Digital Commons Network^™

Adapting A Human Rights-Based Framework To Inform Militaries’ Artificial Intelligence Decision-Making Processes, Daragh Murray

Saint Louis University Law Journal

Key global powers are engaged in the development of artificial intelligence (“AI”) for military purposes, and it is widely accepted that the development and deployment of AI tools will lead to a revolution in military strategy and the practice of warfighting. The question is whether these tools can be designed, developed, and deployed in a manner that facilitates compliance with international legal obligations—in particular the law of armed conflict and international human rights law—and if so, how. To date, this question has not been answered satisfactorily. This article examines how concepts and procedures derived from international human rights law can …

Dueling Discretion: The Imperfect Mechanisms For Removing Elected Prosecutors, Meighan R. Parsh

North Carolina Law Review

No abstract provided.

Guns, Vices And Freedom, Oh My: A Preliminary Empirical Investigation, Royce De R. Barondes

Faculty Publications

This Essay estimates factors within States that are associated with per capita firearms ownership and the extent of legal restrictions con-cerning firearms. The metrics are: for the former, a proxy consisting of the fraction of suicides with a firearm; for the latter, Giffords Law Center’s ratings of the restrictiveness of a State’s regulation of fire-arms. For each, the Essay estimates the relationship between it and each of the levels of vices and freedom.

The Giffords score (more restrictions scored higher) is negatively related to the Cato Institute’s measure of overall freedom and regula-tory policy freedom but positively related to Cato’s …

Privacy Purgatory: Why The United States Needs A Comprehensive Federal Data Privacy Law, Emily Stackhouse Taetzsch

Journal of Legislation

No abstract provided.

The Subfederal In Immigration Polarization, Huyen Pham, Pham Hoang Van

Minnesota Journal of Law & Inequality

No abstract provided.

Religious Exemptions To Vaccinations: The First Amendment Vs. Rfra, Sneh Amin

Student Works

No abstract provided.

The Return Of Boy Scouts Of America V. Dale, Elizabeth Sepper

Saint Louis University Law Journal

In 2000, the Supreme Court’s decision in Boy Scouts of America v. Dale seemed to upend the law of freedom of association. Fears surfaced that the right of expressive association would be “an easy trump of any antidiscrimination law”—and perhaps other regulations of conduct. Organizations from schools to employers, social service providers to unions, could mount constitutional claims against the inclusion of individuals unwanted because of their sex, sexuality, race, disability, or beyond.

Instead, lower courts read Dale narrowly. Expressive associational rights would, it seemed, be bound by the facts of the case. Freedom of association would not override equality …

The Failure Of "Quick Look" Analyses Of Antitrust Claims, Jonathan Berman

American University Business Law Review

Before courts can determine whether a defendant may have violated antitrust laws, they must first select the appropriate mode of analysis: the fact-intensive rule of reason, summary condemnation under the per se rules, or a quick look analysis. “Quick look” is intended to shorten and simplify inquiries into conduct that does not fall under the per se rules but that nonetheless has obvious anticompetitive effects.

The quick look doctrine, however, has failed to streamline antitrust litigation, and the related caselaw has failed to develop concrete or usable rules. Despite decades of litigation, the quick look doctrine remains of dubious legal …

State V. Sinapi, 295 A.3d 787 (R.I. 2023)., Andrew W. Dunphy

Roger Williams University Law Review

No abstract provided.

Athletic Donors’ Control Over The Future Of Collegiate Athletics, Matthew Thomas Gelder

Student Works

No abstract provided.

Esports, A New Age Brand Of College Sports: An In-Depth Look At The Gambling Beneath Esports, Ryan Geary

Student Works

No abstract provided.

If You Ban It, They Will Come: Addressing America’S Deficient Housing Supply Through Single-Family Zoning Reform, Emily Arezzi

Student Works

No abstract provided.

Can Criminal Defense Attorneys Be Victim-Centered?, Natalie Nanasi, Demetrice Lopez-Loftis

SMU Law Review

Attorneys defending those accused of intimate partner violence, like all lawyers, owe duties of zealous advocacy and confidentiality to their clients. But is there a place within these ethical obligations for them to also consider the safety of the victim? Defense counsel are often uniquely situated—by virtue of their relationships with their clients and victims—to help mitigate potentially serious harm. This article explores the spaces where defending an accused perpetrator of domestic violence and taking actions to limit further harm to a survivor are compatible. It also identifies areas where defense attorneys can obtain additional resources and data to inform …

The Future Of Livestock Genetic Engineering In The United States: Going Against The Grain Or With The Herd?, Sam Harvey

St. Thomas Law Review

For several years, the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) and the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) have carried tension over which agency should regulate genetically modified livestock. Recently, this tension has boiled over with the release of many articles and statements from each organization as they battle over regulatory authority, most notably the USDA's claim that they are ready to take the bull by the horns and control the regulation of genetically engineered livestock. This note examines history and present-day practices to predict which agency will succeed in this battle of regulations, the USDA or the FDA.

