Note: From Deference to Restraint: Using the Chevron Framework to Evaluate Presidential Signing Statements
By David C. Jenson. Full text here. Presidential signing statements are creeping into judicial opinions with increasing frequency, leading to a resurgence of interest in the issue and several attempts, by Congress and others, to limit the use of signing statements or to challenge their constitutionality. This Note contends that the paramount separation of powers concern…
Continue ReadingNote: Fruit of the Poison Tree: A First Amendment Analysis of the History and Character of Intelligent Design Education
By Todd R. Olin. Full text here. Since the famous Scopes Trial in 1925, religious groups have struggled to introduce into public school science education a theory of human origin predicated on a supernatural creator. The latest theory to challenge evolution is Intelligent Design. Although this theory makes no explicit reference to religion or God, it…
Continue ReadingNote, Pharmacist Refusals: Dispensing (With) Religious Accomodation Under Title VII
By Amy Bergquist. Full text here. Pharmacists with greater frequency are refusing to fill certain prescriptions on religious grounds. These employees contend that Title VII of the Civil Rights Act requires pharmacies to accommodate refusing pharmacists by allowing other pharmacists to fill objectionable prescriptions. Some employers embrace this view and accommodate refusing pharmacists by sending customers…
Continue ReadingNote: "Don't Read This If It's Not For You": The Legal Inadequacies of Modern Approaches to E-mail Privacy
By Joshua L. Colburn. Full text here. E-mail has become the cheap and reliable replacement for many forms of business and personal communication. Despite a lack of any significant advances in privacy laws or software, lawyers have surrendered their once vocal privacy concerns in favor of efficient communication. In an effort to minimize any remaining privacy…
Continue ReadingNote: Evaluating the Integraty of Biotechnology Research Tools: Merck v. Integra and the Scope of 35 U.S.C. § 271(e)(1)
By Michael R. Mischnick. Full text here. Patents are critical in the biotechnology and pharmaceutical sectors. However, patents have inhibited competition in certain instances. For example, until the 1980s, pioneer drug companies benefited from a de facto “patent term windfall” because generic manufacturers could not begin the regulatory approval process of their generics until after…
Continue ReadingNote: From House to Home: Creating a Right to Early Lease Termination for Domestic Violence Victims
By Anne C. Johnson. Full text here. Domestic violence remains one of society’s most pervasive and complicated problems. Among the complexities lies a victim’s difficult decision to leave an abuser. In an overwhelming majority of states, domestic violence victims also face the financial burden of terminating their residential leases when deciding to flee abuse. Such monetary…
Continue ReadingNote: Establishing a Substantial Limitation in Interacting with Others: A Call for Clearer Guidance from the EEOC
By Lisa M. Benrud-Larson. Full text here. Congress enacted the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) with the goal of providing clear and consistent standards for eliminating discrimination against persons with disabilities. To be disabled within the meaning of the ADA, a person must have a physical or mental impairment that substantially limits a major life activity.…
Continue ReadingNote: Meet Me at the (West Coast) Hotel: The Lochner Era and the Demise of Roe v. Wade
By Jason A. Adkins. Full text here. Long-standing constitutional precedents can be overturned when the original holdings have become “unworkable.” This principle, first articulated in Planned Parenthood of Southeastern Pennsylvania v. Casey and repeated by now-Chief Justice Roberts in his confirmation hearings, provides a creative means for overturning the most controversial precedent of all: Roe…
Continue ReadingNote: Compulsory Process and the War on Terror: A Proposed Framework
By Megan A. Healy. Full text here. The War on Terror has presented numerous questions never before examined in our constitutional jurisprudence. The challenges imposed on our legal system since 9/11 compel the judiciary to protect constitutional rights in the most difficult of circumstances. One of these challenges requires our civilian criminal justice system to reconcile…
Continue ReadingNote: Clear Support or Cause for Suspicion? A Critique of Collective Scienter in Securities Litigation
By Kevin M. O’Riordan. Full text here. This Note takes the position that emerging collective scienter theory may bar courts from attributing liability for securities fraud under SEC Rule 10b-5 directly to a corporation. Recent developments under the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act (PSLRA) seek to strengthen pleading standards in securities litigation by requiring that a…
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