International Sale of Goods Article
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Candace Zierdt and Kristen David Adams, International Sale of Goods, 75 Bus. Law. 2729 (2020)Clicking on the button will copy the full recommended citation.
Articles
Rethinking Segregation Article
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Paul Boudreaux, Rethinking Segregation, 2020 Mich. St. L. Rev. 983 (2020)Clicking on the button will copy the full recommended citation.
In this time of high racial tensions, it is worth revisiting the debate over de facto housing segregation. For more than half a century, from the Fair Housing Act of 1968 through the recent Supreme Court decision in Inclusive Communities, law has ostensibly set a goal of housing integration. How can we assess this goal in an age when most Americans live in expanding suburbs? This Article analyzes the traditional assumptions about segregation and concludes that: (1) the longstanding perception that Black Americans are trapped inside central cities is no longer true, as most Black Americans now live in suburbs; and (2) today's re-emergence of racial segregation in the suburbs appears to be significantly the result of private ordering. The conclusions are based on demographic, sociological, and economic sources (with a special focus on the Washington, D.C., area), which are used to develop a simple model of how small preferences can lead to widespread suburban segregation. These conclusions may be discomforting for both progressive and conservative viewpoints of race relations. But the Article also concludes that the old legal goal of integration of minority races into a majority-White culture may, today, be seen as both naive and patronizing. De facto segregation may be inevitable and may hold some surprising benefits for minority persons in a rapidly diversifying twenty-first century America.
Ten Key Issues from The Global Wetlands Outlook for Decision Makers Article
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Royal C. Gardner and Max Finlayson, Ten Key Issues from The Global Wetlands Outlook for Decision Makers, 72 Marine & Freshwater Research 301 (2020)Clicking on the button will copy the full recommended citation.
We summarise the main findings of the Global Wetland Outlook (2018) about the status of wetlands, including their biota and ecosystem services, the drivers of change in wetlands, and the responses being adopted by the Ramsar Convention. The Outlook, which is the Ramsar Convention’s flagship publication, generally paints a bleak picture of wetland status. On the basis of these findings, we identify 10 key issues for decision makers to consider and recommend actions to implement so as to reverse the overall downward trends for wetlands. A switch from documenting the change in wetland biodiversity towards more emphasis on taking decisions is needed to implement effective responses and reverse the negative trends for wetlands. Although further data are needed, we contend that failure to place greater emphasis on effective responses could lead to the Convention becoming an irrelevant force for the wise use of wetlands.
The Warren Court: A Mosaic of Decisions Article
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Ellen S. Podgor, The Warren Court: A Mosaic of Decisions, 49 Stetson L. Rev. 215 (2020)Clicking on the button will copy the full recommended citation.
A Separation of Power Analysis of Forum Non Conveniens’ Adequate Available Forum Article
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Jason S. Palmer, A Separation of Power Analysis of Forum Non Conveniens’ Adequate Available Forum, 94 St. John's L. Rev. 157 (2020)Clicking on the button will copy the full recommended citation.
Under Article II, Section 1 of the United States Constitution, the President has the “executive power” of the United States. Much has been written about what the Framers intended when drafting this language in the Constitution. Most recent, in Zivotofsky v. Kerry, the Supreme Court determined that the Nation must “speak with one voice” with regard to policy about the legitimacy of foreign governments vis-à-vis the United States.
This foreign policy constitutional principle has important ramifications for how courts should address forum non conveniens analyses with regard to the adequate available forum. The Supreme Court neglected to provide substantive guidance in Piper Aircraft Co. v. Reyno with respect to the adequate available forum, leaving the lower courts to fend for themselves in determining when a forum is both adequate and available. As a result, lower court decisions are deeply divided as to when and how to dismiss a case to a foreign forum that is adequate and available.
This article posits that the courts are not the branch of government best suited to make this determination. Rather, the executive, as demonstrated through a critical review of Supreme Court separation of powers cases, is uniquely positioned to opine on whether a foreign judiciary can provide an adequate available forum. By deferring to the executive with respect to questions that involve such keys issues of foreign policy, courts avoid political landmines that are best left to the executive.
From Bail Out to Righting the Course: The Commonsense Action the United States Must Take to Address Its Flood Crisis Article
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Jaclyn Lopez, From Bail Out to Righting the Course: The Commonsense Action the United States Must Take to Address Its Flood Crisis, 33 Tulane Envtl. L. Journal 1 (2020)Clicking on the button will copy the full recommended citation.
