Challenging Civil Contempt: The Limits of Judicial Power in Cases Involving Journalists

Despite their assertion of a First Amendment or common law reporter's privilege in federal courts, journalists continue to face jail sentences and exorbitant fines for refusing to divulge their confidential sources when subpoenaed. Efforts to pass even a limited federal shield law have failed so far. This article offers another avenue to protect journalists—examining the roots of contempt law and policy to highlight limits on the contempt power of judges. It argues that because journalists are part of a group resting on steadfast moral and professional convictions, they may validly argue that confinement and excessive fines are improper sanctions. The article also suggests refinements in shield law proposals and other legislation to clarify the extent of judicial contempt power.     

Veiled Women and the Affect of Religion in Democracy

The veiled woman troubles feminism and secularism in much the same way. Both feminism and secularism face a problem of finding a position that respects individual autonomy, and simultaneously sustains a conception of politics freed from heteronomous determination. This article gives an account of what is being resisted and by whom in modes of politics which seek to produce an autonomous subject emancipated from 'other laws'(heteronomy). It also draws on Jean-Luc Nancy in order to consider what has been termed the problem of Islam in Europe as a wider juridical and political problem centred on the significance of affect as heteronomy. It thus explores the tension between piety and polity.     

COMPETITION BETWEEN CABLE TELEVISION AND DIRECT BROADCAST SATELLITE: THE IMPORTANCE OF SWITCHING COSTS AND REGIONAL SPORTS NETWORKS

We use aggregate firm-level price data and other related demographicvariables to examine the cost of switching between cable televisionand direct broadcast satellite (DBS). We find that switchingcosts appear to affect consumers' desire to switch from oneservice to another. We then use observation-specific dummy variablesthat stratify cable price to examine whether consumer behaviorvaries depending on the size of price change. We find that,when quality-adjusted prices for basic cable services increasesubstantially, subscribers will switch from cable to DBS, presumablyat the point at which the price change is larger than the costof switching. However, we find some evidence that DBS penetrationis suppressed in areas where cable operators offer regionalsports channels.     

Assessing legal change: Recidivism and administrative per se laws

Tougher sanctions for drunk driving have often been advocated as a means to reduce this problematic behavior. In a test of administrative per se laws as a specific deterrent, the impact of introducing such laws is evaluated by examining reconviction rates of offenders before and after implementation of the Jaw in three states (North Dakota, Louisiana, and Mississippi), with comparisons made to a fourth state during the same time period that did not implement an administrative per se law (California). Recidivism is analyzed using survival models. The results indicate that administrative per se laws reduce rates of reconviction in some situations but not in others. In particular, if implementation of the law is accompanied by changes in overall rates of license actions, the specific deterrent effects of the law may be outweighed by the increased efficiencies of this judicial process.