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A service of Widener University School of Law: John Culhane, Robert Justin Lipkin, Christopher Robinette, Benjamin Barros, Thaddeus Pope, Tonya M. Evans, Dean Linda Ammons , Andy Fichter
John Culhane: WordInEdgewise.org
Paul Starr on Health Care Reform - Fri, 20 Nov 2009
I don’t often use this space to direct readers to something my law school is doing, but in this case I feel compelled to do just that. Yesterday, Paul Starr of Princeton delivered our annual Raynes McCarty Lecture on Health Law, and reminded us of something easy to forget: There are actually important issues of [...]
Court Rules Army Corps Committed “MR. GO” No-No - Thu, 19 Nov 2009
This just in: Federal district court judge Stanwood Duval Jr. has awarded hundreds of thousands of dollars to Katrina victims, payable by the U.S. Government because of the negligence of the Army Corps of Engineers.
The government — the same government, by the way, that awarded billions of dollars to the surviving family members of those [...]
Making Unfriends (Or, How to Work All of the Year-end Word Candidates into a Short Story) - Wed, 18 Nov 2009
How often does one have the chance to use nineteen new words in one short space? In tribute to Oxford’s announcement of this year’s Word of the Year (and runners-up), I offer this (really quite awful) short story:
I’m going to unfriend Betsy. Let me explain why.
While she was driving me to my zombie bank, I [...]
The AMA v. Focus on the Family - Mon, 16 Nov 2009
Last week’s resolution by the American Medical Association that supported overturning the “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” policy was widely praised. Somewhat less noticed was the AMA’s conclusion that barring same-sex couples from marrying has negative health consequences. Since employers often tie health benefits to marriage, same-sex couples (like other legally unmarried couples) are left out.
It’s [...]
China’s Public Health Challenges - Sat, 14 Nov 2009
China’s political and environmental challenges are often chronicled, but less attention has been paid to the public health issues that the nation’s move to developed nation status has caused.
That’s starting to change. In a good summary article in Yale Public Health, (pdf. of Fall issue on right side of linked homepage), Christina Larson offers a [...]
Robert Justin Lipkin, Founder: Essentially Contested America
The Public Option - Wed, 30 Sep 2009
The public option took a shot to the kidney yesterday. The punch was hard and it was not fair, but it is just a part of the game. The public option may be getting a standing eight-count in boxing parlance, but it should not be counted out. In the next several weeks, the pressure will [...]
Health Care and Dog Care - Thu, 24 Sep 2009
This week, I have ahad a taste of what it might be like not to have health insurance for members of my family. Fortunately, my experience did not involve uninsured children, but instead an uninsured dog. My puppy, Owen, just turned 6 months old and he does not have health insurance. Being [...]
Obama and Paterson - Wed, 23 Sep 2009
This week, news circulated suggesting that President Barack Obama sent emissaries to attempt to convinced New York Governor David Paterson to exit the 2010 New York gubernatorial race. I have heard some argue that the president’s attempt is anti-democratic and that the voters of New York should decide who their governor will be. Of course, [...]
Is the United States Any Longer Governable? Was It Ever Governable? - Fri, 18 Sep 2009
This may be an overly saturnine observation, but it seems that the United States is no longer governable–if by “governable” one means implementing the positions that win elections. The current Health Care Reform crisis is one of many such examples, but there are others also. Indeed, it’s a good test case. If we get [...]
The Power of Money - Thu, 17 Sep 2009
Last week, the Supreme Court heard the oral argument Citizens United v. FEC, which could become a landmark First Amendment case. At issue is the constitutionality of the FEC’s ban of anti-Hillary documentary sponsored by corporate funds. The Court could decide the issue narrowly, on the grounds that this particular commercial speech was [...]
Dean Linda Ammons
Maasai Memories from my Kenya Trip - Tue, 17 Nov 2009
This video was taken at the Kichwa Tembo camp which is located at the north edge of the Masai Mara National Park in Kenya at the base of the Oloololo Escarpment. The video was taken by some guests at the camp. I approached the guests and noticed they had a video camera and [...]
Award given to Young Conaway Stargatt & Taylor at this morning’s firm representative breakfast - Wed, 11 Nov 2009
This morning, I was thrilled to present an award to Jennifer Noel and Timothy Snyder of Young Conaway Stargatt & Taylor at the Widener Law Fund firm representative breakfast. The award honors a 100% participation rate among alumni in their firm for gifts to the Widener Law Fund. This is the eighth consecutive year that [...]
Bring your game face, former Delaware governor says - Fri, 06 Nov 2009
[this originally appeared on our Law School Site] Law students looking for advice about leadership were given a lot to think about when former Delaware Gov. Ruth Ann Minner visited the Delaware campus recently for an informal talk in the student lounge.
Minner, who was widowed at 32 with three young children and only a 10th-grade [...]
Robert Justin Lipkin, Contributor: Ratio Juris
"Making (Some) Sense of the Health Care Debate"
Utopian Thought & Imagination: An Introduction
Natural Law: An Introduction—Part 3
Andy Fichter: Health Law Pulse
China’s Public Health Challenges - Tue, 17 Nov 2009
Posted by: John Culhane on Saturday, November 14th, 2009, at WordinEdgewise.org.
