![handle is hein.journals/jbbl1 and id is 1 raw text is:
Sutton: Introduction
The use of the word launch to describe today's activity is intentional. It
is apt for a number of reasons; and in homage to Supreme Court Associate Justice
Scalia, I will refer to the definition of LAUNCH in Webster's dictionary, given
his penchant for going to the dictionary to derive the meaning of words in
statutes. The first meaning that applies is:
b : to release, catapult, or send off (a self-propelled object); and second, b
to give (a person) a start, as in <launched her on a new career>; which we
certainly intend to do with our students. Finally, the third definition, c (1) : to put
into operation or set in motion : INITIATE, INTRODUCE and fourth, (2) : to get off to
a good start; which sums up the launch of our first volume in unchartered waters
of legal academe.
We are also in fairly new waters of using and electronic format for the
new Journal, and the next definition for launch, aptly describes our new
electronic journal format: d : to load into a COMPUTER'S memory and run or to
launch a program.
Using a more contemporary source for definitions (www.answer.com),
their definition of launch also hits the mark: The first one being: To introduce
to the public or to a market, which is also something that we begin with this first
volume. Certainly the next definitions for launch also capture the newly
emerging field of biodefense and biosecurity law in its newness. The next
definitions, tell us that launch is [T]o begin a new venture or phase; embark...
. And finally, probably the best definition to describe what we are doing today is:
To enter enthusiastically into something; . . .
The idea of the Journal has long been an interest of mine, as the literature
began to increase in an area of law which did not have a solid home in either
public health law, national security law or any of the other traditional disciplines
of the law academy. But about two years ago, my interest began in earnest to
make this happen. Some of the students who began this journey with us have
already graduated.
So what is the purpose of such a Journal? Beyond the description of the
subject matter, a general idea for a subject focused journal is a place for the
meeting of the minds through scholarly analysis on its common theme. A newly
emerging field of thought is a place where an otherwise rancorous, unruly and
undisciplined discourse may take place, without a group of peers to read and see
it, but a journal creates a respite and a place of solid principle to focus this new,
but not yet fully developed scholarly area.
By definition, a new field generates excitement and in the beginning,
sorting and categorizing and codifying its activities in law and regulation proceed
at a fast pace; perhaps even accelerating, carried or pushed along by the pressures
of time, the shifts in politics, or both. It is in this environment that the legal
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