Digital Commons Network^™

The Importance Of Policing, Stephen Rushin

South Carolina Law Review

No abstract provided.

Not Just Mercy: Governors Should Use The Executive Clemency Power As A Corrective Tool For Mass Incarceration, Laura Tierney

Cardozo Journal of Equal Rights & Social Justice

The note argues that state governors should revive the use of executive clemency as a corrective tool to address mass incarceration and its disproportionate impact on communities of color. Executive clemency, which includes pardons, commutations, and sentence reductions, offers a means to provide immediate relief and promote social justice. The author emphasizes the historical roots of clemency as a check on the criminal justice system and advocates for its use to reduce prison populations and counteract the legacy of punitive policies.

Fira: Deciphering The Constitutionality Of Illinois’S Approach To Gun Industry Accountability, Hashem El-Sharif

Northern Illinois University Law Review

After a deep sense of discontent with the barrage of lawsuits lobbed at the firearms industry for the criminal misuse of its products, Congress passed the Protection of Lawful Commerce in Arms Act (PLCAA) in 2005. Since its passage, the PLCAA has served as a highly effective shield, generally protecting the gun industry from civil liability for the unlawful misuse of its firearms. The PLCAA, however, does outline some exceptions allowing certain gun manufacturers in certain situations to be sued. In 2023, Illinois Governor JB Pritzker signed the Firearm Industry Responsibility Act (FIRA) into law. FIRA seeks to hold the …

In Brief, Case Western Reserve University School Of Law

In Brief

Table of Contents

• To preserve, protect and expand
• Road to victory
• Welcoming a legal luminary
• Scholarly Impacts and Recognitions
• Pro bono pathways
• Society of Benchers
• Alumni Committees
• Class Notes
• In Memoriam
• Honor Roll of Donors

Negara Hukum Kesejahteraan Di Batas Pantai: Paradoks Perlindungan Negara Terhadap Masyarakat Pesisir Di Tengah Perubahan Iklim, Aji Baskoro

Jurnal Ilmu Kesejahteraan Sosial

Climate change poses significant challenges to vulnerable coastal communities in Indonesia. As a welfare state, the Indonesian government is expected to safeguard these vulnerable groups through policies that promote their welfare and sustainable livelihoods. However, current policies create a paradox. This article explores this paradox: on the one hand, Indonesia adheres to the welfare state principle, which demands that all government actions be grounded in law, ensuring public safety and welfare. On the other hand, the policies focus on exploiting natural resources, exacerbating the vulnerabilities of coastal communities, particularly in the face of climate change. The article employs a normative …

Shocking Sentences, John B. Meixner Jr.

Scholarly Works

Harsh recidivist sentencing penalties, like three-strikes laws, have been criticized heavily among both academics and practitioners on a number of different grounds. Most arguments focus on how sentences arising from these penalties are disproportionate—that there is no sensible relationship between the wrong committed and the sentence imposed. Those critiques are valid, but there’s another important problem with recidivist sentencing penalties that has been overlooked: they lead to sentences that are totally unexpected—indeed, shocking—to the defendants who face them. Many recidivist sentencing penalties cause large leaps in sentencing exposure that amount to exponential growth when compared with a defendant’s prior sentences. …

Defamation Or Impersonation? Working Towards A Legislative Remedy For Deepfake Election Misinformation, John Thayer

William & Mary Law Review

This Note explores how election deepfakes fit into the broader frameworks of defamation and impersonation law and posits that Congress and the judiciary may remedy the threat by borrowing from both areas of law. It builds on existing scholarship that has addressed the issue of deepfakes in both the electoral context as well as the general context. Furthermore, it expands upon scholars’ prior identification of these areas of law as potential avenues for regulating election deepfakes.11 It posits that solutions to election deepfakes offered by Professors Rebecca Green and Rick Hasen could go even further while still surviving constitutional scrutiny, …

Unlocking The Vote: Hopkins V. Hosemann As A Catalyst For Restoring Voting Rights To Nonviolent Felons, Emily K. Abrams

Cardozo Journal of Equal Rights & Social Justice

No abstract provided.

