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Private Law Without Precedent, Danielle D’Onfro

Vanderbilt Law Review

A common-law system assumes that judges regularly issue new opinions that clarify and update the law over time. At the same time, our federal system assumes that state courts will do the bulk of judicial lawmaking, especially in private law. And, with a few exceptions, our broader legal system assumes that state private law has allocated entitlements and obligations into a coherent system. None of these assumptions has been true for a long time. This Article offers a comprehensive account of when and why these assumptions about the proper functioning of private law fail. It then uses this account to …

The Not-So-Silent Side Effects Of Upzoning: Noise Pollution, Mackenzi Barrett

Vanderbilt Law Review

A broad coalition has formed to oppose restrictive zoning laws. According to this coalition, zoning is largely to blame for the current housing crisis facing the United States, and to increase the housing supply, cities across the country should embrace upzoning—that is, loosen zoning laws to allow for greater density. Like many other well-intentioned policy changes, upzoning has the possibility for negative unintended consequences. Among those consequences is noise pollution. In recent decades, noise pollution has gone largely undiscussed in the United States. Notwithstanding this neglect, existing research demonstrates that noise pollution can have serious adverse effects on people’s health …

Dignity And Deepfakes, Michael Goodyear

Articles & Chapters

Today, we face a dangerous technosocial combination: AI-generated deepfakes and the Internet. Believable and accessible, these deepfakes have already spread sex, lies, and false advertisements across the Internet and targeted everyone from Taylor Swift to middle school students. Dissemination of deepfakes inflicts multifarious dignitary harms against their victims—especially women and LGBTQ+ persons—stripping them of control over their own identities, harming their reputations, and ostracizing them from society through shame.

Yet this is not the first time a new technology for capturing one’s likeness and a method for disseminating images threatened individuals’ dignity. In the late nineteenth century, the right of …

Antitransgender Legislation And Needs Of Transgender Floridians, 2018–2024, Callan Hummel, Kim-Phuong Truong-Vu, Kathryn Nowotny, Ashley Mayfaire, Beaux Ramos, Jasmine Mckenzie, Charlton C. Copeland, Tiffany R. Glynn

Articles

Objectives. To document transgender Floridians’ service needs before and after antitransgender state legislation.

Methods. We conducted descriptive and change point analyses of intake survey data collected by a transgender-led community-based organization in Florida from 701 clients who requested services between 2018 and 2024.

Results. Findings show enrollment for services increased during the rise in antitransgender legislation, with pressing needs for legal and financial support for name changes and gender-affirming health care. The percentage of clients requesting sexual health resources increased, especially among Black clients.

Conclusions. Findings underscore the urgency of (1) understanding the impact of antitransgender legislation on service needs, …

Disability-Related Misconduct And The Untapped Potential Of The Disparate Impact Theory, Kelly Cahill Timmons

Cardozo Law Review

Disabilities often manifest themselves in behavior that could be characterized as misconduct. Since the early days of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), courts have struggled with how to treat disability-related misconduct in the workplace. In Raytheon Co. v. Hernandez, the Supreme Court indicated that terminating an employee for violating a neutral, generally applicable conduct rule is not disparate treatment because of disability. Instead, the Court suggested that concern about the effect of such a rule on a disabled employee should be addressed under the disparate impact theory of discrimination. In the years that followed, Congress enacted the ADA Amendments …

Breaking The Chains: Addressing Criminal Records For Sex Trafficking Survivors Through Vacatur Laws, Charlotte Kessinger

Advanced Issues in Criminal Law: Sex Offenses

No abstract provided.

The Enforceability Of Adult Film Employment Contracts And Their Impact On The Predatory Nature Of And Unethical Practices Within The Adult Film Industry, Taylor Allen

Advanced Issues in Criminal Law: Sex Offenses

No abstract provided.

Cruel, As Usual: Application Of The Eighth Amendment To The Use Of Juvenile Criminal Records In Higher Education Admissions, Rabab Alajmi

St. John's Law Review

(Excerpt)

This Note addresses the systemic barrier to societal reintegration faced by juvenile offenders applying to enroll in higher education. Specifically, this Note will examine whether, in light of the Fifth Circuit’s recent Hopkins v. Hosemann decision, Eighth Amendment protections against cruel and unusual punishments should be extended to college applicants with juvenile criminal records who have completed their sentences. This Note argues that the Eighth Amendment reasoning in the Hopkins decision should be applied to higher education institutions who consider an applicant’s juvenile criminal record where the applicant has already completed their sentence. While the Hopkins decision concerned “the …

