Iowa Law Review

Articles

Crime-Severity Distinctions and the Fourth Amendment: Reassessing Reasonableness in a Changing World

Adding to the Fourth Amendment "reasonableness" debate, Professor Bellin argues that the Supreme Court should factor in a new variable-crime severity-to determine whether a search is reasonable. After advocating for its adoption, the article presents a framework for incorporating crime severity into Fourth Amendment doctrine.

Overlitigating Corporate Fraud: An Empirical Examination

An empirical examination of some 700 corporate fraud lawsuits shows a significant overlap in the application of the variety of suits available, as well as pronounced differences in the effectiveness of the various kinds.

Boumediene, Munaf, and the Supreme Court?s Misreading of the Insular Cases

Professor Kent argues that in Boumediene and Munaf the Supreme Court mistakenly relied on the Insular Cases for its theory that enemies have constitutional rights during military conflict by (i) misreading the Insular Cases the Court cited, (ii) ignoring others that were relevant, and (iii) misunderstanding the relevant historical events.

The Elusive Goal of Impartiality

Professors Bassett and Perschbacher propose a new judicial-recusal procedure that makes a judge’s recusal decision reviewable by another judge and makes the appearance of bias a factor in recusal determinations.

Notes

Election 2010: The Loophole Created by 11 C.F.R. § 104.20(c)(9) and Citizens United and the Ineffectiveness of the Campaign-Finance-Law Framework in Iowa

This Note addresses the problems created by campaign-disclosure loopholes in regulations and Citizens United and proposes changes to the campaign-disclosure system in time for the 2012 Iowa Caucuses.

Avoiding Not-So-Harmless Errors: The Appropriate Standards for Appellate Review of Willful-Blindness Jury Instructions

Federal trial courts frequently misuse willful-blindness jury instructions. This note argues for the federal appellate courts to implement a consistent set of standards that would curb this misuse and help bring clarity to the willful-blindness doctrine.

Keep Closed Containers Closed: Resolving the Circuit Split in Favor of Individual Privacy

The central argument of this note is that when ownership of a closed container is objectively ambiguous, apparent-authority consent no longer justifies a search of the container, and consequently, law-enforcement officers should not be allowed to proceed with a search of the container unless and until they obtain consent from its owner.

Bloggers with Shields: Reconciling the Blogosphere?s Intrinsic Editorial Process with Traditional Concepts of Media Accountability

Courts have yet to reach a consensus on the proper standard for distinguishing among bloggers with respect to shield laws-statutes that prevent the compelled disclosure of confidential sources. This note questions the prudence of standards that base protection on how closely bloggers imitate the institutions whose authority they are challenging.

Essay

The New Direction of American Trust Law

In The New Direction of American Trust Law, University of Iowa Law Professor Thomas P. Gallanis examines the balance of rights between the central participants of the trust: the donor and the beneficiaries. After hundreds of years of pro-donor, or settlor, orientation, American trust law has recently begun to move toward favoring the rights of beneficiaries. This change is manifested in the modern approach to spendthrift clauses, administrative deviation, and other questions. While the develo...