Author
The Hidden Dimension of Nineteenth-Century Immigration Law
Oct. 27, 2009—This Article challenges the conventional wisdom that the law had little to say about immigration before 1875. Instead, it offers a reframing of immigration law history as including what scholars have previously thought of as “settlement history”: the immigration of whites to the western territories. The Article focuses on a particular group of immigrants—the so-called...
On the Limits of Supremacy: Medical Marijuana and the States’ Overlooked Power to Legalize Federal Crime
Oct. 27, 2009—Using the conflict over medical marijuana as a timely case study, this Article explores the overlooked and underappreciated power of states to legalize conduct Congress bans. Though Congress has banned marijuana outright, and though that ban has survived constitutional scrutiny, state laws legalizing medical use of marijuana not only survive careful preemption analysis, they constitute...
Star Creation: The Incubation of Mutual Funds
Oct. 27, 2009—Mutual fund incubation is a process by which new funds are initially operated out of public view. The high-performing funds are then marketed to investors, and the low-performing funds are quietly terminated. This selection process is not revealed to investors, thus creating the illusion that the successful funds’ returns were the result of skill rather...
Defending a Social Learning Explanation: A Comment on The Origins of Shared Intuitions of Justice
Jun. 22, 2009—This Response addresses the November 2007 Vanderbilt Law Review Article, The Origins of Shared Intuitions of Justice, by Professors Paul H. Robinson, Robert Kurzban, and Owen D. Jones. The Article reviews empirical evidence that people share surprisingly similar moral inclinations—especially with respect to core social principles like opposition to unprovoked physical harm, the taking of...
Reforming the Legal Ethics Curriculum: A Comment on Edward Rubin’s “What’s Wrong with Langdell’s Method and What To Do About It”
Apr. 30, 2009—This Response addresses Edward Rubin’s March 2007 article “What’s Wrong With Langdell’s Method and What to Do About It,” which discusses the need for curriculum reform in U.S. law schools. He proposes a curriculum overhaul to reform, at a minimum, first-year law school courses, and he advocates that law schools develop more concentrations—programs akin to...
Relative Difference and the Dean Method: A Comment on “Getting the Math Right”
Mar. 30, 2009—This Response critiques a recent Article in the Vanderbilt Law Review, Getting the Math Right: Why California Has Too Many Seats in the House of Representatives, by Professor Paul H. Edelman, on the doctrine of “one person one vote” as applied to congressional apportionment. Professor Edelman discusses the background of “one person one vote” in...
Wrongs Without Recourse: A Comment on Jason Solomon’s Judging Plaintiffs
Nov. 22, 2008—Jason Solomon’s very interesting Article Judging Plaintiffs argues that neither efficient-deterrence theories nor corrective justice theories adequately explain the existence of rules that bar or limit recovery by a tort victim on the ground that she failed to take certain pre-tort steps to protect herself from harm, or failed to take certain post-tort steps in...