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More than a year later, Citizens United v. FEC, 130 S.Ct. 876, the United States Supreme Court’s notorious decision on corporate free speech, remains bitterly controversial. Many (including me) view it as a disastrous decision. In essence, by equating money with speech and corporations with citizens, it allows corporations, with potentially unlimited wealth, to buy up speech, to corner the market on speech and the very means of communication, and so to determine political outcomes. Totalitarian regimes, such as Nazi Germany and Stalinist Russia, were well aware that control of the media was one of the key prerequisites for gaining and retaining power. The Supreme Court’s refusal to allow appropriate, necessary regulation of corporate speech opens the door to corporate control of speech—and political power. Naturally, Citizens United follows earlier…

Federal law enforcement officials have been tracking the movements of criminal suspects since before technology would allow. The original form of government tracking was simply to follow suspects, either on foot or by vehicle. Next, law enforcement agencies, such as the FBI, would install their own tracking equipment on or inside a vehicle, plane, boat, or other object to monitor and track a suspect’s location. Today, the cell phone has provided law enforcement officials a priceless investigative tool for monitoring the movement of individuals. Can You Find Me Now?: The Federal Government’s Attempt to Track Criminal Suspects Using Their Cell Phones discusses the timely, relevant, and hotly debated topic of whether the government should be able to track cell phones upon a showing of anything less than probable cause. This article…

This article has been written by guest author Maritza Reyes, Assistant Professor of Law, Florida A&M University College of Law. Most Americans agree that we need comprehensive immigration reform. The failure of the President and Congress to act in this regard has been cited as a reason for the passage of S.B. 1070 in Arizona. The arguments that S.B. 1070 is unconstitutional will be addressed in the federal courts. But, some states are not waiting for a U.S. Supreme Court ruling; instead, states like Florida are following Arizona’s lead and proposing similar or harsher immigration enforcement legislation. However, Florida should claim its own leadership position and make a decision based on the best interests of its state’s diverse population and its economy. Let’s begin by pointing out two crucial facts:…

Megan Scanlon's student comment will be published in the upcoming summer 2011 edition of the Arizona State Law Journal. Here is a brief summary. From Theory to Practice: Incorporating the “Active Efforts” Requirement in Indian Child Welfare Act Proceedings The Indian Child Welfare Act (“ICWA”) recently turned thirty-three. The ICWA is a fascinating law because it has remained unchanged since its inception, and its terms have only reached the United States Supreme Court in a single case. Yet, the ICWA is frequently applied to thousands of cases across the country without consistency. In particular, the “active efforts” requirement within the ICWA continues to plague both state and tribal courts. Confusion surrounding the meaning of active efforts and what the term requires is a challenge confronting judges, attorneys, social workers, and…

[gallery link="file" orderby="rand"] On March 31st, 2011, ASU Law student Cody Huffaker was presented with an award during the Scribes Dinner at the 2011 National Conference of Law Reviews, hosted by the Thomas Jefferson School of Law in San Diego. The award was for the best student-written article in a law review or journal in the country. Cody's article, “A New Type of Commandeering: The Bypass Clause of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (Stimulus Package),” was published in the Fall 2010 Issue of the Law Journal. It is also available on Westlaw at 42 Ariz. St. L.J. 1055. Past winners are listed here: http://www.scribes.org/law-review-award. Congrats, Cody!!

Caroline J.S. Picart[i] Well before George Balanchine (1904-1983), Loïe Fuller (1862-1928), Isadora Duncan (1877-1927), Ruth St. Denis (1879-1968), and Martha Graham (1894-1991) pioneered American modern dance.  They were white women working in male-dominated and visually racially-mixed theatrical markets (while maintaining the dominance of whiteness).  Balanchine, a Russian émigré, was the first U.S. choreographer to acquire copyright protection for his choreographic works through his will,[ii] and eventually, it was through his estate that the first copyright infringement claim occurred.[iii] Balanchine created the “standard look” of the hyper-whitened, ethereally slim ballerina, and with that, the history of copyrightable American modern dance choreography began.  Balanchine’s choreography became institutionalized as “property”—one that the law regards as “whitened” enough to delimit from the public domain.  And it is through Balanchine’s copyrighted choreography that his estate…

This article has been written by guest author Scott Shackelford, Assistant Professor of Business Law and Ethics, Indiana University. Defining Privacy in the Information Age Privacy is the subject of literally thousands of scholarly and popular books and articles.[i] Despite this great effort, the old challenge of protecting civil liberties while also providing public safety, including cybersecurity, remains a critical question, especially in the Information age.  Civil libertarians push for preserving Internet freedom, while many countries are increasingly anxious to protect critical national infrastructure, stop cyber espionage and cybercrime, and even prepare for cyber war.[ii] But does this inevitably mean the end of anonymity for Internet users?  Not necessarily.  According to Colonel Charles Williamson, “each nation has to strike a balance between cybersecurity and civil rights, especially privacy.”[iii] How nations accomplish…

The Arizona State Law Journal will soon publish an article by Brett McDonnell, Professor of Law at the University of Minnesota School of Law. Professor McDonnell's article, Setting Optimal Rules for Shareholder Proxy Access, surveys recent state and federal changes concerning the shareholder proxy access and the "altering rule," whereby shareholders can propose a change to the bylaws about proxy access. Prior to the SEC promulgating a new rule, shareholders did not have access to the corporate proxy materials to make board nominations in any state except one. Further, boards could also exclude a proposal to the bylaws by shareholders to allow such access. While shareholders could run their own candidates, without access to the proxy materials sent out to all shareholders by the corporation, this was prohibitively expensive. This restriction…

This article has been written by guest author Harvey Gilmore, LL.M., J.D., Professor Monroe College. There is a great body of research that states that there is a great deal of career dissatisfaction in the legal profession. Yes, it is true that there are a number of practicing attorneys who detest what they do. Yes, there are any number of stories about attorneys who have suffered from depression, substance abuse, and have even attempted suicide. However, I am here to tell you that just because there are several horror stories out there, do not automatically assume that you will become the next statistic, just one more victim of job burnout.  Why? Not only are there attorneys who enjoy what they do, but there are also law school graduates who enjoy…

This article has been written by guest author Hector D. Marin. Precontractual Agreements are used very often in business transactions. But from the case law that has been analyzed it is clearly inferred there is a great uncertainty about their effects. However some clear concepts of Precontractual Agreements with certain effects based on the following conclusions: 1.- There are different types of Precontractual Agreements. The case law and the commentators clear indicate that the Precontractual Agreements are used for different purposes. The content of the Precontractual Agreement and the intent of the parties are different depending on the use of the Precontractual Agreement. 2.- The Letters of Intent or Agreements to Negotiate are binding and enforceable contracts that are used to set forth the conditions of the negotiation, clarifying the…