Law Commons^™

Why States Should Now Consider Expanding Sales Taxes To Services, Part 1, Gladriel Shobe, Grace Stephenson Nielsen, Darien Shanske, David Gamage

Articles by Maurer Faculty

States are facing a severe budget crisis as a result of the coronavirus pandemic. And with the federal government unlikely to pass a relief bill to address those state budget issues,1 states will need to play a significant role in making up revenue shortfalls.

This is the first in a three-part series, which is a contribution to Project SAFE: State Action in Fiscal Emergencies. This essay will lay out the general case for why states should consider expanding their sales tax bases to more services as a response to the COVID-19 crisis. The follow-ups will discuss further mechanics and details …

Faculty & Staff Faq From 6 Ft. Together Portal, University Of Georgia School Of Law

COVID-19 Pandemic Archive

This Google Document was originally shared and linked to from within the 6 Ft. Together faculty, staff and student portal in 2020. A document was created for faculty and staff to access the most up to date information related to the pandemic and the law school. The last edit in this FAQ took place on December 17, 2020. It was edited by members of the School of Law problem solving team including Communications and Human Resources departments. A copy of this document has been preserved as a PDF for archival purposes.

Law School News: Rwu Law Dean Seeking To Build On Culture Of Service, Innovation 12/09/2020, Barry Bridges, Roger Williams University School Of Law

Life of the Law School (1993- )

No abstract provided.

Finding Your 'Flow', Heidi K. Brown

Articles & Chapters

From drinking from a fire hose to achieving our peak state.

Pledging Intellectual Property For Covid-19, Jorge L. Contreras

Utah Law Faculty Scholarship

COVID-19 differs from other recent public health crises with respect to its sudden onset, its rapid spread, the lack of any known vaccine or cure and resulting shortages of critical medical equipment. The convergence of these factors has prompted both governments and IPR holders around the world to seek ways to increase the availability of IPR necessary to combat the pandemic. Governmental compulsory licensing, IPR pools and voluntary IPR pledges have all been used in the past, though in situations that differ in important respects from the COVID-19 pandemic. Each is designed to result, to a greater or lesser degree, …

Equitable Allocation Of Covid-19 Vaccines: An Analysis Of The Initial Allocation Plans Of Cdc's Jurisdictions With Implications For Disparate Impact Monitoring, Harald Schmidt, Rebecca Weintraub, Michelle A. Williams, Alison Buttenheim, Emily Sadecki, Helen Wu, Lawrence O. Gostin, Angela A. Shen

Georgetown Law Faculty Publications and Other Works

Major global and national vaccine allocation guidelines urge planners to allocate vaccines in ways that recognize, and ideally reduce, existing societal inequities within countries. However, allocation plans of the US will be determined individually by each of the CDC’s 64 jurisdictions (states, the District of Columbia, five cities, and territories). We analyzed whether jurisdictions have incorporated novel approaches to reduce inequity, based on plans published by the CDC in early November 2020 (63 summaries [98% of all jurisdictions] and 47 full guidance documents [73% of all, including all 50 states]).

Eighteen states adopted a novel proposal to use a disadvantage …

The Contested Boundaries Of Emerging International Migration Law In The Post-Pandemic, Ian M. Kysel, Chantal Thomas

Cornell Law Faculty Publications

One measure of how and whether the COVID-19 pandemic reshapes the emerging field of international migration law will be the extent to which transnational civil society and activist movements can counteract the intensification of state border controls that the pandemic has triggered. Before the pandemic, transnational efforts to establish a new normative framework for migration seemed to be accelerating. These efforts included new, if nonbinding, global compacts on refugees and migration, and new, if modest, efforts at facilitating global cooperation, alongside innovative approaches to scholarly engagement. Such developments arguably contributed to an emerging framework for protecting migrants under international law. …

Reimagining Criminal Justice: The Violence Of Incarceration In The Midst Of The Covid-19 Pandemic, Tammy Henson

Reimagining Criminal Justice

Six years after the infamous and disturbing elevator video of former NFL player Ray Rice punching his fiancée Janay Palmer in the face, knocking her unconscious and then dragging her out of the elevator, Rice and Palmer remain happily married, both speaking out against domestic violence. Contrast Rice’s story to that of Samuel Lee Scott, a husband charged with murdering his wife hours after a nonprofit group posted his bail in a domestic violence case. The difference in these cases: Rice was given domestic violence counseling in lieu of jail, Scott was incarcerated. Research shows that incarceration actually increases future …

FacebookʼS Latest Attempt To Address Vaccine Misinformation — And Why ItʼS Not Enough, Ana Santos Rutschman

All Faculty Scholarship

On October 13, 2020 Facebook announced the adoption of a series of measures to promote vaccine trust “while prohibiting ads with misinformation that could harm public health efforts.” In the post written by Kang-Xing Jin (head of health) and Rob Leathern (director of product management), the company explained that the new measures were designed with an emphasis on encouraging widespread use of this yearʼs flu vaccine, as well as in anticipation of potential COVID-19 vaccines becoming available in the near future.

