Digital Commons Network^™

Who Do We Think We Are? Human Rights In A Time Of Ecological Change, Usha Natarajan

Loyola University Chicago International Law Review

This article explores the relationship between international human rights law and the environment. It begins with asking “who do we think we are” to understand the forms of subjecthood and subjectivity produced by human rights. It argues that human rights normalize a series of false conceptions about our collective self that have detrimental social and ecological consequences. The article next examines the question of “where we think we are”, probing the ontological rift between humans as subjects of rights and “the environment” as the repository of resources with which to satisfy human entitlements. The article challenges human rights as a …

Countering Workplace Wellness Bias Through Wellness-Legal Partnerships, Barbara Zabawa

Faculty Works

In the current United States economy, wellness is predominantly marketed to society’s privileged individuals, catering to a mostly white and high-income clientele. When marginalized communities encounter wellness services, such as in the workplace, they are faced with an Implicitly biased industry. These biases include an emphasis on individual behavior change without considering social determinants of health (SDOH), cultural appropriation of wellness activities for capitalistic gain, use of biased health measures like Body-Mass Index (BMI) and constant images of and expectations of achieving a stereotypical healthy body. The legal community must wake up to these biases and advocate for more equitable …

Health Care Corporatization As A Catalyst For Wellness Legal Partnerships, Barbara Zabawa

Faculty Works

The increasing presence of private equity investment in physician practices reveals that current health law practice sites such as in-house, corporate law firms, and Medical Legal Partnerships (MLPs) are ill equipped to address patient harm from health care corporatization. A new type of health law practice is needed to address the adverse impact health care corporatization is having on health care purchasers (primarily employers and patients) and physicians. I label this new health law practice the Wellness Legal Partnership (WLP), modeled after the Medical Legal Partnership (MLP). WLP lawyers can look to systems leadership theory, lawyer fiduciary duties, and health …

No More Wild West: The Need For Wellness Professional Standards, Barbara Zabawa

Faculty Works

The burgeoning wellness industry attracts a lot of practitioners who are largely unregulated. This “wild west” of wellness creates uncertainty for insurers, employers, consumers and practitioners as to what services and items wellness practitioners can offer, whether those practitioners are qualified and whether they behave in an ethical manner. Some guideposts for these wellness stakeholders would be welcome and may reduce consumer harm. Guideposts for wellness is especially crucial in a time when the Braidwood v. Becerra case threatens the delivery of preventive care services by the health care sector. As we have learned from the health care sector, the …

Historical Perspectives On Family Law: An Annotated Bibliography, Allen Roston

Faculty Works

This bibliography lists articles and books that provide historical perspectives on major aspects of family law. It focuses on legal history, but it includes some works that look at family relationships and issues through the broader lenses of social history, cultural history, or other historical approaches.

Interview Of Naomi Cahn, June Carbone, And Nancy Levit, Moderated By Claire Hill And Matthew Bodie, Naomi Cahn, June Carbone, Nancy Levit, Claire Hill, Matthew Bodie

Faculty Works

This conversation occurred at the start of the conference on "Women at Work" on Thursday, October 24, 2024, from 1:45 to 2:45 p.m. The conference, sponsored by the University of Minnesota Law School, was inspired by the new book, Fair Shake: Women & The Fight to Build a Just Economy, by Naomi Cahn, June Carbone, and Nancy Levit. The co-authors were interviewed by two members of the University of Minnesota School of Law faculty, Claire Hill and Matt Bodie. What follows is the conversation, edited for clarity. Questions to the panelists are in italics, while their responses are in regular …

The Ivf Exception: Strengthening Free Exercise Challenges To Abortion Bans, Io Jones

UC Law Constitutional Quarterly

The fallout of the Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization decision has included two seemingly distinct but critically related dynamics. First, religiously motivated plaintiffs are filing lawsuits challenging abortion bans on free exercise grounds. These lawsuits argue, in accordance with current free exercise doctrine, that a state’s compelling interest in protecting “fetal life” is undermined by secular exceptions to abortion bans. Second, state lawmakers have been forced to confirm that their state abortion bans do not apply to in vitro fertilization (IVF), a fertility treatment that regularly requires the discarding of embryos. This confluence of factors raises a critical question …

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

UIC Law Open Access Faculty Scholarship

No abstract provided.

Annual Survey Of Georgia Law: Legal Ethics, Patrick Longan

Articles

This Survey covers the period from June 1, 2024–May 31, 2025.1 The Article discusses developments with respect to lawyer discipline, bar admission and reinstatement, malpractice, ineffective assistance of counsel, disqualification of counsel, judicial misconduct and recusal, attorney’s fees and liens, contempt and other sanctions, unauthorized practice of law, attorney-client privilege, prosecutorial misconduct, amendments to the Georgia Rules of Professional Conduct, advisory opinions, one miscellaneous matter, and potential reforms to the delivery of legal services.

