Articles, Essays, & Tributes
Diversity Messaging After Affirmative Action
By NANCY LEONG. Full Text. Appendix here. Many colleges and universities communicate publicly that they value racial diversity—a practice this Article will call diversity messaging. Yet growing hostility to race-consciousness by courts, legislators, and other public figures has made diversity messaging increasingly fraught. This Article examines empirically whether law schools changed their diversity messaging following…
Investor Justice
By NICOLE IANNARONE. Full Text. There is a systemic flaw in the investor protection landscape. Unrepresented investors face off against well-resourced repeat- player firms that almost always have lawyers. While consumers face similar challenges in civil courts, in forced securities arbitration, the decisionmaker may not have a law degree, is prohibited from conducting any outside…
Unpunishment Purposes
By MEREDITH ESSER. Full Text. Sentencing scholarship often begins by exploring the traditional purposes of punishment: deterrence, retribution, incapacitation, and rehabilitation. However, little scholarship exists addressing how these four punishment purposes apply in the post- sentencing or second-look contexts. Further, abstract theories of sentencing can often seem sterile and disconnected from the realities of how…
Debt, Work, and the State
By KATE ELENGOLD. Full Text. In every state and the District of Columbia, an individual who owes a debt to the state can lose their license to work. Without the ability to make a living, it is much harder to pay off debt. Although using occupational license restrictions as a debt collection tool appears nonsensical,…
Law for the Rich
By ALEX RASKOLNIKOV. Full Text. With top incomes and wealth reaching historic highs, scholars and politicians have proposed new taxes and novel legal rules aimed at reversing the emergence of the new Gilded Age. Yet while new taxes target the rich directly by imposing greater burdens only on those with incomes or wealth above multi-million-dollar…
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
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…