Mmu: 09/29/25–10/05/25, Student Bar Association

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Accounting For Fetal Personhood: Confronting The Implications Of Fetal Personhood On Vital Statistics Law, Alix Rogers

San Diego Law Review

In February 2024, in LePage v. Center for Reproductive Medicine, the Alabama Supreme Court held that embryos created through in-vitro fertilization (IVF) were legal persons. The national conversation about this ruling focused on the implications for IVF treatment. The impact of fetal personhood on the realm of vital records law has, to date, gone unnoticed. Vital records laws in the United States mandate the registration and collection of data for legislatively determined vital events. Vital records law influenced by fetal personhood, as well as broader trends to criminalize pregnancy, has profound and troubling implications for individuals experiencing spontaneous abortion …

Children’S Rights At The United States-Mexico Border: Is The United States Of America Breaking International Laws?, Avery Anderson

Immigration and Human Rights Law Review

The treatment of migrant children at the United States-Mexico border has become a contentious issue worldwide. International human rights frameworks set certain standards for the treatment of migrant children, and there are growing allegations that the United States has violated international legal obligations due to its inadequate detention conditions. This article argues that while the United States is not explicitly violating international treaties due to specific reservations, its border policies are in direct contradiction with global norms for the humane treatment of children. Through a review of the legal obligations under customary international law and international treaties, this article highlights …

When Love Is Not Enough: The Muñoz Decision And The Erosion Of Family Unity In U.S. Immigration Law, Katerina Fernandez

Immigration and Human Rights Law Review

The Supreme Court’s decision in Department of State v. Muñoz marks a significant shift in U.S. immigration law, reinforcing the doctrine of consular non-reviewability and weakening long-standing protections for family unity. Historically, marriage and family have been recognized as fundamental rights; yet, Muñoz limits judicial oversight of visa denials, allowing for indefinite separations between U.S. citizens and their non-citizen spouses. This piece examines the ruling’s legal and human rights implications, its parallels to family separation policies, and its potential to justify future erosion of parental rights in immigration enforcement. It also examines possible legal avenues to challenge arbitrary family separations, …

Paws Off My Image: Why Rights Of Publicity Should Be Expanded, Lauren Didelot

Journal of Intellectual Property Law

In our increasingly digital world, exposure to fame and fortune has become more accessible than ever, and many pet owners have taken advantage of this. The rise of “petfluencers” has called into question the extent of available rights of these celebrity animals’ owners to protect and maintain their pet’s commercial value, thus preventing instances of unfair enrichment from other’s exploitation of their beloved animals. This Note argues for the acceptance of an animal’s right of publicity. We begin with an exploration of the right of publicity itself and its current applications. Next, we will discuss the intellectual property rights currently …

The Perceptions And Receptiveness To Responsible Gambling By College Men Who Sports Bet: A Focus Group Study, Chance V. Dow, Matthew D. Andersland, Emily A. Velandia, Rory A. Pfund, James P. Whelan

UNLV Gaming Research & Review Journal

Responsible Gambling (RG) includes prevention messages aimed at mitigating harms. Research examining the experiences of college students who sports bet is lacking, hindering efforts to tailor messaging to college students. This qualitative study explored how college men who sports bet perceive and respond to existing RG messages, gathering their feedback on the characteristics of messages they find effective. Online focus groups were conducted with college men who sports bet (N = 12) using a semi-structured interview guide. The discussions were recorded, transcribed, and analyzed using an open coding Thematic Analysis approach. Codes were independently identified and analyzed resulting in …

Legal Realism, Legal Positivism, And Determinacy, Dan Priel

All Papers

It is a commonplace that the legal realists argued that law is deeply indeterminate. According to this familiar account, the legal realists insisted that legal materials don’t constrain judges, who are therefore free to decide cases in almost any way they want. An influential argument has argued that the only way to explain this view is by showing that the legal realists presupposed a legal positivist theory of law. This Essay offers a different understanding of the relationship between realism, positivism, and determinacy, challenging this interpretation of the realists as both historically false and as philosophically unwarranted. I provide many …

Rights In The Eyes Of The Beholder: The Lived Hierarchy Of Rights In India's Democracy, Sehar Abdullah, Keerthana Satheesh, Prashant Narang

