State and Local Government Law Commons^™

When Inclusion Leads To Exclusion: The Uncharted Terrain Of Community Participation In Economic Development, Audrey Mcfarlane

All Faculty Scholarship

Since the advent of federally-sponsored urban development, the federal government has sought to facilitate decentralized decision-making by local governments. These federal programs have also strongly encouraged local governments to include community participation in the development decision-making process. Participation evokes notions of democracy, egalitarianism, and inclusion and it is easy to support in principle. But participation is often less easy to support in practice because of its structural disconnect with urban development. This disconnect between principle and practice has been reflected in an ebb and flow of contrastingly strong and weak mandates for participation. This ebb and flow of federally-mandated participation …

The Spanish Predominant Language Ordinance: Is Spanish On The Way In And English On The Way Out., Adriana Resendez

St. Mary's Law Journal

El Cenizo's Spanish language ordinance is likely to survive a constitutional challenge. The City Council of El Cenizo’s Spanish language ordinance, however, has generated a significant amount of controversy in the United States. The ordinance stipulates that all city council meetings will be made in the city’s predominant language—Spanish. Critics argue that the ordinance has made Spanish the official language. Critics also argue that the ordinance is discriminatory toward English speakers. English only advocacy groups, such as English First and U.S. English, argue that the ordinance will create a trend across the United States of immigrants refusing to embrace an …

Heci V. Neel: Application Of The Discovery Rule To Damages Arising Out Of Oil And Gas Leases., L. Melanie Martin

St. Mary's Law Journal

Texas landowners face a heavy burden in bringing claims for damages arising out of inherently undiscoverable damages to mineral estates because the statute of limitations starts at the time of injury rather than the time of discovery. Previously, courts adopted the discovery rule as an exception to the statute of limitations, effectively stalling the starting point of the statute of limitations. A two-pronged threshold inquiry is held before the application of the discovery rule. First, the court must determine if the injury is inherently undiscoverable or not detected despite the use of due diligence. Secondly, there must be objectively verifiable …

Whither The Texas Tort Claims Act: What Remains After Official Immunity., J. Bonner Dorsey

St. Mary's Law Journal

Abstract Forthcoming.

Dialogic Federalism: Constitutional Possibilities For Incorporation Of Human Rights Law In The United States, Catherine Powell

Georgetown Law Faculty Publications and Other Works

Discussions about the allocation of authority between federal and subfederal systems in the implementation of international human rights law typically proceed by staking out one of two initial positions. At one end of the spectrum, a traditional constitutional theory takes a restrictive view of state and local authority, envisioning hierarchical imposition of federally implemented international law norms through the federal treaty power and determination of customary international law by federal courts. At the other end of the spectrum, a revisionist theory assumes greater fragmentation and authority reserved to the states based on federalism and separation of powers limits on federal …

Federal Preemption Of State Tort Claims, Marin Roger Scordato

Scholarly Articles

This article explores a continuing disagreement among Justices of the United States Supreme Court regarding the proper doctrinal framework for federal preemption jurisprudence. This important difference in views became apparent in the four federal preemption cases that the Supreme Court decided during its 1999-2000 term. The article describes this critical disagreement among the Justices, places it in the larger context of preemption doctrine, and then carefully analyzes a number of possible resolutions.

Federal preemption is an area of enormous practical and theoretical importance. It is a subject that has earned a regular place on the Supreme Court's docket for many …

Gats' Applicability To Transnational Lawyering And Its Potential Impact On U.S. State Regulation Of Lawyers, Laurel S. Terry

Vanderbilt Journal of Transnational Law

This Article examines the impact of the General Agreement on Trade in Services, or GATS, on legal services, and more specifically on the legal ethics rules in the United States. The Article begins by explaining background information about the global nature of legal services. Then, the Author details the structure and operation of the GATS, including its relevant exemptions, and its applicability to legal services. Next, the Article explores developments that have occurred since the signing of the GATS, including the possible significance to U.S. regulation of the legal profession. Subsequently, the Author identifies remaining questions about the effects of …

W(H)Ither Zschernig?, Carlos Manuel Vázquez

Georgetown Law Faculty Publications and Other Works

The author argues here that a declaration of victory by the critics of the dormant foreign affairs doctrine would be premature. Notwithstanding the Court's citation of Ashwander v. TVA, the actual grounds of the decision in Crosby were in no meaningful sense less "constitutional" in nature than a decision based on the dormant foreign affairs power would have been. Moreover, even though the Court said that its decision was based on a straightforward application of "settled ... implied preemption doctrine," the Court's preemption analysis was anything but ordinary. Indeed, Crosby's version of preemption analysis is subject to the …

How Democratic Are Initiatives?, Richard B. Collins

Publications

No abstract provided.