Our Partisan Supreme Court And An Essential First Step Toward Reclaiming What's Been Lost, Gary Simson

Articles

Partisan decision-making by even only one Supreme Court Justice in a single case is not a trivial matter. The ill effects are greatly compounded when five or more Justices of a similar partisan bent regularly deliberate about, and decide, cases in a partisan way. At that point, we’ve got what can fairly be described as a partisan Supreme Court.

I argue in this Article that, to all of our great misfortune, a partisan Supreme Court is very much what we’ve got today. On a more hopeful note, though, I also argue that although reforming the Court to be a much …

Concealed Carry And The Right To Self Defense In Missouri, Andrew Stafford Ii

Law Student Works

Firearm regulation, both nationally and in Missouri, sits at the center of ongoing constitutional debate and evolving public policy. Missouri’s legal landscape reflects a significant shift over the past two decades. The state moved from a traditional permit-based concealed carry system to a broad permitless carry framework that allows most adults to carry concealed firearms without a permit. This shift follows major developments in federal Second Amendment case law, including District of Columbia v. Heller, McDonald v. Chicago, and New York State Rifle & Pistol Ass’n v. Bruen, as well as Missouri’s 2014 constitutional amendment requiring courts to evaluate restrictions …

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

Marquette Law Review

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 …

Warning: What You Don’T Know May Kill You: Why California Needs Fentanyl-Specific Legislation, Fredrick, Abygail

Santa Clara Law Review

The lack of fentanyl-specific legislation in California is causing an overdose crisis throughout the state. This is partly attributed to the potency of fentanyl with low doses often resulting in death. Despite this increased risk of danger, however, current legislation merely lumps fentanyl punishment with the designated punishment for other controlled substances. Yet, these criminal statutes have consistently proven unsuccessful as the use of fentanyl continues to rise and unintended consequences continue to grow.

The ineffective management of this threat by our legislative branch has caused vigilante prosecutors to use illegal tactics of prosecution. Prosecutors are now charging dealers with …

South To Justice: Using International Law To Defend Against U.S. Border Externalization Policies Through The Example Of Forcibly Disappeared Migrants In Mexico, Cadwalader, Natalie

Santa Clara Law Review

The United States is increasingly employing border externalization controls as a primary means of preventing immigrants and asylum seekers from accessing due process and protection on U.S. soil. From Title 42, to metering, to the Remain in Mexico program, to Texas’s State Bill 4 today, no country has been more instrumental in facilitating or halting this suite of policies than Mexico. In this paper, I address the rise of border externalization policies in the United States, describe key differences between Mexican and U.S. human rights frameworks, and show how U.S. lawyers have mischaracterized enforced disappearances of migrants at the U.S.-Mexico …

Modeling Meaning: Causal Inference Under The California Racial Justice Act, Ball, W. David

Santa Clara Law Review

In order to evaluate claims arising under the California Racial Justice Act (RJA), judges and attorneys need to learn how to draw inferences about racial disparity from data—and, equally importantly, to learn how to avoid drawing inaccurate inferences from data. The key questions in many RJA claims are, first, how to determine what constitutes “defendant[s] who have engaged in similar conduct and are similarly situated” and, second, what might supply race-neutral reasons for those disparities. In other words, how can practitioners learn to distinguish between permissible disparities driven by offender characteristics and conduct and impermissible disparities driven by factors the …

Biodiversity Conservation And The Ever-Expanding Web Of Federal Laws Regulating Nonfederal Lands: Time For Something Completely Differenct?, J.B. Ruhl

University of Colorado Law Review

No abstract provided.

A Faster Way To Yes: Re-Balancing American Asylum Procedures, Michael Kagan

Scholarly Works

The United States asylum system, like many other asylum systems, is under immense pressure to process asylum applications faster. The primary response to this pressure is negative, namely to deny asylum claims quickly by categorizing them as manifestly unfounded. In the United States, this is done through the “credible fear” process. This negative orientation leads to a structural imbalance in which denials can be fast and easy for the system, but approvals take time and extensive effort. Using domestic and international comparative examples, this Article proposes re-balancing the asylum system by establishing a process for expedited approvals of clearly eligible …

Presumed Guilt: Epistemic Closure In Pregnancy Prosecutions, M. Eve Hanan

Scholarly Works

Criminal law and reproductive justice scholars are calling attention to the increase in prosecutions for pregnancy outcomes in the United States. Trace amounts of controlled substances in newborns are prosecuted as child abuse. Miscarriages are prosecuted as illegal abortions or homicides. This area of criminal law existed side-by-side with Roe v. Wade for late-term pregnancy outcomes. The Dobbs decision has further emboldened these prosecutions by removing the protections of the Due Process Clause from the pre-viability phase of the pregnancy.

