Seattle University School of Law Digital Commons

Public Duties, Private Rights: Privacy and Unsubstantiated Allegations in Washington’s Public Records Act

Robert E. Miller — Wed, 15 May 2013 12:21:35 PDT

Open government laws allow private citizens to monitor public servants. But this vital function of access presents a clash of competing interests: the privacy of public employees versus the public’s right to know. Washington’s Public Records Act (PRA) seeks to balance these interests, and the Washington Supreme Court has fought to adhere to the PRA’s spirit of open government while creating bright-line rules for the ease of government agencies. The Bainbridge Island Police Guild court held that investigative reports of unsubstantiated allegations of sexual misconduct against public officials are highly offensive to a reasonable person and that the public has an interest in knowing about the fact of an allegation, but not the identity of the accused. Part II of this Note lays out the events that led to Kim Koenig’s allegations of misconduct against Bainbridge Island Police Officer Steven Cain and the subsequent public records requests. Part III presents the policies of the PRA and the reasoning employed in the opinions in Bainbridge Island Police Guild and prior cases. Part IV critiques the court’s reasoning in its right to privacy jurisprudence. Part V offers a brief conclusion.

A Barrier to Child Welfare Reform: The Supreme Court’s Flexible Approach to Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 60(b)(5) and Granting Relief to States in Institutional Reform Litigation

Rachel Dunnington — Wed, 15 May 2013 12:21:33 PDT

In a recent decision, Horne v. Flores, the Court demanded a broader and more flexible application of Federal Rule of Civil Procedure (Rule) 60(b)(5). In doing so, the Court opened the door for states to seek relief from court-enforced agreements like consent decrees. This decision undermines the use of institutional reform litigation as a means of fixing the child welfare system and thus deals a further blow to the nation’s most vulnerable citizens. This Note will discuss Horne’s impact on consent decrees stemming from institutional reform litigation in child welfare. Part II will explore the history of Rule 60 as it applies to final judgments, and specifically consent decrees. Additionally, Part II discusses the Supreme Court’s application of Rule 60(b)(5) in Horne. Part III will critique the Court’s decision for providing a more flexible standard that weighs federalism concerns above the merits of the case. Part IV discusses the importance of consent decrees in child welfare and proposes suggestions for their ongoing use to be effective. Finally, Part V provides a brief conclusion.

When the Classroom Is Not in the Schoolhouse: Applying Tinker to Student Speech at Online Schools

Brett T. MacIntyre — Wed, 15 May 2013 12:21:31 PDT

Despite the overwhelming increase in students’ Internet use and the growing popularity of online public schools, the United States Supreme Court has never addressed how, or if, schools can discipline students for disruptive online speech without violating the students’ First Amendment rights. What the Supreme Court has addressed is how school administrators can constitutionally discipline students within traditional schools. In a landmark decision, Tinker v. Des Moines Independent Community School District, the Supreme Court announced the now famous principle that students do not “shed their constitutional rights to freedom of speech or expression at the schoolhouse gate.” Still, the Court continued, school administrators can discipline students when their speech “materially disrupts classwork or involves substantial disorder.” In a later case, the Court stated that free speech rights for students on campus are “not automatically coextensive with the rights of adults in other settings.” In this Comment, I suggest that in order to provide a workable standard that balances online students’ free speech rights with online schools’ obligations to maintain an appropriate learning environment for all students, the Supreme Court should apply Tinker, without its exceptions, to speech made by students at online schools.

The Admissibility of Cell Site Location Information in Washington Courts

Ryan W. Dumm — Wed, 15 May 2013 12:21:24 PDT

This Comment principally explores when and how a party can successfully admit cell cite location information into evidence. Beginning with the threshold inquiry of relevance, Part III examines when cell site location information is relevant and in what circumstances the information, though relevant, could be unfairly prejudicial, cumulative, or confusing. Part IV provides the bulk of the analysis, which centers on the substantive foundation necessary to establish the information’s credibility and authenticity. Part V looks at three ancillary issues: hearsay, a criminal defendant’s Sixth Amendment confrontation rights, and the introduction of a summary of voluminous records. Finally, Part VI offers a summary of and conclusion to this Comment’s analysis.

“Lonesome Road”: Driving Without the Fourth Amendment

Lewis R. Katz — Wed, 15 May 2013 12:21:22 PDT

The protections of the Fourth Amendment on the streets and highways of America have been drastically curtailed. This Article traces the debasement of Fourth Amendment protections on the road and how the Fourth Amendment’s core value of preventing arbitrary police behavior has been marginalized. This Article contends that the existence of a traffic offense should not be the end of the inquiry but the first step, and that defendants should be able to challenge the reasonableness even when there is proof of a traffic offense.

