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Affordable Housing In Healthy Communities: Integrating Environmental Justice Into The Application Criteria For Affordable Housing Tax Credits In New Mexico, Vanessa Springer May 2024

Affordable Housing In Healthy Communities: Integrating Environmental Justice Into The Application Criteria For Affordable Housing Tax Credits In New Mexico, Vanessa Springer

New Mexico Law Review

In Bernalillo County, New Mexico, communities of color and people living below the poverty line are more likely to live in areas with high exposure to pollution and associated health risks. Similar trends are echoed throughout the country. These data trends and experiences form the basis for the environmental justice movement, or the movement for a clean and safe environment for all people regardless of race or class. As the science on disparate environmental impacts develops, so does the law, and regulations to control further disparate impacts in low-income communities and communities of color are being introduced and implemented in …


Navigating Murky Waters: Strengthening Water Protections In A Post-Sackett Landscape, Brittany Herrera May 2024

Navigating Murky Waters: Strengthening Water Protections In A Post-Sackett Landscape, Brittany Herrera

New Mexico Law Review

Nearly ninety percent of New Mexico’s rivers and streams potentially have been removed from federal protection under the Clean Water Act following the United States Supreme Court’s decision in Sackett v. EPA to substantially reduce what qualify as “waters of the United States.” Before this decision, many ephemeral streams, tributaries, and wetlands were protected by the Environmental Protection Agency. Permits are essential to protect not only the environment but landowners as well. The New Mexico Environment Department is in the process of developing its own surface water discharge permitting program, as the EPA’s jurisdiction contracted commensurately with the Supreme Court’s …


Pro Se What?! Orders Of Protection, Credible Threats To Physical Safety, And Restricting Access To Firearms, Amy J. Feagans May 2024

Pro Se What?! Orders Of Protection, Credible Threats To Physical Safety, And Restricting Access To Firearms, Amy J. Feagans

New Mexico Law Review

Orders of protection provide survivors of domestic abuse a level of security by limiting contact between the parties. In 2019, the New Mexico legislature amended the Family Violence Protection Act (FVPA) to provide additional protections through orders of protection by requiring the respondent to relinquish their firearms to law enforcement where the court finds there is a “credible threat to the physical safety” of the petitioner. In 2023, the New Mexico Supreme Court clarified the required showing for obtaining an order of protection and held that the court must find prior domestic abuse. But the “credible threat” standard required for …


Church, State, And The New Mexico Civil Rights Act: How Litigants And Courts Can Invoke The State Constitution To Protect Establishment Clause Rights, Melanie B. Stambaugh, Laura Creech May 2024

Church, State, And The New Mexico Civil Rights Act: How Litigants And Courts Can Invoke The State Constitution To Protect Establishment Clause Rights, Melanie B. Stambaugh, Laura Creech

New Mexico Law Review

No abstract provided.


Qualified Immunity–Who Needs It? Exploring The Other Constitutional, Statutory, And Common Law Immunities Available Under The New Mexico Civil Rights Act, The Honorable Mark D. Standridge May 2024

Qualified Immunity–Who Needs It? Exploring The Other Constitutional, Statutory, And Common Law Immunities Available Under The New Mexico Civil Rights Act, The Honorable Mark D. Standridge

New Mexico Law Review

No abstract provided.


A New Jurisprudence Of Constitutional Duty: Moving Beyond Deshaney Through The Nmcra, Levi A. Monagle, Aaron E. Whiteley May 2024

A New Jurisprudence Of Constitutional Duty: Moving Beyond Deshaney Through The Nmcra, Levi A. Monagle, Aaron E. Whiteley

New Mexico Law Review

The United States Supreme Court’s holding in the seminal case of DeShaney v. Winnebago County Department of Social Services has long foreclosed the viability of a wide array of failure-to-protect claims under the Due Process Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution. The linchpin of DeShaney is a “constitutional duty” analysis that is implicated only in select circumstances and serves as a threshold inquiry and a gatekeeping device. With the New Mexico Supreme Court’s articulation of a foreseeability-free duty analysis in Rodriguez v. Del Sol Shopping Center in 2014, and the Legislature’s passage of the New Mexico …


New Mexico True: Crafting A More Inclusive And Independent Method Of State Constitutional Interpretation For Claims Under The New Mexico Civil Rights Act, Arne R. Leonard May 2024

New Mexico True: Crafting A More Inclusive And Independent Method Of State Constitutional Interpretation For Claims Under The New Mexico Civil Rights Act, Arne R. Leonard

New Mexico Law Review

No abstract provided.


