By Lindsay K. Eastman. Full text here. Corporate crime has dominated the news recently, and likely contributed to the United States’ recent financial crisis. After a corporation is convicted of a federal offense, the judge must determine the proper sentence to meet the goals of deterrence, incapacitation, rehabilitation, and just punishment. The United States Sentencing Commission…

By Elise L. Larson. Full text here. An American company recently entered into a contract with the town of Sitka, Alaska to export 2.9 billion gallons of freshwater per year from the Blue Lake Reservoir to an unannounced water hub on the west coast of India. If the venture is successful, the company will become the…

By R. Benjamin Hanna. Full text here. Substantive consolidation is a process in corporate bankruptcy in which the assets of related debtor entities are placed into a single vehicle subject to the undifferentiated claims of all the creditors. Doing so resolves inter-debtor claims and vindicates the interests of creditors who thought they were transacting with a…

By Brad Emmons. Full text here. The Torture Victim Protection Act (TVPA) allows persons who have been subjected to torture or extrajudicial killing to pursue a tort action against “individual[s]” who have committed such actions “under actual or apparent authority, or color of law, of any foreign nation.” In the past decade, activists and human rights…

By Jennifer L. Vainik. Full text here. In comparison to the general population, battered women are much more likely to experience gun violence at the hands of their intimate partners. However, despite an increasing recognition that the government must take special measures to stop gun violence against battered women, current laws remain ineffective at disarming batterers.…

By Emily C. Melvin. Full text here. Medical procedures present a unique challenge to the patent system. Without patents, investors may be unwilling to commit resources to the costly development of new procedures. However, patents on these procedures may decrease public access to the procedures, which may harm society’s interest in accessible medical care. In response…

By Alex Hontos. Full text here. Currently, Congress acquires information from the executive branch through two primary methods: the legislative subpoena or an “invitation” for an executive official to testify. These approaches are inadequate, the former often too blunt and subject to majority control while the latter too lenient and irregular. Increased congressional scrutiny of…

By Shata L. Stucky. Full text here. In 1995, Congress passed the Interstate Commerce Commission Termination Act (ICCTA) in an effort to relieve the railroad industry of burdensome regulation. The ICCTA preempts local land-use regulations that communities formerly used to protect valuable resources such as drinking water supplies. Under some circumstances, the National Environmental Policy Act…

By Daniel J. Iden. Full text here. Companies may decide to leave patented technologies unused for numerous reasons, a great many of them legal. The patent laws confirm a company’s right to let a patent languish, unpracticed by anyone. But companies with patents on alternative technologies may agree to enter into a joint venture: promoting and…

By Nicole M. Murphy. Full text here. Over the past three years, the Federal Circuit has contributed to the rise in inequitable-conduct defenses by failing to apply the doctrine consistently. First, the court broadened the scope of the doctrine’s materiality element to include information unrelated to patentability and failed to offer guidance on how to apply…