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Abstract:
This article examines the recent history and current status of the marital presumption of paternity. It explores the social, economic and legal developments that have contributed to the erosion of the presumption, focusing in particular on the efforts of federal and state governments to identify and collect financial support from unmarried biological fathers. The article then describes the procedural and equitable doctrines that some courts and legislatures have used to bolster the marital presumption in the face of conflicting biological evidence. Finding these approaches problematic, the article advocates a revitalized marital presumption as a substantive rule of law. It argues that marriage should generally be a sufficient - albeit not an exclusive - basis for ascribing legal fatherhood and that spouses and former spouses should have only a limited ability to rebut the presumption. The article also endorses the notion of dual fatherhood as an option for cases in which a child has both a marital and an involved genetic father.

marriage, paternity, family law

Abstract:
This article explores the role of judges on two types of "problem-solving courts": drug treatment courts and unified family courts. It compares the behavior these "problem-solving" judges to more traditional models of judicial behavior and to activist judging at the appellate level. The authors conclude that the judges who serve on these problem-solving courts have largely repudiated the classical judicial virtues of restraint, disinterest and modesty in favor of a more activist and therapeutic stance. However, the causes and consequences of this role-shift are complex. In particular, the authors suggest that the proliferation of problem solving courts and judges is not primarily a "trickle-down" effect of activist judging at the appellate level; rather, these developments are a response to powerful political and institutional forces outside the judicial system. Legal scholars who seek to understand "juristocracy in the trenches" should therefore broaden their analytic focus to include the ways in which these institutional forces shape the behavior of state trial court judges.

drug treatment courts, family courts, unified family courts, judges

Abstract:
In Hamdan v. Rumsfeld, the Supreme Court rebuffed the Bush administration's initial attempt to use Military Commissions created by Executive Order to try detainees held at Guantanamo Bay. The Court ruled that the President, acting alone, lacked the authority to employ the Commissions because their structure and procedure violated both the Uniform Code of Military Justice and the Geneva Conventions. Most academic commentators have viewed the Hamdan decision as primarily about the limits of executive power. On this view, the central constitutional problem in Hamdan was that the Executive had acted unilaterally in an area where the Constitution required the involvement - or at least the acquiescence - of both political branches. This Essay argues that, while Congressional control of executive power is an important theme in Hamdan, the decision also constitutes a strong assertion of judicial power. In particular, the Court's analysis suggests that the judicial branch has a vital and independent role to play in striking the appropriate balance between national security and individual liberties.

executive power, national security policy, detainees, military commissions, Geneva Conventions

Abstract:
Over the past two decades, there has been a paradigm shift in the way the legal system handles most family disputes - particularly disputes involving children. This paradigm shift has replaced the law-oriented and judge-focused model of adjudication with a more collaborative, interdisciplinary and forward-looking family dispute resolution regime. It has also transformed the practice of family law and fundamentally altered the way in which disputing families interact with the legal system. This essay examines the elements of this paradigm shift in family dispute resolution and explores the opportunities and challenges it offers for families, children and the legal system.

family disputes, dispute resolution, family law