Undue Process: Congressional Referral and Judicial Resistance in the Schiavo Controversy

Abstract

The congressional response to the Schiavo controversy was both extraordinary and feeble. It surely was exceptional in its speed and specificity. An Act for the Relief of the Parents of Theresa Marie Schiavo 1 was introduced and approved within a weekend -just days after the feeding tube was removed from Schiavo's body, and only a month after her husband obtained a state court order for that purpose. 2 The legislation, moreover, could not have been more targeted. The statute's content followed its title, granting certain litigation privileges to the parents and Schiavo alone.

Can the Income Tax Be Saved?: The Promise and Pitfalls of Unitary Formulary Apportionment

“…Indeed, for many (but not all) types of intangible income, particularly intellectual property rights such as patents, copyrights and marketing intangibles, one can make the case that the sales factor serves as a better proxy for income assignment purposes than the "location" of such property. 113 After all, many of these intangibles 114 generate value (whether through restraint of competition or through development of market demand) in the location where the product is consumed. If one is worried about distortions, the better move might be to increase the weight accorded to the sales factor to take into account that it is also serving at least part of the role of the property factor.…”

“…Indeed, it is for that precise reason that some of the proponents of the EU's move towards formulary taxation suggest that it be calculated on a "water's edge" basis, with only the income of entities incorporated in the EU apportioned on a formulary basis, and the income of related entities incorporated elsewhere continuing to be taxed on a separate entity, arm's length basis. 138 The EU, perhaps even more than the federal government, has the institutional power to encourage adherence by its member states to uniform definitions of income and economic factors.…”

“…Though that might (or might not) lead to better results overall, it surely will not be popular with those currently benefiting from governmental control of tax rules. 138 The European Union Commission, for example, advocates formulary taxation of the EU profits of EU multinationals rather than a worldwide formulary approach. Commentators applaud this restraint.…”

Chevronizing Foreign Relations Law

“…112 Indeed, courts deferred to a whole "executive jurisprudence," parsing State Department opinions for principles that would control cases where the State Department did not intervene. 113 Today, courts continue to take account of the executive's views in FSIA cases 114 and engage in pre-FSIA style deference to the executive in cases involving head-of-state immunity. 115 A strain of thinking about the act of state doctrine has also long held that courts should defer when the executive informs them that the act of state doctrine should not apply in a particular case.…”

What Good Is the Social Model of Disability?

“…First, there is no denying that disability law scholarship is often overtly normative. Academics debate whether disability should be treated like a species of stigma-based inequality, 113 whether "accommodation" is meaningfully different from other antidiscrimination norms, 114 and whether transfer payments are an acceptable method of remedying trait-related disadvantage as opposed to social restructuring. 115 These are important issues.…”