The changes focus mainly on the establishment of a multiprong informational campaign about the seasonal flu vaccine, which includes …

Covid And Crime: An Early Empirical Look, David S. Abrams

All Faculty Scholarship

Data from 25 large U.S. cities is assembled to estimate the impact of the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic on crime. There is a widespread immediate drop in both criminal incidents and arrests most heavily pronounced among drug crimes, theft, residential burglaries, and most violent crimes. The decline appears to precede stay-at-home orders, and arrests follow a similar pattern as reports. There is no decline in homicides and shootings, and an increase in non-residential burglary and car theft in most cities, suggesting that criminal activity was displaced to locations with fewer people. Pittsburgh, New York City, San Francisco, Philadelphia, Washington …

U.S. Settler Colonialism, White Supremacy, And The Racially Disparate Impacts Of Covid-19, Monika Batra Kashyap

Faculty Articles

This Essay contextualizes the racially disproportionate impacts of COVID-19 in the United States within a framework of settler colonialism in order to broaden the understanding of how structural inequality is produced, imposed, and maintained. A settler colonialism framework recognizes that the United States is a present-day settler colonial society whose laws, institutions and systems of governance continue to reenact the three processes upon which the United States was built—Indigenous elimination, anti-Black racism, and immigrant exploitation. This Essay connects these foundational processes—and their underlying White supremacist logics—to the disparate health impacts of COVID-19 on Indigenous, Black, and immigrant of color communities …

Law Students Faq From 6 Ft. Together Portal, University Of Georgia School Of Law

COVID-19 Pandemic Archive

This Google Document was originally shared and linked to from within the 6 Ft. Together faculty, staff and student portal in 2020. A document was created for students to access the most up to date information related to the pandemic and the law school. It was maintained by the Student Affairs team and contributed to by members of the School of Law problem solving team. The last edit in this FAQ took place on October 14, 2020. A copy of this document has been preserved as a PDF for archival purposes.

Access To Education And Affordable Housing (Panel Discussion), Serge A. Martinez, Deb Haaland

Faculty Scholarship

"Housing is not just about housing--there's a straight line from housing stability to educational achievement and other issues including public health, physical and mental health and community development."
- Professor Serge Martinez.

Congresswoman Deb Haaland held a discussion on access to education and affordable housing, particularly the importance of accessible education and the role evictions and financial stress play in education.

If the video is not playing, watch the panel discussion on Facebook (log-in not required).

5 Minute Meditation Breath Awareness Video, Heather Simmons, Rachel S. Evans

COVID-19 Pandemic Archive

KORU Mindfulness practitioner and Law Librarian Heather Simmons created multiple mindfulness and wellness resources for law students throughout the pandemic. A law library strike team on mindfulness was formed to promote these resources, including expanding a research guide for sharing resources and delivering live and pre-recorded content to better serve our students in Fall 2020. This video was one of two created in collaboration between Rachel Evans and Heather Simmons. Heather authored the script and guided the look and feel of the videos while Rachel provided technical support including narration recording.

Law School News: Bright Anniversaries In Uncertain Times 10/06/2020, Nicole Dyszlewski, Louisa Fredey

Life of the Law School (1993- )

No abstract provided.

Eight Months Later, Ellen D. Katz

Reviews

Rick Hasen’s Election Meltdown provides a concise and scathing analysis of what ails the American electoral process. Rick identifies four “principal dangers”—namely, voter suppression, “pockets of incompetence” in election administration, “dirty tricks,” and “incendiary rhetoric” about stolen or rigged elections. He argues that these dangers have contributed to past dysfunctional elections and are sure to infect future ones. Election Meltdown closes with some proposals to temper the identified dangers so as to make voting less difficult and restore confidence in the electoral process.

