Digital Commons Network^™

International Efforts To Collect Evidence Related To Russia’S Aggression Against Ukraine, Steven Hill

Saint Louis University Law Journal

International law has been at the very center of the global response to Russia’s aggression against Ukraine since February 2022. Evidence collection has become one of the core elements of this international law response. The April 2023 keynote address on which this article is based focused on international efforts to collect evidence related to Russia’s aggression against Ukraine. Specifically, this article focuses on responses in Ukraine, the United States, the European Union, and other jurisdictions on behalf of governments, international organizations, and civil society organizations to collect evidence related to war crimes, crimes against humanity, genocide, and aggression by all …

Embodied Ecologies And Legal Wars: The Use Of Force, Ukraine, And Feminist Perspectives On International Law, Gina Heathcote

Saint Louis University Law Journal

In this article, I examine the international law on the use of force alongside a feminist analysis of the ongoing Russian aggression in Ukraine. I draw on records of mushroom foraging to evidence how everyday practices of communities are destroyed by military aggression that disrupts the embodied ecologies reproduced in intergenerational human and nonhuman encounters. The mushrooms foraged in Ukraine, the mushrooms destroyed during military encounters, and the mushrooms growing beside land mines provide an aperture for shifting both feminist and international legal accounts of armed conflict. I argue that ecologies of harm produce means to understand the gendered violence …

Flattening The Learning Curve For International J.D. Students, Sylvia Lett

Saint Louis University Law Journal

Non-U.S. lawyers entering U.S. law schools in accelerated J.D. degree programs (known as the “AJD” – Advanced Juris Doctor Program at Arizona Law) face particular challenges adapting to 1L legal research, analysis, and communication classes. First, English is not the typical lingua franca for AJD students, many of whom come from civil law countries and are faced with the challenge of learning legal writing methods for an American common-law legal system. Second, AJD students earn a U.S. J.D. degree in only two years because these accelerated programs give one year of “credit” for their non-U.S. law degrees. As a consequence, …

Teamwork Makes A Dream Work: Collaboration In The Legal Writing, Brenda D. Gibson

Saint Louis University Law Journal

This essay provides insights into the benefits (and some of the challenges) encountered when two relatively seasoned legal writing professors decided to collaborate in their first-year legal writing courses. The essay, in self-deprecating candor, describes how my colleague and I leveraged our individual strengths to improve our legal writing students’ learning experience. Along the way, a friendship, born of deep respect, was formed.

Collaboration defined simply is no more than “a process of working with others to accomplish something.”[1] To that end, collaborative teaching, i.e., team teaching is typically two or more faculty members working together to develop instructional …

Artificial Intelligence And The Practice Of Law: A Chat With Chatgpt, Grant M. Gamm

Saint Louis University Law Journal

In late 2022, OpenAI introduced ChatGPT to the world. At the time of writing this article, ChatGPT and other generative AI models were no longer used only to generate silly responses but were being considered for substantive work in our daily lives. Specifically, this article highlights how ChatGPT and other learned language models can have a strong impact on the practice of law. Within this article, the uses of these forms of AI are explained on multiple levels: the individual attorney, the law firm, and the non-attorney. Along with its diverse applications, this article delves into potential ethical dilemmas and …

The Model Public-Health Emergency Authority Act, Robert Gatter

Saint Louis University Journal of Health Law & Policy

The Uniform Law Commission recently approved the Model Public-Health Emergency Authority Act (MPHEAA or the Act or the Model Act). The MPHEAA grants governors specific and plenary powers to issue public health emergency orders while also ensuring executive branch transparency and accountability. The Act improves public health emergency preparedness by resecuring the legal foundation for states to respond effectively to future emergencies. However, more work is needed to enhance data collection and support vulnerable populations in emergencies.

This Article discusses the origins of the MPHEAA, key policy and drafting choices the Drafting Committee made in creating the MPHEAA, and the …

What Is A Public Health Lawyer Today? Acting For, Against, And Beyond Public Health, Scott Burris

Saint Louis University Journal of Health Law & Policy

Health in America is not looking good. Unique among countries in the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development, the basic measure of national health—life expectancy—was declining even before COVID-19. Public health, both as a system of institutions and as a profession working to promote longer and healthier lives, is also struggling. The normal insularity of the field’s professional culture—including a lack of legal competency—helped undermine the response to COVID-19, which was dismal by any measure. At this difficult time, this Article considers three different ways public health lawyers can make a contribution to public health as a goal and as …

Reproductive Rights And Medico-Legal Education Post-Dobbs: A Fireside Chat, Michael S. Sinha, Anna Krotinger, Maya A. Phan, Louise P. King

All Faculty Scholarship

The Supreme Court’s 2022 decision in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization was a pivotal moment that reshaped the landscape of abortion policy and delivery of abortion care in the United States. To create a space for critical reflection on the implications of Dobbs for the teaching and learning of abortion care in both medical and legal education, the authors engage in a dialogue highlighting the varied perspectives of professionals and professionals-in-training in both the medical and legal professions. As new attacks on reproductive autonomy continue at both state and federal levels, we foreshadow a tumultuous landscape for abortion policy …

California Law Changes The Fashion Industry Furever: First Statewide Fur Ban Takes Effect This Year, Mikee Olegario

SLU Law Journal Online

On January 1^st of this year, California made history in becoming the first to enact a statewide fur ban, prohibiting the sale of new clothing and accessories made of fur. This article explores the potential implications of the ban for the state, California's influence in the fashion industry, and the future of the fur industry for the rest of the nation. In this article, Mikee Olegario will use these factors to analyze how one state's bill could have a major impact on ethical fashion forever.

