Digital Commons Network^™

One Year's Seeding: Looking Back On The Last Seven Years Of Maine's Progress Toward Rural Justice, Christopher Northrop, Seth Main

Maine Law Review

Nationally, the crisis in access to legal services in rural areas continues to grow despite significant attention and efforts to reverse this troubling trend. This Article explores Maine’s efforts to address our legal deserts. The Article’s starting point is a retrospective look at our 2019 national symposium on rural justice and accompanying Maine Law Review issue. We will try to measure successes and failures, while also addressing the significant impact caused by the intervening pandemic. The Article will then shift to an analysis of the current landscape, focusing on the role of the University of Maine School of Law. We …

The Formation Of Indian Health Services Within Imperial And Settler-Colonial Contexts, Jillian E. Grisel

American Studies ETDs

This dissertation examines the Indian Health Services as a Cold War biosecurity apparatus, showing how infectious disease was weaponized to dismantle treaty obligations, reorganize tribal lands into “service areas,” and reclassify Indigenous nations as surveilled populations. Against this carceral health economy, Indigenous nations refused. From the 1969 Alcatraz occupation to the 1976 Puyallup takeover of Cushman Indian Hospital, Native activists reclaimed health facilities as sovereign spaces, insisting that care is not a discretionary service but a treaty right grounded in land and kinship. Methodologically, I combine historical-legal analysis of congressional debates, Public Health Service reports, and IHS data with counter-archives …

Art Battle: Perceptions Of Criminality In Rap Vs. Stand-Up Comedy, Abiodun A. Akinseye, Fabiana Alceste, Ashley N. Peters

Midwest Social Sciences Journal

Applied research on perceptions of rap music shows that it is viewed more negatively than other musical genres, such as rock or country (e.g., Dunbar et al., 2016). This is in part due to associations between rap and Blackness, including stereotypes about Black people in general and about rappers specifically (e.g., Reyna et al., 2009). In the United States, prosecutors will sometimes present a rapper’s lyrics as a form of confessionary evidence in the courtroom (e.g., State of New Jersey v. Vonte Skinner, 2012). The practice of using art as criminal evidence appears to be unique to the musical genre …

Chapter 2: Do We Still Believe In Process? Democracy And The Fundamental Value Of Dialog Across Difference, Paul S. Berman

GW Law Faculty Publications & Other Works

This essay surveys a few of the many ways to understand what democracy actually is and how to evaluate when it exists and when it is lost. Ultimately, I argue for a pluralist vision that emphasizes both democracy and law's potential ability to bring multiple communities and differing worldviews into dialog with each other. But no conception of democracy can survive unless people are willing to embrace the idea that a fair process can lead to an undesired outcome and that, therefore, even those who lose in a process can have sufficient faith in that process to abide by and …

¡We Count! The Enumerated History Of The Latinx Legal Academy: Part One, Beginnings To 1990, Emile Loza De Siles

Seattle Journal for Social Justice

Latinx law teachers and scholars are vital to the success of Latinx and other students in legal education, as well as to the attainment of the power, influence, economic advancement, and justicegetting that students seek through that education. Today, one in five Americans are Latinx with the proportion quickly growing to one in four. Although there are many Latinx law professors who are highly credentialed, sharply skilled, and deeply committed, to date, there has not been an adequate accounting of their presence and contributions at law schools. What is known is that their numbers are, and have long been, grossly …

A Problem-Based Approach To Racial And Ethnic Inequities In The German Health System, Thomas C. Lane

German Studies Undergraduate Senior Theses

This work is the first comprehensive book-length survey of racial and ethnic inequities in Germany’s health system. It takes a novel approach to understanding health inequities by focusing on the overarching structures which shape them in the German context, using examples from various areas of the health system to clarify their nuances. The Introduction grounds the need for understanding and combating health inequities in Germany’s unique postwar constitutional commitment to human dignity. Next, Chapter 1 outlines the current methods by which inequities are measured in Germany and why they are problematic. Chapter 2 covers current inequities in the provision of …

Content Moderation On Social Media: Social And Computational Standards And Implications, Mohit Singhal

Computer Science and Engineering Dissertations - Archive

Social media has become a powerful tool that reflects human communication's best and worst aspects. They allow individuals to freely express opinions, communicate with others, and learn about new stories. On the other hand, they have become fertile grounds for several forms of abuse, harassment, and the dissemination of misinformation. Social media platforms have established and employed content moderation to counteract the spread of abuse and misinformation.

