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
Florida v. Riley: Foreshadowing Fourth Amendment Issues in 21st Century Aerial Surveillance and The Need for Clarity
Florida v. Riley: Foreshadowing Fourth Amendment Issues in 21st Century Aerial Surveillance and The Need for Clarity By: Christopher Beglinger, Volume 103 Staff Member At its core, the Fourth Amendment reflects the maxim “every man’s house is his castle.”[1] Founded on the Framer’s opposition to abuses…
DISNEY-FOX, AT&T-TIME WARNER, AND DOJ INCONSISTENCY
DISNEY-FOX, AT&T-TIME WARNER, AND DOJ INCONSISTENCY By: Shashi Gowda, Volume 103 Staff Member In October 2016, AT&T Inc. (“AT&T”) announced that it would be acquiring TimeWarner Inc. (“TimeWarner”) through a $108.7 billion purchase.[1] Two years later, The Walt Disney Company (“Disney”) announced that it would be…
GOVERNMENT CAN’T HAVE ITS CAKE AND EAT IT TOO
GOVERNMENT CAN’T HAVE ITS CAKE AND EAT IT TOO: WHY GOVERNMENT SHOULD NOT INITIATE A CBM REVIEW AND ESCAPE AIA ESTOPPEL PROVISION By: Seung Sub Kim, Volume 103 Staff Member What is a person? Although it is often used as a synonym for “a human…
A LESSON IN STATUTORY INTERPRETATION
A LESSON IN STATUTORY INTERPRETATION: AZAR V. ALLINA HEALTH SERVICES AND IMPLICATIONS FOR THE HEALTHCARE AND ADMINISTRATIVE LAW WORLDS By: Allisa Newman, Volume 103 Staff Member Medicare administration has met its match. An already technical healthcare statute is under scrutiny to navigate proper rulemaking procedure for its…
Physician Obligations to Suicidal Patients in the Era of Physician-Assisted Death Laws
By Kate Hanson, Volume 103 Staff Member On January 1st of this year, Hawaii became the eighth jurisdiction[1] in the United States to allow physician-assisted death. In physician-assisted death law jurisdictions, physicians may prescribe medication to hasten death,[2] and patients retain the choice to fill the prescription…
Constructing the Sandwich
By Alexander Park Introduction What is a sandwich? Most people never stop to ask themselves this question. After all, the answer seems almost too obvious—two slices of bread with meat, cheese, or some sort of filling between the two slices of bread. In recent years, this…
Constructing the Sandwich
Constructing the Sandwich By Alexander Park Introduction What is a sandwich? Most people never stop to ask themselves this question. After all, the answer seems almost too obvious—two slices of bread with meat, cheese, or some sort of filling between the two slices of bread.…
Physician Obligations to Suicidal Patients in the Era of Physician-Assisted Death Laws
PHYSICIAN OBLIGATIONS TO SUICIDAL PATIENTS IN THE ERA OF PHYSICIAN-ASSISTED DEATH LAWS By: Kate Hanson, Volume 103 Staff Member On January 1st of this year, Hawaii became the eighth jurisdiction[1] in the United States to allow physician-assisted death. In physician-assisted death law jurisdictions, physicians may prescribe…
SLAPPing Down Discriminatory Voter Fraud Prosecutions
SLAPPing Down Discriminatory Voter Fraud Prosecutions: A Possible Solution to a Problem that Threatens to Chill Participation in Elections By: Sam Cleveland, Volume 103 Staff Member INTRODUCTION A sinister new trend in discriminatory prosecution of alleged voter fraud has compounded other problems which already make…
The Modern Public Forum
THE MODERN PUBLIC FORUM: GOVERNMENT-RUN SOCIAL MEDIA PAGES AND THE FIRST AMENDMENT By: Hudson Peters, Volume 103 Staff Member As American society becomes increasingly digitized, so too has political discourse. However, the law has generally not kept pace with the changing landscape, as more and…
