Law Commons^™

The Hidden Struggle: Challenges Older Women Face In Nevada, Annie Vong

Student Research

In 2020, almost one in five Nevadans was over the age of 65.[1] However, within this age group, women outnumber men due to longer life expectancies[2] and migration patterns. Women over 65 years of age make up an estimated 18.1% of the female population in Nevada.[3] Of the male population in Nevada, 15.1% are over 65 years of age.[4] Older women are less likely to be married, are less likely to have completed a bachelor’s degree, are more likely to drop out of the labor force, and are more likely to be living in poverty in …

No-Injury And Piggyback Class Actions: When Product-Defect Class Actions Do Not Benefit Consumers, Philip S. Goldberg, Andrew J. Trask

University of Massachusetts Law Review

Class counsel are more frequently filing product-based class actions that, whether successful or not, offer few practical benefits to real consumers or class members. These no-benefit class actions cause the unnecessary expense of the courts’ time and resources, and they often fail to provide actual value to class members while still producing substantial attorneys’ fees. This article explores why strategic vagueness in plaintiffs’ filings and a lack of vigorous analysis by the courts have allowed no-benefit class actions to unnecessarily consume court resources. The article concludes by offering suggestions for how courts can alleviate some of this pressure, primarily by …

Empower The Imposters In The Legal Field: Teaching & Practicing Mindfulness For Letting Go Of Unproductive Thoughts, Katerina Lewinbuk, Kurstin Grady

Northern Illinois University Law Review

Imposter syndrome, initially coined “imposter phenomenon” by psychologists Pauline Clance and Suzanne Imes, refers to “a psychological experience of intellectual and professional fraudulence.” Those who suffer from imposter syndrome typically experience an all-encompassing fear they are not as intelligent, successful, or accomplished as their qualifications suggest, and thus are bound to ultimately be exposed as “frauds.” To counter these feelings, those who struggle with imposter syndrome set unrealistically high goals for themselves, only to be dissatisfied with any performance that is short of perfection. Over time, this ongoing psychological pressure leads to poor emotional well-being, decreased senses of self-confidence and …

Anti-Lgbt Legislation In Florida: A Prime Example Of States Mentally Harming Lgbt Youth, Kyla Tinsley

Northern Illinois University Law Review

While there has been a growing societal acceptance of LGBT individuals throughout the decades, anti-LGBT bills and laws within the states are on the rise—in particular, bills against LGBT youth. The most famous anti-LGBT law currently in place is Florida’s “Parental Rights in Education” law. The prevalence and inconsistent application of such legislation raises constitutional questions surrounding the rights of LGBT youth, as well as the negative effects the legislation has had on LGBT youth’s mental health and their perception of the legal system they are supposed to trust in and rely on. This Article discusses the impact state anti-LGBT …

Strengthening The Illinois Freedom Of Information Act: Affording The Administrative Enforcement Necessary For Government Transparency And Accountability, Joshua Jenkins

Northern Illinois Law Review Supplement

The Illinois Freedom of Information Act was amended in 2009 to avail a greater level of government transparency. The amendments to the Act have given Illinois some of the transparency the Legislature sought to provide, however, there are some issues with the administrative remedy which have prevented full openness of government information as envisioned. The administrative remedies created to provide oversight of government compliance with the Act have not fully fulfilled their role and reform is needed. This article analyzes the circumstances surrounding the application of the Act as it relates to the public’s interaction with law enforcement. Specifically, this …

Putting A Slam On Alcohol Violators Through Dram- How The State Of Ohio Can Improve The Day-To-Day Safety Of Its Residents Through Dram Laws, Steven Iwanek

Honors Projects

In the realm of legal frameworks governing the service and consumption of alcohol, Dram Shop Liability Laws play a pivotal role in holding establishments accountable for the consequences of alcohol-related incidents. These laws, known as dram laws, vary across states, delineating the responsibilities of alcohol servers and establishments in preventing the overconsumption of alcohol and the resultant harm. This examination delves into a comprehensive background of dram laws, particularly focusing on their historical evolution, their present implications, and the imperative need for refinement.