Some critical challenges hinder the understanding of the social media content moderation ecosystem. This dissertation investigates various aspects of content moderation, including their coverage, fairness, and effectiveness. Firstly, it investigates how, in practice, …

Student Loans And The Supreme Court: Borrowers’ Futures At Risk, Jordan Weeks, Elizabeth Martinez

The Reporter: Social Justice Law Center Magazine

No abstract provided.

Pink Tax And Other Tropes, Bridget J. Crawford

Elisabeth Haub School of Law Faculty Publications

Law reform advocates should be strategic in deploying tax tropes. Through an examination of five common tax phrases—the “nanny tax,” “death tax,” “soda tax,” “Black tax,” and “pink tax”—this Article demonstrates that tax rhetoric is more likely to influence law when used to describe specific economic injustices resulting from actual government duties, as opposed to figurative inequalities. In comparison, slogans describing figurative taxes are less likely to influence law and human behavior, even if they have descriptive force in both popular and academic literature as a short-hand for group-based disparities. This Article catalogues and evaluates what makes for effective tax …

Reflections: My Mother Who Fathered Me, Eleanor Brown

Faculty Scholarship

Despite the prevalence of West Indian Americans and their networks throughout the United States, little attention is given to the significant accomplishments stemming from the collective work of West Indian Americans. Even less attention is given to the fact that many of these networks are predominantly comprised of women, many of whom are single mothers. This article focuses on the trend amongst West Indian American women to pursue motherhood regardless of marriage or intimate partnership despite the risks attendant to motherhood. The author argues that para-professional West Indian American women may be more willing than their counterparts in other communities …

Race And Washington's Criminal Justice System: 2022 Recommendations To Criminal Justice Stakeholders In Washington, Task Force 2.0: Race And The Criminal Justice System

Fred T. Korematsu Center for Law and Equality

Race and Washington's Criminal Justice System: 2022 Recommendations to Criminal Justice Stakeholders in Washington

Race And Washington’S Criminal Justice System: 2022 Recommendations To Criminal Justice Stakeholders In Washington [Draft], Task Force 2.0: Race And The Criminal Justice System

Fred T. Korematsu Center for Law and Equality

Race and Washington’s Criminal Justice System: 2022 Recommendations to Criminal Justice Stakeholders in Washington [DRAFT]

Anti-Vax Fear* Speech: A Public-Health-Driven Policy Initiative When Counter-Speech Won't Work (*Fake, Flawed, Fraudulent, False, Endangering, And Reckless), Barbara Pfeffer Billauer

Health Matrix: The Journal of Law-Medicine

No abstract provided.

Democracy And Demography, Paul S. Berman, Neal S. Mehrotra, Kathryn S. Sadasivan

GW Law Faculty Publications & Other Works

American democracy is under siege. This is so because of the confluence of three trends: (1) demographic change and residential segregation, which increasingly have placed more racially diverse Democratic Party voters in cities and suburbs, while rural areas have become more white and Republican; (2) a constitutional structure—particularly the Electoral College, the composition of the Senate, and the use of small, winner-take-all legislative districts—that gives disproportionate representation to rural populations; and (3) the willingness of this rural Republican minority to use its disproportionate power to further entrench counter-majoritarian structures, whether through extreme partisan gerrymandering, increased voter suppression efforts, court-packing, or …

J Mich Dent Assoc November 2021

The Journal of the Michigan Dental Association

Every month, The Journal of the Michigan Dental Association brings news, information, and features about Michigan dentistry to our state's oral health community and the MDA's 6,200+ members. No publication reaches more Michigan dentists!

