Digital Commons Network^™

Minority Day Hearing On American Innovation And The Future Of Digital Assets: From Blueprint To A Functional Framework, Hilary J. Allen

Legislative Testimony & Comments

When we hear from the crypto industry that existing regulation is incompatible with their technology, that is a misdirection. It is entirely possible for a blockchain-based technology business to comply with existing investor protection and financial stability regulation. However, for many crypto businesses, it may be true that existing regulation is incompatible with the economics of their business model, especially if their business model depends on doing things that we have learned, over the years, tend to harm people. But we have little to lose as a society from limiting the profitability of this kind of business model; unfortunately, the …

Education Equity For Transgender And Gender-Diverse Persons In India: Insights Into Implementation Hurdles, Dipika Jain, Natasha Aggarwal, Kanmani Ray, Surbhi Karwa, Disha Chaudhari, Rishav Devrani

Michigan Journal of Gender & Law

Part I of this article presents international, global, and national approaches to the right to education for transgender and gender-diverse persons. It then describes the Indian approach—the NALSA judgment and the Transgender Persons Act. Finally, it provides anecdotal insight into the lived experiences of transgender and gender-diverse persons and the marginalization they face.

Part II outlines: (i) the rationale of this study, (ii) the research methodology, and (iii) the questions in the right to information requests, which have formed the basis for investigating the landscape of education rights for transgender and gender-diverse students.

Part III provides an overview of the …

Whose Right(S)?: Civil Rights Impact Of Cultural Conflicts In The Curriculum, S. David Mitchell

Faculty Publications

Statutes seeking to prohibit the teaching of certain curricular topics that are considered divisive infringe upon the civil rights of students, parents, and teachers. The conflict over what should be taught implicates the rights of students, specifically their right to receive and to learn information; the rights of parents, specifically the right to control the education of their children; and the rights of teachers, specifically the First Amendment and academic freedom. “Anti-Woke” legislation, as it is broadly termed, is designed to silence those who seek to engage in the critical analysis of the structural and systemic barriers that have prevented …

The Mysterious Power Of Land Use Law: Constructing A Framework Law For Climate Resilient Development, John R. Nolon, Maureen Hartwell

Elisabeth Haub School of Law Faculty Publications

This Article introduces and explains Climate Resilient Development (CRD), which is relied upon by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) as a primary method of managing climate change. CRD "integrates adaptation measures and their enabling conditions with mitigation to advance sustainable development for all." 1 CRD illuminates the close relationship between adaptive and mitigative development and land use law, particularly the authority delegated to local governments to regulate and incentivize private land development and conservation. The Article unveils a legal structure that is followed in most states to organize local laws that affect land development; as such, it facilitates …

One Hundred Years Of Morales Y Benet V. La Junta Local De Inscripciones: The Use Of The Insular Cases To Deny Women’S Voting Rights In Puerto Rico, Joel Andrews Cosme-Morales

Michigan Journal of Gender & Law

The centenary of

Morales y Benet provides an opportunity to reflect on the inequalities women faced under Puerto Rican colonialism in the early 20th century, shaped by the legal imperialism of the United States over the archipelago. This article explores the holding in Morales y Benet v. La Junta Local de Inscripciones and its impact on women’s lives during the last 100 years.

The decision in

Morales y Benet came at a time when women in the mainland United States had already secured the right to vote, following decades of suffrage activism that culminated in the passage of the Nineteenth …

Federalism, Family Unity, And Keeping Families Together, Kristina M. Campbell

Articles

No abstract provided.

Methane Removal Under The Paris Agreement, Romany M. Webb

Sabin Center for Climate Change Law

In the 2015 Paris Agreement, the international community agreed to “strengthen the global response to climate change” by limiting the “increase in global average temperatures to well below" 2 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels, and ideally to 1.5 degrees Celsius. As recognized in the Agreement, to stay within these limits, global greenhouse gas emissions must be rapidly reduced, “so as to achieve a balance between anthropogenic emissions by sources and removals by sinks of greenhouse gases in the second half of this century” — a situation commonly described as “net zero.” The need to reach net zero has prompted growing …

Varied Legal Parameters Shape Fiduciaries’ Ability To Act On Climate Risk, Cynthia Hanawalt, Andy Fitch

Sabin Center for Climate Change Law

Commentators who advocate either for or against corporate and asset managers addressing climate risks often refer to “fiduciary duty” as justification for their claims. Yet no field of corporate or asset management actually imposes one standalone fiduciary duty. Nor do any two business-law fields impose the same fiduciary regime. Instead, these fields adopt differing arrays of fiduciary duties to address various types of relationships, comprising a different blend of affirmative obligations and/or prohibitions, assessed with different degrees of strictness by enforcers and courts. As a result, overgeneralizations about fiduciaries’ duty in all business-law contexts tend to further obscure what a …

Pricey Harrison Interview, Pricey Harrison, Gene Nichol

North Carolina Law Review

No abstract provided.

