CROSS REFERENCES Adversary System; Alternative Dispute Resolution; Child Abuse; Children ’s Rights; Cohabitation; Domestic Violence; Fetal Rights; Gay and Lesbian Rights; Husband and Wif
Trang 1might include one or more of the following: (1)
the married mother’s husband when the child
was conceived by artificial insemination with
semen donated by aTHIRD PARTY; (2) a surrogate
mother who carried the child to term and gave
birth to the child, where the pregnancy resulted
from either (a) her artificial insemination or
(b) her receipt of a fertilized ovum (embryo) from
another woman; (3) the donor of the semen; and
(4) the donor of the ovum or embryo
Artificial insemination Where a married
woman, with the consent of her husband, has
conceived a child by artificial insemination
from a donor other than her husband, the law
will recognize the child as the husband’s
legitimate child
In vitro fertilization and ovum transplantation
The technique of in vitro fertilization gained
international attention with the birth of Louise
Brown in England in 1978 This technique
involves the fertilization of the ovum outside
the womb Where the ovum is donated by
ano-ther woman, the birth moano-ther will be treated in
law as the legitimate mother of the child
Surrogate motherhood In surrogate
moth-erhood, women agree to be artificially
insemi-nated or to have a fertilized ovum inserted into
their uterus, and to carry the child to term for
another party Where women do this to assist
members of their own family, few legal
complications arise However, where women
have agreed to the procedure for financial
compensation, controversy has followed
The most famous case involved “Baby M”
(IN RE BABY M, 109 N.J 396, 537 A.2d 1227
[1988]) In 1987, Mary Beth Whitehead agreed
to be the surrogate mother for sperm-donor
William Stern Stern agreed to pay Whitehead
$10,000 to carry the child Whitehead signed the
contract agreeing to turn the child over to Stern
and his wife, Elizabeth Stern Whitehead began
to show attachment to the child when she was
born, naming the child Sara Elizabeth
White-head at the hospital The Sterns, on the other
hand, had prepared to take custody of the child,
naming her Melissa When Whitehead refused
to turn over the baby, Stern went to court
seeking custody of the girl
The New Jersey Supreme Court held that
the surrogate contract was against public policy
and that the right of procreation did not entitle
Stern and his wife to custody of the child
Nevertheless, based on the best interests of the child, the court awarded custody to the Sterns and granted Whitehead visitation rights
Court Procedures
Family law has been governed by the adversarial process This process is geared to produce a winner and a loser In divorce and child custody cases, the process has increased tensions between the parties, tensions that do not go away after the court process is completed
States have begun to explore non-adversarial alternatives, including family MEDIATION Court systems are also experimenting with more informal procedures to handle family law cases,
in hopes of diffusing the emotions of the parties
Conclusion
Family law has become a major component of the U.S legal system Attorneys seeking ADMIS-SION TO THE BARare tested on family law subjects, and law schools provide more courses in this field Many of the social and cultural issues U.S
society debates will ultimately be played out in its family courts
FURTHER READINGS Ball, Carlos A 2008 “The Blurring of the Lines: Children and Bans on Interracial Unions and Same-Sex Mar-riages ” Fordham Law Review 76:2733.
Gregory, John De Witt et al 2001 Understanding Family Law 2d ed Newark, N.J.: LexisNexis.
Jasper, Margaret C 2001 Marriage and Divorce 2d ed.
Dobbs Ferry, N.Y.: Oceana.
Krause, Harry D and David D Meyer 2007 Family Law in
a Nutshell 5th ed St Paul, Minn.: West Group.
“Vermont Legislature Legalizes Same-Sex Marriage.” 2009.
The Washington Post, April 7.
