Archive for '2012'

In the July 9th edition of The New York Times’ “Room for Debate” feature, FIU Law Professor Elizabeth Price Foley advocates revisiting the Constitution and restoring federalism.

Elizabeth Price Foley serves as the Executive Director of the Institute for Justice Florida Chapter. She is also the Institute for Justice Chair in Constitutional Litigation and Professor of Law at Florida International University College of Law.

Restore Federalism: It Isn’t a Bad Word

BY ELIZABETH PRICE FOLEY

Don’t change the text. Change the attitude with more judicial engagement in enforcing existing, critical constitutional features — in particular: federalism.

To some, the F word is constitutional obscenity. It is relabeled “states’ rights” and followed by reference to slavery and the Confederacy. This taps into deep emotions but is utterly wrong.

Greater engagement with the existing Constitution is best, but proposed amendments aimed at restoring state power are worth considering.

Federalism isn’t about states’ rights. It’s about individual liberty. The Supreme Court emphasized this in Bond v. United States (2011): “By denying any one government complete jurisdiction over all the concerns of public life, federalism protects the liberty of the individual from arbitrary power. When government acts in excess of its lawful powers, that liberty is at stake.” And lest you think this emanates from the court’s right wing, Bond was unanimous.

The powers “reserved to the states” under the 10th Amendment are functionally nonexistent if the Constitution’s carefully enumerated powers are infinitely capacious. So while the 10th Amendment doesn’t tell us what powers belong to the states, its message is clear: preserving federalism requires vigilant enforcement of limited and enumerated powers.

Read more at the NYTimes.com »

At the World Meeting of Environmental Lawyers in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, Ryan Stoa (GLOWS Program Executive Officer and Fellow in Water Law and Policy at FIU’s College of Law) spoke of the need to harmonize and integrate international water laws.

A side event that took place during the United Nation’s Conference on Sustainable Development (Rio+20), the World Meeting brought together environmental legal experts from around the world to discuss pressing issues and propose a way forward.

Harmonizing various legal instruments that codify or promote international water law – the Watercourses Convention and the Law of Transboundary Aquifers, in particular – would strengthen existing principles and lay a foundation for the development of a more robust and synergistic regime in water management worldwide, Stoa said in his presentation.

Stoa traced the history of international water laws and the role they have played in human society.  While local water laws have been in place for millenia, international water laws are a relatively recent, albeit urgently needed, development.

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The FIU College of Law is excited to welcome Dr. María Elena Cobas Cobiella this summer as a visiting researcher from Spain.  She holds masters and research doctorate degrees in civil law from the Universidad de Valencia, Spain.  She was a professor for many years in the Universidad de Havana, Cuba, and now teaches civil law in the Universidad de Valencia.

During the month of July, Dr. Cobas Cobiella will be at the College of Law researching wills and trusts and will take advantage of the opportunity to learn more about property succession in the United States.

María Elena Cobas Cobiella’s office is in RDB 2063, email: macobas2002@yahoo.es

In the following opinion piece published in the June 30th edition of the Miami Herald, FIU Law Professor Elizabeth Price Foley assesses the Supreme Court decision on the constitutionality of the Affordable Care Act (ACA). The decision, says Foley, undermined the healthcare law even as it upheld it.

Elizabeth Price Foley serves as the Executive Director of the Institute for Justice Florida Chapter. She is also the Institute for Justice Chair in Constitutional Litigation and Professor of Law at Florida International University College of Law.

Healthcare act survives, but it’s a tattered quilt

BY ELIZABETH PRICE FOLEY

The Supreme Court delivered a surprising and mixed opinion on the constitutionality of the Affordable Care Act (ACA). The most controversial provision of the Act — the so-called “individual mandate” to buy health insurance — was deemed unconstitutional as a regulation of commerce yet constitutional as a tax. The Act’s mandatory Medicaid expansion — extending coverage to an estimated 16 million poor individuals who can’t afford private insurance — was declared unconstitutional, allowing states to “opt out” of the expansion.

