Balancing the ERISA Seesaw: A Targeted Approach to Remedying the Problem of Worker Misclassification in the Employee Benefits Context
Tracy Snow · June 2011 79 GEO. WASH. L. REV. 1237 (2011) Many companies are increasingly using independent contractors to reduce costs in an environment characterized by unexpected fluctuations in the market and intense global competition. Independent contractors, also called “freelancers,” are self-employed individuals who render services directly to companies outside the scope of the... Read More
Arrested Development: Reforming the Federal All-Arrestee DNA Collection Statute to Comply With the Fourth Amendment
Ashley Eiler · June 2011 79 GEO. WASH. L. REV. 1201 (2011) Under a federal statutory scheme, the fact that an arrestee is never formally charged or convicted of a crime has little impact on the analysis or continued use of her DNA profile; the federal government has no obligation to take affirmative steps to... Read More
(Spy) Game Change: Cyber Networks, Intelligence Collection, and Covert Action
Robert D. Williams · June 2011 79 GEO. WASH. L. REV. 1162 (2011) This Article makes two related arguments: one descriptive and one normative. Descriptively, it contends that the use of computer networks in carrying out intelligence operations entails a blurring of the conceptual and legal distinction between intelligence collection and covert action. In light... Read More
Privileges and Immunities, Public Education, and the Case for Public School Choice
Aaron Y. Tang · June 2011 79 GEO. WASH. L. REV. 1103 (2011) The vast disparity in the quality of educational opportunity afforded by schools in similar geographic areas is not news to many policymakers and public interest litigators. The past four decades have witnessed no shortage of policies and school finance lawsuits aimed at... Read More
Reverse Sampling: Holding Lotteries to Allocate the Proceeds of Small-Claims Class Actions
Shay Lavie · June 2011 79 GEO. WASH. L. REV. 1065 (2011) Small-claims class actions pose a unique dilemma: individual awards are small, and it is often not feasible to distribute them to each and every plaintiff. Courts have devised several alternative allocation procedures to cope with this problem, but none are satisfactory. This Article... Read More
Lost in the Dismal Swamp: Interstate Class Actions, False Federalism, and the Dormant Commerce Clause
Chad DeVeaux · June 2011 79 GEO. WASH. L. REV. 995 (2011) “No taxation without representation.” This paradigmatic mantra of the American Revolution constitutes an important foundational premise of the dormant Commerce Clause. Although it is most often associated with its anti-protectionist function of prohibiting protectionist state regulations that discriminate against out-of-state commerce, I posit... Read More
The Battle to Protect the American Public Will Become Even More Difficult
Richard J. Pierce, Jr. · April 2011 79 GEO. WASH. L. REV. 845 (2011) Rena Steinzor and Sidney Shapiro’s The People’s Agents and the Battle to Protect the American Public: Special interests, Government, and Threats to Health, Safety and the Environment is compulsory reading for anyone who is interested in the performance of regulatory agencies.... Read More
Money for Senate Seats and Other Seventeenth Amendment Politicking: How to Amend the Constitution to Prevent Political Scandal During the Filling of Senate Vacancies
Daniel T. Shedd · April 2011 79 GEO. WASH. L. REV. 960 (2011) Currently, thirty-three states permit their governors to appoint replacements to the United States Senate without any checks on the appointment procedure. As the previous two anecdotes illustrate, this practice can lead to political gamesmanship and political scandals that decrease public trust in... Read More
American Idol: The Domestic and International Implications of Preferencing the Highly Educated and Highly Skilled in U.S. Immigration Law
Kayleigh Scalzo · April 2011 79 GEO. WASH. L. REV. 926 (2011) In the category of employment-based (“EB”) immigration, the INA gives significant preference to highly skilled and highly educated aliens at the expense of unskilled and skilled aliens. The statute uses language such as “extraordinary ability,” “sustained national or international acclaim,” and “exceptional ability”... Read More
National Standards and Tests: The Worst Solution to America’s Educational Problems . . . Except for All the Others
Thomas F. Risberg · April 2011 79 GEO. WASH. L. REV. 890 (2011) The No Child Left Behind Act (“NCLB”) requires states to create standards, test those standards, have a certain percentage of students be deemed proficient based on the tests, and show improvement on the tests in order to receive certain federal funds. These... Read More