Introducing Revised Article 9 Of The Uniform Commercial Code, John L. Mccabe, Arthur H. Travers

Publications

No abstract provided.

Campaign Of Sabotage: Big Government's War Against Public Transportation, Michael Lewyn

Scholarly Works

Historically, American politicians have been far more generous to highways than to public transit. The political elite's failure to support public transit is based on the view that despite decades of state and federal support, transit ridership has dwindled. This article criticizes that theory, by explaining that far from promoting public transit, government at all levels has sabotaged transit in a variety of ways: by building highways to suburbs unserved by public transit, by loading down transit systems with unfunded mandates, by using housing, education and tax policy to encourage migration to those suburbs, and by using zoning policy to …

The Rise Of Dispersed Ownership: The Roles Of Law And The State In The Separation Of Ownership And Control, John C. Coffee Jr.

Faculty Scholarship

Recent scholarship on comparative corporate governance has produced a puzzle. While Berle and Means had assumed that all large public corporations would mature to an end-stage capital structure characterized by the separation of ownership and control, the contemporary empirical evidence is decidedly to the contrary. Instead of convergence toward a single capital structure, the twentieth century saw the polarization of corporate structure between two rival systems of corporate governance:

1. A Dispersed Ownership System, characterized by strong securities markets, rigorous disclosure standards, and high market transparency, in which the market for corporate control constitutes the ultimate disciplinary mechanism; and
2. A …

"Never Lay A Salmon On The Ground With His Head Toward The River": State Of Washington Sues Yakamas Over Alcohol Ban, Robert J. Haupt

American Indian Law Review

No abstract provided.

Thou Shalt Not Put A Stumbling Block Before The Blind": The Americans With Disabilities Act And Public Transit For The Disabled, Michael Lewyn

Scholarly Works

The Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), ordered local governments to make bus and train systems more accessible to the disabled, and imposed costly requirements upon local public transit systems - but did not give local governments funds with which to satisfy this mandate. By reducing the funds available to transit systems, the ADA has sometimes forced cutbacks in transit service for everyone including, ironically, the disabled to the extent that disabled people were able to use public transit before the ADA's enactment). Thus, the ADA has occasionally (at least in times of budgetary austerity) been counterproductive. The ADA's inadequacy is …

"Sometimes The Road Less Traveled Is Less Traveled For A Reason": The Need For Change In Georgia's Employment-At-Will Doctrine And Refusal To Adopt The Public Policy Exception, Nancy Baumgarten

Georgia Law Review

This Note calls for the adoption of the public policy exception to the employment-at-will doctrine in the state of Georgia. Georgia employees need a viable claim at the state level since federal relief may not always be an option for a Georgia plaintiff. Furthermore, the adoption of this exception is directly in line with Georgia's policies in other areas of law. Finally, since it is the same employers who have placed Georgia in the bottom twenty-five percent of the nation for the highest rate of job discrimination that can terminate Georgia' employees for reasons which violate public policy, the need …

Government Liability When Cyclists Hit The Road: Same Roads, Same Rights, Different Rules, Emily Hammond

Georgia Law Review

Most jurisdictions recognize that negligent construction and maintenance of streets exposes government entities to liability. Thus, motorists, pedestrians, and motorcyclists who are injured due to road defects are usually not barred from bringing suit. Yet when the courts grapple with similar injuries to bicyclists, the results are best described as a tangled wreck. Modern cycling jurisprudence sends unwary riders careening through inconsistent judicial opinions, questionable statutory interpretations, and unsettled policies. This Note examines the legal treatment of cases in which cyclists are injured by road hazards, covering sovereign immunity, the public duty doctrine, nuisance, tort immunity acts, vehicle codes, and …

Dialogic Federalism: Constitutional Possibilities For Incorporation Of Human Rights Law In The United States Social Movements And Law Reform, Catherine Powell

Faculty Scholarship

Discussions about the allocation of authority between federal and subfederal systems in the implementation of international human rights law typically proceed by staking out one of two initial positions. At one end of the spectrum, a traditional constitutional theory takes a restrictive view of state and local authority, envisioning hierarchical imposition of federally implemented international law norms through the federal treaty power and determination of customary international law by federal courts. At the other end of the spectrum, a revisionist theory assumes greater fragmentation and authority reserved to the states based on federalism and separation of powers limits on federal …

Common Law Tort Immunity For State Officials In West Virginia After The Parkulo V. West Virginia Board Of Probation Decision, Grant P.H. Shuman

West Virginia Law Review

No abstract provided.