As societal dynamics and patterns of alcohol consumption evolve, so too must the legislative mechanisms designed to …

The Dueling First Amendment Clauses: Are They In Tension, Or Do They Work Together?, James Black

Helm's School of Government Conference - American Revival: Citizenship & Virtue

The Establishment and Free exercise clauses of the First Amendment respectively state that Congress does not have the ability to pass a law that would either establish a national religion or prohibit the free exercise of any religion. While some legal scholars have given a more secular interpretation of the Establishment Clause, suggesting that there is no place for Christianity or any other religion in the public square or to influence American government, this is in conflict with interpretation by a substantial number of legal experts and constitutional scholars living both in and before the modern era, some of whom …

Generations Of Abuse: Exploring The Sexual Assault Epidemic On Native Land, Carly White

Lincoln Memorial University Law Review Archive

The United States government has a long history of extending its reach into the affairs of Native people. Yet, it has consistently failed to protect Native women from rampant violence and abuse. Native American women have the highest rates of sexual abuse in the country. The federal government has the decision to either mend its long-standing indifference toward Indigenous women or allow them to continue to suffer under the current system. This note explores the sexual assault crisis on Indian land and seeks to bring positive change to historically marginalized women. Specifically, this note highlights the need for Congress to …

Elaborating A Human Rights Friendly Copyright Framework For Generative Ai, Christophe Geiger

Joint PIJIP/TLS Research Paper Series

This paper analyses the copyright issues related to so-called “generative AI” systems and reviews the arguments currently advanced to change the copyright regime for AI-generated works from a human rights perspective. It argues that because of the applicable human rights framework for copyright but also the anthropocentric approach of human rights the protection of creators and human creativity must be considered the point of reference when assessing future reforms with regard to copyright and generative AI systems. Consequently, the copyrightability of AI-generated outputs should be considered with utmost care and only when AI is used as a technical tool for …

Welcoming The Stranger: Abrahamic Hospitality And Its Contemporary Implications, Ori N. Soltes, Rachel Stern, Endy Moraes

Religion

Embracing hospitality and inclusion in Abrahamic traditions

One of the signal moments in the narrative of the biblical Abraham is his insistent and enthusiastic reception of three strangers, a starting point of inspiration for all three Abrahamic traditions as they evolve and develop the details of their respective teachings. On the one hand, welcoming the stranger by remembering “that you were strangers in the land of Egypt” is enjoined upon the ancient Israelites, and on the other, oppressing the stranger is condemned by their prophets throughout the Hebrew Bible.

These sentiments are repeated in the New Testament and the Qur’an …

The Miller Trilogy, Jones, And The Future Of Juvenile Sentencing And Constitutional Interpretation In The Post-Jones America, Gabriela Seguinot

Senior Theses and Projects

The United States is an outlier in juvenile sentencing practices, often subjecting youth offenders to extreme and lengthy punishments. While the Supreme Court over the past two decades has been slowly narrowing the nation’s use of such sentences against children through a series of cases known as the Miller Trilogy, this progress came to a sudden halt in the 2021 case of Jones v. Mississippi. However, in surprising turn of events, the Supreme Court’s recent national display of restraint has not stopped sentencing reform efforts in the states. Contrary to the current Supreme Court, states in the U.S. have …

Building A Cleaner, More Resilient Energy System In Cuba: Opportunities And Challenges, Korey Silverman-Roati, Daniel Whittle, Romany M. Webb, Jeffrey P. Fralick, Lila Harmar

Sabin Center for Climate Change Law

Cuba’s energy sector is at a crossroads. The country’s mostly fossil fuel-fired energy system faces a number of longstanding and serious challenges, including breakdowns at aging power plants, decreasing fuel imports and fuel shortages, and the growing threat of climate change-related disruptions. In recent years, Cuba has seen frequent electric blackouts and brownouts that have affected residents, businesses, and government institutions island wide.

Compounding these problems, Cuba is facing a severe economic crisis. In 2022, year-on-year inflation was 39% (down from 77% in 2021). While inflation is estimated to have dropped to 30% in 2023, the price of food increased …

The Sentiments Of Drag Performers On Anti-Drag Legislation: A Thematic Analysis, Brian D. Briggs

Senior Theses

Since 2022, at least 21 states have considered, filed, or passed legislation with the goal of banning or limiting drag performances in public spaces or in the presence of minors. These pieces of legislation seek to suppress drag performances on the grounds that they appeal to sexual interests, and they even go as far as to claim that drag performers aim to groom and assault children at their performances. These claims are baseless and vastly misrepresent the true breadth of drag as a performance art and the positive messages it promotes, as well as suggest that bias against the LGBTQ+ …

