State and Local Government Law Commons^™

Perspectives - William Morrish, Professor Of Urban Ecologies At Parsons The New School For Design, James Hagy

Rooftops Project

How can arts organizations with an aspiration to build their own facilities connect project design both with the broader community and with financial sustainability? The Rooftops Project’s Zulaihat Nauzo and Professor James Hagy talk with William Morrish, Professor of Urban Ecologies at Parsons The New School for Design.

Mens Rea, Criminal Responsibility, And The Death Of Freddie Gray, Michael Serota

Michigan Law Review First Impressions

Who (if anyone) is criminally responsible for the death of Freddie Gray, the 25-year-old African-American man who died from injuries suffered while in the custody of Baltimore police? This question has been at the forefront of the extensive coverage of Gray’s death, which has inspired a national discussion about law enforcement’s relationship with black communities. But it is also a question that may never be fairly resolved for reasons wholly unrelated to the topic of community policing, with which Gray’s death has become synonymous. What may ultimately hamper the administration of justice in the prosecution of the police officers involved …

Zoning As Taxidermy: Neighborhood Conservation Districts And The Regulation Of Aesthetics, Anika S. Lemar

Indiana Law Journal

Over the last thirty years, municipalities across the country have embraced neighborhood conservation districts, regulations that impose design standards at the neighborhood level. Despite their adoption in thirty-five states, in municipalities from Boise to Cambridge, neighborhood conservation districts have evaded critical analysis by legal scholars. By regulating features such as architectural style, roof angle, and maximum eave overhang, conservation districts purport to protect “neighborhood character” or “cultural stability.” Implicit in these regulations is the unsupported assumption that the essential feature of a neighborhood’s character is its architectural design at a single point in time. The unfortunate result is zoning as …

Constitutional Law—Fourth Amendment—State V. Allen: An Effective Alternative To Unconstitutional "Safety Checks" On The State’S Waters, Christian Harrod

University of Arkansas at Little Rock Law Review

No abstract provided.

An Opening For Quid Pro Quo Corruption? Issue Advertising In Wisconsin Judicial Races Before And After Citizens United, Christopher Terry, Mitchell T. Bard

The Journal of Appellate Practice and Process

No abstract provided.

Erie And Preemption: Killing One Bird With Two Stones, Jeffrey Rensberger

Indiana Law Journal

The Supreme Court has developed a standard account of the Erie doctrine. The Court has directed different analyses of Erie cases depending upon whether the federal law in question is in the form of a federal rule (or statute) or is instead a judge-made law. But the cases applying the doctrine are difficult to explain using the standard account. Although the Court and commentators have noted that Erie is a type of preemption, they provide little, if any, rigorous analysis of Erie in light of preemption doctrines. This Article attempts to fill that void, offering an extended analysis of Erie …

Firing Back: State V. Huckelba Takes Aim At Precedent, Impacting The Gun Rights Of North Carolina Citizens, Thomas C. Wolff

North Carolina Central Law Review

No abstract provided.

The Eminent Domain Path Out Of A Public Pension Crisis, Adam Riff

Cardozo Law Review

No abstract provided.

Sign Regulation After Reed: Suggestions For Coping With Legal Uncertainty, Alan C. Weinstein

Law Faculty Articles and Essays

This article discusses Reed v. Town of Gilbert, in which the Court resolved a Circuit split over what constitutes content based sign regulations. We note that Justice Thomas's majority opinion applies a mechanical "need to read" approach to this question, and then explore the doctrinal and practical concerns raised by this approach. Doctrinally, we explore the tensions between Thomas's "need to read" approach and the Court's current approach of treating some regulation of speech as content-neutral despite the fact that a message must be read to determine its regulatory treatment. A prime example being the Court's "secondary effects" doctrine. …

The Fallacy Of Judicial Supermajority Clauses In State Constitutions, Sandra B. Zellmer, Kathleen Miller

Faculty Law Review Articles

No abstract provided.

Reinventing The Core U.S. Technology Through The Push Of New Regulation Leveraging Market Pull, Steven Ferrey

Suffolk University Law School Faculty Works

Unilateral Presidential executive action is now used to implement new law and regulation, without participation of the Congress pursuant to Article I of the Constitution. Such actions create a visible and controversial legal confrontation regarding separation of powers. Certain unilateral executive action examined in this article is forcing technological and environmental change which is fundamentally transforming society. This article critically analyzes the revolutionary maelstrom forged by the interface of unilateral executive regulatory orders, law, and the ‘invisible hand’ of market dynamics on climate change.

