Articles, Essays, & Tributes
Bankruptcy as a National Security Risk
By JASON JIA-XI WU. Full Text. Defense contractors lie at the heart of the U.S. national security regime. Each year, over half of the federal defense budget is allocated to contracts outsourcing military operations, projects, and services to private companies. However, defense outsourcing carries a ticking time bomb: mounting private debt. Today, the defense industry…
The Innocence Trap
By CAITLIN GLASS & JULIAN GREEN. Full Text. What makes a conviction wrongful? Developments in DNA science have led to a wave of exonerations over the past thirty years, revealing sources of error in the criminal legal process. Innocence organizations proliferated to represent people whose convictions could be overturned by newly discovered evidence. This is…
Regulatory History and Judicial Review
By TODD PHILLIPS & ANTHONY MOFFA. Full Text. The Administrative Procedure Act (APA) requires federal agencies to simply “incorporate in the rules adopted a concise general statement of their basis and purpose” after they receive comments from the public, and the Supreme Court ruled in Overton Park that courts are to adjudicate whether rules are…
The Crisis in U.S. Cancer Care: Law, Markets, and Privatization
By DANIEL G. AARON. Full Text. Cancer is surging among youth and young adults in the United States, yet, instead of public regulation addressing its root causes, we have outsourced the management of cancer to the private sector. A suite of laws, embodying faith that corporations will cure cancer, has subsidized the cancer biomedical enterprise…
The Poly Problem in Zoning: Redefining “Family” for a Changing Society
By ARIC SHORT & TANYA PIERCE. Full Text. Single-family zoning has long dictated not only where people may live but also with whom. Although extensively critiqued for perpetuating racial and economic exclusion, these laws also privilege relationships defined by blood, marriage, or adoption and marginalize nontraditional families. This Article focuses on a particularly overlooked group:…
Notes
Waging the Battle for Society’s Soul: The Constitutionality of Juvenile Transfer Legislation in the Wake of Jones v. Mississippi
By LOGAN KNUTSON. Full Text. Trying juvenile defendants as adults is a cruel, yet enduring practice in U.S. criminal law. If convicted, these youthful offenders face brutal conditions in adult prison and a lifelong stigma. Although these devastating consequences of conviction are readily apparent, juvenile transfer is insidious even absent a prison sentence or criminal…
The Skidmore Compromise: Interpreting Skidmore as a Tiebreaker to Preserve Judicial Wisdom in the Era of Loper Bright
By MITCHELL ZAIC. Full Text. ‘Law must be stable, and yet it cannot stand still.’ Here is the great antinomy confronting us at every turn. Rest and motion, unrelieved and unchecked, are equally destructive. The law, like human kind, if life is to continue, must find some path of compromise. – Judge Cardozo In the…
Headnotes
Volume 110: Fall Issue
Exceptional Cases
By EMILY CAUBLE. Full Text.
Machine Gun Funk: The Unusual Analysis of “Dangerous and Unusual”
By GREGORY S. PARKS & VIVIAN BOLEN. Full Text.
Nipping it in the Bud: The Promise and Perils of Tort Litigation in Addressing the Health Harms of High-THC Products
By REBEKAH NINAN. Full Text.
Volume 108: Symposium Supplement
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
No More Surprises: Patients fight back against Surprise Medical Bills
Before his 2013 surgery for herniated disks, Peter Drier checked off all the boxes a diligent patient could: he made sure the facility was in-network, the surgeon was in-network, and he even ensured the anesthesiologist would be in-network. Nonetheless, during the surgery an out-of-network assistant surgeon—whom Drier had never met—stepped in to help.
Amateurs by the Hour
AMATEURS BY THE HOUR: EXPERIMENTAL AIRCRAFT COMPLETION CENTERS AND TORT LIABILITY By: Mitchell Williams, Volume 103 Staff Member In the wake of the recent air disasters involving Boeing 737 MAX airplanes,[1] much media attention has been directed to the Federal Aviation Administration (“FAA”) for inadequacies in…
There and Back Again
THERE AND BACK AGAIN: THE NLRB’S RECENT JOURNEY THROUGH WORKER CLASSIFICATION UNDER THE NLRA By: Alex Shaner, Volume 103 Staff Member In the modern “gig” economy, a critical issue for access to labor rights comes down to how a worker is labeled.[1] Is a worker an…
HOLISTIC CARE BEGINS WITH SAFE USE PRACTICES
HOLISTIC CARE BEGINS WITH SAFE USE PRACTICES: SAFE INJECTION SITES AS CRUCIAL PIECES TO FIGHTING THE OPIOID EPIDEMIC By: Michelle Cardona Vinasco, Volume 103 Staff Member While using drugs may initially start off as a choice, it often ceases to be one; addiction takes this choice…
IS A GOOGLE SERVER A “PLACE” FOR PURPOSES OF PATENT VENUE?
IS A GOOGLE SERVER A “PLACE” FOR PURPOSES OF PATENT VENUE? THE FEDERAL CIRCUIT’S REFUSAL TO REHEAR IN RE GOOGLE HINTS THAT IT MIGHT BE By: Jenna Saunders, Volume 103 Staff Member The Supreme Court’s recent holding in TC Heartland has given patent litigators yet another opportunity to challenge the…
DEMOCRACY UNCAGED
DEMOCRACY UNCAGED: FLORIDA VOTERS STRIKE DOWN CONSTITUTIONAL REMNANT OF THE JIM CROW ERA AND SET STAGE FOR 2020 ELECTION By: Conor Hume, Volume 103 Staff Member What does it mean to be an American citizen when the law prevents you from participating in democracy? The…
PICK UP THE PACER
PICK UP THE PACER: PROGRESS ON THE HORIZON FOR AN OUTDATED AND OVERPRICED SYSTEM By: Megan Square, Volume 103 Staffer “The Wall” has become a recent subject of hot debate. Discussions highlighting its astronomical cost and questionable legality have come to the fore, with some…
CHANGING TIDES
Changing Tides: Article III Standing and Climate Change Litigation By: Hillary Hoffman, Volume 103 Staff Member Globally, young people are attempting to assert their stake in the future of the environment through litigation.[1] This should come as no surprise, since young people will surely be the…
REHEATING THE COLD WAR
REHEATING THE COLD WAR By: Bonny Birkeland, Volume 103 Staff Member “We really have no choice. Perhaps we can negotiate a different agreement adding China and others, or perhaps we can’t. And in which case, we will outspend and out-innovate all others by far.”[1] — President Trump…
ALL WORK AND NO PAY
ALL WORK AND NO PAY: HOW A STATUTORY CHANGE COULD PROTECT FEDERAL EMPLOYEES’ RIGHTS DURING GOVERNMENT SHUTDOWNS By: Brooke Robbins, Volume 103 Staff Member Spurred by political disagreement, recently, there has been a surge in extended government shutdowns.[1]There are huge costs associated with government shutdowns.…
