University of Houston Law Center Faculty Blog : University of Houston Law Center Faculty Blog

I have spent the better part of four years studying proposed US climate change legislation, state and local climate actions, the roll-out of the Kyoto Protocol and the implementation of the European Union’s Emissions Trading Scheme. I have written about the large scale issues that must be considered in federal legislation, and looked in depth at some of the issues surrounding offsets and trading, and have recently published op-eds and blogged on the way the Waxman-Markey bill deals with offsets. I have just finished co-teaching a graduate level course in carbon trading that explored many of the issues surrounding how a cap and trade system for greenhouse gases could work. I know that any attempt to control greenhouse gases through a market is complicated and difficult, but I also believe that this is the only way forward.

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Together with the ABA, the UHLC’s Center for Children, Law & Policy has published a book on the effect of the hurricanes of 2005 on children. It is filled with interdisciplinary insights about what happened to children in families, foster care, and the juvenile justice and educational systems. Our contributing scholars have a lot to say about how legal deficiencies inhibited the best short and long term responses and about how to achieve better outcomes the next time disaster strikes. 

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 One of the most important faculty functions (apart from the education of budding lawyers) is to appraise the abilities of students based upon a single snapshot known as the “final exam” or “final.”  The grade ultimately earned by the exam taker reflects the professor’s appraisal of the student based solely on what the student wrote on that exam. 

The difficulty with grading is not with the administering of the final exam, but rather how students and faculty perceive the discourse on grades. 

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Say what you will about the selection of Alaska Governor Sarah Palin for the Republican Vice Presidential slot, but one inarguable fact remains: she is the only candidate on either ticket with direct energy policy experience. Palin spent one year as chairwoman of the Alaska Oil and Gas Conservation Commission, and as governor of Alaska she has received positive reviews for her work on energy issues ranging from natural gas pipeline construction to patchy statewide shortages of energy. But if she winds up as our Vice President, her Alaskan energy experience might help send our nation’s energy policy in exactly the wrong direction. 

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Who should derive revenue from remote DVR systems? According to a panel of the Second Circuit Court of Appeals, the revenue should not go to the content providers. This decision, grounded in three very narrow interpretations of the Copyright Act, works a shift of potentially significant revenue away from content providers. Hopefully, it will be challenged and reversed on rehearing.

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Many environmental organizations were stunned recently when the D.C. Circuit vacated the EPA’s implementation of the Clean Air Interstate Rule (“CAIR”) in North Carolina v. EPA. According to the Court, the CAIR failed to follow Clean Air Act (“CAA”) statutory mandates. Continue Reading...

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Legions of aspiring lawyers recently sat for licensing exams administered by their respective state bars.  Was it worth the effort?  Here's my take. Continue Reading...

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It is time once again for the discussion about whether students should be permitted to pack heat on a college campus.  See http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/ap/tx/5885729.html.  

My thoughts on this issue have not changed.  As was stated in the op-ed I wrote (see below), allowing students to carry guns on a Texas college’s campus is a dangerous threat to higher education in Texas...

 

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Imagine what would happen if an American President were to persuade Congress to abolish the Act of State doctrine. Presumably, the President would follow this step by “tough negotiations” conducted with the Saudis, which would be convened either “with or without preconditions.” .

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Congress cannot obviate original jurisdiction of the Supreme Court, but it can sometimes limit the jurisdiction of lower federal courts – but can it do so in such a manner as to unconstitutionally thwart “judicial power” based in the U.S. Constitution., Art. III? 

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