Time For Reform, Not Abolition: Balancing Justice And Morality Through Amendment Of The Federal Death Penalty, Madison Steinkamp

St. Thomas Law Review

In 1987, President Ronald Reagan addressed Congress, saying it was "scandalous and intolerable" that federal law did not provide for an enforceable death penalty.' Ten years prior, following a brief moratorium on its application, the death penalty had been ruled constitutional. While thirty-five states had already reinstated the death penalty at the state level and constitutionally executed ninety-three prisoners since 1976, Congress had not yet enacted the rational, objective standards necessary for applying the death penalty constitutionally. In the year following his speech to Congress, President Reagan successfully signed the federal death penalty into law through the Anti-Drug Abuse Act …

The Eu-China Cai And The Uyghur Challenge In The Context Of China's Domestic Law Barriers To International Labor And Human Rights Standards, Ronald C. Brown

American University Business Law Review

While China engages in world commerce as a global player and is signatory to international labor and human rights standards, at the same time it uses treaty reservations and its own domestic laws to limit and undermine the full application of those standards. Concern from Western governments and global human rights groups regarding China’s longstanding treatment of the Uyghur people has resulted in a freeze in negotiations for the EU-China Comprehensive Investment Agreement (CAI). This was also a result of China’s failure to ratify or implement relevant United Nations (U.N.) covenants and International Labour Organization (ILO) conventions and placing reservations …

Against The Clock: Examining How Federal Courts Consider Agency Delay In Emergency Rulemaking Cases, Tyler Haas

Roger Williams University Law Review

No abstract provided.

Hemispheric Justice: Awakening To 303 Creative’S Troubles – A Glocalized Latcrit Analysis, Berta E. Hernández-Truyol

UF Law Faculty Publications

In this essay, I will first describe and critique 303 Creative, a 2023 Supreme Court decision that subordinates LGBTQIA+ equality and nondiscrimination rights to an imagined intrusion into the free speech rights of a Christian business owner. Based upon her religious beliefs, the business owner claimed that Colorado’s public accommodations law, which prohibited discrimination based upon sexual orientation or gender identity (among other categories), violated her rights because it mandated that she serve the LGBTQIA+ community. Next, this essay shares insights from the recent Awakened decisions of Inter-American Human Rights institutions to demonstrate a path towards achieving justice for …

A Critique Of The Current Epidemic In Our Criminal Justice System: “Guilty Until Proven Innocent”, Jaclyn Marsh

SMU Law Review

It has been a long-held notion of American jurisprudence that a citizen of this country shall not be deprived of their fundamental rights until required so by law. It is an offshoot of this notion that an American should not be deprived of these fundamental rights through being confined to jail or prison until twelve of their own fellow peers have laid down a finding of guilty. However, this phenomenon is exactly what is happening today, and the issue has been steadily increasing in occurrence since the passing of a federal statute in 1984.

Because of judicial interpretation and government …

Press Freedoms Under Pressure: Clinical Perspectives On The State Of Press Freedoms In Texas In 2024, Peter B. Stefensen, Thomas S. Leatherbury

SMU Law Review

Amid existential challenges to the press as an institution, public accountability journalists in Texas are navigating their own set of difficulties. For those who report on state and local entities, journalists are encountering increasingly constrained avenues for obtaining public information, a greater tendency for government bodies to prioritize image control over transparency, a higher likelihood of retaliation from public officials for performing important accountability work, and a judiciary that seems to respect the press less and less. By surveying journalists, and members of press and legal organizations who support accountability journalism, we use their accounts to evaluate these trends, to …

It Comes With Baggage: The Heavy Weight Implications Of Weighing Airline Passengers, Brooke Sutter

Journal of Air Law and Commerce

The aviation industry is one of the most regulated industries that exists in modern society. Before an airplane can take a passenger from one destination to another, diligent and thorough checks are performed on the aircraft, the runway, the pilots, the crewmembers, the luggage, the route, and the numerous other points of potential risk. Due in part to this diligence, air travel is also one of the safest forms of travel. However, one point of potential risk that is underregulated and overlooked in the safety calculation is the weight of the passengers. The act of weighing passengers is not just …

Catalyzing Climate Resilience In The Electric Utility Sector: Investor-Backed Utilities Must Prepare For The Approaching Storm, Jose J. Gonzalez

Emory Business Law Review

Communities and businesses that fail to take proactive measures will be devastated by the impacts of climate change. Across the United States, public and private entities have taken steps to protect companies and communities from climate change. However, financial restrictions and shareholder concerns have slowed such a response from the electric utility sector. This inaction has devastated communities such as Paradise, California and Lahaina, Hawaii. This Comment identifies how electric utility companies should utilize recently passed federal legislation, including the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law and Inflation Reduction Act, to finance large-scale projects to update America's power grid. This Comment also argues …

