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Articles 1 - 30 of 290
Full-Text Articles in Law
We(Ed) Hold These Truths To Be Self Evident: All Things Cannabis Are Inequitable, Garrett I. Halydier
We(Ed) Hold These Truths To Be Self Evident: All Things Cannabis Are Inequitable, Garrett I. Halydier
University of Massachusetts Law Review
Current approaches to social equity in the cannabis industry continue to fail to promote racial equity while simultaneously exacerbating gender, environmental, and other inequities. To better understand the structural dynamics underlying this phenomenon, I first present a multi-disciplinary recounting of not only the racial inequities, but also the stigma, business, research, energy, sex and gender, hemp, and international inequities of the War on Drugs. This serves as the foundation for a compilation of the structural and theoretical reasons for how current social equity policies, whether targeting the cannabis industry, community reinvestment, social justice, or access equity, will only continue to …
The Cruel And Unusual Punishment Of Prison Rape: Why The Prison Rape Elimination Act Failed And How To Fix It, Savannah G. Plaisted
The Cruel And Unusual Punishment Of Prison Rape: Why The Prison Rape Elimination Act Failed And How To Fix It, Savannah G. Plaisted
University of Massachusetts Law Review
Recent studies show the rate of sexual abuse endured in prisons has been steadily increasing. To remedy this issue, the Prison Rape Elimination Act was passed in 2003, however it has had no legitimate impact on the rate of sexual abuse in prisons due to the absence of mandatory rules upon prisons and a private right of action. This note will argue that prison rape is an Eighth Amendment violation but is not punished as one and that the Prison Rape Elimination Act failed to provide Survivors of prison sexual abuse with any legitimate recourse against violators of the law. …
Failing To Learn The Lessons Of Madoff: Problems With Applying Iqbal To Fraud Claims, Howard Gutman, Chris Garino
Failing To Learn The Lessons Of Madoff: Problems With Applying Iqbal To Fraud Claims, Howard Gutman, Chris Garino
University of Massachusetts Law Review
The Iqbal standard requires all civil actions filed in federal courts to provide detailed proof at the pleading stage for the claim to proceed. Under this standard, cases are adjudicated without the aid of discovery or deposition of witnesses. Cases are decided at the pleading stage based on the documents and statements provided by the one accused of fraud. The tools to uncover deception are not available at this stage. This article argues that the Iqbal pleading standard fails to allow civil courts to adequately detect and adjudicate fraud claims. This article explores fraudulent financial schemes, the Iqbal standard, the …
The Perfect Storm: A Look At The Robinhood Shutdown And The Shady Security Practices Of Payment For Order Flow, Gamification, And Clickwrap Agreements, Justin M. Taylor
The Perfect Storm: A Look At The Robinhood Shutdown And The Shady Security Practices Of Payment For Order Flow, Gamification, And Clickwrap Agreements, Justin M. Taylor
University of Massachusetts Law Review
SEC guidelines and Federal Courts have stated, and recently upheld, that brokerdealers do not owe a fiduciary duty to retail investors if they do not provide them with investment advice, but this opens up retail investors to significant and costly mistreatment by financial institutions with no avenue for recourse. Using payment for order flow, gamification, and click-wrap agreements by broker-dealers creates a conflict of interest between themselves and the retail investors they act on behalf of. This article argues that retail investors should have an avenue of recourse against financial institutions when they breach their duty to these investors by …
Forced To Play And Forced To Pay: The Indigent Counsel Fee In Massachusetts As A Cost Of Being Charged With A Crime, Stanislaw Krawiecki
Forced To Play And Forced To Pay: The Indigent Counsel Fee In Massachusetts As A Cost Of Being Charged With A Crime, Stanislaw Krawiecki
University of Massachusetts Law Review
When indigent defendants in Massachusetts are charged with a crime and receive a court-appointed lawyer, they are also charged something else: a fee. This $150 fee is imposed on criminal defendants by the state as soon as they receive a constitutionally guaranteed "free" legal defense. The Article focuses on this inherent contradiction and identifies its far-reaching effects in undermining individuals’ constitutional protections. Massachusetts’s indigent counsel fee "chills" the right to counsel, creating a straightforward result for indigent individuals who are faced with a choice between paying for a "free" lawyer and not disclaiming their constitutional right to one. The deeper …
Blatant Discrimination Within Federal Law: A 14th Amendment Analysis Of Medicaid’S Imd Exclusion, J. Michael E. Gray, Madeline Easdale
Blatant Discrimination Within Federal Law: A 14th Amendment Analysis Of Medicaid’S Imd Exclusion, J. Michael E. Gray, Madeline Easdale
University of Massachusetts Law Review
A discriminatory piece of Medicaid law, the institution for mental diseases (IMD) exclusion, is denying people with serious mental illness equal levels of treatment as those with only primary healthcare needs. The IMD exclusion denies the use of federal funding in psychiatric hospitals for inpatient care. This article discusses the history and collateral implications of the IMD exclusion, then examines it through the lens of the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment, argues that people with severe mental illness constitute a quasi-suspect class, and that application of intermediate scrutiny would render the IMD exclusion unenforceable.
