Digital Commons Network^™

“Ni Hao” At The Southern Border: Crafting The U.S. Policy Response To The Post-Pandemic Cohort Of Chinese Migrants, Wei Luo

The Scholar: St. Mary's Law Review on Race and Social Justice

Undocumented migrants feature prominently in modern American politics. One group of migrants, however, has drawn relatively little attention—those from the People’s Republic of China. Leading up to the 2024 election, Chinese migrants were the fastest growing group of migrants entering from the U.S.-Mexico border. This Article proposes that U.S. policymakers take a three-prong approach to responding to Chinese migrants who have entered the country in recent years or who may enter in the future. First, use asylum law as an instrument of U.S. foreign policy and grant asylum to Chinese migrants in numbers appropriate to advance America’s national interest in …

Peremptory Norms And The Right To Self-Determination: The Case Of Puerto Rico, Carlos Chevere-Lugo, Sigrid Vendrell-Polanco

The Scholar: St. Mary's Law Review on Race and Social Justice

No abstract provided.

Trade Agreements Have Helped Prohibit Forced Labor, Desiree Leclercq

Scholarly Works

While policymakers today debate the future of trade policy, the real story lies in the proven wins quietly shaping economies and improving lives worldwide. This series showcases ten compelling wins in international trade that demonstrate the success of crossborder commerce and open trade policies.

The Impact Of Public Relations Strategies On The Effectiveness Of Epidemic Management In Jordan: A Case Study Of Covid-19, Hazem Jamil Al-Rahahleh

Middle East Journal of Communication Studies

This study aimed to explore the impact of public relations strategies on the effectiveness of epidemic management in Jordan, using the COVID-19 pandemic as a case study. The study employed the descriptive-analytical method, which is based on the systematic description and interpretation of social and media phenomena. The findings revealed that public relations play a pivotal strategic role in managing health crises by building public trust, preparing communication plans, and formulating awareness messages in coordination with relevant authorities. The study recommended the need to enhance the training of public relations personnel in managing communication during health crises, to continue diversifying …

Restoring Chevron Deference By Statute, Scott Dodson

Duke Law Journal Online

This paper details a solution for legislatively restoring Chevron deference: amend the APA to direct lower federal courts to give deference to reasonable agency decisions but retain nondeferential judicial review by the U.S. Supreme Court. This solution restores most of the practical benefits of Chevron by giving agencies flexibility to implement congressional policy directives with the expertise they have acquired, by maintaining stability in administrative regulation, and by relieving lower federal courts of the burdens of nondeferential review. And retaining nondeferential judicial review in the Supreme Court will preserve the constitutional role of the judicial branch to say what the …

Too Scared To Use: Living Wills And Orderly Liquidation Of Too-Big-To-Fail Financial Institutions, Jeffery Y. Zhang

Law & Economics Working Papers

The term “too big to fail” became ubiquitous following the 2007-2008 Global Financial Crisis. Lawmakers, regulators, and scholars wondered if there was a better way forward than issuing an array of ad hoc bailout packages to large financial institutions. Congress, in enacting the Dodd-Frank Act, sought to address the concern by creating a new regulatory framework to resolve large financial institutions in an orderly manner.

First, Congress required too-big-to-fail institutions to file “living wills,” essentially planning documents that describe the institution’s path to a safe failure under the Bankruptcy Code—a failure that would not impact system-wide financial stability. Second, Congress …

Alpharetta Underwriters, Llc V. Argonaut Mgmt. Svcs., Order On Pending Motions, Wesley B. Tailor

Superior Court of Fulton County: Metro Atlanta Business Case Division Opinions

No abstract provided.

Season 2 Episode 5: Quitting Ain't Easy, Sara Gras

Season 02

Where there is gambling, there are addicted gamblers. Gambling addiction is more than just an economic problem – it can have a profoundly serious impact on the lives of individuals who are affected – but the research on, and funding for treatment of, compulsive gambling is only a fraction of what is available for substance use disorders. The rapid growth of sports betting has created a new challenge in this space, impacting a new demographic of young men. This episode provides some foundational information about gambling addiction and recovery as a foundation for a discussion of responsible gaming and industry …

‘Not The Usual Gig’: The Personal Scope(S) Of Application Of Directive 2024/2831 On Improving Working Conditions In Platform Work, Nicola Countouris, Valerio De Stefano

