COMMENT: The Federal Power Act’s Double Standard: Unwinding the Mobile-Sierra Doctrine after {{Morgan Stanley Capital Group, Inc. v. Public Utility District No. 1}}
By John M. White | 61 Am. U. L. Rev. 677 (2011) Emerging from two Supreme Court opinions decided in the 1950’s, the Mobile-Sierra doctrine has evolved to stand for a principle of contract sanctity in public utility rate setting. The courts have largely come to the conclusion that the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (the…
NOTE: The Folly of Rule 14a-11: {{Business Roundtable v. SEC}} and the Commission’s Next Step
By Stephanie Lyn Parker | 61 Am. U. L. Rev. 715 (2011)
Modeling the Second Amendment Right to Carry Arms (I): Judicial Tradition and the Scope of “Bearing Arms” for Self-Defense
By Michael P. O’Shea | 61 Am. U. L. Rev. 585 (2011) This Article sheds light on a major constitutional question opened up by the United States Supreme Court’s landmark decisions in District of Columbia v. Heller and McDonald v. City of Chicago: Does the Second Amendment “right to bear arms” include a right to…
The Second-Class Action: How Courts Thwart Wage Rights by Misapplying Class Action Rules
By Scott A. Moss & Nantiya Ruan | 61 Am. U. L. Rev. 523 (2011) Courts apply to wage rights cases an aggressive scrutiny that not only disadvantages low-wage workers, but is fundamentally incorrect on the law. Rule 23 class actions automatically cover all potential members if the court grants plaintiffs’ class certification motion. But…
Lower Court Constitutionalism: Circuit Court Discretion in a Complex Adaptive System
By Doni Gewirtzman | 61 Am. U. L. Rev. 457 (2011) While federal circuit courts play an essential role in defining what the Constitution means, one would never know it from looking at most constitutional scholarship. The bulk of constitutional theory sees judge-made constitutional law through a distorted lens, one that focuses solely on the…