Erie SLAPP Back

Dozens of states have enacted anti-Strategic Lawsuits Against Public Participation (SLAPP) laws to counter SLAPP suits, or lawsuits filed to silence a defendant who has spoken out against a plaintiff. The primary goal of a SLAPP suit is not to win on the merits, but rather to discourage the defendant from exercising their right to free speech by threatening excessively expensive litigation. State anti-SLAPP laws provide for special motions to dismiss, discovery limitations, and fee shifting, all designed to allow a defendant to expeditiously dispose of the SLAPP suit before engaging in costly discovery. This Article discusses the development of state anti-SLAPP laws and the evolution of the Erie doctrine through the Shady Grove decision, ultimately examining how lower courts have struggled to make sense of Shady Grove in the context of state anti-SLAPP special motions to dismiss. This Article then discusses the various theoretical solutions that have been offered for this dilemma, concluding that the conflict between state anti-SLAPP laws and the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure is unavoidable and irreconcilable under the Rules Enabling Act and Erie and its progeny. Based on this analysis, this Article concludes that federal courts sitting in diversity cannot apply state anti-SLAPP laws. The only mechanism for accomplishing the specifically defined purpose of state anti-SLAPP laws in federal court is for the Congress to adopt a federal anti-SLAPP law that would supplement the operation of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure

Strengthening WTO and the Global Trade System for Sustainable Development. Policy paper for G20

The dynamics of the global trade system is a key influencer in the transition to a sustainable future for humanity. This policy paper emerged from a consultation process with a panel of renowned experts. They focused on how the World Trade Organization (WTO) could be strengthened to provide a global trade system supportive of the sustainability agenda. It is recognized that the WTO was conceived in a different world from the one we live in today, geopolitically and ideologically. This policy paper raises several key recommendations that, in the view of the expert panel, could be implemented in the short term and would achieve a substantial impact to expand the mandate and influence of the WTO, within the broader context of improving global governance to address global societal challenges

Fourth Amendment Localism

INTRODUCTION - p. 370 I. SUBNATIONAL CONSTITUTIONALISM - p. 376 A. SUBSTANTIVE LAW - p. 377 B. GEOGRAPHY - p. 379 C. RESOURCES - p. 381 II. THE LOCALISTS - p. 382 A. “NEW DEMOCRATISTS” - p. 383 B. “NEW ADMINISTRATIVISTS” - p. 386 C. SUMMARY - p. 389 III. ASSESSING LOCALISM’S LIMITS - p. 391 A. TAILORING - p. 391 B. EXPERIMENTATION - p. 399 C. TIEBOUT SORTING AND EXTERNALITIES - p. 404 IV. WHITHER FOURTH AMENDMENT LOCALISM - p. 408 A. FOURTH AMENDMENT EXCEPTIONALISM - p. 409 INDIVIDUAL INTERESTS - p. 409 STRUCTURAL DEMOCRATIC INTERESTS - p. 411 COMPARATIVE DISTINCTIVENESS - p. 413 B. “LEVELING UP” FOURTH AMENDMENT DOCTRINE - p. 416 CONCLUSION - p. 41

Science advice to governments: diverse systems, common challenges

This briefing paper formed the basis of discussions at the 'Science Advice to Governments' summit, which took place in Auckland, New Zealand from 28-29 August 2014, and was attended by science advisors and policymakers from 48 countries

THE STORY OF FOUNTAIN: HARD FACTS AND SOFT SPECULATION

Thierry de Duve’s essay is anchored to the one and perhaps only hard fact that we possess regarding the story of Fountain: its photo in The Blind Man No. 2, triply captioned “Fountain by R. Mutt,” “Photograph by Alfred Stieglitz,” and “THE EXHIBIT REFUSED BY THE INDEPENDENTS,” and the editorial on the facing page, titled “The Richard Mutt Case.” He examines what kind of agency is involved in that triple “by,” and revisits Duchamp’s intentions and motivations when he created the fictitious R. Mutt, manipulated Stieglitz, and set a trap to the Independents. De Duve concludes with an invitation to art historians to abandon the “by” questions (attribution, etc.) and to focus on the “from” questions that arise when Fountain is not seen as a work of art so much as the bearer of the news that the art world has radically changed

When Facts Don’t Matter

We are used to thinking that facts shape legal outcomes, but sometimes the Supreme Court wants nothing to do with facts. In some high-profile constitutional decisions, the Roberts Court has ignored important congressional findings, deeming irrelevant facts that document the very mischief Congress sought to remedy. Similarly, in these same cases the Court exploits the muddy line between facial and as-applied challenges to avoid confronting particular facts. The Justices in these cases do not question the veracity of seemingly relevant facts. Rather, they write their opinions as though these facts don’t matter. This Article examines the Court’s penchant for brushing aside inconvenient facts. Using three prominent decisions as case studies, it argues that a majority of Justices too often rely on novel constitutional doctrine to dismiss congressional findings and other facts. This collective disdain for facts muddles constitutional law, aggrandizes the judiciary, and privileges ideology over evidence. Of course, the relevance of particular facts is ultimately a legal question, so the Court clearly enjoys the prerogative to determine which findings have constitutional salience. That said, the Court still owes Congress and the country a more careful explanation when it deems irrelevant the very facts that prompted legislative action in the first place

Reclaiming Home in Indigenous Women Poetry of North America

The tendency of reclaiming home in Indigenous women poetry of North America is seen as a part of a multilayered decolonizing project, which aims at disclosing, reconstructing, and removing the effects of the colonial policy for self-determination and betterment of the Indigenous peoples. A precondition of reclaiming home is resurrecting tribal knowledge of belonging which situates the Indigenous subject within family and tribe and close connection to natural surroundings. This paper extends the boundaries of the concept of home from a physical space, such as house and homeland, to a representational one, such as community or cultural articulation, in which one finds comfortable identification (cf. Lefebvre 1991). This assumption supports the expansion of Indigenous agency to the realization of home on the global level. The paper takes a multidisciplinary approach and gathers a vast corpus of poetry, coming from different nations Indigenous to North America, and, therefore, from different locations and writing styles. While using the concept of the Indigenous to refer to Native Americans, Alaskans, First Nations, and Chicana/o, I will also briefly introduce the authors’ tribal affiliations to underline the collective pattern of suffering among the diverse groups

'Racism it's part of my everyday life': Black and minority ethnic pupils' experiences in a predominantly white school

Body cremated. Ina Lockwood - wifehttps://stars.library.ucf.edu/cfm-ch-register-vol25/1389/thumbnail.jp