Corporate Law, Business Schools, And White-Collar Crime, Eugene Mccarthy

Saint Louis University Law Journal

No abstract provided.

The Ethics Of Assisting Incarcerated People With Collective Action, Daniel J. Canon

Saint Louis University Law Journal

No abstract provided.

Yes, We Klan: Reviving The Ku Klux Klan Act To Punish Insurrectionists, Chandni Challa

Saint Louis University Law Journal

No abstract provided.

Consequentialist Retribution’S Real-World Ramifications And How It Impacts Judicial Credibility, Mikayla J. Lewison

Saint Louis University Law Journal

No abstract provided.

What Cash Bail Left Behind: St. Louis’ Bail System, Three Years After Reform, Brianna Coppersmith

Saint Louis University Law Journal

No abstract provided.

A New Tool In Police-Civilian Mediations: Conflict Coaching And Its Potential Benefits, Beatrice Connaghan

Saint Louis University Law Journal

Communities across the country have implemented mediation programs as an alternative dispute resolution process for civilian complaints against police officers. These programs vary from state to state, but certain challenges exist in each, such as ensuring neutrality, encouraging participants to engage fully in the mediation, and navigating subconscious biases held by officers and civilians. In response to these issues, this article considers whether conflict coaching opportunities within these programs have the potential to improve their effectiveness in resolving disputes and better support mediation participants. Conflict coaching is an emerging conflict navigation tool and thus there is limited research on its …

Human Rights And Lawyer’S Oaths, Lauren E. Bartlett

All Faculty Scholarship

Each lawyer in the United States must take an oath to be licensed to practice law. The first time a lawyer takes this oath is usually a momentous occasion in their career, marked by ceremony and celebration. Yet, many lawyer’s oaths today are unremarkable and irrelevant to modern law practice at best, and at worst, inappropriate, discriminatory, and obsolete. Drawing on a fifty-state survey of lawyer’s oaths in the United States, this article argues that it is past time to update lawyer’s oaths in the United States and suggests drawing on human rights to make lawyer’s oaths more accessible and …

The Psychology Of Science Denialism And Lessons For Public Health Authorities, Brenna Moreno, Molly J. Walker Wilson

All Faculty Scholarship

As it wreaked tragedy on the world, the outbreak of COVID-19 helped expose a pandemic of a different kind, one steeped in distrust and contrarianism. This movement, termed science denialism, has been lurking and undermining public health efforts for decades. Specifically, it is “the employment of rhetorical arguments to give the appearance of legitimate debate where there is none, an approach that has the ultimate goal of rejecting a proposition on which a scientific consensus exists.” Unlike skepticism, which is “doubt as to the truth of something” and works to progress both science and society, denialism is characterized by individuals’ …

A New Age Of Antitrust: How The Latest Ftc Leadership Is Rewriting The Rules, Sara Rutherford

SLU Law Journal Online

The addition of a new Chair of the United States Federal Trade Commission has brought major changes relating to Big Tech. In this article, Sara Rutherford discusses the FTC's new anti-trust policies and their application to big companies.

Presidential Interpretation And War Powers, Tobias T. Gibson, Matthew R. Trout

SLU Law Journal Online

Judicial deference toward presidential decision making in national security has led to largely unencumbered presidential action in national security concerns. In this article, Matthew R. Trout and Tobias T. Gibson argue that presidential interpretation is a power of the president—a power that has enhanced an outsized presidential role in national security.

The Implications Of Legalized Marijuana On Establishing Probable Cause For A Warrantless Search, Lauren Williams, Samuel D. Hodge Jr.

Saint Louis University Law Journal

A police officer pulled over a speeding automobile. As the officer approached the vehicle, the driver lowered her window, causing the unique odor of marijuana to escape into the air.[1] This smell immediately alerted the officer to the existence of a controlled substance and established probable cause to search the operator and car.[2] Not so fast! Sniff and search is no longer an automatic justification for law enforcement to conduct a warrantless search in those jurisdictions that have legalized or decriminalized cannabis.[3]

The Supreme Court has long recognized the “automobile exception” to the Fourth Amendment’s prohibition against …

Change Is Nothing New Teaching Public Policy, Nicholas W. Allard

Saint Louis University Law Journal

This Article addresses the paradox that change is nothing new for those who teach aspiring lawyers how to effectively engage in the reality of the complex public policy arena. It rejects the notion that money buys results, and success is merely a matter of quick-fix influence peddling and personal relationships. Instead, to teach students how to provide public policy analysis, advice, and advocacy, teachers must help them understand and be prepared for a relentlessly dynamic, continuously evolving professional ecosystem where the very object of the work is to either advance or forestall legal change, often involving issues contested on multiple …

Doing Law School Wrong: Case Teaching And An Integrated Legal Practice Method, Gregory J. Marsden, Soledad Atienza

Saint Louis University Law Journal

Since its inception, the Langdellian case method has been used to teach legal analysis and reasoning to generations of U.S. law students. For nearly as long, business school faculty have used their own version of the case method to teach management decision-making. In law school, a “case” is an appellate court decision, which students must analyze in preparation for Socratic questioning. To business students, a “case” is a narrative problem they must solve before debating and defending their solutions in a moderated classroom discussion.

