Digital Commons Network^™

Barking Up The Right Tree: The Eleventh Circuit Tightens The Leash On Egregious Police Conduct In Plowright V. Miami-Dade County, Jack Chenette

Mercer Law Review

No abstract provided.

Avoiding Dupe Process, Kevin Frazier

Northern Illinois University Law Review

Advances in artificial intelligence (AI) combined with increased documentation of human overreliance on AI recommendations demands a reexamination of content moderation processes. Social media platforms—reacting to internal values, social pressure, regulatory mandates, or some combination of all three—have carried over procedural due process norms to content decisions. One common procedural protection is a “human-in-the-loop” (HITL) requirement. These requirements insist that a human provide some oversight role prior to an automated decision becoming final.

A review of the core values of due process—namely, accuracy, fairness, legitimacy—and the nature of hybrid decisional frameworks—those that involve AI and human inputs—show that HITL requirements …

Treading Water: Striking A Delicate Balance In Wetland Conservation In The Wake Of Sackett V. Environmental Protection Agency, Ryan Donofrio

Hofstra Law Review

No abstract provided.

The Crime Victims' Rights Movement: Historical Foundations, Modern Ascendancy, And Future Aspirations, Paul G. Cassell

University of the Pacific Law Review

No abstract provided.

The Right To Exit Religion, Zalman Rothschild

Articles

This Article argues that just over fifty years ago, in Wisconsin v. Yoder, the Supreme Court recognized what might be called a right to exit religion. In this decision, the Court expressed appreciation for preserving insular religious communities, while simultaneously articulating the principle that accommodations for such communities must not unduly restrict community members’ ability to exit should they wish to do so. Yet courts and scholars have largely overlooked Yoder’s recognition of a right to exit religion. To make this “right” more concrete, the Article examines impediments to it through a case study of one large insular religious community—the …

Assessing Illegal Take Of Sea Turtle In Bocas Del Toro, Panamanian Caribbean, Daniela Carolina Rojas-Cañizales

Theses and Dissertations

In Bocas del Toro, Panama, sea turtles were exploited for generations to supply local, national, and international markets. Today, sea turtle species are globally protected by different laws, and Panama is no exception. However, the use of sea turtles in Bocas del Toro and local perceptions regarding the consumption of these reptiles are unknown. Accordingly, during May of 2024, I conducted twenty-five semi-structured interviews with key informants selected by targeted and snowball sampling. Sea turtle consumption persists, and there is a clandestine network to sell turtle meat and derived products in Bocas del Toro. This study provides the first assessment …

(Law) School To Prison Pipeline, Cheyenne Petrich

Minnesota Journal of Law & Inequality

No abstract provided.

Filling The Sackett Gap: The Private Governance Option, Michael P. Vandenbergh, Elodie O. Currier Stoffel, Steph Tai

Vanderbilt Law School Faculty Publications

The Supreme Court's decision in Sackett v. EPA reversed fifty years of federal Clean Water Act wetlands protections and removed federal oversight from roughly half of the wetlands in the United States. This Article proposes a viable new conceptual model and tools to close the Sackett Gap-the gap between the wetlands protected before and after Sackett. Scholars have argued for federal measures to fill the Sackett Gap, but these actions face substantial challenges. Congress is unlikely to adopt new wetlands legislation, agencies are constrained by Sackett's expansive language, the end of Chevron deference, and the 2024 presidential election, and lower …

From Australian Influence To Rohingya Refugees: A Systematic Literature Review Of Asylum Seekers And Refugees In Indonesia, Bilal Dewansyah

The Indonesian Journal of Socio-Legal Studies

The fact that Indonesia hosts asylum seekers and refugees attracted not only policy debate and media attention but also academic research. However, no systematic review has been conducted to assess the scholarly literature on this topic. This article is intended to fill this gap by presenting a systematic literature review (SLR) on asylum seekers and refugees in Indonesia. As a result, I found five major themes in the reviewed literature: (1) the focus on the Indonesia – Australia relationship; (2) people smuggling; (3) refugees’ journey and living conditions in Indonesia; (4) Rohingya refugees; (5) legal protection and refugee status. However, …

Legal Personhood For Artwork, Sergio Alberto Gramitto Ricci

Hofstra Law Faculty Scholarship

Artwork is unique and irreplaceable. It is signifier and signified. The signified of a work of art is its coherent purpose. But the signified of a work of art can be altered when not protected. The ramifications of unduly altering the signified of a work of art are consequential for both living and future generations. While the law provides protection to artists and art owners, it fails to grant rights to works of art themselves. The current legal paradigm, designed around the interest of owners and artists, also falls short of protecting Indigenous art aimed at conserving traditions and cultural …

After Notice And Choice: Reinvigorating “Unfairness” To Rein In Data Abuses, Lina M. Khan, Samuel A.A. Levine, Stephanie T. Nguyen

Faculty Scholarship

The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) has long served as America’s default privacy enforcer. Yet for much of its history, the agency relied on self-regulation through a “notice and choice” framework that left the public vulnerable in an era of rampant data collection and digital surveillance. Businesses overwhelmed users with dense privacy notices while amassing and exploiting vast troves of personal data. The agency’s historical approach, rooted in outdated assumptions about self-correcting markets and an ideologically cramped view of the FTC’s authorities and mandate, helped usher in a digital economy where data abuses became routine.

