Georgetown University Law Center

About: Georgetown University Law Center is a based out in . It is known for research contribution in the topics: Supreme court & Global health. The organization has 585 authors who have published 2488 publications receiving 36650 citations. The organization is also known as: Georgetown Law & GULC.

Treating Professionals Professionally: Requiring Security of Position for All Skills-Focused Faculty Under ABA Accreditation Standard 405(c) and Eliminating 405(d)

Abstract: In 2014, the American Bar Association (ABA) decided to retain Accreditation Standard 405 in its current form to preserve tenure for law faculty as well as the status, security of position, governance rights, and academic freedom that tenure provides. In doing so, the ABA also preserved the long-standing hierarchy that elevates doctrine-focused faculty over skills-focused faculty. That hierarchy discriminates against skills-focused faculty, particularly those who specialize in legal writing--most of whom are women. This paper calls on the ABA to address this discrimination against skills-focused faculty and the negative effects it has on schools, faculty, and students. As explained in this article, many schools recognize the inherent limitations and unfairness of the status hierarchy that Standard 405 condones and, accordingly, provide skills-focused faculty security of position over and above what the ABA requires. We urge the ABA to follow their lead by eliminating Standard 405(d) and requiring that all law schools afford their clinical and legal writing faculty, at minimum and without exception, security of position under Standard 405(c).

The Duty of States to Assist Other States in Need: Ethics, Human Rights, and International Law

Abstract: This article deals with a foreign policy question of extraordinary importance: What responsibilities do States have to provide economic and technical assistance to other states that have high levels of need affecting the health and life of their citizens? The question is important for a variety of reasons. There exist massive inequalities in health globally, with the result that poorer countries shoulder a disproportionate burden of disease and premature death. While poor countries have by far the greatest ongoing health needs, they also have the least capacity to meet those needs. In addition to the pervasive and debilitating effects of endemic disease, developing countries are likely to suffer much more from the effects of acute health hazards, ranging from natural disasters and dislocations to emerging infectious diseases. Certainly, governments and philanthropic organizations have responded to highly visible natural disasters, droughts, and famines - at least while the issue remains salient in the media. And there has been increased international assistance for high-profile health threats such as AIDS and pandemic influenza. Even factoring in these new investments, most OECD countries have not come close to fulfilling their pledges to donate 0.7% of Gross National Income per annum. The question then arises, if states have the capacity to assist less developed states (while continuing to fulfill their obligations to the health of their own citizens) to what extent do they have a well-defined legal or ethical responsibility to do so? We claim that States have a responsibility to help, derived from international law, political commitments, ethical values, and national interest. However, international law does not enable states to operationalize this responsibility in specific cases and in a transparent manner. As a result, transnational cooperation by states tends to be ineffectual and inconsistent - although states can and sometimes do act effectively when ethical and legal responsibilities and commitments align with self-interest.

Global Health Law: Legal Foundations for Social Justice in Public Health

Abstract: This chapter provides an understanding of the legal foundations of human rights, examining human rights under international law as a basis for social justice in public health. International human rights law has codified the rights first enumerated in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, evolving through the politics of the Cold War to develop the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights. This seminal covenant and the international treaties that derived from it have framed the legal foundations of the human right to health and the evolution of health-related human rights. Yet, where challenges remain in responding to the health needs of a globalizing world, scholars and advocates have looked to a shift from international health law to global health law, facilitating collaboration between state and non-state actors in an expanding global health policy landscape.

Achieving the Coexistence of Accountability and Immunity: The Prosecution of Devyani Khobragade and the Role of Consular Immunity in Criminal Cases

Abstract: This note first examines the history and purpose behind the Vienna Convention on Consular Relations, as well as its interpretation and implementation. After briefly contrasting the Consular Convention with the Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations, this note further analyzes Khobragade’s case and argues that she should have faced full prosecution in the United States for her crimes to promote justice and preserve the purpose of the Vienna Convention on Consular Relations. Finally, this note proposes a set of criteria that a sending country should consult when deciding whether to allow its consular officer to face full prosecution in the receiving state when accused of criminal conduct. This note was published in the spring issue of Volume 52 of the American Criminal Law Review.

The Rules of the Game and the Morality of Efficient Breach

Abstract: Moralists have long criticized the theory of efficient breach for its advocacy of promise breaking. But a fully developed theory of efficient breach has an internal morality of its own. It argues that sophisticated parties contract for efficient breach, which in the long run maximizes everyone’s welfare. And the theory marks some breaches — those that are opportunistic, obstructive, or otherwise inefficient — as wrongs that the law should deter, as transgressions that should not be priced but punished. That internal morality, however, does not excuse the theory from moral scrutiny. An extended comparison to Jean Renoir’s 1939 film, La Regle du Jeu (“The Rules of the Game”), illustrates what more sophisticated moral criticisms of the theory might look like. Renoir’s film depicts a society in which marital infidelity is a transgression that is tolerated, but only when done according to society’s rules. Renoir’s attitude toward that society suggests that moral critics of the efficient breach theory should focus not on its celebration of efficient breach, but on the value of the sort of moral community it imagines and on the theory’s effect on parties who are not playing the efficient breach game, whether because they do not understand its rules or because they seek a different type of obligation. The comparison to the film also highlights the theory’s own narrative elements, which both add to its persuasive power and, once identified, mark out its limits.