Courts Commons^™

Neither Safe, Nor Legal, Nor Rare: The D.C. Circuit’S Use Of The Doctrine Of Ratification To Shield Agency Action From Appointments Clause Challenges, Damien M. Schiff

Seattle University Law Review

Key to the constitutional design of the federal government is the separation of powers. An important support for that separation is the Appointments Clause, which governs how officers of the United States are installed in their positions. Although the separation of powers generally, and the Appointments Clause specifically, support democratically accountable government, they also protect individual citizens against abusive government power. But without a judicial remedy, such protection is ineffectual—a mere parchment barrier.

Such has become the fate of the Appointments Clause in the D.C. Circuit, thanks to that court’s adoption—and zealous employment—of the rule that agency action, otherwise unconstitutional …

The Future Of The Agricultural Industry – Is Blockchain A New Beginning?, Ryan Bisel

Seattle University Law Review

As we advance into a digital era, we begin to depend on technological innovations to rapidly help develop and update processes and methods within different industries. Blockchain technology—popularized by cryptocurrency—is slowly making its debut in the agricultural supply chain. Implementing a blockchain requirement for suppliers would be beneficial because it would allow agricultural suppliers and distributors to track their products in a more efficient manner. However, there are four potential legal issues that are foreseeable: (1) preemption, (2) overlapping regulatory authority, (3) applying current legal rules to new technology, and (4) contracting. This Note will specifically focus on issues of …

The Promise Of Senior Judges, Marin K. Levy

Faculty Scholarship

Judges, lawmakers, and scholars have long debated whether the federal courts of appeals are understaffed and, if so, how Congress should go about redressing that fact. Even though there is currently a strong argument that some new judgeships should be created, such a path presents logistical complications. If a significant number of seats are added to the appellate bench, circuits may eventually become too large to function well. And if a significant number of circuits are ultimately split, the total number of federal appellate courts may become too large for the judiciary as a whole to function well. Furthermore, there …

Judges As Superheroes: The Danger Of Confusing Constitutional Decisions With Cosmic Battles, H. Jefferson Powell

Faculty Scholarship

No abstract provided.

What Happens In State Court Stays In State Court Comity And The Relitigation Exception To The Anti-Injunction Act, Juan Antonio Solis, Rory Ryan

FIU Law Review

No abstract provided.

Amen Over All Men: The Supreme Court’S Preservation Of Religious Rights And What That Means For Fulton V. City Of Philadelphia, Christopher Manettas

Journal of Race, Gender, and Ethnicity

No abstract provided.

“Born Under My Heart”: Adoptive Parents’ Use Of Metaphors To Make Sense Of Their Past, Present, And Future, Lucas Hackenburg, Toni Morgan, Eve Brank

Center on Children, Families, and the Law: Faculty Publications

Metaphors provide the opportunity to make sense of our experiences and share them with others. The current research qualitatively examined interviews with adoptive parents who had adopted through intercountry or private adoptions. Throughout their interviews, each participant used at least one metaphor in describing their experiences of adopting and raising their child. Overarchingly, the metaphor of “Adoption is a journey” encapsulated parents’ experiences. To demonstrate the journey, parents used metaphors to describe the past, present, and future. Metaphors of the past focused on their child’s trauma and the origin of how the child came to join their family. Metaphors used …

Dismantling Policing For Profit: How To Build On Missouri's Post-Ferguson Court Reforms, Samuel Lev Rubinstein

University of Michigan Journal of Law Reform

This Note argues that legal reforms enacted after the 2014 Ferguson, Missouri uprising are insufficient to address the problem of using courts as revenue generators and the related problem of predatory policing. Reforms to date have merely capped how much money towns can raise from their courts; they have not fixed the perverse incentive problem, which allows towns like Ferguson to extract wealth from vulnerable, low-income residents through the court system. This Note argues that towns should be required to remit the money their courts raise to a state education fund, which puts legal separation between the entity collecting the …

Benevolent Exclusion, Anna Offit

Faculty Journal Articles and Book Chapters

The American jury system holds the promise of bringing commonsense ideas about justice to the enforcement of the law. But its democratizing effect cannot be realized if a segment of the population faces systematic exclusion based on income or wealth. The problem of unequal access to jury service based on socio-economic disparities is a longstanding yet under-studied problem—and one which the uneven fallout of the COVID-19 pandemic only exacerbated. Like race- and sex-based jury discrimination during the peremptory challenge phase of jury selection, the routine dismissal of citizens who face economic hardship excludes not only people but also the diversity …

Evolution Of Legal Topics, Rights And Obligations In The United States, Roberto Rosas

Faculty Articles

What new constitutional rights does the American Legal system have to offer? The United States Constitution is a document that continues to be interpreted every year. The Supreme Court hears recent cases with the purpose of interpreting the meaning of the Constitution. Since the creation of the Supreme Court, the Constitution has been analyzed in different ways – some interpretations lasting decades and some amendments going through changes depending on the different ideologies of the Justices on the Court.

