Digital Commons Network^™

Advice For Incorporating Ai Tools Into Your Legal Practice, Celia Bigoness, Robert A. Mackenzie, David J. Reiss

Cornell Law Faculty Publications

We have been speaking with many lawyers and law students about using generative artificial intelligence (AI) tools in their legal practice. We are struck by the fact that many of them have not been experimenting much, if at all, with the tools that are available to them - although many acknowledge that their clients are increasingly integrating generative AI into their businesses. We have been integrating a lot of these tools into our own professional lives, and here are some tips to help lawyers and law students get comfortable with AI tools that can help them, in big ways and …

Ai's Double Edged Sword: Fighting Against Synthetic Csam, Shekhinah Adra Green

Cybersecurity Undergraduate Research Showcase

The rapid advancements in generative artificial intelligence has introduced new challenges in the production and distribution of synthetic child sexual abuse material (CSAM). AI has the capabilities of creating highly realistic imagery and videos, which  raises serious legal and ethical concerns, increasing the risk of harm, exploitation, and revictimization.

This paper discusses the legal improvements needed in order to lower the change of legal loopholes, how digital forensic analyst use advanced tools to identify and investigate synthetic material, and different methods to start the reduction of synthetic CSAM.

A Case For Idaho And Other Western States Owning Their Own Land, Alisha Urrutia

Idaho Law Review

Idaho and other states in the western United States have struggled with federal ownership and management of public lands for decades. Since 1976, when the Federal Land Management and Policy Act was enacted and the Homestead Act was repealed, states in the west have challenged the constitutionality and legal authority of the BLM to hold onto and manage western lands in a myriad of ways. This article discusses some of the most recent challenges to this system, including a lawsuit filed by the State of Utah in August of 2024. This article expands on these challenges, citing legal and political …

Fool's Gold: The Stibnite Gold Project, Critical Minerals, And The Public Health Perils Of Antiquated Hardrock Mining Laws, Faith Quigley

Idaho Law Review

The proposed reopening of the Stibnite Gold Mine in Idaho has been heralded as a model for the future of modern hardrock mining. This project has received national interest in light of the growing domestic demand for critical minerals essential to climate-friendly energy technologies and national security. But beneath its green branding lies a deeper legal and public health crisis. Operating under the General Mining Law of 1872—a relic of frontier-era resource exploitation—the Stibnite Gold Project exemplifies how an outdated legal framework continues to enable environmental and human harm. While policymakers tout the domestic necessity of critical minerals, the Stibnite …

Facing The Accused: The Confrontation Clause And Protecting Child Victims Of Sexual Abuse, Raquel Pearson

Idaho Law Review

The Sixth Amendment’s Confrontation Clause provides individuals the right to confront witnesses testifying against them. For decades, Idaho case law has grappled with the delicate balance between protecting victims of sexual assault and upholding defendants’ rights to cross examine their accusers. This delicate balance is further exacerbated when sexual assault cases involve minors, particularly in deciding whether victim statements implicate the Confrontation Clause. The Idaho Supreme Court considers the totality of the circumstances when evaluating whether a defendant’s right to confront a witness has been violated, but the standard for when the Clause is triggered remains unclear.

This Note seeks …

From Stigma To Statute: A Historical And Legal Comparative Analysis Of Involuntary Commitment Laws In Idaho, Jessica Cambron

Idaho Law Review

A lesser-known area of law in Idaho concerns the involuntary civil commitment process, a process by which thousands of people per year are committed to hospitals around the state. These laws, specifically in Idaho, govern the criteria which must be met for a person to be placed on an involuntary hold, detained in a hospital setting awaiting proceedings, or potentially committed.

Understanding the evolution of mental illness and the role of involuntary commitment – including successes, failures, and challenges – is essential to navigating reform. This Comment provides a brief history of mental illness, including key cultural events and cases …

Preserving Rural School Districts From The Threat Of Vouchers And Charters, Preston C. Green Iii

Idaho Law Review

School vouchers and charter schools are primed to grow at a time when public school systems are experiencing a precipitous decline in enrollment. Unfortunately, for many rural school districts, this challenging environment may endanger their very existence, to the detriment of the students and the communities they serve. To guard against this potential harm, this article calls for state legislatures to designate certain classes of rural districts as “education preserves.” This article also explains how states can create education preserves in a manner that can withstand Free Exercise Clause challenges.

Engineered For Surveillance: Public Safety, Roadway Science, And The Fourth Amendment, Trayce Hockstad, Steven Jones

Idaho Law Review

No abstract provided.

Invisible In The Storm: Disasters And The Disability Divide, Helia Hull

Idaho Law Review

“Sometimes it takes a natural disaster to reveal a social disaster.”

Table Of Contents

University of the Pacific Law Review

No abstract provided.

Note From The Chief Legislation Editor, Michaela Thompson

University of the Pacific Law Review

No abstract provided.

Administration And Faculty

University of the Pacific Law Review

No abstract provided.

Cite This Volume

University of the Pacific Law Review

No abstract provided.

