Showing papers on "Supreme Court Decisions published in 1988"

The Sherman Antitrust Act and the Railroad Cartels

Abstract: A LTHOUGH it is ninety years since the railroad cartels were ruled in violation of the Sherman Antitrust Act of 1890 in the Trans-Missouri (1897) and Joint Traffic (1898) decisions, there is no agreement concerning the effect of these cases on collusion by the railroads.2 Gabriel Kolko and Paul MacAvoy conclude that the Supreme Court decisions caused a permanent breakdown of the railroad cartels.3 Other observers, however, argue that the effect on railroad collusion was negligible.4 This article uses stock price revaluations, since Trans-Missouri was largely unanticipated, and estimates of railroad rates to measure the ef-

A digest of Supreme Court decisions affecting education

Abstract: t lection of school board members, taxation for school district budgets, collective bargaining and tenure for teachers, vaccination and suspension of pupils, instruction in the Darwinian theory and in foreign language. School prayers, loyalty oaths, flag salutes, pro test armbands, maternity leaves, race discrimination.... The list of topics dealt with in U.S. Supreme Court cases goes on and on, extending to virtually all aspects of school operation. Are school leaders aware of the do's and don'ts of these

The President and the Court: Reinterpreting the Court-packing Episode of 1937

Abstract: On 5 February 1937, Franklin D. Roosevelt, reacting to a long string of Supreme Court decisions that were hostile to the New Deal, asked Congress to empower him to "pack" the Court with as many as six new justices, one for every sitting justice 70 years or older who, having served at least ten years, declined to retire. The proposal was highly controversial from the start, and whatever chance for passage it may have had was lost that spring when the Court abandoned its anti-New Deal posture in a series of cases that was instantly dubbed "the switch in time that saved nine." A watered-down version of the Court-packing plan was tabled into oblivion on 22 July 1937 by a Senate vote of 70 to 20. In 1939, reflecting on two years experience with a now compliant Court, Roosevelt proclaimed that although he had lost the Court-packing battle, he had won the war. Seventeen years later, James MacGregor Burns concluded that in view of the breakdown of the "Grand Coalition" in the Democratic party that the Courtpacking episode had triggered, "it could be better said that he had lost the battle, won the campaign, but lost the war."'

Critical Thinking: Consider the Verdict

Abstract: Critical Thinking: Consider the Verdict shows students how to take critical thinking skills from the jury room and apply them in the voting booth and the citizens' forum, and from the shopping mall to the boardroom. This new Third Edition of Critical Thinking: Consider the Verdict has been enlivened and updated with a wealth of fascinating new exercises from recent trials and Supreme Court decisions, from political campaigns and social debates. In addition, there is a new section on distinguishing legitimate from fallacious appeals to authority, expanded discussion of the proper role and function of the jury, and extensive new exercises on arguments from analogy.

Voluntary affirmative action and preferential treatment: legal and research implications

Abstract: This paper provides a review of recent Supreme Court decisions stemming from the implementation of voluntary AAPs that include preferential treatment as a remedy; the evidence and proof required to establish and defend against reverse discrimination claims is identified. Overall, the courts sanctioned the use of preferential treatment if it occured as part of a well-conceived AAP. However, differences were found in the manner in which the courts adjudicated Title VII and constitutional claims of preferential treatment. The discussion examines research on the potential effects of voluntary AAPs on important organizational and societal outcome variables. We conclude that the impact of AAPs is likely to be far-reaching, exerting an effect possibly well beyond the limits considered in court decisions.

Evaluation of and treatment to competency to be executed: a national survey and an analysis.

Abstract: Following a series of U.S. Supreme Court decisions that approved revised capital punishment statutes that provided for individualized determination of sentence in capital cases, and further procedural rulings that significantly diminish the numbers of appeals possible from death sentences, the number of executions has risen dramatically in the United States. Attorneys representing condemned prisoners and those generally opposed to the death penalty have discovered that common law prohibitions against the execution of “insane” prisoners may provide the last legal chance to avoid execution. The number of allegations of incompetency to be executed has risen concomitantly with the number of approaching executions. Despite a recent Supreme Court decision barring execution of incompetent prisoners and commenting on acceptable procedures for determination of competency to be executed, a number of issues remain unresolved. Particularly troubling for many clinicians is the prospect of having to treat an incompeten...