All Cases Great And Small: Fufilling The Nmcra's Promise Of Attorney Fees, Isaac M. Green, Seth E. Montgomery May 2024

All Cases Great And Small: Fufilling The Nmcra's Promise Of Attorney Fees, Isaac M. Green, Seth E. Montgomery

New Mexico Law Review

Section 5 of the New Mexico Civil Rights Act (NMCRA) permits a court to award “reasonable” attorney fees to a “prevailing plaintiff.” In this way Section 5 parallels its federal analog, 42 U.S.C. § 1988, which similarly allows a “prevailing party” to recover “reasonable” attorney fees in federal civil rights suits. But despite this language in the federal statute, a string of U.S. Supreme Court decisions have circumscribed the availability of attorney fees in suits brought under § 1983. This restriction on attorney fees has led to what Professor Joanna Schwartz calls the biggest obstacle to civil rights litigation in …


The New Mexico Civil Rights Act: Look Before You Leap, The Honorable Linda M. Vanzi, Rheba Rutkowski May 2024

The New Mexico Civil Rights Act: Look Before You Leap, The Honorable Linda M. Vanzi, Rheba Rutkowski

New Mexico Law Review

No abstract provided.


The Promise And Perils Of State Civil Rights Legislation, Matthew R. Segal May 2024

The Promise And Perils Of State Civil Rights Legislation, Matthew R. Segal

New Mexico Law Review

No abstract provided.


Constitutional Recalibration: Lessons From New Mexico, Joanna C. Schwartz May 2024

Constitutional Recalibration: Lessons From New Mexico, Joanna C. Schwartz

New Mexico Law Review

No abstract provided.


Introduction, Aaron Sharratt, Sophia Bunch May 2024

Introduction, Aaron Sharratt, Sophia Bunch

New Mexico Law Review

No abstract provided.


Front Matter, New Mexico Law Review May 2024

Front Matter, New Mexico Law Review

New Mexico Law Review

No abstract provided.


Rule 11 Sanctions For Bad Discovery Advocacies, Jeffrey A. Parness, Alexandria N. Short Feb 2024

Rule 11 Sanctions For Bad Discovery Advocacies, Jeffrey A. Parness, Alexandria N. Short

New Mexico Law Review

For over eighty years, Rule 11 of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure has authorized sanctions to combat frivolous legal arguments and factual allegations in some paper presentations. Since 1993, however, the rule has not applied to discovery. This article demonstrates how Rule 11 should be used to deter advocacy based on discovery that has “gone bad” since its initial disclosure. Disciplinary actions, malpractice claims, the discovery rules, and even the inherent sanctioning authority of the court are insufficient to deter lawyers from relying on now-bad discovery papers. Rule 11 would hold lawyers to a duty of reasonable inquiry before …


The Water Under The Bridge Is Darkening—An Analysis Of Copyright Law And The Prevalence Of Copyright Trolls, Daniel Berenger-Russell Feb 2024

The Water Under The Bridge Is Darkening—An Analysis Of Copyright Law And The Prevalence Of Copyright Trolls, Daniel Berenger-Russell

New Mexico Law Review

In this time of modern technology and booming social media, the growth in intellectual property protection is no surprise. It logically follows that with more robust intellectual property protection there exists a greater chance of infringement. The likelihood of innocently infringing on a person’s registered copyright is at an all-time high. Due to the increased likelihood of innocent infringement, “copyright trolls” have emerged and developed unethical business tactics to prey off “innocent infringement.” Just like fairytale trolls who hide under bridges hoping to pester bystanders, copyright trolls also seek to burden peoples’ days. Not only do copyright trolls prey off …


The Myth Of Anonymity: De-Identified Data As Legal Fiction, Elodie Currier Stoffel Feb 2024

The Myth Of Anonymity: De-Identified Data As Legal Fiction, Elodie Currier Stoffel

New Mexico Law Review

The unregulated collection, processing, and sale of consumer data has led to a plethora of social and legal issues. As regulators attempt to catch up with the “move fast and break things” ethos of tech innovation, “de-identified” or “anonymized” data has remained broadly unprotected. However, computer science literature shows us that “de-identified” data is a legal fiction. This Article examines the source of the de-identification fiction, analyzes the definitions in new state laws which attempt to close the loophole, tracks potential harms, and proposes a legislative solution which aims to ameliorate some of the legal fictions’ negative impacts. Part I …


Environmental Justice Is A Civil Rights Issue, Secretary Deb Haaland Feb 2024

Environmental Justice Is A Civil Rights Issue, Secretary Deb Haaland

New Mexico Law Review

No abstract provided.