CROSS REFERENCES Adversary System; Alternative Dispute Resolution; Child Abuse; Children ’s Rights; Cohabitation; Domestic Violence;
Fetal Rights; Gay and Lesbian Rights; Husband and Wife;
Parent and Child
FAMILY MEDICAL LEAVE
A family medical leave is mandated by federal, state, and local laws that authorize employees to take paid or unpaid leave for a defined period of time for major health-related medical issues affecting their immediate family
Beginning in the 1990s, federal and state family medical leave laws were passed, allowing employees to take unpaid leaves of absence from work for major, family-related medical issues without first obtaining permission from
FAMILY MEDICAL LEAVE 349
Trang 2their employers Business managers worried that family medical leave would make personnel management very difficult and ultimately drive costs up However, by 2002, studies had shown that the federal medical leave program had not unduly hurt U.S businesses California began the next stage in 2002, when it enacted a law that provides employees with paid leaves of absence
Some state and local governments enacted family medical leave laws in the 1980s, but advocates of this policy argued that a federal law was needed Congress passed a family medical leave law twice in the early 1990s, but both times President George H W Bush vetoed the legislation In February 1993, President BILL CLINTONsigned into law the Family and Medical Leave Act of 1993 (FMLA), (29 U.S.C.A § 2601
et seq.) The act permits employees to take up to
12 weeks of unpaid leave each year for family illness, childbirth, orADOPTION It mandates that employers maintain the employees’ insurance benefits and give them their jobs back when they return
The drive for a federal statute was caused
in part by changes in the workforce Young mothers and single parents joined the work-force and needed options that generally were not required by the traditional male breadwin-ner These new employees struggled to keep their jobs when they needed to remain at home during the workday when their children became sick Employees who missed too much work because their children had serious medical problems often lost their jobs The federal law sought to provide more security to employees who found themselves in this predicament
The FMLA, which took effect in August
1993, applies to all businesses and government agencies that have 50 or more employees
Employees become eligible for leave after one year of employment at the business and after working at least 1,250 hours in the previous
12 months Employees are entitled to take up
to 12 workweeks during a 12-month period
The leave can be continuous and can be exhaus-ted after 12 straight weeks, or the employee may take intermittent leave Intermittent leave is typically taken when the employee or a family member is fighting a serious illness during chemotherapy or another treatment cycle In addition, intermittent leave can take the form
of a reduced work schedule
The FMLA limits the scope of the act to an individual, immediate family, and parents It also describes the types of life situations that merit mandatory leave These situations include childbirth, adoption, or the placement of a child with a parent for foster care Fathers, as well as mothers, are permitted to exercise their leave rights for these situations Leave also can be taken in order to care for a seriously ill spouse, child, or parent However, if both spouses work for the same employer, they are jointly entitled
to a combined total of 12 weeks of leave for the above situations In addition, an employee is authorized to take leave to fight a serious health problem
Employees or employers may choose to use accrued paid leave (sick or vacation leave) to cover some or all of the FMLA leave The employer must designate whether an employ-ee’s use of paid leave counts as FMLA leave, based on information from the employee Employers also have the right to request health certification before granting leave Disputes over eligibility can be pursued through second and third medical opinions at the employer’s expense, with a third opinion considered binding
Employers must pay their contributions to employees’ healthcare insurance If employees also contribute to the insurance plan, they must make these payments while on leave Employers have recourse if employees do not return to their jobs following a medical leave Employers can demand repayment of health care premiums that they had paid during the leave period
Job security is generally guaranteed under the FMLA, but not in all cases If a company lays workers off, it also may eliminate the position of the person who is on leave In such instances, the employer has the burden of proving that the employee would not otherwise have been employed at the time the reinstate-ment was sought Another provision of the FMLA concerns key employees, who are defined
at the highest-paid 10 percent of a company’s workforce Key employees are not guaranteed reinstatement and must be informed of this fact when they apply for leave Employers may deny reinstatement to key employees if granting leave would cause substantial and serious economic injury to the company
A CAUSE OF ACTION to enforce FMLA rights may be brought in state or federal court An
350 FAMILY MEDICAL LEAVE
Trang 3employee’s remedies for an FMLA violation
could include money damages in the form of
lost wages and, in some circumstances, lost back
pay In Nevada Department of Human Resources
v Hibbs, 123 S Ct 1972 (2003), the Supreme
Court decided 6–3 that state employees may
recover monetary damages in federal court if a
state failed to comply with the statute The
Supreme Court thus held that states are not
grantedELEVENTH AMENDMENT immunity upon a
violation of the statute
Although businesses feared added costs and
great disruptions from the FMLA,LABOR
DEPART-MENTstatistics have shown that the statute has
not been costly or disruptive, with less than 4
percent of the workforce annually taking family
medical leave Many analysts believe that the
reason why more workers do not take advantage
of the law is that it provides unpaid leave, and
many workers simply cannot afford to take
advantage of the law Some also speculate that
psychological pressures keep employees from
applying for leave and that they believe that
their supervisors will view them as less-serious
workers
In 2002 California became the first state to
tackle the question of paid family medical leave
by mandating up to six weeks of paid family and
medical leave Beginning in 2004, the Family
Temporary DISABILITY Pay Law required
em-ployees to contribute 8 percent of their taxable
earnings (not to exceed $55 per year) to fund
the medical leave program Persons who take
leave will receive 55 percent of their pay, up to a
maximum of $728 per week
FURTHER READINGS
Aitchison, Will 2003 Understanding the Family and Medical
Leave Act Portland, OR: Labor Relations Information
System.
