The purposes of the following thesis is to research United States Supreme Court sex-discrimination jurisprudence and ascertain if Fourteenth Amendment legislative history was used, referred to, cited to, or quoted from, by the Supreme Court Justices in their opinions regarding sex-discrimination cases since the Amendment was ratified in 1868. Legislative history is a window into the drafting, debating, and intricate crafting of laws and amendments. When words and phrases that are used in the statutes, codes, and amendments are ambiguous or unclear, judges and justices should use the legislative history to ascertain the intent of the framers of the legislation. The methodology that was employed for this thesis was through the researching of all relevant United States Supreme Court cases as to what was written by the Justices in their opinions. Research was conducted into the relevant law review articles on the subject of legislative history of the Fourteenth Amendment, Supreme Court sex-discrimination jurisprudence, and the historical impact of Court decisions on the law relative to sex-discrimination. After extensive research, it was discovered that the United States Supreme Court has established over 144 years' worth of sex-discrimination jurisprudence. The law review article research revealed that the lack of legislative history research by the Court has not gone unnoticed by the legal community or the women's rights community since the Fourteenth Amendment was originally drafted. The research and analysis of the sources of sex-discrimination from cases, law review articles, and books on the subject, led to the conclusion that no Fourteenth Amendment legislative history was ever used by the Supreme Court of the United States as part of its development of sex-discrimination jurisprudence.

In 2005, Florida became the first state to pass the heavily National Rifle Association, NRA, supported "Stand Your Ground" law. The most notable components of the law were abolishing the duty to retreat for someone who is not engaged in lawful activity and is in a place where he has the right to be, granting civil and criminal immunity to those using lawful force, and presuming that a person who is attacked in his dwelling, residence, and occupied vehicle has a reasonable fear of death or great bodily harm. The law was subject to a substantial amount of criticism because it was a significant departure from Florida's more than a century old common law principles regarding self-defense. Possibly due to Florida not having any precedents for these cases, Florida courts would have conflicting decisions in these matters and law enforcement agencies would enforce the law differently in similar incidents. Regardless of the issues faced by Florida, over twenty states would adopt their own versions. A significant number of these states are in the Southeastern region of the United States and are neighbors to Florida or border Florida's neighbors, such as Mississippi, Alabama, Georgia, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee, and Louisiana. Because of this interesting pattern, the study examines the idea of southern culture playing a role in the passage of "Stand Your Ground" via the "Culture of Honor" theory and the researcher decided to use these jurisdictions and Florida as this study's sample. The researcher also wanted to include these jurisdictions because the existing "Stand Your Ground" literature mainly focuses on Florida and the researcher wanted to add something new to the discussion. The intent of this study to examine Florida's influence on the other jurisdictions, note any commonalties between the statutes of the jurisdictions, compare justifiable homicide statistics for the jurisdictions that provided such data, predict the future of these laws, and explore the "Culture of Honor" Theory as a possible explanation for "Stand Your Ground" laws in the states discussed. The study accomplished these goals by examining how each jurisdiction handled self-defense before "Stand Your Ground," looking at the motives behind the jurisdictions adopting "Stand Your Ground," comparing justifiable homicides in the four jurisdictions that provided them in the years immediate preceding the passage of "Stand Your Ground" to the subsequent years, and looking at amendments and proposals that were presented after the passage of "Stand Your Ground." The results uncovered that all the jurisdictions, except for Georgia and Tennessee, show a very strong Florida influence based on their similarities to Florida's law and legislators in the jurisdictions clearly mentioning Florida as their inspiration for proposing their own versions. In the jurisdictions that provided justifiable homicides, all showed an increase in the number of justifiable homicides after the passage of "Stand Your Ground." The jurisdictions in this study have also shown a strong resistance to any amendments or the complete repeal of this law. Therefore, any drastic amendment or the complete repeal seems unlikely in the future. The "Culture of Honor" Theory does explain why a few of the jurisdictions in the study adopted "Stand Your Ground" but Florida and the NRA's influence explain why others chose this course of action.