3 Minute Grounding Video, Heather Simmons, Rachel S. Evans

COVID-19 Pandemic Archive

KORU Mindfulness practitioner and Law Librarian Heather Simmons created multiple mindfulness and wellness resources for law students throughout the pandemic. A law library strike team on mindfulness was formed to promote these resources, including expanding a research guide for sharing resources and delivering live and pre-recorded content to better serve our students in Fall 2020. This video was one of two created in collaboration between Rachel Evans and Heather Simmons. Heather authored the script and guided the look and feel of the videos while Rachel provided technical support including narration recording.

October 3, 2020: It Is Fitting That President Trump Contracted The Virus, Bruce Ledewitz

Hallowed Secularism

Blog post, “It Is Fitting that President Trump Contracted the Virus“ discusses politics, theology and the law in relation to religion and public life in the democratic United States of America.

Health Priorities For Sustainable Development, Lisa E. Sachs, Jeffrey D. Sachs

Columbia Center on Sustainable Investment Staff Publications

The right to health has been repeatedly recognized as one of the core human rights, essential for human functioning, human dignity, economic well-being and development. But the right to health continues to elude hundreds of millions and with Covid-19, perhaps billions of people. Poverty remains the most critical obstacle to the realization of the right to health in developing countries. Achieving universal health coverage, before the additional costs of Covid-19, would require roughly $50 billion per year, approximately 0.1 percent of the GDP of the high-income OECD countries. Yet despite this broad understanding of the vicious cycle of poverty and …

Months Into The Covid-19 Pandemic, Community Health Centers Report Signs Of Improvement, But Face Financial Uncertainty, Jessica Sharac, James Hernandez, Feygele Jacobs, Peter Shin

Geiger Gibson/RCHN Community Health Foundation Research Collaborative

Executive Summary:

This policy brief reports on the COVID-19 experience of the nation’s community health centers over a six-month period, utilizing data from the Health Resources and Services Administration’s (HRSA’s) weekly Health Center COVID-19 Survey from April 3rd, 2020 to October 2nd, 2020. The data demonstrate that community health centers were immediately responsive to the public health crisis, initiating diagnostic testing for the COVID-19 virus, and adapting care such as telehealth to address patient needs. However, with visits down overall and limited financial relief, the pandemic has taken an enormous financial toll on health centers. Cumulative patient revenue losses over …

The Legal Landscape For Frontline Student Journalists, Jonathan Peters

Scholarly Works

They have exposed campus outbreaks and questioned reopening plans. They have documented social-distancing violations at fraternity and sorority houses. They have tracked and explained fast-breaking changes to instructional modes and commencement events. They have demanded transparency from school administrators. And through it all they have boldly told the story of the human experience.

Famously, at the University of North Carolina, the Daily Tar Heel published a biting editorial under the headline “UNC has a clusterfuck on its hands,” after virus clusters were identified in campus housing. And the day that Notre Dame announced it would move only temporarily …

Law And Covid-19, Aurelio Gurrea-Martinez, Yihan Goh, Mark Findlay

Research Collection Yong Pung How School Of Law

This book is a collection of essays from scholars at Singapore Management University School of Law analysing the challenges and implications of COVID-19 from the perspective of different areas of law, including private law, corporate law, insolvency law, data protection, financial laws, public law, privacy law, commercial law, constitutional law, law and technology, and dispute resolution. It also analyses how the COVID-19 pandemic will affect the judicial system, the study of law, and the future of the legal profession. Beyond considerations of the pandemic’s influence on law and legal service delivery the authors consider how law can help facilitate the …

Breaking State-Centric Shackles In The Who: Taiwan As A Catalyst For A New Global Health Order, Ching-Fu Lin, Han-Wei Liu, Chien-Huei Wu

Research Collection Yong Pung How School Of Law

After World War II, states established World Health Organization (WHO), recognizing that “the health of all peoples is fundamental to the attainment of peace and security.” This aspiration, embedded in GlobalHealth governance, introduces a paradox vis-à-vis the WHO’s state-centric institutional design. Though Taiwan alerted the WHO to potential human-to-human transmission in the early stage of the pandemic, its participation in the WHO remains limited, contrasting the WHO’s goal of health for all peoples sharply against its outdated emphasis on statehood and power politics.This Essay critically assesses how and why state-centric international health governance neither delivers its goal to “promote and …