Articles & Book Chapters

This article examines the complex and innovative personal scope of the EU Platform Work Directive 2024/2831, highlighting its dual framing around the concepts of ‘platform workers’ and the broader category of ‘persons performing platform work’. The authors explore how the Directive partially departs from traditional binary distinctions between employees and self-employed persons by introducing a more nuanced regulatory approach anchored in both labour law and data protection law. The article analyses the scope of key provisions of the Directive, showing how it confers many protections beyond the confines of the employment relationship. It critically evaluates the potential interpretive tensions between …

Let Them Speak: The Case For Parental Rights As Educative Speech, Tavia Bruxelles Mcallister

Nebraska Law Bulletin (Selected Issues)

Outlines a case for parental rights as educative speech.

Recognizing And Reclaiming Indigenous Peoples’ Constitutional Land Rights In Brazil, Fernanda Frizzo Bragato, Jocelyn Getgen Kestenbaum

Book Chapters

In 2011, the Brazilian Government began dismantling the country’s robust framework for Indigenous land rights by enacting measures to deny Indigenous Peoples’ access to their ancestral lands. From 2019 to 2022, the government did not recognize or title a single hectare of Indigenous lands, despite more than 700 pending requests for demarcation (or formal designation and titling). A change in government and six land demarcations in 2023, however, show signs of a new era for Indigenous Peoples’ rights and relationship with the state. This chapter analyzes evolving Indigenous land rights pre- and post-constitutionalization in 1988, the result of intense political …

Patent Paradox: When Protection Becomes Proliferation, Austin Talir

The Business, Entrepreneurship & Tax Law Review

This paper examines the problematic practice of double patenting and patent proliferation within the United States patent system, analyzing how these practices undermine the constitutional mandate to “promote the Progress of Science and useful Arts.” The analysis demonstrates how double patenting—both statutory and nonstatutory types—enables companies to extend monopolistic control beyond the intended 20-year patent term, creating significant economic distortions through reduced competition, increased market entry barriers, and innovation anti-commons, particularly in the pharmaceutical industry. The paper documents how these practices directly impact healthcare accessibility through increased medical costs, delayed generic alternatives, and misaligned research priorities that disproportionately affect vulnerable …

Evolving Toward The Sun, Samuel Kan

The Business, Entrepreneurship & Tax Law Review

The United States is at a particularly important economic and environmental crossroads. To ensure energy independence and the sustainability of the economy, the government should help consumers and businesses in the United States evolve away from burning fossil fuels towards using renewable energy-especially solar power. Simultaneously, the government needs to foster the reduction of pollution and address climate change for the long-term health and welfare of society. In short, this article uses current events and the findings of a four-year study evaluating renewable energy equipment to propose draft legislation to address these critical issues.

The Money Behind Mommy: Addressing The Exploitation Of Kidfluencers On Social Media, Emma Goodlet

The Business, Entrepreneurship & Tax Law Review

Child Influencers, or “kidfluencers,” have become prevalent on social media platforms and have amassed great fame. Kidfluencers are capable of making millions of dollars each year, but the industry remains largely unregulated because these children are not subject to typical child labor laws. Kidfluencers often suffer from financial and sexual exploitation, and psychological harm as a result of this exploitation. There are few effective federal laws to protect kidfluencers from exploitation and harm on social media, which has allowed kidfluencer exploitation to run rampant. Some states have begun to enact laws to protect kidfluencers in a similar manner to child …

Biting The Hands That Feed Us: Immigration Policy, Enforcement, And The Structural Vulnerability Of Agricultural Labor, Claire Kelly

The Business, Entrepreneurship & Tax Law Review

The United States agricultural sector heavily relies on migrant labor, with undocumented workers composing a substantial share of the workforce. As the Trump Administration initiates its mass deportation policy, this article examines the far-reaching economic and legal consequences that such actions would impose on American agriculture. Mass deportation not only threatens to destabilize food production and inflate food prices, but it also exposes the longstanding legal neglect of farmworkers, whose labor protections remain fragile or non-existent under current U.S. law. This article analyzes the exploitation of agricultural workers embedded in the United States’ history, critiques the inadequacies of current programs …

Good Newsletter September 2, 2025, Seattle University School Of Law Dean

GOOD NEWSletter

No abstract provided.

