Florida Agricultural and Mechanical University
Florida Agricultural & Mechanical University College of LawNot a member yet
884 research outputs found
Sort by
New State Laws Reflect the Rethinking of Excessive Mandated Standardized Testing in America\u27s Public Schools
Get PDFThe largest standardized testing cheating scandal in American history has caused many to question the practice of excessive standardized testing in America’s public education system. In the spring of 2013, thirty-five educators in Atlanta, Georgia, including the former superintendent, principals, teachers, and testing coordinators were indicted for cheating on statewide-standardized tests. The situation in Atlanta, Fulton County, Georgia, triggered a conversation about excessive mandated standardized testing in America’s public schools and caused public outcry against the negative impact of standardized testing. As a result, new state laws are being passed throughout the United States to not only end the rapid increase in standardized testing but to reduce state standardized testing requirements. This article presents evidence outlining three of the primary reasons for excessive mandatory testing in America’s public schools: (1) increasing federal intervention into public education, (2) federal pressure on states to accommodate standardized test reporting requirements, and (3) vendor pressure to contract with state departments of education
Big Storms, Big Debt, and Biggert-Waters: Navigating Florida\u27s Uncertain Flood Insurance Future
Get PDFThe National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP) began with good intentions. It was first enacted for the purpose of making flood insurance reasonably affordable while protecting against losses after disasters. However,
Congress failed to accurately update the program in the face of climate change and new coastal development. Because of this oversight, the overall risk associated with the program outgrew the collection of premiums, which led to an enormous debt to be incurred by the federal government. Once changes did finally come, they led to massive increases in insurance rates and a massive public outrage. Residents of states like Florida faced the possibility of losing their homes because of skyrocketing insurance costs. This article proposes several viable alternatives that would alleviate these issues and solve the problems of the current NFIP
How to Become a Real-Life Human Rights Activist
Get PDFFlorida Agricultural and Mechanical University College of Law presented an Annual Lecture on Human Rights & Global Justice. FAMU\u27s Provost, Vice President for Academic Affairs and Professor of Law has taught public international law, human rights, national security law, and humanitarian law. Her research interests include the use of economic and other sanctions, international criminal law, and questions related to international organizations.https://commons.law.famu.edu/env-anim/1001/thumbnail.jp
Slavery Then and Now: The Trans-Atlantic Slave Trade and Modern Day Human Trafficking: What Can We Learn from Our Past?
Get PDFMany have said that history repeats itself. Unfortunately, this is painfully true in the realm of modern day human trafficking. Human trafficking is a thirty-two billion-dollar-a-year industry, and at present, it is estimated that there are approximately twenty-seven million people enslaved worldwide. President Obama has stated that human trafficking is modern day slavery. Both sex trafficking and labor trafficking are forms of modern day slavery that are present throughout America and the world. In America, sex trafficking appears online, and at pseudo-massage parlors, truckstops, residential brothels, strip-clubs, hotels and motels, and on city streets. Labor trafficking in America includes domestic servants, agricultural laborers, factory workers, door-to-door sales crews, carnival workers, and health and beauty service providers. This article compares “slavery then” (the Trans-Atlantic Slave Trade) to “slavery now” (modern day human trafficking), in an attempt to remind us of our past so that we may glean insight into how to successfully combat the epidemic of modern day human trafficking
Trade or Business : The Relevance of a Deceptively Simple Income Tax Phrase to the Labor Code, Federal Statutes, and Private Equity Activity
Get PDFCorporate law is premised upon two fundamental principles: the pooling of moneys for investment purposes and the privilege of limited liability. The pooling of money enables promoters and investors to efficiently amass and organize substantial sums for investment purposes. The privilege of limited liability assures investors that personal liability for the underlying invested activity is limited to the moneys invested. Limited liability is a sacrosanct principle and a quintessential investment assumption within the investment community. Private equity firms have successfully exploited these two policies. However, a decision by the First Circuit Court of Appeal casts a shadow of doubt on the scope of the privilege of limited liability. In Sun Capital Partners III, LP v. New England Teamsters & Trucking Industry Pension Fund (“Sun Capital Partners”), the First Circuit found a private equity fund liable for the 4.5 million dollar withdrawal pension liability of one of its portfolio companies. Part I of this paper analyzes the relevant facts of Sun Capital Partners. Part II examines the business practices of the private equity industry and presents arguments by proponents and critics of private equity investment with a view toward informing the debate regarding when an activity constitutes a “trade or business.” Part III examines the historical significance of the phrase “trade or business,” its application within the labor statute, its habitual deployment by Congress throughout various federal statutes, and its presumed meaning by courts. Finally, Part IV states a proposal and conclusion
Green Energy in Indian Country as a Double-Edged Sword for Native Americans: Drawing on the Inter-American and Colombian Legal Systems to Redefine the Right to Consultation
Get PDFEnergy is a key component in the redress of climate change evils and the United States has one of the highest per capita energy consumption in the world. The federal government’s goal is to reduce the country’s dependence on oil and double its wind and solar electricity generation by 2025. The development of renewable energy projects is to a great extent tied to Indian Country. This is highly important for Indian tribes as an empowering mechanism. Such projects could represent new sources of income for tribes whose traditional subsistence-based lifestyles have been impacted by climate change. Renewable energy projects in Indian Country are not new to the United States. However, this benign initiative of advancing clean energy projects on tribal land could create a new problem: the violation of tribes’ sovereignty and cultural integrity.