The Supreme Court on Church and State

Abstract: In revising and updating Joseph Tussman's The Supreme Court on Church and State, Robert Alley has collected the major Supreme Court decisions on the separation of church and state to provide a comprehensive and non-partisan guide to the Court's opinions. Cases are presented in their entirety, with many essential dissenting opinions, and cover a representative sample of significant issues. With a historical introduction and a chart of Supreme Court Justices's votes, this book is an important reference on a timely subject.

The Public Employment Relationship and the Supreme Court in the 1980S

Abstract: During the 1980s, Supreme Court decisions on the public employment relationship tended to constitutionalize public personnel administration further and to promote adjudicatory processes within it. The Court has been highly divided on issues involving the public employment relationship and, for the most part, has not developed broad general doctrines that comprehensively define the scope of public employees' constitutional rights. Rather, it has opted frequently for balancing approaches that promote a case-by-case jurisprudence that may fail to afford public personnelists adequate guidance. This article reviews Supreme Court decisions in the areas of public employees' substantive constitutional rights, their constitutional rights to procedural due process and equal protection, and their qualified immunity/liability for breaches of others' constitutional and/or federally protected statutory civil rights.

Case Selection in Judicial Impact Research

Abstract: States Supreme Court decisions, while technically binding on the lower courts, do not automatically determine the outcomes of cases decided below. As a result, numerous studies assessing the impact of the Supreme Court have been published (see Wasby 1970; and Johnson and Canon 1984, for a summary and discussion of this literature). The accuracy and meaningfulness of the conclusions reached in these impact studies are of course dependent on the validity of the methods used to collect and analyze the data which form the bases of the conclusions. However, several widely used methodological conventions have received little critical examination. One such convention is the use of

Childen's Rights and Parental Rights A Historical and Legal/Ethical Analysis

Abstract: The purpose of this article is to introduce child/adolescent psychiatric nurses to the historical circumstances that have influenced the legal status of children and their parents. Recent Supreme Court decisions affecting the rights of children during admission to psychiatric treatment will be discussed. The ethical issues involved and an ethical framework based on non-maleficence, beneficence, and justice will be presented to assist nurses in considering their responsibility to children and parents during the psychiatric admission of a child.

Public School Administrators' Knowledge of Recent Supreme Court Decisions Affecting School Practice.

Abstract: Public secondary school administrators should deduce from the 1985 "New Jersey v. T.L.O." Supreme Court decision that searching students does not violate the Constitutional prohibition against unreasonable searches and seizures when there are reasonable grounds for suspicion. The "Wallace v. Jaffree" case, decided in the same year, implies that "moment of silence" policies do not violate the "establishment" clause of the Constitution so long as such policies support secular objectives and so long as other activities are specified if prayer is specified. In December 1985, questionnaires were sent to 139 administrators in central New York to assess their knowledge of these decisions and to identify their sources of legal information. Eighty-eight percent responded. In addition, selected print media were analyzed to examine how accurately popular and professional media reported these decisions and their implications for practice. According to the questionnaire results, more than 25 percent of the respondents did not know that evidence of misbehavior is required before searching a student; 20 to 25 percent had difficulty in applying legal procedures to actual situations; 52 percent reported that they had little or no information about the constitutionality of moment of silence policies; 21 percent thought that all moment of silence policies were unconstitutional; 29 percent were uncertain concerning their constitutionality; and the main sources of information were professional newletters and journals. The analysis of the sources revealed that the sources were generally both accurate and comprehensive, which suggests that the sources were not responsible for the administrators' misinformation. Included are 11 references and 6 tables (RG)

Changes in latitude, changes in attitude: Population movements and conservative shifts in congress

Abstract: Migration from the Northeast and Midwest to the West and South over the past decade has been from politically liberal to conservative areas of the United States. Similarly, migration from central cities to suburbs has been from liberal to conservative areas within states. The Constitution and Supreme Court decisions require redistricting between states (reapportionment) and within states (redistricting) every ten years. This study examines whether reapportionment and redistricting has resulted in a more conservative House of Representatives as the number of representatives from these growing conservative districts has increased. It finds no nationwide evidence to support this proposition; instead, the effects of district reorganization appear to be specific to each district and time.

