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Full-Text Articles in Law
Contra Naturam, F. H. Buckley
Contra Naturam, F. H. Buckley
Northern Illinois University Law Review
There’s a revival of interest in natural law, but while its adherents claim to hold the philosophic high ground, they’ve failed to recognize the doctrine’s weaknesses. Classical natural law holds that our moral requirements are rooted in the natural world and the instincts and preferences that form human nature. However, this runs afoul of the logical distinction between empirical and normative statements; and while other natural lawyers say they’ve avoided this problem, their “New Natural Law” implausibly asserts that rational self-interest will lead us to the good. It won’t, because rational self-interest can’t explain the duties we owe other people. …
Beyond #Freebritney: A Legal Analysis Of The Conservatorship System In The United States, Ashleigh M. Zurek
Beyond #Freebritney: A Legal Analysis Of The Conservatorship System In The United States, Ashleigh M. Zurek
Northern Illinois University Law Review
In this article the author will explore the state of conservatorships in the United States and how, too often, individuals with disabilities are abused and taken advantage of in this structure. The author will discuss particular areas of conservatorship abuse, including: financial abuse, physical abuse, exploitation, and death. The author will then proceed to discuss potential solutions to curb conservatorship abuse and how best to improve the conservatorship system in the United States. Particular solutions discussed include: special needs trusts, federal legislation (past, current, and future), and supported decision-making.
Police Reform Through Section 1983, Adam J. Smith
Police Reform Through Section 1983, Adam J. Smith
Northern Illinois University Law Review
For decades, members of the Chicago Police Department (CPD) engaged in a protracted campaign of corruption, terror, and violence against Black and brown Chicagoans. Intermittent efforts to reform or otherwise rein in the CPD invariably fell short. In late 2014, a CPD officer murdered a 17-year-old Chicagoan, Laquan McDonald. CPD officials and city leaders attempted to whitewash the killing as a justified use of deadly force, but—thanks to the work of local organizers and a national pressure campaign—McDonald’s death instead led to a yearlong investigation by the federal Department of Justice (DOJ). Ordinarily, such an investigation would have resulted in …
Galactic Accessibility: An Introduction To Interplanetary Human Rights Law Through Crip Legal Theory, Aj Link
Galactic Accessibility: An Introduction To Interplanetary Human Rights Law Through Crip Legal Theory, Aj Link
Northern Illinois University Law Review
The possibilities within the realm of outer space and future space exploration have always been limitless. There has been renewed interest in space over the last decade, largely fueled by the private commercial space sector. As more and more people become interested in space and connected to the space industry, we must take care not to repeat the mistakes of the distant and recent past. Space should be accessible to all who wish to travel amongst the stars. We should not discriminate or bar individuals from going to space based on race, gender, gender identity or expression, nationality, religion, disability, …
Government Ethics And Sustainable Space Exploration, Adam F. Greenstone
Government Ethics And Sustainable Space Exploration, Adam F. Greenstone
Northern Illinois University Law Review
This Article is about how government ethics supports humanity’s sustained exploration of outer space. Connotations of space sustainability include addressing all bases so that space activity develops to maximize human benefit. NASA’s ethics practice advances key mission objectives by supporting workforce talent acquisition, talent transfer to other organizations supporting national space objectives, disseminating public information on NASA’s activities, and advancing space commerce development. Following the earlier concurrent development of US government ethics law and human spaceflight, the United Nations Convention Against Corruption (UNCAC) has advanced a global anti-corruption framework of which government ethics is part. The significance of government ethics …
Working In Space: The Final Frontier Of Remote Work, Alyson Clare Decker
Working In Space: The Final Frontier Of Remote Work, Alyson Clare Decker
Northern Illinois University Law Review
Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, virtual workplaces have become much more common. But while advancements in technology have made remote work more accessible for many employees, jurisdictional confusion and varying state-specific employment regulations have made it extremely difficult for employers to switch from traditional in-person office settings to work-from-anywhere workplaces. In addition, taxation and mandatory workers’ compensation insurance requirements mean that employers often need to be registered to do business in any state they have employees in, making a truly remote workforce somewhat of a misnomer. However, as difficult as it might be for terrestrial employers to navigate our patchwork …
The Rule Of Law: “A” Relation Between Law And Morals, Alani Golanski
The Rule Of Law: “A” Relation Between Law And Morals, Alani Golanski
Northern Illinois University Law Review
H. L. A. Hart allowed that “there are many different types of relation between law and morals.” But he mostly, and sparingly, focused on law’s role in facilitating human survival, necessitating the legal system’s “minimum content of natural law.” Hart’s minimum-content view, in service of his concern to separate law and morals, spilled over into his laconic pronouncement on “legality,” typically deemed synonymous with the rule of law. He claimed that, if the legal system is to fulfill its social control function while abiding by legality, it will have to enact rules that are “within the capacity of most to …
A New Approach To Felony Murder In Illinois, Jason M. Cieslik
A New Approach To Felony Murder In Illinois, Jason M. Cieslik
Northern Illinois University Law Review
In August of 2019, six teenagers drove to a rural area of Lake County, Illinois, in a stolen vehicle with the intention of burglarizing vehicles. Startled, the homeowner retrieved his gun, went out on the porch, and observed one of the teens approaching him, with what the homeowner determined to be a weapon. The homeowner fired his gun and killed one of the teens. The remaining five teens were charged with felony murder. At the time of this incident, Illinois applied the “proximate-cause theory” to felony murder. In response, the General Assembly amended the felony-murder rule with the intent to …
Fundamental First Amendment Principles, David L. Hudson Jr., Jacob David Glenn
Fundamental First Amendment Principles, David L. Hudson Jr., Jacob David Glenn
Northern Illinois University Law Review
First Amendment law is highly complex, even labyrinthine. But, there are fundamental principles in First Amendment law that provide a baseline for a core understanding. These ten fundamental principles are: (1) the First Amendment protects the right to criticize the government; (2) the First Amendment abhors viewpoint discrimination and often content, or subject-matter discrimination; (3) the First Amendment protects a great deal of symbolic speech or expressive conduct; (4) the First Amendment protects a great deal of offensive and even repugnant speech; (5) the First Amendment does not protect all forms of speech; (6) the First Amendment often depends upon …
The Demise Of The Bivens Remedy Is Rendering Enforcement Of Federal Constitutional Rights Inequitable But Congress Can Fix It, Henry Rose
Northern Illinois University Law Review
A federal statute allows a person whose federal constitutional rights are violated by state actors to sue for damages. There is no analogous federal statute that allows a person whose constitutional rights are violated by federal actors to sue for damages. In 1971, the United States Supreme Court allowed a suit for damages against federal law enforcement officials who allegedly violated Fourth Amendment rights to proceed directly under the Constitution, creating the Bivens remedy. Beginning in 1983, the Supreme Court reversed course and issued ten consecutive decisions in which it denied a Bivens remedy because no federal statute authorizes suits …
Real Harm In A Virtual World: Establishing Federal Standing In The Seventh Circuit Under Illinois’S Biometric Information Privacy Act, Julia Lobo
Northern Illinois University Law Review
Illinois became the first state to regulate the collection and use of biometric information by private entities when it enacted the Biometric Information Privacy Act in 2008. In the years since, more and more businesses have begun to collect biometric information from their employees and customers. As lawmakers in other states and in Congress look to enact legislation to protect biometric privacy rights, their drafting choices may be informed by three recent Seventh Circuit decisions analyzing when a plaintiff alleging a violation of the Biometric Information Privacy Act has, or has not, established Article III standing as required to proceed …