Part I of this article provides background information on the Quechan Tribe and introduces the controversy caused by the approval of the Ocotillo Wind Energy Project on lands with profound significance for Native American groups. Part II reviews the American legal framework regarding the right of consultation. Part III examines Colombia’s substantive and procedural protections of indigenous rights, and Inter-American case law. Part IV proposes a more beneficial interpretation of current legislation in favor of Native Americans’ rights using the trust responsibility doctrine. Part IV also proposes the creation of guidelines to transform the consultation process into a real government-to-government dynamic and to determine when FPIC is applicable as a mechanism distinguishable from consultation. In addition, Part IV shows the benefits of treating Native Americans as essential actors in a strategic partnership aimed to combat climate change and to comply with the national green energy policy in their territories. Finally, Part IV advocates for a higher standard of review for federal or state action affecting Native Americans’ rights
International Legal Protection for Climate Refugees: Where Lies the Haven for the Maldivian People?
Get PDFClimate change and sea level rise are not just mere words for the Maldivian people; they are a grim reality that is consuming their nation. Sea level rise presents one of the gravest dangers for the Maldives because of its already low-lying characteristics. As the levels continue to rise, the nation is sinking into extinction. Some 300,000 people of the Maldives are on the brink of losing their homes and becoming climate change refugees. The existing international laws are not only ill-equipped to provide protections or the much-needed relief, they also make no mention of climate change refugees. Therefore, as the Maldivians await the result of the 2015 Paris Convention whose purpose is to achieve a binding universal agreement on climate change, they continue to face numerous human rights violations. Additionally, the loss of a nation does not only mean the loss of a home, it also means the loss of sovereignty at the international level. However, at the present time, finding a safe haven for its people is at the top of the Maldives agenda. The former president of the Maldives, Mohamed Nasheed, fought vigorously to bring the issue of sea level rise and climate change to the forefront. Knowing that such a day where he would have to move his people was not far in the distance, he also made plans to relocate. India and Australia have both been considered possible new homes; however, are both countries willing to take in such a large infiltration of refugees? What are the repercussions of moving to these countries? Would an artificial island possibly be the home the Maldivians are looking for? This article examines the options the Maldives has for relocation and why perhaps an artificial island may be a better solution
Downstream Inundations Caused by Federal Flood Control Dam Operations in a Changing Climate: Getting the Proper Mix of Takings, Tort, and Compensation
Get PDFThe 2012 United States Supreme Court case Arkansas Game & Fish Commission v. United States presented the Court with a claim that the property of a landowner downstream of a flood control dam was taken without compensation as a result of non-permanent inundations of low lying portions of that parcel caused by a change in the dam\u27s pattern of releases. The Court held that, government-induced flooding temporary in duration gains no automatic exemption from Takings Clause inspection and must, instead, be tested according to the Court\u27s usual precedents governing temporary physical invasions and regulatory takings. The Federal Circuit held a taking had occurred on remand, the scope of which was limited because the United States waived several key issues. In doing so, the Federal Circuit utilized language that understates the limitations on takings recoveries in such cases. Both the result and the remand opinion will encourage downstream landowners, suffering inundation losses traceable to flood control dam operations, to bring takings claims. This Article analyzes the possible bases on which compensation can be granted
Wanting to Do More But Bound to Do Less: A Law Librarian\u27s Dilemma
Get PDFThe role of the law librarian has changed from managing the contents of a library’s collection of books to knowing how to find information sources located around the world contained in a variety of formats, taking part in instruction, and participating in networking activities. Law librarians are constrained by legal and professional codes. If they are cautious, law librarians can assist, instruct, and reach out to public patrons and students while operating within the professional guidelines that govern them
Water Law Transitions
Get PDFThe history of water law throughout the United States is dynamic. Beginning with the inherited doctrine of English common law natural flow riparianism, the changes in law can be described as instrumentalist in the sense that judges and legislatures made this branch of water law an instrument of pro-developmental policy. When the natural flow doctrine\u27s requirement that the stream flow down to lower owners undiminished as to quantity and quality clashed with the needs of the extensive utilization of water powered mills in the nineteenth century, the courts pioneered an American doctrine of reasonable use riparianism that would sustain water-dependent industrialization. Legislatures joined in as well, passing the Mill Acts, which defused the threat of injunction against mills whose ponds inundated portions of neighboring lands. Those laws effectively forbade injunctions for continuing trespass and substituted judicially determined amounts of compensation in what can only be viewed as an early instrumentally driven form of condemnation favoring a private use that allowed water to be used in a manner that contributed to growth and prosperity