Law Commons^™

Eroding The Bedrock: The Future Of Public Administration Without Chevron Deference, Rose Keller

Honors Projects

When Congress passes a bill, it produces words on a page. Who decides what those words mean? Historically, the onus of a statute’s interpretation has rested with the federal agencies charged with its implementation. The Chevron doctrine, a two-step standard that affords federal agencies significant latitude in interpreting their own enabling legislation, has been the applicable deference regime in statutory interpretation cases since 1984. Contrary to this tradition, recent Supreme Court jurisprudence has reasserted the primacy of the judiciary in statutory interpretation cases, often ignoring Chevron entirely. In 2023, the Court granted certiorari to Loper Bright Enterprises v. Raimondo, a …

Racial Bias Within Capital Punishment: Instructional Comprehension, Marcus Gadsden

Honors Projects

This dissertation examines the existence of racial bias within capital punishment. Since colonial times discriminatory death sentencing has impacted racial minorities, and despite living in a post-colonial epoch, the United States Justice system continues to produce alarming racial disparities. Consequently, both law reviews and social science journals indicate that race remains a significant factor in criminal trials. So, to what extent does racial bias influence capital punishment trials? Given that it does exist, how can it be alleviated? Through a statistical/qualitative analysis of psychological studies, Supreme Court cases, and jury instructions, this dissertation suggests that implicit cognitive bias continues to …

Policy Making, Decision Making, And Advocacy: The U.S. Asylum System Since 9/11, Clara Jergins

Honors Projects

Immigration justice advocates and immigration restrictionists alike are unhappy with the way that the U.S. asylum system functions. This project seeks to develop a better understanding of policy changes and the politicized influence of the president and executive authorities over the asylum system since 9/11—in particular, these individuals’ ability to implement their policy preferences through the hiring and instruction of Asylum Officers and Immigration Judges. Through case studies of nonprofit organizations, it identifies the key points in the asylum process where asylum has been restricted, and the ways in which these restrictions can be responded to. On the basis of …

Power Play: The President's Role In Shaping Renewable Energy Regulation And Policy, Luke Bartol

Honors Projects

With the impacts of climate change becoming more and more apparent every day, finding means of effective action to mitigate its effects become increasingly critical. While localized work can play an important role, federal action is necessary to have the most widespread and effective impact, especially on interconnected issues such as clean energy. Congressional action is the avenue of change at this level, however in an increasingly partisan and divided environment, progress on this front is far short of what is needed.

Looking to the president is logical here, both as a single actor more insulated from partisan fights, but …

The Independent State Legislature Theory And Partisan Gerrymandering: How Moore V. Harper May Reshape Congressional Elections, Luke Porter

Honors Projects

In 2019, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in Rucho v. Common Cause that partisan gerrymandering is not a justiciable question for federal courts. Four years later, the Court is reviewing a new case, Moore v. Harper. In Moore, the question presented is whether state courts can review partisan gerrymandering.

The central question in Moore is the validity of the Independent State Legislature Theory. Proponents of the ISLT believe that state legislatures derive their authority to draw Congressional districts from the Federal Constitution and are therefore not subject to state-level checks and balances such as gubernatorial vetoes and state courts …

Can Small Donations Have Big Consequences? Candidate Ideology, Small Donations, And Election Results In The 2016 And 2018 Congressional Cycles, Michael Borecki

Honors Projects

Small donors have provided an increased share of total campaign contributions in the 2016, 2018, and 2020 U.S. federal election cycles, including about $3 billion of the $14.4 billion raised in 2020. Campaign funding is still dominated by an influential set of large donors, but small donations may be the basis for an effective response to the disproportionate amount of “big money” in politics. This study investigates whether candidates who are more extreme perform better with small donors, and then examines the impact of small donations and overall funding on election results. These analyses were performed using linear sum-of-squares regression …

Campaigning For The Court: The Effect Of Presidential Campaign Rhetoric On The Supreme Court, Mackey O'Keefe

Honors Projects

This paper investigates how presidential candidates speak about the Supreme Court on the campaign trail, and how the ideological tenor of their rhetoric influences outcomes on the Court. Rhetoric is a powerful and well-researched tool of the presidency and has often been called “the power to persuade.” Much of judicial politics scholarship works to describe judicial decision making, investigating what constrains the actions and decisions of the Supreme Court. Though some scholarship has examined how presidential rhetoric affects the Supreme Court, little has been conducted in the area of presidential campaigns. This paper argues that presidential campaign rhetoric influences the …

Indigenous Rights In International Law: A Focus On Extraction In The Arctic, Aine Healey Lawlor

Honors Projects

This paper seeks to evaluate the evolution and future of Indigenous rights in extractive industry on a global scale and uses the Arctic both to explore the complexity of these rights and to provide paths forward in advancing Indigenous self-determination. Indigenous rights lack a strong international foundation and are often dependent upon local and domestic regimes, yet this reality is currently shifting. The state of extraction internationally, particularly in the Arctic, is also facing major uncertainty in the coming decades as demand continues to rise. Indigenous rights and the rules governing extractive industry intersect because much of the world’s remaining …

Governing The Internet: The Extraterritorial Effects Of The General Data Protection Regulation, Sasa Jovanovic

Honors Projects

The advent of the commercial Internet has introduced novel challenges to global governance because of the transnational nature of shared data flows, creating interdependence that may result in inter-state cooperation or competition. Data protection laws that are designed to ensure citizens’ right to privacy are one of the primary tool used by states to extend control over data flows. The European Union’s (EU) General Data Protection Regulation (2016) is widely regarded as the strongest data protection law in the world, and therefore may serve as a barrier to the openness of the Internet. The GDPR is both an instance of …

Africa And The International Criminal Court: Behind The Backlash And Toward Future Solutions, Marisa O'Toole

Honors Projects

Fifteen years into its operation as the preeminent international institution charged with the prosecution of the most serious international crimes, the International Criminal Court (ICC) has faced and continues to face intense backlash from the African continent. Once the Court’s most fervent advocates, many African leaders now lambast the ICC. In recent months, three African countries and the African Union en masse have attempted withdrawal from the Court, thus pushing the ICC-Africa relationship into the international spotlight as a topic of acute global interest. This paper seeks to explore the critiques behind this backlash through both a historical and present-day …

The Federal Disproportionate Minority Contact Mandate: An Examination Of Its Effectiveness In Reducing Racial Disparities In Juvenile Justice, Hanna Leigh Wurgaft

Honors Projects

This paper challenges the effectiveness of the federal Disproportionate Minority Contact mandate. It first traces the legislative history of the mandate, from the Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Act of 1974, to the establishment of the Disproportionate Minority Confinement mandate of 1988, to the final shift to Disproportionate Minority Contact in 2002. It then describes and analyzes implementation of the mandate in the New England states, showing uneven data collection and limited compliance with the mandate. The next chapter explores factors outside the jurisdiction of the DMC mandate that create and perpetuate racial disparities in juvenile justice, including concentrated poverty, police …

Who We Are: Incarcerated Students And The New Prison Literature, 1995-2010, Reilly Hannah N. Lorastein

Honors Projects

This project focuses on American prison writings from the late 1990s to the 2000s. Much has been written about American prison intellectuals such as Malcolm X, George Jackson, Eldridge Cleaver, and Angela Davis, who wrote as active participants in black and brown freedom movements in the United States. However the new prison literature that has emerged over the past two decades through higher education programs within prisons has received little to no attention. This study provides a more nuanced view of the steadily growing silent population in the United States through close readings of Openline, an inter-disciplinary journal featuring …