Law Commons^™

Cruel And Usual: Contaminated Water In New York State Prisons, Shannon Haupt, Phil Miller

City University of New York Law Review

People who are currently or formerly incarcerated in New York State prisons know that the water inside is often not safe to drink. However, when they advocate for access to clean water, they are regularly met with retaliation and denial.

This article brings together firsthand accounts, case law, and ongoing investigations regarding water quality in New York State prisons. Contaminated water is not an anomaly in prisons–it is one of many severe conditions that people in prison are forced to live under which threaten their physical, mental, and emotional health. The daily abuses and harms suffered by incarcerated people are …

Domestic Violence And Leave Laws: How New York Can Improve Its Leave Policies Based On The Laws Of Washington, D.C. And New Jersey, Nusrat J. Khan

City University of New York Law Review

Although intimate partner violence often starts in the privacy of one’s home, its impact spills over in almost all aspects of the victim’s life. The effects of violence are tangible – physical and emotional harm to the person and their dependents, loss of educational or employment opportunities, financial problems, interactions with the criminal justice system, and ongoing legal issues. To address the loss of employment, federal and state governments have implemented leave laws to offer job protection for victims of intimate partner violence. Leave laws are an essential aspect of employment as the ability to take leave from work provides …

Volume 25.1, Footnote Forum: Editors' Note, Natasha Bynum, Colby Williams

City University of New York Law Review

No abstract provided.

Virtuous Prosecutors?, Steven Zeidman

City University of New York Law Review

A movement is building for President Biden to rewrite the book on judicial appointments and look to civil rights lawyers and public defenders instead of the usual crop of federal prosecutors.While the movement is grounded in the need to diversify the breadth of experience on the bench, it could also be interpreted as, or lead to, an effort to reexamine the exalted role of the prosecutor. Prosecutors were historically seen as noble and righteous protectors of virtue and morality. Their prominence led to increased resources, power, and influence and over time they began to fill the ranks of the judiciary, …

The Correctional Institute Of Nothing, Frank Pruitt

City University of New York Law Review

Rehabilitation programs are crucial to address the conditions that lead people to commit crimes. Currently, effective rehabilitation programs are not offered in prisons; instead, the carceral system relies upon the erroneous assumption that incarceration itself fixes individual and social problems. In fact, prison conditions further entrench problematic behaviors. True rehabilitation allows incarcerated individuals to confront the offenses they committed, adopt new ways of thinking, and heal underlying trauma. The author, who has been incarcerated since 1989, identifies the lack of rehabilitation opportunities in prisons and offers a better, more humane way forward.

Q&A With Felix Sitthivong, Felix Sitthivong

City University of New York Law Review

No abstract provided.

Front Matter

City University of New York Law Review

No abstract provided.

Supreme Confusion About Causality At The Supreme Court, Issa Kohler-Hausmann, Robin Dembroff

City University of New York Law Review

Twice in the 2020 term, in Bostock and Comcast, the Supreme Court doubled down on a particular interpretation of how “but-for causation” applies to antidiscrimination statutes. According to the Court’s reasoning, an outcome is discriminatory because of some status—say, sex or race—if the outcome would not have occurred “but-for” the plaintiff’s status. We think this reasoning embeds profound conceptual errors that render the decisions deeply confused. Furthermore, those conceptual errors tend to limit the reach of antidiscrimination law. In this essay, we first unpack the ambiguity of the Court’s interpretation and application of but-for causal reasoning. We then show that …

Who’S Afraid Of Bob Jones? “Fundamental National Public Policy” And Critical Race Theory In A Delicate Democracy, Lynn D. Lu

City University of New York Law Review

Calls to defund critical race theory aim to freeze civil rights progress where it stood decades ago with the formal prohibition of intentional race discrimination in federally funded programs. In the notorious case of Bob Jones University v. United States, 461 U.S. 574 (1983), the U.S. Supreme Court confronted the federal tax exemption for public charities and ruled that the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) properly withheld tax-exempt status from otherwise qualifying private religious schools that denied admission to students based on race. In particular, the Bob Jones Court recognized the “fundamental national public policy” against racial segregation as a compelling …

Challenging Weapons Deals Between The United States And Israel: Limitations And Prospects, Ryan J. Mcnamara

City University of New York Law Review

Weapons deals with Israel violate the plain language and policy considerations of United States’ statutes blocking such aid to serial violators of human rights and nuclear rogue states. This Note seeks to review paths to enforcing these statutes, as well as the political forces hampering such efforts.