Determining What’S Not Obvious: Should A Reasonable Expectation Of Success Invalidate Patent Applications?, Natalie Peters
Determining What’S Not Obvious: Should A Reasonable Expectation Of Success Invalidate Patent Applications?, Natalie Peters
University of Massachusetts Law Review
Patents are necessary to incentivize innovation because they grant owners the right to protect inventions. To be patentable, an invention must be useful, it must be novel, and it must not be obvious. But the judiciary has struggled to apply the latter requirement, non-obviousness, particularly for highly technical innovations subject to FDA regulations. For these innovations, the progression through the regulatory jungle can take ten to twenty years and millions of dollars (2.6 billion for a pharmaceutical drug). The complexities of the regulatory process can also render an innovation unprotected by patent rights because, by the end of the process, …
Towards An Understanding Of Critical Race Theory: Dispelling False Claims And Misrepresentations, Shiv Narayan Persaud
Towards An Understanding Of Critical Race Theory: Dispelling False Claims And Misrepresentations, Shiv Narayan Persaud
University of Massachusetts Law Review
The Article discusses critical race theory as a paradigm shift, and further dispels the notion that it promotes a form of Marxism. With the rise of political attitudes toward seeking legislation to denounce CRT, it is incumbent upon those in legal studies to investigate and bring the value of CRT into the forefront. The purpose of this Article is to open a new discussion on these issues, rooted in promoting cultural competency in the legal profession.
Neither A Borrower Nor A Lender Be: Analyzing The Sec’S Reaction To Crypto Lending, Carol R. Goforth
Neither A Borrower Nor A Lender Be: Analyzing The Sec’S Reaction To Crypto Lending, Carol R. Goforth
University of Massachusetts Law Review
In June 2021, the largest U.S.-based crypto exchange, Coinbase, announced plans to allow its customers to earn 4% interest on deposits of certain cryptoassets through a new “Coinbase Lend” program. Despite a positive reaction from its customers, on September 7, 2021, Coinbase announced it had received a notice from the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) to the effect that the Commission had preliminarily concluded that the proposed Lend program was a security and that Coinbase would be in violation of the federal securities laws if it proceeded. The threat of enforcement caused Coinbase to terminate the program. Shortly thereafter, in …
“That’S The Hate They’Re Giving Us, Baby, A System Designed Against Us.” The Restorative Justice Solution To The School-To-Prison Pipeline, Amanda Iocono
University of Massachusetts Law Review
The school-to-prison pipeline is one of the nation’s biggest challenges as students of color, LGBTQIA+ students, and students with disabilities are being funneled into prisons. Thousands of articles have been written on the existence of the school-to prison pipeline and potential solutions. Federal and state policies have shifted to combat the pipeline, but there is still a large proportion of our nation’s students being criminalized on account of their looks and behaviors. This Note argues that the school-to-prison pipeline is a systemic practice of the American education system, and the education system is functioning exactly as designed. The continued use …
Rage Against The Machine: Reducing Robocall Abuse To Protect At-Risk Consumers, Nicole Egan
Rage Against The Machine: Reducing Robocall Abuse To Protect At-Risk Consumers, Nicole Egan
University of Massachusetts Law Review
For most people, robocalls are nothing more than an annoying side-effect of owning a cell phone today. But a successful robocall scheme is still capable of wreaking financial and psychological havoc on its victims. Senior citizens and cognitively impaired individuals are often targeted by fraudulent phone calls or texts because they may have trouble understanding how to identify and protect themselves from robocall abuse. This Note proposes a collaborative solution to this problem by calling on the judiciary and legislatures to minimize the amount of robocalls received by American telephone consumers. By adopting a broader understanding of the law and …
Life’S Complexities: Rethinking Barnette, The Flag, Totalitarianism, And The First Amendment, Daniel Gordon
Life’S Complexities: Rethinking Barnette, The Flag, Totalitarianism, And The First Amendment, Daniel Gordon
University of Massachusetts Law Review
This article rethinks the meaning of the 1943 Barnette case and questions the canonical status of Justice Robert Jackson’s famous opinion for the majority. On the assumption that we have lost sight of the logic that had been used to uphold compulsory flag salute laws, the article traces the many state court opinions on this topic prior to World War II. Also brought under scrutiny is Jackson’s usage of the term “totalitarian” to describe flag salute laws, a quasi-theological term promoted first and foremost by the Jehovah’s Witnesses. Jackson’s opinion in Barnette, while rhetorically compelling, was out of sync with …
