Digital Commons Network^™

Climate-Induced Human Displacement And Conservation Lands, Jessica Owley

Articles

As climate change leads to both internal displacement and mass migrations, we need not only new places for people to live but also new locations for infrastructure projects and other public needs. Some of the most attractive areas for these new land uses are currently unoccupied land, including land set aside for conservation. Numerous laws restrict the availability and possible uses of public conservation land. Individual agreements and property restrictions encumber private conservation land, varying in the ease with which the restrictions can be modified. For example, privately protected areas in the United States are often encumbered with perpetual conservation …

Pandemics And International Law: The Need To Strengthen International Legal Frameworks After The Covid-19 Global Health Pandemic [Sierra Leone], Charles C. Jalloh

Articles

No abstract provided.

Co-Opting Coronavirus, Assailing Asylum, Ashley B. Armstrong

Faculty Publications

The Centers for Disease Control (CDC) issued an Order on March 26, 2020, under Title 42, Section 265 of the Public Health Service Act, in the name of combatting the spread of coronavirus. The Order has been called the “Asylum Ban” because it effectively has sealed the southern border to protection-seekers, resulting in the pushback of nearly 400,000 asylees and unaccompanied children. This Article argues that the Trump administration has contravened the rule of law by using the coronavirus pandemic as a convenient pretext to end asylum in the U.S., and by violating the rights of protection-seekers. In doing so, …

Balancing Public Health And Privacy: Lessons From Digital Contact Tracing For Covid-19 Vaccination Tracking Efforts, Carmel Shachar

Saint Louis University Law Journal

The COVID-19 pandemic has brough the tension between individual privacy and public health initiative to the fore, in part because many of the solutions to the challenges of the pandemic proposed are digital. The first year of the pandemic has revealed that the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act is both too restrictive of traditional public health activities but also underprotective of important categories of health data. The failure of digital contact tracing applications to make a difference in combatting the pandemic during its early stages also illustrates the tension between individual privacy and public health surveillance. In order to …

2020 Domestic Legislative Review, Tara Cooley

Animal Law Review

The 116th Congress, second session, began January 3, 2020, and ended January 3, 2021. While Congress voted on key animal-related legislation, such as the Big Cat Public Safety Act, the COVID-19 pandemic slowed -- or even halted -- proposed legislation at the federal and state levels. Despite the slowdown, local voters proposed and enacted several key initiatives, including the California Ecosystems Protection Act and Orange County, Florida's Right to Clean Water initiative.9 In addition, federally enacted COVID-19-related legislation, such as the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act, also addressed animalrelated issues. The World Health Organization (WHO) labeled COVID-19 …

Over The Top: Judges, Lawyers, And Covid-19 Rhetoric, Jonathan L. Entin

Health Matrix: The Journal of Law-Medicine

No abstract provided.

Rethinking The Role Of Ngos In An Era Of Extreme Wealth Inequality: The Example Of The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, John J. Chung

Law Faculty Scholarship

No abstract provided.

Rethinking The Role Of Ngos In An Era Of Extreme Wealth Inequality: The Example Of The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, John J. Chung

Roger Williams University Law Review

No abstract provided.

The Perfect Storm: Coronavirus And The Elder Catch, Jessica Dixon Weaver

Faculty Journal Articles and Book Chapters

The global COVID-19 pandemic has exacerbated an already growing phenomenon: the Elder Catch. This term defines the caregiving dilemma faced by adults who are simultaneously working, caring for elder parents or relatives, and in some cases, raising children at the same time. Few scholars have explored how the state uses the traditional family framework to resist providing comprehensive government support for elder care. Women typically bear the brunt of caregiving costs within the family and become physically and mentally vulnerable in the process. COVID-19 has pushed women caught in the Elder Catch to the brink while sheltering at home, and …

Covid-19: Legal Framework For Vaccine Distributions And Mandates, Dana B. Taschner, Ashley Atwood

SMU Science and Technology Law Review

The COVID-19 pandemic has created heightened turmoil for at-risk populations, solidified laws allowing the use of mask mandates, raised legal issues surrounding vaccine mandates, and presented the new issue of a vaccine passport. As a nation, we have failed to implement vaccination schemes that properly protect vulnerable populations. Specifically, the homeless population has been overlooked, creating an additional layer of hardship, and contributing to greater community spread. This article contemplates the various methods by which an equitable vaccination scheme could have been achieved and the division of powers that created complications.

Additionally, the legality of vaccine mandates is discussed, and …

The Art Of Dodging Bullets: How Covid-19 Drug Manufacturers And Providers Plan To Escape Tort Liability, Ruan Meintjes

SMU Science and Technology Law Review

No abstract provided.

Franco And Fraihat: The Unexpected Consequences Of Overlap, Romina Nemaci

Public Interest Law Reporter

No abstract provided.