Supplemental Brief Of Respondents Al Gore Jr. And Florida Democratic Party, Bush V. Palm Beach County Canvassing Bd., No. 00-836 (U.S. Nov. 30, 2000), Neal K. Katyal, Peter J. Rubin

U.S. Supreme Court Briefs

No abstract provided.

Reply Brief Of Respondents Al Gore, Jr., And Florida Democratic Party, George W. Bush V. Palm Beach County Canvassing Board, No. 00-836 (U.S. Nov. 30, 2000), Neal K. Katyal, Peter J. Rubin

U.S. Supreme Court Briefs

No abstract provided.

Local Government Law, R. Perry Sentell Jr.

Mercer Law Review

The arresting officer established the case and the Defendant, sensing the inevitability of his plight, entered a plea of guilty. The City Court Judge, a compassionate man, ... began his routine of delivering a short lecture on the evils of alcohol .... "Now you see, John, this... is a perfect example of what happens when you start drinking. You go out, you get drunk, you get behind the wheel, and here you are severely injured. By the way, what's your prognosis?" It was apparent ... that [the Defendant] considered the Judge's question to be of utmost importance. However, it was …

Down On The Corner: An Analysis Of Gang-Related Antiloitering Laws, Jocelyn L. Santo

Cardozo Law Review

No abstract provided.

Petition For A Writ Of Certiorari, Calhoun V. Yamaha Motor Corp, No. 00-681 (U.S. Oct 30, 2000), David C. Vladeck

U.S. Supreme Court Briefs

No abstract provided.

How Changes In Property Regimes Influence Social Norms: Commodifying California's Carpool Lanes, Lior Jacob Strahilevitz

Indiana Law Journal

No abstract provided.

The Racial Origins Of Modern Criminal Procedure, Michael J. Klarman

Michigan Law Review

The constitutional law of state criminal procedure was born between the First and Second World Wars. Prior to 1920, the Supreme Court had upset the results of the state criminal justice system in just a handful of cases, all involving race discrimination in jury selection. By 1940, however, the Court had interpreted the Due Process Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment to invalidate state criminal convictions in a wide variety of settings: mob-dominated trials, violation of the right to counsel, coerced confessions, financially-biased judges, and knowingly perjured testimony by prosecution witnesses. In addition, the Court had broadened its earlier decisions forbidding …

Reinventing Structural Reform Litigation: Deputizing Private Citizens In The Enforcement Of Civil Rights, Myriam E. Gilles

Articles

The aim of this Article is to explore the possibility of constructing a model that harnesses the power of private citizens to reform unconstitutional practices, particularly in the critical area of police-related rights violations. I seek here to reintegrate private citizens into the enforcement of public laws; to tap the private experiential and financial resources that were a necessary condition of the great structural reform efforts of the civil rights movement of the 1950s and 1960s.

The vehicle by which I propose to accomplish these ends is a simple, yet novel, amendment to 42 U.S.C. § 14141, the statute which …

Mapping A Labyrinth To Justice: Lessons And Insights From Innovative Legal Services Delivery Methodologies Implemented In The District Of Columbia, Jan A, May

University of the District of Columbia Law Review

No abstract provided.

Legal Needs For The Low-Income Population In Washington, Dc, Lynn E. Cunningham

University of the District of Columbia Law Review

No abstract provided.

Fostering Mutual Respect And Cooperation Between State Courts And State Legislatures: A Sound Alternative To A Tort Tug Of War, Victor E. Schwartz, Mark A. Behrens, Monica G. Parham

West Virginia Law Review

No abstract provided.

2nd Annual Open Government Summit: Department Of The Attorney General, State Of Rhode Island, Department Of The Attorney General, State Of Rhode Island

School of Law Conferences, Lectures & Events

No abstract provided.