Volumes Category
Contract as Commodified Promise
Jan. 18, 2018—Contract as Commodified Promise ABSTRACT Many scholars assume that lawmakers should design contract law with the goal of facilitating commercial promises. But the question of which promises count as commercial remains neglected. This Article argues that this question matters more than one might initially expect. Once we understand commerciality in terms of commodification—roughly, treating something...
Adminization: Gatekeeping Consumer Contracts
Jan. 18, 2018—Adminization Gatekeeping Consumer Contracts ABSTRACT Large companies and debt collectors frequently file unmeritorious claims against consumers. Recent high-profile actions brought by the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau against J.P. Morgan, Citibank, and other large debt collectors illustrate the breadth and importance of this phenomenon. Due to the limited financial power of individuals, consumers often do not...
Borders and Bits
Jan. 18, 2018—Borders and Bits ABSTRACT Our personal data is everywhere and anywhere, moving across national borders in ways that defy normal expectations of how things and people travel from Point A to Point B. Yet, whereas data transits the globe without any intrinsic ties to territory, the governments that seek to access or regulate this data...
Decoding Guilty Minds: How Jurors Attribute Knowledge and Guilt
Jan. 18, 2018—Decoding Guilty Minds ABSTRACT A central tenet of Anglo-American penal law is that in order for an actor to be found criminally liable, a proscribed act must be accompanied by a guilty mind. While it is easy to understand the importance of this principle in theory, in practice it requires jurors and judges to decide what...
Signed, Sealed, Delivered—Not Yours: Why the Fair Labor Standards Act Offers a Framework for Regulating Gestational Surrogacy
Jan. 18, 2018—Signed, Sealed, Delivered ABSTRACT Over the past several decades, gestational surrogacy has emerged as a rapidly growing industry. Such growth has prompted an enormous amount of debate among scholars, human rights advocates, economists, and the media over a wide array of legal and ethical issues. This debate is perhaps most evident in the divergence of...
Restore, Revert, Repeat: Examining the Decompensation Cycle and the Due Process Limitations on the Treatment of Incompetent Defendants
Jan. 18, 2018—Restore, Revert, Repeat ABSTRACT Though correctional facilities are one of the largest providers of mental health care in the country, the treatment provided often fails to address the needs of many mentally ill inmates. Indeed, after receiving treatment at a state mental health facility, many pretrial detainees who have been recently restored to competency revert...
Introduction
Nov. 28, 2017—Introduction AUTHORS Alex Carver J.D. Candidate, 2018, Vanderbilt Law School. B.S. & B.A., 2015, Carson-Newman University Susanna Rychlak J.D., 2017, Vanderbilt Law School. B.A., 2014, University of Mississippi
Introduction: The Effects of Selection Method on Public Officials
Nov. 28, 2017—Introduction The Effects of Selection Method on Public Officials AUTHOR Clayton J. Masterman J.D./Ph.D. in Law and Economics, expected 2019, Vanderbilt Law School
Adjudicating Death: Professionals or Politicians?
Nov. 28, 2017—Adjudicating Death AUTHORS Stephen J. Choi Professor of Law, NYU School of Law Mitu Gulati Professor of Law, Duke University School of Law
The Ideological Consequences of Selection: A Nationwide Study of the Methods of Selecting Judges
Nov. 28, 2017—The-Ideological-Consequences-of-Selection AUTHOR Brian T. Fitzpatrick Professor of Law, Vanderbilt Law School
Judging Law in Election Cases
Nov. 28, 2017—Judging Law in Election Cases AUTHORS Michael S. Kang Thomas Simmons Professor of Law, Emory University School of Law Joanna M. Shepherd Professor of Law, Emory University School of Law
Judicial Reform as a Tug of War: How Ideological Differences Between Politicians and the Bar Explain Attempts at Judicial Reform
Nov. 28, 2017—Judicial Reform as a Tug of War ABSTRACT What predicts attempts at judicial reform? We develop a broad, generalizable framework that both explains and predicts attempts at judicial reform. Specifically, we explore the political tug of war created by the polarization between the bar and political actors, in tandem with existing judicial selection mechanisms. The...
Introduction: Perceived Legitimacy and the State Judiciary
Nov. 28, 2017—Percieved Legitimacy and the State Judiciary AUTHOR G. Alexander Nunn Ph.D. candidate, Yale University; J.D., 2016, Vanderbilt Law School
The Effects of Trial Judge Gender and Public Opinion on Criminal Sentencing Decisions
Nov. 28, 2017—The Effects of Trial Judge Gender and Public Opinion on Criminal Sentencing Decisions ABSTRACT We explore the effects of a trial judge’s gender in criminal sentencing decisions by addressing two unsettled questions. First, do female and male trial judges sentence criminal offenders differently from one another? While numerous qualitative and quantitative scholars have examined this...
Public Perceptions of Gender Bias in the Decisions of Female State Court Judges
Nov. 28, 2017—Public Perceptions of Gender Bias in the Decisions of Female State Court Judges ABSTRACT How are women on the bench, and their decisions, perceived by the public? Many scholars find that gender influences the voting behavior of judges and the assessment of judges by state judicial systems and the American Bar Association. However, few scholars...
Measuring Justice in State Courts: The Demographics of the State Judiciary
Nov. 28, 2017—Measuring Justice in State Courts ABSTRACT For most individuals and organizations, state courts—especially state trial courts—are the “law” for all effective purposes. State courts are America’s courts. But, we know surprisingly little about state court judges despite their central and powerful role in lawmaking and dispute resolution. This lack of information is especially significant because...