During the Biden Administration, the FTC …

Bound: The Imaginative Surplus Of Contractual Intent, Elizabeth F. Emens

Faculty Scholarship

Contract law is generally understood in terms of enforcement. The legal definition of a contract is a promise that the state will enforce. Individuals are empowered by contract law to create legal arrangements that the state will step in and enforce. And yet most contracts never make it to court.

This Article inverts the conventional focus on enforcement through a study of extralegal contracts. These are formal written agreements that parties call contracts but are not intended for legal enforcement. Examples of these extralegal contracts include no-suicide contracts and contracts for sexual slavery.

Examining extralegal contracts offers multiple insights. First, …

Anticommandeering Climate Action: Defending The Necessity Of Subfederal Planet-Saving Legislation, Tyler Hall

San Diego Journal of Climate & Energy Law

Humanity is on the defensive against climate change, and state and local governments are the front line. Regrettably, Americans have waited too long for air cover in the form of federal climate regulations despite an established history of federal environmental action only emerging from the ashes of headline-grabbing catastrophes. Americans cannot wait on federal legislation to tackle the global and unprecedented problem of climate change. It will come far too late.

State and local governments’ historic police power includes protecting environmental health and public welfare, but decades of successful federal regulation have atrophied its use. Delayed by federal success, state …

School Of Law 2025 Commencement Information And Photographs May 16, 2025, Roger Williams University School Of Law

School of Law Commencement (1996- )

No abstract provided.

Breaking The Vial: Leveraging North American Regulatory Models And Market Practices To Reform Insulin Pricing In The United States, Chloe Mietzel

San Diego International Law Journal

The high cost of insulin in the United States is driven by restrictive patent protections, trade secret barriers, regulatory inefficiencies, and anticompetitive practices that limit biosimilar competition. While Canada and Mexico have adopted policies that facilitate market entry and government price negotiations, the United States remains constrained by a regulatory framework that prioritizes exclusivity over affordability. Incremental reforms—such as limiting patent extensions, expediting biosimilar approval, increasing pricing transparency, and strengthening antitrust enforcement —could significantly lower costs and expand access. Previous legislative efforts, including the Inflation Reduction Act, have taken steps toward reform, but broader regulatory restructuring is necessary to ensure …

Electricity Affordability In Context, Troy A. Rule

San Diego Journal of Climate & Energy Law

Recent residential electricity price increases in California have caused some to suggest the state is experiencing an electricity affordability crisis. Although the typical household in California and across the country spends less than three percent of its income on electricity, California’s soaring electricity rates can impose substantial burdens on some of the state’s lowest-income households. Why have retail electricity prices rapidly risen in California over the past decade while remaining relatively stable in others? What are the potential downsides of overly fixating on electricity affordability concerns in the context of energy policymaking? And what principles should guide policymakers in California …

Beneath The Surface: Unearthing Legal, Cultural, And Environmental Challenges To Resource Extraction On Indigenous Land, Danara Greer

San Diego Journal of Climate & Energy Law

Much of the world’s natural capital lies on or beneath lands occupied by Indigenous peoples. Since the advent of colonialism, Indigenous communities have tirelessly safeguarded their land from encroachment by extractive industries. The contemporary consequences of resource extraction on Indigenous lands include environmental degradation and cultural heritage destruction. Rather than providing a legal pathway to self-determination, the United States Supreme Court has eroded tribal sovereignty and undermined the trust relationship between tribes and the federal government. American Indians and Alaska Natives are prohibited from tapping into their resource wealth by an intricate bureaucratic framework that dictates how resources may—and may …

Notes From A Serf, Rachel Lu

The Journal of Contemporary Legal Issues

F. A. Hayek would have hated Obamacare. This must be distinctly understood, or nothing wonderful can come of the argument I am going to relate.

Burning Questions: A Response To Fishkin, Long, Lu, Mack, And Vallier, Andrew Koppelman

The Journal of Contemporary Legal Issues

I’m indebted to Larry Alexander and Steve Smith for organizing this conference, and to Joseph Fishkin, Roderick Long, Rachel Lu, Eric Mack, and Kevin Vallier for their thoughtful responses to my book, Burning Down the House: How Libertarian Philosophy Was Corrupted by Delusion and Greed. When San Diego organized this conference, I gave them the names of the people whom I was most eager to engage with, scholars I admire despite some deep disagreements. They have forced me to sharpen my own views. I am very lucky.