Upholding the individual mandate as a tax was the big shocker. No other lower court had ruled the mandate was sustainable as a tax, and supporters of the law — from President Obama to former House speaker Nancy Pelosi to Senate majority leader Harry Reid — had repeatedly and vigorously insisted that the ACA did not raise taxes.

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Pictured with Bernie (middle) are Professor H.T. Smith (left), Director
of the Trial Advocacy Program,and Professor H. Scott Fingerhut (right),
Assistant Director.

Last week, the Trial Advocacy Program proudly recognized Bernardo (“Bernie”) Pastor on his fifth year as an adjunct professor teaching Trial Advocacy for the College of Law.

Bernie is currently an Assistant County Attorney for the Miami-Dade County Attorney’s Office, having begun his legal career as a law clerk for the Honorable John H. Moore II, of the United States District Court for the Middle District of Florida.  After clerking for Judge Moore, Professor Pastor joined Holland & Knight here in Miami as an associate, following which he became a federal prosecutor in the United States Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of Florida for three years, and then working at White & Case for three years more before going to the County Attorney.

Bernie has been a National Faculty Lecturer for the National Institute of Trial Advocacy (NITA).  He has also served on the Advisory (Ad Hoc) Committee on Federal Rules & Procedures here in the Southern District, The Florida Bar Federal Court Practice Committee, and chaired a Florida Bar Grievance Committee.

Professor Pastor earned his B.A. in Political Science and Economics from Fordham University, and graduated from Temple University School of Law.

FIU Law alumna Liana Eustacia Reyes, will present her paper, Central Asia’s Northern Route: Globalization, Instability, and an Emerging Drug Trafficking Reality, at the 2012 Global Studies Conference, held at Moscow State University. The conference is June 20 through June 22 and will address a range of critically important ideas relating to globalization in the world today, as well as focusing on a special theme – Eurasia and Globalization: Complexity and Global Studies.

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Professor Gabilondo’s recent media work has focused on the Eurozone debt crisis, financial reform, Cuba, and marriage equality.

“We live in a time of many economic and social changes.  Being an academic gives you the freedom to figure out what these changes mean and the duty to share your thoughts with others,” said José Gabilondo.

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After a rigorous spring tryout and interview process, the Trial Advocacy Program is pleased to announce that the following students have been selected to join the FIU Trial Team:

Alejandro Carrasco,

Igor Hernandez,

Denita Jones,

Tia Jones,

Jose Lorenzo,

Megan Mackintosh, and

Nisha Mohammed.

These students will now spend the summer participating in advanced advocacy “boot camps” to prepare them to join the current Trial Team members in the fall for the 2012-2013 competition season.

Congratulations to these Passionate Principled Advocates, as they strive to become the next generation of Great Legal Storytellers.

In the Orlando Sentinel, Dean R. Alex Acosta is quoted on the threat underfunding for the state court system can pose on wrongful convictions.

R. Alexander Acosta is the Dean of the College of Law at Florida International University. A native of Miami, Dean Acosta earned his undergraduate degree from Harvard College and his law degree from Harvard Law School. After serving as a law clerk to Justice Samuel A. Alito, Jr., then a judge on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit, Dean Acosta practiced law at the law firm of Kirkland and Ellis and taught at the George Mason School of Law. Most recently, Dean Acosta became the longest serving U.S. Attorney in South Florida since the 1970s, sitting as the senate-confirmed United States Attorney for the Southern District of Florida, which carries one of the busiest trial calendars in the nation. He currently serves on the Florida Innocence Commission, a 23-member commission, made up of judges, politicians, prosecutors, defense attorneys, and other criminal justice professionals.

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In preparation for the Floridian bicentennial of the Constitution in October, 2012, FIU Law Professor M.C. Mirow has published Florida’s First Constitution: The Constitution of Cádiz (Carolina Academic Press, 2012).  Along with an introductory essay describing the importance of the Constitution in Florida and the Spanish Empire, Mirow provides a fresh and authoritative translation of the text into English along with original version in Spanish.

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