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Old Law for a New Frontier: The Sufficiency of International Humanitarian Law in Outer Space
Full text linkAs military capabilities and activities continue to expand into outer space, questions arise as to whether new legal frameworks are necessary to govern armed conflict beyond Earth. This Article argues that existing international humanitarian law (IHL) principles, including distinction, proportionality, necessity, and humanity, remain sufficient to regulate military operations in space. Rather than drafting new black-letter rules, states should focus on interpreting and applying current law in light of the unique characteristics of space warfare, including the enduring dangers of space debris and the widespread civilian reliance on satellite infrastructure. This Article examines the applicability of IHL in outer space, the interaction between space law and IHL, and contemporary case studies that reinforce the sufficiency of existing legal frameworks. Ultimately, it concludes that the international community should focus on enforcing and adapting existing rules rather than seeking new treaties, which are unlikely to gain consensus given current geopolitical realities. (Abstract from author.
A Taste of Armageddon: Legal Considerations for Lethal Autonomous Weapons Systems
Full text linkLethal Autonomous Weapons Systems (LAWS) represent a profound shift in the nature of warfare, where machines, not humans, make life-or-death decisions on the battlefield. While these weapons offer strategic advantages, such as reducing human casualties and increasing operational efficiency, they also introduce significant legal, ethical, and accountability challenges. This Article explores the complexities surrounding the proliferation and use of LAWS, arguing that a total ban is unlikely due to the widespread accessibility and benefits these technologies offer to those who deploy them. Rather, this Article proposes the application of strict liability—traditionally a tort law concept—to the developers of LAWS as a means of promoting responsible development and ensuring accountability in the event a LAWS commits a war crime. By adapting this legal doctrine to the international criminal law context, the Article provides a pathway for holding those who design and deploy LAWS accountable for war crimes, thus bridging the gap between rapid technological advancement and the current limitations of international humanitarian law. The Article underscores the necessity of creative legal thinking to address the urgent and evolving challenges posed by autonomously lethal warfare technologies. (Abstract from author.
Purpose and Nonprofit Enterprise with Cathy Hwang
No full textNonprofit enterprise is responsible for a large share of economic activity across the globe. And yet, leading theories fail to explain why nonprofit business survives and even thrives across a vast number of industries, ranging from artificial intelligence to beer brewing, despite an absence of shareholder control. Indeed, as shareholder ownership and intervention rights have become the core component of successful corporate governance, this success is all the more surprising.
We offer a novel “purposeful enterprise” theory to explain the puzzling success of nonprofit enterprises. Drawing on research in behavioral economics and organizational science, we argue that organizational purpose can serve as a substitute for shareholder control and monitoring, by mitigating managerial agency costs and aligning employee incentives. Nonprofit enterprise may also promote value creation by improving the stability of the entity. Our theory clarifies why nonprofit businesses and other related purposeful enterprises have thrived in certain industries and not others. It also sheds light on fundamental debates in corporate law, including that of the corporation’s purpose in society. In particular, it suggests that shareholder ownership and control is not the only means of addressing agency costs and improving organizational efficiency
2025 School of Law Alumni Luncheon
No full textFrom an era when shopping at a downtown department store was an event, for over fifty years, The Silver Grille located on the 10th floor of Higbee’s was known for the quality of its food, its attentive staff and its unique Art Deco interior. It is now a restored event space managed by The Ritz Carlton and the prefect space for the law school to honor awardees for the: Distinguished Recent Graduate Samantha Sridaran (LAW \u2718); Joan Gross ’76 Annual Fund Prof. Robert Rapp (LAW \u2772); Distinguished Teacher Matthew Rossman; and Centennial Medal recipient James Willis (LAW \u2752)
Sacrificing Financial Health for Physical Health: The Implications of Medical Credit Cards
Full text linkRising healthcare costs have contributed to significant medical debt increases for Americans in recent years. One way patients are paying these charges is with a medical credit card. The increase in popularity of medical credit cards can, in part, be attributed to non-profit hospitals’ insufficient charity care offerings. Some hospitals are— themselves—offering healthcare financing products to patients rather than offering charity care. As a result, low income patients often become trapped in a cycle of medical debt. While patients may need help paying for their care, a predatory lending option should not be their first or only choice. Non-profit hospitals should be held to a higher charity care standard to protect all its patients, regardless of ability to pay
Planning for Cognitive Decline: Combining Formal Supported Decision-Making Agreements and Healthcare Power of Attorney
Full text linkPatients who have impaired decision-making abilities may not be permitted to make contemporaneous medical decisions. Instead, a substitute decision maker, including a healthcare agent, may be asked to decide on the patient’s behalf even if the patient wants to participate in the medical decision making. Being marginalized in decisions made about their medical care may lead to a decline in wellbeing for these patients. But supported decision making, wherein a person with cognitive impairments receives decision-making assistance, may facilitate such patients making contemporaneous medical decisions. As supported decision-making legislation spreads throughout the United States, there are questions about how this decision-making model can be used and how the formal agreements may work with other legal tools. This Article focuses on combining supported decision making and healthcare power of attorney. Individuals planning for cognitive decline can choose both to enter supported decision-making agreements and appoint a healthcare power of attorney. In the beginning stages of cognitive decline, individuals could rely on decision-making assistance while retaining medical decision-making authority. And in the later stages of cognitive decline, someone else would have legal authority to make medical decisions on the incapacitated individual’s behalf. This Article also addresses unanswered practical questions about how these legal documents (supported decision-making agreements and healthcare power of attorney) work together in practice
Talking Foreign Policy: 75th Anniversary of the Geneva Conventions
Full text linkMichael Scharf: Welcome to “Talking Foreign Policy,” the quarterly radio show and podcast produced by Case Western Reserve University and Ideastream Public Media.2 I’m your host Michael Scharf, Dean of Case Western Reserve University School of Law.3 Today we’re going to be talking about the need to update the seventy-five-year-old Geneva Conventions on the Law of War in light of the twenty-first century developments related to autonomous weapons, cyber warfare, and space war, as well as responding to modern-day terrorist groups. I’ve assembled an allstar panel of experts for today’s conversation
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