Law Commons^™

Raising The Bar: The Aba’S Pulling Of Accreditation And Its Oversight In Legal Education, Alex Gass

SLU Law Journal Online

The American Bar Association's role in accrediting and disciplining law schools has entered a new and contentious era: litigation. In this article, Alex Gass discusses the history of law school accreditation and the recent lawsuits against the ABA by law schools disciplined for their failure to adhere to ABA standards.

How Did College Basketball Land In Federal Court And Where Does It Go From Here?, Ben Gamble

SLU Law Journal Online

Corruption in college basketball recruiting resulted in federal convictions and prison sentences for two former Adidas executives and a sports agency recruiter. With an alternate, professional basketball route now available to certain high school prospects and a pending NCAA investigation into the schools named at trial, Ben Gamble looks at where college basketball goes from here.

The Future Of Anti-Slapp Laws, Aaron Freeman

SLU Law Journal Online

Aaron Freeman explains that even though anti-SLAPP laws have become an important protection for the exercise of First Amendment rights, their future in federal courts is uncertain.

Title Vii And The Fair Housing Act: The Seventh Circuit Creates A New Cause Of Action, Maysa Daoud

SLU Law Journal Online

This article by Maysa Daoud discusses a newly devised test under which the Seventh Circuit assigned liability to a landlord for tenant on tenant sex-based harassment.

The Continuing Battle Over Net Neutrality, Mike Crawford

SLU Law Journal Online

In this article, Mike Crawford discusses how net neutrality continues to be a heated debate about who has the right and ability to create laws that will impact the way information on the Internet is viewed.

Why Do Bail Abolition Advocates Oppose The California Money Bail Reform Act?, Jackie Coffman

SLU Law Journal Online

For years, bail abolition advocates have pushed for a cashless bail system. In this article, Jackie Coffman discusses how California recently passed a bill to do just that – but not without some criticism.

Intervarsity Christian Fellowship V. University Of Iowa, Onalee Chappeau

SLU Law Journal Online

Onalee Chappeau discusses the ongoing case of The University of Iowa v. InterVarsity Christian Fellowship, including an analysis under a past Supreme Court decision and the suit's implications for pluralism on college campuses.

Are Universities Schools? The Case For Continuity In The Regulation Of Student Speech, Chad Flanders

All Faculty Scholarship

Are universities schools? The question seems almost silly to ask: o f course universities are schools. They have teachers and students, like schools. They have grades, like schools. There are classes and extracurricular activities, also like schools. But recent writings on the issue of ₀₄ free speech on campus" have raised the improbable specter that universities are less educational institutions than they are public forums like parks and sidewalks, where a free-wheeling exchange o f ideas and opinions takes place, unrestricted by any sense of academic mission or school disciplinc.¹ Some of this rhetoric is of course exaggerated, and …

When Both Apply, Does Title Vii Displace Title Ix In Employee-On-Employee Sexual Harassment Cases?, Ryan Butler

SLU Law Journal Online

Ryan Butler explores the possibility of an employee-on-employee sexual harassment circuit split, causing some employees to have a remedy under only Title VII, while others may have remedies under both Title VII and Title IX.

Emoluments, The (Nearly) Unlitigated Clauses Of The Constitution, Dan Blair

SLU Law Journal Online

Dan Blair discusses the ongoing case of District of Columbia v. Trump, including the court’s definition of “emoluments” under the Constitution, and whether domestic and foreign government representatives staying at the president’s hotel violates the Domestic Emoluments Clause or the Foreign Emoluments Clause of the Constitution.

Close The Workhouse: A Plan To Close The Workhouse & Promote A New Vision For St. Louis, Close The Workhouse Campaign [In Collaboration With], Thomas Harvey, John Mcannar, Michael-John Voss, Action St. Louis, Bail Project

All Faculty Scholarship

The City of St. Louis condemns hundreds of mostly poor and Black people to suffer in unspeakably hellish and inhumane conditions at the "Workhouse," officially known as the Medium Security Institution. Over 95% of people at the Workhouse are awaiting trial and remain incarcerated due to their inability to afford unusually high and unconstitutional cash bonds. They face horrific conditions in the jail, including extreme heat and cold, abysmal medical care, rats and cockroach infestations, and mold. The City of St. Louis spends over $16 million every year operating this facility with little public benefit. The arrest-and-incarcerate approach to public …

The Eighth Circuit Set To Grapple With Sexual Orientation Discrimination, Kenny Bohannan

SLU Law Journal Online

In this article, Kenny Bohannon discusses whether the Eighth Circuit in the case of Horton v. Midwest Geriatric Management will determine that Title VII bars discrimination based upon sexual discrimination.

Medical Malpractice Cuts Not The Answer, Ruqaiijah A. Yearby

All Faculty Scholarship

Tort reform--legislation that aims to reduce medical malpractice suits --will not cut medical costs and improve health care unless the government addresses the proliferation of unnecessary medical errors that victimize hundreds of thousands of patients every year.