A Primary Purpose Problem: State V. Tsosie, Lana Elledge Feb 2024

A Primary Purpose Problem: State V. Tsosie, Lana Elledge

New Mexico Law Review

In Crawford v. Washington, the United States Supreme Court held that if statements “were made under circumstances which would lead an objective witness reasonably to believe that the statements would be available for use at a later trial,” then a defendant has the right to confront and cross examine the witness. However, the Court’s subsequent retreat from this ruling and introduction of the primary purpose test in a later decision, created a flawed federal analysis, as seen in State v. Tsosie. In Tsosie, the New Mexico Supreme Court applied the primary purpose test to determine whether statements of the declarant, …


The Historical Development Of The Concept Of Forced Labor And The Open Boundaries Of Its Definition Today, Christopher M. Roberts Feb 2024

The Historical Development Of The Concept Of Forced Labor And The Open Boundaries Of Its Definition Today, Christopher M. Roberts

New Mexico Law Review

This article considers the steps taken on the international level in the 1920s and 30s to define the terms through which freedom and unfreedom in the context of labor might be understood, the manner in which understandings of forced labor have subsequently evolved, and the parameters and potentials of the concept today. The first section explores the history of the 1926 Slavery Convention; the nature of coercive labor in colonized states in the inter-war period; the drafting processes and coverage of the 1930 Forced Labour Convention; the Convention’s accompanying recommendations; and subsequent developments in the legal definition of forced labor. …


Front Matter, New Mexico Law Review Feb 2024

Front Matter, New Mexico Law Review

New Mexico Law Review

No abstract provided.


Stochastic Terrorism, Speech Incantations And Federal Tax Exemption, Darryll K. Jones Feb 2024

Stochastic Terrorism, Speech Incantations And Federal Tax Exemption, Darryll K. Jones

New Mexico Law Review

No abstract provided.


Rethinking Rights In A Disappearing Penumbra: How To Expand Upon Reproductive Rights In Court After Dobbs, Joshua J. Schroeder Feb 2024

Rethinking Rights In A Disappearing Penumbra: How To Expand Upon Reproductive Rights In Court After Dobbs, Joshua J. Schroeder

New Mexico Law Review

In 2022, Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Org. overruled Roe v. Wade and Planned Parenthood v. Casey. The Dobbs Court suggested that future cases should similarly overrule other judicially protected rights including the right to marry interracially, to access contraceptives, and to have sex the way you like. The novel grounds Dobbs used to overrule Roe and Casey that might spread to other pro-rights case law was an ad hoc Janus v. AFSCME cost-benefit balancing test. Prior to Dobbs, the liberal wing of the U.S. Supreme Court believed that the Court could use cost-benefit balancing tests to safeguard certain judicially …


A Return To Rationality: Restoring The Rule Of Law After Daubert's Disastrous U-Turn, Andrew Jurs, Scott Devito Feb 2024

A Return To Rationality: Restoring The Rule Of Law After Daubert's Disastrous U-Turn, Andrew Jurs, Scott Devito

New Mexico Law Review

Consistency and rationality are central to the legitimacy of the modern court system. Considerable recent attention has been focused on the Court’s overturning of established precedent on abortion in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization. Yet, as we empirically demonstrate, the courts, through the decisions of individual judges over thirty years, have reversed the meaning of the Daubert standard for admission of scientific evidence, thereby threatening the legitimacy of the very heart of the civil justice system. In the initial years after the Daubert decision, litigants saw its reliability standard as a stricter standard than the previously used Frye “general …


Don't Swab Me!: Limitations Of The Genetic Information Privacy Act In The Modern Genetic Testing Landscape, Ibrahim Al-Gahmi Feb 2024

Don't Swab Me!: Limitations Of The Genetic Information Privacy Act In The Modern Genetic Testing Landscape, Ibrahim Al-Gahmi