Emergency Powers For Good, Elena Chachko, Katerina Linos

William & Mary Law Review

Emergency powers are widely, and justly, criticized as threats to the rule of law. In the United States, forty-three declared emergencies give the executive vast authority to exercise power unencumbered by standard legal and procedural requirements. A long tradition of executive use of emergency powers to erode civil liberties amplifies fears of executive overreach.

Yet this, we argue, is only part of the picture. We examine how emergency powers can be used for good. We argue that under certain limited conditions, political actors can legitimately invoke emergency powers to transform public policy. In addition to widely accepted requirements of crisis …

U.S. District Judge Orders Indiana Department Of Correction To Provide Gender-Affirming Surgery For Transgender Individual With Severe Gender Dysphoria, Arthur S. Leonard

Other Publications

No abstract provided.

A Wrong In Search Of A Duty: Public Nuisance, Social Media And The Youth Mental Health Crisis, Charles Bachmann

Cardozo Journal of Equal Rights & Social Justice

The note argues that social media companies should be held accountable for their role in the youth mental health crisis through the legal framework of public nuisance law. Drawing parallels to successful cases against tobacco and opioid companies, the author contends that social media platforms, by prioritizing profits over user well-being, contribute to widespread harm such as anxiety, depression, and suicide among youth. While acknowledging concerns about judicial overreach and the challenges of proving causation, the note advocates for judicial intervention as a necessary corrective in the absence of effective legislative action.

Theistic Illiberal Constitutionalism: A Review Of Adrian Vermeule’S Common Good Constitutionalism, Kyron J. Huigens

Articles

Adrian Vermeule’s Common Good Constitutionalism drew a remarkable amount of attention from constitutional law scholars when it was published in 2020. About eighteen months later, Vermeule published a piece complaining that the critics had missed the point, that they had ignored the natural law jurisprudence that grounds the work. He was correct. This Review addresses Vermeule’s natural law jurisprudence, emphasizing the fact that it is a religious natural law jurisprudence. His arguments are in the tradition of ScholasticismAristotelian logic incorporated into Christian theology by St. Thomas Aquinas. Scholasticism is a remarkably weak foundation for constitutional jurisprudence. It is a vast …

Tribes And Ai: Possibilities For Tribal Sovereignty, Adam Crepelle

Duke Law & Technology Review

Artificial Intelligence (AI) has permeated every facet of modern existence. Governments across the globe are exploring its applications and attempting to establish regulatory frameworks. Numerous scholars have proffered recommendations for governing AI at the local, national, and international levels. However, as is often the case, Indian tribes have been neglected in AI policy discussions. This oversight is significant because the 574 federally recognized tribes are sovereigns with their own judicial, education, and healthcare systems. Due to their relatively small populations and geographic isolation, tribes stand to benefit significantly from the services AI can perform. Moreover, tribes are uniquely well-suited to …

Revolutionizing Public Safety And Criminal Justice Through Ai, Alan Saquella

Publications

Artificial Intelligence (AI) is rapidly transforming public safety, criminal justice and security by fundamentally changing how crimes are committed, investigated and prevented. As AI tools become increasingly sophisticated, law enforcement and corporate security professionals are utilizing these advancements to enhance their capabilities. However, integrating AI into these sectors also brings significant challenges, including ethical concerns, recruitment difficulties, and the surge in crime rates. This article examines the transformative impact of AI, the ongoing efforts to unify AI applications across public safety and security sectors, and expert advice on overcoming the associated challenges.

Strata Prods. Worldwide, Llc V. Peabody Energy Corp. Order On Peabody Se Mining's Ocga 9-11-11.1 Motion To Strike, Eric A. Richardson

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

No abstract provided.