Bosland, Carl C 2007 FMLA Basics: A Federal Supervisor’s
Guide to the Family and Medical Leave Act 1st Ed.
Arlington, VA: Dewey Publications.
Decker, Kurt H 2000 Family and Medical Leave in a
Nutshell St Paul, MN: West.
Department of Labor Website Information on FMLA.
Available online at www.dol.gov (accessed May 17,
2009).
Simmons, Richard J 2009 Employer’s Guide to the Federal
Family and Medical Leave Act 8th Ed Van Nuys, CA.:
Castle Publications.
Stafford, Diane “California Family Leave Law Goes Too
Far ” 2002 Kansas City Star (October 17).
CROSS REFERENCE
Employment Law.
FANNIE MAE See FEDERAL NATIONAL MORTGAGE ASSOCIATION
FARM CREDIT ADMINISTRATION The Farm Credit Administration (FCA) is an independent agency of the EXECUTIVE BRANCHof the federal government It supervises and coordinates the Farm Credit System, which is
a centralized banking system designed to serve U.S agricultural interests by granting short-and long-term credit through regional banks and local associations Although initially capi-talized by the federal government, the banks and associations that make up the Farm Credit System are now financed entirely through stock that is owned by members, borrowers, or the associations The FCA ensures the safe opera-tion of these lending instituopera-tions and protects the interests of their borrowers
The Farm Credit System was established in
1916 in response to the unique credit needs of farmers Federal land banks were established to provide adequate and dependable credit to farmers, ranchers, producers or harvesters of aquatic products, providers of farm services, rural homeowners, and agricultural associations
During the 1930s, the Depression and falling farm prices increased debt delinquencies and led
to a serious decline in farm values Many loan companies and credit institutions failed In 1933 President FRANKLIN D ROOSEVELT directed Con-gress to create the FCA to oversee the entities that grant credit to farmers and ranchers All govern-ment farm credit programs, including the land banks and intermediate credit banks, were unified under the new agency, which was established by the Farm Credit Act of 1933 (U.S Pub Law 73-76, 48 Stat 257)
The modern FCA derives its authority from the Farm Credit Act of 1971 (12 U.S.C.A
§ 2241 et seq.), which superseded all prior authorizing legislation The FCA examines the lending institutions that constitute the Farm Credit System to certify that they are sound It also ensures compliance with the regulations under which the Farm Credit institutions operate To that end, it is authorized to issue cease-and-desist orders, levy civil monetary penalties, remove officers and directors, and impose financial and operating reporting requirements It may directly intervene in the management of an institution whose practices violate the Farm Credit Act or its regulations It
FARM CREDIT ADMINISTRATION 351
Trang 4also may step in to correct an unsafe practice or
to assume formal conservatorship over an institution
The FCA is managed by the Farm Credit Administration Board, whose three full-time members are appointed to six-year terms by the
PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES, with the ADVICE AND CONSENT of the Senate The board meets monthly to set policy objectives and to approve the rules and regulations that govern the FCA’s responsibilities
The FCA also manages the Federal Agricul-tural Mortgage Corporation, known as Farmer Mac According the FCA web site, Farmer Mac provides a secondary market for agricultural real estate and rural housing mortgages It guarantees prompt payment of principal and interest on securities representing interests in,
or obligations backed by, mortgage loans secured by first liens on agricultural real estate
or rural housing It also guarantees securities backed by the guaranteed portions of farm ownership and operating loans, rural business and community development loans, and certain other loans guaranteed by the U.S.DEPARTMENT
OF AGRICULTURE
As of January 1, 2003, according to the FCA web site, the Farm Credit System was composed
of Five Farm Credit Banks that provide loan funds to 81 Agricultural Credit Associations (ACAs), and 13 Federal Land Credit Associa-tions (FLCAs) ACAs make short-, intermedi-ate-, and long-term loans, and FLCAs make long-term loans The Farm Credit System also had one Agricultural Credit Bank (ACB), which has the authority of an FCB and provides loan funds to five ACAs In addition, the ACB makes loans of all kinds to agricultural, aquatic, and public utility cooperatives and is authorized to finance U.S agricultural exports and provide international banking services for farmer-owned cooperatives
The Farm Credit Administration web site offers extensive information about its roles and duties at www.fca.gov
CROSS REFERENCE Agricultural Law.