How To Expand Rape By Deception And Protect Consent, Ricardo Licea
How To Expand Rape By Deception And Protect Consent, Ricardo Licea
University of Massachusetts Law Review
The trend towards accepting the violation of consent as the underlying wrong addressed by rape law conflicts with the almost universal rejection of rape by deception. Rape by deception is limited to fraud in the factum, however the exclusion of fraud in the inducement finds no support under a consent framework. The principal objections to the expansion of rape by deception are that it will criminalize common behavior, that rape by deception produces only minor harm, and that self-protection is a viable alternative. Analogizing from the criminalization of deception to obtain money shows that the criminal deception statutes need not …
The Powerpoint Channel, Lynn M. Lopucki
The Powerpoint Channel, Lynn M. Lopucki
University of Massachusetts Law Review
This Article is the first to present a comprehensive theory and style for using PowerPoint to teach law. The theory is that presentation software adds a channel of communication that enables the use of images in combination with words. Studies have shown that combination to substantially enhance learning. The style is based on an extensive literature regarding the use of PowerPoint in teaching law and other higher education subjects as well as the author’s experimentation with PowerPoint over two decades. The Article states fourteen principles for slide or slide sequence design, provides the arguments from the literature for and against …
The President Who Cried Voter Fraud: A Recurring Theme Of Baseless Allegations, Alyssa F. Mccartney
The President Who Cried Voter Fraud: A Recurring Theme Of Baseless Allegations, Alyssa F. Mccartney
University of Massachusetts Law Review
In 2019, Pennsylvania enacted Act 77, the first update to the Pennsylvania Election Code in nearly eighty years. Passed on a bipartisan basis, the law included a measure that permitted “no reason” mail-in ballots. Act 77 allowed any registered voter to request a ballot by mail, fill it out in the applicable time frame, and send it back to be processed. In the wake of a global pandemic that left Americans unable to leave their homes, this necessary update caused quite the controversy only a few months after it was passed. The primary election used the updated process for the …
Taking The Rule Of Law Seriously, Michele Cotton
Taking The Rule Of Law Seriously, Michele Cotton
University of Massachusetts Law Review
American legal scholars and jurists have given the rule of law their sustained attention, and the international community has treated it as an important measure of societal well-being. But still the rule of law is not taken seriously. For one thing, little effort has been made to craft a definition of the rule of law that is actually useful. And even when legal scholarship does try at empiricism that could illuminate the vitality of our rule of law, it generally starts from the wrong hypotheses and uses the wrong methods. It focuses on how to achieve “access to justice” and …
An Initial Examination Of Computer Programs As Creative Works, Trina C. Kershaw, Ralph D. Clifford, Firas Khatib, Adnan El-Nasan
An Initial Examination Of Computer Programs As Creative Works, Trina C. Kershaw, Ralph D. Clifford, Firas Khatib, Adnan El-Nasan
Faculty Publications
Products from many domains (art, music, engineering design, literature, etc.) are considered to be creative works, but there is a misconception that computer programs are limited by set expressions and thus have no room for creativity. To determine whether computer programs are creative works, we collected programs from 23 advanced graduate students that were written to solve simple and complex bioinformatics problems. These programs were assessed for their variability of expression using a new measurement that we designed. They were also evaluated on several elements of their creativity using a version of Cropley and Kaufman’s (2012) Creative Solution Diagnosis Scale …
From Nucleotides To Nuanced Law: The Value Of An Incremental Approach To Experimentation In State-Level Genetic Anti-Discrimination Legislation, Katelyn Fisher
From Nucleotides To Nuanced Law: The Value Of An Incremental Approach To Experimentation In State-Level Genetic Anti-Discrimination Legislation, Katelyn Fisher
University of Massachusetts Law Review
A person’s genetic information tells a detailed story of what someone looks like, who her relatives are, and even what illnesses she may develop. This information, as enlightening as it may be, can be especially damaging when utilized in a discriminatory way. This Note explores how the protections under the Genetic Non Discrimination Act of 2008 will no longer be sufficient for protecting individuals from genetic discrimination as the use of genetic information becomes more commonplace. The questions become: Where do we start? How and where should protections that extend to circumstances not covered by GINA be created in a …