The Death Penalty & State Executions In The Mountain West, 1976 - 2024, Mia Tschan, Sydney Mitchell, Yiselle Olivas Ruiz, Dre Boyd-Weatherly, Olivia K. Cheche, Kristian Thymianos, Caitlin J. Saladino, William E. Brown Jr.

Criminal Justice

This fact sheet presents 1976-2024 data on the death penalty and state executions in the five Mountain West states of Arizona, Colorado, New Mexico, Nevada, and Utah. The Death Penalty Information Center (DPIC) report, “State Execution Rates,” includes data on the 36 states that have conducted state executions and the 38 states, federal government, and military institutions that imposed the death penalty between 1976 and 2024. This fact sheet focuses on cumulative executions, executions per capita, and executions per death sentence in each Mountain West state.

Law School News: Rwu Day Of Law And Justice Showcases Powerful Combinations At The Statehouse 4-9-2026, Jordan J. Phelan

Life of the Law School (1993- )

No abstract provided.

Correspondence Sen. Lister Hill To Mr. R.C. Barnes On Establishment Of Fsu Nursing Program, Lister Hill

Correspondence

July 8th, 1968, letter from Alabama Senator and Labor and Public Welfare Committee Chair Lister Hill to Mr. R. C. Barnes, general manager of Eliza Coffee Memorial (ECM) Hospital in Florence, Alabama. The letter is concerned with the establishment of the nursing program at Florence State University and cooperative with ECM under the Nurse Training Act of 1964.

The Myth Of Sufficient Technological Barriers: Reevaluating The "Gates-Up-Or-Down" Analogy In Data Scraping, Yucen Zhong

Duke Law & Technology Review

In Van Buren v. United States, the Supreme Court adopted a “gates-up-or-down” analogy from physical trespass law to define “authorization” under the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act (CFAA). Despite historical shifts in judicial interpretation, courts have recently relied on this binary framework to interpret authorization as it applies to online trespass. But courts have struggled to apply this binary inquiry while still accounting for complications in modern authentication technologies. When pursuing a code-based inquiry based on the gates-up-or-down analogy, courts risk oversimplifying the dynamic nature of online trespass. Such an approach fails to account for how modern authentication measures—such as …

Battlefield Uncertainties And The Use Of Ai, Tsvetelina Van Benthem

International Law Studies

This article explores the relationship between uncertainty in armed conflict, the use of artificial intelligence (AI), and the content of international law. It first provides a review of different types of conflict-related uncertainty, both internal to the party to conflict and external, and considers the interaction between these existing uncertainties and the use of AI. In so doing, it also explores the new uncertainties that can be introduced through AI. Second, it analyzes national submissions on military uses of AI and autonomous weapons to outline the uncertainties raised by States and their relevance for regulatory approaches to the use of …

Law School News: Roger Williams University School Of Law Receives Historic $4 Million Gift From Mark Mandell To Establish Premier Trial Advocacy Center 4-9-2026, Hillary Lima, Roger Williams University School Of Law

Life of the Law School (1993- )

No abstract provided.

"From Galaxies To Gloucester" Reday 2026 Undergraduate Panel, Slides 2, Tristan Hightower, Jonathan Holleran, Connor Patterson

Bryant REDay (Research and Engagement Day)

This panel showcases original undergraduate student research exploring how political institutions shape behavior, incentives, and outcomes across diverse contexts. The projects examine interest group theory as applied to the Star Wars universe, presidential rhetoric and congressional response, local political change in Gloucester, MA, and the relationship between senators’ committee assignments and financial interests. Despite varied empirical settings, they share a focus on how actors operate within institutional constraints, how power is exercised, and how political systems structure influence and accountability.

"From Galaxies To Gloucester" Reday 2026 Undergraduate Panel, Slides 1, Tristan M. Hightower, Christian Pereira, Nicholas Poulin

Bryant REDay (Research and Engagement Day)

This panel showcases original undergraduate student research exploring how political institutions shape behavior, incentives, and outcomes across diverse contexts. The projects examine interest group theory as applied to the Star Wars universe, presidential rhetoric and congressional response, local political change in Gloucester, MA, and the relationship between senators’ committee assignments and financial interests. Despite varied empirical settings, they share a focus on how actors operate within institutional constraints, how power is exercised, and how political systems structure influence and accountability.

Hollywood Has Learned Nothing From #Metoo, Clara Sarfati

Cardozo Journal of Equal Rights and Social Justice (ERSJ) Blog

Following the surge of the #MeToo movement in 2017, which exposed widespread unsafe and discriminatory conditions for women in Hollywood, the industry underwent a fundamental shift in how its institutions addressed sexual misconduct and equal opportunity.  Now, with the rattles of the movement stabilizing, Hollywood is reemerging as an unsafe environment for women in entertainment.  One of the most high-profile cases of the 2020s, Lively v. Wayfarer Studios LLC, illustrates how legal frameworks and Hollywood culture continue to fall short on protecting female victims of sexual assault.  Moreover, it underscores how survivors are often still forced to navigate complex legal …

Breaking The Stigma: The Law And Supreme Court Cases Behind Gender Discrimination Legislation, Camille M. Ogden

