Deliberation\u27s Demise: The Rise of One-Party Rule in the Senate

Much of the recent legal scholarship on the Senate expresses concern about gridlock, which was caused in part by the Senate’s supermajority requirement to pass legislation and confirm presidential nominees. This scholarship exalted the value of procedural changes permitting the majority party to push through legislation and confirmations, and failed to appreciate salutary aspects of the supermajority requirement: that it provided a key structural support for stability and balance in governance. The Senate changed its rules in order to address the problem of partisan gridlock, and now a party with a bare majority is able to force through much of its agenda. As a result, the minority party no longer plays its traditional and vital role in Senate deliberation. These rules changes—along with increased party polarization— have diminished the Senate’s traditional role as a centrist institution, and the nation is suffering from its loss. The Senate’s record in 2017 illustrates the danger of transforming from a deliberative institution to one where a party with a bare majority can force through contentious legislation on a straight party-line vote. This recent record may foreshadow even more extreme steps. This Article examines the “nuclear option,” which was employed to ram through the confirmation of Neil Gorsuch to the Supreme Court, and reconciliation, which was used to steamroll substantive legislation on tax cuts (successfully) and health care (almost). The Senate has lost its way as a deliberative institution and has come to resemble the House of Representatives. To regain its stature as a deliberative body, the Senate must revitalize the role of the minority party and stabilize its procedure

ADR and Scottish commercial litigators : a study of attitudes and experience

Reports on the findings of a study of the use of alternative dispute resolution (ADR) by commercial litigators in Scotland. Analyses survey responses from commercial litigators on a range of issues, including: (1) their own knowledge of, training in, and actual experience of ADR; (2) reasons why they might recommend or decline use of ADR; (3) the outcome of ADR procedures they have used; (4) ADR as a business opportunity; (5) the role of courts in encouraging ADR; and (6) reasons why the take up of ADR in Scotland has not been greater

Inconsistencies between lifetime and polarizability measurements in Cs

Electric-dipole matrix elements for 6p-nd, n=5, 6, 7 transitions in cesium are calculated using a relativistic all-order method. The resulting matrix elements are used to evaluate 5d lifetimes and 6p polarizabilities. The data are compared with experimental lifetime and polarizability measurements made by different groups. Domination of the 6p scalar polarizabilities by 5d-6p dipole matrix elements facilitates an exacting consistency check of 5d lifetime and 6p polarizability data. Values of 5d-6p matrix elements obtained from experimental 5d lifetime data are found to be inconsistent with those inferred from 6p polarizabilities derived from experimental Stark shift data. Our ab initio calculated 6p polarizabilities agree well with experimental determinations.Comment: 5 pages, submitted to Physical Review

Elastic properties of silicate melts: Implications for low velocity zones at the lithosphere-asthenosphere boundary.

Low seismic velocity regions in the mantle and crust are commonly attributed to the presence of silicate melts. Determining melt volume and geometric distribution is fundamental to understanding planetary dynamics. We present a new model for seismic velocity reductions that accounts for the anomalous compressibility of silicate melt, rendering compressional wave velocities more sensitive to melt fraction and distribution than previous estimates. Forward modeling predicts comparable velocity reductions for compressional and shear waves for partially molten mantle, and for low velocity regions associated with the lithosphere-asthenosphere boundary (LAB), melt present at <5% distributed in near-textural equilibrium. These findings reconcile seismic observations for the LAB regionally and locally and favor models of strong coupling across the LAB rather than melt channeling due to shear deformation