Authentication Of Cybernetic Avatars And Legal System Challenges; With A View To The Trial Concept Of New Dimensional Domain Jurisprudence (Ai, Robot, And Avatar Law), Fumio Shimpo

Japanese Society and Culture

This article aims to illustrate the basis for the development of authentication, which will be the foundation of future cybernetic-avatar (CA) infrastructures, enabling the safe and secure use of CA’s. This will be realised by the authentication of CA operators (User Authentication Technology), identification and authentication of CA’s (CA Authentication), and ensuring connectivity and existence between operators (User Entities) and the CA’s themselves (CA Notarisation). An ELSI (Ethical, Legal, Social Implications) research platform will be established, to develop a new dimension of the legal field, that is, AI, Robot, and Avatar Law to solve the social issues and realise an …

Briefing Note: 45th Meeting Of The Wipo Standing Committee On Copyright And Related Rights, Sean Flynn

Joint PIJIP/TLS Research Paper Series

This analysis provides a historical and legal overview of the principle agenda items to be discussed at the 45th meeting of the Standing Committee on Copyright and Related Rights.

Forced Back Into The Lion's Mouth: Per Se Reporting Requirements In U.S. Asylum Law, Amelia S. Mcgowan

Marquette Law Review

This Article makes a significant contribution to scholarship on asylum

law by identifying and calling for the abolition of a deadly (but unexplored)

development in asylum law: per se reporting requirements. In jurisdictions

where they apply, per se reporting requirements automatically bar protection

to asylum seekers solely because they did not report their non-state persecutors

(such as cartels or domestic abusers) to the authorities before fleeing, even

where reporting would have been futile or dangerous. These requirements

similarly provide no exception where law enforcement openly support an

applicant’s persecutor.

This Article demonstrates that even though per se reporting requirements

have …

What Explains Male And Female Decision Making To Enter Law? Evidence From A Survey Of Us-Based Undergraduate Students, Abigail Cohen

University Honors Theses

The research conducted in this thesis aims to explain why fewer females than males choose law and pinpoint the explanation as to why they have disparate experiences in the field. The hypothesis is sex discrimination is to blame for the differences among female and male decision making. Sexual harassment and discrimination plays a very prominent role is male dominated fields and discourages females from joining those workforces. The research method for this experiment was an anonymous survey, sent out via social media and email. The survey method was chosen because it was meant to be a quick, yet effective way …

Examining The Examiner: An Amicus Brief On Conflicts Between Forensic Technology And Indigenous Religious Freedoms In Favor Of Virtual Autopsies, Peyton James

The Journal of Purdue Undergraduate Research

No abstract provided.

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. …

No Balancing For Anti-Constitutional Government Conduct, Bruce Ledewitz

Ledewitz Papers

Published scholarship collected from academic journals, law reviews, newspaper publications & online periodicals

Memories Of An Affirmative Action Activist, Margaret E. Montoya

Seattle University Law Review

Some twenty-five years ago, the Society of American Law Teachers (SALT) led a march supporting Affirmative Action in legal education to counter the spate of litigation and other legal prohibitions that exploded during the 1990s, seeking to limit or abolish race-based measures. The march began at the San Francisco Hilton Hotel, where the Association of American Law Schools (AALS) was having its annual meeting, and proceeded to Union Square. We, the organizers of the march, did not expect the march to become an iconic event; one that would be remembered as a harbinger of a new era of activism by …

Same Crime, Different Time: Sentencing Disparities In The Deep South & A Path Forward Under The Fourteenth Amendment, Hailey M. Donovan

Seattle University Law Review

The United States has the highest incarceration rate of any country in the world. The American obsession with crime and punishment can be tracked over the last half-century, as the nation’s incarceration rate has risen astronomically. Since 1970, the number of incarcerated people in the United States has increased more than sevenfold to over 2.3 million, outpacing both crime and population growth considerably. While the rise itself is undoubtedly bleak, a more troubling truth lies just below the surface. Not all states contribute equally to American mass incarceration. Rather, states have vastly different incarceration rates. Unlike at the federal level, …

Law And Literature In Pennsylvania: A Changing Landscape, Juliette Gaggini

Honors Theses

This thesis examines themes of American national identity perpetuated in Pennsylvania surrounding private property through historical, literary and legal analysis. Ideals of private property and land ownership are broken into three transitions throughout Pennsylvania history: the American frontier and initial land claiming by settlers, mass-deforestation and the introduction of widespread agriculture, and finally industrialization and the introduction of mining and fracking. Each of these transitions highlights the physical changes to the region and how they were influenced by American ideals of private property, productivity, and profitability.

