Law Commons^™

Solving The Procedural Puzzles Of The Texas Heartbeat Act And Its Imitators: The Potential For Defensive Litigation, Charles W. "Rocky" Rhodes, Howard M. Wasserman

SMU Law Review

The Texas Heartbeat Act (SB8) prohibits abortions following detection of a fetal heartbeat, a constitutionally invalid ban under current Supreme Court precedent. But the law adopts a unique enforcement scheme—it prohibits enforcement by government officials in favor of private civil actions brought by “any person,” regardless of injury. Texas sought to burden reproductive-health providers and rights advocates with costly litigation and potentially crippling liability.

In a series of articles, we explore how SB8’s exclusive reliance on private enforcement creates procedural and jurisdictional hurdles to challenging the law’s constitutional validity and obtaining judicial review. This piece explores defensive litigation, in which …

A Right To Go Dark (?), David C. Gray

SMU Law Review

In 2013, reports based on documents leaked by former National Security Agency contractor Edward Snowden revealed committed efforts by federal agencies to develop and deploy data surveillance technologies. These revelations documented the ability of government agencies to monitor internet usage, read the contents of communications, and access data stored in the cloud and on personal devices. These revelations marked a turning point in the public conversation as consumers became aware of the extent to which national security and law enforcement agencies can monitor a wide range of activities in physical and virtual spaces.

The market responded. Technology companies began to …

“Hashing” In The Cloud: The Private Search Defense Is Active And Potent, Tri T. Truong

SMU Law Review

No abstract provided.

Antidiscriminatory Privacy, Ignacio Cofone

SMU Law Review

Law often blocks sensitive personal information to prevent discrimination. It does so, however, without a theory or framework to determine when doing so is warranted. As a result, these measures produce mixed results. This article offers a theoretical framework for determining, with a view of preventing discrimination, when personal information should flow and when it should not. It examines the relationship between precluded personal information, such as race, and the proxies for precluded information, such as names and zip codes. It proposes that the success of these measures depends on what types of proxies exist for the information blocked and …

Reining In Internet-Age Expansion Of Exemption 7(C): Towards A Tort Law Approach For Ferreting Out Legitimate Privacy Concerns And Unwarranted Intrusions Under Foia, Clay Calvert, Austin Vining, Sebastian Zarate

SMU Law Review

Using the July 2016 federal appellate court decision in Detroit Free Press, Inc. v. U.S. Department of Justice as an analytical springboard, this article explores the expansion of Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) Exemption 7(C) in the Internet era. In Detroit Free Press, the Sixth Circuit recognized a privacy interest in mug shots under Exemption 7(C). The practical impact of the decision is to uphold the general policy of the U.S. Marshals Service not to release mug shots. This article illustrates the yawning gap between tort law, which this article argues would deny recovery for the Internet posting of …

From Blockbuster To Mobile Apps—Video Privacy Protection Act Of 1988 Continues To Protect The Digital Citizen, Ann Stehling

SMU Law Review

No abstract provided.