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
MARRIAGE MIGHT GET MORE EXPENSIVE: CAN BANKS REQUIRE SPOUSES TO GUARANTEE LOANS?
By: Alec Mitchell, Volume 104 Staff Member I. INTRODUCTION The basic concept of a loan is simple: an individual walks into a bank and the bank gives them money on their promise to pay it back, with interest. But what if the bank is worried…
DIGITAL ASYLUM: WHAT CAN ONLINE SOCIAL GROUPS TELL US ABOUT THE CURRENT STATE OF U.S. ASYLUM LAW?
By: Cooper Christiancy, Volume 104 Staff Member In William Gibson’s 1984 cyberpunk novel Neuromancer, a dystopian technological landscape bounds social identity around lines of class, legality, and cyber-implants.[1] Neuromancer follows the trail of a washed-up antihero whose identity is structured around his interactions with “the…
PUBLIC HEALTH—1, ANTI-VAXXERS—0: WHY YOUR RELIGIOUS BELIEFS SHOULDN’T JEOPARDIZE OUR CHILDREN’S HEALTH AND SAFETY
By: Jessica Szuminski, Volume 104 Staff Member What’s more important: the right to freely practice religion, or the right of children to not die from deadly but eradicable diseases? The state of New York determined that the latter was more pressing on August 23, 2019,…
CRIMINAL PROCEDURE AT 30,000 FEET: FINDING A PROPER VENUE FOR CRIMES COMMITTED DURING AIR TRAVEL
By: Ryan Plasencia, Volume 104 Staff Member Commercial air travel is ubiquitous and essential to the American traveler. Indeed, in 2017 alone, United States citizens accounted for 632 million flight passengers.[1] Outside of the occasional delay or cancellation, the vast majority of these flights were…
GIVE ME YOUR TIRED, YOUR HUNGRY, WHO CAN AFFORD RENT: WHY THE PUBLIC CHARGE RULE IS ARBITRARY AND CAPRICIOUS
By: Mimi Alworth, Volume 104 Staff Member Since the late 1800s, the United States’ immigration policy has maintained that a foreign person seeking to enter the United States can be turned away if she is a “Public Charge.” The definition historically includes only the most…
HOUSING IS JUSTICE: THE MINNEAPOLIS RENTERS PROTECTION ORDINANCE IS A STEP IN THE RIGHT DIRECTION FOR CRIMINAL JUSTICE REFORM
By: Olivia Levinson, Volume 104 Staff Member A single interaction with the criminal justice system can permanently label someone a “dangerous neighbor” and unwanted in communities.[1] Over the summer of 2019, the Minneapolis City Council recently debated how criminal records can be a barrier to…
THE PATH IS CLEARED: A GROWING BODY OF CASE LAW UPHOLDS STATES’ REMOVAL OF NON-MEDICAL VACCINATION EXEMPTIONS; MINNESOTA SHOULD BE NEXT
By: Meredith Gingold, Volume 104 Staff Member INTRODUCTION So far in 2019, two events have taken place: (1) more than 1,200 cases of measles have been reported in the United States, in 31 states so far,[1] and (2) 20 states have introduced legislation to expand…
CARPENTER V. MURPHY: A REEXAMINATION OF THE CREEK NATION IN OKLAHOMA
By: Aron Mozes, Volume 104 Staff Member The pending Supreme Court case Carpenter v. Murphy[i] presents an intersection of the history, laws, and legislative actions surrounding the Creek Nation in Oklahoma, as well as a broader re-examination of the relationship between Native American tribes and…
NO LEG TO STAND ON: HOW THE FEDERAL CIRCUIT IMPROPERLY RESTRICTED THE APPLICATION OF THE COMPETITOR STANDING DOCTRINE TO PATENT CHALLENGERS WHEN ESTABLISHING ARTICLE III STANDING UPON APPEALING AN INTER PARTES REVIEW
By: Ryan Fitzgerald, Volume 104 Staff Member The Federal Circuit’s recent holding in General Electric Co. v United Technologies Corp.[i] increases the difficulty for competitors to challenge the validity of a patent in court after an adverse inter partes review (IPR) decision.[ii] An IPR allows…
A REGULATORY FUMBLE: THE CHANGING REGULATORY SCHEME SURROUNDING GAMBLING AND DAILY FANTASY SPORTS
By: Paul Strey, Volume 104 Staff Member INTRODUCTION On September 26, 2019, the National Football League formally announced that DraftKings would be the official daily fantasy provider for professional football.[1] The partnership allows DraftKings to use the official NFL logo, special highlight reels, and the…