Yearby's research considers how laws enacted to grant equal access to quality health care actually can pose barriers to the disenfranchised, and she is critical of health care reform efforts that do not address the far-reaching problem of medical errors. Finding ways to curb what she calls the "alarming rate of these medical errors," not only will reduce medical malpractice suits, but save …

Ukraine And The Evaporating Hyphen Of Market-Democracy, Monica Eppinger

All Faculty Scholarship

This post is part of the series Lessons for Liberalism from the “Illiberal East”

Information wars, fake news, kompromat: surprised Ukrainians have found their lexicon for foreign interference spread as loan-words across a putative new Cold War. Narratives of hegemony long familiar in Ukraine have metastasized, and their protagonists—troll hordes, political technologists, the Paul Manaforts and Victoria Nulands—have been set loose far beyond Ukrainian borders. For those who are anxious that liberalism is stumbling into traps laid by foreign intelligence, stuck trading off with fascism and socialism or otherwise in crisis, Ukraine’s recent history …

Vaccine Licensure In The Public Interest: Lessons From The Development Of The U.S. Army Zika Vaccine, Ana Santos Rutschman

All Faculty Scholarship

Vaccines developed by the public sector are key to preventing future outbreaks of infectious diseases. However, the licensure of these vaccines to private-sector companies under terms that do not ensure both their availability and affordability compromises their development. This Essay analyzes the recent attempted licensing deal for a Zika vaccine between the U.S. Army and Sanofi, a French pharmaceutical company. The proposed grant of an exclusive license to Sanofi triggered widespread concern because none of its substantive terms were disclosed. While § 209 of the Patent Act imposes limitations on exclusive licensure, the Army released no information supporting its finding …

Foreword, Robert Gatter

Saint Louis University Journal of Health Law & Policy

No abstract provided.

Independence Is The New Health, Laura D. Hermer

Saint Louis University Journal of Health Law & Policy

Medicaid plays key roles in supporting our nation’s health. Under the Affordable Care Act, Medicaid took an even more central position in public health endeavors by extending coverage in all interested states to millions of adults who typically fell through the health care cracks. Nevertheless, the Trump administration is now undoing these gains by actively encouraging states to curtail access to Medicaid in key respects while using the rhetoric of health.

This article examines Trump administration efforts in two contexts: (1) state § 1115 waiver applications seeking to better align their Medicaid programs with cash welfare and food stamp programs, …

Health Justice In The Age Of Alternative Facts And Tax Cuts: Value-Based Care, Medicaid Reform, And The Social Determinants Of Health, Elizabeth Tobin-Tyler

Saint Louis University Journal of Health Law & Policy

Some provisions of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act of 2010 (ACA) as well as regulatory policies under the Obama administration reflected the overwhelming evidence that to reduce health care costs, and to improve quality of care and population health, the social determinants of health (SDOH) must be addressed. These policies included funding for partnerships between public health agencies, community organizations, and health care institutions, promotion of value-based payment models that incentivize integrated health and social care delivery, and support for Medicaid program innovations that directly address social needs as part of health care. The Trump administration, through a …

Political Rhetoric And Minority Health: Introducing The Rhetoric-Policy-Health Paradigm, Kimberly Cogdell Grainger

Saint Louis University Journal of Health Law & Policy

Rhetoric is a persuasive device that has been studied for centuries by philosophers, thinkers, and teachers. In the political sphere of the Trump era, the bombastic, social media driven dissemination of rhetoric creates the perfect space to increase its effect. Today, there are clear examples of how rhetoric influences policy. This Article explores the link between divisive political rhetoric and policies that negatively affect minority health in the U.S. The rhetoric-policy-health (RPH) paradigm illustrates the connection between rhetoric and health. Existing public health policy research related to Health in All Policies and the social determinants of health combined with rhetorical …

The Faltering Promise Of Fda Tobacco Regulation, Micah L. Berman

Saint Louis University Journal of Health Law & Policy

Congress passed the Tobacco Control Act (TCA) in 2009, giving the FDA the authority to regulate tobacco products for the first time. Ten years later, the promise that the TCA’s enactment would be a transformative moment for public health has not materialized. To the contrary, the FDA’s most notable regulatory effort—requiring graphic warnings on cigarette packages and advertisements—has been struck down in court, and the FDA is now scrambling to address a youth e-cigarette epidemic that caught it off guard. This Article provides a brief review of TCA implementation during the Obama administration, and it reviews the Trump administration’s “comprehensive …

What Hope For Health In All Policies’ Addition And Multiplication Of Equity In An Age Of Subtraction And Division At The Federal Level?: The Memphis Experience, Amy T. Campbell

Saint Louis University Journal of Health Law & Policy

Increasingly, people recognize that social factors, such as poverty, the living environment, and educational status, substantially affect health outcomes. A “health in all policies approach” (HiAP) seeks structural reform of policymaking to require purposeful consideration, across an interconnected range of public sector actors, of the health equity and justice policy-level considerations of these factors. With the election of Donald J. Trump as 45th President in the United States, however, the U.S. entered a world where the math of the day is division and subtraction, rather than addition or multiplication. And yet, hope in HiAP remains through examples of innovative approaches …

