Cy Pres and the Optimal Class Action
Jay Tidmarsh · May 2014 82 GEO. WASH. L. REV. 767 (2014) This Article examines the problem of cy pres relief in class actions through the lens of optimal claim structure and class membership. It finds that the present cy pres doctrine does little to advance the creation of optimal class actions, and that it... Read More
The Unruly Class Action
Laura J. Hines · May 2014 82 GEO. WASH. L. REV. 718 (2014) This Article examines the modern “issue class action” and its tenacious existence in a hostile class action landscape. I contend that this unauthorized, unbounded device is on a collision course with decades of Supreme Court jurisprudence narrowly interpreting the federal class action... Read More
The Misguided Search for Class Unity
Robert G. Bone · May 2014 82 GEO. WASH. L. REV. 651 (2014) This Article focuses on a conflict at the core of federal class action law between an “internal” and an “external” view of the class. The internal view sees the class as a device constructed by the judge to achieve the functional goals... Read More
Putting Proponents to Their Proof: Evidentiary Rules at Class Certification
Linda S. Mullenix · May 2014 82 GEO. WASH. L. REV. 606 (2014) One of the most often cited precepts at class certification hearings—when courts hold such hearings—is that the rules of evidence do not apply. Since 1966, virtually every federal and state judge has fallen back on this trope to wave off objections to... Read More
Interest Creep: The Constitution, Common Law, and Politics
Sonia Suter · April 2014 82 GEO. WASH. L. REV. ARGUENDO 29 (2014) Professor Fox’s article, Interest Creep, offers an important contribution to the literature on constitutional analysis and reproductive jurisprudence. This Response begins by suggesting that the problem of interest creep that Fox describes is not so much a problem of the courts conflating... Read More
Battlefield Earth: The Danger of Executive Overreach in the Global Fight Against Terrorism and Why Congress Must Act
Kylie Alexandra · April 2014 82 GEO. WASH. L. REV. 456 (2014) In the aftermath of 9/11, Congress adopted the Authorization for Use of Military Force (“AUMF”) on September 14, 2001, permitting the President to use force against both al Qaeda for committing the attack and the Taliban for harboring them. Beyond those two organizations,... Read More
A DREAM Turned Nightmare: The Unintended Consequences of the Obama Administration’s Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals Policy
Jessica Arco · April 2014 82 GEO. WASH. L. REV. 493 (2014) Although implemented with good intentions, the Obama Administration’s Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals policy puts its intended beneficiaries in a precarious position. Because the policy constitutes an agency policy statement outlining an exercise of prosecutorial discretion, administrative law precedent suggests that deferred action... Read More
Chen Guangcheng and Julian Assange: The Normative Impact of International Incidents on Diplomatic Asylum Law
John T. Chisholm · April 2014 82 GEO. WASH. L. REV. 528 (2014) The practice of diplomatic asylum, by which countries grant asylum within the walls of their embassies abroad, is not widely recognized in international law. Outside of Latin America, no multilateral treaty accepts a right to grant diplomatic asylum and the International Court... Read More
Interest Creep
Dov Fox · April 2014 82 GEO. WASH. L. REV. 273 (2014) Judicial review has a blind spot. Doctrinal and scholarly focus on individual rights has crowded out alertness to the way in which legislatures and courts characterize the state interests on the other side of the constitutional ledger. This Article introduces and interrogates a... Read More
A Concise Guide to Using Dictionaries from the Founding Era to Determine the Original Meaning of the Consitution
Gregory E. Maggs · April 2014 82 GEO. WASH. L. REV. 358 (2014) This Article explains how dictionaries published in the Founding Era may provide evidence of the original meaning of the Constitution. In addition, the Article identifies and discusses six potential problems with relying on definitions from these dictionaries, and cautions that these potential... Read More