Skip to content
Article

Tea and Donuts

By Derek E. Bambauer and Robert W. Woods | May 10, 2023

By Derek E. Bambauer and Robert W. Woods. Full Text. U.S. trademark law often permits simultaneous use of the same brand by multiple entities. Its approach to deciding when and how this concurrent use is permissible has become antiquated, rooted in outdated assumptions about trade and telecommunications. By using the physical location of mark-users as…

Read More
Article

The Law Enforcement Lobby

By Zoë Robinson and Stephen Rushin | May 10, 2023

By Zoë Robinson and Stephen Rushin. Full Text. The law enforcement lobby represents one of the most important and undertheorized barriers to criminal justice reform. We define the law enforcement lobby as the constellation of entrenched actors within the justice system—particularly police unions, correctional officer unions, and prosecutor associations—that exert an outsized role in policy…

Read More
Article

The Public Stakes of Consumer Law: The Environment, the Economy, Health, Disinformation, and Beyond

By Rory Van Loo | May 10, 2023

By Rory Van Loo. Full Text. Consumer law has a conflicted and narrow identity. It is most immediately a form of business law, governing market transactions between people and companies. Accordingly, the microeconomic analysis of markets is the dominant influence on consumer law. But consumer law is often described as, and assumed to be about,…

Read More
Article

Automated Agencies

By Joshua D. Blank and Leigh Osofsky | May 10, 2023

By Joshua D. Blank and Leigh Osofsky. Full Text. When individuals have questions about federal benefits, services, and legal rules, they increasingly seek help from government chatbots, virtual assistants, and other automated tools. Most scholars who have studied artificial intelligence and federal government agencies have not focused on the government’s use of technology to offer…

Read More
Article

Antitrust Federalism and the Prison-Industrial Complex

By Gregory Day | May 10, 2023

By Gregory Day. Full Text. States are not only prolific monopolists but also virtually unaccountable. Consider the prison-industrial complex, where states force inmates to pay monopoly prices while suppressing competition for commissary items, phone services, medicine, and more. While the Sherman Act would often ban these types of practices, states are immune from antitrust scrutiny…

Read More
Note

Data Breach Class Actions: How Article III Standing Analysis Should Evolve After TransUnion, LLC v. Ramirez

By Caleb A. Johnson | May 10, 2023

By Caleb A. Johnson. Full Text. Data breaches have become a common occurrence for many people in America. Companies retain consumers’ personal information (SSN, DOB, bank account, credit card, biometrics, etc.) to better serve the consumers as well as to improve their company’s bottom line. Hackers get into those databases to fraudulently use existing consumer…

Read More
Note

Freedom to Pray, Not to Protest

By Leah Reiss | May 10, 2023

By Leah Reiss. Full Text. The Supreme Court has never definitively ruled on the constitutionality of curfews that target political activity. Historically, curfews have been very difficult to challenge. They suffer from mootness issues because they tend to be temporary in nature, so associated harms are also temporary. Likely as a result, challenges to curfews…

Read More
Note

In Defense of (Mental) Hearth and Home: Challenges to § 922(g)(4) in the Wake of New York State Rifle & Pistol Ass’n v. Bruen

By Zachary M. Robole | May 10, 2023

By Zachary M. Robole. Full Text. Individually, discussions about mental illness and firearm possession are at the forefront of American discourse. Intriguingly, the intersection of the two issues produces provocative social and legal questions. 18 U.S.C. § 922(g)(4) bans those who have been involuntarily committed to a mental institution from owning a firearm. This ban is…

Read More

Articles, Essays, & Tributes

Antitrust Federalism and the Prison-Industrial Complex

By Gregory Day. Full Text. States are not only prolific monopolists but also virtually unaccountable. Consider the prison-industrial complex, where states force inmates to pay monopoly prices while suppressing competition for commissary items, phone services, medicine, and more. While the Sherman Act would often ban these types of practices, states are immune from antitrust scrutiny

Tea and Donuts

By Derek E. Bambauer and Robert W. Woods. Full Text. U.S. trademark law often permits simultaneous use of the same brand by multiple entities. Its approach to deciding when and how this concurrent use is permissible has become antiquated, rooted in outdated assumptions about trade and telecommunications. By using the physical location of mark-users as

The Law Enforcement Lobby

By Zoë Robinson and Stephen Rushin. Full Text. The law enforcement lobby represents one of the most important and undertheorized barriers to criminal justice reform. We define the law enforcement lobby as the constellation of entrenched actors within the justice system—particularly police unions, correctional officer unions, and prosecutor associations—that exert an outsized role in policy

The Public Stakes of Consumer Law: The Environment, the Economy, Health, Disinformation, and Beyond

By Rory Van Loo. Full Text. Consumer law has a conflicted and narrow identity. It is most immediately a form of business law, governing market transactions between people and companies. Accordingly, the microeconomic analysis of markets is the dominant influence on consumer law. But consumer law is often described as, and assumed to be about,

Automated Agencies

By Joshua D. Blank and Leigh Osofsky. Full Text. When individuals have questions about federal benefits, services, and legal rules, they increasingly seek help from government chatbots, virtual assistants, and other automated tools. Most scholars who have studied artificial intelligence and federal government agencies have not focused on the government’s use of technology to offer

