Articles, Essays, & Tributes
If Lived Experience Could Speak: A Method for Repairing Epistemic Violence in Law and the Legal Academy
BY TERRELL CARTER and RACHEL LÓPEZ. Full text. Terrell Carter grew up only a stone’s throw from Drexel University, the institution of higher learning where the other coauthor of this Article, Rachel López, would find her academic home years later. Even as a child, Terrell remembers feeling like other institutions that were miles away, like…
Informed Bystanders’ Duty to Warn
By GILAT J. BACHAR. Full text. Should bystanders with credible knowledge about prospective harm owe a duty of care to future victims? This urgent question comes up in various contexts, from former employers who withhold information about a serial harasser to data brokers who are silent about stalkers that track personal information. Under established common…
Lawyering in the Age of Artificial Intelligence
By JONATHAN H. CHOI, AMY B. MONAHAN, AND DANIEL SCHWARCZ. Full text. We conducted the first randomized controlled trial to study the effect of AI assistance on human legal analysis. We randomly assigned law school students to complete realistic legal tasks either with or without the assistance of GPT-4, tracking how long the students took…
Repurposed Energy
By ALEXANDRA B. KLASS & HANNAH WISEMAN. Full Text. Wildfires, weather extremes, and other conditions induced partially by climate change add urgency to the project of accelerating the clean energy transition from fossil fuels to zero-carbon energy infrastructure. Yet the hurdles to accomplishing such a massive industrial-scale transition are daunting. Indeed, large renewable energy generation…
Reconstruction, and the Unfulfilled Promise of Antitrust
By BENNETT CAPERS and GREGORY DAY. Full Text. Wealth inequality remains as wide, and as troubling, as it was a half-century ago. While scholars have offered various explanations, there is a contributor that has escaped serious scrutiny: state monopoly power. It is not just that there is a long history of states and municipalities using…
Notes
Definite Convictions: United States v. Alt and the Seventh Circuit’s Prohibition on Defining “Beyond a Reasonable Doubt”
By SAMUEL BUISMAN. Full Text. The Seventh Circuit prohibits judges and attorneys from defining “beyond a reasonable doubt” to jurors. While United States v. Alt crystalized this prohibition in early 2023, the circuit has effectively banned definition of the phrase for much longer. Yet, a growing consensus of psychological research into the standard reveals that…
As Punishment for Arrests: Involuntary Servitude Under the Housekeeping Exception to the Thirteenth Amendment
By ELISSA BOWLING. Full Text. The Thirteenth Amendment reads: “Neither slavery nor involuntary servitude, except as a punishment for crime whereof the party shall have been duly convicted, shall exist within the United States, or any place subject to their jurisdiction.” Yet, in contemporary American jails and prisons, pretrial detainees have been forced to perform…
May Contain Peanuts, Eggs, and a “Natural” Solution: How to Challenge Food Manufacturers’ Harmful Use of Precautionary Allergen Labels
By JJ MARK. Full Text. Food allergies are one of the most pressing health issues of our time. Around thirty-three million Americans currently have food allergies, thirteen million of which are severe or life-threatening. These numbers continue to increase at alarming rates, with an estimated one in thirteen children being diagnosed with food allergies every…
Headnotes
Defining Common and Individual Issues in Class Actions: What a Reasonable Jury Could Do
Defining Common and Individual Issues in Class Actions: What a Reasonable Jury Could Do By Aaron D. Van Oort and John L. Rockenbach Full essay here. The distinction between common and individual issues is the single most important concept in the modern class action, and…
The Supreme Court’s Opinion in SEC v. Jarkesy Has the Potential To Be Extremely Destructive
The Supreme Court’s Opinion in SEC v. Jarkesy Has the Potential To Be Extremely Destructive By Richard J. Pierce, Jr. Full essay here. In this essay, Professor Pierce describes the legal framework within which the Supreme Court decided whether an agency could adjudicate a class…
Substance over Symbolism: Do We Need Benefit Corporation Laws?
BY CHENG-CHI (KIRIN) CHANG. Full essay here. Benefit corporation laws have gained traction as mechanisms to integrate societal and environmental objectives into business operations, yet they are arguably superfluous within the existing legal framework. The prevailing belief that corporations must prioritize shareholder wealth above all…
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.…