FATAL Deadly or mortal; destructive; devastating
A fatal error in legal procedure is one that is
of such a substantial nature as to harm unjustly
the person who complains about it It is synonymous with reversible error, which, in appellate practice, warrants the reversal of the judgment before the appellate court for review
A fatal error can warrant a new trial
A fatal injury is one that results in death It
is distinguished from aDISABILITYin accident and disability insurance policies, which includes those injuries that prevent the insured from doing his or her regular job but do not result in his or her death
FAULT Neglect of care; an act to which blame or censure is attached Fault implies any negligence, error, or defect of judgment
Fault has been held to embrace a refusal to perform an action that one is legally obligated to
do, such as the failure to make a payment when due
FDIC SeeFEDERAL DEPOSIT INSURANCE CORPORATION
FEASANCE The performance of an act
Malfeasance is the commission of an illegal act MISFEASANCE is the inadequate or improper performance of a lawful act.NONFEASANCEis the neglect of a duty or the failure to perform a required task
FEDERAL Relating to the general government or union of the states; based upon, or created pursuant to, the laws of the Constitution of the United States The United States has traditionally been named a federal government in most political and judicial writings The term federal has not been prescribed by any definite authority but is used to express a broad opinion concerning the nature of the form of government
A recent tendency has been to use the term national in place of federal to denote the government of the Union Neither settles any question regarding the nature of authority of the government
The term federal is generally considered to
be more appropriate if the government is to be viewed as a union of the states National is used
352 FATAL
Trang 5to reflect the view that individual state
govern-ments and the Union as a whole are two distinct
and separate systems, each of which is
estab-lished directly by the population for local and
national purposes, respectively
In a more general sense, federal is ordinarily
used to refer to a league or compact between
two or more states to become joined under one
central government
FEDERAL APPENDIX
A legal reference source containing federal courts
of appeals decisions that have not been selected by
the court for publication
The first volume of the Federal Appendix was
published September 1, 2001 Coverage began
with decisions handed down after January 1,
2001 The Federal Appendix is an appendix to the
Federal Reporter, Third Series (F.3d) However,
unpublished opinions from the Fifth and
Eleventh Circuits are not included in the Federal
Appendix
The Federal Appendix is part of Thomson
West’s National Reporter System The cases
contain the West enhancements of case
sum-maries, headnotes, and topics andKEY NUMBERS
A citation to a Federal Appendix opinion gives,
first, the volume, then the abbreviation of the
publication, and finally the page number on
which the opinion begins A sample citation
looks like this: 2 Fed.Appx 386 (4th Cir 2001)
In 2002, Federal Appendix citations began to
appear in the Federal Practice Digest Fourth
Series, and also in some state digests
Generally, unpublished opinions have no
precedential value And across jurisdictions
there are inconsistent court rules regarding
citation of unpublished opinions In 2001 the
AMERICAN BAR ASSOCIATION House of Delegates
expressed its approval of federal courts of
appeals granting access to unpublished opinions
and allowing citation to unpublished opinions
(ABA Resolution 01A115) And The Judicial
Conference of the United States’s Advisory
Committee on Appellate Rules has
consi-dered amendments to the Federal Rules of
Appellate Procedure dealing with citation of
non-precedential unpublished decisions
CROSS REFERENCE
Judicial Conference of the United States.
FEDERAL AVIATION ADMINISTRATION
On December 17, 1903, Wilbur and Orville Wright flew an airplane for 12 seconds in Kitty Hawk, North Carolina A half-century later, Con-gress established the Federal Aviation Agency with the Federal Aviation Act of 1958 (49 U.S.C.A
§ 106) This agency was later renamed the Federal Aviation Administration Under the act, the FAA became responsible for all the following:
nRegulating air commerce to promote its
development and safety and to meet national defense requirements
nControlling the use of navigable airspace in the United States and regulating both civil and military operations in that airspace in the interest of safety and efficiency
nPromoting and developing civil AERONAU-TICS, which is the science of dealing with the operation of civil, or nonmilitary, aircraft
nConsolidating research and development
with respect to air navigation facilities
nInstalling and operating air navigation
facilities
nDeveloping and operating a common
system of air traffic control and navigation for civil and military aircraft
nDeveloping and implementing programs and regulations to control aircraft noise, sonic booms, and other environmental effects of civil aviation
A component agency of the DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION ever since the Department of Transportation Act was passed in 1967 (49 U.S.C
A § 1651), the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) engages in a variety of activities to fulfill its responsibilities One vital activity is safety regulation The FAA issues and enforces rules, regulations, and minimum standards relating to the manufacture, operation, and maintenance
of aircraft In the interest of safety, the FAA also rates and certifies people working on aircraft, including medical personnel, and certifies air-ports that serve air carriers The agency performs flight inspections of air navigation facilities in the United States and, as required, abroad It also enforces regulations under the Hazardous Mate-rials Transportation Act (49 U.S.C.A app 1801)
