Volume 69, Number 5
(October 2016)
Tribute to Elizabeth Chitwood
Oct. 17, 2016—Tribute to Elizabeth Chitwood TRIBUTE Elizabeth “Beth” Chitwood was one of the newest members of the Vanderbilt Law Review. Our community mourns her unexpected loss and is grateful for the time we were able to share with her. The following Tribute briefly highlights Beth’s contributions to the Vanderbilt Law community and the Vanderbilt Law Review....
Normalizing Erie
Oct. 17, 2016—Normalizing Erie ABSTRACT This Article argues that the Erie doctrine should be normalized by bringing it into line with ordinary doctrines of federalism. Under ordinary federalism doctrines—such as the dormant commerce clause, implied preemption, federal preclusion law, and certain special “enclaves” of federal common law—courts will displace state law to protect federal interests even when neither...
Agencies’ Obligation to Interpret the Statute
Oct. 17, 2016—Agencies’ Obligation to Interpret the Statute ABSTRACT Conventionally, when a statute delegates authority to an agency, courts defer to agency interpretations of that statute. Most agencies and scholars view such deference as a grant of permission to the agency to adopt any reasonable interpretation. That is wrong, jurisprudentially and ethically. An agency that commands deference...
The Failed Superiority Experiment
Oct. 17, 2016—The Failed Superiority Experiment ABSTRACT Federal law requires a class action be “superior to alternative methods for fairly and efficiently adjudicating the controversy.” This superiority requirement has gone unstudied, despite existing for half a century. This Article undertakes a comprehensive review of the superiority case law. It reveals a jurisprudence riddled with inconsistency as courts...
Supreme Court Repeaters
Oct. 17, 2016—Supreme Court Repeaters ABSTRACT A case that receives cert once is special. A case that receives cert twice is truly exceptional. This Article is the first to examine the phenomenon of “Supreme Court Repeaters.” Although Repeaters may seem like mere curiosities, they are actually a valuable part of the Supreme Court’s docket. Our analysis reveals...
The Customer Is Not Always Right: Balancing Worker and Customer Welfare in Antitrust Law
Oct. 17, 2016—The Customer Is Not Always Right Balancing Worker and Customer Welfare in Antitrust Law ABSTRACT A natural consequence of employer restraints of trade that decrease wages is lower prices. Under antitrust law, courts evaluate most such restraints of trade under the rule of reason. This Note argues that the rule of reason’s focus on consumer...
I See Dead People: Examining the Admissibility of Living-Victim Photographs in Murder Trials
Oct. 17, 2016—I See Dead People Examining the Admissibility of Living-Victim Photographs in Murder Trials ABSTRACT This Note examines the problems with the rising yet underexplored trend in state evidence law of “Living-Victim Photo Statutes.” Photographs of a victim while alive would be—and often have been—excluded from evidence during a trial as lacking relevance or being unfairly...