The ‘Shell Bill’ Game: Avoidance and the Origination Clause

With increasing frequency, many important revenue laws, such as the Affordable Care Act and the American Taxpayer Relief Act of 2012, begin as “shell bills.” The Origination Clause of the Constitution aims to place decisions over tax policy closer to the people by requiring that bills raising revenue begin in the House of Representatives, butContinue reading “The ‘Shell Bill’ Game: Avoidance and the Origination Clause”

For-Profit Corporations, Free Exercise, and the HHS Mandate

Under the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, most employers must provide their employees with health insurance that covers all FDA-approved contraceptive methods and sterilization procedures (the “HHS mandate”). Across the country, individuals, religious schools, and corporations have sued to enjoin the mandate, arguing, among other things, that it violates the Free Exercise Clause ofContinue reading “For-Profit Corporations, Free Exercise, and the HHS Mandate”

The Arbitration Clause as Super Contract

It is widely acknowledged that the purpose of the Federal Arbitration Act (FAA) was to place arbitration clauses on equal footing with other contracts. Nonetheless, federal and state courts have turned arbitration clauses into “super contracts” by creating special interpretive rules for arbitration clauses that do not apply to other contracts. In doing so, theyContinue reading “The Arbitration Clause as Super Contract”

Strange Bedfellows at Work: Neomaternalism in the Making of Sex Discrimination Law

In contests about pregnancy discrimination during the 1970s, feminists, the business lobby, and anti-abortion activists disputed the meaning of sex equality. Existing scholarship has yet to take account of the dynamic interaction between these groups. This Article fills that void by analyzing the legal and political debates that resulted in the passage of the PregnancyContinue reading “Strange Bedfellows at Work: Neomaternalism in the Making of Sex Discrimination Law”