Section 501(c)(4) Advocacy Organizations: Political Candidate-Related and Other Partisan Activities in Furtherance of the Social Welfare

Terence Dougherty — Wed, 15 May 2013 12:21:21 PDT

In the wake of the 2012 presidential election, tax and political law lawyers are left with a number of unanswered questions concerning the political activities of tax-exempt organizations. Despite the importance of these questions, there are striking gaps in the authority of federal tax law governing the conduct of political candidate and other partisan-related activities by tax-exempt organizations. Assuming activities in furtherance of partisan interests are activities that support private interests, I consider what this authority may tell us about the permissibility of Section 501(c)(4) organizations engaging in partisan political activities and having as a constitutive purpose a partisan political goal, and I consider whether the authority supports quantitative limits and qualitative limits. I suggest that this authority may support the existence of some limits to these activities.

Toward an Empirical and Theoretical Assessment of Private Antitrust Enforcement

Joshua P. Davis et al. — Wed, 15 May 2013 12:21:17 PDT

The predominant view in the antitrust field has been that private enforcement, and especially class action cases, yields little or no positive results. This Article analyzes these twenty cases, compares and contrasts their analysis with that of our earlier group of forty cases, and draws new insights from the results of all sixty combined. This Article demonstrate that private antitrust litigation has provided a substantial amount of compensation for victims of anticompetitive behavior: at least $33.8 to $35.8 billion. The studies also demonstrate that private antitrust enforcement has had an extremely strong deterrent effect. In fact, this research demonstrates that private enforcement probably deters more anticompetitive behavior than even the appropriately acclaimed anti-cartel program of the DOJ Antitrust Division.

In Memory of Professor Derrick Bell

Bell Symposium — Wed, 15 May 2013 12:21:15 PDT

Derrick Bell—law teacher, mentor, scholar, activist, author, loving husband and father—larger than the sum of his many parts. The articles in this symposium are fitting tributes to his legacy and valuable contributions to Derrick’s memory.

Seattle University Law Review — Wed, 15 May 2013 12:21:12 PDT

READ // The Dream of a Common Language : Poems 1974-1977

Kellye Testy — Sun, 07 Apr 2013 12:50:24 PDT

The Dream of a Common Language : Poems, 1974-77
By Adrienne Rich
New York, NY : Norton, c1993
PS3535.I233D7 1993

READ // Democracy and Distrust : A Theory of Judicial Review

David Skover — Sun, 07 Apr 2013 12:50:23 PDT

Democracy and Distrust : A Theory of Judicial Review
By John Hart Ely
Cambridge, Mass. : Harvard University Press, c1980
KF4575.E4 2002

READ // The Travels of Babar

Christian Halliburton — Sun, 07 Apr 2013 12:50:22 PDT

The Travels of Babar
By Jean de Brunhoff ; translated from the French by Merle S. Haas
New York, NY : Random House, c2002
PZ7.B78 2002

READ // Where Is Your Body? : And Other Essays on Race, Gender, and the Law

Margaret Chon et al. — Sun, 07 Apr 2013 12:50:22 PDT

Where is Your Body? : And Other Essays on Race, Gender and the Law
By Mari J. Matsuda
Boston, Mass. : Beacon Press, c1996
E184.A1M314 1996

READ // The Fate of Africa : From the Hopes of Freedom to the Heart of Despair : A History of Fifty Years of Independence

Stephen Sundborg — Sun, 07 Apr 2013 12:50:21 PDT

The Fate of Africa : From the Hopes of Freedom to the Heart of Despair : A History of Fifty Years of Independence
By Martin Meredith
New York : Public Affairs, c2005
DT30.5.M455 2005

READ // Dominion : The Power of Man, the Suffering of Animals, and the Call to Mercy

Christian Halliburton — Sun, 07 Apr 2013 12:50:21 PDT

Dominion : The Power of Man, the Suffering of Animals, and the Call to Mercy
By Matthew Scully
New York, NY : St. Martin’s Press, c2002
HV4708.S38 2002

READ // Pride and Prejudice

Donna Deming — Sun, 07 Apr 2013 12:50:19 PDT

Pride and Prejudice
By Jane Austen
New York : Modern Library, c1996
PR4034.P72 1996

READ // The Measure of a Mountain : Beauty and Terror on Mount Rainier

Susan McClellan — Sun, 07 Apr 2013 12:50:18 PDT

The Measure of a Mountain : Beauty and Terror on Mount Rainier
By Bruce Barcott
Seattle : Sasquatch Books, c1997
F897.R2B23 1997

READ // Bee Season : A Novel

John Mitchell — Sun, 07 Apr 2013 12:50:18 PDT

Bee Season : A Novel
By Myla Goldberg
New York : Anchor Books, c2001
PS3557.O35819B44 2001

READ // Mind Over Water : Lessons on Life From the Art of Rowing

Susan McClellan — Sun, 07 Apr 2013 12:50:17 PDT

Mind Over Water : Lessons on Life From the Art of Rowing
By Craig Lambert
Boston : Houghton Mifflin Co., c1998
GV790.92.L35A3 1998

READ // True Notebooks : A Writer's Year at Juvenile Hall

Paul Holland — Sun, 07 Apr 2013 12:50:16 PDT

True Notebooks : A Writer’s Year at Juvenile Hall
By Mark Salzman
New York : Vintage Books, c2004
PS572.L6S25 2004