Authoruclalaw

Venture capital contracts contain extensive provisions regulating exit by the venture capitalists. In this Article, Professor Smith employs financial contracting theory in conjunction with original data collected from 367 venture-backed companies to analyze these exit provisions. He concludes that the combination of exit provisions in a typical venture capital relationship serves to lock venture...

This Article applies complex systems research methods to explore the characteristics of the bankruptcy legal system. It presents the results of an empirical study of twenty years of bankruptcy court valuation doctrine in business cramdown cases. The data provide solid descriptions of how courts exercise their discretion in valuing firms and assets. This Article has two objectives: First, using...

This Article narrates a sorely neglected legal history, that of the intersection between race, gender, and American citizenship through the first third of the twentieth century. It is a little known fact that marriage once functioned to exile U.S. citizen women from their country; moreover, how racial barriers to citizenship shaped expatriation and dependent citizenship presents an even more...

The Religious Land Use and Institutionalized Persons Act (RLUIPA) reflects a continuing struggle between Congress and the Supreme Court to define the scope of religious liberties guaranteed by the Free Exercise Clause of the First Amendment. RLUIPA is Congress's second attempt to countermand the Supreme Court's decision in Employment Division, Department of Human Resources v. Smith, which held...

The continued possibility of federally sanctioned same-sex marriages might surprise those who believe that the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA) recognizes only those marriages between men and women. In the case of transgender individuals, however, this debate is far from over. While some state courts recognize sex-reassignment surgeries as controlling in deciding whether to authorize a marriage...

In Roper v. Simmons, the Court unequivocally affirms the use of comparative constitutionalism to interpret the Eighth Amendment. It does not, however, provide an obvious theoretical basis to justify the practice. This Article searches for a theory to explain the comparativism in Roper using the theories advanced in the author's previous scholarship. It concludes that of the colorable candidates...

Homeland security is a critical component of the War on Terrorism. In our federal system of government, who is responsible for securing the homeland? The U.S. Congress has made available to states and cities some funding for overtime and equipment, but it has not assumed responsibility for covering all of the security costs incurred locally. While deploying some federal personnel for domestic...

For over a century, the Supreme Court has acknowledged and upheld Congress's power to overrule the Court's Dormant Commerce Clause decisions. In this Article, Professor Williams challenges the constitutionality of that practice, arguing that there is no more reason to allow Congress to overrule the Court's Dormant Commerce Clause decisions than its Equal Protection or First Amendment decisions...