Topics

The Sex Offender Registry: Aiming to Serve the Public or Only Please the Public?

October 9, 2012

Getting one’s name removed from the sex offender registry list can be a daunting and tedious process in some states.  While some believe the process should be made more difficult, others find that the longer a sex offender stays on the list, the less likely they are to reintegrate into society and the more likely they are to recidivate. The controlling North Carolina statute, G.S. § 14-208.12A, lays out the requirements for removing one’s name from the registry.  According to the North [...]

Bowman v. Monsanto Co.: A real-life David v. Goliath with Significant Patent Implications [Updated]

October 9, 2012

Updated May 16, 2013: The Supreme Court unanimously decided in favor of Monsanto in an opinion (pdf) published on May 13, 2013 and authored by Justice Kagan, holding that “[p]atent exhaustion does not permit a farmer to reproduce patented seeds through planting and harvesting without the patent holder’s permission.” The Supreme Court of the United States granted Vernon Hugh Bowman’s Petition for Writ of Certiorari on October 5 to decide whether the Federal Circuit erred by: [...]

Wake County Schools and the Search for a “Sound Basic Education”

October 5, 2012

In September of 2010, the Wake County Public School System (WCPSS) was served with a complaint filed by the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP).  The complaint responded to a change in WCPSS’ student assignment plan, and was not a surprise.  Many felt the new plan was a return to segregation in schools.  The previous assignment plan provided that students in Wake County were to be assigned to schools in such a way as to achieve socioeconomic diversity.  The [...]

Outside the Protected Class? Associative Discrimination Theory in Title VII

October 4, 2012

Title VII of the 1964 Civil Rights Act aims to prevent employers from discriminating against an employee based on his or her race, color, religion, sex, or national origin, but not sexual orientation.  While the legislative history of Title VII does not clearly indicate that sexual orientation was a prominent consideration at the time of Title VII’s passage, this omission has come under increasing scrutiny in the post-“Don’t Ask Don’t Tell” era.  As sexual orientation is not a [...]

Absent Due Process, Lance Armstrong Ends His Fight With the USADA

October 3, 2012

  On June 12, 2012, the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency (USADA) notified Lance Armstrong that it had opened a formal action against him for violating anti-doping rules from 1998 through the present.  This notification followed the Department of Justice’s decision to drop its federal investigation against Armstrong in February.  To the surprise of his fans worldwide, Armstrong conceded his guilt. In response, the USADA reported that it would strip Armstrong of his seven Tour de France titles and [...]

Hot For Teacher: Gender Bias in Sentencing of Teachers that have Sex with Their Students

October 2, 2012

A female teacher from Texas was sentenced to five years in prison after being convicted of having sex with five male students in her home.  One encounter involved group sex that was recorded on a cell phone.  She was found guilty of sixteen counts of having an inappropriate relationship between a student and teacher.  Each count was punishable by two to twenty years imprisonment. Sex between teachers and their students has always been a highly-publicized ordeal throughout the country, and it [...]

The Empire State Building Shooting: Crisis Averted or Excessive Action?

October 2, 2012

As shots rang out in the streets of New York on the morning of August 24, it seemed as though our country’s worst nightmare had returned.  Two people were dead and nine were injured after police brought down gunman Jeffrey Johnson in front of the Empire State Building after Johnson had killed his former coworker.  Because so many bystanders were injured in the incident, New York Police Commissioner Raymond Kelly and Mayor Michael Bloomberg fielded questions on the amount of force the two [...]

Does Tort Liability have a Place in Baseball?

September 25, 2012

Nicolaus Mills, Professor of Literature at Sarah Lawrence College, recently wrote an opinion piece for CNN’s focusing on the dangers during baseball games, specifically that players at bat are often hit by incoming pitches.  Mills recommended potential rule changes to the game of baseball after an incident early in the 2012 season.  In the eighth inning of a game between the New York Yankees and Seattle Mariners on July 24, a pitch from the Mariners’ Felix Hernandez—who had already hit [...]

Taxpayers to Provide Gender Reassignment Surgery for Inmate

September 25, 2012

It is questionable whether the common taxpayer would be comfortable with footing the bill for an inmate’s gender reassignment surgery.  Some may not consider this surgery to be medically necessary.  Such was not the case when a federal judge in Massachusetts ordered gender reassignment surgery be provided to inmate Robert Kosilek, as it was the only adequate treatment for his mental condition.  Kosilek was convicted of murdering his wife in 1990.  He was sentenced to life in prison [...]

Toeing the Ethical Line: Are For-Profit Law Schools Lowering Standards and Increasing Student Debt?

September 18, 2012

Note from the Editors:  Recently, the Campbell Law Observer hosted a write-on competition to recruit new staff writers.  Each student was to discuss the impact of for-profit law schools on the legal academy and the legal profession.  Below, you will find the article that received the second-highest score from the editorial board.  We have published these articles in an attempt to display two perspectives.   It is no secret that entering the legal profession in its current state is a [...]

Giving Juveniles Another Chance: The Present and Potential Retroactive Impact of Miller v. Alabama

September 18, 2012

In June 2012, the U.S. Supreme Court held in Miller v. Alabama that mandatory life-without-parole sentences for juveniles convicted of murder are unconstitutional.  Writing for the majority in a 5-4 decision, Justice Kagan explained that imposing such mandatory sentences on adolescents, who tend to have “diminished culpability and greater prospects for reform,”1 constitutes cruel and unusual punishment. The ruling struck down compulsory sentencing statutes in 29 states.  More [...]

Cheerleading Is Not a Sport (for Now at Least)

September 18, 2012

According to the Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit, competitive cheerleading cannot be considered a varsity sport for purposes of complying with Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972 (Title IX).  Title IX was enacted to afford men and women equal opportunities in education and sports. The ruling comes from an appeal by Quinnipiac University in Hamden, Connecticut (Quinnipiac), who argued that competitive cheerleading should be counted as a varsity sport for Title IX purposes.  In [...]

For-Profit Law Schools: Part of the Problem or Part of the Solution?

September 11, 2012

Note from the Editors:  Recently, the Campbell Law Observer hosted a write-on competition to recruit new staff writers.  Each student was to discuss the impact of for-profit law schools on the legal academy and the legal profession.  Below, you will find the article that received the highest score from the editorial board.  Next week, we will publish another student’s write-on prompt in an attempt to display two perspectives. An important choice must be made by those pursuing a career in [...]

From the Grave to the Witness Stand – Why Drew Peterson Lost His Sixth Amendment Rights

September 11, 2012

Anyone who follows the news, and likely some who do not, is aware that on September 6, 2012, Drew Peterson was found guilty of the first-degree murder of his third wife, Kathleen Savio.  Furthermore, you are likely aware of the immense controversy surrounding the trial.  If you take a moment to Google the name “Drew Peterson,” you will quickly realize that nearly every news account focuses on the “unprecedented amount of inadmissible hearsay allowed into evidence to support his [...]

Supreme Court Opens October 2012 Term with a Bang: Affirmative Action in College Admissions

September 11, 2012

The Supreme Court of the United States has wrestled with the reach of the Equal Protection clause since the adoption of the Fourteenth Amendment in 1868.  Courts across the country have considered the application of the clause to instances of age, sex, and race discrimination, and circumstances triggering the clause have ranged from voting rights to segregation on railroad cars.  In just over a month, the Supreme Court will analyze the clause yet again, this time applying it to affirmative [...]
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