Over the last 30 years, the justice system has increased attention toward domestic violence. In many states, the emphasis has emerged to a specialization, separate dockets and specially trained judges (Center for Court Innovation 2009). Domestic violence courts have evolved, however the Ninth Circuit Court in Orange and Osceola County has yet to adopt this concept. At present, the Osceola County Courthouse utilizes the Unified Family Court (UFC), an integrated comprehensive approach which handles all cases simultaneously addressing the families involved in disputes, as well as the adults and the children of domestic violence. The Orange County Courthouse on the other hand, has the court rooms on one designated floor of the Orange County Courthouse which is dedicated to domestic relation’s cases. There are (3) specialized judges for domestic violence cases which rotate every (6) months. This thesis will explore the different challenges that are faced by the judicial system in domestic violence courts in Orange and Osceola County. One of those challenges is that there is no set “model” to develop a consistency in practices and policies; therefore there is no mutual understanding or agreement for the purposed outcome. With the study of case law, statutes, court research, court observation, and goal assessments, this thesis will explore the possibilities of change in this court system. The purpose of this study is to contribute awareness, present recommendations to the legal system, and state that it is not enough -although critical- to focus on the victim’s safety and the offender accountability, but also it is crucial to place an emphasis on specially trained judges and stakeholders in order to create a more unified structure.

Florida is one of 12 states that have a no-fault law. The first party benefit coverage is known as personal injury protection (PIP). Every policy sold in the state must include at least $10,000 in personal injury protection. This law went into effect in 1971 and is now being challenged. Changes in consumer, lawyer, and doctor behavior as well as changes in the legal and economic environment have diminished the positive impact of the no-fault law. This thesis will focus on the diminished effectiveness of the no-fault law in Florida. It will be based on research from primary sources. Other legal resources including law review articles and journal publications were consulted for persuasive scholarly views. Published work from insurance institutes and journals were included since they guide practitioners on the application of the law. Insurers, insureds and policymakers face serious challenges regarding Florida Motor Vehicle No-Fault Law. The purpose of this thesis is (1) to review the legislative history of Florida Motor Vehicle No-Fault Law, (2) to assess how well the current system is working (3) examine solutions to compensation from other states and provide relevant data and (4) make recommendations for future legislation. This thesis will recommend proposed changes with guidelines for future legislation to effect the changes necessary to balance the needs of the insurance companies, plaintiffs and defendants.

The Alien Tort Statute is a short, thirty-two word section of the United States Code enacted in 1789 as part of the Judiciary Act. The Alien Tort Statute, or ATS, has an uncertain and controversial beginning and remains controversial in current jurisprudence. The ATS reads as follows: “The district courts shall have original jurisdiction of any civil action by an alien for a tort only, committed in violation of the law of nations or a treaty of the United States." It is my intent for this thesis to be an academic discussion of the mysterious history, intent, and court cases that have evolved the ATS; and the way in which the evolution took place. Having lain dormant for almost two decades, it is important to understand how the ATS was finally utilized and how this affected the statutes ability to become a tool for human rights persecution abroad; until the decision in Kiobel v. Royal Dutch Petroleum. Examining the language of two opinions by the District Court of the Second Circuit and the Supreme Court in Kiobel we will be able to understand, but reject, the arguments of both these courts.

As technology has developed, Americans have come to carry their most private information around with them in their pockets in digital form on their cell phones. A cell phone has immense storage capacity and can contain a wide variety of communicative information about its owner. In the past, there had been a disagreement among the lower courts as to whether police officers could search the contents of an arrestee's cell phone when making an arrest. The United States Supreme Court settled this disagreement in Riley v. California; in that case, the Court held that the warrantless search of a cell phone incident to arrest violated the Fourth Amendment to the United States Constitution. This thesis discusses case law that preceded the United States Supreme Court case Riley v. California, that decision, and possible ramifications of that decision.