as they apply to air shipments
FAA inspectors use a six-inch-thick book called the Airworthiness Inspector’s Handbook in FEDERAL AVIATION ADMINISTRATION 353
Trang 6their work These inspectors have significant power, including the ability to delay or ground aircraft deemed non-airworthy and to suspend the license of pilots and other flight personnel who break FAA rules
Another primary activity of the FAA is to manage airspace and air traffic, with the goal being
to ensure the safe and efficient use of the U.S
navigable airspace To meet this goal, the agency operates a network of airport traffic control towers, air route traffic control centers, and flight service stations It develops air traffic rules and regulations and allocates the use of airspace It also provides for the security control of air traffic to meet national defense requirements
The FAA oversees the creation, operation, maintenance, and quality of federal visual and electronic aids to air navigation The agency operates and maintains voice and data commu-nications equipment, radar facilities, computer systems, and visual display equipment at flight service stations, airport traffic control towers, and air route traffic control centers
Research, engineering, and development activities of the agency help provide the systems,
procedures, facilities, and devices needed for a safe and efficient system of air navigation and air traffic control to meet the needs of civil aviation and the air defense system The FAA also performs aeromedical research to apply knowledge gained from its work and the work
of others to the safety and promotion of civil aviation and the health, safety, and efficiency of agency employees The agency further supports the development and testing of improved aircraft, engines, propellers, and appliances The FAA is authorized to test and evaluate aviation systems, subsystems, equipment, devices, materials, concepts, and procedures at any phase in their development, from concep-tion to acceptance and implementaconcep-tion The agency may assign independent testing at key decision points in the development cycle of these elements
The agency maintains a national plan of airport requirements and administers a grant program for the development of public-use airports, to ensure safety and to meet current and future capacity needs The FAA also evaluates the environmental effects of airport development; administers an airport noise compatibility program; develops standards and technical guidance on airport planning, design, safety, and operation; and provides grants to assist public agencies in airport planning and development
The FAA registers aircraft and records documents related to the title or interest in aircraft, aircraft engines, propellers, appliances, and spare parts
Under the Federal Aviation Act of 1958 and the International Aviation Facilities Act (49 U.S C.A app 1151), the agency promotes aviation safety and civil aviation abroad by exchanging aeronautical information with foreign aviation authorities; certifying foreign repair stations, aviators, and mechanics; negotiating bilateral airworthiness agreements to facilitate the im-port and exim-port of aircraft and components; and providing technical assistance and training
in all areas of the agency’s expertise The agency provides technical representation at interna-tional conferences, including those of the International Civil Aviation Organization and other international organizations
Finally, the agency conducts miscellaneous activities such as administering the aviation insurance and aircraft loan guarantee programs;
ILLUSTRATION BY GGS
CREATIVE RESOURCES.
REPRODUCED BY
PERMISSION OF GALE,
A PART OF CENGAGE
LEARNING.
Fatal Accidents on U.S Commercial Air Carriers, Scheduled and Nonscheduled Service, 1990 to 2009
a An illegal act was responsible for an occurrence in this category Other than the persons aboard aircraft who were killed, fatalities resulting from the September 11, 2001, terrorist acts are excluded from this table.
b Data is as of May 2009.
“Aviation Accident Statistics,” available online at http://www.ntsb.gov/aviation/stats.htm (accessed on August 7, 2009).
3 0
100 200 300 400 500 600
1990 1995 2001 a 2005 2008 2009 b
Year
0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7
52 22
531
168 39
Fatal accidents Fatalities
354 FEDERAL AVIATION ADMINISTRATION
Trang 7assigning priority and allocating materials for
civil aircraft and civil aviation operations;
developing specifications for the preparation
of aeronautical charts; publishing current
infor-mation on airways and airport services and
issuing technical publications for the
improve-ment of safety in flight, airport planning, and
design; and serving as the executive
administra-tion for the operaadministra-tion and maintenance of the
Department of Transportation’s automated
payroll and personnel systems
No stranger to controversy, the FAA has
been at the center of a variety of national
debates In the early 1980s, 11,000 air traffic
controllers went on strike to protest stressful
working conditions When President RONALD
REAGANordered them fired, the FAA pledged to
replace many of them by overhauling and
modernizing the system that guides planes from
takeoff to landing Fifteen years later, some
critics of the FAA contended that the agency
had yet to create a modern air traffic control
system, causing delays that cost the airline
industry up to $5 billion per year Speaking on
the subject in January 1996, Senator William
S Cohen (R-MA), a member of the Committee
on Governmental Affairs, said: “The FAA is a
victim of its own poor management If the
agency devoted more time to managing itself
and less time to defending its deficiencies, the
air traffic control system would have been
replaced years ago.”