Undergraduate Theses

Pauli Murray and Ruth Bader Ginsburg were extremely influential attorneys due to their groundbreaking legal work on sexual discrimination. Murray’s legal work heavily influenced and inspired Ginsburg and this work explored that connection between them. This research asked the question, ““How did case law evolve from 1964-1982 in the United States of America and how did Pauli Murray influence and inspire Ruth Bader Ginsburg?” This thesis examined how Murray influenced Ginsburg and her legal work in the United States from 1966 until 1979. It looked at how case law and precedent changed and evolved mainly focusing on the influence these …

Nursing Migration And The Global Workforce: How The U.S. Nurse Shortage Impacts Developing Countries, Mololuwa Faithful Lasekan

Honors Thesis

As United States (U.S.) healthcare organizations face persistent staffing gaps driven by an aging population, burnout, and limited educational capacity, many institutions increasingly rely on internationally educated nurses (IENs) to stabilize their workforce. This reliance intersects with longstanding structural challenges in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs), where inadequate compensation and limited professional opportunities contribute to high migration intentions among nurses. Using a systematic literature review guided by PRISMA principles, this study synthesized evidence and five major themes emerged: (1) push factors driving nurse emigration from LMICs, (2) pull factors attracting nurses to the U.S., (3) digital globalization and post-COVID recruitment …

Constitutional Structure And Election Law, Manoj Mate

Journal Articles

Since Bush v. Gore, scholarship on election law has centered on a theoretical debate between rights-based and structural theory approaches, and the appropriate role and scope of judicial intervention in election law cases. However, these debates have not fully assessed the degree to which the Court’s approach to constitutional structure has fundamentally reshaped election law. Over the past two decades, the Court has increasingly emphasized the importance of constitutional structure-based approaches in election law cases.

This Article analyzes these dynamics and advances a typology of constitutional structure-based approaches in election law. Drawing on scholarship on modalities of interpretation and …

China Samr’S Review Process In Cross-Border Technology M&A, Gabriel A. Paknia

Honors Scholar Theses

China's State Administration for Market Regulation (SAMR) holds discretionary authority over the merger review process. This paper examines whether SAMR's review of technology and semiconductor transactions since the governing body's inception in 2018 reflects political-economic incentives beyond what competitive harm analysis alone would explain. The paper is broken into three core pillars: accessing SAMR's regulatory code to identify how flexibility to exercise discretion is codified, scrutinizing SAMR's full adverse outcome record for overrepresentation of technology and semiconductor deals, and deconstructing a semiconductor megamerger to illustrate those mechanisms with the backdrop of real time geopolitical events. I find that technology and …

The Crime Of Electronic Document Forgery In Accordance With Federal Decree-Law No. (46) Of 2021 On Electronic Transactions And Trust Services, Kaltham Rashed Almazrouei

Thesis/ Dissertation Defenses

This study aims to examine the crime of electronic document forgery in accordance with the provisions of Federal Decree-Law No. (46) of 2021 on Electronic Transactions and Trust Services in the United Arab Emirates. The study begins by establishing the legal concept of the electronic document and distinguishing it from the traditional written instrument, in order to determine the scope of criminal protection granted under the applicable legislation. It also reviews the possible forms of forgery within the digital environment and addresses the adequacy of the legal provisions in defining the elements of the crime and the penalties prescribed thereto. …

Correcting Confusion Over Commandeering, Supremacy, And Preemption: A User’S Guide To Modern Federalism, Vikram David Amar

Pepperdine Law Review

Current disputes between state/local entities and the Trump administration, some of which build on flare-ups over the past few decades, place in sharp relief the key doctrinal features of modern federalism, many of which seem to confound the Supreme and lower courts, to say nothing of political actors and legal analysts. The mistakes being made run in both directions; sometimes states are wrongly confined, and in other episodes states are given (or are seeking) more than they are constitutionally due. In this Essay, I use several case studies—some from recent weeks or months and others from recent years or decades—to …

The Executive’S Takeover Of Independent Agencies: How Institutional Design Gave Way To Political Will, Neal Devins

Pepperdine Law Review

The anticipated demise of the independent agency is a saga that implicates Congress as much as it does the President or the Supreme Court. By capitulating to presidential initiatives and failing to defend their institutional prerogatives, Congress has facilitated presidential control of the administrative state. Indeed, irrespective of whether the Court formally repudiates Humphrey’s Executor, Congress has largely acquiesced to a regime whereby presidents essentially control independent agencies. By highlighting the competing incentives of Congress and the White House, this Essay explains the rise of presidential unilateralism vis-à-vis independent agencies. This Essay also casts light on a critically important but …

The Imperious Presidency: Brazen Power Plays And Executive Overreach, Daniel Farber

Pepperdine Law Review

The Trump Administration has been prone to brazen power plays. These actions have three basic characteristics: they are dramatic deviations from conventional governance, generating headlines and online clicks; their legal (and sometimes factual) foundations are tenuous; and they are potentially effective even if they are ultimately held lawful. This Essay analyzes this phenomenon. It argues that such power plays can be a rational strategy for a president under certain circumstances. Power plays can help dominate the news flow and energize the political base. They can also cause behavior shifts in their targets, even when litigation would be likely to overturn …