McGeorge Faculty Impact (2024)

McGeorge professors address the critical issues of our times in scholarship that seeks to advance society. Here are recent examples.

New books from McGeorge faculty

Michael Vitiello offers a measured overview of the successes and the failures of the Victims' Rights Movement in his book “The Victims' Rights Movement: What It Gets Right, What It Gets Wrong.” The book was published by NYU Press in July 2023.
Omar Dajani co-edited the book, "Federalism and Decentralization in the Contemporary Middle East and North Africa," which was published by Cambridge University Press in January 2023. In addition to editing the book, he authored a chapter entitled, “'Stuck Together:’ Can a Two-State Confederation End the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict?”
Brian K. Landsberg traces the growth of Lee v. Macon County from a case to desegregate a single school district in rural Alabama to a decision that paved the way for ending state-imposed racial segregation of the schools in the Deep South in his book, "Revolution by Law: The Federal Government and the Desegregation of Alabama Schools." The book was published by the University Press of Kansas in July 2022.
Francis J. Mootz III co-edited the book, “The Rhetoric of Judging Well: The Conflicted Legacy of Justice Anthony Kennedy,” which was published by Penn State University Press in March 2023. The book examines Justice Kennedy’s legacy through the lenses of rhetoric, linguistics, and constitutional law.
Michael Mireleslooks at a rapidly evolving and increasingly critical field in his published treatise, "Cybersecurity Law: An Evolving Field" which was published by West Academic in 2022.
Francis J. Mootz III co-edited the book, “Classical Rhetoric & Contemporary Law: A Critical Reader,” which will be published by the University of Alabama Press in February 2024. The book analyzes the interplay between ancient rhetorical traditions and modern legal practice, reestablishing the lost connections between law and classical rhetoric.

Books Published by Faculty, 2016 - 2020

Adrienne L. Brungess

Intercultural Competence, in Global Lawyering Skills 23(Mary-Beth Moylan, Stephanie Thompson, et al., West, 2nd ed. 2018) (with Maureen Watkins).
Rules: An Overview of Statutory Interpretation and Synthesis, in Global Lawyering Skills45 (Mary-Beth Moylan, Stephanie Thompson, et al., West, 2nd ed., 2018).
Receiving and Implementing Feedback, in Global Lawyering Skills119 (Mary-Beth Moylan, Stephanie Thompson, et al., West, 2nd ed. 2018) (with Stephanie J. Thompson).
Persuasive Legal Writing, in Global Lawyering Skills161 (Mary-Beth Moylan, Stephanie Thompson, et al., West, 2nd ed. 2018) (with Mary-Beth Moylan).
Negotiation and Settlement, in Global Lawyering Skills281 (Mary-Beth Moylan, Stephanie Thompson, et al., West, 2nd ed. 2018).

Ederlina Y. Co

Maher v. Roe, 432 U.S. 464 (1977), inFeminist Judgments: Reproductive Justice Rewritten(Rachel Rebouche, ed., Cambridge 2020).
Alternative Dispute Resolution, in Global Lawyering Skills 263 (Mary-Beth Moylan, Stephanie Thompson, et al., West, 2nd ed. 2018) (with Mary-Beth Moylan & Stephanie J. Thompson).

Daniel J. Croxall

Professionalism and Professional Identity, in Global Lawyering Skills 35 (Mary-Beth Moylan,Stephanie Thompson, et al., West, 2nd ed. 2018) (with Lindsey D. Blanchard and Jeffrey E. Proske).

Omar M. Dajani

Divorce Without Separation: Reimagining the Two-State Solution, 15 Ethnopolitics 366 (2016).

Gretchen Franz

The Formal Memorandum, in Global Lawyering Skills 95 (Mary-Beth Moylan, Stephanie Thompson, et al., West, 2nd ed. 2018).
Pre-Trial Motions, in Global Lawyering Skills 177 (Mary-Beth Moylan, Stephanie Thompson, et al., West, 2nd ed. 2018).

