Note: Jurisprudential Innovation or Accountability Avoidance? The International Criminal Court and Proposed Expansion of the African Court of Justice and Human Rights
By Kristen Rau. Full text here. From Nuremburg to The Hague, international criminal justice has evolved dynamically and at times unpredictably. Among recent developments is a proposal to expand the subject matter jurisdiction of the African Court of Justice and Human Rights (ACJHR) to include a mandate to prosecute individuals for serious international crimes. Expansion of…
Continue ReadingOriginalism and Political Ignorance
By Ilya Somin. Full text here. Original meaning originalism may now be the most popular version of constitutional theory in the legal academy. The methodology has been endorsed by at least two Supreme Court justices and well-known scholars from across the political spectrum. Original meaning is usually interpreted as focusing on the public understanding of the…
Continue ReadingWater Bankruptcy
By Christine Klein. Full text here. Many western states are on the verge of bankruptcy, with debts exceeding assets. And yet, they continue to take on additional debt through contracts and other commitments. Although such distress may sound like an outgrowth of the 2008 recession, this crisis involves water, not money. In particular, the problem concerns…
Continue ReadingTechnological Leap, Statutory Gap, and Constitutional Abyss: Remote Biometric Identification Comes of Age
By Laura K. Donohue. Full text here. Federal interest in using facial recognition technology (FRT) to collect, analyze, and use biometric information is rapidly growing. Despite the swift movement of agencies and contractors into this realm, however, Congress has been virtually silent on the current and potential uses of FRT. No laws directly address facial recognition—much…
Continue ReadingThe Use and Abuse of Special-Purpose Entities in Public Finance
By Steven L. Schwarcz. Full text here. States in the American federal system increasingly are raising financing by issuing bonds through special-purpose entities. Although this represents a significant portion—in some cases, the majority—of state financing, relatively little is known or has been written about these entities. This Article examines state special-purpose entities, comparing them to special-purpose entities used…
Continue ReadingNote: Warrantless Search Cases Are Really All the Same
By Will Stancil. Full text here. Fourth Amendment jurisprudence confounds. Even with thousands of cases and hundreds of repeated fact patterns to rely on, courts are not able to come up with consistent rules. In order to address the problem, this Note proposes a new way of thinking about warrantless searches. It ignores the debate over…
Continue ReadingNote: It Can Do More Than Protect Your Credit Score: Regulating Social Media
By Nathan J. Ebnet. Full text here. A growing number of employers are factoring job candidates’ social media profiles into their hiring decisions. Employers value social media pre-employment screening because it provides access to previously unobtainable applicant information. However, job candidates are wary of social media pre-employment screening due to concerns over the trustworthiness and authenticity…
Continue ReadingNote: Judicial Review of SEC Rules: Managing the Costs of Cost-Benefit Analysis
By Rachel A. Benedict. Full text here. In the past seven years, the D.C. Circuit has vacated three Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) rules for failing to conduct an adequate cost-benefit analysis. This string of cases culminated on July 11, 2011 when the D.C. Circuit overturned the SEC’s new proxy access rule. Strict judicial scrutiny of…
Continue ReadingThe Political Economy of Climate Change Winners
By J.B. Ruhl. Full text here. Many people and businesses in the United States will receive market and nonmarket benefits from climate change as it moves forward over the next one hundred years. Speaking of climate change benefits is not for polite “green” conversation, but ignoring them—as climate policy dialogue and legal scholarship consistently have—will not…
Continue ReadingForum Competition and Choice of Law Competition in Securities Law After Morrison v. National Australia Bank
By Wulf A. Kaal & Richard W. Painter. Full text here. In Morrison v. National Australia Bank Ltd., the U.S. Supreme Court in 2010 held that U.S. securities laws apply only to securities transactions within the United States. The transactional test in Morrison could be relatively short lived because it is rooted in geography. For cases…
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