Courts Commons^™

The Viability Of An Insanity Defense In Federal Revocation Proceedings, Donna L. Eng

UF Law Faculty Publications

It's not an uncommon scenario: your client, who suffers from mental health issues, was given a probationary sentence. While on probation, your client stops taking his medication and has a mental breakdown in a public location. The police are called, and instead of just being involuntarily committed pursuant to the Baker Act, your client is also charged with violating the terms of his probation as a result of his interactions with the officers on scene.

The New Federal Circuit Mandamus, Paul R. Gugliuzza

UF Law Faculty Publications

This Article explores an ongoing revolution in the mandamus jurisprudence of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit, the court of appeals with nearly exclusive jurisdiction over patent cases. Before December 2008, the Federal Circuit had never used the interlocutory writ of mandamus to order a district court to transfer a case to a more convenient forum, denying each one of the twenty-two petitions it had decided on that issue. Since that time, however, the court has overturned eleven different venue decisions on mandamus. Remarkably, ten of those eleven cases have come from the same district court, the …

Rethinking Federal Circuit Jurisdiction, Paul R. Gugliuzza

UF Law Faculty Publications

Thirty years ago, Congress created the Federal Circuit for the overriding purpose of bringing uniformity to patent law. Yet less than half of the court’s cases are patent cases. Most Federal Circuit cases involve veterans benefits, government-employment actions, government contracts, and other matters. Although existing literature purports to study the Federal Circuit as an institution, these projects focus largely on the court’s patent cases. This Article, by contrast, considers whether the court’s nonpatent docket might affect the development of patent law and whether the court’s specialization in patent law has consequences for how it decides nonpatent cases.

These inquiries result …

A Review Of When Legal Orders Collide: The Role Of Courts By Sabino Cassese, Kathleen Claussen

Indiana Journal of Global Legal Studies

The growth and interaction of legal orders beyond the state has precipitated considerable interest among scholars and practitioners. The resulting discussion both in the academy and in the upper reaches of government about the intersection of national legal orders with new areas of non-national law has led to various predictions about possible ramifications of this phenomenon. In recent years, the importance of these transnational questions has grown concurrently with the expansive creation and heightened activity of supranational and global organizations.' Some have gone so far as to herald a new global law, and others have elaborated upon its contours.2 Sabino …

Cost As A Sentencing Factor: Missouri's Experiment, Chad W. Flanders

All Faculty Scholarship

In sentencing offenders, should judges take into account the different costs of possible punishments? In 2010, Missouri gave sentencing judges, in addition to information about the nature and severity of the offense and the criminal history of the offender, the price tag of various punishments: prison cost about $17,000 a year, compared to probation, which is much cheaper (about $7000 per year). Judges were allowed, even encouraged, to base their sentences on how much it each sentence would cost the state. The move was a subject of considerable national and local controversy.

This essay represents the first sustained look at …

Runaway Usance: Limiting The Exercise Of The Fugitive Disentitlement Doctrine In The Context Of Wenqin Sun V. Mukasey And Bright V. Holder, Lawrence S. Winsor

Georgia Law Review

The fugitive disentitlement doctrine prevents an evasive
party from obtaining standing in the court whose
authority is evaded. With its 2011 decision in Bright v.
Holder, the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals created a circuit
split regarding whether the fugitive disentitlement
doctrine applies to an alien appealing an adverse
immigration decision that maintained the same address
throughout removal proceedings, this address was known
to the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), and DHS
made no attempt to locate or arrest the alien for failure to
report for removal. Unlike the Ninth Circuit Court of
Appeals' decision in Wenqin Sun v. Mukasey, …

Televising The Supreme Court: Why Legislation Fails, R. Patrick Thornberry

Indiana Law Journal

No abstract provided.

New Paths For The Court: Protections Afforded Juveniles Under Miranda; Effective Assistance Of Counsel; And Habeas Corpus Decisions Of The Supreme Court’S 2010/2011 Term, Richard Klein

Touro Law Review

No abstract provided.

