Volumes Category
Judicial Laterals
Nov. 28, 2017—Judicial Laterals AUTHOR Jonathan Remy Nash Robert Howell Hall Professor of Law, Emory University School of Law
Introduction: The Power of New Data and Technology
Nov. 28, 2017—The Power of New Data AUTHOR Laura E. Dolbow Judicial Law Clerk on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit. J.D., Vanderbilt Law School; B.A., Vanderbilt University
State Criminal Appeals Revealed
Nov. 28, 2017—State Criminal Appeals Revealed AUTHOR Michael Heise Professor, Cornell Law School Nancy J. King Speir Professor, Vanderbilt University Law School Nicole A. Heise A.B., 2013, Amherst College; J.D. Candidate, 2018, University of Chicago Law School
Contingent Fee Litigation in New York City
Nov. 28, 2017—Contingent Fee Litigation in New York City ABTRACT Since 1957, New York courts have required contingent fee lawyers to file “closing statements” that disclose settlement amounts, lawyers’ fees, an accounting of expenses, and other information. This Article provides a preliminary analysis of these data for the period 2004–2013. Among this Article’s findings are that settlement...
Improving Access to Justice in State Courts with Platform Technology
Nov. 28, 2017—Improving Access to Justice in State Courts with Platform Technology ABSTRACT Access to justice often equates to access to state courts, and for millions of Americans, using state courts to resolve their disputes—often with the government—is a real challenge. Reforms are regularly proposed in the hopes of improving the situation (e.g., better legal aid), but...
Judicial Politics and Decisionmaking: A New Approach
Nov. 28, 2017—Judicial Politics and Decisionmaking ABSTRACT In twenty-five different experiments conducted on over 2,200 judges, we assessed whether judges’ political ideology influences their resolution of hypothetical cases. Generally, we found that the political ideology of the judge matters, but only very little. Across a range of bankruptcy, criminal, and civil cases, we found that the aggregate...
Reverse Political Process Theory
Oct. 7, 2017—Reverse Political Process Theory ABSTRACT Despite occasional suggestions to the contrary, the Supreme Court has long since stopped interpreting the Constitution to afford special protection to certain groups on the ground that they are powerless to defend their own interests in the political process. From a series of decisions reviewing laws that burden whites under...
A Theory of Differential Punishment
Oct. 7, 2017—A Theory of Differential Punishment ABSTRACT A puzzle has long pervaded the criminal law: why are two offenders who commit the same criminal act punished differently when one of them, due to circumstances beyond her control, causes more harm than the other? This tradition of result-based differential punishment—the practice of varying offenders’ punishment based on...
Regulating Business Innovation as Policy Disruption: From the Model T to Airbnb
Oct. 7, 2017—Regulating Business Innovation as Policy Disruption ABSTRACT Many scholars have invoked the term “disruptive innovation” when addressing the platform (sharing) economy, with sweeping claims about the dramatic changes this development promises for law, regulation, and the economy. The challenges raised by the platform economy are surely important, but we argue that recent scholarship focusing on...
Going Postal: Analyzing the Abuse of Mail Covers Under the Fourth Amendment
Oct. 7, 2017—Going Postal ABSTRACT Since at least the late 1800s, the United States government has regularly tracked the mail of many of its citizens. In 2014 alone, for example, the government recorded all data on the outside of the mail parcels of over 50,000 individuals via a surveillance initiative known as the mail covers program. In...
Do Your Job: Judicial Review of Occupational Licensing in the Face of Economic Protectionism
Oct. 7, 2017—Do Your Job ABSTRACT Despite efforts to challenge certain occupational licensing schemes as impermissibly driven by naked economic protectionism, federal appellate courts disagree on the legitimacy owed to the protectionist motivations that commonly prompt these regulations. To eliminate the current confusion, this Note advocates for the application of rational-basis-with-judicial-engagement review. The Supreme Court has demonstrated...
Reciprocal Legitimation in the Federal Courts System
May. 10, 2017—Reciprocal Legitimation in the Federal Courts System ABSTRACT Much scholarship in law and political science has long understood the U.S. Supreme Court to be the “apex” court in the federal judicial system, and so to relate hierarchically to “lower” federal courts. On that top-down view, exemplified by the work of Alexander Bickel and many subsequent...
“Plausible Cause”: Explanatory Standards in the Age of Powerful Machines
May. 10, 2017—“Plausible Cause”: Explanatory Standards in the Age of Powerful Machines ABSTRACT The Fourth Amendment’s probable cause requirement is not about numbers or statistics. It is about requiring the police to account for their decisions. For a theory of wrongdoing to satisfy probable cause—and warrant a search or seizure—it must be plausible. The police must be...
Organizational Law as Commitment Device
May. 10, 2017—Organizational Law as Commitment Device ABSTRACT What is the essential role of the law of enterprise organization? The dominant view among business law scholars today is that organizational law—the law of partnerships, corporations, private trusts, and their variants—serves primarily to structure relations between business owners, on the one hand, and business creditors, on the other....
For What It’s Worth: The Role of Race- and Gender-Based Data in Civil Damages Awards
May. 10, 2017—For What It’s Worth: The Role of Race- and Gender-Based Data in Civil Damages Awards AUTHOR J.D. Candidate, 2017, Vanderbilt University Law School; B.S. & B.A., 2014, University of Florida.
Police Violence Against People with Mental Disabilities: The Immutable Duty Under the ADA to Reasonably Accommodate During Arrest
May. 10, 2017—Police Violence Against People with Mental Disabilities: The Immutable Duty Under the ADA to Reasonably Accommodate During Arrest AUTHOR J.D. Candidate, 2017, Vanderbilt University Law School; B.A., 2012, University of Florida.