Franklin A. Gevurtz

Other Prior Scholarship

Articles in press

Brian Slocum, Textualism's Defining Moment, Columbia Law Review
Brian Slocum, Ordinary Meaning and Ordinary People, University of Pennsylvania Law Review
Nadia Banteka, Police Brutality as Torture, UCLA Law Review
Rachael Salcido, Banning Plastic, Utah Law Review
Nadia Banteka, Unconstitutional Police Pretexts, Wisconsin Law Review
Frank Gevurtz, Important Warning or Dangerous Misdirection: Rethinking Cautions Accompanying Investment Predictions, Maryland Law Review
Omar Dajani, Negotiating Pluralism: Dilemmas of Decentralization in theMiddle East, UC Law SF Journal
Jarrod Wong, The Legislative Stabilization Clause, NYU Journal of International Law and Politics
Daniel Croxall, Legislative Gifts, Michigan State Law Review

Articles published in 2022

Brian Slocum, Statutory Interpretation from the Outside, Columbia Law Review
Brian Slocum, Progressive Textualism, Georgetown Law Journal
John Sprankling, The Constitutional Right to “Establish a Home,” George Washington Law Review
Nadia Banteka, Police Ignorance and (Un)reasonable Fourth Amendment Exclusion, Vanderbilt Law Review
Daniel Croxall, Arming Goliath: Independent Craft Beer Is in Jeopardy at the Intersection of a First Amendment Circuit Split, the Twenty-First Amendment, and the Erosion of Tied-House Laws, Florida State Law Review
Daniel Croxall, Delirium of Disorder: Tension Between the Dormant Commerce Clause and the Twenty-First Amendment Stunts Independent Craft Brewery Growth, Penn State Law Review
Leslie Gielow Jacobs, Freedom of Speech and Regulation of Fake News, American Journal of Comparative Law
Frank Gevurtz, The Complex Dualisms of Corporations and Democracy, Northeastern University Law Review
See Also
Six Transfers Make The Desert Their Hockey Home - Arizona State University Athletics
Michael Mireles, The Promise of Patent-Backed Finance for SMEs and Universities, and Shifting Patent Eligible Subject Matter, Lewis and Clark Law Review
Michael Vitiello, Trump’s Legacy: The Long-term Risks to American Democracy, Lewis and Clark Law Review

Fall 2022

Statutory Interpretation

In recent articles, Distinguished ProfessorBrian Slocum,working with other leading scholars, tests the accuracy of long-standing principles of legal interpretation through empirical studies and linguistic theory. TheMichigan Law Reviewrecently published his articleThe Meaning of Sex: Dynamic Words, Novel Applications, and Original Public Meaning, while theColumbia Law Reviewrecently published his articleStatutory Interpretation from the Outside.His articleProgressive Textualismis in press with theGeorgetown Law Journalwhile his articleOrdinary Meaning and Ordinary Peopleis in press with theUniversity of Pennsylvania Law Review.

Policing and Criminal Justice

Assistant ProfessorNadia Bantekaseeks to advance police accountability in her articlesPolice Ignorance and (Un)reasonable Fourth Amendment Exclusionpublished in theVanderbilt Law ReviewandPolice Brutality as Tortureforthcoming in theUCLA Law Review.

InThe Victims’ Rights Movement: What It Gets Right and What It Gets Wrong, in press withNew York University Press, Distinguished ProfessorMichael Vitelloflags the limitations of the victims' rights movement.

Zoning

ProfessorJohn Sprankling’s articleThe Constitutional Right to “Establish a Home,” recently published in theGeorge Washington Law Review, provides a new method to challenge exclusionary zoning.

Cybersecurity

ProfessorMichael Mireleslooks at a rapidly evolving and increasingly critical field in his recently published treatise,Cybersecurity Lawpublished byWest Academic.

Industry Regulation

ProfessorDaniel Croxalllooks at the Constitution and state regulation of business in his articlesArming Goliath: Independent Craft Beer Is in Jeopardy at the Intersection of a First Amendment Circuit Split, the Twenty-First Amendment, and the Erosion of Tied-House Lawsrecently published in theFlorida State Law ReviewandDelirium of Disorder:Tension Between the Dormant Commerce Clause and the Twenty-First Amendment Stunts Independent Craft Brewery Growthjust published in thePenn State Law Review.

Preserving Democracy

In her U.S. national report onFake News, just published in theAmerican Journal of Comparative Law,ProfessorLeslie Gielow Jacobsaddresses the tension of combating misinformation while preserving free speech.

Distinguished ProfessorFranklin Gevurtzprovides a nuanced exploration of the threat that powerful corporations pose to democracy in his articleThe Complex Dualisms of Corporations and Democracyjust published in theNortheastern University Law Review.

Distinguished ProfessorMichael Vitello'sarticle,Trump’s Legacy: The Long-term Risks to American Democracy,was recently published in theLewis and Clark Law Review.

Fall 2021

Distinguished Professor of Law Brian Slocum

“Statutory Interpretation from the Outside,” is in press with theColumbia Law Review(with Kevin Tobia and Victoria Nourse). The article offers a novel framework for empirically testing interpretive canons based on how ordinary people evaluate rules.

