Digital Commons Network^™

Another Look At Judicial Review Of Labor Arbitration Awards In Rhode Island, William E. Smith, Stefanie Fischer, Kai Wiggins, Sam Jaksa

Roger Williams University Law Review

No abstract provided.

Medicaid's Broken Promise To Children, Jerron R. Wheeler

Faculty Articles

In the United States, poor children's access to necessary healthcare is determined more by geography than medical need. This variation is not the result of thoughtful local tailoring but of excessive state autonomy and passive federal oversight. The result is a fragmented and unequal system that obscures accountability and fails the Nation's most vulnerable children.

Building on scholarship showing how decentralized implementation of federal social programs can erode America's social safety net, this Article examines how one of Congress's most ambitious entitlements for children-Medicaid's Early and Periodic Screening, Diagnostic and Treatment (EPSDT) benefit has been quietly undermined. In light of …

Widening The Avenues For Rehabilitation And Release In The Criminal Legal System Through A Revision Of The First Step Act's Safety Valve Provision In Response To Pulsifer, Drew Svensson

Cardozo Journal of Equal Rights & Social Justice

The note argues that the Supreme Court's decision in Pulsifer v. United States severely undermines the First Step Act by restrictively interpreting the safety valve provision, thereby limiting judicial discretion and increasing incarceration. To remedy this, the note proposes legislative revisions to the safety valve to expand eligibility for relief from mandatory minimums while maintaining public safety.

Race Conscious Programs After Students For Fair Admissions, Seonwoo Kim

Cardozo Journal of Equal Rights & Social Justice

The note argues that the federal government can legally mitigate geographical segregation and economic oppression by implementing race-conscious infrastructure and procurement policies. It contends that such efforts remain a compelling state interest under the strict scrutiny standards established in Students for Fair Admissions (SFFA), provided they are designed to remedy specific, identifiable past government discrimination.

Heller Was Egregiously Wrong And Should Be Overruled, Henry J. Renk

Roger Williams University Law Review

No abstract provided.

Closing The Door On Housing Discrimination: Why Rhode Island Must Enact A Fair Chance In Housing Act, Jessica Galego

Roger Williams University Law Review

No abstract provided.

A Personal Take: An Argument In Favor Of Adopting The Uniform Partition Of Heirs Property Act In Rhode Island, Isiah Dipina, Natasha Varyani

Roger Williams University Law Review

No abstract provided.

When Walking Out Doesn’T Mean Losing Out: Why Rhode Island Should Reform Its Model For Unemployment Insurance In Relation To Striking Workers, Trina Capezza

Roger Williams University Law Review

No abstract provided.

Clinton V. Babcock, 332 A.3d 167 (R.I. 2025)., Greta Johnson

Roger Williams University Law Review

No abstract provided.

Performing Democracy, Carliss N. Chatman

Faculty Journal Articles and Book Chapters

American universities are frequently portrayed as stewards of democracy—sites where dissent is protected, truth is pursued, and diversity is championed. Yet these institutions often betray these ideals, especially under the pressures of donor influence, reputational risk, and political retrenchment. This Essay interrogates the internal contradictions of the university by centering one of its most guarded rituals: faculty hiring. Building on my 2021 article The Soft Shoe and Shuffle of Law School Hiring Committee Practices, I argue that hiring serves as both a performance of inclusion and a mechanism for preserving institutional whiteness, elite networks, and gatekeeping norms. I extend …

Facilitating Mortgage Modification To Save Homes And Mitigate Lender Losses, Julia Patterson Forrester Rogers

Faculty Journal Articles and Book Chapters

Homeowners in financial distress or whose homes have been damaged by natural disaster may avoid foreclosure if their lender agrees to modify the loan to reduce payments. Commercial loans may also be modified to avoid foreclosure or in response to changed circumstances or changing market conditions. Although loan modifications are generally beneficial to both borrowers and lenders, barriers to modification exist. The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) has addressed some of the roadblocks to residential loan modifications by regulating the procedures that mortgage servicers must follow in dealing with delinquent borrowers, but the CFPB and its regulations are at risk …

Chat M.D., Nathan Cortez

Faculty Journal Articles and Book Chapters

Large language models (LLMs) such as Claude and ChatGPT are the most powerful artificial intelligence (AI) systems ever created, and they are being used to diagnose and treat patients. But LLMs have been shown to be unreliable, unpredictable, and unsafe on occasion. New AI guidelines recommend hundreds of standards, such as ‘transparency’, ‘trustworthiness’, and ‘safety’. But there is deep uncertainty whether these are sufficient. The literature focuses mostly on which standards best suit AI models, not on how to transmute standards into law. This article does that by considering AI guidelines as a starting point, then evaluating whether existing frameworks …

