Theodiosius Dobzhansky was one of the leading population geneticists of the twentieth century. Born in 1900 in a small town in the Ukraine, he came to the United States in 1927 on a fellowship to study with Thomas Hunt Morgan at Columbia University - another giant in genetics who is best known for his work with Drosophila melanogaster (fruit flies). Dobzhansky remained in the United States the rest of his life, researching, teaching, and writing about genetics. Dobzhansky's greatest, enduring c

Health care expenditure in the United States exceeds $2 trillion a year, and on a per capita basis far exceeds the expenditure of any other country. Much of this money is not well spent, as many studies have documented the inefficiency and waste in the public and private health care systems. Furthermore, despite the high cost of American health care, key measures of the nation’s health, such as infant mortality and life expectancy, lag well behind other developed countries.

For thousands of years, civilized societies have attempted to prevent the spread of communicable diseases by preventing those already afflicted from having contact with those who were still well.The term quarantine is derived from the Italian words quarantina and quaranta giorni, which were used in the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries and referred to a forty-day period in which certain ships entering the port of Venice were obliged to wait in isolation before any persons or goods were permitte

It has been pending in Congress for twelve years, despite the support of the last Presedential Adminstrations and the National Institutes of Health. It has been the subject of extensive lobbying by acedemic medical centers, pharmaceutical and biotech companies, genetic advocacy groups, and civil rights organizations. It has overcome vehement objections by employers and insurers. Its final passage however, has been thwarted by a few Congressional leaders, who have prevented enactment despite ove

The expansion in the use of arbitration means that many people, including lawyers, are somehow involved in the process of settling a dispute through arbitration. Persons who establish the procedures governing an arbitration, handle an arbitration, or teach a course about it often have questions about what the best practices for an arbitration hearing are. This article suggests that one important source of best practices for arbitration, which the literature too often ignores, is litigation and

Scholars generally agree that the law in the United States fails to adequately protect employees from technological monitoring by their employers. And groups as diverse as the ACLU and a coalition of multi-national businesses are calling for legislation to address privacy concerns stemming from the rise of new technologies. Yet, few, if any, academic articles have proposed an actual draft of legislation designed to protect employees from technological monitoring by their employers. If recent

Through empirical research, this article examines whether judges on the United States courts of appeals are framing their opinions in gender-neutral language. Drawing on multidisciplinary sources, including the work of language scholars, psychologists, framing theorists, and legal professionals, the article explains why gender-neutral language is important and discusses ways of constructing it. The article then presents the results of a study of recent court opinions, compares data from the year

Grounded in framing theory and the analyses of judges and commentators, this article examines issue statements in a sample of recent briefs from six states. The data cover various aspects of issue statements, including sentence structure, length, and the most common beginning words. Issue statements from recent briefs provide examples throughout the discussion. The article concludes with recommendations for framing effective issue statements.

The institutionalist branch of “Law and Courts” studies how judges incorporate institutional constraints into their decisionmaking processes. Congressional constraints on judicial review, as the literature currently stands, fall into one of two general classes: overrides and Court-curbing measures. This taxonomy, however, is incomplete. Neither overrides nor curbing measures are needed to explain the not uncommon situation where a policy-oriented Justice deviates from a preferred vote based on t

The prevailing approach to First Amendment equal-access litigation, turning on the "general inclusivity" of government access, is deeply flawed. The standard has proved to be, in the end, exceedingly permissive, hopelessly vague, and, perhaps most importantly, theoretically incompatible with the Supreme Court's emerging view that access is a form of government subsidy. This essay calls on the courts to abandon their reliance on inclusiveness, and, in its place, tailor the definition of "access

The institutionalist branch of “Law and Courts” studies how judges incorporate institutional constraints into their decisionmaking processes. Congressional constraints on judicial review, as the literature currently stands, fall into one of two general classes: overrides and Court-curbing measures. This taxonomy, however, is incomplete. Neither overrides nor curbing measures can explain the not uncommon situation where a policy-oriented Justice deviates from a preferred vote based on the belief

In spite of recent legislation, tougher laws are needed to prevent insurers and employers from discriminating on the basis of genetic tests.

Barbara Kingsolver's Animal, Vegetable, Miracle: A Year of Food Life is a must-read for lawyers and legal scholars in the areas of food law, environmental law, agricultural law, and education law. Indeed, I recommend it to anyone interested in the future of the planet or our children. The over-arching point of Kingsolver's book is that Americans should eat more locally-grown food. Kingsolver's position is that eating locally-grown food promises to be part of the solution to several of the maj

As the nineteenth century drew to a close, Samuel Warren & Louis D. Brandeis proclaimed that technological change necessitated new protections for the right to privacy. Today, new protections for the right to privacy are called for once again because, in the American workplace, technological change continues unabated and little privacy is afforded employees from employer monitoring using the technology. Moreover, employers are disciplining and terminating employees based on information uncover

The question is: Who is the client? Many ethical decisions attorneys must make emanate from this basic question. Thus, for those employment lawyers who represent, interact with, or sue unions or corporations, it is important to understand who the client is for different purposes such as representation, the attorney-client privilege, and ex parte communications. Because Kentucky recently adopted new rules of professional conduct, this paper uses Kentucky law as a microcosm through which to th

Scholars generally agree that the law in the United States fails to adequately protect employees from technological monitoring by their employers. And groups as diverse as the ACLU and a coalition of multi-national businesses are calling for legislation to address privacy concerns stemming from the rise of new technologies. Yet, few, if any, academic articles have proposed an actual draft of legislation designed to protect employees from technological monitoring by their employers. If recent

Epigenetics is one of the most scientifically important, and legally and ethically significant, cutting-edge subjects of scientific discovery. Epigenetics link environmental and genetic influences on the traits and characteristics of an individual, and new discoveries reveal that a large range of environmental, dietary, behavioral, and medical experiences can significantly affect the future development and health of an individual and their offspring. This article describes and analyzes the ethic

In an article published in 2002, Rethinking the Meaning of Public Health (Rothstein, 2002), I criticized the growing trend in the public health literature and professional discourse of considering human rights violations, economic inequalities, health disparities and numerous other social problems as public health issues. Although recognizing the importance of addressing these issues aggressively and immediately, I asserted that the remediation of a wide range of political, economic and social c

The Genetic Information Nondiscrimination Act of 2008 (GINA) was signed into law on May 21, 2008, after a 13-year struggle in Congress. GINA prohibits genetic discrimination in employment and health insurance, thereby supplementing existing federal protections against genetic discrimination in employersponsored group health plans contained in the federal Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996 (HIPAA) and state laws prohibiting genetic discrimination in employment and individ

Epigenetics is one of the most scientifically important, and legally and ethically significant, cutting-edge subjects of scientific discovery. Epigenetics link environmental and genetic influences on the traits and characteristics of an individual, and new discoveries reveal that a large range of environmental, dietary, behavioral, and medical experiences can significantly affect the future development and health of an individual and their offspring. This article describes and analyzes the ethic