Author Archives: oneditor
Religious Exemptions, Formal Neutrality, and Laícité
Rights to free exercise in the United States are governed by a doctrine of formal neutrality, which seems to resemble the French doctrine of laícité. This resemblance tempts one to conclude that the doctrinal regimes of religious liberty in the … Continue reading
Secularization, Religiosity, and the United States Constitution
This article draws upon leading works in the sociology of religion to assess what I shall call “the secularization claim” regarding the United States. It endeavors, in particular, to clarify the possible meanings of “secularization,” and then to use these … Continue reading
Religious Expression and Symbolism in the American Constitutional Tradition: Governmental Neutrality, But Not Indifference
In this article, I describe and analyze three principles of First Amendment doctrine. First, the Establishment Clause generally forbids governmental expression that has the purpose or effect of promoting or endorsing religion. Second, and conversely, private religious expression is broadly … Continue reading
Help for Hotspots: NGO Participation in the Preservation of Worldwide Biodiversity
This Note explores the role that nongovernmental organizations can and do play in the preservation of global biodiversity hotspots. The hotspot concept-developed in the late 1980s alongside the new field of conservation biology-identifies particular areas of the world that contain … Continue reading
Challenges for Private Sector Conservation: Sanderson’s The Future of Conservation in Tierra del Fuego
To date, global protection of biodiversity has been largely dominated by governmental actors. Ecosystems transcending state boundaries find themselves at the mercy of international agreements, for better or for worse. Steven Sanderson of the Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS) suggested for … Continue reading
The Parallel Worlds of Corporate Governance and Labor Law
This paper engages the concept of transnational law (TL) in a way that goes beyond the by now accustomed usages with regard to the development of legal norms and the observation of legal action across nation-state boundaries, involving both state … Continue reading
The International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea: A Great Mistake?
This article discusses the International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea and questions its role and value. The U.N. Convention on the Law of the Sea seems to contemplate fairly extensive jurisdiction for the Tribunal, but since its inception, … Continue reading
The Use and Misuse of Comparative Constitutional Law
This article examines the extent and nature of the use of foreign law in constitutional adjudication in common law systems outside the United States, with special reference to Australia. Demonstrating that the courts of other common law jurisdictions use foreign … Continue reading
Workers’ Rights Provisions in Fast Track Authority, 1974-2007: An Historical Perspective and Current Analysis
This article examines the trajectory of workers’ rights provisions in “fast track” authority legislation allowing the U.S. president to negotiate free trade agreements that Congress can only approve or reject, not amend. I begin my analysis with the Trade Act … Continue reading
Making Visible the Invisible: Strategies for Responding to Globalization’s Impact on Immigrant Workers in the United States
This article explores the impact of globalization on immigrant workers in the United States. Although Congress created programs to provide vocational training services and cash allowances to workers who qualified by virtue of having lost their jobs as a result … Continue reading
The Organization of Care Work in Italy: Gender and Migrant Labor in the New Economy
This article discusses social, political, and economic aspects-particularly, gender and race-based implications-of the organization of elder care work in Italy and globally. Care work for the elderly is a particularly acute concern in Italy and across Europe, as the population … Continue reading
The New Politics of Linkage: India’s Opposition to the Workers’ Rights Clause
This article examines why India has opposed a World Trade Organization (WTO) workers’ rights clause, and calls for a new way of thinking about international institutions and the link between trade and labor rights. Many labor rights supporters argue that … Continue reading
Protecting Families in a Global Economy
The globalization of the economy has placed tremendous pressure on the modern family. Throughout the developed world, marriage rates are declining, birth and fertility rates are falling, real wages are flat or declining, and hours of family external labor supplied … Continue reading
Beyond a Snapshot: Preventing Human Trafficking in the Global Economy
Current legal responses to the problem of human trafficking often reflect a deep reluctance to address the socioeconomic root causes of the problem. Because they approach trafficking as an act (or series of acts) of violence, most responses focus predominantly … Continue reading
The Treaty Establishing a Constitution for Europe and the Democratic Legitimacy of the European Union
The Treaty Establishing a Constitution for Europe is a voluminous text of 341 pages and articles that marks the first time Europe has had a formal constitution. As was intimated at the end of the Nice conference and plainly stated … Continue reading
Comment: Autonomy and the Public-Private Distinction in Bioethics and Law
In American law school classrooms, we have a phenomenon that I expect you experience here in Italy as well. The professor asks a question and the student attempts to avoid answering the question by challenging or seeking to shift the … Continue reading