Perils Of The Reverse Silver Platter Under U.S. Border Patrol Operations, D. Anthony
Perils Of The Reverse Silver Platter Under U.S. Border Patrol Operations, D. Anthony
University of Massachusetts Law Review
In the face of expanding U.S. Border Patrol operations across the country, that agency often acquires evidence during its searches that is unrelated to immigration or other federal crimes but may involve state crimes. States are then faced with the question of whether to accept such evidence for state prosecutions when it was lawfully obtained by federal agents consistent with federal law but in violation of the state’s own search and seizure provisions. Sometimes referred to as “reverse silver platter” evidence, states have come to widely varying conclusions as to the admissibility of federally obtained evidence that would clearly have …
A Breath Of Fresh Air: A Constitutional Amendment Legalizing Marijuana Through An Article V Convention Of The States, Ryan C. Griffith, Esq.
A Breath Of Fresh Air: A Constitutional Amendment Legalizing Marijuana Through An Article V Convention Of The States, Ryan C. Griffith, Esq.
University of Massachusetts Law Review
Criminal enforcement of anti-marijuana laws by the United States federal government has been non-sensical for more than twenty years. Culminating, ultimately, in an anomaly within American jurisprudence when California legalized marijuana in 1996 in direct violation of federal law, yet the federal government did little to stop it. Since then, a majority of states have followed California and legalized marijuana. Currently, thirty-six states and the District of Columbia have legalized medical marijuana despite federal law. Every year billions of dollars are spent on the federal enforcement of anti-marijuana laws while states collect billions in tax revenue from marijuana sales. Even …
Biometric Data Regulation And The Right Of Publicity: A Path To Regaining Autonomy Over Our Commodified Identity, Lisa Raimondi
Biometric Data Regulation And The Right Of Publicity: A Path To Regaining Autonomy Over Our Commodified Identity, Lisa Raimondi
University of Massachusetts Law Review
This Note explores how a right of publicity action might be used to address present day concerns regarding biometric data ownership rights where an individual’s likeness can essentially be bought and sold. As social networking and use of the internet has grown, so has the opportunity for people to engage with others and share their lives. However, that opportunity also comes with risk. More and more, people are required to accept the terms of use and privacy policies detailing how their biometric data will be collected and stored if they want to download and use certain technological applications. Most of …
Cartoon Contracts And The Proactive Visualization Of Law, Michael D. Murray
Cartoon Contracts And The Proactive Visualization Of Law, Michael D. Murray
University of Massachusetts Law Review
Contracts have always relied on text first, foremost, and usually exclusively. Yet, this approach leaves many users of contracts in the dark as to the actual meaning of the transactional documents and instruments they enter into. The average contract routinely uses language that only lawyers, law-trained readers, and highly literate persons can truly understand. There is a movement in the law in the United States and many other nations called the visualization of law movement that attempts to bridge these gaps in contractual communication by using highly visual instruments. In appropriate circumstances, even cartoons and comic book forms of sequential …
The Development Of Intellectual Disabilities In United States Capital Cases And The Modern Application Of Moore V. Texas To State Court Decisions, Dr. Alexander Updegrove
The Development Of Intellectual Disabilities In United States Capital Cases And The Modern Application Of Moore V. Texas To State Court Decisions, Dr. Alexander Updegrove
University of Massachusetts Law Review
Although in 1989 the Supreme Court of the United States initially held that the Eighth Amendment did not prohibit executing persons with intellectual disabilities in Penry v. Lynaugh, in 2002 it subsequently reversed this decision in Atkins v. Virginia, citing changing state legislation. Since the Atkins decision, state courts have interpreted the Court’s Atkins provisions in a variety of ways, some more faithfully than others. As a result, the Court provided additional clarification in its 2014 and 2015 Hall v. Florida and Brumfield v. Cain decisions, ruling that states must apply a Standard Error of Measurement of +5/-5 to all …
Spring 2021 Newsletter: The Docket, Emma Wood
Spring 2021 Newsletter: The Docket, Emma Wood
Law Library Newsletter
Copy of the Spring 2021 issue of the UMass Law Library Newsletter, The Docket.