Chapter 9 Bankruptcy: The Solution That Causes Problems, Peter C. Alexander

Brooklyn Journal of Corporate, Financial & Commercial Law

There is a little-known form of bankruptcy called a “Chapter 9,” reserved for insolvent cities, villages, and other municipalities. Occasionally, one reads about a city or a county that has filed for Chapter 9 relief, like Detroit, Michigan, or Orange County, California; however, it is very hard to file a Chapter 9 case, in part, because existing law requires a municipality to obtain permission from its home state before it can file for relief in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court. An additional constraint is that the only option municipalities have when seeking bankruptcy relief is to file a Chapter 9 because …

Wine Unwelcome: The Constitutional Contours Of Wine Regulation, Alexander Fallone

Brooklyn Journal of Corporate, Financial & Commercial Law

Wine retail shops face a dizzying labyrinth of state laws that severely restrict their ability to ship wine to out-of-state consumers. While the dormant Commerce Clause would normally strike down laws that impose restrictions on interstate commerce, wine (and alcoholic beverages) must contend with Section Two of the Twenty-first Amendment, which gives the states control over the importation and distribution of wine intending to be consumed within their borders. Court of Appeals cases interpreting Supreme Court precedent on the tension between the dormant Commerce Clause and Section Two have practically stripped the dormant Commerce Clause of any power. This Note …

The Dubious Role Of Institutional Investors In Driving The Green Transition: Legal And Economic Constraints, Giovanni Strampelli

Brooklyn Journal of Corporate, Financial & Commercial Law

There is a well-established trend that the process of transition to a sustainable economic growth model marked by the pursuit of environmental, social and governance (“ESG”) objectives has large companies at its center, which are considered an essential hub for this purpose given their weight in the global economy. In this context, the role of shareholders, especially institutional investors, plays an important role. Indeed, it is widely recognized that they, having an increasing prominence in the shareholder base of large, listed companies, can push these public companies to adopt more virtuous conduct in the areas of, among others, environmental protection …

Emission Impossible: Challenging The Imposition Of New York City’S Local Law 97, Daniel Lopiccolo

Brooklyn Journal of Corporate, Financial & Commercial Law

New York City’s Local Law 97 was passed by the City Council in 2019 with the goal of reducing citywide carbon emissions. The law imposes civil penalties on property owners whose buildings fail to comply with carbon emissions limits stipulated by the city. While the law admirably aims to minimize New York’s carbon footprint, its present burden is excessive and disproportionate to the offense committed, making the cost of affording lower and middle-class housing units increasingly untenable for many New Yorkers, especially for property owners in co-op and condo communities. Many such as Glen Oaks Village Owners, Inc., the plaintiffs …

Dentistry Likely To Be Affected By Developments Of A Legal Nature, Lance Plunkett Jd, Llm

The New York State Dental Journal

A few new legal developments that affect dentistry have taken place in recent months. Prominent among these is a Big Beautiful Bill that may not be so pretty for New York State.

Leveraging The Federal Trust Responsibility To Safeguard Net Neutrality On Tribal Lands, Morgan O. Schaack

University of Chicago Law Review

The internet plays a crucial role in modern life, but equal access to it is not guaranteed. This inequality is only starker since the recent overruling of the Chevron doctrine that afforded agencies deference in their interpretation of statutes and the second Trump administration’s hostility toward net neutrality––a policy that prevents internet service providers from charging more money for access to faster internet while slowing other users’ access. For those living on tribal lands, rescission of net neutrality policies has unique implications due to the federal government’s trust responsibility to American Indians.

The trust responsibility is a long-standing and deeply …

One Hundred Ninety-Nine Dead Birds: Review Of The Scientific Basis Of Ecological Incident Reporting Requirements For Pesticide Registrants Under Fifra § 6(A)(2), Nimish B. Vyas, Cynthia Palmer

Buffalo Environmental Law Journal

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) regulates pesticide use in the United States. The EPA is charged by the Federal Insecticide, Fungicide, and Rodenticide Act (FIFRA) with ensuring that a pesticide will not cause unreasonable adverse effects on the environment. Incident reports (documentation of exposure and injury from pesticide applications) can serve as a reality check on the pesticide registration decisions made by the EPA scientists and risk managers. The EPA collects incident reports on human, domestic animal, and ecological injury. The FIFRA section 6(a)(2) rule requires the pesticide registrant (generally, the company or other entity that wishes to market …

Manatees In Hot Water: How The Florida Manatee Became Dependent On Power Plant Warm Water Outfalls, Michaela Morris

Buffalo Environmental Law Journal

Each winter in Florida, thousands of manatees gather in the warm water outflows of power plants. These refuges play a crucial role for the Florida manatee: when ocean temperatures drop, manatees shelter at these artificial sources to survive. But in recent years, thousands of manatees wintering at the Florida Power & Light Company’s Cape Canaveral Clean Energy Center have died. The reason? Seagrass beds––a primary food source for manatees––are vanishing, killed off by pollution from agricultural, industrial, and residential sources.

