Volume 13, Issue 4 (Fall 2016)

ON THE UNENFORCEABILITY OF THE ELECTORAL COUNT ACT

Chris Land & David Schultz

“It is much more material that there be a rule to go by than what the rule is; that there may be a uniformity of proceeding in business not subject to the caprice of the Speaker or captiousness of the members.”1 It goes without saying that the rules that govern how our country elects a president each quadrennium are something that should be as clear as possible and accepted as binding by all. Otherwise, an incipient constitutional crisis is born. View More

REMEDIATING CERCLA’S POLLUTED STATUTE OF LIMITATIONS

Brian Block

There is perhaps no piece of enacted legislation that is shown greater contempt on a consistent basis by those tasked with its interpretation than is the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act of 1980 (CERCLA or Superfund). 1 In almost any opinion that requires interpretation of CERCLA, it is highly probable that the judge will inject his or her own unique words of disdain for the frustratingly confusing statute. For instance, Judge Young sitting in the District of Massachusetts explained that he could not “forbear remarking on the difficulty of being left compass less on the trackless wastes of CERCLA.”2 In fact, as Judge McKeown on the Ninth Circuit noted, “It has become de rigueur to criticize CERCLA as a hastily passed statute that is far from a paragon of legislative clarity.”3 Accordingly, the failure of a federal appeals court to properly interpret one of CERCLA’s key provisions should come as no surprise. And it should be equally as unsurprising, though possibly disconcerting, that a portion of this same provision was drafted in a manner so flawed as to make it self-defeating in certain circumstances. View More

DON’T DIE IN NEW JERSEY: A PUSH FOR EFFECTIVE DEATH TAX REFORM LEGISLATION

Jonathan L. Triantos

Benjamin Franklin’s assertion on taxes and death continues to ring true throughout the United States. There are only two certainties in life: you must pay taxes and you will eventually die. However, if you happen to be a resident of New Jersey, Governor Chris Christie (R) will tell you that there is one more certainty nestled into Franklin’s equation. In New Jersey, you will be taxed, you will die, and then there will be more taxes after your death. View More