This article discusses some of the rights established by the Supreme Court from 2016 to 2019 and provides the background as …

Assumed Facts And Blatant Contradictions In Qualified-Immunity Appeals, Bryan Lammon

Georgia Law Review

When a district court denies qualified immunity at summary
judgment, defendants have a limited right to immediately
appeal that decision. In Johnson v. Jones, the U.S. Supreme
Court held that courts hearing these appeals have jurisdiction
to address only whether the facts the district court took as true
in denying immunity amount to a clearly established violation
of federal law. They lack jurisdiction to look behind the facts
that the district court assumed were true to see whether the
evidence supports those facts. Despite this seemingly clear rule,
defendants regularly flout Johnson’s jurisdictional limits,
taking improper appeals that create extra …

Reconstructing The Voting Rights Act: Subnational Action And Voting Rights Post-1965, Sean M. Holly

Honors Theses

The discussion of suffrage and the development of the U.S. electorate is misguidedly based solely around federal action; constitutional amendments and federal legislation are commonly revered as primary determinants of the right to vote. This tendency poses a specific problem with contemporary discussions of the Voting Rights Act of 1965. Specifically, discussions of the VRA ignores the ability of subnational actors to innovate politically and readjust their vehicles of political development in the wake of federal supposition of state powers. The Voting Rights Act did not destroy state authority regarding the right to vote; it merely disrupted their vehicles of …

Two Steps Forward, One Step Back? An Attempt To Cure Due Process Paranoia, Louis Yi Hang Lau

Singapore Law Journal (Lexicon)

Time, cost and quality. These are the qualities that an efficient arbitration must have. In recent times, however, the arbitral process has struggled to maintain this balance, with the efficiency of the arbitral process rated among the top five worst characteristics of international arbitration. The fact that parties may resort to a curial review of arbitral awards in an annulment or refusal of enforcement action merely adds on to this delay.

Accrual Of Cause Of Action In Negligence: Ipp Financial Advisers Pte V Saimee Bin Jumaat, Gary Kok Yew Chan

Singapore Law Journal (Lexicon)

Damage is the gist of the action in negligence. An action in negligence is said to accrue only when damage arises. The precise timing of the damage is an important factor in an application to strike out a claim in negligence on the ground that it was filed out of time contrary to the Limitation Act. Consequently, the lawsuit may have to be initiated within a specified period from the accrual of the cause of action.

Do Algorithms Dream Of Mistaken Contracts? Supreme Court Case Summary: Quoine Pte Ltd V B2c2 Ltd, Lokman Bin Mohamed Rafi Hakim

Singapore Law Journal (Lexicon)

Can an agreement which is formed purely through the operation of algorithms be considered a binding contract? If so, can such a contract be unilaterally cancelled because of a mistake, where such mistake resulted in trades being concluded at 250 times the market rate? This was the question before the Court of Appeal (“CA”) in the case of Quoine Pte Ltd v B2C2 Ltd [2020] SGCA(I) 2.

The Impossibility Defence: Supreme Court Case Summary: Han Fang Guan V Public Prosecutor, Kwang Chian Lee

Singapore Law Journal (Lexicon)

In Han Fang Guan v Public Prosecutor [2020] SGCA 11, the Court of Appeal (“CA”) clarified the law regarding “impossible attempts”, which are attempts to commit an offence that could not possibly have been consummated in the circumstances. The accused Han Fang Guan (“Han”) was charged with the capital charge of attempting to possess one bundle containing not less than 18.62g of diamorphine (also known as heroin) for the purpose of drug trafficking, an offence under section 5(1)(a) read with section 5(2) and section 12 of the Misuse of Drugs Act (Cap 185, 2008 Rev Ed) (“MDA”).

The Limits To Freedom To Contract: Supreme Court Case Summary: Leiman, Ricardo V Noble Resources Ltd, Jia Xin Tan

Singapore Law Journal (Lexicon)

In line with the principle of freedom to contract, the courts will give effect to the intention of the parties in creating their contract, and also hold them to their duty to perform their primary obligations under such contract. However, where the contracting parties agree to vest certain decision-making powers to a specific (non-judicial) entity, to what extent may a court review the exercise of powers by such entity?

Form Or Substance? Excluding Liability For Misrepresentation, Zhi Jia Koh

Singapore Law Journal (Lexicon)

Exclusion of liability for misrepresentation has long been controversial. There are many ways in which one could go about doing it, namely, through express exclusion of liability clauses, entire agreement clauses, non-reliance clauses, and maybe even basis clauses. The key question is whether such clauses are subject to s 3 of the Misrepresentation Act, which prevents a contracting party from escaping liability when it is unreasonable to do so. Notably, English jurisprudence has taken the view that any term that excludes liability for misrepresentation in effect would be subject to the test of reasonableness. Singapore appears to be moving in …

The Presumption Of Innocence: A Golden Thread Always To Be Seen, Mark Zi Han Chia

Singapore Law Journal (Lexicon)

Although the presumption of innocence is fundamental to the modern criminal justice system, there is little clarity on what it is and how it applies. This essay argues that “innocence” in the criminal justice system should be confined to legal innocence and not factual innocence. Accordingly, the presumption of innocence should be confined to presuming the legal innocence of an accused. It follows then that the presumption of innocence cannot apply to any part of the criminal process apart from the trial itself. Further, jurisprudentially, given that the presumption of innocence is best understood as a procedural aspect of the …

Elections During Covid-19: Welcome Clarifications, Unanswered Questions, Joel Wei Xuan Fun

Singapore Law Journal (Lexicon)

On 10th July 2020, Singapore held its Parliamentary Elections, while in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic. Elections have been similarly held elsewhere during this pandemic, and suffice to say that the pandemic, and its resulting implications, have raised various interesting legal questions in some of these jurisdictions.1 To that end, a wide range of regulations and rules pertaining to elections have also been passed in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. In some jurisdictions, such as certain states in the United States, voting by mail was allowed with no excuse required, so as to prevent the further spread of COVID19 …