Solicitation of Law Firm Clients by Departing Partners and Associates: Tort, Fiduciary, and Disciplinary Liability

Abstract: Recent years have seen a marked increase in the number of attorneys switching firms, many of whom seek to take with them the business of their former firm's clientele. While the contours of permissible departure-based solicitation were once clearly and narrowly circumscribed by the rules of legal ethics, the continued validity of those restrictions is seriously placed in doubt by the principles enunciated in Supreme Court decisions of the past decade dealing with commercial speech about legal services.In this Article, Professor Johnson endeavors to comprehensively chart and evaluate the myriad aspects of the new jurisprudence on departure-based solicitation which is now emerging in piecemeal fashion from court decisions, ethics opinions, and legal scholarship. The Article considers bath the disciplinary ramifications of such conduct, and the closely related question of whether such solicitation may give rise to civil liability under the law of torts or the law of agency. Concluding that certain varieties of departure-based solicitation are ultimately likely to be deemed permissible, Professor Johnson discusses the issue of whether, and by what means, a firm may endeavor to protect itself from loss of clients to an attorney who leaves the firm. Finally, a model rule of ethics is proposed for the purpose of rectifying. in a manner consistent with Supreme Court precedent, the current precedential confusion in the field

Industrial Design Protection in the United States of America - Present Situation and Plans for Revision

Abstract: Industry in the United States of America has shown an increased interest in industrial design protection. This conclusion is based on several recent developments, including significant court decisions and an increased number of design patent applications received by the Patent and Trademark Office (PTO). Another important fact is the renewed effort to improve industrial design protection, by adding an additional form of industrial designs intellectual property law.The basic intellectual property law (hereinafter all reference to the law will be U.S.A. law unless otherwise indicated) available now for industrial design protection is the design patent, but there has been significant use of trademark law and some copyright law for certain designs. The consensus in the legal community and many industries is that a better way is needed to protect industrial designs. Generally, the present systems take too long to obtain protection. These rights are difficult to enforce in court and, usually, it is not clear what industrial design features are protected.

Mendelson v. Wright: Understanding the Contract Clause

Abstract: XW5T ALLACE MENDELSON charges that Benjamin Wright in his The Contract Clause of the Constitution (1938) is guilty of Progressive "muckraking," a view holding that the Founding Fathers wrote into the Constitution protections on behalf of the existing economic elite composed of creditors in conflict with a large debtor class (Mendelson 1985: 262). Moreover, Mendelson attacks the conventional wisdom that Chief Justice John Marshall unjustifiably expanded the meaning of the contract clause to protect the monied interests against exercises of state power. Mendelson regards this "Populist-Progressive" position as historically untenable (1985: 264). Mendelson finds fault with all the major opinions upholding state power over private property. He applauds contract clause decisions with outcomes favorable to private property.1 With pleasure he reports a renaissance of the contract clause in the form of two recent Supreme Court decisions, one in 1977 and the other in 1978. He views these cases as ". . . a repudiation of the Populist-Progressive, in favor of the Founders' Lockean outlook" (1985: 274). Whether Mendelson or Wright is correct, or at least which view represents a closer approximation to the truth, is not a matter of idle intellectual curiosity. It is fundamental to an understanding of the role of the United States Supreme Court in constitutional history. Professor Mendelson has seriously threatened the foundation of what we think we know. His article cannot be ignored, lest his analysis, as mistaken as I believe it to be, become the prevailing interpretation. Wright maintains that the contract clause was intended as a prohibition on state impairment of contracts among private parties, and not relations between a state and private parties. That is, the state was not viewed as having the same status as a private party. Thus, John Marshall's decision in Fletcher v. Peck (6 Cranch 87 [1810]) went beyond what the Framers intended. Wright explains that John Marshall's view stemmed