Politicization Of Antitrust: Part Ii - Politics And Communication By Antitrust Enforcers, Stephen Calkins

Law Faculty Research Publications

Early communications from the new Trump antitrust agencies seem unusually partisan. One can find multiple references to Make America Great Again and ushering in America’s Golden Age. Veteran observers’ instinct is that this is not business as usual. This essay checks that intuition against some facts. In particular, it examines press releases introducing officials and/ or referring to the White House, and the first ten speeches or other publications (as collected on agency websites) for current FTC Chairman Andrew Ferguson, Assistant Attorney General Abigail Slater, and a good number of their predecessors. The conclusion: yes, things are different. The typical …

Moot Court Teams Earning National Accolades, James Owsley Boyd

Keep Up With the Latest News from the Law School (blog)

t was a banner year for the Law School’s moot court competitors, as one team brought home a championship trophy, multiple teams made deep runs in national tournaments, and several students earned impressive individual honors.

“For our external competitions against other schools, we had to have tryouts this year because we had a record number of applicants,” said Professor Lane McFadden, who teaches Legal Writing and Research and Appellate Advocacy and supervises the Law School’s appellate moot court programs. “The rising 2Ls are now excited because the students who are only a year or two ahead of them have done …

Summer 2025

Ergo

No abstract provided.

We The Voters: A Response To Professor Douglas, Jonathan L. Marshfield

UF Law Faculty Publications

A Response to Professor Joshua Douglas's Article, The Power of Electorate Under State Constitutions, 76 Fla. L. Rev. 1679 (2024).

A Quadruple Bind? How Romantic Partner Dynamics May Hold Women Back At Work, Especially In The “Winner Take All” Economy, Melissa Vink

Minnesota Journal of Law & Inequality

No abstract provided.

Two Cheers For The Revolving Door, Stephen Calkins, Erica Straus

Law Faculty Research Publications

Where do top US government antitrust lawyers come from – and go to? The so-called “revolving door” has long been a familiar part of the process. In recent years and especially during the Biden Administration, this custom has attracted increased attention and concern. What are the facts? This chapter sets out, in detailed tables, the background and subsequent employment of top government antitrust lawyers. Many enforcers came from major law firms (FTC commissioners much less frequently than others) and leave for major law firms. (Although studied in less detail, top state antitrust enforcers are starting to transition to major law …

To Insure Domestic Tranquility And Provide For The Common Defence: The Preamble’S Concern With Internal And External Threats, Stuart Ford

UC Law Constitutional Quarterly

No abstract provided.

Ken Rose Interview, Ken Rose, Gene Nichol

North Carolina Law Review

No abstract provided.

Charmaine Fuller Cooper Interview, Charmaine Fuller Cooper, Gene Nichol

North Carolina Law Review

No abstract provided.

Liquid Power: Myths, Realities, And Policy Responses To Wall Street's Takeover Of Water Markets, Vanessa Casado-Pérez

Faculty Scholarship

In Don Quixote, there is a moment when all the knightly novels are thrown into the fire for their fantastical depictions of chivalry. Yet one book is spared: Tirant lo Blanc. It is saved because, unlike the others, it portrays knights who die in their beds-offering a more realistic depiction of medieval battles. Similarly, Liquid Asset stands out as the book that should be preserved from the extensive body of scholarship on water markets. Many works in this field are influenced by ideological biases that shape their analyses. In contrast, Buzz Thompson's books provides the nuance and balance often lacking …

The Role Of Proactive Management Based Regulation In Assisting Lawyers And Promoting Public Protection, Susan Saab Fortney

Faculty Scholarship

Increasingly, jurisdictions around the world are exploring and implementing proactive, management-based regulation (PMBR) as an alternative to traditional regulatory approaches that discipline attorneys after misconduct occurs. This essay examines the proof and potential of PMBR to empower lawyers and enhance public protection, while transforming the relationship between regulators and practicing lawyers. The essay is based on the Distinguished Lecture the author delivered at the Joseph G. Miller and William C. Becker Center for Professional Responsibility at the University of Akron School of Law.

Transforming The World With Reparations?, Ingrid Brunk, Monica Hakimi

Faculty Scholarship

Claims for reparations in international law commonly reflect two competing visions--one transformative, the other corrective. The transformative vision looks to reparations to end the long tail of injustices that are associated with large-scale historic harms. The corrective vision is more confined; it focuses on repairing specific, legally cognizable harms and returning the agents or entities involved as closely as possible to the status quo ante. We argue in this Essay that these two visions have distinct conceptual logics, even though they often overlap in practice, and that the transformative vision cannot carry the burdens that are placed on it.

