Review

Abraham Davis is a resident of Fort Smith, Arkansas—and a convicted felon. In May of 2017, the Sebastian County Circuit Court, Fort Smith District, charged Davis with criminal mischief in the first degree, as a Class D felony, for purposely destroying the property of another. Davis’s charge resulted in a criminal sentence ranging from as little as probation to as much as 6 years jail time and/or up to $10,000.00 in fines. This sentencing determination is generally allocated to the judge and prosecutor. However, victim intervention persuaded the court to release Davis on probation, sparing him from a much harsher …

Unbuckling The Seat Belt Defense In Arkansas, Spencer G. Dougherty

Arkansas Law Review

The “seat belt defense” has been hotly litigated over the decades in numerous jurisdictions across the United States. It is an affirmative defense that, when allowed, reduces a plaintiff’s recovery for personal injuries resulting from an automobile collision where the defendant can establish that those injuries would have been less severe or avoided entirely had the plaintiff been wearing an available seat belt. This is an unsettled legal issue in Arkansas, despite the growing number of cases in which the seat belt defense is raised as an issue. Most jurisdictions, including Arkansas, initially rejected the defense, but the basis for …

County Of Maui, Hawaii V. Hawaii Wildlife Fund, Rachel L. Wagner

Public Land & Resources Law Review

The Supreme Court of the United States was recently asked to decide whether the Clean Water Act requires a permit for the discharge of pollutants that originate from a point source but are conveyed to navigable waters by a nonpoint source. Vacating the Ninth Circuit’s “fairly traceable” test, the Court held the Clean Water Act requires a permit when there is a direct discharge of pollutants from a point source into navigable waters or when there is the “functional equivalent of a direct discharge.”

Table Of Contents, Seattle University Law Review

Seattle University Law Review

Table of Contents

Innovation In A Legal Vacuum: The Uncertain Legal Landscape For Shared Micro-Mobility, David Pimentel, Michael B. Lowry, Timothy W. Koglin, Ronald W. Pimentel

Journal of Law and Mobility

The last few years have seen an explosion in the number and size shared micro-mobility systems (“SMMS”) across the United States. Some of these systems have seen extraordinary success and the potential benefit of these systems to communities is considerable. However, SMMS have repeatedly ran into legal barriers that either prevent their implementation entirely, confuse and dissuade potential users, or otherwise limit SMMS’s potential positive impact.

This paper reflects a detailed study of state laws relating to SMMS and the platforms commonly used in these systems. The study uncovered many inconsistencies with micro-mobility laws across the country. Currently, many states …

What A Difference A State Makes: California’S Authority To Regulate Motor Vehicle Emissions Under The Clean Air Act And The Future Of State Autonomy, Chiara Pappalardo

Michigan Journal of Environmental & Administrative Law

Air pollutants from motor vehicles constitute one of the leading sources of local and global air degradation with serious consequences for human health and the overall stability of Earth’s climate. Under the Clean Air Act (“CAA”), for over fifty years, the state of California has served as a national “laboratory” for the testing of technological solutions and regulatory approaches to improve air quality. On September 19, 2019, the Trump Administration revoked California’s authority to set more stringent pollution emission standards. The revocation of California’s authority frustrates ambitious initiatives undertaken in California and in other states to reduce local air pollution …

Look To Windward: The Michigan Environmental Protection Act And The Case For Atmospheric Trust Litigation In The Mitten State, Jonathan M. Coumes

Michigan Journal of Environmental & Administrative Law

Failure to address climate change or even slow the growth of carbon emissions has led to innovation in the methods activists are using to push decisionmakers away from disaster. In the United States, climate activists frustrated by decades of legislative and executive inaction have turned to the courts to force the hand of the state. In their most recent iteration, climate cases have focused on the public trust doctrine, the notion that governments hold their jurisdictions’ natural resources in trust for the public. Plaintiffs have argued that the atmosphere is part of the public trust and that governments have a …

As The Role Of The Driver Changes With Autonomous Vehicle Technology, So, Too, Must The Law Change, Nanci K. Carr

