Megan M. La Belle  “¢ 23 Nov 2011 A short time ago, a three-judge panel of the United States Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit issued its decision in Ass’n for Molecular Pathology v. USPTO (Myriad Genetics), one of the most important patent cases in recent history. The Myriad case addresses the controversial question […]
Fundamental Fairness and the Path from Santobello to Padilla: A Response to Professor Bibas
Josh Bowers “¢ 03 Oct 2011 Almost no one in the legal academy has written more (or better) about guilty pleas and plea bargains than Stephanos Bibas. It is, therefore, fitting that he should author one of the first articles on Padilla v. Kentucky-a guilty-plea decision that may be the most important opinion on the […]
Failing Failed States: A Response to John Yoo
James Thuo Gathii  “¢ 03 Oct 2011 In Fixing Failed States, John Yoo shows why intervening states that seek to massively transform the social, economic, and political framework of failed states aim to do too much and ultimately fail. Yoo proposes that the role of intervening states should be minimal-enforcing power-sharing agreements between competing groups within failed […]
Tweeting to Topple Tyranny, Social Media and Corporate Social Responsibility: A Reply to Anupam Chander
Erika R. George  “¢ 29 Jun 2011 Tunisia. Egypt. Jordan. Bahrain. Yemen. Algeria. Syria. Libya. Iran. As the winds of popular protest blow across North Africa and the Middle East, authoritarian autocratic regimes around the region are anxious. They face increasing risk of removal due to political revolutions. New media plays an important role in […]
Does the Crime Fit the Punishment?: Recent Judicial Actions Expanding the Rights of Noncitizens
Aarti Kohli  “¢ 28 Mar 2011 5:00 a.m., July 2010: Immigration agents arrive at the home of Farhan Ezad, a thirty-five-year-old Pakistani national who has been living in the United States since the age of five. Agents place Ezad in handcuffs in front of his wife and three children, all U.S. citizens, and inform him […]
Regulating Offensiveness: Snyder v. Phelps, Emotion, and the First Amendment
Christina Wells “¢ 05 Oct 2010 IntroductionSince 2005, the Reverend Fred Phelps and other members of the Westboro Baptist Church have outraged almost everyone by protesting near military funerals.[1] In Snyder v. Phelps the Supreme Court will finally decide whether that outrage is actionable.[2] Few people will lose sleep if the Court finds that […]
Liability and the Health Care Bill: An “Alternative” Perspective
Amy Widman “¢Â 21 Sep 2010 The recently passed health care bill1 contains many provisions that deserve celebration. Improving access to care is an important first step. Enhancing patient safety and accountability is an important second step, one that proponents of medical malpractice reform often undermine with attempts to restrict the liability of health care […]
Right Problem; Wrong Solution
Joseph L. Hoffmann and Nancy J. King “¢Â 14 Aug 2010 For the Great Writ of habeas corpus, these are the best of times and the worst of times.In Boumediene v. Bush, the Supreme Court, in a powerful and eloquent majority opinion by Justice Anthony Kennedy, vindicated the right of a non-U.S. citizen, held in […]
Professionalism and Power: Flawed Decision Making by the OLC Exposes a Bar That is Losing Its Moxie
Joseph Lavitt  “¢ 25 May 2010 In recent years, legal scholars and practitioners alike have expressed major misgivings about the advice that the Department of Justice’s Office of Legal Counsel (OLC) provided to former President George W. Bush following the attacks of September 11, 2001. On February 19, 2010, House Judiciary Committee Chairman John […]
Self-Represented Litigants in Family Law: The Response of California’s Courts
Bonnie Hough  “¢ 10 Feb 2010 Approximately two hundred thousand divorce petitions are filed annually in California. Seventy percent of those cases involve at least one self-represented litigant at the beginning of the case.[1] That figure increases to 80 percent by the time of judgment.[2]This is not simply a California issue. Utah, for example, […]