News You Need July 2025

The Journal of the Michigan Dental Association

News You Need for July 2025 includes a listing of MDA members who have completed service on committees; a link to recent MDA Board actions; news about two dental journalism awards won by the MDA Journal; how younger patients are negatively influenced by social media; a letter to the editor regarding dental insurance; information about MDA Foundation scholarships; members receiving awards; a calendar of events; a patient fact sheet; and more.

J Mich Dent Assoc July 2025

The Journal of the Michigan Dental Association

Each month, The Journal of the Michigan Dental Association provides news, information, and features about Michigan dentistry to our state's oral health community and the MDA's 5,800 members. It stands as the primary publication reaching Michigan dentists. The all-digital July issue features Dr. Michele Tulak-Gorecki’s "It’s Time to Dare Greatly at the ADA," where she outlines her vision for ADA president-elect, focusing on financial integrity, strengthened advocacy, and fostering unity amidst challenges like declining membership and issues with the association management system.

Supporting articles highlight the MDA’s endorsement of MEDVA, offering cost-effective, HIPAA-compliant virtual assistant solutions for dental practices to …

Default Is No Option: The Unconstitutionality Of The Debt Limit Law, Fred A. Slone

UC Law Constitutional Quarterly

This article demonstrates conclusively the unconstitutionality of a widely feared default on the public debt due to the debt limit.

First, we find that Article I of the Constitution granted Congress no power, express or implied, to provide for a default by the United States. Under the principles of constitutional law established by the Supreme Court in Marbury v. Madison (1803), any law outside the powers of Congress is void. Thus, the unconstitutionality of a default may be readily established pursuant to Article I, with additional support from the Tenth Amendment.

Furthermore, we find that the Fifth and Fourteenth Amendments …

Is Current “Repeat Player” Theory Much Ado Over Much Less—An Evidence-Based Overhaul, Edward P. Mcdermott

Journal of Dispute Resolution

This empirical study suggests that the existence and impact of the “repeat player effect” (“effect”) may be exaggerated. Legal and conflict resolution theorists suggest that the existence of repeat players is a process flaw. They opine that first time players (“one-shotters”) are at a disadvantage to repeat players. Stulberg extended this process flaw theory to mediation.

Cooperative Creativity: The Adr Foundations Of Modern Dance Copyright, Audrey O'Brien

Journal of Dispute Resolution

In the mid-twentieth century, the landscape of copyright was quickly changing, facing new technologies as well as cultural changes that would ultimately test the limits of the 1909 Copyright Act. Choreographic copyright protection changed immensely throughout the last half of the twentieth century, and one ballet company at the forefront of the changing tides of copyright law was the New York City Ballet (“NYCB”), led by choreographer George Balanchine. By the time Balanchine passed, the legacy of both his company, NYCB, and his body of copyrighted work was immense enough to determinatively color the way choreographic copyrights are handled under …

#Taxback? Prohibiting State Real Property Taxes On Land In Indian Country, Pippa Browde

Faculty Law Review Articles

Land is a critical asset of Indian tribes. As tribes wrestle with how to create sustainable economies to support their sovereignty, the use and management of tribal land is integral. Taxation is a key component of economic development. This Article is about taxation of land within Indian country. It considers existing law that allows for state taxation of some land within Indian country. It makes a normative claim as to who the proper taxing sovereign should be based on tax policy principles and principles that support tribal self-governance and tribal sovereignty.

In Part II, this Article provides the background for …

Introduction: Christie Symposium On Law And Labour Market Inequality, Liam Mchugh-Russell

Dalhousie Law Journal

No abstract provided.

Racial Capitalism, Neocolonial Wealth Transfer, And Canadian International Student Policy, Vincent Wong, Arman Sohi

Dalhousie Law Journal

This paper examines historical and contemporary trends in Canadian international student policy through the lens of racial capitalism, arguing that current policy facilitates a significant neocolonial wealth transfer from Global South families to Canada through processes of expropriation, exploitation, and expulsion. It argues that discriminatory tuition fees effectively function as “education head taxes”, which extract billions of dollars annually from international students. Meanwhile, “gauntlets” to permanent residency have emerged in an immigration landscape where working class migrants have narrower options to regularize, creating a system of labour exploitation where student-labourers face precarious conditions and structural indebtedness. Finally, the constant threat …

Re-Reading Power Inside The Aml-Ctf Regime, Sanaa Ahmed

Dalhousie Law Journal

Money laundering and money laundering controls are having a global moment. Many jurisdictions around the world—some more than others—feature regularly in news cycles for either offences to do with money laundering or sanctions avoidance or the laxity of controls that enable such activities. The mainstream media has reported on stories about banks in Canada and football clubs in Italy, about charities in the UK and the real estate industry in the US. Each revelation prompts mea culpas from offenders—TD Bank in Canada is one such example—and often, a raft of new or enhanced regulatory measures.

Critically, the point that remains …