Books authored by Cokato, Minnesota attorney Tom James include IP Law for Non-IP Attorneys, Website Law and E-Commerce Law: The Legal Compliance Handbook for Online Businesses. Although he no longer practices family law, Thomas James is also the author of Domestic Violence: The 12 Things You Aren’t Supposed to Know (out of print) and The History of Custody Law. (Some of these have been published under the name “Thomas B. James.” Others have been published under the name “Tom James.”) Find more information about these titles on the Books page.

Articles by Minnesota Lawyer Thomas James at Tom James Law

Law review articles Cokato attorney Tom James has written include:

• • “Overruling Rostker v. Goldberg: Toward an Equal Obligation to Register for Selective Service,” Nebraska Law Review (May, 2021) In this article, Minnesota attorney Tom James explains why male-only Selective Service registration requirements violate the Equal Protection clause of the constitution, and why a 1980 decision holding otherwise should be overruled. This article was written and published just prior to the United States Supreme Court’s decision to deny review of a case challenging the constitutionality of the Selective Service Act. Although the Court declined review, it was acknowledged that the law, as written, may not be on sound constitutional footing. The Court suggested that Congress should proceed with measures it had begun to take to bring the Act into compliance with the Equal Protection clause of the United States Constitution.
  • “Sales and Use Tax Nexus: The Way Forward for Legislation,” Mitchell-Hamline Law Journal of Public Policy & Practice, vol. 41, no. 1 (2020)In this article, Cokato lawyer Thomas James again critiques the United States Supreme Court’s adoption of volume thresholds for the purpose of Due Process and Commerce Clause analysis of state sales and use taxes on interstate sales. Mr. James suggests kinds of legislation that Congress could adopt to lighten the burden of differing state sales and use tax systems on small businesses.
  • “Assisted Reproduction: Reforming State Statutes After Obergefell v. Hodges and Pavan v. Smith,” University of Maryland Law Journalof Race, Religion, Gender & Class, vol. 19 (2020)Although he no longer practices family law, Minnesota attorney Tom James has maintained an interest in family law reform. In this article, he discusses the impact of recent U.S. Supreme Court decisions on state family law statutes pertaining to paternity and parentage determinations. In particular, he addresses the changes that will need to be made to state statutes in order to accommodate judicial decisions requiring parents in same-sex couples to be treated the same as parents in opposite-sex couples. 
  • “Protecting Copyrights in Professional and Academic Writing,” LinkedIn.com (2020). Here, Mr. James explains the rights academic and professional authors have in their works and how to protect them after the works have been published.
  • “Copyright Enforcement: Time to Abolish the Pre-Litigation Registration Requirement,” Illinois Law Review (Fall, 2019).A recent United States Supreme Court decision has interpreted the Copyright Act to mean that a copyright owner cannot file an infringement action until after the Copyright Office has issued a registration. Noting that the Copyright Office can sometimes take a year or more to issue a registration certificate, Cokato attorney Thomas James argues that this produces outcomes that are unfair to authors and other copyright owners. He suggests that Congress should abolish the pre-litigation registration requirement. The law, he contends,  should be amended to provide that it is enough if the copyright owner has filed an application. 
  • “E-Commerce Sales Taxes: What Your Online Business Needs to Know,” AllBusiness.com  (June 17, 2019)This article was written for business owners, and in particular, small business owners. It provided a guide to help small businesses owners assess their sales and use tax collection and remittance obligations concerning sales to residents of other states.  
  • “Use Tax Nexus: The Illusory Utility of V0lume Thresholds,” Tax Notes – State (April 19, 2019) Cokato attorney Thomas James critiques the United States Supreme Court’s adoption of volume thresholds as an analytical tool in the evaluation of the validity of state sales and use taxes on interstate commerce under the Due Process and Commerce clauses of the United States constitution.
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