The Supreme Court, the commerce clause, and natural resources

Abstract: The Supreme Court's interpretation of the commerce clause controls the balance of power between state and federal governments in the United States. An understanding of the relationship between the different government levels is essential for resource managers concerned with resource and environmental issues. This study examines selected Supreme Court decisions between 1976 and 1988 to answer three questions raised by the commerce clause: (1) Is the regulated item an article of commerce? (2) Do state laws burden interstate commerce? (3) Is federal commerce regulation limited? The balance of power among the justices and the commerce clause theories affecting the federal role in resource management are also examined. Since ratification of the Constitution, the Supreme Court has continuously increased federal power, but states have power to act independently as long as contradictory federal laws do not exist and state law does not impermissively affect commerce. If Congress regulates an individual's use of resources, their power is unquestioned. Future Court decisions will not significantly reduce the federal role in resource management even if the Court's membership changes. Even the supporters of states' rights on the Court realize increased federal power is a necessary part of the country's evolution. The purpose of the commerce clause is to create a national economic unit with free location principles. The Court supports this purpose today and will in the future.

A Quick Quiz on Supreme Court Decisions Affecting Public Schools

Abstract: (1988). A Quick Quiz on Supreme Court Decisions Affecting Public Schools. Kappa Delta Pi Record: Vol. 24, Partnerships in Education: Pathways to Excellence, pp. 92-96.

Modeling the Impact of Supreme Court Decisions: Wygant v. Board

Abstract: In May, 1986, the U.S. Supreme Court struck down the Jackson, Michigan, school district's policy of protecting minority teachers during periods of mandatory layoffs. This paper models the implications of this decision in an attempt to project its likely impact on black representation in the educational workforce. The results suggest that under most plausible future conditions the decision's impact should be negligible, due largely to the fact that blacks have so few recent gains to protect. On the other hand, the analysis uncovers other trends that may have significant future impacts on black representation among public school teachers.

Improving the exclusionary rule: A remedial education model

Abstract: This article reviews the United States Supreme Court decisions on the rationale for the exclusionary rule and numerous law review articles suggesting changes in the rule. A new model is proposed to dovetail with the rule. The courts would participate in developing a compendium of rules and regulations for officers to follow in order to protect constitutional rights. Evidence would continue to be excluded if it were illegally seized in a bad faith. All officers who violate constitutional rights would be subject to remedial education. Supervisory officers and training personnel would also be responsible for the violations committed by line officers. Violations of constitutional rights would be considered when promotions and other personnel decisions are made. Lastly, the victim would be compensated by the governmental agency employing the offending officer with the agency seeking reimbursement from the employee.

Solicitation of Law Firm Clients by Departing Partners and Associates: Tort, Fiduciary, and Disciplinary Liability

Abstract: Recent years have seen a marked increase in the number of attorneys switching firms, many of whom seek to take with them the business of their former firm's clientele. While the contours of permissible departure-based solicitation were once clearly and narrowly circumscribed by the rules of legal ethics, the continued validity of those restrictions is seriously placed in doubt by the principles enunciated in Supreme Court decisions of the past decade dealing with commercial speech about legal services.In this Article, Professor Johnson endeavors to comprehensively chart and evaluate the myriad aspects of the new jurisprudence on departure-based solicitation which is now emerging in piecemeal fashion from court decisions, ethics opinions, and legal scholarship. The Article considers bath the disciplinary ramifications of such conduct, and the closely related question of whether such solicitation may give rise to civil liability under the law of torts or the law of agency. Concluding that certain varieties of departure-based solicitation are ultimately likely to be deemed permissible, Professor Johnson discusses the issue of whether, and by what means, a firm may endeavor to protect itself from loss of clients to an attorney who leaves the firm. Finally, a model rule of ethics is proposed for the purpose of rectifying. in a manner consistent with Supreme Court precedent, the current precedential confusion in the field