INTRODUCTION ..................................................................................... 966 I. THE JUDICIAL FEDERALISM DEBATE ............................................... 967 A. Evolution of Judicial Federalism in the United States ............ 967 B. The Arguments in the Dependent-Independent Debate .......... 969 II. ANALYZING THE LOCKSTEP DOCTRINE IN ILLINOIS JURISPRUDENCE .......

In Aetna Health Inc. v. Davila, the United States Supreme Court revisited the question of whether the Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA) precludes state lawsuits against ERISA plans. The Court held that ERISA preempts damage actions brought against managed care organizations under the Texas Health Care Liability Act because ERISA itself provides the exclusive remedy for challenging...

Forensic science research intended to standardize the distinction of the worst criminal behavior, specifically the Depravity Scale, has been the topic of academic and public discussion in the Journal and elsewhere. Some early impressions have been published without substantive attention to the goals of this research and the application of the results. In a recent article in the Journal, for exa...

This essay explores the conflicting positions taken by the United States in its Medicaid-related briefs before the Supreme Court this October 2011 Term. In Douglas v. Independent Living Center, the United States articulated a deferential stance toward the states, a position consistent with longstanding states' rights concerns in the Medicaid program. On the other hand, the federal government ha...

The United States Supreme Court has considered the question of whether a judge or a jury must make the findings necessary to support imposition of the death penalty in several notable cases, including Spaziano v. Florida (1984), Hildwin v. Florida (1989), and Ring v. Arizona (2002). In 2016, the U.S. Supreme Court revisited the subject in Hurst v. Florida Florida Statute § 921.141 allows the ju...