Articles, Essays, & Tributes
States as Shields
By LINDSAY F. WILEY. Full Text. State laws that aim to shield providers of reproductive health and gender-affirming care from the punitive actions of out-of-state officials raise thorny questions. Can the federal courts, Congress, or the Trump Administration require New York officials to enforce a Texas ban on abortion or gender-affirming care against a New…
AI Companions and the Lessons of Family Law
By CLARE HUNTINGTON. Full Text. Virtual friends and lovers powered by artificial intelligence are rapidly moving to the center of our emotional and social lives. Millions of people turn to AI companions every day for conversation, romance, sexual intimacy, therapy, and education. AI companionship holds promise, potentially reducing loneliness, supporting people without access to mental…
The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly: A Comparative Constitutional Analysis of Whistleblowing Speech, the Government’s Managerial Domain, and the Imperatives of Democratic Self-Government
By RONALD J. KROTOSZYNSKI, JR. Full Text. Since issuing its 1968 landmark decision in Pickering, which first recognized that the First Amendment protects government employees’ speech about matters of public concern, the U.S. Supreme Court has proceeded to whittle away First Amendment protections for government employees. The Justices have done so by adopting a series…
Securitizing the University
By MARYAM JAMSHIDI. Full Text. Since October 7, 2023, public and private actors have doubled down on efforts to securitize the American university. In large part, these initiatives aim to quash a vocal pro-Palestine movement that has become highly visible across U.S. campuses since October 7th. In targeting this group, these efforts have variously treated…
Notes
Bare Analysis: Prison Visitor Strip and Body-Cavity Searches and Federal Courts’ Insufficient Fourth Amendment Analysis
By TRISTEN LINDELL. Full Text. Strip and body-cavity searches are among the most egregious invasions of personal privacy that the government can impose. The Fourth Amendment, as interpreted by the Supreme Court, demands that courts thoroughly analyze these searches. Courts must consider not only the suspicion that warranted the search, but the way the search…
“Pollution Does Not [sic] Discriminate”: Louisiana v. EPA, Disparate Impact, and the Fight for Environmental Justice in a Hostile Climate
By NAOMI BRIM. Full Text. Human-induced climate change hurts people. Environmental burdens impact a person’s ability to live freely, in good health, and with loved ones. And in the United States, people in positions of political authority and decision-making—who are predominantly white and high-income—use the legal system to push environmental harms disproportionately onto low-income, Black,…
The Penalty Is Declined: The NFL’s Exclusive Streaming Agreements and the Limits of Antitrust Law
By WILLIAM HOLT. Full Text. The National Football League’s (NFL) decision to grant NBCUniversal’s Peacock streaming service exclusive rights to carry the 2023–24 wild-card matchup between the Kansas City Chiefs and the Miami Dolphins signaled a major shift in the league’s media distribution strategy. Football fans that had long depended on free, over-the-air broadcasts for…
Headnotes
Commodification, Precarity, and Identity: A Review of Professor Bridget Crawford’s Taxing Sugar Babies
By TESSA DAVIS. Full text.
The Liminality of Transactional Relationships
By VICTORIA J. HANEMAN. Full Text.
Tax Talk and Taxing Sugar Babies
By BLAINE G. SAITO. Full Text.
John Roberts’ Supreme Court: The Triumph of Partisanship and Ideology Over Precedent
By DAVID SCHULTZ & JACOB BOURGAULT. Full Text.
Critical Curriculum Design: Teaching Law in an Age of Rising Authoritarianism
By RACHEL LÓPEZ. Full Text.