China’s political and environmental challenges are often chronicled, but less attention has been paid to the public health issues that the nation’s move to developed nation status has caused.
That’s starting to change. In a good summary article in Yale Public Health, (pdf. of Fall issue [...]
Public Option: Size Matters - Tue, 10 Nov 2009
Keep this in mind when you hear opponents of the House healthcare reform bill protest that it would constitute a government take-over of our healthcare system: the Congressional Budget Office and the Kaiser Foundation estimate that a public plan would enroll only 2% of Americans. To put this in perspective, about 15% of the US [...]
Abortion and Healthcare Reform - Mon, 09 Nov 2009
By John Culhane Nov 7, 2009 (and also available on his blog: http://wordinedgewise.org/)
As I write this, the House of Representatives has just approved, 220-215, the vast health care reform bill that has bubbled on the hot stove for much of the year. But before doing so, the Democratic leadership caved to the pro-life members of [...]
Repeal McCarran-Ferguson? - Wed, 28 Oct 2009
As you may recall, on the eve of the approval in concept of the America’s Healthy Future Act by the Senate Finance Committee on October 13, PricewaterhouseCoopers released a study funded by America’s Health Insurance Plans that suggested the net effect of the Senate bill would likely be a dramatic increase in insurance premiums. In [...]
Strange Bedfellows - Tue, 20 Oct 2009
NPR reports yesterday and today that the Obama administration will not prosecute medical marijuana uses that are compliant with state laws. It is one of a number of instances where the healthcare policy debate has created strange bedfellows. Conservatives accustomed to arguing for states’ rights were forced to align themselves with federal policy against medical [...]
Christopher Robinette: TortsProf Blog
Personal Injury Roundup No. 58 (11/20/09)
I hope your last week before Thanksgiving was a good one! Reform, Legislation, Policy Tim Lytton's guest post attracts attention. (Frank/Point of Law) (Lahav/Mass Tort Profs) Law Profs Max Mehlman & Dale Nance (Case Western) argue med mal tort reform...
Introducing Guest Blogger Ben Zipursky
Monday's Guest Blogger is Ben Zipursky. Zipursky is currently the James H. Quinn '49 Chair in Legal Ethics and Professor of Law at Fordham Law School, where he teaches Torts, Law & Philosophy, Advanced Torts ‑ Defamation & Privacy, Tort...
Iowa Adopts R3 Positions on Duty and Causation
Last week, the Iowa Supreme Court decided Thompson v. Kaczinski, 2009 WL 3786632 (Iowa 2009), and adopted the Restatement (Third) of Torts approach to both duty and causation. The plaintiffs lost control of their car on a rural road because...
Illinois Rejects Tarasoff
In Tedrick v. Community Resources Center, Inc., Nos. 104861, 104876 (Ill. Sept. 24, 2009), the Supreme Court of Illinois explicitly rejected Tarasoff. Earlier opinions cast doubt on the acceptance of the famous California case in Illinois, but Tedrick made it...
Another Wacky Warning...
Torts professors frequently become connoisseurs, or at least aficionados, of warning labels. Knowing this, a colleague brought me the warning label in his copy of Walther P-38 Pistol by Major George C. Nonte. The book was published in 1975 by...
Benjamin Barros, PropertyProf Blog
Lehavi on Takings and Taxings
Amnon Lehavi (Interdisciplinary Center Herzliyah - Radzyner School of Law) has posted The Taking/Taxing Taxonomy on SSRN. Here's the abstract: Takings jurisprudence is engaged in a constant paradox. It is conventionally portrayed as chaotic and “muddy,” and yet attempts by...
Testing Theory on Property Exams
Does anyone offer a "pure" theoretical question on their property exam. This semester I assigned 88 pages out of Commodity and Propriety to force students to undertake careful reading in a different context other than cases. So we have weaved...
More on Pfizer's Pull Out From New London . . .
From the New York Times, and at the Times' Room For Debate blog. Also, Tim Iglesias left this excellent comment to the last post on this subject: In all of the analysis and judgment cited concerning the failure of the...
Thaddeus Pope
Tiny Babies, Large Questions: Ethical Issues in Prenatal and Neonatal Care
10 Ways to Cut Health-Care Costs Right Now
The Cost of Dying -- 60 Minutes (Sun. 11-22-09)
Tonya M. Evans
Entertainment Law Course this Friday!
Widener Law News
New Lawyers Join the Pennsylvania Bar - Fri, 20 Nov 2009
New Lawyers Join the Pennsylvania Bar
Members of the Pearce Family Visit Widener Law - Thu, 19 Nov 2009
Members of the Pearce Family Visit Widener Law
“The Child Witness” offers day of engaging, enlightening discussion about difficult issues - Thu, 19 Nov 2009
“The Child Witness” offers day of engaging, enlightening discussion about difficult issues
Delaware Supreme Court Hears Oral Arguments in Ruby R. Vale Moot Courtroom - Thu, 19 Nov 2009
Delaware Supreme Court Hears Oral Arguments in Ruby R. Vale Moot Courtroom