In this issue, the reader will find the following original content:

• Cover stories with a “Focus on Advocacy: Helping Dentistry Succeed”, including “MDA Dental PAC: What It Is and Why It Matters “, “2021 Advocacy Success — and More to Come “, and “Dental Programs Maintained in 2021-22 State Budget”.
• A feature article on “The Anishinaabe Dental Outreach Program”.
• A feature article, “How Your Website and …

Covid-19, Lying, Mask-Less Exposures And Disability During A Pandemic, Madeleine M. Plasencia

University of Miami Race & Social Justice Law Review

This article focuses on disability law in the context of COVID-19. In dealing with this pandemic, businesses, schools and other covered entities have to navigate and manage (at least) three different categories of people congregating. First are those who act as if there were no pandemic at all; they simply do not care if they are contagious and insist upon not complying with safety precautions, such as mask-wearing and social distancing; second are people who have medical conditions that make them especially vulnerable and at high-risk for severe symptoms associated with the infection; third are people who have already contracted …

In Search Of Best Practices On Gender Equity For University Faculty: An Update, Constance Z. Wagner

Villanova Law Review (1956 - )

No abstract provided.

#Audited: Social Media And Tax Enforcement, Michelle Lyon Drumbl

Scholarly Articles

With limited resources and a diminished budget, it is not surprising that the Internal Revenue Service would seek new tools to maximize its enforcement efficiency. Automation and technology provide new opportunities for the IRS, and in turn, present new concerns for taxpayers. In December 2018, the IRS signaled its interest in a tool to access publicly available social media profiles of individuals in order to “expedite IRS case resolution for existing compliance cases.” This has important implications for taxpayer privacy.

Moreover, the use of social media in tax enforcement may pose a particular harm to an especially vulnerable population: low-income …

Saints, Sinners, And Scoundrels: Catholic Law Faculty And A Light Unseen: A History Of Catholic Legal Education In The United States, Teresa Stanton Collett

Journal of Catholic Legal Studies

(Excerpt)

As a faculty member at a Catholic law school for the past seventeen years, I have often been frustrated with the inability of many professors and administrators at Catholic law schools to describe what makes a law school “Catholic.” As Professors Breen and Strang report in A Light Unseen: A History of Catholic Legal Education in the United States, too often the description is limited to something like “a commitment to social justice,” or “inculcating a strong sense of professional ethics.” Yet as the authors observe, “Catholic law schools do not have a monopoly on or even a …

Defiance, Concealed Carry, And Race, Nicholas J. Johnson

Law and Contemporary Problems

No abstract provided.

Complicity In The Perversion Of Justice: The Role Of Lawyers In Eroding The Rule Of Law In The Third Reich, Cynthia Fountaine

St. Mary's Journal on Legal Malpractice & Ethics

A fundamental tenet of the legal profession is that lawyers and judges are uniquely responsible—individually and collectively—for protecting the Rule of Law. This Article considers the failings of the legal profession in living up to that responsibility during Germany’s Third Reich. The incremental steps used by the Nazis to gain control of the German legal system—beginning as early as 1920 when the Nazi Party adopted a party platform that included a plan for a new legal system—turned the legal system on its head and destroyed the Rule of Law. By failing to uphold the integrity and independence of the profession, …

A Shield Becomes A Sword: Defining And Deploying A Constitutional Theory For Communities Of Interest In Political Redistricting, Glenn D. Magpantay

Barry Law Review

No abstract provided.

