HOMEOWNER ASSOCIATIONS: PROBLEMS AND SOLUTIONS CONFERENCE 2007

Good morning. My name is Renee Steinhagen. I’m the Executive Director of New Jersey Appleseed, the Public Interest Law Center. I want to welcome you here this morning for what is a very important conference. This conference is being sponsored by the three law schools of New Jersey: Rutgers Law School in Newark, Rutgers Law… continue reading

INTRODUCTION TO SYMPOSIUM EDITION ON HOMEOWNER ASSOCIATIONS: A DISCUSSION OF THE PROBLEMS AND SOLUTIONS

In May 2007, the Homeowner Associations: Problems and Solutions Conference was held in Trenton, New Jersey. The Conference was funded by the Lois and Stan Pratt Foundation and co-sponsored by Rutgers School of Law- Camden, Seton Hall Law School, and Rutgers Newark Law School. American Civil Liberties Union- New Jersey, League of Women Voters, AARP,… continue reading

IS TORTURE ALL IN A DAY’S WORK? SCOPE OF EMPLOYMENT, THE ABSOLUTE IMMUNITY DOCTRINE, AND HUMAN RIGHTS LITIGATION AGAINST U.S. FEDERAL OFFICIALS

U.S. federal courts have held as a matter of law that torture is within the “scope of employment” of federal officials. Under the current absolute immunity doctrine, such a determination results in the automatic substitution of the United States as defendant. Since the United States is immune from torture liability because of sovereign immunity and… continue reading

THE SUPREME COURT’S DECISION IN BOUMEDIENE V. BUSH: THE MILITARY COMMISSIONS ACT OF 2006 AND HABEAS CORPUS JURISDICTION

The writ of habeas corpus is perhaps the most fundamental guarantee of liberty in a democracy. The United States’ federal habeas corpus statute was first enacted as part of the Judiciary Act of 1789. As Justice Stevens has noted, habeas corpus is “however, ‘a writ antecedent to statute . . . throwing its root deep… continue reading

THE MILITARY COMMISSIONS ACT OF 2006: AN ABJECT ABDICATION BY CONGRESS

My thesis is that the Military Commissions Act represents a total failure of Congress to pay attention to some basic propositions of international treaty and customary law and a failure to exercise its powers under the Constitution. The Congress that passed the legislation was led by Republicans, but I have not seen the Democrats rushing… continue reading

“HOSTILE ENVIRONMENT” CHARGES AND THE ABA/AALS ACCREDITATION/MEMBERSHIP IMBROGLIO, POST- MODERNISM’S “NO COUNTRY FOR OLD MEN”: WHY DEFAMED LAW PROFESSORS SHOULD “NOT GO GENTLE INTO THAT GOOD NIGHT”

With time the fury has subsided but the feelings from Chase’s own twenty-first century version of 1984 remain vivid – the shock and humiliation of being portrayed by the ABA and AALS as one of the group of male faculty creating a “pervasive hostile environment” is an experience I would wish on no one. How did… continue reading

CORPORATE SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY: CURRENT STATUS AND FUTURE EVOLUTION

Whether or not those words were true when Kant penned them over two centuries ago, they are truer today than ever before in human history, and will resonate even more profoundly in the future. The current interrelated financial, economic, climate, energy, food, water, political, and security crises affecting the globe only highlight the historically unprecedented… continue reading