Note: Fine-Tuning the Tax Whistleblower Statute: Why Qui-tam Is Not a Solution
By Sung Woo “Matt” Hu. Full text here. Under the Internal Revenue Code, tax whistleblowers can be rewarded up to thirty percent of the collected proceeds when the IRS successfully collects delinquent amounts from tax evaders based on the information provided by those whistleblowers. However, whistleblowers are left with no remedy if the IRS decides not…
Continue ReadingNote: Treating the Disease or Punishing the Criminal? Effectively Using Drug Court Sanctions To Treat Substance Use Disorder and Decrease Criminal Conduct
By Caitlinrose Fisher. Full text here. Drug courts have been on the rise for the past few decades, providing an alternative criminal supervision system for individuals struggling with addiction and drug dependence. Drug courts provide an intensive supervision model by responding swiftly to probation violations with a series of graduated sanctions. Assuming that drug courts are…
Continue ReadingNote: Your Local Solar Panel Store: Developing State Laws To Encourage Third-Party Power Purchase Agreements and Distributed Generation
By Sam D. Bolstad. Full text here. Solar panels’ high upfront capital costs are the primary hurdle to widespread installation by homeowners and towns. Solar panel companies are addressing this challenge through third-party power purchase agreements (PPAs), wherein a company pays for these costs when it installs the solar panels on-site at the customer’s location.…
Continue ReadingUnpacking Patent Assertion Entities (PAEs)
By Christopher A. Cotropia, Jay P. Kesan, & David L. Schwartz. Full text here. There is tremendous interest in a certain type of patent litigant—the often-called patent assertion entity (PAE), non-practicing entity (NPE), patent monetization entity (PME), or simply patent troll. These PAEs are the subject of a recent Government Accountability Office report, a possible Federal…
Continue ReadingDeath Delayed Is Retribution Denied
By Russell L. Christopher. Full text here. Does death row incarceration for upwards of thirty years or more impermissibly impose the suffering of additional punishment or permissibly bestow the benefit of death delayed and thus the enjoyment of life extended? Most commentators conceive of it as an unconstitutional additional punishment that is either cruel and unusual…
Continue ReadingDisclosing Big Data
By Michael Mattioli. Full text here. This Article reveals that the law is failing to adequately encourage producers of “big data” to disclose their most innovative work to the public. “Big data” refers to a new industrial and scientific phenomenon that holds the potential to transform diverse industries—from medicine, to energy, to online services. At the…
Continue ReadingMore Is More: Strengthening Free Exercise, Speech, and Association
By John D. Inazu. Full text here. Prominent scholars have suggested that one important means of strengthening the First Amendment is by limiting its protections to “core” interests. Philip Hamburger has asserted the argument most forcefully. His generalized worry is that expanding the coverage of First Amendment rights can shift absolute protection of a defined core…
Continue ReadingBondholders and Securities Class Actions
By James J. Park. Full text here. Prior studies of corporate and securities law litigation have focused almost entirely on cases filed by shareholder plaintiffs. Bondholders are thought to play little role in holding corporations accountable for poor governance that leads to fraud. This Article challenges that conventional view in light of new evidence that bond…
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