Analyzing Avoidance: Judicial Strategy in Comparative Perspective

Courts sometimes avoid deciding contentious issues. One prominent justification for this practice is that, by employing avoidance strategically, a court can postpone reaching decisions that might threaten its institutional viability. Avoidance creates delay, which can allow for productive dialogue with and among the political branches. That dialogue, in turn, may result in the democratic resolution of—or the evolution of popular societal consensus around—a contested question, relieving the court of its duty. Many scholars and judges assume that, by creating and deferring to this dialogue, a court can safeguard its institutional legitimacy and security. Accepting this assumption arguendo, this Article seeks to evaluate avoidance as it relates to dialogue. It identifies two key factors in the avoidance decision that might affect dialogue with the political branches: first, the timing of avoidance (i.e., when in the life cycle of a case does a high court choose to avoid); and, second, a court’s candor about the decision (i.e., to what degree does a court openly acknowledge its choice to avoid). The Article draws on a series of avoidance strategies from apex courts around the world to tease out the relationships among timing, candor, and dialogue. As the first study to analyze avoidance from a comparative perspective, the Article generates a new framework for assessing avoidance by highlighting the impact of timing on the quality of dialogue, the possible unintended consequences of candor, and the critical trade-offs between avoidance and power

BLS Spotlight on Statistics: Industry on Tap: Breweries

Breweries, breweries everywhere, and so much beer to drink! It seems as though nearly every town in America has a brewery these days, suggesting that the industry must be expanding rapidly. But, is it? From 2006 to 2016, breweries accounted for more than half of the employment growth within the beverage manufacturing industry. As breweries—establishments engaged primarily in brewing beer, ale, lager, malt liquors, and nonalcoholic beer—are beginning to take up a larger share of the beverage manufacturing industry, soft drink and ice manufacturing\u27s share has been declining. This Spotlight on Statistics examines historical employment trends for breweries and the other component industries that make up the beverage manufacturing industry. It also looks at wages, the number of establishments, prices, and injury rates for the brewing industry and compares them with similar measures for distilleries, wineries, and the soft drink and ice manufacturing industry

Fake News and the Tax Law

The public misunderstands many aspects of the tax system. For example, people frequently misunderstand how marginal tax rates work, misperceive their own average tax rates, and believe they benefit from tax deductions for which they are ineligible. Such confusion is understandable given the complexity of our tax laws. Unfortunately, research suggests these misconceptions shape voter preferences about tax policy which, in turn, impact the policies themselves. That people are easily confused by taxes is nothing new. With the rise of social media platforms, however, the speed at which misinformation campaigns can now move to shape public opinion is far faster. The past five years have seen a dramatic shift in the landscape of false information and scholars in a variety of disciplines, from law to psychology to journalism, have explored the increasing influence of fake news. Building on this burgeoning literature, this Article is the first to examine the incidence and impact of fake news on tax law. We analyze a unique dataset of tax stories flagged as “false” or “untrue” by reputable, third-party news sources. We use this dataset to explore common themes in fake tax news, as well as the ways tax laws’ complexity contributes to spreading false information. We then offer recommendations for how tax administrators and policymakers can combat these misinformation efforts. Specifically, we argue that insights from the literature on fake news can and should inform how administrators disseminate true tax information to the public. Further, understanding what types of tax laws are easily misunderstood or subject to manipulation should inform substantive tax policy design

Solidarity Federalism

Studies of federalism, especially in the United States, have mostly centered on state autonomy and the vertical relationship between the states and the federal government. This Article approaches federalism from a different perspective, one that focuses on state solidarity. We explain how solidarity structures found in constitutional federations—including the United States—generate solidarity obligations, such as duties not to harm other states or their citizens. These duties give rise to principles, such as nondiscrimination, that are vital to federalism. Focusing on interstate relations and relations between states and citizens of other states, we argue that affirming both solidarity and autonomy as crucial—indeed constitutive—elements of federalism enables us to better understand our federation and enriches federalism discourse in general. For example, we show that solidarity works in tandem with state autonomy to generate the traditional values of federalism, such as diversity, efficiency, experimentation, and pluralism

Fake News and the Tax Law

The public misunderstands many aspects of the tax system. For example, people frequently misunderstand how marginal tax rates work, misperceive their own average tax rates, and believe they benefit from tax deductions for which they are ineligible. Such confusion is understandable given the complexity of our tax laws. Unfortunately, research suggests these misconceptions shape voter preferences about tax policy which, in turn, impact the policies themselves. That people are easily confused by taxes is nothing new. With the rise of social media platforms, however, the speed at which misinformation campaigns can now move to shape public opinion is far faster. The past five years have seen a dramatic shift in the landscape of false information and scholars in a variety of disciplines, from law to psychology to journalism, have explored the increasing influence of fake news. Building on this burgeoning literature, this Article is the first to examine the incidence and impact of fake news on tax law. We analyze a unique dataset of tax stories flagged as “false” or “untrue” by reputable, third-party news sources. We use this dataset to explore common themes in fake tax news, as well as the ways tax laws’ complexity contributes to spreading false information. We then offer recommendations for how tax administrators and policymakers can combat these misinformation efforts. Specifically, we argue that insights from the literature on fake news can and should inform how administrators disseminate true tax information to the public. Further, understanding what types of tax laws are easily misunderstood or subject to manipulation should inform substantive tax policy design

Wild Type Drosophila melanogaster Eye Pigments: Examining Absorbance Spectra and Light Sensitivity

The eyes of wild type fruit flies contain various pigments that contribute to a brick red color. Chromatography techniques are used to separate and view these pigments. IN this project, the students extract and gather absorbance spectra for these pigments using three methods: eye pigment chromatography, pigment extraction and spectrophotometry, and spectrophotometry and photosensitivity. The methods are compared to determine how efficient they are at separating and extracting pigments and producing reliable results when examining absorbance spectra. To explore the photosensitivity of the pigments, we compare absorbance spectra changes to a pigment solution

Beholding Law: Amadeo on the Argentine Constitution

This essay introduces an online edition of Santos P. Amadeo’s Argentine Constitutional Law to be published by the Academia Puertorriqueña de Jurisprudencia y Legislación. Tracing the book to its origins in a paper Amadeo wrote for a seminar in comparative constitutional law at Columbia Law School in the 1930s, we discuss the intellectual context that gave rise to the book and assess its author’s methodological choices. We then examine one particular substantive choice: Whereas the paper specifically draws attention to the importance of understanding every form of political subdivision in a federalist system – identifying Argentina’s as the provinces, the federal capital, the national territories, and the central national government – the book mentions Argentina’s territories only in passing. The contrast is intriguing because Amadeo himself was from the U.S. territory of Puerto Rico. Why, then, as his paper grew into a book-length project, did the subject of the Argentine territories shrink to a passing mention? We don’t know the answer, but we offer our informed guess, noting the fraught relationship between comparativism and empire