State Of Utah, Plaintiff And Appellee V. Roy Benjamin Levering, Defendant And Appellant : Brief Of Appellee, Utah Court Of Appeals

Utah Court of Appeals Briefs (2020 –)

Appeal from convictions and sentences for possession of a controlled substance with intent to distribute, a first degree felony; tampering with evidence, a class A misdemeanor; and other crimes in the Fifth Judicial District, Washington County, the Honorable Jeffrey C. Wilcox presiding

K. ANDREW FITZGERALD, Counsel for Appellant

CONNOR NELSON, SEAN D. REYES, JERRY JAEGER, Counsel for Appellee

Mattress Money: How Civil Forfeiture Leaves Taxpayers With Few Options, Aubrey Manculich

The Business, Entrepreneurship & Tax Law Review

Civil forfeiture is a legal practice that allows law enforcement agencies to seize property without a criminal conviction, or even charges. This article examines the tax consequences of civil asset forfeiture, particularly the near-impossibility of individuals or businesses to claim a deduction for forfeited property. By analyzing the treatment of seized and forfeited property by the Internal Revenue Code and related I.R.S. regulations and publications, this study exposes critical gaps in the current system that prevent taxpayers from recognizing losses from civil forfeiture. The article further explores the interaction of tax law and civil forfeiture proceedings, demonstrating how innocent property …

Insurance Law And Religious Belief, Chad Marzen

The Business, Entrepreneurship & Tax Law Review

This Article adds to the corpus of academic scholarship in insurance law with an analysis of jurisprudence involving insurance law and religious belief. Outside of the issue of contraception, health insurance and religious exemptions, there are a number of areas where insurance law intersects with religious belief. These areas, examined in this Article, include the admissibility of testimony regarding religious beliefs in liability cases, unemployment compensation and religious belief, the relationship between worker's compensation and religious belief, and whether motor vehicle financial responsibility laws violate the First Amendment.

Cbp One Mobile Application: Violating Migrants’ Rights To Privacy And Freedom From Discrimination, Sarah Dávila, Alejandra Palacios, Brad Thompson

Faculty White Papers

No abstract provided.

Taking Liberties: The Supreme Court's New Hierarchy Of Rights And Its Victims, Richard B. Katskee

West Virginia Law Review

The legitimacy of our unelected Supreme Court comes from the nature and structural limitations on judicial power. Courts do not make policy in the abstract. Rather, Article III requires federal judges to decide only real, live disputes, on the facts before them. Stare decisis then prevents the courts from changing legal rules willy-nilly. The big, important changes come instead through collective decision-making by our elected representatives. When courts do break from stare decisis, it is normally to expand protections for the politically disempowered. Those protections then make legislatures more representative and act as brakes on abuses of minorities by an …

Anna Nicole's Constitutional Estates Law Legacy, Dave Fagundes

ACTEC Law Journal

No abstract provided.

Ownership And Development Of Rare Earth Elements And Critical Minerals In Mine Drainage In West Virginia, Robert E. Akers

West Virginia Law Review

This Article argues in support of recent legislation which clarifies legal title to potentially valuable substances derived from the treatment of mine drainage in West Virginia’s waters. West Virginia University has been researching the commercial viability of extracting rare earth elements and other critical minerals from coal mine drainage and coal mine waste. If successful, the research may foster a new industry and provide citizens and wildlife with cleaner water flowing in West Virginia’s rivers and streams. The West Virginia Legislature was concerned that ownership disputes and litigation might harm the development of this potential resource and enacted statutory provisions …

Remote Court Hearings (Past, Present, And Future): Arizona’S Next Steps For A New World To Enhance Access To Justice, Samuel A. Thumma, Marcus W. Reinkensmeyer

SMU Law Review Forum

In this article, the Arizona Supreme Court COVID-19 Continuity of Court Operations During a Public Health Emergency Workgroup (“Plan B Workgroup”) provides an update from its prior efforts, building on the Post-pandemic Recommendations: COVID-19 Continuity of Court Operations During a Public Health Emergency Workgroup, 75 SMU LAW REVIEW FORUM 1 (2022). This article focuses on the Plan B Workgroup’s February 2022 Recommended Remote and In-Person Hearings in the Arizona State Courts in the Post-Pandemic World and developments after those Recommendations. The article highlights the consideration and adoption of the Recommendations by the Arizona Judicial Council and the Arizona Supreme Court, …

Policing The Fourth Amendment: The Problematic Effects Of Expanding The Community Caretaking Doctrine In United States V. Treisman, Mary Grace Kiernan

North Carolina Law Review

No abstract provided.