Repairing Medical Equipment In Times Of Pandemic, Ofer Tur-Sinai, Leah Chan Grinvald

Scholarly Works

The COVID-19 pandemic that has gripped the world since early 2020 has underscored the need for an effective right to repair medical equipment. As healthcare systems have been pushed to the limit, keeping critical medical equipment (such as ventilators) in working order has become a matter of life and death. Unfortunately, the ability of hospitals and other healthcare providers to service and fix their medical equipment is often hindered by the tight control that original equipment manufacturers keep over repair of their products. On top of direct contractual restrictions on repair, one of the major difficulties encountered by hospital-based and …

The Dichotomy Of Utilitarian Maximization And Primum Non Nocere In The Unprecedented Times Of Covid-19: Ethics, Standards Of Care, And Protecting Vulnerable Populations, Sarah Polites

Student Works

No abstract provided.

Vaccinations, Religious Exemptions, And Covid-19 Responding To The Pandemic With A Mandatory Vaccination, Joseph Mendonsa

Student Works

No abstract provided.

[Redacted] Addressing The Disclosure Of Medical Conditions, Mental Health Treatment, And Substance Abuse History In The Online Publication Of Court Documents In Massachusetts, Diana Hurtado

Suffolk Journal of Trial and Appellate Advocacy

No abstract provided.

Systemic Racism, The Government's Pandemic Response, And Racial Inequities In Covid-19, Ruqaiijah Yearby, Seema Mohapatra

Emory Law Journal

During the COVID-19 pandemic, federal and state governments have disregarded racial and ethnic minorities’ unequal access to employment and health care, which has resulted in racial inequities in infections and deaths. In addition, they have enacted laws that further exacerbate these inequities. Consequently, many racial and ethnic minorities are employed in low-wage essential jobs that lack paid sick leave and health insurance. This lack of benefits causes them to go to work even when they are sick and prevents them from receiving appropriate medical treatment. As a result, racial and ethnic minorities have disproportionately been infected and died from COVID-19. …

How The Fallout From Post-9/11 Surveillance Programs Can Inform Privacy Protections For Covid-19 Contact Tracing Programs, Emma Mendelson

City University of New York Law Review

In times of national crises, the government often endows itself with broad and unprecedented powers. Following the events on September 11th, 2001, the government enhanced the scope of its surveillance capabilities in the name of preventing terrorist activity; privacy was second to “safety” as congress reacted rashly to pass legislation. Currently, as the United States responds to the global crisis of COVID-19, surveillance returns as an integral tool for national security. Both local and federal governments are using location metadata and health data to assist in preventing the spread of the disease.

Contact/proximity tracing – “which involves figuring out who …

Covid-19 And The Hipaa Privacy Rule: Asked And Answered, Stacey A. Tovino

Faculty Articles

The severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), the virus that causes coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), raises important and vexing privacy and security issues. Public health officials, law and policy makers, and members of the general public disagree, for example, regarding the amount and type of individually identifiable health data that should be collected, used, and disclosed for public health surveillance, public health investigation, and public health intervention. Stakeholders also diverge in their opinions regarding the sufficiency of federal and state data privacy and security laws. Some stakeholders believe that current statutes and regulations are sufficient to protect individually identifiable …

The Challenges In Health Care For Pregnant Women In U.S. Correctional Institutions, Mahnoor Yunus

UC Law Journal of Race and Economic Justice

No abstract provided.

The Next Surges Are Here: What Can American Governments Lawfully Do In Response To The Ongoing Covid-19 Pandemic?, Jeff Thaler

Mitchell Hamline Law Journal of Public Policy and Practice

No abstract provided.

Funeral Poverty, Victoria J. Haneman

University of Richmond Law Review

This Article makes a unique contribution to the literature by drawing attention to the financial burden of death service being shouldered by those who are “relatively poor,” or those for whom everyday life may be a financial struggle. The thesis is equal parts positive, normative, descriptive, and prescriptive: it is imperative that options be made available to transition human remains in a way that does not exacerbate cycles of poverty and allows for the living to preserve dignity. This need calls for important changes to existing legal structures, including modernization of consumer protection regulation, change to laws regulating the death …

The Clean Air Act Of 1963: Postwar Environmental Politics And The Debate Over Federal Power, Adam D. Orford

Faculty Scholarship

This Article explores the development of the Clean Air Act of 1963, the first law to allow the federal government to fight air pollution rather than study it. The Article focuses on the postwar years (1945-1963) and explores the rise of public health medical research, cooperative federalism, and the desire to harness the powers of the federal government for domestic social improvement, as key precursors to environmental law. It examines the origins of the idea that the federal government should “do something” about air pollution, and how that idea was translated, through drafting, lobbying, politicking, hearings, debate, influence, and votes, …