The threats of the climate change crisis and sea level rise to U S. infrastructure, military readiness, food security and the economy are most evident in America floodplains, where the National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP) has worsened flooding and floodplain development by providing insurance policies that obscure risk and provide discounted coverage. Meanwhile, the United States contributes significantly to global greenhouse gas emissions, which fuels the climate change crisis and worsens flooding The disconnect between subsidizing development in floodplains and the fact that the United States has made those floodplains even more vulnerable to flooding by leasing federal fossil fuels that contribute to the climate change crisis and sea level rise has cost U S taxpayers billions of dollars and put millions of people and our nation most imperiled species at increased risk.
Flooding will only get more expensive and devastating especially if the United States continues in "business as usual" fossil fuel extraction and emissions, disproportionately putting vulnerable communities at risk Congress must immediately end federal fossil fuel leases and require that federal agencies that fund authorize, or permit fossil fuel activities analyze the indirect greenhouse gas emissions impacts of those activities. Congress must also require FEvL4 to use the best available climate change and sea level rise mapping to reflect actual flood risk provide a nationwide plan for flood disclosure and risk, analyze and avoid impacts to wildlife habitat, and pursue buyouts.
Is Algorithmic Affirmative Action Legal? Article
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Jason Bent, Is Algorithmic Affirmative Action Legal?, 108 Geo. L.J. 803–853 (2020)Clicking on the button will copy the full recommended citation.
It is now understood that machine learning algorithms can produce unintentionally biased results. For the last few years, legal scholars have been debating whether the disparate treatment or disparate impact theories available under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act are capable of protecting against algorithmic discrimination. But machine learning scholars are not waiting for the legal answer. Instead, they have been working to develop a wide variety of technological “fairness” solutions that can be used to constrain machine learning algorithms. They have discovered that simply blinding algorithms to protected characteristics like sex or race is insufficient to prevent algorithmic discrimination. Given enough data, algorithms will identify and leverage on proxies for the protected characteristics. Recognizing this, some scholars have proposed “fairness through awareness” or “algorithmic affirmative action” — actively using sensitive variables like race or sex to counteract unidentified sources of bias and achieve some mathematical measure of fairness in algorithmic decisions. But is algorithmic affirmative action legal? This article is the first to comprehensively consider that question under both Title VII and the Equal Protection clause of the Fourteenth Amendment. The article evaluates the legality of the leading fairness techniques advanced in the machine learning literature, including group fairness, individual fairness, and counterfactual fairness. The article concludes that existing affirmative action doctrine under Title VII and existing constitutional equal protection jurisprudence leave sufficient room for at least some forms of algorithmic affirmative action.
Review of Recent Veterans Law Decisions of the Federal Circuit Article
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Stacey-Rae Simcox, Review of Recent Veterans Law Decisions of the Federal Circuit, 69 Am. U. L. Rev. 1343 (2020)Clicking on the button will copy the full recommended citation.
The last in-depth review of veterans law cases decided by the Federal Circuit was published by the American University Law Review in 2015. Since that time, the Federal Circuit has substantially changed procedural rules applicable to veterans cases, including authorizing the use of the class action device and clarifying the correct standard to use when challenging agency delay and inaction. In an important case with wide application to administrative law generally, the Federal Circuit addressed the issue of proper deference for agency regulations and policies. The Supreme Court granted certiorari in Kisor v. Wilkie and reaffirmed principles articulated in Auer v. Robbins and Bowles v. Seminole Rock & Sand Co., articulating a new three-step analysis. With regard to substantive developments in the area of veterans law, the Federal Circuit reversed a prior 2008 decision and provided final and effective relief for "Blue Water" Navy Veterans who have long fought for Agent Orange-related benefits. It is a remarkable time to be a veterans advocate, and we are pleased to provide this update.
Space Horizons: An Era of Hope in the Geostationary Orbit Article
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Roy Balleste, Space Horizons: An Era of Hope in the Geostationary Orbit, 35 Journal of Envtl. L. and Litigation 165 (2020)Clicking on the button will copy the full recommended citation.
Gut Renovations: Using Critical and Comparative Rhetoric to Remodel How the Law Addresses Privileges and Power Article
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Elizabeth Berenguer et al., Gut Renovations: Using Critical and Comparative Rhetoric to Remodel How the Law Addresses Privileges and Power, 23 Harv. Latinx L. Rev. 205 (2020)Clicking on the button will copy the full recommended citation.