Articles, Essays, & Tributes
Aiming for Answers: Balancing Rights, Safety, and Justice in a Post-Bruen America
By CHAD NOWLAN. Full Text. A foreword to the symposium issue of Minnesota Law Review volume 108.
Firearms Carceralism
By JACOB D. CHARLES. Full Text. Gun violence is a pressing national concern. And it has been for decades. Throughout nearly all that time, the primary tool lawmakers have deployed to stanch the violence has been the machinery of the criminal law. Increased policing, intrusive surveillance, vigorous prosecution, and punitive penalties are showered on gun…
Firearms and the Homeowner: Defending the Castle, the Curtilage, and Beyond
By CYNTHIA LEE. Full Text. In the spring of 2023, a series of back-to-back shootings shook the nation. A Black teenager in Missouri trying to pick up his two younger siblings went to the wrong door and rang the doorbell. The homeowner came to the door with a gun and, without saying a word, fired…
Age Restrictions and the Right to Keep and Bear Arms, 1791–1868
By MEGAN WALSH AND SAUL CORNELL. Full Text. The disproportional misuse of firearms by eighteen-to-twenty-year-olds has long been a problem in America. The concerns are not novel. Nor are legislative responses to this problem a recent development in American law. These limitations are deeply rooted in American legal history. While minimum age gun laws routinely…
Scientific Context, Suicide Prevention, and the Second Amendment After Bruen
By ERIC RUBEN. Full Text. The Supreme Court declared in New York State Rifle & Pistol Ass’n v. Bruen that modern gun laws must be “consistent with this Nation’s historical tradition of firearm regulation” to survive Second Amendment challenges. Scholarship has shown how this test of historical analogy presents difficulties because of how technological, legal,…
Trouble’s Bruen: The Lower Courts Respond
By BRANNON P. DENNING AND GLENN H. REYNOLDS. Full Text. New York State Rifle & Pistol Ass’n v. Bruen revolutionized the understanding of how Second Amendment cases are to be adjudicated. Rejecting the tiered-scrutiny analysis around which the lower courts had coalesced since the 2008 Heller decision, the Court instructed courts to look to history…
The Second Amendment’s Racial Justice Complexities
By DANIEL S. HARAWA. Full Text. The relationship between the Second Amendment and racial justice is complicated. That’s because the relationship between pe- nal administration and racial justice is complicated. The briefing in New York State Rifle & Pistol Association v. Bruen perfectly proves this point. A group of public defenders favored striking down New…
Notes
Answering the Call: How Reconfiguration of the Nation’s Mental Health Crisis Call Line Can Facilitate Reimagination of Community Well-Being and Public Safety
By LUCY CHIN. Full Text. When the 988 Suicide and Crisis Lifeline went live in Summer 2022, communities across the country began to confront the question of how this new, expanded behavioral health resource would integrate into the country’s preexisting, emergency response systems. The program seemed to promise the solution to an increasingly visible problem—as…
The Mississippi River Basin Compact: A New Governance Structure to Save the Mississippi River
By JOHN STACK. Full Text. The Mississippi River is one of the most significant and yet one of the most imperiled water bodies in the United States. It faces a myriad of problems, from rampant pollution, widespread flooding, wildlife habitat loss, and considerable droughts. Indeed, this is a critical time for the Mississippi River. Fall…
States’ Obligation to Provide for Trans Youth: How Medicaid Requires (Most) States to Provide Access to Puberty Blockers
By GRACE WORCESTER. Full Text. Over the last few years, many states have endeavored to strip minor access to gender-affirming healthcare, and these efforts have seen considerable success. By the end of 2023, twenty-two states had enacted legislation that limits youth access to gender- affirming healthcare. In line with these efforts, many states have created…
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
Free to Drink Local?
Free to Drink Local? Supreme Court Will Decide Whether Liquor Retailer Durational Residency Requirements Are Valid By: Gina Tonn, Volume 103 Staff Member The maxim “Drink Local” is achievable for many beer and liquor connoisseurs these days.[1] But can state law require that consumers’ only option…
Proportional Representation
Proportional Representation: Ending Partisan Gerrymandering Without the Courts By: Aaron Stenz, Volume 103 Staff Member Representative democracy is as American as apple pie. It is enshrined in the foundational texts of our nation.[1] It is an abstract ideal and the functional foundation of our government, and…
Losing My Religion (and My Money)
Losing My Religion (and My Money): How the Church of Scientology Contractually Limits Its Ex-Members’ Ability to Fight the Church in Court By: Paige Papandrea, Volume 103 Staff Member The Church of Scientology enjoys an unsavory reputation with the general public, in part due to…
JUDICIAL RECUSAL IN THE POST-CITIZENS UNITED WORLD
JUDICIAL RECUSAL IN THE POST-CITIZENS UNITED WORLD By: Bryan Mette, Volume 103 Staff Member I. CITIZENS UNITED AND CAPERTON In 2010, the U.S. Supreme Court struck down federal limits on independent expenditures by corporations holding that it was unconstitutional under the First Amendment to prohibit political speech based…
ARE ALL DEFENDANTS “DEFENDANTS”?
ARE ALL DEFENDANTS “DEFENDANTS”? HOME DEPOT U.S.A., INC. V. JACKSON AND THE QUESTION OF THIRD-PARTY COUNTERCLAIM DEFENDANTS’ REMOVAL POWERS By: Travis Panneck, Volume 103 Staff Member The Supreme Court has granted certiorari to hear arguments in Home Depot U.S.A., Inc. v. Jackson.[1] The case has been described as “an…
Fourplex City
Fourplex City: Local Politics and Neighborhood Values By: Sarah Trautman, Volume 103 Staff Member In 2017, a super-liberal field of mayoral candidates split the Democratic-Farmer-Laborer party endorsement with vying platforms that each addressed affordable housing as a top issue.[1] Jacob Frey ultimately leveraged his track record…
Democratizing Democracy
Democratizing Democracy: A Private Right of Action Under the Help America Vote Act Would Improve Election Accuracy and Restore Voter Confidence By: Jack Davis, Volume 103 Staff Member Confidence that a person’s vote will be accurately and honestly recorded is confidence in democracy itself. The recount…
Men Fear False Allegations. Women Fear Sexual Misconduct, Assault, and Rape.
MEN FEAR FALSE ALLEGATIONS. WOMEN FEAR SEXUAL MISCONDUCT, ASSAULT, AND RAPE. By: Jackie Fielding, Volume 103 Staff Member “Why do men feel threatened by women?” . . . “They’re afraid women will laugh at them.” . . . “Why do women feel threatened by men?”…
Hi, Fidelity
‘Hi, Fidelity’: States’ Rights to Control Faithless Electors By: Tim Lovett, Volume 103 Staff Member Introduction The 2016 election had the most faithless electors of any presidential election in modern American history, with seven electors casting votes for individuals different from the candidates who won…
Creating the Final Frontier
CREATING THE FINAL FRONTIER: NAVIGATING PROPERTY RIGHTS AMONG THE STARS By: Karthik Raman, Volume 103 Staff Member Introduction It has been more than fifty years since the beginning of the Space Race. The Soviet Union was fresh from victoriously launching the first person into space,…
