After the calamitous and environmentally devastating occurrence of the Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill in the Gulf of Mexico in 2010, the sobering realities of the United States' failure to successfully protect its ocean waters have caused several modifications in policy, legislation, and overall direction ofthe entire nation. Although there has been a general shift towards ecological safety and away from the pursuit to drill, oil-drilling explorations have continued to take place in internationally. This research will focus on the future operations of Repsol YPF, S.A., a Spanish oil company stationed in Cuba, whose drilling ambitions have caused a myriad of problems for the United States. The intent of this paper is to investigate the legalities surrounding Cuba's forthcoming deepwater oil drilling plan within the Florida Straights and how the existing relations between Cuba and the United States will shape the outcome. The majority of United States officials, senators, and policymakers are experiencing a great deal of anxiety and apprehension as Cuba's oil drilling plan continues to solidify. Recent changes in legislation and congressional opinion display the United States' overall objective to shape the manner in which the drilling operations will be carried out. This thesis will ultimately explore what progress the United States has made thus far in the sector of dialogue with Cuban officials, the various options the United States could seek in regards to taking part in the drilling operations that will soon commence in Cuba, and the current risks involved with the entirety of the drilling endeavor.

The main objective in this research was to examine the extent to which gender and gender biases influence monetary benefits received, including jury award amounts, in workplace sexual harassment claims. Two methods were utilized to explore the discrepancies in monetary benefits received based on gender differences. The first method used was a survey to test various gender attitudes, attitudes on sexual harassment, and how influential a victim's gender was on determinations of damage award amounts in sexual harassment cases. 6 two-way factorial univariate between-subject analyses of variance (ANOVAs) were used to analyze the survey data. The second method in this project consisted of an examination of claims filed by victims of sexual harassment. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission statistics were broken down by gender with respect to resolution type. This provided a means to assess the actual monetary benefits received by both men and women across all possible forms of claim resolutions. In conjunction, these two methods provide a more balanced approach to the assessment of gender discrepancies in sexual harassment claims. Using a combination of actual claims of sexual harassment and survey data, rather than just one or the other, allows for direct comparison between perception and reality. The comparison of perception and reality allows for a more complete assessment of the state of sexual harassment claims as they relate to victim's gender. With a more complete assessment of sexual harassment claims and perceptions of sexual harassment it may be possible to bring to light potential injustices caused by gender or gender stereotyping, and correct any imbalances that may be present.

The United States has a drug issue that is perpetually problematic. Efforts are being made on every level of government to reduce drug use and deter current and potential future users. Some of these efforts however are putting citizen's rights at risk in a manner that threatens the United States Constitution that hails over both the state and federal governments. My thesis will examine Florida's avant-garde approach to simplifying drug convictions through unprecedented legislation that has already been ruled unconstitutional on its face by the United States District Court for the Middle District of Florida. The decade long struggle will soon culminate in the Florida Supreme Court, and if found unconstitutional, could potentially impact thousands of inmates among other legal consequences. Through literature review and case study I will discuss the history of this issue and conclude by discussing possible rulings of the Florida Supreme Court in State v. Adkins, SC11-1878 (2D11-4559, 2nd DCA). In addition, I will analyze the case timeline that led to the legislative action which is being called into question in Adkins. I hypothesize that the ruling in Adkins will declare Florida's drug statute unconstitutional; however, I further presume that the currently incarcerated defendants will continue to serve their sentences virtually unaffected by the ruling, with some extraordinary exceptions. First, I will discuss the underlying legal premises, succeeded by an analysis of all pertinent case law and literature to assess the constitutionality of Florida's drug statute to further support my hypothesis. My goal for this thesis is to give perspective to the layperson as well as contribute to the statewide legal community through my organization of the subject, and analysis of case law.

The Occupy movement has spread over hundreds of cities nationwide and over 1,500 cities around the world. The movement is formed around a common goal, which is to protest the way government actions or inactions have rooted widespread discontent. The Occupy movement has encountered opposition from the cities and counties where it is located. Arrests have been made for a number of violations of city and county codes including resistance to police orders and disorderly conduct charges. In our country, freedom of speech and the right to protest have been regarded as inalienable rights. The question becomes how to balance the rights of the people involved against the rights and obligations of the government. This thesis will provide an in depth look at the issues being discussed in cases and hearings involving the Occupy movement. The key issue plaintiffs argue is that their First Amendment rights are being infringed on. In January 2012, both international human rights and United States civil liberties experts at seven law school clinics across the country met and formed the Protest and Assembly Rights Project. The project investigated the United States response to Occupy Wall Street. This thesis will discuss and recap some of their findings. In addition, it will analyze the Federal Constitutional restrictions to protestor's rights and the cases that arise on the grounds of these restrictions, as well as examine how the courts interpret the First Amendment and clarify these issues along with defining protestor's constitutional rights. Based upon the Constitutional rights and legitimate restrictions, the thesis will make appropriate recommendations on the limits for both the protestors and the local government.

The recent societal development of highly specialized evidence has brought new problems to the forefront of the jury system. Because of the constitutional right to jury trials citizens of the United States and Florida have, it is imperative that the problems facing juries be discussed and explored. The question of whether or not juries can be trusted to comprehend highly technical evidence must be answered for the Florida jury to move forward into modern era. The subsequent question of what biases regarding highly specialized evidence have arisen must also be examined and addressed. Furthermore, solutions designed to increase a jury's comprehension and decrease their bias must be discussed and propagated. The purpose of this thesis is to explore the answers to those questions and provide potential solutions to the issues facing the modern Florida jury. Law journals, statutes, and case law all suggest that juror comprehension decreases substantially when faced with highly complex evidence. Biases are also commonly associated with these forms of evidence and are leading towards unfair verdicts. Despite these problems, there are solutions that are readily available in the areas of alternative dispute resolution. Further solutions may be created through a revision of the jury instruction process. This thesis seeks to raise awareness of the problems facing the Florida jury and contribute solutions that are practical and easily used.

The purpose of this thesis is to examine the Affordable Care Act through an analysis of the United States Supreme Court's holding in The National Federation of Independent Business v. Sebelius. In order to better understand the Supreme Court's reasoning in that case, this paper will first examine the history and the function of the Supreme Court, which will demonstrate the Court's power to either augment or diminish the power of the states in relation to the federal government. This paper will then discuss the background of the Affordable Care Act, the procedural history of the case, and the majority's analysis supporting its decision. The concurring and dissenting opinions of the other justices will be discussed to present the various viewpoints regarding the proper role of the federal government and the implications this case may have on federal/state conflict. The Supreme Court ruled in favor of the Department of Health and Human Services. The 5-4 decision was extremely close and the opinions given by each Justice highlighted the various flaws and benefits of the Act it was looking to uphold. Further research of Supreme Court cases in our country's history reveal the trend of augmenting and diminishing state's rights. This thesis will examine the constitutionality of the aforementioned decision, the effects it will have on each of the states within the United States, and the impact the citizens will experience.

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.