Covid-19 And The 2019/20 International Moots Season, Siyuan Chen

Research Collection Yong Pung How School Of Law

This is the sixth annual review of Singapore’s performance in notable international moot competitions. This season will of course be known as a highly disrupted one, beginning with the Hong Kong unrest that barred some teams from participating in LAWASIA (for which Singapore has been to the last four championship) and COVID-19 that led to the outright cancellation of various Grand Slam moots including the Jessup, International Criminal Court, and Frankfurt (for which Singapore has regularly featured in the championship). Smaller niche moots, such as the International Maritime Law Arbitration and Private Law competitions, were also not spared and either …

Mediation: The New Normal?, Nadja Alexander

Research Collection Yong Pung How School Of Law

Imagine a tightrope walker, walking along a tightrope, holding a long, light rod. To help her balance, the performing artist continually moves the rod, changing the angle of the rod to maintain a constant – her balance in space. If she were to hold the rod in a fixed position, what would happen? She would fall off. In other words, the variation of the rod has the function of maintaining the deeper continuity which enables the artist to make it to the other end, alive. In this essay, the tightrope walker offers a metaphor for dispute resolution systems. In order …

Science, Leadership, And Public Trust In The Covid-19 Pandemic, Lawrence O. Gostin

Georgetown Law Faculty Publications and Other Works

Adherence to science in health messaging and public policies helped determine which countries have performed well in containing COVID-19. In the United States, President Trump has interfered with and undermined the work of scientific agencies such as the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the Food and Drug Administration, generating public distrust in science and amplifying fears about a future vaccine’s safety and effectiveness. He has also announced that the United States will not join a global partnership that aims to support the development of a vaccine and share access to it.

Science does not always tell us what …

Equipping The Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation For The Low-Carbon Transition: How Are Other National Oil Companies Adapting?, Perrine Toledano, Martin Dietrich Brauch, Tehtena Mebratu-Tsegaye, Francisco Javier Pardinas Favela

Columbia Center on Sustainable Investment Staff Publications

The Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation’s (NNPC) persistent governance challenges have both hampered Nigeria’s oil sector development and deprived the country of public resources. The oil, climate, and COVID-19 crises and the ramp-up of the low-carbon transition exacerbate this reality, with the national oil company (NOC) delivering sub-optimal returns to its stakeholders.

Other NOCs have taken meaningful steps to become players in the low-carbon energy transition domestically or in­ternationally – for example, Sau­di Arabia’s Saudi Aramco, Norway’s Equinor, Brazil’s Petrobras, Malaysia’s Petronas, and Algeria’s Sonatrach. These NOCs can serve as sources of inspiration for NNPC. These five NOCs have also undergone …

Facilitating Access To Cross-Border Supplies Of Patented Pharmaceuticals: The Case Of The Covid-19 Pandemic, Frederick M. Abbott

Scholarly Publications

The COVID-19 pandemic has brought into stark relief the gaps in global preparedness to address widespread outbreaks of deadly viral infections. This article proposes legal mechanisms for addressing critical issues facing the international community in terms of providing equitable access to vaccines, treatments, diagnostics, and medical equipment. On the supply side, the authors propose the establishment of mandatory patent pools ('Licensing Facilities') on a global or regional, or even national basis, depending upon the degree of cooperation that maybe achieved. The authors also discuss the importance of creating shared production facilities. On the demand side, the authors propose the establishment …

Shareholders’ Rights And Corporate Meetings Post Covid‐19, Christopher Chao-Hung Chen

Research Collection Yong Pung How School Of Law

This short paper reflects on corporate governance and shareholders’ rights during and following the COVID-19 pandemic. The lockdown has affected the way companies’ organs operate. It is unfortunate that the pandemic took place around the critical time of year when most companies hold annual shareholders’ meetings (or general meetings). How, then, can shareholders exercise their rights? How can the board of directors and senior management function during the lockdown period? Technology naturally provides a solution, similar to online teaching and working from home. However, do virtual and remote meetings serve the purpose of having those meetings? Even when we get …

Stock Buybacks: Some Old Norm Should Remain New, Wei Zhang

Research Collection Yong Pung How School Of Law

Corporate payouts, especially through stock buybacks, are never short of critics. COVID-19 has simply energized them further. From the energy industry to airlines and banks, US public companies are blamed for ensnaring themselves into the abysmal crisis in the midst of COVID-19 by handing out cashes extravagantly to buy back stocks years before. However, as astutely pointed out by Professors Jesse Fried and Charles Wang, the critics did not get the facts right even before COVID-19. After taking into consideration the amount of newly raised capital through equity or debt issuances, the cumulative net payouts by US public companies between …