Socio-Legal Review

This paper examines how citizens in India perceive and prioritise fundamental rights, with particular attention to the six freedoms under Article 19(1) and the property right. While the freedoms of Article 19(1) remain central to democratic citizenship, the Forty-Fourth Constitutional Amendment of 1978 reclassified the right to property as a constitutional right under Article 300A. This shift prompts an important question: Does the diminished constitutional rank of property correspond to its place in popular hierarchies of rights? Our in-depth interviews with 26 respondents, whose livelihoods make them especially sensitive to changes in both categories of rights, reveal that citizens continue …

Commander, U.S. Indo-Pacific Command, Remarks At The 2025 Military Law And Operations Conference, Samuel J. Paparo

International Law Studies

Admiral Samuel J. Paparo, Commander, U.S. Indo-Pacific Command, Remarks at the Military Law and Operations Conference, September 8, 2025

A Different Form Of Post-Op: Healing Survivors Of Domestic Violence Through Prosecutorial Anatomy, Elizabeth Ellick

Villanova Law Review (1956 - )

No abstract provided.

Chacahoula 2025, Volume 92, Alayna Pellegrin

Chacahoula

The 2025 issue of Chacahoula includes December 2024 and May 2025 graduating classes, as well as stunning photography student life on the banks of Bayou Desiard. With features covering students, faculty, and staff, this year's time capsule preserves an academic year in the life of the University of Louisiana at Monroe.

Beyond Personal Responsibility: Government Support For The Substantive Human Condition, Martha T. Mccluskey

Contributions to Books

Government protection against systemic harm to human well-being is stymied by the liberal idea that power is most legitimately wielded by autonomous individuals taking personal responsibility for their substantive well-being. Instead, a robust vision of democracy and socioeconomic justice requires grounding legitimate power in institutional responsibility, replacing the formal individual actor of liberal theory with the universally embodied, embedded human subject developed in Martha Fineman’s Vulnerability Theory. This chapter connects the message of personal responsibility in neoliberal US welfare reform policies to rationales defending the government’s failure to alleviate systemic human harm in the 2008 financial crisis and the accelerating …

Mmu: 09/22/25–09/28/25, Student Bar Association

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Sudan: A War Of Atrocities Report Of The Independent International Fact-Finding Mission For The Sudan, - Annual Report Of The United Nations High Commissioner For Human Rights And Reports Of The Office Of The High Commissioner And The Secretary-General

The Journal of Social Encounters

This report documents attacks on civilians and objects essential for their survival in Sudan. It concludes that both parties to the conflict violated international human rights and humanitarian law, with most violations amounting to war crimes. The Rapid Support Forces’ conduct may also constitute crimes against humanity, including persecution and extermination. The report calls for accountability and sets out a roadmap for justice.

Financial Inducements In Gambling Marketing: An Information Disclosure Proposal To Inform Gamblers Of Their True Economic Value, Philip Newall, Dominic Cortis, Jamie Torrance

UNLV Gaming Research & Review Journal

Financial inducements such as free bets are frequently-used gambling marketing offers which temporarily improve a gambler’s usual pattern of risk and potential return. Previous research has shown that there are up to 15 distinct types of financial inducements in common use, and that gamblers frequently misunderstand inducements’ play-through requirements and other complex terms and conditions. The Australian government has therefore recently banned play-through requirements for inducements shown to new customers, and the Great British regulator the Gambling Commission has recently announced a maximum play-through requirement of 10 times. The present work describes an alternative and yet potentially complementary approach based …

2025 Supreme Court Preview Digital Notebook, Institute Of Bill Of Rights Law, William & Mary Law School

Supreme Court Preview

No abstract provided.

Navigating Beyond The Workplace: Examining The Need For Ada-Mandated Workplace Travel Accommodations, Ryan Black

St. Mary's Law Journal

No abstract provided.

Before “Once Upon A Time”: Creative Class Exercises That May Foster Law Student Proficiency In Gathering Information During A Client Interview, Laura A. Frase

St. Mary's Law Journal

No abstract provided.

Profiting From Disaster: How Rising Climate Risk Is Reducing Insurance Coverage And Paving The Way For Predatory Lending, Samuel Tunnell

St. Mary's Law Journal

No abstract provided.

“It’S Just Rap”: Why Texas Courts Must Presume Rap Lyrics Inadmissible As Evidence In Criminal Trials, Sydney Ramirez

St. Mary's Law Journal

No abstract provided.

Transcending Tradition Through Inclusive Online Pedagogy, Areto A. Imoukuede

St. Mary's Law Journal

No abstract provided.

Empathy By Design: Rethinking Law School Engagement For Critical Thinking In The Age Of Artificial Intelligence, Jon M. Garon

St. Mary's Law Journal

No abstract provided.