Hermeneutic Theory And The Priority Of Constitutional Meaning, Tyler S. Moore

The Journal of Contemporary Legal Issues

Can the understanding of a law be separated from its application? Despite the increasing convergence between schools of constitutional interpretation in the United States, this question remains central. One the one side are so-called “new originalists” for whom the distinction between understanding and application (or “interpretation” and “construction” as they call it) is necessary to separate a more objective step in the interpretive process from a more subjective one. On the other are “living constitutionalists,” many of whom suggest that defining a neat boundary between these two stages is impossible. When judges decide cases, they do not (and perhaps cannot) …

Disguising Emotional Distress Damages: Why Permitting Recovery Of “Reasonable And Necessary” Veterinarian Expenses Creates Inconsistency In Virginia, Ethan Payne

Liberty University Law Review

Humans crave companionship. This companionship comes first from a relationship with God and second from an inferior yet ordained relationship with other humans. But what about the creatures not made in God’s image? What about the previously wild creatures we bring into our homes as pets? Many cherish these animals with a love akin to family, especially dogs and cats. But is this the proper pedestal for pets?

This is an ongoing struggle humans have debated since as far back as dogs and cats have been domesticated. As time progressed, select cultures of various geographical backgrounds have subjugated animals, using …

Good Faith, Bad Faith, And Ugly Tactics: Bad Faith In Modern Insurance Litigation, John M. Forbes

Mercer Law Review

This Article seeks to explain bad faith in insurance litigation. Its purpose is to provide a general overview of the cause of action, as well as outline some of the nuances which make bad faith difficult to litigate for all involved. In this Article, Part III will introduce the general idea of the cause of action and discuss some of its history. Part IV will discuss the mechanics, including: first and third-party claims, procedural prerequisites, the origins of a claim, whether insurers must pay a claim to avoid bad faith, assignment, damages, and summary judgment. Part V will explain why …

Expressing Sincere Gratitude In Writing: A Modest Step Towards Being A Better And More Effective Lawyer, Bret Rappaport

Mercer Law Review

In my antique desk, at the far back of the big hard-to-open drawer, sits a large brown envelope. The envelope holds about forty years’ worth of thank-you notes to me. Some from clients. Some from coworkers. Some from students. Why do I keep them? Maybe I will be able to answer that question by the time I finish writing this Article. As I write this Introduction, I’m not sure. I don’t specifically remember each card or letter, but a couple do come to mind. They do so with blazing clarity. One is from my high school English teacher, Mrs. Severns. …

The Pressure Points Of Professional Identity For Judges In The Modern Era, Charles Gardner Geyh

Mercer Law Review

The duties core to the professional identity of a judge are encapsulated in an ethical directive at the literal forefront of the Model Code of Judicial Conduct, some variation of which all state and federal judiciaries have adopted. Rule 1.2 provides that “[a] judge shall act at all times in a manner that promotes public confidence in the independence, integrity, and impartiality of the judiciary[.]” This directive implicates three challenges, or pressure points, relevant to a judge’s identity: 1) insofar as judges begin their legal careers as practicing lawyers, when they ascend the bench their professional identities must transition from …

Loper Bright: Resurrecting Skidmore In A New Era, Bernard W. Bell

Seton Hall Law Review

No abstract provided.

Deference And Discretion In Bank Regulation, Heidi Mandanis Schooner

Seton Hall Law Review

No abstract provided.

Originalism And Democratic Decline, Robin Maril

Maryland Law Review

No abstract provided.

Consumer (Mis)Understanding Of Dietary Supplement Labels, Jason Iuliano, Madison Kilbride

Texas A&M Law Review

“Helps lower cholesterol levels” and “helps promote healthy cholesterol levels.” Both of these claims are found on pharmacy products. And to ordinary consumers, the message is the same: take this pill and improve your cholesterol. Nevertheless, Congress has placed these statements in two very different regulatory categories. The former is classified as a disease claim, and the latter as a structure/function claim. Whereas products making disease claims require years of clinical trials and analyses before regulatory approval can be granted, products making structure/function claims do not even require governmental review before they can be sold to consumers. This bifurcated regulatory …

The National Bioengineered Foods Disclosure Standard & Absence Claims: The Cost Of The Butterfly, Cahlen Cheatham

Texas A&M Law Review

The National Bioengineered Foods Disclosure Standard (“NBFDS”) is a step in the right direction in providing a uniform labeling standard for genetically engineered organisms (“GEOs”) that meet the statutory definition of “bioengineered.” Importantly, the law provides a consensus that GEOs are safe and that labeling standards should be uniform across the United States. However, the law largely fails to settle the broader debate and the issues associated with GEO labeling. Namely, the NBFDS’s use of the term “bioengineered” causes additional confusion, and terms like “genetic modification” and “genetic engineering” remain ambiguous. Furthermore, the Final Rule promulgated by the U.S. Department …

Against Attorney General Self-Referral In Immigration Law, Stella Burch Elias, Paul Gowder

Minnesota Law Review Vols. 106:2 onward (2021-present)

This Article advances a rule-of-law-based critique of the Attorney General’s immigration self-referral power. We argue that the Attorney General’s self-referral and review power over pending immigration proceedings allows an appointed Executive Branch official to engage in unchecked and unilateral lawmaking and, therefore, should be abolished. Scholars have typically understood legal stability, prospectivity, and the separation of policymaking from adjudication as requirements of the Anglo-American rule of law regime which protect individual freedom and equality. It is traditionally believed that by limiting policy-driven legislation to prospective, general laws which are enacted through an explicitly legislative process, individuals may be secure against …