Volume 71 Category
Hindsight Bias in Antitrust Law
Oct. 19, 2018—Hindsight-Bias-in-Antitrust-Law AUTHOR: Christopher R. Leslie
The Jim Crow Jury
Oct. 19, 2018—The-Jim-Crow-Jury ABSTRACT: Since the end of Reconstruction, the criminal jury box has both reflected and reproduced racial hierarchies in the United States. In the Plessy era, racial exclusion from juries was central to the reassertion of white supremacy. But it also generated pushback: a movement resisting “the Jim Crow jury” actively fought, both inside and...
The Trouble with Corporate Conscience
Oct. 19, 2018—The-Trouble-with-Corporate-Conscience ABSTRACT: Accomplished corporate law scholars claim that modern businesses need an infusion of morality. Disappointed by conventional regulatory responses to recurring corporate scandal, these scholars argue that corporate conscience provides a more fruitful path to systemic economic reform. In Burwell v. Hobby Lobby, which held that for-profit businesses can claim religious exemptions from general...
Common Sense: Rethinking the New Common Rule’s Weak Protections for Human Subjects
Oct. 19, 2018—Common-Sense-Rethinking-the-New-Common-Rule27s-Weak-Protections-for-Human-Subjects ABSTRACT: Since 1991, the Federal Policy for the Protection of Human Subjects, known as the “Common Rule,” has protected the identifiable private information of human subjects who participate in federally funded research initiatives. Although the research landscape has drastically changed since 1991, the Common Rule has remained mostly unchanged since its promulgation. In an...
Trafficked in Texas: Combatting the Sex-Trafficking Epidemic Through Prostitution Law and Sentencing Reform in the Lone Star State
Oct. 19, 2018—Trafficked-in-Texas-Combatting-the-Sex-Trafficking-Epidemic-Through-Prostitution-Law-and-Sentencing-Reform-in-the-Lone-Star-State ABSTRACT: American law has historically treated prostitution as a victimless crime, a moral trespass between two consenting individuals, rather than a potential act of violence, a product of fraud or coercion. However, growing awareness of the international sex-trafficking epidemic has brought long-settled prostitution law once more under the critical eye of academics and lawmakers...
Bankrupted Slaves
May. 22, 2018—Bankrupted-Slaves ABSTRACT Responsible societies reckon with the pernicious and ugly chapters in their histories. Wherever we look, there exist ever-present reminders of how we failed as a society in permitting the enslavement of millions of black men, women, and children during the first century of this nation’s history. No corner of society remains unstained. As...
Regulating Fintech
May. 22, 2018—Regulating-Fintech ABSTRACT The financial crisis of 2008 has led to dramatic changes in the way that finance is regulated: the Dodd-Frank Act imposed broad and systemic regulation on the industry on a level not seen since the New Deal. But the financial regulatory reforms enacted since the crisis have been premised on an outdated idea...
Plaintiff Cities
May. 22, 2018—Plaintiff-Cities ABSTRACT When cities are involved in litigation, it is most often as defendants. However, in the last few decades, cities have emerged as aggressive plaintiffs, bringing forward hundreds of mass-tort style claims. From suing gun manufacturers for the scourge of gun violence, to bringing actions against banks for the consequences of the subprime mortgage...
The Political Economy of Corporate Exit
May. 22, 2018—The-Political-Economy-of-Corporate-Exit ABSTRACT Corporate political activity is understood to include financial contributions, lobbying efforts, participation in trade groups, and political advertising, all of which give corporations a “voice” in public decisionmaking. This Essay contends that the accepted definition of corporate political activity overlooks the importance of “exit.” Corporations do not need to spend money to exert...
Rethinking Conspiracy Jurisdiction in Light of Stream of Commerce and Effects-Based Jurisdictional Principles
May. 22, 2018—Rethinking-Conspiracy-Jurisdiction-in-Light-of-Stream-of-Commerce-and-Effects-Based-Jurisdictional-Principles ABSTRACT For decades, some courts have been willing to exercise personal jurisdiction over nonresident defendants based solely on the forum contacts of their coconspirators. This practice, termed “conspiracy jurisdiction,” has proven controversial among courts and commentators alike. On one hand, the actions of one member of a conspiracy are ordinarily attributable to other members...
Neuronal Testimonial: Brain-Computer Interfaces and the Law
May. 22, 2018—Neuronal-Testimonial-Brain-Computer-Interfaces-and-the-Law ABSTRACT Scientific researchers have developed a method of using brain-scanning technology to determine if patients in a coma-like condition, known as a “vegetative state,” are conscious despite their inability to communicate verbally or via motor actions. While in a brain scanner, patients “answer” yes-or-no questions by envisioning specific scenarios that activate different parts of...
Consenting to Adjudication Outside the Article III Courts
Apr. 18, 2018—Consenting-to-Adjudication-Outside-the-Article-III-Courts ABSTRACT Article III confers the judicial power on the federal courts, and it provides the judges of those courts with life tenure and salary guarantees to ensure that they decide disputes according to law instead of popular pressure. Despite this careful arrangement, the Supreme Court has not restricted the judicial power to the Article...
Can a Court Change the Law by Saying Nothing?
Apr. 18, 2018—Can-a-Court-Change-the-Law-by-Saying-Nothing ABSTRACT Can an appellate court alter substantive law without writing an opinion? We attempt to answer that question by conducting a novel empirical investigation into how the Federal Circuit has implemented the Supreme Court’s 2014 ruling in Alice v. CLS Bank, the most recent in a series of Supreme Court decisions strengthening patent law’s...
Procedural Design
Apr. 18, 2018—Procedural-Design ABSTRACT The procedural law dictates the sequence of steps that bring a lawsuit from filing to completion. The design of civil procedure in the federal courts is generally described as having the following sequential order: complaint, motion to dismiss, discovery, summary judgment, trial, and finally, appeal. While this is a passable description of the...
Private Benefits in Public Offerings: Tax Receivable Agreements in IPOs
Apr. 18, 2018—Private-Benefits-in-Public-Offerings-Tax-Receivable-Agreements-in-IPOs ABSTRACT Historically, an initial public offering (“IPO”) was a process whereby a company sold all of its underlying assets to the public. A new tax innovation, the “tax receivable agreement” (“TRA”), creates private tax benefits in public offerings by allowing pre-IPO owners to effectively keep valuable tax assets for themselves while selling the rest...
The Constitutional Case for Chevron Deference
Apr. 18, 2018—The-Constitutional-Case-for-Chevron-Deference ABSTRACT Prominent figures in the legal world have recently attacked the doctrine of Chevron deference, suggesting that Chevron is unconstitutional because it interferes with a court’s duty to exercise “independent judgment” when interpreting statutes. This Essay shows that Chevron’s critics are mistaken. Chevron deference, properly understood, does not prevent courts from interpreting statutes. An...