St. Mary's Law Journal

Getting a driver’s license is a highly anticipated rite of passage for most teenagers. Being alone behind the wheel, in control of a 3,000-pound machine, is an honor, a privilege, and a sign of adult responsibility. How will that change when driver’s licenses become licenses “to cause technology to engage” with the increased use of autonomous cars? Will driver’s education courses, with their focus on safety rules and defensive driving techniques, be eliminated if all a vehicle operator needs to do is push a button and the vehicle does the rest? While arguably autonomous cars are safer, they will not …

21 In The 21st—An Evaluation Of The Tobacco Regulation Trend, Casey Kellum

St. Mary's Law Journal

Tobacco regulation persists as a controversial issue both legally and politically in the United States. Throughout American history, states rely on local legislation to provide adequate protection to consumers of tobacco products, as “Big Tobacco” targets consumers for its addictive product. One of the most recent amendments in this arena is the state by state decision to raise the minimum legal sales age for tobacco to twenty-one.

Despite rigorous regulation of tobacco products in the United States, however, tobacco remains the leading cause of preventable deaths in the country. These “Tobacco 21” ordinances come at a critical time when the …

Restoring The Presumption Of Innocence: Protecting A Defendant’S Right To A Fair Trial By Closing The Door On 404(B) Evidence, Aaron Diaz

St. Mary's Law Journal

Congress enacted the Federal Rules of Evidence to govern evidentiary procedures and “eliminate unjustifiable expense and delay.” In criminal cases, for example, Federal Rule of Evidence 404(b) seeks to prevent prosecutors from improperly introducing a defendant’s past misdeeds. Nevertheless, prosecutors often attempt to introduce a defendant’s past misconduct to suggest that a defendant has a propensity to commit crimes, which is improper character evidence. Unsurprisingly, 404(b) is one of the most litigated evidence rules and has generated more published opinions than any other subsections of the Rules. And despite efforts to amend Rule 404(b), the rule has remained virtually untouched. …

Pilot Agreements In West Virginia: A Tale Of Turbulent Taxation, Blake N. Humphrey

West Virginia Law Review

No abstract provided.

Forward: State Enforcement In An Interstate World, Margaret H. Lemos

BYU Law Review

“State Enforcement in an Interstate World” is an important topic—fully deserving of all the attention it has received. Past commentators on this topic have generally treated the federal government as a unitary entity. Building on prior work on the subject, this Article explores the polycentric nature of federal regulatory authority and shows how cooperation and rivalry have long been dominant realities of the modern administrative state. The Article discusses how these dynamics complicate analysis of state enforcement in an interstate world and identifies strategies for reducing the frequency and magnitude of the seemingly inevitable conflicts.

State Enforcement In A Polycentric World, David A. Hyman, William E. Kovacic

BYU Law Review

No abstract provided.

A State Is A “They,” Not An “It”: Intrastate Conflicts In Multistate Challenges To The Affordable Care Act, Anthony Johnstone

BYU Law Review

No abstract provided.

The (Surprisingly) Prevalent Role Of States In An Era Of Federalized Class Actions, Linda S. Mullenix

BYU Law Review

In enacting the Class Action Fairness Act of 2005 (CAFA), Congress intended to expand access to the federal courts for interstate class actions by creating minimal diversity and removal jurisdiction. In Section 2 of the Act, “Findings and Purposes,” Congress stated that class action abuses undermined “the concept of diversity jurisdiction as intended by the Framers of the United States Constitution” in that state courts kept cases of national importance out of federal court and sometimes demonstrated bias against out-of-state defendants. Congress stated that a purpose of CAFA was to “restore the intent of the framers of the United States …

The California Coastal Commission’S Efforts To Provide Affordable Overnight Accommodations By Preempting Cities’ Constitutional Police Power, Taylor Smith

BYU Law Review

No abstract provided.