Let’S Modify Safety Valve To Value Family Ties, Laura Ginsberg Abelson

Faculty Journal Articles and Book Chapters

Federal sentencing law has long struggled to balance the breadth of drug conspiracy liability with the prin­ciple of proportional punishment. The statutory “safety valve” provision, codified at 18 U.S.C. § 3553(f) and mirrored in the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines, was designed to provide relief from mandatory minimum sentences for low- level, nonviolent offenders. Yet its requirement that defendants disclose all information concerning the offense sometimes places family-member codefendants in an untenable position: they may avoid harsh penalties only by incriminating loved ones. The requirement also conflicts with other provisions of the Guide­lines that provide guidelines reductions, but not relief from mandatory …

Rethinking Courtroom Presence In The Virtual Era, Jenia Iontcheva Turner

Faculty Journal Articles and Book Chapters

Technological innovation has made virtual appearances by criminal defendants increasingly common. These appearances have advanced efficiency but also raised questions about the scope of both the right and the duty of defendants to be physically present in court. Should judges, for example, be allowed to hold virtual arraignments, even if a defendant wishes to appear in person? Can defendants opt for virtual appearances at will? While courts are beginning to address these questions, they have yet to develop a coherent framework to evaluate when virtual appearances are constitutional and appropriate. This Article seeks to contribute to this project by examining …

Front Matter

SMU Science and Technology Law Review

No abstract provided.

State Ai Therapy Regulations – Analyzing The Illinois Wellness And Oversight For Psychological Resources Act, Natalie Browne

SMU Science and Technology Law Review

According to the Harvard Business Review, the top use case for generative artificial intelligence (AI) in 2025 was therapy and companionship. Accordingly, numerous “therapy-specific” AI tools have hit the market in recent years, vying to fill this growing need. However, individuals are also turning to generic large language models (LLMs), such as ChatGPT, to express their deepest anxieties, seek reassurance, and gather advice. While tech optimists assert that AI therapy tools will extend mental health treatment in care deserts, attention-grabbing headlines about such use cases have shattered communities and shocked legislatures. To address growing concerns about AI therapy, Illinois enacted …

2026 Supplement To The Corporations Curriculum - Caremark: The Board's Duty Of Oversight Regarding Work Force Safety And Sexual Misconduct, Sarah Haan

Faculty Scholarship

No abstract provided.

Searches And Seizures Of The Unhoused, Shawn E. Fields

Faculty Scholarship

The United States recorded its largest ever unhoused population in 2024. Acute affordable housing shortages and climate-fueled natural disasters have exacerbated a decades-long unaddressed humanitarian crisis, straining resources in cities and rural areas alike. In response, state and local governments have pivoted to a more punitive approach to houselessness. Draconian "anti-camping" ordinances subject houseless people to fines or arrests while police destroy their property in encampment "sweeps," disconnecting the unhoused from critical social structures. Quality-of-life laws criminalize basic biological functions in public. New York, California, and other states have expanded the reach of involuntary civil commitment procedures, forcibly hospitalizing and …

Unreasonable Accommodations: Staple V. School Board Of Broward County And The Case For The Interactive Process In Title Vii Accommodations, M. Thomas Yang

Missouri Law Review

When Congress enacted the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) in 1990, it envisioned a unique dispute resolution mechanism within the statute—the interactive process. Under this process, when an employee requests an accommodation from an employer, the two must “work together to assess whether an employee’s disability can be reasonably accommodated.” Although the term “interactive process” does not appear in the ADA’s text, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) interpreted Congress’s intent and incorporated the interactive process into its regulations to guide disability accommodations. Strangely though, Title VII, which governs religious accommodations, does not include the interactive process in its text …

Fighting To Teach, Struggling To Stay: Prevalent Challenges Within Mississippi's K-12 Public Education System And Recommendations For Solving The Most Acute Issue, Faith Hall

Florida A & M University Law Review

No abstract provided.

Beyond The Classroom: Publics Schools As An Essential To Economic And Legal Reform, Oliver Telusma

Florida A & M University Law Review

No abstract provided.

