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Full-Text Articles in Law
Inconceivable Families, Malinda L. Seymore
Inconceivable Families, Malinda L. Seymore
Faculty Scholarship
Basic biology tells us that each child has no more than two biological parents, one who supplies the egg and one who supplies the sperm. Adoption law in this country has generally followed biology, insisting only two parents be legally recognized for each child. Thus, every adoption begins with loss. Before a child can be adopted, that child must first be cut off from their family of birth, rendering the equation of adoption one of subtraction, not addition. This Article examines the biological model of adoption that insists on mimicking the nuclear family—erasing one set of parents and replacing them …
Everything Is Bigger In Texas, Including The Need To Incentivize And Implement Innovative Decentralized Wastewater Treatment Systems As A Method Of Water Reuse, Haley Varnadoe
Student Scholarship
Texas will need to adapt to a drier climate and reduced water supplyin the 21st centuiyas the negative hydological effects ofclimnate change continue. Rising temperatures will accelerate evaporation of surface water resources, which in turn both increases rehance on depletable groundwater resources and decreases the amount of surface water available for aquifer rechaige. As a result, Texans who rely on either groundwater or suiface water to meet their domestic water needs-particularlyt hose in rurala id regions-mays uffer as both quantities decrease in the coming decades. The practice ofdomestic water reuse presents one solution to a decreasing water supply by safely …
Sheriffs, State Troopers, And The Spillover Effects Of Immigration Policing, Huyen Pham, Pham Hoang Van
Sheriffs, State Troopers, And The Spillover Effects Of Immigration Policing, Huyen Pham, Pham Hoang Van
Faculty Scholarship
As the Biden Administration decides whether to continue the 287(g) program (the controversial program deputizing local law enforcement officers to enforce federal immigration laws), our research shows that the program has broader negative effects on policing behavior than previously identified. To date, debate about the 287(g) program has focused exclusively on the policing behavior of law enforcement agencies like sheriff’s offices that sign the agreements, and on concerns that these signatory local enforcement agencies (“LEAs”) engage in racial profiling. Our research shows that the agreements also negatively affect the behavior of nearby, nonsignatory law enforcement agencies. Using 18 million traffic …
Evaluating Legal Needs, Luz E. Herrera, Amber Baylor, Nandita Chaudhuri, Felipe Hinojosa
Evaluating Legal Needs, Luz E. Herrera, Amber Baylor, Nandita Chaudhuri, Felipe Hinojosa
Faculty Scholarship
This article is the first to explore legal needs in the Rio Grande Valley of Texas––a region that is predominantly Latinx and has both rural and urban characteristics. There are few legal needs assessments of majority Latinx communities, and none that examine needs in areas that are also U.S. border communities. Access to justice studies often overlook this area of the U.S. and this segment of the population despite their unique qualities. Latinos are projected to constitute the largest ethnic group in the country by 2060, making it imperative that we study access to justice-related assets, needs, opportunities, and barriers …
Latinxs Reshaping Law & Policy In The U.S. South, Luz E. Herrera, Pilar M. Hernández-Escontrías
Latinxs Reshaping Law & Policy In The U.S. South, Luz E. Herrera, Pilar M. Hernández-Escontrías
Faculty Scholarship
This article addresses the key law and policy levers affecting Latinxs in what the U.S. Census Bureau designates as the South. Since the rise of the Latinx population from the 1980s onward, few legal scholars and researchers have participated in a sustained dialogue about how law and policy affects Latinxs living in the South. In response to this gap in legal research, this article provides an overview of the major law and policy challenges and opportunities for Latinxs in this U.S. region. Part II examines the geopolitical landscape of the South with special focus on the enduring legacy of Jim …