Section 280E of the Internal Revenue Code and Medical Marijuana Dispensaries: An Interpretation Based on Statutory Purpose
Nikola Vujcic 84 Geo. Wash. L. Rev. 249 Congress enacted section 280E of the Internal Revenue Code to prohibit taxpayers engaged in the sale of illegal drugs from taking deductions on their income. Section 280E was passed after the Tax Court upheld deductions taken by a self-employed marijuana and narcotics dealer. Today, section 280E still persists in the Code... Read More
Wellness at Work: Reconciling the Affordable Care Act with the Americans with Disabilities Act
Michelle R. Seares 84 Geo. Wash. L. Rev. 218 In an effort to encourage employers to institute employee wellness programs, the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (“ACA”) increases the permissible financial incentives employers may offer their employees in exchange for participation in such programs. The Americans with Disabilities Act (“ADA”), however, prohibits employers from subjecting employees to disability-related medical... Read More
Don’t Discount Resale Price Maintenance: The Need for FTC Guidance on the Rule of Reason for RPM Agreements
Jarad S. Daniels 84 Geo. Wash. L. Rev. 182 Nearly eight years have passed since the Supreme Court overturned the rule of per se illegality for minimum resale price maintenance (“RPM”) agreements in Leegin Creative Leather Products, Inc. v. PSKS, Inc., opting instead to analyze RPM agreements under a rule of reason test, but the federal government has been... Read More
Socially Conscious Corporations and Shareholder Profit
Kevin V. Tu 84 Geo. Wash. L. Rev. 121 The normative debate as to whether corporations should operate with the singular objective of maximizing shareholder wealth or broader societal obligations may never be settled. Even so, the growth of socially conscious corporations—that seek to create shareholder profit while advancing social missions—highlights a contemporary legal issue facing corporate directors and shareholders.... Read More
On the Docket’s Preview of February Supreme Court Arguments
As the Court resumes oral arguments on Monday, February 22 after a month-long recess, many will miss the voice of Associate Justice Antonin Scalia. Justice Scalia passed away on the evening of Friday, February 11, 2016 while on a hunting trip in West Texas. The longest-sitting justice on the current Court, Justice Scalia led the... Read More
Trying the Trial
Andrew S. Pollis 84 Geo. Wash. L. Rev. 55 Lawyers routinely make strategic advocacy choices that reflect inferentially on the credibility of their clients’ claims and defenses. But courts have historically been reluctant to admit evidence of litigation conduct, sometimes even expressing hostility at the very notion of doing so. This Article deconstructs that reluctance.... Read More
The Sherlock Holmes Canon
Anita S. Krishnakumar 84 Geo. Wash. L. Rev. 1 Many of the Supreme Court’s statutory interpretation cases infer meaning from Congress’s failure to comment in the legislative record. Colorfully referred to as the “dog that did not bark” canon, after a Sherlock Holmes story involving a watchdog that failed to bark while a racehorse was... Read More
Montgomery v. Louisiana: Baby Steps Toward a More Benevolent Juvenile Justice System
Montgomery v. Louisiana, 577 U.S. ___ (2016) (Kennedy, J.). Response by Professor Kami Chavis Simmons Geo. Wash. L. Rev. Docket (Oct. Term 2015) Slip Opinion | New York Times | SCOTUSblog Baby Steps Toward a More Benevolent Juvenile Justice SystemIn Miller v. Alabama,1 the Supreme Court concluded that mandatory life sentences without the possibility of parole... Read More
The Confrontation Clause After Ohio v. Clark: The Path to Reinvigorating Evidenced-Based Prosecution in Intimate Partner Violence Cases
A. Ann Ratnayake · February 2016 84 Geo. Wash. L. Rev. Arguendo 18 Society has only recently made strides to help victims of intimate partner violence. “At time of founding,” a husband, as master of his household, had a privilege recognized by law to subject his wife to corporal punishment or chastisement [beating] so long... Read More
Observations from the GWLR United States v. Texas Panel
Official estimates place the number of undocumented immigrants in the United States between eleven and twelve million. Congress has only appropriated enough resources to the Department of Homeland Security (“DHS”), however, to process and deport about four hundred thousand of these individuals in any given year. The allocation of limited resources and the corresponding decision... Read More