After 800 years of Greenhouse Gas concentration levels hovering in the atmosphere between 175-250 part per …

Appeal No. 0895: Gary L. Teeter Revocable Trust, V. Division Of Oil & Gas Resources Management And R.E. Gas Development, Llc, Ohio Oil & Gas Commission

Ohio Oil & Gas Commission Decisions

Chief's Order 2014-544 (R.E. Gas Development, LLC; Grunder North Unit)

Sign Regulation After Reed: Suggestions For Coping With Legal Uncertainty, Alan Weinstein, Brian Connolly

All Maxine Goodman Levin School of Urban Affairs Publications

This article discusses Reed v. Town of Gilbert, in which the Court resolved a Circuit split over what constitutes content based sign regulations. We note that Justice Thomas's majority opinion applies a mechanical "need to read" approach to this question, and then explore the doctrinal and practical concerns raised by this approach. Doctrinally, we explore the tensions between Thomas's "need to read" approach and the Court's current approach of treating some regulation of speech as content-neutral despite the fact that a message must be read to determine its regulatory treatment. A prime example being the Court's "secondary effects" doctrine. Practically, …

Have We Legalized Corruption? The Impacts Of Expanding Municipal Authority Without Safeguards In Toronto And Ontario, Stanley M. Makuch, Matthew Schuman

Osgoode Hall Law Journal

This article discusses the importance of rule of law values such as predictability, certainty, equality, and procedural safeguards in controlling corruption at the municipal level of government and how those values are being replaced by political and economic values such as efficiency, discretion, responsiveness, and need. Particular attention is placed on how this change in values may lead to corruption and abuse of power in planning and other decisions made by municipal governments.

Lessons From Institutional Shareholder Services: Governing Benefit Corporations' Third-Party Standard, Tammi S. Etheridge

Michigan Business & Entrepreneurial Law Review

Almost one hundred years ago, Henry Ford, as CEO of the Ford Motor Company, announced a plan to cease payment of special dividends to shareholders. Instead, the company would reinvest its profits to employ more workers and build more factories. Investing in new workers and factories would cut the cost of cars and make them affordable to more people. Ford publicly declared that his “ambition [was] to employ still more men, to spread the benefits of this industrial system to the greatest possible number, to help them build up their lives and their homes. To do this we are putting …

Appeal No. 0903: Dover-Atwood Corporation, V. Division Of Oil & Gas Resources Management, Ohio Oil & Gas Commission

Ohio Oil & Gas Commission Decisions

Chief's Order 2015-120; Chapman #1 Well

Appeal No. 0872: Stonebridge Operating Co. V. Division Of Oil & Gas Resources Management, Ohio Oil & Gas Commission

Ohio Oil & Gas Commission Decisions

Review of Chief's Order 2014-237 & 2014-263 (Gifford Unite #2 Well)

Appeal No. 0884: Stonebridge Operating Co. V. Division Of Oil & Gas Resources Management, Ohio Oil & Gas Commission

Ohio Oil & Gas Commission Decisions

Review of Chief's Order 2014-237 & 2014-263 (Gifford Unite #2 Well)

Koontz V. St. Johns River Water Management District: Can Environmental Impact Analysis Preserve Sustainable Development From The New Reach Of The Supreme Court's Exactions Jurisprudence?, Patrick F. Carroll

Pace Environmental Law Review

The United States Supreme Court has raised the legal standard for a municipality to use land use exactions for sustainable development. Land use exactions frequent local government affairs and occur when a government demands a dedication of land or money in exchange for a municipal approval, such as a permit. Koontz v. St. Johns River Water Management District found certain proposed government exactions for land use permits as “demands” on the applicant and required a “‘nexus' and ‘rough proportionality’ between the property that the government demands and the social costs of the applicant's proposal,” regardless of whether the exaction was …

The Tyranny Of Plastics: How Society Of Plastics, Inc. V. County Of Suffolk Prevents New Yorkers From Protecting Their Environment And How They Could Be Liberated From Its Unreasonable Standing Requirements, Albert K. Butzel, Ned Thimmayya

Pace Environmental Law Review

Ever since the Court of Appeals of New York issued its holding in the landmark case Society of Plastics Industry, Inc. v. County of Suffolk, citizen oversight of government-approved and government projects with environmental implications has suffered curtailment inconsistent with the objectives of the State Environmental Quality Review Act (SEQRA). At the center of the conflict between SEQRA and citizen enforcement are the restrictive standing requirements formulated by Society of Plastics, which include the demand that a petitioner demonstrate harm distinct from injury to the general public. Not only does such a prerequisite for consideration of a case's merits ignore …