In the 1980s the FAA supported
drug-testing for commercial airline pilots and air
traffic controllers Though drug-testing is a
form of search, implicatingFOURTH AMENDMENT
concerns, these drug tests are routinely upheld
as a permissible invasion of privacy in light of
the public safety concerns associated with air
travel
With U.S air traffic increasing by almost
130 percent from 1978 to 1994, fatal aircraft
accidents also increased Critics of the FAA
asserted that the agency failed to increase its
number of inspectors at a rate comparable to
the rate of growth in air traffic; in fact, the
agency had only 12 percent more inspectors in
1994 than it did in 1978 The FAA also came
under scrutiny for the safety of smaller aircraft
after a succession of fatal commuter jet crashes
in the 1980s and early to mid-1990s In 1988,
for example, an AVAir plane crashed in Raleigh,
North Carolina, killing 12 people In the two
months before the accident, AVAir had another accident, filed for BANKRUPTCY, shut down, and restarted In that time, AVAir’s FAA inspector never visited the airline’s headquarters, ob-served a pilot check ride, or met the training director
Together with Federico F Peña, secretary of the U.S TRANSPORTATION DEPARTMENT, David
R Hinson, administrator of the FAA, set what
he called an ambitious new goal at a January
1995 aviation safety summit: zero accidents In September 1995 he defended his agency on the safety issue by saying that of the 173 safety initiatives developed at the summit, more than two-thirds were already complete Calling perfect safety a shared responsibility, Hinson asked for a “hands-on, eyes-open commitment
of every person who designs, builds, flies, maintains and regulates aircraft.” The same month, the FAA announced plans to train air traffic controllers with computer simulators In early 1996 the federal government enacted new rules intended to make small commuter turbo-prop planes as safe as big jets As part of the change, the FAA began requiring smallAIRLINES
to follow the same rules for training and operations as do major airlines
In the wake of theSEPTEMBER11TH ATTACKSof
2001, in which terrorists used commercial airplanes to destroy the World Trade Center
in New York and seriously damage the Penta-gon in Washington, D.C., the FAA shifted much
of its focus to airline and airport security
Shortly after the attacks on the morning of September 11th, the FAA ordered the ground-ing of all aircraft in the United States About 1,100 planes were rerouted to new destinations
in the first 15 minutes after the order was issued Throughout the chaotic day, about 4,500 planes eventually landed The FAA required the planes to remain grounded for several days after the attacks
The FAA immediately began considering new rules and regulations for protecting air-ports and airlines from further attacks Airport security was tightened considerably Air carriers are now required to check each ticketed passenger for government-issued identification
Baggage is checked more thoroughly at screen-ing points, and only ticketed passengers may pass beyond the screening area The regulations also restricted the ability of passengers to use the curbs outside the airports
FEDERAL AVIATION ADMINISTRATION 355
Trang 8More restrictions were placed on items that may be brought aboard a flight by passengers
Because the terrorist attacks on September 11 were perpetrated largely through the use of household goods—box cutters—the FAA iden-tified a number of potentially dangerous items that are now restricted from being carried on board by passengers Such items included firearms, knives and other cutting or punctur-ing instruments, corkscrews, athletic equipment such as baseball bats or golf clubs, fireworks and other explosive devices, and flammable liquids
or solids
Additionally, the FAA required all cockpit doors and framing on about 7,000 domestic aircraft to be replaced with a tougher access system by April 2003 In an effort to comply with this regulation, most commercial airlines installed bombproof and/or bulletproof cockpit doors Additionally, before September 11, 2001, fewer than 50 air marshals flew, primarily on international flights After the attacks, however, FAA officials expanded the program Although the precise number of marshals flying is classified, the program had grown to slightly more than 4,000 marshals by 2003 The air marshals program was later moved under the purview of the Transportation Security Admin-istration, an agency created in the wake of the September 11th attacks
FURTHER READINGS Boswell, J., and A Coats 1994 “Saving the General Aviation Industry: Putting Tort Reform to the Test ” Journal of Air Law and Commerce 60 (December-January).
Federal Aviation Administration Available online at www.
faa.gov (accessed September 19, 2009).
Hamilton, J Scott 2001 Practical Aviation Law 3d ed.