Using a case study of a woman who was pressured to plead guilty to manslaughter and sentenced to eight years …

Interoperable Legal Ai For Access To Justice, Drew Simshaw

Scholarly Works

The access-to-justice gap is growing, affecting individuals with both civil and criminal needs in the United States. Though these challenges are multifaceted, procedural barriers in the U.S. legal system can often inhibit access-to-justice efforts. The resulting inequities undermine fairness for those interacting with courts and jeopardize the legitimacy of the broader legal system. Legal technology driven by artificial intelligence (Al) has been heralded for its potential to combat these challenges on three access-to-justice fronts that are often conceptualized in isolation: a consumer (i.e., self-help) front, a legal-service-provider front, and a court front. Progress on each of these fronts is apparent, …

Structural Originalism: A Second Amendment Case Study, Ian C. Bartrum

Scholarly Works

“Originalism” is having a national moment, even if it is not entirely clear what the word means. What should we be originalist about? The leading academic approach asks us to parse the communicative content of text ratified in a very different linguistic culture; then construct a modern legal meaning consistent with our semantic speculations. Too often the result enforces policy judgments made in a radically different moral and technological world. This makes very little sense.

In this paper I recommend a more perspicuous and coherent use of constitutional history, which I call “structural originalism.” Rather than saddle ourselves with the …

Copyright, Ebooks, And The Future Of Digital Lending, Mary Lafrance

Scholarly Works

Public libraries face a digital lending crisis. Even as library patrons demand greater access to digital materials, eBook publishers have subjected libraries to onerous licensing terms. These include prices substantially higher than those charged to the general public, as well as stringent constraints on license duration and/or loan volume, forcing many libraries to repurchase their eBooks every one or two years. Some publishers are releasing new books only in digital formats, making it even more costly for libraries to maintain robust collections. eBook publishers also compel libraries to use specific digital lending platforms which pose risks to patron privacy. At …

Ecarrots: Prison Control And Profits From Correctional Tablets, Justin Iverson

Scholarly Works

In recent years, tablets have gained tremendous popularity behind bars for their ability to expand access to educational and rehabilitative services for people in prison. However, there are downsides to tablet implementation, including high costs at the expense of a captive population and shifting power dynamics resulting in possible volatility. This Article examines the use of correctional tablets in jails and prisons as mechanisms for administrative control and profit-making in an era of beleaguered correctional budgets. It also considers legal and policy implications related to the disproportionately negative impact of the introduction of tablets on people in poverty, increased dependency …

Keynote Address: Envisioning Wage Justice, Ruben J. Garcia

Scholarly Works

In this Keynote address for the Minnesota Journal of Law & Inequality’s Symposium, “Not Just Wages,” held at the University of Minnesota Law School on April 11, 2025, I discuss the evolving concept of wage justice, using the lens of Critical Wage Theory and its origins in pioneering theories of race, labor and justice. The Article outlines the legal frameworks that have defined the content of wage justice in the twenty-first century, particularly for marginal workers. This Article raises the alarm about the impact of political change on low-wage workers, using case studies and analysis of administrative agency enforcement of …

Restorative Justice In Legal Education, Lindsey Pointer, Aparna Polavarapu, Alanna Ojibway

Scholarly Works

No abstract provided.

"A Plain Denial”: Reclaiming Equal Protection In American Juvenile Law, Addie C. Rolnick, David S. Tanenhaus, Justin Iverson, Danielle L. Silvestri

Scholarly Works

Juvenile courts are based on the premise that children are different from adults and should therefore be treated differently. Children may be treated more informally by courts, punished for different purposes, and brought before the court for different behaviors. Since In re Gault, the Supreme Court has been clear that there are limits to how different juvenile courts can be. Juveniles are entitled to many of the same procedural protections as adult criminal defendants, although the Court has preserved some procedural differences where it has determined that their benefit is outweighed by the need to preserve the informality, flexibility, …

The Identity Factor, Jessica Feinberg

University of Colorado Law Review

No abstract provided.

The Economics Of Healthcare Fraud, Jetson Leder-Luis, Anup Malani

Public Law and Legal Theory Working Papers

Healthcare fraud imposes a sizable cost on U.S. public healthcare budgets and distorts health care provision. We examine the economics of health care fraud and enforcement using theory and data and connect to a growing literature on the topic. We first offer a new economic definition of health care fraud that captures and connects the wide range of activities prosecuted as fraud. We define fraud as any divergence between the care an insurer says a patient qualifies for, the care a provider provides, and the care a provider bills for. Our definition clarifies the economic consequences of different categories of …

The Exactions Illusion: Sheetz's Missing Dissent, Lee Anne Fennell, Timothy M. Mulvaney

Public Law and Legal Theory Working Papers

No abstract provided.

The Society Cases, Adam A. Davidson

Public Law and Legal Theory Working Papers

No abstract provided.

On Disciplining States, Aziz Z. Huq

Public Law and Legal Theory Working Papers

No abstract provided.