Education For Democratic Citizenship: Separating Purpose From Outcomes, Anne Jegede

Florida A & M University Law Review

American education is failing minority and indigent students because it disproportionately prioritizes academic achievement and economic success over creating democratic citizens and cultivating essential skills such as critical thinking, civic engagement, and cultural understanding.

Policing An Education: Legal And Policy Drivers Of The School-To-Prison Pipeline In Florida Public Schools, Ky'eisha W. Black

Florida A & M University Law Review

No abstract provided.

Democratizing Health Data: A Legal Framework For Privacy-Preserving, Government-Led Ai Collaboration, Nicole Nigri

Cybaris®

No abstract provided.

The Institutions Of Exceptions: Justification In Trade And Investment Treaties, Julian Arato

Michigan Journal of International Law

International economic law binds states in the interest of liberalizing markets, including in cross-border trade in goods and services (trade) and capital (investment). The treaty regimes for both trade and investment do this by disciplining states through legal rules, while preserving a modicum of governmental authority over domestic policy. The preservation of policy space in these regimes usually involves a process of exceptions-based justification – through formal exceptions clauses in most trade treaties and some investment agreements, and also through informal exceptions-style reasoning by adjudicators in the investment treaty regime more generally. This “exceptions paradigm” of justification has worked well …

Escape Probability: Rethinking Wartime Protection Of Nuclear Facilities, Pearle M. Lipinski

Michigan Journal of International Law

The 2022 Russian attacks on the Chernobyl and Zaporizhzhia nuclear facilities in Ukraine shocked the international community. Claims that the attacks constituted war crimes immediately entered the public consciousness, and a flurry of opinions were set forth on the international humanitarian law (“IHL”) protections afforded to nuclear plants, focusing on Article 56 of Additional Protocol I of the Geneva Conventions, which provides special protection to nuclear electrical generating stations. These opinions primarily focused on the immediate applicability and shortcomings of Article 56 on the attacks at hand, often operating on the presumption that a massively consequential environmental and humanitarian disaster …

A Gap In The Cybertipline: Electronic Service Provider Liability And Child Safety, Brianna Evans-Sheehan

NYLS Law Review

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The online exploitation of children is a widespread problem that requires immediate action. This Note proposes that Congress …

A Dose Of Accountability: Fixing Treaty Enforcement To Combat State Complicity In Transnational Illicit Fentanyl Trafficking, Caitlin Sharma

Vanderbilt Journal of Transnational Law

The international fentanyl crisis underscores significant gaps in treaty enforcement, particularly with state accountability for drug manufacturing and export practices leading to illicit fentanyl trafficking. Despite preventive measures established by United Nations drug conventions, legal loopholes in these provisions impede meaningful cooperation between state parties. This Note uses key countries, including the United States, Canada, Mexico, China, and India, as case studies in both producing and receiving fentanyl and its precursors. It evaluates current proposals to mitigate the crisis, such as enhanced international cooperation and the potential expansion of the International Criminal Court’s jurisdiction. However, these solutions remain insufficient due …

Silver Lining In A Soap Opera: A Boon For Hospital Debtors In The Midst Of In Re Steward's Madness, Mackie S. Garwood

Emory Law Journal

Lost in the technical jargon of the Medicare Statute and Bankruptcy Code are the powers to shape the posterity of hospitals that serve the American public. Distressed health care providers are increasingly turning to Chapter 11 relief, and ultimately the deal market, to salvage their businesses and fully monetize their assets. In the frequent event of an unsuccessful reorganization, hospital failures tank the health and well-being of their surrounding communities.

Hospital buyers regularly acquire a debtor’s Medicare Provider Agreement (Provider Agreement), a one-page form which credentials providers to participate in Medicare. In re Steward Health Care System, LLC, the …

Remedying Labor Violations Of The United States–Mexico–Canada Agreement On Both Sides Of The Border, Lourdes A. Perez

Emory Law Journal

The labor provisions of the United States’ Free Trade Agreements contain language that allows labor violations to seep through unpenalized. Parties to the United States–Mexico–Canada Agreement (USMCA) sought to rectify this by drafting the most comprehensive labor provisions of any free trade agreement to date by crafting the Facility-Specific Rapid Response Mechanism (RRM). This Mechanism provides that a particular facility found to be in violation of the USMCA labor provisions must enforce a remediation plan that preserves workers’ rights or face the threat of losing its preferential trade status. The most salient way facilities breach the USMCA’s labor provisions is …