Note: When Added Hurdles Cause Actual Prejudice: Exempting Knowing-Use-of-Perjured-Testimony Claims from Brecht Analysis on Collateral Review
By Melanie A. Johnson. Full text here. The knowing use of perjured testimony is considered one of the most serious constitutional trial errors established in Brady v. Maryland. Yet, due to an unresolved gap in habeas jurisprudence, circuits courts have split on the materiality standard required for a habeas petitioner to bring such a claim on…
Continue ReadingNote: Venerunt, Viderunt, Vicerunt Venue: How TC Heartland and In re Cray Have Conquered Patent Venue for Corporate Defendants and How Congress Can Balance the Scales of Patent Venue Justice
By Peter Estall. Full text here. Venue in patent infringement suits is governed not by the general venue statute, 28 U.S.C. § 1391, but by its own statute, 28 U.S.C. § 1400(b). Section 1400(b) provides for venue in either the district the defendant “resides” or where it has “a regular and established place of business.” Until the…
Continue ReadingNote: Coerced into Health: Workplace Wellness Programs and Their Threat to Genetic Privacy
By Julia Wolfe. Full text here. Abstract: “Workplace wellness programs have proliferated in recent years, thanks to a convergence of forces: the Affordable Care Act, steeply rising medical costs, and high rates of obesity and chronic illness. While aiming to lower healthcare costs and increase employee productivity, these initiatives raise troubling privacy concerns, specifically in…
Continue ReadingNote: The Ghost of Salary Past: Why Salary History Inquiries Perpetuate the Gender Pay Gap and Should be Ousted as a Factor Other Than Sex
By Torie Abbott Watkins. Full text here. Abstract: “When filling out job applications, employers routinely ask, “how much money did you make at your last job?” This discrete question has come under judicial scrutiny as women begin to find out one thing: they are making less money than their male counterparts based on their salary history…
Continue ReadingNote: Superfund and Tort Common Law: Why Courts Should Adopt a Contemporary Analytical Framework for Divisibility of Harm
By Joshua M. Greenberg. Full text here. Abstract: “This Note discusses the Supreme Court’s 2009 Burlington Northern decision and the impact that it had on divisibility defenses to cost recovery actions under the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act (CERCLA). It surveys the thirty-three post-Burlington Northern cases dealing with apportionment of harm and concludes that…
Continue ReadingNote: Recognizing Transgender, Intersex, and Nonbinary People in Healthcare Antidiscrimination Law
By Derek Waller. Full text here. Abstract: “Transgender people face frequent discrimination in healthcare by both providers and insurers. Insurers often deny them coverage for transition-related and routine “sex-specific” services. Even those who can access healthcare services struggle to find in-network physicians who will provide care in a way that respects their sexual and gender identity.…
Continue ReadingNote: Licensing Liability: Responding to Judicial Expansion of Antitrust Enforcement in North Carolina Dental
By Lesley E. Roe. Full text here. Abstract: “With the Supreme Court’s 2015 decision in North Carolina Dental v. FTC, the legal exposure of 1790 state occupational licensing boards expanded dramatically. In North Carolina Dental, the Supreme Court held that, under certain circumstances, state licensing boards are subject to the prohibitions of federal antitrust law. Licensing…
Continue ReadingNote: Late for an Appointment: Balancing Impartiality and Accountability in the IRS Office of Appeals
By David Hahn. Full text here. Abstract: “The Internal Revenue Service (“IRS”) Office of Appeals employs a cadre of individuals to preside over “collection due process” hearings. These hearings are meant to avoid litigation in the United States Tax Court by resolving disputes internally. “CDP officers” exercise significant authority and discretion over taxpayers’ cases, and…
Continue ReadingNote: I Get By with a Little Help from My 750-Dollar-Per-Tablet Friends: A Model Act for States to Prevent Dramatic Pharmaceutical Price Increases
Note: I Get By with a Little Help from My 750-Dollar-Per-Tablet Friends: A Model Act for States to Prevent Dramatic Pharmaceutical Price Increases By Alexander Walsdorf. Full Text Here. What can be done to prevent pharmaceutical companies from dramatically increasing the price of their drugs or other products? The past few years have seen multiple…
Continue ReadingNote: Mayo, Myriad, and a Muddled Analysis: Do Recent Changes to the Patentable Subject Matter Doctrine Threaten Patent Protections for Epigenetics-Based Inventions?
By Mike Sikora. Full text here In articulating the Mayo test for patentable subject matter under 35 U.S.C. § 101, the Supreme Court effectively replaced decades of judicial tests with a single streamlined analysis. Large-scale invalidations of software, business method, and communications patents swiftly followed, yet biotechnology patents have largely been spared. Even so, it may simply be…
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