Hatching A Plan For Local Communities: Environmental Justice In Poultry Siting Decisions, Diana Stanley

Washington Journal of Environmental Law & Policy

One of the implementation problems for environmental justice is reconciling the need to protect public health with the economic realities of struggling communities. This article explores that tension through the lens of siting decisions for large scale poultry operations in rural communities. Poultry siting decisions have major economic and environmental impacts and have been underdiscussed in the environmental justice literature. This article focuses on the role of law and policy in concentrated animal feeding operation (CAFO) siting— from community benefit agreements to Right to Farm legislation. It uses a Kansas CAFO siting and the wider Kansas experience as a case …

The Law And Political Economy Of A Student Debt Jubilee, Luke Herrine

Buffalo Law Review

The notion of a student debt jubilee has begun its march from the margin of policy debates to the center, yet scholarly debate on the value of canceling student debt is negligible. This article attempts to jump start such debate in part by presenting a novel policy proposal for implementing a jubilee. In addition to reviewing the history of student debt and the arguments for canceling much or all of it, it presents a detailed legal argument that canceling public student debt (which accounts for 95% of student debt outstanding) could be undertaken by the Executive Branch without further legislation. …

It's Complicated: The Impact Of Marriage Legalization Among Sexual Minority Women And Gender Diverse Individuals In The United States, Laurie Drabble, Angie Wootton, Cindy Veldhuis, Ellen Perry, Ellen Riggle, Karen Trocki, Tonda Hughes

Faculty Publications

This mixed-methods study explored perceptions of the impact of marriage legalization in all U.S.states among sexual minority women and gender diverse individuals. Survey data were collectedfrom a nonprobability sample of individuals 18 years or older who identified as lesbian, bisexual,queer, same-sex attracted or something other than exclusively heterosexual—as well asindividuals who identified as transgender or gender nonbinary (for example, genderqueer, transwoman, trans man, nonbinary, or gender non-conforming). The analytic sample included 418participants in an online survey who responded to open-ended questions about the perceivedimpact of marriage legalization. Qualitative analyses revealed perceptions of marriagelegalization that situated individual meanings in the context …

A Historical Review Of The State Police Powers And Their Relevance To The Covid-19 Pandemic Of 2020, Edward P. Richards

Journal Articles

No abstract provided.

Defiance, Concealed Carry, And Race, Nicholas J. Johnson

Faculty Scholarship

No abstract provided.

Not-So-Decriminalized: Consequences Of Intersectional Identity For Migrant Sex Workers In Switzerland, Teagan Langseth-Depaolis

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

Sex work in Switzerland, which was decriminalized long ago, has been regarded as one of the most liberal systems of sex work in the world. However, this reputation is contested when factoring in the interaction between immigration and sex work policies. Migrant sex workers in Switzerland are put at a precarious intersection of decriminalized sex industry and restrictive migration policy and attitudes, and are not addressed or protected from violations of the law or violations of their human rights. Using databases containing Swiss legislation, I will critically examine the intersectional effects of migration policy and the treatment of migrants on …

State Lotteries And Their Customers, Keith C. Miller

UNLV Gaming Law Journal

No abstract provided.

Advancing Research For The Management Of Long-Lived Species: A Case Study On The Greenland Shark, Jena E. Edwards, Elizabeth Hiltz, Franziska Broell, Peter G. Bushnell, Steven E. Campana, Jørgen S. Christiansen, Brynn M. Devine, Jeffrey J. Gallant, Kevin J. Hedges, M. Aaron Macneil, Bailey C. Mcmeans, Julius Nielsen, Kim Præbel, Gregory B. Skomal, John F. Steffensen, Ryan P. Walter, Yuuki Y. Watanabe, David Vanderzwaag, Nigel E. Hussey

Articles, Book Chapters, & Popular Press

Long-lived species share life history traits such as slow growth, late maturity, and low fecundity, which lead to slow recovery rates and increase a population’s vulnerability to disturbance. The Greenland shark (Somniosus microcephalus) has recently been recognized as the world’s longest-lived vertebrate, but many questions regarding its biology, physiology, and ecology remain unanswered. Here we review how current and future research will fill knowledge gaps about the Greenland shark and provide an overall framework to guide research and management priorities for this species. Key advances include the potential for specialized aging techniques and demographic studies to shed light …