Covid-19 And Domestic Travel Restrictions, Katherine Florey

Notre Dame Law Review Reflection

The strict controls that many jurisdictions, including most U.S. states, established to contain the COVID-19 pandemic have proven difficult to sustain over time, and most places are moving to lift them. Internationally, many plans to ease lockdowns have retained some form of travel restrictions, including the “green zone” plans adopted by France and Spain, which limit travel between regions with widespread community transmission of COVID-19 and those without it. By contrast, most U.S. states lifting shelter-in-place orders have opted to remove limits on movement as well. This Essay argues that this situation is unwise: it tends to create travel patterns …

Recent Developments, Peyton Hildebrand

Arkansas Law Review

The Eighth Circuit upheld preliminary injunctive relief in favor of the plaintiffs who challenged Arkansas's anti-loitering law for violating their free speech rights. Though Arkansas claimed that it would not enforce the anti-loitering statute against "'polite' and 'courteous' beggars like [plaintiffs]," because the law's plain language applied to the plaintiffs' intended activities, they had an objectively reasonable fear of prosecution.' Thus, they had a constitutional injury as required for standing.

Appeal No. 0978: Robert W. Fulton & Valorie S. Fulton V. Division Of Oil & Gas Resources Management, Ohio Oil & Gas Commission

Ohio Oil & Gas Commission Decisions

Review of Chief's Order 2019-115 (EAP Ohio, LLC; K Wallace West Unit)

Appeal No. 0983: Golden Eagle Resources Ii, Llc & Siltstone Resources, Llc V. Division Of Oil & Gas Resources Management, Ohio Oil & Gas Commission

Ohio Oil & Gas Commission Decisions

Review of Chief's Order 2020-87 (Gulfport Appalachia, LLCC; MEC Northwest Unit)

Appeal No. 0987: Rosalie Christman V. Division Of Oil & Gas Resources Management, Ohio Oil & Gas Commission

Ohio Oil & Gas Commission Decisions

Review of Chief's Order 2020-11

Appeal No. 0967: Florence C. Garver Living Trust V. Division Of Oil & Gas Resources Management, Ohio Oil & Gas Commission

Ohio Oil & Gas Commission Decisions

Review of Chief's Order 2018-303

Appeal No. 0975: Robert W. Fulton & Valorie S. Fulton V. Division Of Oil & Gas Resources Management, Ohio Oil & Gas Commission

Ohio Oil & Gas Commission Decisions

Review of Chief's Order 2019-81 (ESP Ohio, LLC; Barrett Unit)

Appeal No. 0977: Robert W. Fulton & Valorie S. Fulton V. Division Of Oil & Gas Resources Management, Ohio Oil & Gas Commission

Ohio Oil & Gas Commission Decisions

Review of Chief's Order 2019-114 (EAP Ohio, LLC; K Wallace East Unit)

Alcohol Prohibition In The New Mexico And Arizona State Judiciaries At 100 Years: The Development Of Law And Shaping Of Society In The Southwest, Joshua Kastenberg

New Mexico Law Review

This article is examines the development of liquor limitation laws in the New Mexico and Arizona territories. The decisions issued by the territorial courts were persuasive on the state supreme courts in the sense that neither Arizona’s nor New Mexico’s justices decided to overturn prior territorial decisions on alcohol. The article analyzes Arizona and New Mexico Supreme Court decisions prior to and during the National Prohibition Act. The period of the National Prohibition Act’s was a time of significant federal law-enforcement action. Doctrines of preemption, incorporation of laws through “reference,” double jeopardy involving prosecutions under federal and state sovereigns, and …

Deutsche Bank Trust Company Americas V. Robert R. Mccormick Foundation: Brief Of Public Law Scholars As Amici Curiae In Support Of Petitioner, Nina Mendelson

Appellate Briefs

Amici are scholars in various fields of public law that bear on federal preemption of state law.<\p>

The Court of Appeals made two decisions in this case with broad significance to the law of federal preemption. The first was that this Court’s general presumption against preemption in construing federal statutes, articulated in Rice v. Santa Fe Elevator Co., 331 U.S. 218, 230 (1947), had no application because bankruptcy has “a history of significant federal presence.” Pet. App. at 33a34a. Nearly every regulatory field has a significant federal presence, and so the Court of Appeals’ misreading of this Court’s preemption …

Governor Northam’S Executive Order 43: One Stone And Two Birds For Virginia Energy Policy, Antonia M. Douglas

Buffalo Environmental Law Journal

No abstract provided.