By Anne L. Alstott, Anne C. Dailey, and Douglas NeJaime. Full Text. Family law in the United States is governed by an assortment of familiar legal doctrines and policies that often undermine, and sometimes sever, the relationships between children and the adults with whom children are most closely bonded. For example, the “best interests of…

By F. Andrew Hessick and Carissa Byrne Hessick. Full Text. Most criminal law is statutory. Although the violation of criminal statutes can result in significantly more serious consequences than violations of other types of statutes, the dominant theories of statutory interpretation do not distinguish between criminal statutes and non-criminal statutes. Those theories say that, when…

By Christina Koningisor. Full Text. The laws governing transparency and accountability in government are deeply flawed and plagued by steep financial costs, high barriers to access, and widespread corporate capture. While legal scholars have suggested a wide variety of fixes, they have focused almost exclusively on legal solutions. They have largely overlooked a growing set…

By Anna Offit. Full Text. Encounters with the legal system are unevenly distributed throughout the American population, with Black and poor citizens targeted as disparate subjects of surveillance, arrest, and criminal conviction. At the same time, these encounters, as well as a stated belief in the unfairness of the legal system, are commonly viewed as…

By David Horton. Full Text. The U.S. Supreme Court’s expansion of the Federal Arbitration Act (FAA) has transformed the American civil justice system. In a series of controversial opinions, the Court has held that the FAA preempts state law, bars class actions, and empowers companies to delegate questions about the arbitration itself to arbitrators. For…