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PUBLICATIONS  LAW REVIEW ARTICLES The Trial of Queen Caroline and the Impeachment of President Clinton: Law As A Weapon for Political Reform, 7 Wash. U. Global Stud. L. Rev. 1 (2008) (Lead Article). Abstract This article explores the calculated use of legal mechanisms to impact national politics and the effect such utilization had on accomplishing deliberate political reform. In answering why political actors use legal procedures as political weapons and whether such use is effective, this paper analyzes two historical examples to illustrate that law as political weapon is extremely successful in accomplishing political change. In the early 1800’s, England’s King sought to defrock his politically radical heroine Queen Caroline through the parliamentary mechanism of a Bill of Pains and Penalties, which caused a flourish of public criticism and call for political revolution. Public reaction to the legal mechanisms utilized by King resulted in accomplishing the King’s goal of quelling revolutionary zeal as well as subsequently radically reforming English parliamentary politics. In a similar vein, the U.S. Congress in 1998 utilized the legal mechanisms of impeachment to unseat President William Jefferson Clinton. Impeachment of President Clinton served the Republican Congress’ political interests and resulted in the Republicans obtaining great electoral success. Ultimately, discussion of these two historical epochs advocates future use of legal procedures as political weapons in only certain limited circumstances. Download PDF Version Judgments of The United States Supreme Court and The South African Constitutional Court as a Basis For a Universal Method to Resolve Conflicts between Fundamental Rights, 22 St. John's J. Legal Comment. 595 (2008). Abstract This article describes the methods utilized by the United States Supreme Court to resolve specific cases involving conflicts between federal constitutional rights, a federal constitutional right and a state constitutional or statutory right, and an international treaty right and a federal constitutional right. Consideration of particular decisions representative of the manner the Court resolves conflicts between rights in the three typologies described above, illustrates how the Court views such conflicts and the rationales employed to resolve apparent conflicting rights. The rationales used by the United States Supreme Court are compared to the South African Constitutional Court’s decisions in the Soobramoney, Grootboom, and South African Broadcasting Corp. Ltd. cases. By comparing the reasoning utilized by both courts, this article illustrates distinct judicial methods applied to rationally resolve conflicts between significant individual rights. The comparison serves to permit presentation of a universal method to resolve conflicting fundamental rights for judicial authorities to use across the broad array of legal situations in which conflicts between significant rights occurs. Download PDF Version Reforming Federal Personal Injury Litigation by Incorporation of the Procedural Innovations of Scotland and Ireland: An Analysis and Proposal, 15 CARDOZO J. INT’L & COMP. L. 1 (2007) (Lead Article) (LL.M. Thesis). Abstract Federal procedure has embraced the referral of civil cases outside the court system to alternative dispute resolution. This article argues that by utilizing courts to settle cases through civil procedure, courts realize their central role in ensuring the quality of settlements produced through the judicial administration of justice. The purpose of this article is to provide litigants an optional procedure to expeditiously resolve federal personal injury cases. The system proposed in this article incorporates Scottish and Irish civil procedural reforms into a coherent method for judicial officers to declare the settlement value of a personal injury action without referring the case to alternative dispute resolution. Download PDF Version The United States-EC Dispute Over Customs Matters: Trade Facilitation, Customs Unions, and the Meaning of WTO Obligations, 18 FLA. J. INT’L. L. 423 (2006)(Lead Article). Cited The WTO Case Law of 2006-7 pp. 39, 42 (2009)(Cambridge University Press). Abstract The article addresses a current WTO dispute between the United States and the European Communities on selected customs matters. The article discusses the necessity for a uniform WTO agreement on trade facilitation, as well as analyzes the apparent inconsistency between the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT) Article X’s mandate for WTO Members to uniformly, impartially, and reasonably administer municipal customs laws and Article XXIV’s allowance of individual members of a customs union to substantially apply common commercial regulations and laws in relation to non-members of the customs union. The article concludes that an agreement between WTO Members on the understanding of the relationship between the obligations of Article X and Article XXIV and the conclusion of a bilateral treaty between the United States and EC concerning harmonization of customs procedures and classification is the solution to the problem presented. Download PDF Version An Analysis of the Legality of Television Cameras Broadcasting Juror Deliberations in a Criminal Case, 39 AKRON L. REV. 701 (2006). Cited United States Code Annotated (Constitution Article III, Section 2, Clause 3), 6th Edition of the American Law Reports, and the 2008 Edition of American Jurisprudence 2d. Abstract Recently, ABC News broadcast the deliberations of several juries in capital murder cases into the living rooms of the American public. The latest judicial opinion to confront the problem of televising jury room deliberations in a capital criminal case took place in the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals. The article surveys the applicable federal constitutional and statutory law, as well as state jurisprudence, relevant to the intrusion of television cameras into the jury room. Additionally, this article discusses recent Scottish and European case law addressing jury deliberation as a violation of the European Convention on Human Rights. Download PDF Version Resolving Trade Disputes, the Mechanisms of GATT/WTO Dispute Resolution, 2 SANTA CLARA J. INT'L L. 40 (2004). Abstract The World Trade Organization’s Dispute Settlement Body grew out of decades of experience and the frustrations of sovereign nations regarding the method of settling international conflicts between states over tariff and trade issues. This article discusses the historical development of the World Trade Organization’s dispute resolution system. The first section analyzes a number of agreements and proposals entered into and put forward during the period from 1947 through 1990. The second section addresses the instrument which inaugurates the World Trade Organization’s current dispute settlement procedure and further describes a number of submissions by nations for improvements to the mechanism. Download PDF Version Satellite Digital Audio Radio Searching for Novel Theories of Action, 1 J. HIGH TECH. L. 135 (2002). Abstract Satellite radio may be becoming increasingly popular, but there is a little known drawback to the technology: it interferes with many existing wireless networks in place, such as cellular telephone service. This article looks at the legal implications that this interference causes and what kind of liability satellite operators like Sirius and XM Radio may face. Erskine includes a detailed description of how satellite radio operates and in turn describes how this operation causes the disruption. He then moves into a discussion of the current law surrounding the technology and different theories of liability, including tort theories. His approach is straightforward and applies this legal analysis to the actual technology being employed today. Download PDF Version OPINION ARTICLES Case Dismissals: Adopt English Rules, The National Law Journal, Feb. 23, 2009, at 23. Download PDF Version Also appearing as Commentary: The British Have a Better Way, International News, March 2, 2009, in the North America and Europe Sections. Download PDF Version Double jeopardy in the U.K.: We should not follow suit, The National Law Journal, Oct. 2, 2006, at 22. Download PDF Version BOOK REVIEWS A Review of David E. Kyvig's The Age of Impeachment: American Constitutional Culture since 1960, 50 AM. J. LEGAL HIST. 223-224 (2010) (invited review)(lead review). Download PDF Version A Review of Raymond R. Coletta’s Biotechnology and the Creation of Ethics, 1 J. HIGH TECH. L. 1 (2002), 13 BIMONTHLY REVIEW OF LAW BOOKS 3-4 (November-December 2002) (book review). Download PDF Version LETTERS TO THE EDITOR When Is It Patriotic To Criticize the President?, The Wall Street Journal, Aug. 16, 2007, at A9. Link to Letter / Download PDF Version Efficient Courts Are Better Answer, The Hartford Courant, Mar. 20, 2007, at A9. Download PDF Version Embrace cameras in halls of Congress, USA TODAY, Jan. 5, 2007, at 8A. Link to Letter Cameras In Court? Consider Privacy, The Hartford Courant, Sept. 15, 2006, at A8. Download PDF Version |
