Law
Supreme Healthcare Reform: Can the Court Resolve the Debate?
On November 14, 2011, the Supreme Court granted review to a challenge of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (ACA), announcing that it would rule on fundamental questions regarding the law’s constitutionality and role in determining the authority of the states versus the authority of the federal government.1 While the 2,700-page Act addresses many [...]
Stem Cell Research: Effects of the Patenting Landscape
Ever since stem cell research began in the late 1900’s, the field has been fraught with a variety of issues including bioethics, funding, and general skepticism. The debate on stem cells has been unrelenting, and policies on the field are usually contentious topics during political campaigns. Apart from bone marrow transplantation [1], all other potential [...]
Hidden Obstacles in Cancer Research
While undeniable strides in medical research over the past few decades have proven invaluable in the search for a cancer cure, there is no shortage of obstacles that remain to be addressed. Perhaps the most evident are complications in the biology of the disease itself: among these, problems pertaining to cell identification and treatment specificity. [...]
Is All Fair in Love and Sport?
In the world of competitive sports, one hundredth of a second – the time it takes for lightning to strike – can define an athlete. One hundredth of a second can mean the difference between winning or losing, fame or anonymity, millions of dollars in endorsements or none. Because we handsomely reward strength, speed, and [...]
Driving Under the Influence…of a Cell Phone
The United States wireless industry is fully taking advantage of its recent big break, with colorful ear buds and trendy covers being hauled in by the dozen. Over thirty states have outlawed driving with hand-held cell phones and have replaced them with hands-free devices instead [1]. Studies, however, continue to prove that the hands-free substitution [...]
Medical Malpractice: Should Practitioners Be Allowed to Represent Themselves?
Using policy, law and medical arguments, this article discusses whether medical practitioners should be allowed to represent themselves in malpractice suits.
Cyberlaw – Evolution, Revolution or Retrofit?
In Cyberspace and the Law of the Horse, Chicago-area appeals judge, Frank Easterbrook mocks the idea that there can be such a thing as “Property in Cyberspace” or cyber-law in general, which he compares to the law of the horse.As Easterbrook explains, there is all kinds of law involving horses: racing commissions regulations, contracts over stud fees and veterinary malpractice, yet nobody claims to be a “horse lawyer,” Similarly, as Professor Lawrence Lessig explains, Easterbrook’s view is that the law of cyberspace is nothing more than “torts in cyberspace, contracts in cyberspace, property in cyberspace, etc.” There is no “cyberlaw” any more than there is horse law. Lessig disagrees, explaining “there is an important general point that comes from thinking in particular about how law and cyberspace connect;” specifically, “the limits on law as a regulator” and the “techniques for escaping those limits.”Lessig claims cyberlaw is valuable because all law can draw from its lessons. In this article I will, using the “commodification of music” as a case study, argue Lessig is correct. And whether we can learn from these lessons is one of the central legal, cultural and policy questions facing the Internet, and society, today.
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