“I Walk In, Sign. I Don’T Have To Go Through Congress.” President Trump’S Use Of Executive Orders To Unravel The Patient Protection And Affordable Care Act, Elizabeth Van Nostrand, Tina Batra Hershey

Saint Louis University Journal of Health Law & Policy

Executive orders, used by presidents to advance their administrations’ agendas, have changed history. These powerful written instruments were used to confine Japanese Americans during World War II, desegregate public schools, and create NASA. On the day of his inauguration, President Donald J. Trump issued his first Executive Order which directed secretaries of executive branch agencies to begin dismantling President Barack Obama’s flagship initiative—the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (ACA). This action, along with subsequent executive orders, precipitated a flurry of regulatory change and judicial challenges. Whether President Trump will ultimately be successful in crippling the ACA is still to …

Three Lost Ebola Facts And Public Health Legal Preparedness, Robert Gatter

Saint Louis University Journal of Health Law & Policy

Three key facts about Ebola Transmission should drive policy designed to control the risk of transmission during a crisis.

• Ebola—like HIV—is not easily transmissible human-to-human.
• Ebola has “dry” and “wet” symptoms, and only the wet symptoms threaten public health.
• A fever is Ebola’s canary in a coal mine; it provides timely warning of a coming threat.

Yet, during the U.S. Ebola scare in 2014, these three facts were lost. Unnecessary quarantine, stigma, and burden on those exposed to Ebola resulted, including especially for those who volunteered to fight the disease at its source abroad. Tragically, the law permitted these injustices …

Law Enforcement And Executive Order: Duplication In Missouri’S Prescription Drug Monitoring Program, Colleen A. Kinsey

Saint Louis University Journal of Health Law & Policy

Missouri had long been scrutinized as the only state operating without a prescription drug monitoring program. These programs are seen as an effective way to monitor prescription opioids as opioid-related deaths have risen in the past decade. The opioid crisis has gained significant media attention and cast scrutiny on pharmaceutical companies, physicians, and state and federal governments. This comment explores the history of the opioid crisis and details Missouri’s struggle to implement a prescription drug monitoring program legislatively. In 2017, former Governor Eric Greitens signed an Executive Order directing the Missouri Department of Health and Senior Services to implement one …

Stretching Armstrong: How The Eighth Circuit Incorrectly Applied Supreme Court Precedent In Does V. Gillespie, Lauren E. Pair

Saint Louis University Journal of Health Law & Policy

Medicaid serves as an important source of health insurance for millions of Americans. One of the Act’s core tenants is the patient’s freedom to choose from any qualified and willing provider. This “freedom of choice” provision was eventually codified, and subsequent protections were put in place to protect a patient’s choice regarding family planning services. However, as states attempt to limit access to family planning services by severing their Medicaid contracts with Planned Parenthood, patients must rely on § 1983 to pursue relief in federal courts. Section 1983 provides a right of action for the violation of any federal right …

Masthead

Saint Louis University Journal of Health Law & Policy

No abstract provided.

Macra And Medicare’S Elusive Quest For Fairness And Value With Physician Payment Policy: Speeding Up The Transition To “Big Med”, Rick Mayes, Soleil Shah

Saint Louis University Journal of Health Law & Policy

This article traces the evolution of Medicare physician payment policy from the program’s beginning to the passage of the 2015 Medicare Access and CHIP Reauthorization Act (MACRA). Based on interviews, primary data sources, and an extensive review of the secondary literature, the authors provide an analysis of: (1) some of the most significant events, trends and factors that led to the Act’s passage, (2) MACRA’s basic design and the primary options it gives to physicians, and (3) the major concerns many physician representatives and health policy experts have about MACRA. As the majority of physicians will likely feel the need …

Table Of Contents

Saint Louis University Journal of Health Law & Policy

No abstract provided.

Putting The Brakes On Consumer Driven Medicaid: The Failures And Harms Of Healthy Indiana Plan (Hip) 2.0, Sidney D. Watson

Saint Louis University Journal of Health Law & Policy

In January 2015, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) granted Indiana a Section 1115 Demonstration Waiver to experiment with consumer driven Medicaid. The Healthy Indiana Plan (HIP) 2.0 combines a $2,500 high deductible with a Personal Responsibility and Wellness (POWER) Account, premiums, and copays. Described as “the most significant departure from traditional Medicaid ever approved,” Indiana claims that the POWER Account, the signature feature of HIP 2.0, is “similar to a health savings account (HSA)” and encourages members to be more cost-conscious consumers, helps familiarize members with how commercial health insurance works, and encourages continuous Medicaid enrollment. …

The Body Politic: Federalism As Feminism In Health Reform, Elizabeth Y. Mccuskey

Saint Louis University Journal of Health Law & Policy

This essay illuminates how modern health law has been mainstreaming feminism under the auspices of health equity and social determinants research. Feminism shares with public health and health policy both the empirical impulse to identify inequality and the normative value of pursing equity in treatment. Using the Affordable Care Act’s federal health insurance reforms as a case study of health equity in action, the essay exposes the feminist undercurrents of health insurance reform and the impulse toward mutuality in a body politic. The essay concludes by revisiting—from a feminist perspective—scholars’ arguments that equity in health insurance is essential for human …