Financing Pathways For The Energy Transition: A Regional Approach, Ana M. Camelo Vega

Columbia Center on Sustainable Investment

The success of the global energy transition critically requires a shift from a solely national focus to a regional perspective. Regional cooperation is not just a beneficial opportunity; it is an imperative for the future of sustainable energy. Clean energy solutions are inherently regional, necessitating interconnected systems and collaborative frameworks. This regional focus is essential for addressing the complex challenges of the energy transition, requiring comprehensive engineering, institutional, and financial solutions.

This comprehensive report highlights the crucial financing pathways needed to achieve a successful clean energy transition, focusing on four key regions: Africa, Asia and the Pacific, Latin America and …

The Role Of Pornography In The "Rough Sex" Defence In Canada, Lise Gotell, Isabel Grant, Elizabeth Sheehy

Dalhousie Law Journal

Drawing upon the authors’ earlier research studying the consent defence when it is used to suggest that the complainant agreed to “rough sex” involving violence, this paper develops an extended analysis of the complex role of pornography in these decisions. This paper focuses on a subset of “rough sex” cases, where pornography played a role in “scripting” the accused’s behaviour. Thematically, these cases included: those where the accused had a substantial history of consumption of violent pornography; cases in which the accused forced the complainant to view pornography as part of the assault; cases where the accused recorded the attack, …

The Fair Chance To Compete For Jobs Act: Proposing A More Equitable Statue For Individuals Affected By The Justice System, Brian M. Joseph

Hofstra Labor & Employment Law Journal

No abstract provided.

Toward An Absolute Privilege From Defamation For Statements Made In Campus Sexual Misconduct Proceedings, Elizabeth Munoz-Smith

University of Michigan Journal of Law Reform

Title IX prohibits recipients of federal funding from discriminating on the basis of sex in their education programs and activities. The regulations implementing Title IX impose strict requirements on the procedures that institutions must follow in investigating and adjudicating complaints of sexual harassment. But survivors using campus processes are facing potential liability for defamation at an increasing rate. The existence of this threat leads to further underreporting of an already-underreported crime, a detrimental impact on survivors’ education, and psychological stress created by the re-traumatization of a civil suit that carries potential monetary liability for their report. This Note argues that …

Prosecutorial Data Transparency And Data Justice, Caitlin Glass, Kat M. Albrecht, Perry Moriearty

Northwestern University Law Review

The U.S. criminal legal system is notoriously racialized. Though Black and Latinx people make up less than 30% of U.S. residents, they constitute more than 50% of the nearly two million people currently in U.S. prisons and jails. For decades, research has indicated that one group of decision-makers has had an outsized influence on these numbers: prosecutors. From whom to charge to what sentences to recommend, no actor plays a greater role in determining who goes to prison in this country. Highly subjective and lacking in formal guidance and accountability, prosecutorial decisions are especially vulnerable to racial bias. They are …

Critical Race Theory As Legal Epistemic Justice, Jasmine Gonzales Rose

Faculty Scholarship

“Critical Thinking: Not Critical Race Theory” and “Teach Truth: Not CRT,” proclaimed the front and back of a T-shirt on a fellow traveler passing in the airport. I was startled by the blatant misconceptions. The core pursuits of critical race theory (“CRT”) are to think critically, discover truth, and diversify knowledge about race and racism. Although I was aware of then-President Trump’s executive order barring federal diversity training and bills modeled after it, nothing had prepared me for the realization that my academic subfield had become so widely criticized that it was now the subject of T-shirt slogans. A few …