By Darryn Cathryn Beckstrom. Full text here. In 2006, the Supreme Court held in Garcetti v. Ceballos that public employees are not entitled to First Amendment protection for speech arising from their official duties. The Court declined to address whether Garcetti’s holding applied to academic speech, and consequently, lower courts are unclear about whether academics employed…

By Jordan D. Shepherd. Full text here. Human rights litigation under the Alien Tort Statute (ATS) has increased dramatically in the past few decades. Due to actions of a host of players around the world, this struggle for rights and remedies is dependent upon the rules of domestic court systems. Within U.S. civil litigation, two key…

By Ryan P. Kelley. Full text here. The international response to acts of maritime piracy around Somalia requires a credible foundation in international law. Naval patrols from nearly every world power lack accurate and well-reasoned jurisdictional mandates necessary to carry out their duties effectively. They want for this essential legal complement because their states fail to…

By Cory G. Kalanick. Full text here. In the aftermath of the Supreme Court’s decision in Citizens United, nonprofit organizations originally designed to promote social welfare interests have become the latest loop­hole for political financiers to bypass campaign finance regulations. The federal regime of campaign finance laws—designed to prevent corruption and preserve the integrity of our…

By Elsa M. Bullard. Full text here. Domestic violence asylum applicants have spent years struggling to demonstrate they are a particular social group within the meaning of refugee statutes and thus worthy of asylum in the United States. Recent statements by the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and a favorable outcome for the applicant in In…

By Jamie L. Kastler. Full text here. This Note addresses the Delaware courts’ treatment of waste claims at the demand stage of derivative litigation. Recent Delaware opinions indicate that waste is part of the fiduciary duty of good faith. This means that directors are not protected from claims of waste by section 102(b)(7) exculpation clauses…

By Christopher A. Pinahs. Full text here. A necessary requirement for federal diversity jurisdiction is that the amount in controversy exceeds $75,000. Injunctions, however, are not a sum certain, and courts often struggle to value this intangible form of relief for purposes of diversity jurisdiction. Further compounding this problem is the fact that injunctions often differentially…

By Maisa Jean Frank. Full text here. Jury selection proceeds differently in each state. Though not constitutionally mandated, each jurisdiction allows attorneys to exercise peremptory challenges as part of the process. During the past sixty years, members of the legal profession have consistently called into question the validity of this practice. Supreme Court jurisprudence gives selected…

By Emily Gleiss. Full text here. Currently, state statutes that govern guardian ad litem appointments for children in custody disputes fail to protect the due process rights of parents. Focused solely on the best interests of children, these laws provide few safeguards against the infringement of parents’ rights to the care, custody, and control of their…

By Timothy M. Sullivan. Full text here. The credit rating agencies remain under intense scrutiny amidst the current financial crisis. Congress is currently considering multiple proposals to alter the federal regime for regulating rating agencies. Meanwhile, large-scale investors such as the California Public Employees Retirement Services (CalPERS) have commenced major litigation to recover losses allegedly suffered…