Border Skirmishes: The Intersection Between Litigation And International Commercial Arbitration, S. I. Strong

Faculty Articles

National courts are becoming increas­ingly involved with international commercial arbitration. Although this observa­tion may be disheartening to those who support the autonomy of the international arbitral regime, the continued interaction between courts and tribunals is less troubling to those who view international commercial arbitration as a "hybrid" method of dispute resolution, with numerous opportunities for permissible "border crossings. "

That is not to say that courts can or should become involved with every as­pect of arbitration. Instead, impermissible "border incursions" diminish the effec­tiveness of international commercial arbitration and could erode public or private support for the international arbitral regime. Therefore, …

Saluting Judge Philip Pro's Quarter Century Of Nevada District Service, Carl W. Tobias

Law Faculty Publications

United States District Judge Philip M. Pro recently assumed senior status after more than two dozen years of exemplary service-five as chief judge-on the U.S. District Court for the District of Nevada, the federal trial court that serves the entire state of Nevada. Everyone who knows Judge Pro understands that senior status will not mean semi-retirement for him because he will continue devoting his tremendous energy to assuring that the District of Nevada promptly, inexpensively, and fairly resolves the myriad challenging cases on its docket.

Summary Pre-Judgment: The Supreme Court's Profound, Pervasive And Problematic Presumption About Human Behavior., Michael J. Kaufman

Faculty Publications & Other Works

No abstract provided.

The Eleventh Annual Albert A. Destefano Lecture On Corporate, Securities & Financial Law At The Fordham Corporate Law Center: Are Federal Judges Competent? Dilettantes In An Age Of Economic Expertise, The Honorable Jed Rakoff

Fordham Journal of Corporate & Financial Law

The title of my little talk here tonight is “Are

Federal Judges Competent?” This naturally raises the question of whether I am competent to answer that question. I put this question to myself, and, after careful consideration of both sides of the argument, concluded that I am competent to determine whether I am competent. As H. L. Mencken once said, “A judge is a law student who grades his own exams.”

The Worst Supreme Court Case Ever? Identifying, Assessing, And Exploring Low Moments Of The High Court, Jeffrey W. Stempel

Scholarly Works

No abstract provided.

Foreword:The Federal Circuit At Thirty, Pauline Newman

American University Law Review

No abstract provided.

Tailoring Remedies To Spur Innovation, Sarah R. Wasserman Rajec

American University Law Review

No abstract provided.

The New National Security Canon, Stephen I. Vladeck

American University Law Review

No abstract provided.

War, Terror, And The Federal Courts, Ten Years After 9/11, From The 2012 Annual Meeting Of The Association Of American Law Schools

American University Law Review

No abstract provided.

The Ghost That Slayed The Mandate, Kevin C. Walsh

Law Faculty Publications

Virginia v. Sebelius is a federal lawsuit in which Virginia has challenged President Obama's signature legislative initiative of health care reform. Virginia has sought declaratory and injunctive relief to vindicate a state statute declaring that no Virginia resident shall be required to buy health insurance. To defend this state law from the preemptive effect of federal law, Virginia has contended that the federal legislation's individual mandate to buy health insurance is unconstitutional. Virginia's lawsuit has been one of the most closely followed and politically salient federal cases in recent times. Yet the very features of the case that have contributed …

Introductory Note To The International Court Of Justice: Ahmadou Sadio Diallo (Republic Of Guinea V. Democratic Republic Of The Congo) Compensation Owed By The Democratic Republic Of The Congo To The Republic Of Guinea, Chiara Giorgetti

Law Faculty Publications

On June 12, 2012, the International Court of Justice ("ICJ" or the "Court") ordered the Republic of the Congo ("DRC") to pay the Republic of Guinea ("Guinea") U.S. $95,000 in compensation for material and non-material injury to Guinea's national Ahmadou Sadio Diallo. The Judgment is notable for several reasons. First, the mere fact that the Court fixed an amount of compensation owned to Guinea is relevant, as this is only the second time in the history of the Court that such a measure was adopted. Second, in reaching its decision, the Court relied heavily on decisions of other international courts …

Transtemporal Separation Of Powers In The Law Of Precedent, Randy Beck

Scholarly Works

The rule of stare decisis creates a presumption that a court’s ruling on a legal question remains binding in later decisions by the same court or hierarchically inferior courts. This presumption promotes stability in the law and protects reliance interests. Decisions that narrowly construe or overrule prior opinions can therefore seem like unprincipled threats to the rule of law.

This article seeks to highlight some countervailing themes in the case law, showing that stability and the protection of reliance interests are not the exclusive concerns underlying the law of precedent. The relevant doctrine attempts to balance these objectives with competing …