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
ANTITRUST ENFORCEMENT BY ARBITRATION: DOJ’S USE OF ARBITRATION IN UNITED STATES V. NOVELIS PUTS MATTER OF CONSUMER PROTECTION IN QUESTIONABLE HANDS
By: Hugh Fleming, Volume 104 Staff Member The suit filed by the United States Department of Justice (DOJ) Antitrust Division against Novelis, Inc. began like any other antitrust enforcement action under the Clayton Act,[1] but quickly took an unusual turn: the parties decided to submit…
THE INTERNATIONAL SPECIAL PROSECUTOR’S OFFICE: MINIMIZING PRESIDENTIAL INFLUENCE IN PROSECUTION OF POLITICAL CRIMES AND CORRUPTION
By: Rachel Wydra, Volume 104 Staff Member I. ROGER STONE AND PRESIDENTIAL INFLUENCE OVER CRIMINAL PROSECUTIONS One of the more recent developments in the long saga of the Mueller investigation was the filing of two different government recommendations for the sentencing of Roger Stone.[1] Stone, …
CASH NOT WELCOME HERE: THE TREND (AND BACKLASH) TOWARDS CASHLESS RETAIL
By: Matthew Cavanaugh, Volume 104 Staff Member Michael Rosen really wanted a pair of headphones. So much so, in fact, that he filed a lawsuit against Continental Airlines (now United Airlines).[1] In 2011, Rosen, an attorney, brought four separate claims against the airline based on…
WHEN CROSS-EXAMINATION INTO A VICTIM’S IMMIGRATION STATUS CROSSES THE LINE: THE RELEVANCY AND RISK OF PREJUDICE OF U VISA EVIDENCE
By: Nick Wolfson, Volume 104 Staff Member Although undocumented immigrants are more likely than citizens to be the victims of crimes committed in the United States, undocumented immigrants are less likely to report those crimes to law enforcement.[1] Fear of removal (deportation) is one reason…
ESPORTS AND THE DUAL DISTRIBUTION PROBLEM
By: Michael Arin, Volume 104 Editor Riot Games, the publisher of the games League of Legends and Valorant, recently released their North America Community Competition Guidelines,[1] which detail conditions for the use of their intellectual property during third-party organized competition.[2] The guidelines include restraints on…
WHEN FINAL MEANS FINAL: AN OVERVIEW OF WHEN A CRIMINAL SENTENCE IS IMPOSED WITH THE FIRST STEP ACT
By: Dan Otsuki, Volume 104 Staff Member Take a moment and consider you are watching a high-profile, maybe even celebrity criminal trial streaming online. Imagine further the jury, after months of listening to testimony and days of deliberating, comes back with a guilty verdict. We…
TELESCOPE MEDIA GROUP V. LUCERO: EIGHT CIRCUIT STRENGTHENS RELIGIOUS FREEDOM ARGUMENTS WHILE UNDERMINING IMPORTANT ANTI-DISCRIMINATION STATUTE
By: Cat Ulrich, Volume 104 Staff Member Minnesota has a long tradition of protecting minorities from discrimination[1], including those in the LGBTQ+ community.[2] One of the most important tools Minnesota has to protect against discrimination is the Minnesota Human Rights Act (MHRA).[3] MHRA states that…
SECOND CHANCES: MINNESOTA SHOULD BAN DE FACTO LIFE SENTENCES FOR JUVENILE OFFENDERS
By: Alina Yasis, Volume 104 Staff Member In the past few decades, advances in psychology and neuroscience have provided us with empirical data supporting the commonsense notion that the brain of a child or adolescent differs significantly from an adult brain.[1] Since the landmark decisions…
FACEBOOK AND THE FRAGMENTED FREE MARKETPLACE OF IDEAS
By: Jonathan Baker, Volume 104 Staff Member When the Framers adopted formal protections to free speech with the ratification of the Bill of Rights in 1791, information exchange and dissemination primarily occurred through “individuals talking one to another, . . . addressing town meetings[,]” or the publication…
NO MORE POLITICAL ADS! WHY TWITTER’S DECISION TO BAN ALL POLITICAL AND CAUSE-BASED ADS IS REALLY OKAY
By: Jenna Hensel, Volume 104 Staff Member “Confirm Judge Brett Kavanaugh!” said President Donald Trump in a political ad posted to Facebook.[1] This is one of many political ads posted on social media by politicians. Social media companies such as Twitter are not regulated by…