Ames: Iowa State Univ Press.
Rollo, V Foster 2000 Aviation Law: An Introduction 5th
ed Lanham, Md.: Maryland Historical Press.
CROSS REFERENCES Administrative Agency; September 11th Attacks; Transpor-tation Security Administration
FEDERAL BANK ACTS The National Bank Act, 12 U.S.C.A § 21 et seq
(1864), was enacted to provide the federal government with an agent to handle its financial affairs through the incorporation of theBANK OF THE UNITED STATES, which also carried on general banking business Created by a statute passed by Congress in 1791 the Bank of the United States
became the central bank for the newly formed government
The bank had a 20-year charter that expired
in 1811, but it was not renewed due to the political climate of the country The financing problems of the WAR OF 1812, however, high-lighted the need for a central bank, motivating Congress to enact legislation to establish the Second Bank of the United States That bank also had a 20-year charter, but the bank was closed prior to the charter expiration due to political opposition led by U.S President
ANDREW JACKSON
FEDERAL BAR ASSOCIATION The Federal Bar Association (FBA) has more than 16,000 members It was founded in 1920
to advance the science of jurisprudence and promote the administration of justice; to uphold a high standard for the federal judiciary, attorneys representing the U.S government, and attorneys appearing before the courts, agencies, and departments of the United States;
to encourage friendly relations among members
of the legal profession; and to promote the welfare of attorneys.CONTINUING LEGAL EDUCATION
and professional and community services are among association activities FBA is affiliated with the National Lawyers Club and the Foundation of the Federal Bar Association Pub-lications include Federal Bar News (monthly),
a monthly placement newsletter, Federal Bar Journal (quarterly), and Legislative Update The association holds annual meetings in late summer
The FBA gives its members a chance to meet at regional and national conferences, become active in informed discussion of
SUBSTANTIVE LAWissues, assume leadership posi-tions at the local and national level, and network with other professionals in the field
of federal law
FURTHER READINGS Federal Bar Association Web site Available online at http:// www.fedbar.org (accessed July 23, 2009).
Federal Litigation 1984 Arlington, VA: Federal Bar Association.
The Federal Bar Association 1965 Arlington, VA: Federal Bar Association.
CROSS REFERENCES American Bar Association; Jurisprudence.
356 FEDERAL BANK ACTS
Trang 9FEDERAL BUDGET
The federal budget is an annual effort to balance
federal spending in such areas as forestry,
education, space technology, and the national
defense, with revenue raised largely through
federal taxes
Of the three branches of the U.S
govern-ment, Congress has the power to determine
federal spending, pursuant to Article I, Section
9, of the U.S Constitution This provision
states, “No money shall be drawn from the
Treasury, but in Consequence of
Appropria-tions made by Law.” The drafters of the
Constitution sought to secure the federal
SPENDING POWER with legislators rather than the
president, to keep separate the powers of purse
and sword In The Federalist (No 58), JAMES
MADISONwrote,“This power of the purse may, in
fact, be regarded as the most complete and
effectual weapon with which any constitution
can arm the immediate representatives of the
people.”
Still, the Constitution reserved for the
president some role in legislative decisions
regarding federal spending The president may
recommend budget allowances for what he
considers “necessary and expedient,” and if
Congress does not heed these
recommenda-tions, the president may assert his qualified
veto power But the ultimate determinations
of federal expenditures belong to Congress
When the federal government spends more
money than it collects in a given year, a deficit
occurs By the mid-1990s, annual budget
deficits were exceeding $200 billion, which
alarmed the public and caused debate over
how to balance the federal budget President
WILLIAM JEFFERSON CLINTONwas successful in the
latter years of his administration to provide a
budget surplus, which reduced the national debt
(the total amount the government owes after
borrowing from the population, from foreign
governments, or from international
institu-tions) by several billion dollars In 2000 Clinton
announced a record $230 billion surplus, which
exceeded the previous record surplus of $122.7
million set in 1999 However, the deficit
returned under President GEORGE W BUSH In
2003 Bush announced an estimated $304 billion
deficit, which established yet another record
WhenBARACK OBAMA took office in 2009 in the
midst of a recession, he inherited a $1.3 trillion
deficit
To encourage better communication and cooperation between the president and Con-gress on matters concerning the federal budget, Congress has enacted laws formalizing the budget-making process The first such law was passed in response to an enormous national debt following WORLD WAR I The Budget and Accounting Act of 1921 (31 U.S.C.A § 501
et seq.) required the president to submit to Congress an annual budget outlining budget aggregates (recommendations) Within budget aggregates recommended by the president, Congress then was to assign priorities The
1921 act did not change the balance of powers assigned by the Constitution: Congress retained the right to ignore the president’s recommendations, and the president retained the right to veto spending legislation Rather, the act formalized and codified the roles of each branch
As may be expected, the president and members of Congress do not always agree on federal budget issues In the early 1970s President RICHARD M NIXON claimed impound-ment, which is an executive power to refuse
to spend funds appropriated by Congress
Although Nixon argued that he had the right
to impound in instances he believed were in the country’s best interest, the U.S Supreme Court affirmed a ruling by the SecondCIRCUIT COURTof Appeals requiring Nixon to expend federal funds appropriated for the protection of the
Federal Budget, 1940–2009
⫺2,000
⫺1,000 0 1,000 2,000 3,000 4,000
Year
a Includes off-budget outlays.