Implementation Of Stronger Community Resilience In The United States Before Natural Disasters Strike, Andrew J. Widdekind

Honors Theses and Capstones

Since 2000, the United States has not sustained viable mitigation and preparedness solutions to combat the frequent and intense onset of natural disasters; more must be done on how communities can adapt and withstand them. Instead, environmental and human-induced factors have exacerbated the likelihood of these threats, which has caused billion-dollar weather events to occur more often. This paper focuses on how congressional policymakers would have to incorporate new mitigation/preparedness approaches into current emergency management methodology by creating a new federal statute known as the National Resiliency Act (or similar). A policy like this would strengthen the overall resilience of …

Private Security And Public Police, Ben Grunwald, John Rappaport, Michael Berg

Public Law and Legal Theory Working Papers

Private security officers outnumber police by a wide margin, and the gap may be growing. As cities have claimed to defund the police, many have quietly expanded their use of private security, reallocating spending from the public to the private sector. It is difficult to know what to make of these trends, largely because we know so little about what private security looks like on the ground. On one prevalent view of the facts, a shift from public to private security would mean little more than a change of uniform, as the two labor markets are deeply intertwined. Indeed, academics, …

Administrative Enslavement, Adam Davidson

Public Law and Legal Theory Working Papers

There are currently over a million people enslaved in the United States. Under threat of horrendous punishment, they cook, clean, and even fight fires. They do this not in the shadow of the law but with the express blessing of the Thirteenth Amendment’s Except Clause, which permits enslavement and involuntary servitude as punishment for a crime.

Despite discussions of this exception in law reviews, news reports, and Netflix documentaries, few commentators have recognized that this enslavement happens silently. No prosecutor, judge, or defense attorney tells convicted people that they will be enslaved as punishment for their crime. It is only …

From The Barrel To The Border: Exploring The Roots And Ramifications Of Gun Trafficking From The United States To Mexico, Alexandra Punishill

CMC Senior Theses

Nowhere is the discussion surrounding gun violence more prominent than in the United States, with the impacts of our gun-friendly culture being felt around the world. This thesis analyzes the dynamics of gun trafficking from the United States to Mexico and sheds light on its role in fueling the epidemic of gun violence south of the border. It is argued that the particular system of federalism adopted by the United States has led to a variety of state-level gun regulations that have shaped domestic gun policy and have had an international impact. Despite Mexico’s persistent efforts to combat the gun …

International Source Code Secrecy And The Characterization Of Intellectual Property As National Security, Anthony D. Rosborough

Articles, Book Chapters, & Popular Press

This chapter explores the emergence of source code secrecy rules in Free Trade Agreements (FTAs) and their implications for the future of intellectual property (IP). Rooted in geopolitical rivalry, these rules are framed as safeguards for national security and cybersecurity but carry significant potential social, economic, and environmental costs.

It traces the historical and geopolitical contexts that have shaped the rise of source code secrecy. Given that software-dependent technologies are now the dominant modality of innovation, the chapter highlights the impact of source code secrecy on domestic regulatory oversight, innovation, the right to repair, and equitable technology transfer to least-developed …

Uncitral Working Group Iii: Contribution On The ‘Right To Regulate’ Provision, Columbia Center On Sustainable Investment, International Institute For Environment And Development, South Centre

Columbia Center on Sustainable Investment

"UNCITRAL Working Group III: Contribution on the ‘Right to Regulate’ Provision" is a joint submission to the Secretariat's request for comments on the procedural and cross-cutting issues. The commentary focuses on the states' right-to-regulate provision, proposed in the Draft provisions on procedural and cross-cutting issues, and proposes additional policy options aimed at preserving the states' sovereign right (and duty) to regulate.

Justice Theater In The Criminal Law Curriculum, Gregory Brazeal

Faculty Publications

For the last half-century, law students have been required to take a criminal law course that ostensibly trains them to think critically about the justifications for criminal punishment. The same students have then gone on to serve as central actors in a system of mass incarceration that millions of Americans today view as profoundly unjust. How did this happen? A number of legal scholars, notably including Alice Ristroph in her 2020 Article "The Curriculum of the Carceral State," have argued that the traditional criminal law curriculum has played a role in creating and reproducing the practices of mass incarceration. This …

Exoneration Finance, Kay L. Levine, Russell M. Gold

Faculty Articles

The path to financial compensation for the wrongfully convicted can be complex and time-consuming. Exonerees often struggle to make ends meet and function in free society, let alone navigate serpentine processes while waiting years for the recovery they deserve. Securing the assistance of an attorney is often a critical step, but too few lawyers are willing to risk accepting these complicated cases on a contingency-fee basis—the only way that exoneree-clients can likely pay their lawyers without outside help.

Litigation finance—an important tool for increasing access to justice in tort cases—could help close this access to justice gap for exonerees. In …