A Global Pandemic Remedy To Vaccine Nationalism, Emily Michiko Morris, Orit Fischman-Afori, Miriam Marcowitz-Bitton

Akron Law Faculty Publications

Recognizing the need for flexibility in times of emergency and building upon knowledge gained from existing international and domestic compulsory licensing laws, we propose a global, centralized scheme to provide access to vaccines during pandemics. In many ways our proposal mirrors some of the World Health Organization's (WHO) COVID-19 vaccine initiatives but consolidates and expands them into a much more efficacious form. Under the proposed model, the WHO's declaration of a pandemic would trigger a global procurement and distribution scheme for vaccines. The proposed scheme would be mandatory and would require that all countries operate as one buyer vis-a-vis vaccine …

Jacobson 2.0: Police Power In The Time Of Covid-19, James R. Steiner-Dillon

Akron Law Faculty Publications

The COVID-19 pandemic has become a legal, as well as a public health, crisis. In response to the pandemic, state and municipal governments have imposed unprecedented constraints on Americans’ daily activities. These restrictions provoked a wave of constitutional challenges that have revealed the antiquated doctrinal foundations of states’ police power in the area of public health. It has been over a century since the Supreme Court, in Jacobson v. Massachusetts, articulated a broadly deferential approach to constitutional review of state orders issued in response to a public health emergency. The constitutional order has changed since Jacobson was decided; many provisions …

Macromedical Regulation, Barak D. Richman, Steven L. Schwarcz

Faculty Scholarship

The COVID-19 pandemic has dramatically shown that a localized disease can be transmitted to the broader population, nationally and worldwide. This Article analyzes how to design regulation to help control that transmission. To that end, we first observe that existing healthcare regulation focuses almost exclusively on regulating individual components of the medical and healthcare industry, while lacking a capacity to address how those components work together as a system -a system that pandemics can destabilize. Indeed, one factor that contributed to COVID-19's spread was the inability of U.S. healthcare regulation to operate on a societal level, to protect certain components …

Intellectual Property As A Determinant Of Health, Ana S. Rutschman

Vanderbilt Journal of Transnational Law

Public health literature has long recognized the existence of determinants of health, a set of socioeconomic conditions that affect health risks and health outcomes across the world. The World Health Organization defines these determinants as “forces and systems” consisting of “factors combin[ing] together to affect the health of individuals and communities.” Frameworks relying on determinants of health have been widely adopted by countries in the global South and North alike, as well as international institutional players, several of which are direct or indirect players in transnational intellectual property (IP) policymaking. Issues raised by the implementation of IP policies, however, are …

Property And Intellectual Property In Vaccine Markets, Ana Santos Rutschman

All Faculty Scholarship

As biopharmaceutical forms of technology, vaccines constitute one of the most important tools for the promotion and maintenance of public health. Tolstoy famously wrote that [h]appy families are all alike; every unhappy family is unhappy in its own way.¹ Vaccine markets offer perhaps one of the most extreme embodiments of Tolstoy's principle² in the field of biopharmaceutical innovation.

Pandemic Emotions: The Good, The Bad, And The Unconscious —Implications For Public Health, Financial Economics, Law, And Leadership, Peter H. Huang

Publications

Pandemics lead to emotions that can be good, bad, and unconscious. This Article offers an interdisciplinary analysis of how emotions during pandemics affect people’s responses to pandemics, public health, financial economics, law, and leadership. Pandemics are heart-breaking health crises. Crises produce emotions that impact decision-making. This Article analyzes how fear and anger over COVID-19 fueled anti-Asian and anti-Asian American hatred and racism. COVID-19 caused massive tragic economic, emotional, mental, physical, and psychological suffering. These difficulties are interconnected and lead to vicious cycles. Fear distorts people’s decision readiness, deliberation, information acquisition, risk perception, and thinking. Distortions affect people’s financial, health, and …

Environmental Law, Disrupted By Covid-19, Rebecca Bratspies, Vanessa Casado Peréz, Robin Kundis Craig, Lissa Griffin, Sarah Krakoff, Keith Hirokawa, Katrina Kuh, Jessica Owley, Melissa Powers, Shannon Roesler, Jonathan Rosenbloom, J. B. Ruhl, Erin Ryan, David Takacs

Publications

For over a year, the COVID-19 pandemic and concerns about systemic racial injustice have highlighted the conflicts and opportunities currently faced by environmental law. Scientists uniformly predict that environmental degradation, notably climate change, will cause a rise in diseases, disproportionate suffering among communities already facing discrimination, and significant economic losses. In this Article, members of the Environmental Law Collaborative examine the legal system’s responses to these crises, with the goal of framing opportunities to reimagine environmental law. The Article is excerpted from their book Environmental Law, Disrupted, to be published by ELI Press later this year.