The Crime Bill of 1994 and the Law of Character Evidence: Congress Was Right About Consent Defense Cases

There is considerable debate as to whether to admit evidence of past sexual assaults in cases where the accused presents a defense of consent to a current sexual assault charge. The consent defense presents a unique situation where, due to the probative value of evidence that suggests propensity to rape, a strong justification can be made to admit this information as evidence. However, critics of this opinion have argued that admitting propensity evidence about the accused in a rape case is inconsistent with the rape shield rule which excludes propensity evidence about the victim. This argument is flawed in the sense that it does not properly take into account the full purpose of rape shield laws, nor does it acknowledge that evidence of a victim\u27s sexual history is less probative than evidence regarding the history of the accused

Congressional Devolution of Immigration Policymaking: A Separation of Powers Critique

For roughly a decade, federal legislation has devolved to the states some of Congress\u27s authority to adopt immigration policies that discriminate against permanent resident aliens. Equal protection challenges to discriminatory state policies so authorized by Congress raise the knotty issue of the appropriate scope of judicial review. Courts remain divided. The source of the difficulty is that the equal protection congruence principle is not applicable to alienage discrimination. Unlike equal protection cases throughout most of constitutional law, the judiciary deploys different standards of judicial review in alienage discrimination cases depending on whether the discrimination arises under federal or state law. Applying a highly deferential standard of review, courts normally uphold congressionally enacted immigration policies discriminating against aliens. By contrast, courts normally invoke strict judicial scrutiny to find state alienage discrimination unlawful. Congressional devolution legislation authorizing states to adopt policies that discriminate against aliens spawn equal protection challenges that do not fit neatly into either category of judicial review: the controversies entail state alienage discrimination but the discrimination being challenged is congressionally authorized. Devolution presents the question whether Congress should be able to immunize the states from strict judicial scrutiny by authorizing the states to adopt discriminatory immigration policies that Congress could itself adopt. That question is the subject of this Article

A Federal Ombudsman

With the profusion of specialized agencies and services, there is need for an information, referral, and complaint service that can provide a citizen with a needed service or refer him without delay to an agency that can handle his problem effectively. Ideally, a local office in each community, easily accessible by mail, telephone or in person, should provide information concerning governmental and other services; refer citizens to appropriate agencies for help and action; assist citizens in formulating complaints against local, state or federal agencies; forward the complaint to an appropriate complaint-handling institution; and monitor the action taken on any referral or complaint

Contextualization: no passing fad

Originally prepared for an international conference on the churches and China attended by Chinese patriotic Christians, this paper focuses on the processes of indigenization and contextualization. Asian discussions of these processes are related to two Canadian illustrations: the development of indigenous structures by the Lutheran church in America-Canada Section; and the struggle of Canada\u27s northern natives to preserve their past and to shape their future in the face of a proposed pipeline across their land. Asian and feminist conclusions are affirmed: contextualization is the way towards, rather than a threat to, catholicity, universality and transcendence