b Includes off-budget receipts.
c Projected budget.
Federal outlays a Federal receipts b Annual surplus or debt
ILLUSTRATION BY GGS CREATIVE RESOURCES REPRODUCED BY PERMISSION OF GALE,
A PART OF CENGAGE LEARNING.
FEDERAL BUDGET 357
Trang 10environment (Train v New York, 420 U.S 35,
95 S Ct 839, 43 L Ed 2d 1[1975]) However, this ruling was based on the terms of a federal
WATER POLLUTION law; the Court declined to address specifically whether the EXECUTIVE BRANCH had the general power to impound funds appropriated by Congress
Congress responded with the Congressional Budget and Impoundment Control Act of 1974 (2 U.S.C.A § 190a-1 note et seq.; 31 U.S.C.A
§ 702 et seq.) This act sought to restore and strengthen legislative control of the budget by requiring the approval of both the Senate and the House of Representatives for presidential
Government Shutdown
L
B
egal commentators have argued that by
keep-ing separate the powers of purse and sword,
drafters of the U.S Constitution encouraged battles
between Congress and the president This friction
between government branches is part of the
constitutionally created system of checks and
balances Discord over federal budget priorities
usually resolves in short order—no politician wants
the reputation of jeopardizing the national or world
economy But on rare occasions in the 1990s,
budget fights led to federal government shutdowns
In October 1990, when Democrats in Congress
sought to reduce the federal deficit by implementing
a surtax on the income of millionaires, Republican
president George H W Bush followed through on a
threat to veto any budget legislation that included
tax increases The veto effectively shut down
several federal agencies The closures lasted only
three days and occurred on a weekend Fearing
negative fallout from a more extensive government
shutdown, Congress and the president reached a
compromise plan to reduce the federal deficit
without the surtax
Major differences in political ideologies again
surfaced in the fall of 1994, when control of
Congress shifted from Democrats to Republicans
The new Congress set a goal of balancing the
federal budget by the year 2002, a feat that had not
occurred since 1969
Republicans, buoyed by public sentiment
favor-ing this goal, attempted to implement their balanced
budget plan in the fall of 1995 But they faced
opposition from many Democrats, among them
President Bill Clinton Although agreeing with the
necessity of a balanced budget, Clinton opposed
proposed cuts to entitlement programs such as
Medicare, Medicaid, and welfare The dispute divided
the branches of government as well as political
parties, and in November 1995, an impasse led to the expiration of federal funding Without adequate funding, much of the federal government—including agencies, museums, national parks, and research laboratories—ground to a halt Some 800,000 govern-ment employees deemed “nonessential” were sent home
Politicians on both sides of the issue faced disapproval from their constituents Compromises were reached, and a week after it started, the shutdown was over
Although ideological differences continued, Congress and the White House achieved a budget surplus of $69 billion in 1998 The surplus occurred three years after another partial government shutdown in December 1995 that lasted 21 days
The budget surplus increased to $122.7 billion in
1999 and $230 billion in 2000 Economists projected that the United States could pay off its debts by 2013
if the budget surpluses continued Those surpluses, however, ended during the administration of Pre-sident George W Bush The Bush administration announced a record $304 billion deficit in 2003 The amount steadily increased each year When Presi-dent Bush left office, the deficit had grown to $482 billion, which is 3.3 percent of gross national product The financial meltdown that began in September 2008 triggered a massive bailout of the financial industry President Barack Obama inher-ited these economic problems and chose to revive the economy with a stimulus package The admin-istration projected a deficit of $1.4 trillion dollars in fiscal year 2010
FURTHER READINGS Meyers, Roy T., ed 1999 Handbook of Government Budgeting.
San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.
358 FEDERAL BUDGET