The Impeachment Trials Of Donald John Trump: How Senate Jurors Strengthened The Case Against Federal Felon-Juror Exclusion, James M. Binnall

City University of New York Law Review

In 2020 and then again in 2021, former President Donald John Trump faced an impeachment trial. Prior to each, a parade of Senators—charged with acting as jurors in the matter—publicly stated their verdict preference, some even discounting the need for evidence. In our federal court system, citizens with a felony criminal history are permanently barred from serving as a juror. In justifying this categorical exclusion, courts and lawmakers primarily allege that those who have been convicted of a felony lack the requisite character to serve, as they have shown a propensity to flout the law. In short, proponents of exclusion …

Front Matter

City University of New York Law Review

No abstract provided.

Racist Animal Agriculture, Courtney G. Lee

City University of New York Law Review

Industrialized animal agriculture—concentrated animal feeding operations (“CAFOs”) and slaughterhouses—is inherently oppressive of both nonhumans and humans. This Article seeks to expose the human side of that exploitation, specifically examining how industrial animal agriculture was built upon and continues to propagate racism. The harms to humans of color perpetuated by this system are myriad and serious, ranging from physical to psychological and from troubling to life-threatening. This Article first examines how the animal agribusiness industry has harmed farmers and ranchers of color since the early 20th century through government-sponsored racist policies and practices. Second, the Article studies harms to workers, from …

The Color Of Local Government: Observations Of A Brown Buffalo On Racial Impact Statements In The Movement For Water Justice, Tom I. Romero Ii

City University of New York Law Review

Industrialized animal agriculture—concentrated animal feeding operations (“CAFOs”) and slaughterhouses—is inherently oppressive of both nonhumans and humans. This Article seeks to expose the human side of that exploitation, specifically examining how industrial animal agriculture was built upon and continues to propagate racism. The harms to humans of color perpetuated by this system are myriad and serious, ranging from physical to psychological and from troubling to life-threatening. This Article first examines how the animal agribusiness industry has harmed farmers and ranchers of color since the early 20th century through government-sponsored racist policies and practices. Second, the Article studies harms to workers, from …

Why Reforms Are Not Enough: Justice And Accountability Reimagined, Felix Sitthivong

City University of New York Law Review

To address police brutality, we must ground our responses in abolition rather than reform. Abolition demands that we address the root causes of police brutality and transform society into a place where we can thrive together. On the other hand, reform makes surface-level changes while maintaining the core elements of our inherently flawed policing and carceral systems. The author grounds his arguments for abolition based on his personal experiences and life accounts, and on the ongoing abolitionist efforts in the wake of George Floyd. In so doing, the author challenges us to think creatively and broadly about what kind of …

Restorative Justice In Cases Of Sexual Harm, Alexa Sardina, Alissa R. Ackerman

City University of New York Law Review

Restorative justice for cases of sexual harm offers a trauma-informed and evidence-based approach to healing and prevention that current criminal legal options do not. The literature is clear that current sex crimes policies and practices have been ineffective at reducing rates of sexual violence. Similarly, current criminal legal practices fail to hold people accountable for the sexual harms they’ve caused and do little to support survivors who come forward. Unlike the criminal legal system, restorative justice provides survivors with a safe platform within which to talk about their experience(s) of sexual harm on their terms and voice their individual needs …

Decarceration Means Funding The Incarcerated, David Campbell

City University of New York Law Review

While there are varied assertions as to what “defunding the police” and “reinvesting in communities” mean, I propose that one step towards this goal would be to redistribute the funds from Corrections Offices and bureaucratic management to incarcerated workers to ensure they are paid a suitable wage. If an increase in inmate pay appears outrageous to some, it is only because it entails beginning to treat inmates as full-fledged human beings and, in doing so, upsets the power dynamic between the incarcerated and their keepers.

Q&A With David Campbell, David Campbell

City University of New York Law Review

No abstract provided.

Q&A With Frank Pruitt, Frank Pruitt

City University of New York Law Review

No abstract provided.

Challenging Reform: A Formerly Incarcerated Student Roundtable Discussion, Colby Williams, Phil Miller, Jordan Sudol

City University of New York Law Review

No abstract provided.