During the late 2000s the United States economy was faced with the most traumatic event in United States financial history since the Great Depression. Large multibillion dollar corporations collapsed, families lost their life savings, and the United States economy stood on a precipice for total destruction. In the wake of the Financial Crisis, investment firms such as Merrill Lynch collapsed and their portfolios were sold to competitors for far lower than their estimated value (Sorkin). In 2008, the Financial Crisis impacted the working man the most. With foreclosures on the rise, an estimated 81.2% increase from the year before, average citizens lost their homes, savings and certainty in the United States Government to protect their best interests (Armour). One of the hardest hit states, Nevada, saw a total foreclosure rate of about 7.3% which was an increase from the previous year of a staggering 125.7% (Armour). All these foreclosures rippled throughout the U.S housing market and made it nigh impossible for the banks securing the loans to collect upon the principle amount loaned, yet alone the interest. The shock from the United States financial sector echoed throughout the world. Correlating with the Financial Crisis, United States and global suicide rates were on the rise. According to a 2009 Article published by the British Medical Journal, United States suicide rates in men age 45-64 increased by over 6.4% of the expected trend ("Male Suicide Rate Rose during 2008 Global Economic Crisis, Says Time-Trend Study"). The Financial Crisis made it so that average individuals felt increased economic strain and an ever looming sense of disparagement. This is an examination and evaluation of the perhaps one of the greatest schemes in the history of global financial markets; this is a critical analysis of how greed, power and a lack of moral decency reshaped the world. This is an examination of how, in an age of deregulation, the powerful seemingly take precedence over the masses. This is the Story of the 2007/2008 Recession, of what has been done, of what we need to do, and of moving forward to assign blame and punishment to those responsible for the pain and suffering incurred by so many.

The following paper will explore the future of sustainable building practices as it relates to building design rating systems and whether building design rating systems are effective in conserving energy and resources in the construction of new buildings. This paper will begin by highlighting some of the general principles behind sustainable design practices, and the challenges of determining if building design rating systems are utilized effectively towards the goal of sustainability. In addition, the paper will highlight issues specific to ongoing litigation in Gifford v. U.S. Green Building Council and allegations made within the lawsuit that question the methodology and efficacy of building design rating systems. How political and ideological influences have propelled sustainability practices into the mainstream, and to what extent government is and should be involved in regulating building design rating systems will also be explored. Lastly, how will new energy performance and sustainable design methodologies, which are now being required in the law, affect the professional liability of building design professionals in the future?

Cord blood storage, use, and donation is a rising trend. The cells found in the blood of the umbilical cord can be used to treat various life threatening diseases. It has been shown that the use of these cells can produce results that are just as effective as a bone marrow transfusion. The yield of cells from a sample of cord blood is not always enough to be effective for a transfusion in adults. As such children are the primary demographic for cord blood transfusions. For this reason, prospective parents are taking notice of the trend. Currently, federal and state statutes are set up to promote the introduction of cord blood use. What current law fails to recognize is that cord blood is in use and has a lot of potential. For this reason laws need to be updated to better reflect the current market. A more proactive approach needs to be taken to better utilize the potential of cord blood. As the trend is popularized there is an increasing notion that informed consent is not uniform enough, state laws do not adequately promote cord blood use, and there is a discrepancy between the standards of public and private cord blood banks. In order to improve upon these issues it is necessary to review the laws that are currently in place and then expand upon them so that they better reflect the storage, use, and donation of the blood. If umbilical cord blood becomes more than medical waste, as is projected to happen, then there is a need for an adequate legal foundation that protects the interests of all parties involved, especially prospective parents.

Over the last few decades our society has moved towards restricting where sexual offenders can live, work, and overall congregate. This issue has been the focus of great public attention due to the media's role in bringing these offenders to the light. Whether it is through the news, movies, TV series, books, talk shows, newspapers articles, etc., these offenders are constantly being talked about. Every body of government in the United States has moved towards implementing restrictions that are aimed at keeping sex offenders away from places where they are considered a potential danger. However, what it is not talked about is that in efforts to limit where sex offenders can live and work to ensure the safety of our society; we are isolating these offenders and hindering their reintegration into our society. By isolating sexual offenders from our society we are doing more harm than good because we are discriminating and not working to fit the needs of each individual offender. One size does not fit all. The intent of this thesis is to explore sexual offender legal restrictions, treatment, case law, constitutionality of these laws and to compare Florida's approach towards restriction of sexual offenders with other states. Through the analysis of case law and statutes, recidivism rates, and treatment options this thesis will evaluate what different approaches should be taken towards aiding the reintegration of sexual offenders into our society. This thesis will provide background information on sexual offenders, compare legal restrictions among states, give an analysis of sexual offender websites, and provide recommendations to a better approach in treating sexual offenders. By raising awareness to the unfairness of treatment of sexual offenders, this thesis aims to open a new gateway to determine more successful ways to rehabilitate sexual offenders.