Notes

In Defense of (Mental) Hearth and Home: Challenges to § 922(g)(4) in the Wake of New York State Rifle & Pistol Ass’n v. Bruen

By Zachary M. Robole. Full Text. Individually, discussions about mental illness and firearm possession are at the forefront of American discourse. Intriguingly, the intersection of the two issues produces provocative social and legal questions. 18 U.S.C. § 922(g)(4) bans those who have been involuntarily committed to a mental institution from owning a firearm. This ban is

Freedom to Pray, Not to Protest

By Leah Reiss. Full Text. The Supreme Court has never definitively ruled on the constitutionality of curfews that target political activity. Historically, curfews have been very difficult to challenge. They suffer from mootness issues because they tend to be temporary in nature, so associated harms are also temporary. Likely as a result, challenges to curfews

Data Breach Class Actions: How Article III Standing Analysis Should Evolve After TransUnion, LLC v. Ramirez

By Caleb A. Johnson. Full Text. Data breaches have become a common occurrence for many people in America. Companies retain consumers’ personal information (SSN, DOB, bank account, credit card, biometrics, etc.) to better serve the consumers as well as to improve their company’s bottom line. Hackers get into those databases to fraudulently use existing consumer

Headnotes

Tattoos, Norms, and Implied Licenses

By Aaron Perzanowski. Full Text. This Essay considers the legal questions raised by a recent flurry of tattoo copyright disputes and their intersection with industry norms. In particular, Perzanowski argues that public displays, reproductions, derivative works, and other uses of tattoo designs fall within the scope of a broad implied license when they are employed

The Ethics of Abortion Ban Exceptions: Is the “Life-Threatening” Exception Threatening Lives?

By Mary E. Fleming. Full Text. Forty-three states have laws that outlaw abortion except when necessary to save the life of the mother. The exact language used in each state’s respective law varies, but for ease, this Essay will refer to all variations as “life-threatening” exceptions to abortion prohibitions. Prior to 2022, issues with life-threatening

Interstate Cannabis Compacts: The Road to a Regional Legal Cannabis Economy

By Michael J.K.M. Kinane. Full Text. Since the passage of the Controlled Substances Act in 1970, cannabis has been a Schedule I drug. Yet twenty-one states, two territories, and the District of Columbia have legalized recreational cannabis, and even more have legalized it for medical  use. Despite Supreme Court precedent holding the conduct of these

The Battle for the Soul of the GDPR: Clashing Decisions of Supervisory Authorities Highlight Potential Limits of Procedural Data Protection

By Jordan Francis. Full Text. For privacy professionals, 2023 got off to a big start as the Irish Data Protection Commission (DPC) announced €390 million in fines against Meta Platforms Ireland Limited (“Meta”) for General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) violations by its services Facebook and Instagram. Meta is no stranger to GDPR enforcement, having accumulated

De Novo Blog

FREE SPEECH ON CAMPUS SIDEWALKS: SUPREME COURT MAY TAKE AIM AT FIRST AMENDMENT FORUM BALANCING TEST IN KEISTER

April 6, 2023

By: John M. Stack, Volume 107 Staff Member Keister v. Bell is the latest major case petitioned to the Supreme Court to confront classifying the status of a public forum for First Amendment purposes.[1] While the Court is unlikely to grant certiorari, if they do I predict that they will fundamentally alter forum categorization under…

I (DON’T) KNOW IT WHEN I SEE IT: THE DANGERS OF DEEPFAKES

April 5, 2023

By: Ryken Kreps, Vol. 107 Staff Member[1] Deepfakes are images, videos, or audio clips created by artificial intelligence that show people doing whatever the deepfake creator wants to show them doing with eerie accuracy.[2] Part I of this Post discusses the background of deepfakes and the recent controversy surrounding them. Part II is intended to…

HABITABILITY DEFENSE ON THE FRITZ: RENT POSTING REQUIREMENTS AND CHALLENGES IN MINNESOTA

April 3, 2023

Lucy Dougherty, Volume 107 Staff Member When tenants face an eviction for non-payment of rent in Hennepin County, they may have an affirmative defense to the eviction action if the landlord has broken the covenant of habitability.[1] The covenant of habitability is a statutory right in Minnesota which requires landlords “maintain the premises in compliance…

CLARITY AT A COST: HOW NEW REGULATIONS MAY PUT WELL-INTENTIONED GUN OWNERS AT RISK OF CIVIL AND CRIMINAL CHARGES

March 31, 2023

By: Nick Grossardt, Volume 107 Staff Member At the end of January 2023, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives (BATFE) promulgated a final rule outlining a series of factoring criteria for regulating firearms with affixed “stabilizing braces.”[1] Various models of these braces had been evaluated by the BATFE’s Firearms and Ammunition Technology Division…

KEEP ROLLING: AFTER PROVIDING AUTOMATIC EXPUNGEMENT FOR CERTAIN MARIJUANA OFFENSES MINNESOTA SHOULD ENACT AUTOMATIC EXPUNGEMENT FOR OTHER CRIMINAL RECORDS

March 21, 2023

By: Abby Ward, Volume 107 Staff Member The racially discriminatory impact from the War on Drugs is clear,[1] and while marijuana legalization is one step in addressing the inequities of America’s criminal justice system, the work does not end there. States should also enact broader expungement reforms. This 2023 session, Minnesota is likely going to…