Death By A Thousand Duck Bites In A No-Man’S Land: Navigating Section 230’S Scope And Impact In A Changing Internet And World, Val Rigodon

City University of New York Law Review

Section 230 of Title 47 of the United States Code, colloquially known as Section 230, is hailed by many as the law that created the internet. It was conceived to promote the growth of the internet by protecting internet platforms from liability for third-party speech that was out of their control. However, while the internet has changed and grown more intrusive in everyday life, Section 230 has not grown to reflect that. It has been broadened in a way that allows internet platforms to escape liability. People are not generally able to hold internet platforms accountable for harms that were …

Regulatory Theater: How Investor-Owned Utilities And Captured Oversight Agencies Perpetuate Environmental Racism, Ruhan Nagra, Jeanne Bergman, Jasmine Graham

City University of New York Law Review

It is well-documented that fossil fuel infrastructure—and its attendant health and safety effects—is disproportionately located in and near Black, Brown, and low-income communities. This Article explores the role of a key administrative proceeding—the utility “rate case”—in facilitating this inequitable distribution of environmental burdens. In theory, the utility rate case process enables regulatory oversight of proposed changes in gas and electric utility companies’ fees and investments. But in an energy system centered on investor-owned monopoly utilities, the rate case process is the mechanism by which these companies ensure their continued ability to secure profits at the expense of a captive market. …

Cruel And Usual, Michael Maskin, Shannon Haupt, Jennifer Grossman, Panagioti Tsolkas, Phil Miller, Ramon Henriquez

City University of New York Law Review

A transcription of the Footnote Forum Podcast, a CUNY Law Review Production

Freedom Should Be Free: An Interview With The Bail Project, Rachel Goldman, Megan Diebboll, Asia Johnson

City University of New York Law Review

No abstract provided.

Front Matter

City University of New York Law Review

No abstract provided.

Trans Adults Deserve A Right To Sue For Gender-Affirming Care Denied At Youth, Eliza Chung

City University of New York Law Review

This comment advocates that the statute of limitations be extended to permit adult transgender plaintiffs to bring civil claims against medical care providers in response to being denied gender-affirming care when they were children. The justifications surrounding the passage of the Child Victims Act of 2019 serve as a parallel to this issue. Like adult victims of child sex abuse, potential plaintiffs in this class are often emotionally unready to bring timely claims due to the traumas of being closeted and of being forced to endure an undesired puberty. The tort of negligent malpractice is a potential cause of action …

Paradox And Possibility: Movement Lawyering During The Covid-19 Housing Crisis, Marika Dias

City University of New York Law Review

The COVID-19 pandemic put over 22 million U.S. tenants at risk of eviction. It also triggered bolder movement organizing, and demands for radical and enduring solutions to the ongoing housing crisis. Over decades, the field of movement lawyering—legal work that supports grassroots organizing and movement building—has been growing stronger and amassing a body of theoretical and practical frameworks. The potential mass eviction crisis, and the bold campaigns to prevent it, urgently called on movement lawyers to contribute their skills and knowledge to grassroots organizing efforts. This article examines the practice of movement lawyering through the lens of the author’s legal …

Reviving The Civic Body: Campaign For Suffrage Inside Prisons, Felony Enfranchisement In D.C., And Lawyering For Abolition, Uruj Sheikh

City University of New York Law Review

In July 2020, in the midst of a global uprising proclaiming Black Lives Matter, Washington D.C. became the first incorporated jurisdiction of the United States to abolish felony disenfranchisement by restoring voting rights for individuals in prison. The vision, strategy, and analysis behind voter restoration in D.C. is a case study on legal advocacy in tandem with movements for structural change. The abolition of felony disenfranchisement in D.C. is best understood through a vision of abolition of a different kind—the abolition of carceral state violence, of prisons, of punitive measures under the guise of justice. By orienting voter enfranchisement on …

Voting Rights Lawyering In Crisis, Emily Rong Zhang

City University of New York Law Review

“In crisis” can both mean during crisis or in a state of crisis. This Article is about voting rights lawyering in reference to both of those meanings: voting rights lawyering during the Covid-19 pandemic reveals voting rights lawyering in trouble. Even before the pandemic, legal commentators and experts have sounded the alarm about dwindling legal protections for voting rights in the United States. Suppressive voting laws have been repeatedly upheld; structural reform litigation of election administration has become virtually nonexistent. That even lawsuits brought to make the vote accessible during a historic pandemic were met with much resistance and little …

Coronavirus Aid, Relief, And Economic Security For Whom? Irs Overreaches In Denying Cares Act Economic Impact Payments To Migrant Workers And Incarcerated Individuals, Justin Schwegel

City University of New York Law Review

Individuals who received advance refunds under the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act met the eligibility criteria in their 2019 tax filings (or 2018 filings if they had not yet filed 2019 taxes). Advance refunds are treated as a refund of an overpayment of 2018 or 2019 taxes. Subsequent changes in tax filing status in 2020 do not retroactively make one ineligible for an advance refund. On May 6, the IRS issued guidance on its Economic Impact Payment Information Center website instructing incarcerated individuals and certain resident aliens that they should return the economic impact payments (also called …