His article, “The Meaning of Sex: Dynamic Words, Novel Applications, and Original Public Meaning,” in press with theMichigan Law Review, (with William Eskridge and Stefan Th. Gries), offers a new framework for how long-standing civil rights statutes should be interpreted over time to recognize societal and linguistic evolution.

Associate Professor Ederlina Co

“Abortion Privilege,” is in press with theRutgers Law Review. The article launches a critical dialogue about the abortion privilege to shore up the constitutional right to an abortion.

Co will be among the nation’s leading abortion rights scholars speaking at a symposium on “Abortion Rights at a Crossroads” in February 2022 at the University of Pittsburgh Law School. Co was also a contributing author to “Feminist Judgments: Reproductive Justice Rewritten,” which was published by Cambridge Press in 2020.

Professors Jarrod Wong and Brian Slocum

“The Vienna Convention and the Ordinary Meaning of International Law, is in press with theYale Journal of International Law.The article critiques the fundamentally flawed approach to interpreting language in international treaties, including the failure of the Vienna Convention of the Law of Treaties to address fundamental interpretive issues such as indeterminate ordinary meaning and multiple language communities.

Associate Professor Nadia Banteka

“Police Ignorance and (Un)reasonable FourthAmendment Exclusion,” is in press with theVanderbilt Law Review. The article offers a new approach to the “good faith” exception to the exclusionary rule.

Banteka joined the McGeorge School of Law faculty in August. Banteka’s scholarship has appeared in legal publications, including the Virginia Journal of International Law, Columbia Journal of Transnational Law; Cornell International Law Journal; Duke Journal of Comparative & International Law; Michigan Journal of International Law; Houston Law Review; and Seton Hall Law Review.

Professor John Sprankling

“The Constitutional Right to “Establish a Home,” is in press with theGeorge Washington Law Review, explores a new method to challenge exclusionary zoning ordinances that in many cities prevent people of color from securing affordable homes.

Anthony M. Kennedy Chair Leslie Gielow Jacobs

“Fake News,” is in press with theAmerican Journal of Comparative Law, sets out the existing legal structure in the United States to address the problem of disinformation, recent developments, and proposals for change within the confines of theConstitution.

Jacobs’ book review, “Noticing the Government’s Voice and Pondering Its Implications” (reviewing The Government’s Speech and the Constitution by Helen Norton) has been published in Constitutional Commentary.

Associate Professor Daniel Croxall

“Arming Goliath: Independent Craft Breweries are in Jeopardy at the Intersection of a First Amendment Circuit Split, the Twenty-First Amendment, and the Erosion of Tied-House Laws,” is in press with theFlorida State Law Review.It addresses thenegative consequences of finding that state bans on breweries paying retailers for advertising space violate the First Amendment.

His article, “Delirium of Disorder: Tension Between the Dormant Commerce Clause and the Twenty-First Amendment Stunts Craft Brewery Growth” is in press withPenn State Law Review. It examines a long-standing tension between the dormant Commerce Clause and the Twenty-First Amendment.

Assistant Clinical Professor Ron Hochbaum

“Bathrooms as a Homeless Rights Issue,” was published in theNorth Carolina Law Review. Hochbaum’s article is the first to examine the right to access bathrooms as it relates to the community of people experiencing homelessness and theparadox where cities, counties, and states provide few public bathrooms for this community whilecriminalizing public urination and defecation.

Hochbaum joined the McGeorge School of Law faculty in July. He is the director of the school’sHomeless Advocacy Clinic. His scholarship has previously appeared in the Villanova Sports andEntertainment Law Journal.

Spring 2022

Distinguished Professor of Law Brian Slocum

Distinguished Professor Brian Slocum's article Ordinary Meaning and Ordinary People (with Kevin Tobia and Victoria Nourse) has been accepted for publication in the University of Pennsylvania Law Review. This article argues that the long-standing presumption that terms in legal texts should be given their “ordinary” (common or everyday) meanings may be inaccurate based on five original empirical studies which reveal that ordinary people regularly understand terms in law to communicate technical legal, rather than ordinary, meanings. This article builds upon Professor Slocum’s article Statutory Interpretation from the Outside (with Tobia and Nourse) just published in the Columbia Law Review, which offers a novel framework for empirically testing interpretive canons based on how ordinary people evaluate rules.

Associate Professor Nadia Banteka

Assistant Professor Nadia Banteka’s article Police Brutality as Torture has been accepted for publication in the UCLA Law Review. This article proposes a new way of increasing accountability for police brutality through a model criminal statute specifically classifying such conduct as torture. The Vanderbilt Law Review recently published Professor Banteka's article Police Ignorance and (Un)reasonable Fourth Amendment Exclusion, which also addresses police misconduct and offers a new approach to the “good faith” exception to the exclusionary rule.