This Article asserts that neither of these two methods are optimal to prepare students for bar …

Breaking The Cultural Cycle Of Sexual Harassment In The Professional Sports Industry: Time To Step Up Prevention & Punishment, Lauren Sullivan

Saint Louis University Law Journal

The National Football League’s Washington Football Team, now known as the Washington Commanders, faces an abundant amount of franchise issues, but its toxic workplace environment full of sexual harassment towers above the rest. This is just the most recent example of a professional sports team mistreating its women employees. Year after year, sexual harassment allegations resurface, revealing a contemplation of whether the current “solutions” for curbing sexual harassment in the professional sports industry are effective.

Current remedies, both in a legal and societal context, have inhibited efforts by women for equal treatment from the teams who employ them. When allegations …

A Taxonomy Of Professional Identity Formation, Harmony Decosimo

Saint Louis University Law Journal

No abstract provided.

Teaching Constitutional Law, Administrative Law, And Health Law As Presidential Administrations Change, Renée M. Landers

Saint Louis University Law Journal

When elections bring about changes in the political party of the president, the shifts frequently involve a change in the philosophies that inform the approach to governing. In teaching constitutional law, administrative law, and health law, this author cautions students to consider the political content of agency actions underlying the judicial opinions studied. Examining the political and discretionary judgment government officials exercise may provide an explanation for the results or an analysis when the law does not seem to account for the agency action or court decision. This Article examines the opportunities available to an incoming administration to undo the …

Where Black Lives Matter Less: Understanding The Impact Of Black Victims On Sentencing Outcomes In Texas Capital Murder Cases From 1973 To 2018, Jelani Jefferson Exum, David Niven

Saint Louis University Law Journal

The systemic disregard for Black lives in America was on full display when footage of a police officer kneeling on the neck of George Floyd went viral. Mr. Floyd’s resultant death set off protests declaring that Black Lives Matter throughout the nation and across the world. While national attention rightfully turned to demanding police accountability for undue violence, the prevailing conversation also incorporated at least a declared concern for addressing institutionalized racism within the criminal justice system and other American institutions. The term of the day became “antiracism.” With regard to police killings, the lesson is that police officers disproportionately …

Occupational Segregation As A Driver Of Racial Health Disparities Among Black Women, Pilar C. Whitaker

Saint Louis University Law Journal

No abstract provided.

Acknowledging The Racist Roots Of Disinvestment And Abandonment: How Local Government Can Set The Stage For Change, Dana M. Malkus

All Faculty Scholarship

Disinvestment and associated property abandonment are defining features of many post-industrial legacy cities. While the reasons are varied and complex, racist law and policy are at the root. Though abandoned properties negatively affect an entire city, their effects usually disproportionately fall on neighborhoods of color. Law and policy have been major drivers of how such neighborhoods look and feel today. Because law and policy have been part of the problem, they are also a necessary part of the solution.

This kind of large-scale, multi-disciplinary problem is beyond the ability of a single institution or sector to address. Stakeholders such as …

Immigration Reforms As Health Policy, Medha D. Makhlouf, Patrick J. Glen

Saint Louis University Journal of Health Law & Policy

The 2020 election, uniting control of the political branches in the Democratic party, opened up a realistic possibility of immigration reform. Reform of the immigration system is long overdue, but in pursuing such reform, Congress should cast a broad net and recognize the health policies embedded in immigration laws. Some immigration laws undermine health policies designed to improve individual and population health. For example, immigration inadmissibility and deportability laws that chill noncitizens from enrolling in health-promoting public benefits contribute to health inequities in immigrant communities that spill over into the broader population—a fact highlighted by the still-raging COVID-19 pandemic. Restrictions …

“Woman Enough” To Win? An Analysis Of Sex Testing In College Athletics, Brenna M. Moreno

Saint Louis University Journal of Health Law & Policy

In recent years, dozens of bills restricting the rights of transgender, or trans, individuals have been introduced in state legislatures throughout the country. To date, ten states have successfully passed laws prohibiting trans athletes from competing on teams in accordance with their gender identities. For its athletes, the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA), the United States’ largest intercollegiate athletic organization, has pursued a compromise to balance trans inclusion and fair competition. Established in 2011, the NCAA’s conditionally inclusive policy permits trans women—meaning those who were assigned the sex of male but identify as women—to compete on a women’s team only …