Relief Under A Defective Municipal Contract In Ohio, George D. Vaubel

Akron Law Review

Th rapidly increasing tempo of concern for urban problems is giving rise to an ever-expanding range of literature devoted to their possible solution. Even in what might be considered a backwater of interest, the problems of municipal contracting, periodic examinations have taken place. Unfortunately, these have been undertaken almost exclusively by legal commentators, as most courts have been reluctant to make reassessments in a field in which the law at best must be considered to be largely an outgrowth of nineteenth century problems, thinking, and decisions. A recent case decided by the Ohio Supreme court, Pincelli v. Ohio Bridge Corp. …

Application Of Ohio Post-Conviction Procedure - Effect Of Prior Judgment On.; Coley V. Alvis, Thomas A. Geraci Jr.

Akron Law Review

In the per curiam decision of Coley v. Alvis' the United States Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit reversed an Ohio District Court decision dismissing Coley's petition for habeas corpus for failure to exhaust his state remedies. The circuit Court remanded, stating that it would be futile for petitioner to attempt to void his conviction under the Ohio post-conviction statute because of the narrow limits placed on it by the state courts and that there was consequently no longer any effective state remedy. Since the grounds that petitioner set forth to sustain his writ did not fall within any …

The Ohio Supreme Court's Traffic Court Rules: A Beginning Of Procedural Rule-Making, James G. France

Akron Law Review

With a simple one-page announcement on November 14, 1967, the Supreme Court of Ohio assumed not only the power of control, but, in a sense, responsibility for, the operations of one of the most variegated collections of minor courts in the country.' The occasion was its adoption of uniform rules of practice in traffic matters for all courts inferior to the court of common pleas. In so doing it joined a limited group of some eight states, led by New Jersey, which dared to enter a potential quagmire dominated by local politicians, traffic safety zealots, civil libertarians and assorted publicity …

Ohio's Post-Conviction Appeal Remedy, Timothy J. Murty

Akron Law Review

Ohio has recently adopted legislation intended to provide a prisoner with a means of testing, in the court which originally imposed sentence, the constitutional validity of his sentence. This legislation is intended to provide a remedy which will supplement the writ of habeas corpus. Jurisdiction in habeas corpus proceedings lies in the court of the county in which the prisoner is confined. In recent years the courts located in counties containing state correctional institutions have been deluged with habeas corpus petitions.

Criminal Responsibility: Knowledge, Will And Choice, Robert J. Willey

Akron Law Review

The Court acknowledged that the M'Naghten formula was the recognized test for insanity, that it was a test of criminal responsibility rather than a medical test of insanity, that it has been followed in a classic fashion, that each doctor had compressed his final conclusion into the required M'Naghten strait jacket, and that the defense had proved by the greater weight of the evidence that the defendant was not guilty by reason of insanity.

Both of these courts claimed to be following M'Naghten, though the Colby court decried its present use, and the Keaton court approved an instruction that included …

It's Not Just Ferguson: Missouri Supreme Court Should Consolidate The Municipal Court System, Thomas Harvey, John Mcannar, Michael-John Voss, Joshua Feinzig, Chris Mcallister

All Faculty Scholarship

The Missouri Supreme Court's unprecedented decision to take control of Ferguson's Municipal Court was based primarily on issues raised during sustained protest following the killing of Mike Brown and reports published by ArchCity Defenders and the Department of Justice. These reports highlighted racial disparity in traffic stops, excessive revenue generation, and excessive warrants and arrests and confirmed the lived experiences of poor and Black people in St. Louis: there is a racially discriminatory and profit-driven approach to law enforcement made possible only by the collaborative efforts of local government, police, and courts.

These condemned practices are not unique to Ferguson. …

Appeal No. 0891: Green Circle Growers, Inc., V. Division Of Oil & Gas Resources Management, Ohio Oil & Gas Commission

Ohio Oil & Gas Commission Decisions

Chief's Order 2014-412

Appeal No. 0904: Royalty Enterprises, Inc., V. Division Of Oil & Gas Resources Management, Ohio Oil & Gas Commission

Ohio Oil & Gas Commission Decisions

Chief's Order 2015-119; Shah-Shah-Patel #2 Well

Appeal No. 0897: Ponderosa Consulting Services, V. Division Of Oil & Gas Resources Management, Ohio Oil & Gas Commission

Ohio Oil & Gas Commission Decisions

Chief's Order 2014-94

Appeal No. 0898: Central, Ohio Oil, Inc., V. Division Of Oil & Gas Resources Management, Ohio Oil & Gas Commission

Ohio Oil & Gas Commission Decisions

Chief's Decision (Application to Operate Facility)