A Great American Gun Myth: Race and the Naming of the “Saturday Night Special”
By Jennifer L. Behrens and Joseph Blocher. Full Text. At a time when Second Amendment doctrine has taken a strongly historical turn and gun rights advocates have increasingly argued that gun regulation itself is historically racist, it is especially important that historical claims about race…
Refining the Dangerousness Standard in Felon Disarmament
By Jamie G. McWilliam. Full Text. To some, 18 U.S.C. 922(g) is a necessary safeguard that keeps guns out of the hands of dangerous persons. To others, it strips classes of non-violent people of their natural and constitutional rights. This statute makes it a crime…
“Proven” Safety Regulations: Massachusetts 1805 Proving Law As Historical Analogue for Modern Gun Safety Laws
By Billy Clark. Full Text. Concerned by the public health threats posed by certain firearms, the Massachusetts legislature enacts a law to set safety standards for firearms in the Commonwealth. Firearm dealers across the State, including some of the leading manufacturers of the day, not…
Curbing Gun Violence Under PLCAA and Bruen: State Attorney General–Driven Solutions to the Surging Epidemic
By David Lamb. Full Text. At the same time that the deadly toll of gun violence continues to grow in the U.S., now taking nearly 50,000 lives per year, federal lawmakers and courts have increasingly constrained government authorities’ tools for fighting the epidemic. Pursuant to…
De Novo Blog
COVID-19 IN CORRECTIONAL FACILITIES: EIGHTH AMENDMENT VIOLATIONS AND WHY VACCINE PRIORITY IS A NECESSARY IMMEDIATE REMEDY
By Avery Katz, Vol. 105 Staff Member With the COVID-19 vaccine becoming more readily accessible, it is critical that society’s most vulnerable populations are accounted for as the world moves towards normalcy. The prison population must not be ignored. Despite holding some of the most…
PAYCHECK PROTECTION DISCRIMINATION: DENIAL OF LOANS TO SEX-RELATED BUSINESSES IS A DANGEROUS EXPANSION OF GOVERNMENT SPEECH
By: Kelly Zech, Volume 105 Staff Member In March 2020, to combat the spread of the COVID-19 pandemic, government orders resulted in a sudden and unprecedented nationwide business shutdown. At the same time, Congress passed the historic Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act.[1]…
RETURN TO SENDER: FOWLER V. COMMISSIONER’S APPLICABILITY TO LATE FILING AND PAYMENT PENALTIES
By: Matthew Thom, Volume 105 Staff Member INTRODUCTION Most Americans file their taxes at the last minute.[1] This year, that late filing is especially understandable: the COVID-19 pandemic produced a great deal of economic uncertainty for many Americans. In the aftermath of a financially complicated…
SPAC-TACULAR TIMES: 2020 SAW AN EXPLOSION OF SPACS IN THE MARKET, BUT WILL THIS MULTI-BILLION DOLLAR TREND CONTINUE?
By: Ali Muffenbier, Volume 105 Staff Member As we have all heard more than we would have liked, 2020 was the year of “unprecedented times,”[1] and one unprecedented activity that rocked the finance world was the explosion of the number of Special Purpose Acquisition Companies…
DRAMATIC FACTS AND DRAMATIC IMPLICATIONS: SHOULD THE COMMUNITY CARETAKER EXCEPTION EXTEND TO THE HOME?
By: R. Willets Ely, Volume 105 Staff Member The Fourth Amendment guarantees “[t]he right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures,” and that “no Warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause.”[1] The Supreme Court…
POLICE ACCOUNTABILITY: IS REPEALING QUALIFIED IMMUNITY THE RIGHT ANSWER AND IS IT ENOUGH?
By: Mary Haasl, Volume 105 Staff Member As the trial of Derek Chauvin comes to an end,[1] Minneapolis and the nation brace for what is to come.[2] A viral recording of Chauvin’s actions this past summer,[3] which led to the horrific death of George Floyd,…
NO SHELTER IN THIS PLACE: HOW THE COVID-19 PANDEMIC’S FRUSTRATION OF DOMESTIC VIOLENCE LEGAL PROCEEDINGS CAN GENERATE VICTIM-CENTERED REFORM
By: Samantha Marquardt, Volume 105 Staff Member COVID-19 has given rise to what has been called a second “invisible” pandemic of domestic violence.[1] Stay-at-home orders, increased economic insecurity, and crisis-induced stress have all contributed to a surge of domestic violence cases around the world.[2] In…
IT’S COLDER DAY BY DAY: ADOPTING A WINTER EVICTION MORATORIUM IN MINNESOTA
By Daniel Suitor, Volume 105 Staff Member, Volume 106 Lead Symposium Editor INTRODUCTION Missing your rent payment shouldn’t be a death sentence, but it could be in Minnesota. An eviction occurring during the coldest months of the winter could put a family out on the…
PEOPLE OVER PROFITS: HOW MINNESOTA TOOK ON BIG PHARMA TO TACKLE THE INSULIN AFFORDABILITY CRISIS
By: Hannah Oliason, Volume 105 Staff Member Every cell, tissue, and organ in your body depends on water to survive.[1] But imagine a scenario in which your water bill cost upwards of $300 per month. In addition, your water quality must be tested daily which…
ROBINHOOD’S GOAL IS NOT TO ‘DEMOCRATIZE FINANCE FOR ALL’: DON’T EXPECT GAMESTOP BUYERS’ LAWSUITS TO CHANGE THAT
By: Daniel Raddenbach, Volume 105 Staff Member INTRODUCTION Robinhood, an investment app designed to make trading easy for small investors,[1] caught national attention in January when hordes of its users banded together to defeat hedge funds[2] who were actively profiting from the decline of…