Feminist Perspectives On Disaster, Pandemics, And Intimate Partner Violence, Margaret Drew
Feminist Perspectives On Disaster, Pandemics, And Intimate Partner Violence, Margaret Drew
Faculty Publications
The COVID-19 pandemic brought international awareness to the likelihood of increased abuse of those in abusive intimate partner relationships because of the forced confinement with their abusers (Bettinger-Lopez and Bro, A double pandemic: domestic violence in the age of COVID 19, Council on Foreign Relations. https://www.cfr.org/in-brief/double-pandemic-domestic-violence-age-covid-19, 2020). While this awareness was much discussed, assistance to survivors of abuse was limited because survivors often could not reach out for help, nor could advocates wishing to offer assistance safely reach in to advise them (Taub, A new Covid-19 crisis: domestic abuse rises worldwide. https://www.nytimes.com/2020/04/06/world/coronavirus-domestic-violence.html, 2020). The ever-present influence of the …
Now I Know My “Acbs”: The Right To Literacy Following An Incremental Path, Gregory J. O'Neill
Now I Know My “Acbs”: The Right To Literacy Following An Incremental Path, Gregory J. O'Neill
University of Massachusetts Law Review
It is a tragic irony that a nation with enormous wealth will not provide the most basic of education rights to its citizens. Despite continual judicial and legislative measures to ensure access to education, or a facsimile thereof, no judicial or legislative body has taken the step to ensure that literacy is a fundamental right for the citizens of the United States. The issue has been, and continues to be, presented to both Congress and the courts. While Congress has passed legislation to some degree, both institutions have largely failed to ensure the population receives the fundamental right of literacy. …
Meat Wars: The Unsettled Intersection Of Federal And State Food Labeling Regulations For Plant-Based Meat Alternatives, Shareefah Taylor
Meat Wars: The Unsettled Intersection Of Federal And State Food Labeling Regulations For Plant-Based Meat Alternatives, Shareefah Taylor
University of Massachusetts Law Review
Due to technological advances and the rise in popularity of plant-based meat alternatives (i.e., Beyond Meat, the Impossible Burger, etc.), nearly thirty states have proposed or enacted legislation to limit which foods can be labeled with terms that have traditionally been used to describe products derived from animal carcasses (i.e., meat, burger, sausage, etc.). Fueled in many places by the cattle industry, the states’ legislation proposes stricter guidelines than the federal counterparts in an attempt to specifically prohibit plant-based, cell-based (lab-grown meat), and even insect-based products from being labeled in meat-associated terms. To date, lawsuits have been filed by opponents …
The Unwritten Rules Of Liberal Democracy, Charles W. Collier
The Unwritten Rules Of Liberal Democracy, Charles W. Collier
University of Massachusetts Law Review
This Article is set amidst the distinctly unsettled and unsettling state of governmental practices, legislative policy, and presidential politics of contemporary America. Immediacy, too, introduces its own uncertainty—as compared to the comfortable vantage point of the distant future. But, as I shall argue, there is no realistic alternative to beginning in medias res. To address these issues as they inherently demand, the usual precedents and protocols and precautions must be set aside—if they are not already “gone with the wind.”6 Since the 2016 Presidential Election, and even before, threats to liberal democracy have emerged, in plausible form, as never before …
The First Sale Doctrine And Foreign Sales: The Economic Implications In The United States Textbook Market, Garry A. Gabison
The First Sale Doctrine And Foreign Sales: The Economic Implications In The United States Textbook Market, Garry A. Gabison
University of Massachusetts Law Review
This Article investigates the impact of the Kirtsaeng decision. After discussing the first sale doctrine, this Article presents the issues around implementing a worldwide first sale doctrine. International treaties attempt to ensure that authors can benefit from their work by affording them similar protections in different jurisdictions. But a worldwide first sale exhaustion limits the ability of copyright holders to profit from their work because it allows the author to compete with its own work that had been priced differently in different jurisdictions. Finally, this Article tests whether, in the United States, the price of textbooks has been affected by …
Spring 2020 Newsletter: The Docket, Emma M. Wood
Spring 2020 Newsletter: The Docket, Emma M. Wood
Law Library Newsletter
Copy of the Spring 2020 issue of the UMass Law Library Newsletter, The Docket.