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
An Illusory Sanctuary
AN ILLUSORY SANCTUARY: HOW IMMIGRATION LAW AND POLICY FAIL TO PROTECT IMMIGRANTS FROM DEPORTATION By: Kayla Hoel, Volume 102 Staff Member At two in the morning on October 24, 2017, an ambulance carrying a ten-year-old child to an emergency surgery in Corpus Christi, Texas, was…
The Final Court to the Split
THE FINAL COURT TO THE SPLIT: COULD IN RE ARCHDIOCESE GIVE THE EIGHTH CIRCUIT A CHANCE TO WEIGH IN ON NONCONSENSUAL THIRD-PARTY RELEASES IN CHAPTER 11 BANKRUPTCY PROCEEDINGS? By: Emily Muirhead McAdam, Volume 102 Staff Member The United States Bankruptcy Court for the District of…
(In)definite Detention
(IN)DEFINITE DETENTION: JENNINGS AND THE BACKWARDS DETENTION SYSTEM FOR NON-CITIZENS SEEKING RELIEF By: Nathaniel Gier, Volume 102 Staff Member In the current fiscal year, there are 667,839 immigration cases pending,[1] and the average wait time for cases pending in immigration court was 691 days in…
Jesner v. Arab Bank
JESNER v. ARAB BANK: CORPORATE LIABILITY AND THE “TOUCH AND CONCERN” TEST By: Anthony Ufkin, Volume 102 Staff Member In Jesner v. Arab Bank,[1] the Supreme Court will likely answer the question of whether corporations may be held liable for alleged human rights violations under…
Cruz-Guzman and the Rise of Charter Schools
Cruz-Guzman and the Rise of Charter Schools: How Will the Minnesota Supreme Court Respond to the Resegregation of Schools in the Twin Cities? By: Charles W. Niemann, Volume 102 Staff Member A recent analysis by the Associated Press showed that charter schools are playing a…
Is Simple Better?
IS SIMPLE BETTER?: THE ANSWER TO PARTISAN GERRYMANDERING MAY LIE WITH BENISEK V. LAMONE RATHER THAN GILL V. WHITFORD By: Torie Abbott Watkins, Volume 102 Staff Member In today’s political discourse it is an all but impossible challenge to get Democrats and Republicans to agree…
Let’s Talk About Sex[ual Harassment]
LET’S TALK ABOUT SEX[UAL HARASSMENT]: THE INADEQUACY OF LEGAL PROTECTIONS FOR WORKPLACE SEXUAL HARASSMENT By: Sarah DeWitt, Volume 102 Staff Member Sexual harassment is not a new phenomenon.[1] Sexual harassment affects not only young woman in subservient positions,[2] but also in professional careers.[3] Sexual harassment…
After Marriage Equality
AFTER MARRIAGE EQUALITY: LGBT NONDISCRIMINATION LAWS IN MASTERPIECE CAKESHOP By: Joshua Preston, Volume 102 Staff Member Obergefell v. Hodges (2015) was a watershed moment in extending the full benefits of society to members of the LGBT community.[1] Though the freedom to marry was won, Obergefell…
Armstrong v. Exceptional Child Center
ARMSTRONG V. EXCEPTIONAL CHILD CENTER: WHO SHOULD ENFORCE MEDICAID EQUAL ACCESS? By: Jessica Wheeler, Volume 102 Staff Member Deamonte Driver, a twelve-year-old Medicaid beneficiary, died from an untreated tooth abscess when the infection spread to his brain.[1] His death could have been prevented had his…
What the Tax Bill Means for Students
WHAT THE “TAX CUTS AND JOBS ACT” MEANS FOR STUDENTS: DO WE WANT INCENTIVES OR SIMPLIFICATION? By: Melanie Pulles Benson, Volume 102 Staff Member The new House tax reform bill, the “Tax Cuts and Jobs Act” (“Act”), significantly departs from the current tax code.[1] The…
