2019

Reviewed by Jeffrey Willis. Is it possible to create a work that could inform virtually every aspect of any commercial case? The goal of the Fourth Edition of this treatise is exactly that. As explained by Editor-in-Chief Robert L. Haig: [T]his treatise is a step-by-step practice guide that covers every aspect of a commercial case, from the investigation and assessment that take place at the inception, through pleadings, discovery, motions, trial, appeal, and enforcement of judgment. Great emphasis is placed on strategic considerations specific to commercial cases. Full Article

Lino A. Graglia. Contemporary constitutional scholarship presents the puzzling phenomenon of scholars endlessly writing and debating methods of constitutional interpretation as the central issue to be decided despite the apparent fact that the Constitution plays very little role in the Supreme Court’s so-called constitutional decisions. Constitutional law is the product of judicial review, the extraordinary power, suspect in a democracy, of unelected judges to overturn social policy choices made by elected legislators and other officials of government ostensibly on the ground that they are prohibited by the Constitution. The reality is that our very old and very brief Constitution, even as amended, does not and cannot provide answers to contemporary controversial social problems. It precludes very few policy choices. The Supreme Court’s rulings of unconstitutionality are, therefore, necessarily almost always…

Arden Rowell. Do people know the law? On the one hand, it is a brocard, sometimes traced to Aristotle, that nemo censetur legem ignorare: “nobody is thought to be ignorant of the law.” The same intuition underlies the classic maxim that ignorance of the law is no excuse. The intuition behind these principles has both doctrinal and theoretical heft: it underlies important common law doctrines, including those of excuse and mistake, and informs theoretical accounts of law that presume that law guides behavior. Full Article

Alexander B. Lemann. After spending four days dumping an unprecedented quantity of water on the Houston area, Hurricane Harvey finally slid off the coast to the south, leaving the city to begin the gradual process of wringing itself out and evaluating the damage. Major storms are often treated as showing us something we should have known all along. For many, Hurricane Harvey’s lesson was that the era of climate change—the Anthropocene—is well under way. By the time Harvey reached Houston it was no longer a particularly powerful storm, by the traditional measure of sustained wind speed. But, thanks to the fact that warmer air can hold more moisture, the quantity of water it dropped was truly immense. Multiple rainfall gauges in Houston recorded quantities of water that exceeded previous records…

50 Ariz. St. L.J. 1265 (2018). Lindsey Bulloch. The Americans with Disabilities Act protects individuals with disabilities from discrimination in places of public accommodation, like restaurants or hotels. At the same time, the Fair Housing Act protects buyers and renters of a dwelling from discrimination by sellers or landlords. It is unclear which area of the law should govern disability discrimination in types of temporary housing like extended-stay hotels. This Comment suggests that for the purposes of service and emotional support animals, extended-stay hotels should be governed by the Fair Housing Act, which allows for more broad inclusivity of assistance animals. Full Article

50 Ariz. St. L.J. 1171 (2018). Allan H. (“Bud”) Selig and Matthew J. Mitten. This article analyzes leading baseball-related judicial decisions, arbitration awards, and federal legislation regarding the Major League Baseball (MLB) commissioner’s “best interests” power, baseball’s antitrust exemption, and labor relations with MLB players as well as the scope of league, club, and players’ intellectual property rights. As the first law review article authored or co-authored by a current or former commissioner of a North American major professional sports league, it provides a unique insider perspective regarding baseball jurisprudence and its effects on the historical development and business affairs of MLB and its member clubs as well as their relationships with baseball players and their union, fans, and others. It also briefly considers how baseball jurisprudence has influenced the…