New Mexico Law Review

In an age where consumers can easily obtain genetic tests by simply sending a saliva or cheek swab sample through the mail and learn more than ever about their DNA and its genetic makeup, it is imperative that measures are established to provide consumers with both control and protection to the privacy of their submitted biological sample and analyzed genetic data. Currently, the landscape of genetic testing, and the resulting genetic information, is regulated by one law in New Mexico. The Genetic Information Privacy Act (NM-GIPA or Act), enacted in 1998, provides general prohibitions on the collection of genetic information …


Action Is Not Activism: Moving Martinez/Yazzie V. State Forward, Griffin Arellano Aug 2023

Action Is Not Activism: Moving Martinez/Yazzie V. State Forward, Griffin Arellano

New Mexico Law Review

Education has long been regarded as the foundation of a strong society and fundamental to an individual’s ability to determine the course of their own life. Article XII of the New Mexico Constitution asserts that all students in New Mexico have a right to not just an education but one that is “sufficient.” However, in 2018, a state district court found that at-risk students across New Mexico were being denied that right. In Martinez/Yazzie v. State of New Mexico, the court ordered the State to quickly provide more funding for education and accountability mechanisms to ensure that money was spent …


Front Matter, New Mexico Law Review Aug 2023

Front Matter, New Mexico Law Review

New Mexico Law Review

No abstract provided.


Big Data Policing Capacity Measurement, Ronald J. Coleman Aug 2023

Big Data Policing Capacity Measurement, Ronald J. Coleman

New Mexico Law Review

Big data, algorithms, and computing technologies are revolutionizing policing. Cell phone data. Transportation data. Purchasing data. Social media and internet data. Facial recognition and biometric data. Use of these and other forms of data to investigate, and even predict, criminal activity is law enforcement’s presumptive future. Indeed, law enforcement in several major cities have already begun to develop a big data policing mindset, and new forms of data have played a central role in high-profile matters featured in the Serial and To Live and Die in LA podcasts, as well as in the Supreme Court’s leading privacy and criminal procedure …


The Outer Limits: Jury Discretion, District Court Deference, & Excessive Damages In Morga V. Fedex Ground Package Sys., Inc., Aaron Sharratt Aug 2023

The Outer Limits: Jury Discretion, District Court Deference, & Excessive Damages In Morga V. Fedex Ground Package Sys., Inc., Aaron Sharratt

New Mexico Law Review

What is the value of life? Courts and commentators have long debated the question of the inherent value of life in relation to the awarding of compensatory damages. The New Mexico Supreme Court’s recent decision affirming a record $165 million civil award in Morga v. FedEx again brings this debate into public view. The decision effectively shuts the door to the prospect of higher State courts overturning a jury’s noneconomic compensatory damages award based on an excessive verdict claim. The case highlights the district court’s power and discretion in awarding monetary damages for nonmonetary injuries and the implications of defense …


Tracing The Roots Of A Poisonous Tree: On The Origins And Impact Of Criminal Terminology In A Civil Apprehension Scheme, Shani Mahiri King, Nicole Silvestri Hall Aug 2023

Tracing The Roots Of A Poisonous Tree: On The Origins And Impact Of Criminal Terminology In A Civil Apprehension Scheme, Shani Mahiri King, Nicole Silvestri Hall

New Mexico Law Review

Language is powerful. It can affect how we think about and treat groups of people. Poor language choices have a massive impact on immigration law, an area of the law that determines how groups of perceived “outsiders” are classified and regulated. Language and bias in judicial opinions have been studied, but less research has been done on poor language choices in immigration statutes. This Comment focuses on the harmful effects of poor language choices in immigration statutes, including the criminal terminology “arrest” and “warrant” in civil immigration apprehension statutes 8 U.S.C. Sections 1226 and 1357. Two fundamental problems arise when …


Banding Together: Law Versus People Power In The United States, Benjamin E. Douglas Aug 2023

Banding Together: Law Versus People Power In The United States, Benjamin E. Douglas

New Mexico Law Review

To become a democratic society, the United States must respect the people’s right to associate. This does not sound like a radical principle—freedom of association is part of the First Amendment—but realizing this freedom requires serious changes in existing policy. State and federal laws obstruct the ability of people to band together to shape the type of society that they wish to live in. People face severe restrictions impeding their right to form and direct value-based, powerbuilding, membership-driven organizations. I begin with an examination of the democracy deficit in this country, explored in three dimensions. First, when there are conflicts …