This Article documents the historical, political, and regulatory conditions that led to manatees’ reliance on power plants. First, the political …

Eliminating The Malice Requirement For Fourth Amendment Malicious Prosecution Plaintiffs, Sabrina Huang

University of Chicago Law Review

Someone who has been wrongfully prosecuted in violation of their Fourth Amendment rights can sue a government actor, such as a police officer, for malicious prosecution under 42 U.S.C. § 1983. Malicious prosecution arises when a government actor initiates a criminal case without probable cause, the prosecution leads to the accused’s seizure, and the accused is ultimately not convicted. Fourth Amendment malicious prosecution claims are critical to holding officers and prosecutors accountable for misconduct. Official misconduct is common: more than half of the people exonerated since 1989 were incarcerated due in part to misconduct by the police or prosecutors.

Fourth …

Private Functional Wildlife Trusts, Stuart W. Babcock

ACTEC Law Journal

Public wildlife law is clear: wild animals exist and are managed for the public writ large. This is a mistake. Wild animals are beings of moral concern; their lives can be good or bad, better or worse, and they should be treated accordingly. This article explores a novel legal instrument which can account for wild animals' unique interests and circumstances: private wildlife trusts, in which wild animals are the trust beneficiaries. Wildlife trusts pose distinctive management and implementation challenges. This article aims to provide a path forward for wildlife advocates seeking new tools to protect wild animals and the habitats …

Fiscal Federalism And The Fall Of Inheritance Taxes In The United States, Safia Sayed

ACTEC Law Journal

Modern scholars of American wealth transfer taxation underappreciate the system’s history—characterized at its incipience by a broad patchwork of state inheritance taxes rather than current law’s federal estate tax. Moreover, this history is not only neglected but incompletely recounted; in the last four decades of the twentieth century, a majority of states in all parts of the country suddenly and voluntarily dispensed with their inheritance taxes. This Article seeks for the first time to understand why, and in doing so, offers lessons to those attempting to optimally design a transfer tax system within a federalist system of governance. Through original …

Climate Litigation Report 2025 — Climate Change In The Courtroom: Trends, Impacts And Emerging Lessons, Maria Antonia Tigre, Margaret Barry

Sabin Center for Climate Change Law

The Climate Litigation Report 2025 updates previous United Nations Environment Programme reports published in 2017, 2020, and 2023. It provides judges, lawyers, advocates, policy makers, researchers, environmental defenders (including child and women defenders), NGOs, businesses, and the international community with an essential resource to understand the current state of global climate litigation. The report includes descriptions of the key trends in climate litigation and the most important issues that courts have faced in the course of climate change cases.

Compelled Contraception, Lars Noah

West Virginia Law Review

Can the federal government insist that people use contraceptives? It may come as a surprise to learn that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has done just that as a condition for allowing access to some pharmaceutical products that create a serious risk of birth defects. Over the last few decades, the agency has demanded that patients using certain teratogenic agents—now numbering over a dozen drugs prescribed for a variety of conditions, ranging from severe acne and psoriasis to multiple myeloma and pulmonary hypertension—agree to avoid becoming pregnant, sometimes for years after completing their course of treatment. Undoubtedly the …

Are Ai-Assisted Drug Technologies Addressing Or Aggravating The Opioid Crisis In The United States?, Abby O'Hern

West Virginia Law Review

The opioid crisis is a significant public health emergency, intensified by the rise of synthetic opioids such as fentanyl. Lawmakers have described fentanyl as “terroristic in nature” due to its often-fatal properties. According to the Center for Disease Control (“CDC”), an estimated 107,543 people died from drug overdoses in the United States in 2023. As fentanyl use has surged, it has increasingly shaped public health policy through harm reduction initiatives, expanded addiction treatment resources, and legislative reforms aimed at curbing overdose deaths. Artificial Intelligence (“AI”) now plays a dual role in this evolving crisis. While AI technologies offer valuable tools …