SelectedWorks @ Widener University Commonwealth Law School
Not a member yet
699 research outputs found
Sort by
A Foolish Inconsistency: Religiously and Ideologically Expressive Conduct
No full textThese different standards are problematic because the free-speech and free-exercise claims are inherently connected, as the freedom of expression includes the freedom to express oneself on religious topics, and religious exercise communicates beliefs and expresses devotion. The two different standards are also susceptible to manipulation by litigants, who have an incentive to characterize religious claims as philosophical or ideological to take advantage of O’Brien’s more favorable standard. In this Article, Professor Dimino argues that the Court should end the inconsistency either by overruling O’Brien and applying Smith to speech cases as well as religion ones, or by overruling Smith and applying O’Brien to religious cases as well as speech ones
Recognition of Environmental Rights for Pennsylvania Citizens: Pennsylvania Environmental Defense Foundation v. Commonwealth of Pennsylvania
No full textPennsylvania voters overwhelmingly added environmental rights to the other rights protected by the state constitution in 1971 at the height of the modern environmental movement. In two cases decided shortly thereafter, however, state courts essentially buried the amendment, most prominently with a judicially invented test that served as a substitute for the text. In 2017, in Pennsylvania Environmental Defense Foundation v. Commonwealth, the Pennsylvania Supreme Court held that the text of the amendment, Article I, Section 27, provides the legal basis for deciding environmental rights claims, not the judicially invented test. For many lawyers, judges, and citizens, the change is so dramatic that it is as if Article I, Section 27 was adopted in 2017. This Article describes the background of this landmark case, including the cases in which the Pennsylvania courts put the Environmental Rights Amendment into a state of near dormancy for more than four decades. After briefly reviewing Robinson Township, it then reviews each of the Pennsylvania Supreme Court’s opinions in PEDF. It then addresses a variety of issues about the interpretation and application of Section 27 after PEDF. This article also explains how this case is adding momentum to the growing use of constitutional environmental amendments in other states and countries
Pharmaceutical Product Liability in the United States of America
No full textPharmaceutical claims are arguably the most significant type of product liability cases in the United States. Failure to warn is the primary theory used against pharmaceutical manufacturers, and it can be brought under strict product liability or negligence; the standard is essentially the same under either doctrine. In this descriptive overview of United States law, the authors discuss theories of recovery, causation, damages, defences, procedure, and alternative regulations and remedies
Legal Pathways to Deep Decarbonization: Lessons from California and Germany
No full textIn the December 2015 Paris Agreement, nations of the world agreed to reduce their net greenhouse gas emissions to zero by the second half of the century. For developed countries, accomplishing that goal requires a reduction of carbon dioxide emissions by more than 80 percent from 1990 levels by 2050. As ambitious and even unachievable as that goal may seem, some developed countries have already made considerable progress in conceptualizing and even adopting legal approaches for achieving decarbonization. This paper describes the approaches being taken in two major developed country jurisdictions — California and Germany — and suggest lessons from that experience that could be useful to the United States
Louis Brandeis\u27s Vision of Light and Justice as Articulated on the Side of a Coffee Mug
No full textAs a larger than life figure, Louis Brandeis can be found in many places. Some find him in biographies; some find him in lectures; some find him in law review articles. Some find him in Supreme Court briefs; some find him in Supreme Court opinions
U-Pick – Are Agritourism Workers Exempt From the Wage and Hour Protections of the Fair Labor Standards Act?
No full textPursuant to the Fair Labor Standards Act (“FLSA” or “the Act”), employer must pay workers at least the minimum wage and overtime pay for all hours worked in excess of forty hours in a standard workweek, unless the worker fits within one of the law’s exemptions. The FLSA contains a complete exemption for agricultural workers from the overtime pay provision and a partial exemption from the minimum wage provision. The exemptions from the minimum wage and overtime pay are not the only exemptions in the FLSA for agriculture, but they are the focus of this Article and are referred to herein as “FLSA’s agricultural exemptions.” Although the complete exemption has been modified in the years since the passage of the FLSA, farm workers still do not enjoy the full wage and hour protections of the FLSA
Unnecessary Ambiguity: Relinquishing “Moral Turpitude” from Lawyer Discipline
No full text“Moral turpitude,” used in legal contexts including criminal law, immigration law, and attorney discipline, is a term that is ambiguous at best and arbitrary at worst. In lawyer regulation, the American Bar Association\u27s (ABA) Model Rules of Professional Conduct (“Model Rules”) guide jurisdictions in implementing their own ethics rules governing the (mostly) professional conduct of lawyers. For more than 100 years, the term “moral turpitude” has been a part of the governing rules. Upon the adoption of the Model Rules, “moral turpitude” was removed from the black-letter rule, but remains in the comments of Rule 8.4 Misconduct
A Practical Introduction to Environmental Law
No full textThis casebook is designed to be used in upper level courses by law students with little or no prior familiarity with Environmental Law. It includes chapters on permitting, the philosophical underpinnings of the field, climate change, and the recently amended Toxic Substances Control Act, as well as traditional core topics in Environmental Law such as controlling air and water pollution. The book also contains numerous practice problems that introduce students to the everyday realities of environmental lawyering
The Future Relief of Immigration Law
No full textImmigration law is in need of relief. Among the many problems affecting immigration law is the lack of respite from removal. The removal grounds—the characteristics and acts that render someone removable from the United States—are extremely broad and rigid. The only available penalty is removal. There is little proportionality in immigration law and qualifying for respite once one is determined to be removable is very difficult. This Article explores the lack of relief from removal in immigration law and shows how its stingy availability sheds light on other, broader problems afflicting immigration law. The current state of relief from removal helps to understand the conflicting signals of immigration law, the dysfunction of the immigration adjudication system, and the role of sovereignty in immigration law. This Article is a part of a symposium on the twentieth anniversary of the Illegal Immigration Reform and Immigrant Responsibility Act of 1996
Immigration Law Allies and Administrative Law Adversaries
No full textThere is a largely unnoticed convergence affecting immigration law. The convergence is the point where immigration law allies meet administrative law adversaries. Administrative law adversaries are those who question the legitimacy of the administrative state or those who seek to diminish agency power stemming from a general skepticism about the scope of federal power. Immigration law allies are those who seek greater procedural and/or substantive rights for foreign nationals in the United States. The point of convergence is the point where immigration law allies and administrative law adversaries share concerns about government power and fair process. There is a convergence, but the convergence has limits. Immigration law allies do not necessarily question the legitimacy of administrative law or object to federal power generally. Therefore, immigration law allies and administrative law adversaries may part ways beyond the point of convergence. The end goals of administrative law adversaries — weakened federal power for some, deconstruction of the administrative state for others — may have some positive effects for immigration law as restrictions on agency power are implemented. For example, there are efforts to eliminate Chevron deference and to increase agency rulemaking burdens. The effect of eliminating Chevron deference on immigration law is hard to predict, but could result in judicial review that is more pro-immigrant. The effect of increasing rulemaking burdens has probable negative consequences for immigration law, however. Eliminating Chevron deference and increasing regulatory burdens, as well as a broader effort to delegitimize administrative law, have long-term implications outside of immigration law. At the point of convergence, immigration law allies should be aware of the end goals of the administrative law adversaries. Are immigration allies also administrative law adversaries? Immigration law allies also should question administrative law adversaries how immigration law fits into their goals. Is immigration law excluded from their project to reduce federal power? If immigration law is included, what would immigration law look like if their goals are achieved