Professor Jarrod Wong

Professor Jarrod Wong's article The Legislative Stabilization Clause (with McGeorge JSD student Abdallah Abuelfutuh Ali) has been accepted for publication in the NYU Journal of International Law and Politics. This article reconceptualizes stabilization clauses in national legislation by offering a new taxonomy and argues that Contractual Legislative Stabilization Clauses are best positioned to restore equilibrium in the relationship between host states and foreign investors.

Professor Michael Vitello

Professor Michael Vitello has entered a contract with New York University Press to publish his book The Victims’ Rights Movement: What It Got Right and What It Gets Wrong, which takes a critical look at the Victims’ Right Movement and argues that it has resulted in excessive punishment and false promises to crime victims.

Professor Omar Dajani

In Federalism and Decentralization in the Contemporary Middle East and North Africa, edited and including introductory and concluding chapters by Professors Omar Dajani and Aslı Bâli (UCLA) – to be published this summer by Cambridge University Press – Professor Dajani and other leading experts explore whether decentralizing government institutions can help manage and resolve identity conflict and offer meaningful self-determination to peoples in a region beset by religious and ethnic persecution and strife.

Professor Emeritus Brian Landsberg

In his recently published book, Revolution by Law: The Federal Government and the Desegregation of Alabama Schools (University of Kansas Press), Professor Emeritus Brian Landsberg recounts how the Civil Rights Division of the Department of Justice radically transformed the Deep South's political, social and economic racial caste system.

Professor Brian Slocum

InThe Meaning of Sex: Dynamic Words, Novel Applications, and Original Public Meaning,forthcoming in theMichigan Law Review, Professor Slocum and his co-authors, William Eskridge of Yale and noted linguist Stefan Th. Gries of UCSB, use linguistic theory and corpus analysis to offer a new framework for how long-standing civil rights statutes should be interpreted over time to recognize societal and linguistic evolution. This article follows from an amicus brief submitted by Professor Slocum and two other professors inBostock v. Clayton County, Georgia, which used historical corpus linguistics to argue that the term 'sex' in Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 should be interpreted to protect lesbians, gay men, transgender persons and other sex and gender minorities against workplace discrimination.

In other recent work demonstrating his status as one of the nation's leading scholars on corpus linguistics and statutory interpretation, Profssor Slocum's article,Reforming the Canon of Constitutional Avoidance, is in press with theUniversity of Pennsylvania Journal of Constitutional Law, while his essay,Judging Corpus Linguistics(with Professor Gries), was published by theSouthern California Law Review Postscript.

Professor Rachael Salcido

While recent events have highlighted police misconduct and communities of color, Professor Salcido addresses how polluting activities disproportionately impact communities of color. In her paper,Weaponizing Environmental Justice, presented at the National People of Color 4th Annual Conference and now in press with theUCLA Journal of Environmental Law & Policy, Salcido examines efforts to achieve environmental justice and argues weaponizing this concept requires leaning into it as a moment rather than a concise legal framework and focusing on tools and strategies that can re-orient power to combat environmental injustice.

Anthony M. Kennedy Chair Leslie Gielow Jacobs

Professor Jacobs argues for a greater ability of government entities to limit the messages, including hate speech, of private speakers invited onto government property in"Incitement Lite" for the Nonpublic Forum, published this year in theBrooklyn Law Review. This article is the latest in Professor Jacobs' extensive examination of issues involving free speech.

Professors Mary-Beth Moylan and Ederlina Co

Professors Moylan and Co are contributors to the U.S. Feminist Judgments Project in which leading feminist legal scholars rewrite, with feminist reasoning, United States Supreme Court opinions involving sex and gender. In this work, published byCambridge University Press, each rewritten decision is preceded by a substantive commentary that discusses the Supreme Court opinion and reflects on how the rewritten decision amplifies understanding of the case and highlights potential differences that might have resulted in development of the specific law. Professor Moylan addressesKulko v. Superior Courtfor the Family Law volume, while Professor Co addressMaher v. Roefor the Reproductive Justice volume.

Professor Omar Dajani

In 2021,Cambridge University Presswill publishFederalism and Decentralization in the Contemporary Middle East and North Africa, a new volume edited and including introductory and concluding chapters by Professor Dajani and UCLA Law ProfessorAslı Bâli. The book explores whether decentralizing government institutions can help manage and resolve identity conflict within the states of the region and offer meaningful self-determination to peoples beset by religious and ethnic persecution and strife, including, in the chapter co-written by Professor Dajani, in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, and in the fractured states of Yemen, Libya, and Syria.

