George Mason
Law Review

Abstract. Theories of private law are dominated by welfarist normative frameworks, and trademark law is no exception. One such framework—the “search costs” theory associated with the Chicago School of law and economics—has long been the primary accepted justification for trademark rights. However...

Abstract. On the usual view, federal common law is judge-made by definition. Commentators and courts, of course, have long recognized the tension between judicial lawmaking and the Constitution’s scheme of separated powers. That concern is part of why federal common law governs only a few special...

Abstract. Autonomous vehicles exist at the intersection of two extremely turbulent areas of Fourth Amendment jurisprudence—traffic stops and emerging technologies—and have implications for virtually every major search and seizure doctrine developed over the last century. Complicating matters even...

Abstract. This Article tells the lost origin story of a feature of civil procedure loathed by many progressives. That loathed feature is civil procedure’s “litigation individualism”—a term for the Supreme Court’s aggressive protection of each injured litigant’s autonomy over strategic choices...

Abstract. Biometric identifiers are increasingly being utilized and their collection by private companies is now commonplace. Correspondingly, some states have begun to enact statutes regulating biometric identifiers. However, in Spokeo, Inc. v. Robins, the Supreme Court held that a statutory...

Abstract. Jurisdictional contests are in disarray. Criticisms date back to the issuance of International Shoe Co. v. Washington but the breakdown may be best illustrated in two recent Supreme Court opinions, the first rejecting California’s “sliding scale” that mixes general and specific contacts...

Abstract. A recent Supreme Court decision inspired a resurgence of interest in an old mystery: How can nominal damages vindicate a plaintiff for past harm? The Court relied on the longstanding common law practice of entitling a plaintiff to sue for violation of her rights, even without...

Abstract. Tort law is grounded in the idea that a tortfeasor must pay for the harm the plaintiff incurs, including the plaintiff’s medical expenses. But calculating medical expense damages is more vexing than it seems because of the collateral source rule and the oddities of modern health care...

Abstract. The Neo-Brandeisian movement seeks to unravel the bipartisan, decades-long consensus on antitrust enforcement premised on the consumer welfare standard. In recent years, seemingly disconnected developments signaled the coming attack on this consensus. A flood of changes from new FTC...

Abstract. Vaccine mandates have historically been implemented and regulated by the states, not by the federal government. Nevertheless, the federal government has “broad, flexible power” to prevent the spread of communicable disease among the states through section 361 of the Public Health...