Volume 65, Number 4 Category
Mass Torts and Due Process
May. 31, 2012—Almost all courts and scholars disfavor the use of class actions in mass tort litigation because class actions infringe on each plaintiff’s control, or autonomy, over the tort claim. The Supreme Court, in fact, has strongly suggested that protecting litigant autonomy is a requirement of due process and has done so in recent decisions concerning...
Delegating Supremacy?
May. 31, 2012—Under the Supreme Court’s preemption doctrine, federal agencies may preempt state law in much the same way that Congress can. While the Supremacy Clause clearly empowers Congress to preempt state law, administrative preemption rests on the undertheorized assumption that Congress may “delegate supremacy” to agencies. This Article challenges the constitutionality of that premise and offers...
Reinventing Sovereignty?: Federalism as a Constraint on the Voting Rights Act
May. 31, 2012—The framers of the U.S. Constitution wrote the Elections Clause to address concerns that the states would fail to call congressional elections and weaken the already fragile new government. The Clause is a delegation of sovereignty from the states to the federal government because, although states select the “time, place, and manner of elections,” Congress...