Professor Michael Vitiello

InMarijuana Legalization, Racial Disparity and the Hope for Reform, published last year in theLewis and Clark Law Review, Professor Vitiello explores the racist origins of marijuana laws and whether modern reform can address racial disparity in the "legal" marijuana market. Professor Vitiello addresses the excessive incarceration resulting from drug charges inThe War on drugs: Moral Panic and Excessive Sentencesforthcoming in theCleveland State Law Review; while inThe End of the War on Drugs, the Peace Dividend and the Renewed Fourth Amendment?, forthcoming in theOklahoma Law Review, andArnold Loewy, Ernesto Miranda, Earl Warren, and Donald Trump: Confessions and the Fifth Amendment, recently published in theTexas Tech Law Review, Professor Vitiello addresses the loss and potential renewal of protections against unconstitutional police conduct.

Emeritus Professor Brian Landsberg

In his forthcoming book,Revolution by Law: The Federal Government and the Desegregation of Alabama Schools, Emeritus Professor Brian Landsberg recounts how the Civil Rights Division of the Department of Justice radically transformed the Deep South's political, social and economic racial caste system. It focuses onLee v. Macon County Board of Education, which culminated in a federal court ordering desegregation of public schools in Alabama.Leebecame the model for litigation that transformed the schools of the Deep South from the most to the least segregated in the nation.

Professor Stephen McCaffrey

Recognizing a career that includes authoring the seminal article advocating a human right to water—a matter of critical importance to impoverished communities throughout the world—the ABA Section of International Law this year conferred the Louis B. Sohn Award for Public International Law on Professor McCaffrey. This is the latest in a number of awards garnered by Professor McCaffrey over the last several years, including being named the 2017 Stockholm Water Prize Laureate (considered comparable to a Nobel Prize in water), awarded by the King of Sweden.

Professor Franklin Gevurtz

In his article,The Shareholder Approval Conundrum, published last year in theBoston College Law Review, Professor Gevurtz explains why shareholders almost invariably approve mergers despite studies showing that managers negotiating such mergers often sell out the shareholders' interest in getting the best deal in favor of mergers in which managers retain their positions or get compensation and addresses the implications of this insight on judicial review of such mergers.

Professor Christine Manolakas

Prompted by the annual increase in the number and severity of natural disasters that is now the new normal, Professor Manolakas' article,The Tax Law and Policy of Natural Disasters, published last year in theBaylor Law Review, looks at the tax laws applicable to the possible gains and the inevitable losses impacting individuals, families, businesses and communities from natural disasters and addresses how to minimize further economic cost from the application of complex and often unfair laws of federal taxation.

Professor Michael Malloy

As a leading expert in domestic and international banking, Professor Malloy served as one of the principal contributors to the Policy Framework for Sustainable Real Estate Markets published by the UN Economic Commission for Europe last year. The new Policy Framework reflects the impact of key international agreements that led to the emergence of new, more integrated approaches to sustainable urban development at all levels. In his article,The Emerging International Regime of Financial Services Regulation, forthcoming in theNorth Carolina Journal of International Law, Professor Malloy argues that the Swiss-based Bank for International Settlements is transforming international bank regulation in ways that fundamentally affect even national banking. Finally, the fourth edition of Professor Malloy'sInternational Banking: Cases, Materials, and Problemswas just published.

Professor Daniel Croxall

Professor Croxall examines unfair practices by the major global beer producers directed against craft beer breweries in his articles,How Federal Ambivalence Regarding Below-Cost Pricing Turns a Blind-eye to Monopoly Risk in the Beer Market, forthcoming in theLoyola Los Angeles Law Review,Independent Craft Breweries Struggle Under Distribution Laws That Create a Power Imbalance in Favor of Wholesalers, forthcoming in theWilliam & Mary Business Law Review,Helping Craft Beer Maintain and Grow Market Shares with Private Enforcement of Tied-House and False Advertising Lawpublished last year in theGonzaga Law Review.

Professor Michael Mireles

Professor Mireles continues his empirical exploration of the enforcement of patents by U.S. universities and other nonprofit organizations. In the first of his two recent book chapters, published by Edward Elgar in its Research Handbook series, Professor Mireles and his co-author look at patent litigation by U.S. universities and other nonprofits, while the second recent book chapter by Professor Mireles and the same co-author, in an edited work published by Routledge, examines patenting behavior by U.S. universities and other nonprofits in developed countries.