Ramshackle Federalism: America’s Archaic and Dysfunctional Presidential Election System

Accordingly, this Article proposes five sensible and achievable reforms to modernize the presidential election system. Each requires Congress and the federal government to play a much more proactive role in the presidential election system. The Constitution may be founded on federalist principles, but excessive decentralization is not serving us well in presidential election administration. In an age of tumultuous and accelerating change, the presidential election system must be modernized to meet the needs of twenty-first century America

Facilitating Distinctive and Meaningful Change Within U.S. Law Schools (Part 2): Pursuing Successful Plan Implementation Through Better Resource Management

In Part 1 of this series, one of the current authors used institutional theory, behavioral economics, and psychology to explain why U.S. law schools have had difficulty evolving faster and better. The author then used institutional entrepreneurship to propose a seven-step, faculty-led, operational change process designed to overcome institutional isomorphism and to enable each law school to formulate a distinctive, meaningful, strategic plan. In Part 2, the current article addresses the typical implementation challenges to be expected within the context of existing law school governance. The article begins by discussing the Resource Based View of the firm and the role of resource management in achieving competitive advantages. These considerations lay the foundation for the critical role of faculty engagement and law school leadership in successful strategic plan implementation. Next, within this context, the article discusses four questions whose answers may foreshadow implementation problems. Lastly, the article discusses the results of several Monte Carlo Simulations. The simulations provide insight into the likely performance problems caused by faculty misaligned with, or disengaged from, their law school’s strategic goals. The results suggest that even minimal faculty misalignment can have a significant deleterious effect on the ability of a given law school to achieve any distinctive position. All told, the article concludes that U.S. law schools can successfully implement distinctive and meaningful strategic plans within existing shared governance structures. However, success will be difficult to achieve. It requires the full engagement and leadership by both the faculty and the Dean, sustained operational support for strategic change, and the active management of law school resources

Seedling Root Morphology of Six Alfalfa Populations

Seedling root morphology plays a crucial role in seedling survival and stand establishment. Naturalized yellow-flowered alfalfa (YFA) (Medicago sativa subsp. falcata) has demonstrated adaptation to semiarid conditions of the Northern Great Plains and tolerance to grazing. Seedling stage root morphology is poorly defined. Our objective was to compare morphological traits of seedling roots for six alfalfa populations. Six entries were evaluated: one M. sativa population as a control, two M. falcata entries, with reported “spreading characteristics” and three naturalized YFA populations. Uniform seeds of each entry were scarified with 320 grade sand paper and inoculated with rhizobium before planting. A V-shaped plexiglass rootview growth box (48cm long X 27cm wide X 40cm deep) was divided into six compartments with aluminum foil, each filled with Miracle-Gro potting soil. Ten seeds per population were planted (1.5 cm deep) at 1.5 cm intervals against the Plexiglass wall. The rootview growth box was maintained in a growth chamber (24±3°C; 16h light/8h dark). Soil moisture was maintained with daily misting for 26 days. M. sativa and YFA populations had faster primary root emergence (2-3 d) than M. falcata populations (8 d). Primary root elongation rate was greater for M. sativa (3-4cm/d) than M. falcata and YFA populations (1.8-2.6cm/d) for the first 7 days. First lateral root emerged when primary root length reached 10-14 cm for all populations. The first lateral root emerged 2-3cm below the root-stem junction with the exception of one M. falcata population (5cm)

Notice, Due Process, and Voter Registration Purges

In the 2018 case of Husted v. A. Philip Randolph Institute, a divided United States Supreme Court upheld the procedures that Ohio election authorities used to purge ineligible voters from the state’s registration lists. In a 5-4 ruling, the majority ruled that the Ohio law complied with the National Voter Registration Act of 1993 (NVRA) as amended by the Help America Vote Act of 2002 (HAVA). This Article contends that the controlling federal law—the NVRA and HAVA—gave the Supreme Court little choice but to decide the case in favor of Ohio’s secretary of state. But this article also argues that the Ohio procedure fails to constitute good public policy even though it complies with federal law. Accordingly, this Article concludes with a set of modest proposals for reforming the notification process used in list maintenance procedures

Notice, Due Process, and Voter Registration Purges

In the 2018 case of Husted v. A. Philip Randolph Institute, a divided United States Supreme Court upheld the procedures that Ohio election authorities used to purge ineligible voters from the state’s registration lists. In a 5-4 ruling, the majority ruled that the Ohio law complied with the National Voter Registration Act of 1993 (NVRA) as amended by the Help America Vote Act of 2002 (HAVA). This Article contends that the controlling federal law—the NVRA and HAVA—gave the Supreme Court little choice but to decide the case in favor of Ohio’s secretary of state. But this article also argues that the Ohio procedure fails to constitute good public policy even though it complies with federal law. Accordingly, this Article concludes with a set of modest proposals for reforming the notification process used in list maintenance procedures