Federalism and Social Change

A familiar passage in Professors Hart and Wechsler\u27s casebook likens the relationship between federal and state law to that which exists between statutes and the common law. The underlying idea is that federal law rests upon a substructure of state law. It builds upon legal relationships established by the states, altering or supplanting them only so far as necessary for [its] special purpose. \u27 A similar relationship exists between state and federal judicial systems. State courts are courts of general jurisdiction, assumed to have authority to adjudicate controversies unless Congress has displaced them by conferring exclusive jurisdiction on federal courts. Federal courts, on the other hand, have only a limited jurisdiction carved out of the general jurisdiction of the state courts and conferred for restricted purposes. I mention these well-known relationships to explain why I shall not essay a comprehensive discussion of the Supreme Court\u27s attitudes toward federalism during the past decade. Because of the variety and complexity of the relationships between state and federal law, any attempt to canvass all-or even the important-decisions bearing upon the Court\u27s current attitude toward federalism would necessarily cover a very broad terrain, surely far more than I can traverse within the allotted time. Instead, I will consider what insights into the Court\u27s attitudes toward federalism can be gained by exploring a limited number of constitutional decisions arising out of the social revolution of the past decade, those involving the constitutionality of gender classifications and those relating to childbearing. Confining the inquiry in this way eliminates any possibility of a definitive statement, or even a rounded view, of the Court\u27s attitude toward federalism during the Burger years, but by focusing attention upon a small number of important cases it may open the way to insights that would be obscured in a tour de horizon. More specifically, an examination of the Court\u27s response to the most important issues raised by the women\u27s movement may tell us something of its current attitudes toward federalism as a device for mediating conflict in a period of rapid social change

The Promise at Hand

Based on a former RWJF vice president's seminar, gives an overview of the history and role of foundations in U.S. society, their uncertain status as social institutions, and their regulatory history. Urges foundations to see themselves as a public trust

“I See You Have Been Convicted Of A Felony; Can You Tell Me About That?” Workforce Development Challenges for Restorative Citizens Seeking Employment

Incarceration has been an issue nationwide in the United States for decades due to policies from the 1970s, 1980s, and 1990s that lead to mass increases in incarceration. In the past decade, several states have overhauled their criminal sentencing and prison structure to lower prison populations. This has resulted in the release of thousands of restorative citizens and has expanded the need for reentry services. Released individuals who have been incarcerated face a number of social, political, and economic barriers that prevent them from re-entering society successfully. The inability to obtain employment is often cited as one of the most important factors that contributes to recidivism, which also has negative implications for the general public. This paper examines the barriers that restorative citizens and the social workers who assist them face in helping them find suitable and sustainable employment. The author also highlights workforce instructional methods utilized in the H.I.R.E. program that have been effective in assisting restored citizens in landing job interviews and securing employment. Finally, the author also explores solutions for collaboration across criminal justice and non-profit agencies for the purposes of increasing employment opportunities for restored citizens returning back to the community

QCD Corrections to Jet Correlations in Weak Boson Fusion

Higgs boson production via weak boson fusion is sensitive to the tensor structure of the HVV (V=W,Z) couplings, which distinguishes loop induced vertices from SM expectations. At the CERN Large Hadron Collider this information shows up most clearly in the azimuthal angle correlations of the two forward and backward quark jets which are typical for weak boson fusion. We calculate the next-to-leading order QCD corrections to this process, in the presence of anomalous HVV couplings. Gluon emission does not significantly change the azimuthal jet correlations.Comment: 11 pages, 4 figure