Throughout this thesis, I analyze both literary and legal texts to examine societal beliefs …

Intraparty Conflict And The Separation Of Powers, Gregory A. Elinson

College of Law Faculty Publications

Intent on reconciling constitutional theory to political reality, public law scholars have in recent decades dismissed as naïve both the logic of the Constitution’s design set forth in The Federalist and the Framers’ dismal view of political parties. They argue that contrary to the Madisonian vision competition between our two national political parties undergirds the horizontal and vertical separation of powers. But, in calling attention to the fights that take place between political parties, they underestimate the constitutional significance of the conflicts that persist within them. Reconsidering the law and theory of the separation of powers with attention to intraparty …

Silencing Jorge Luis Borges The Wrongful Suppression Of The Di Giovanni Translations, Wes Henricksen

Faculty Scholarship

No abstract provided.

How To Interpret The Securities Laws?, Zachary J. Gubler

Seattle University Law Review

In discussions of the federal securities laws, the SEC usually gets most of the attention. This makes some sense. After all, it is the agency charged with administrating the securities laws and regulating the industry as a whole. It makes the majority of the laws; it engages in enforcement actions; it reacts to crises; and it, or sometimes even its individual commissioners, intervene publicly in policy debates. Often overlooked in such discussion, however, is the role of the Supreme Court in shaping securities law, and a new book by Adam Pritchard and Robert Thompson demonstrates why this is an oversight. …

Time To Free The 'Evidence': Animal Cruelty Prosecutions, Pre-Conviction Forfeiture, And Brady Violations, Gary J. Patronek

Animal Law Review

This Article presents empirical research to investigate the traditional practice of holding seized animal victims of maltreatment in protective custody until their disposition is resolved pursuant to a criminal proceeding. This is of particular concern because protective custody usually entails confinement in an animal shelter or similar institutional setting. Extended confinement under these circumstances is undesirable–especially when dealing with large numbers of animals–because such confinement causes stress that may inadvertently result in secondary victimization of the animals. Furthermore, institutional confinement poses substantial logistical challenges and imposes substantial economic costs for those tasked with caring for the animals. The impetus for …

Why Equity Follows The Law, Adam J. Macleod

Faculty Articles

Renewed attention to equity in higher education is welcome because true equity helps us to reason together well. When administered correctly, the jurisprudence of equity models civil discourse and, therefore, can teach us how to carry out civic engagement reasonably. Equitable interpretation of the law teaches us how to understand each other charitably. And equity’s deference to law teaches us how to reason well together about our practical problems. Law is the practical reasoning that we do together. Equity serves the ends of justice by serving law, rather than undermining it. These functions of equity in adjudication point toward a …

After Affirmative Action, Meera E. Deo

Seattle University Law Review

This is a time of crisis in legal education. In truth, we are in the midst of several crises. We are emerging from the COVID pandemic, a period of unprecedented upheaval where law students and law faculty alike struggled through physical challenges, mental health burdens, and decreased academic and professional success. The past few years also have seen a precipitous drop in applications to and enrollment in legal education. Simultaneously, students have been burdened with the skyrocketing costs of attending law school, taking on unmanageable levels of debt. And with the Supreme Court decision in SFFA v. Harvard, we are …

Students For Fair Admissions: Affirming Affirmative Action And Shapeshifting Towards Cognitive Diversity?, Steven A. Ramirez

Seattle University Law Review

The Roberts Court holds a well-earned reputation for overturning Supreme Court precedent regardless of the long-standing nature of the case. The Roberts Court knows how to overrule precedent. In Students for Fair Admissions v. Harvard (SFFA), the Court’s majority opinion never intimates that it overrules Grutter v. Bollinger, the Court’s leading opinion permitting race-based affirmative action in college admissions. Instead, the Roberts Court applied Grutter as authoritative to hold certain affirmative action programs entailing racial preferences violative of the Constitution. These programs did not provide an end point, nor did they require assessment, review, periodic expiration, or revision for greater …