Faculty News and Scholarship: April 2024

The faculty at Charleston School of Law are renowned nationwide for their research and scholarship. Below are highlights of April 2024 Faculty Scholarship:

Armand Derfner

• Armand Derfner published an article titled Can Our Democracy Survive this Supreme Court? in the Supreme Court Review, University of Chicago. In this article, Armand speaks about how the Supreme Court has turned the right to vote around in his lifetime and to the effects of gerrymandering and money contributions. He does not agree with expanding the Supreme Court but says there is hope that the basic decency of the people of our country will save our democracy. He argues that gerrymandering is a crime, right up there with insider trading or fixing a horse race.

Melissa & Adam Harness

• Melissa and Adam Harness published an article titled A False Accountability Narrative: The Human Rights Implications of Developed Nations Over-Testing Youth in Education in the Journal of Law and Education, Vol. 53, No. 1, starting on page 135. The abstract is:

Standardized testing is a human rights issue that continues to plague the educational systems in developed nations. Within countries like the United States and the United Kingdom, vexatious accountability measures, such as those provided by standardized testing, have polarized the educational arena, leaving in its wake a litany of human rights concerns. This culmination of over-testing and outcome-only driven education equates to an end game where employment and dollar signs erode the very fabric of human rights for children. In this paper, we hope to inspire understanding of the issues of contention happening in developed nations today regarding standardized testing issues, and we will make recommendations that may help these nations move from the statistical to the enlightened view of growing responsible and civicminded citizens into the twenty-first century.

Jennifer North

• Jennifer North was selected to present at the 2024 Magistrates Advisory Council Intensive Training Seminar for all the newly appointed South Carolina Summary Courts Judges.  She will provide them with legal research training in Westlaw and on free government websites. This training is being held at the Judicial Education Center in Columbia on May 1st and is provided in conjunction with the South Carolina Commission on Prosecution Coordination the South Carolina Judiciary Branch.
• Also, Professor North’s paper titled The Right to Jury Trials in Admiralty was selected for presentation to the Southeastern Admiralty Law Institute (SEALI) for its upcoming June conference and annual CLE in New Orleans. This paper is a practical guide for sorting through the various admiralty-specific parameters for allowing jury trials for counterclaims when the plaintiff in the case chooses the unique Rule 9(h) in admiralty under the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure. This rule only provides for a bench trial. This situation arises frequently in counterclaims under the Declaratory Judgment Act and is an issue that is being explored more broadly under maritime specific laws like the Death on the High Seas Act.