Digital Commons Network^™

Navigating Murky Waters: State-Level Strategies For Wetland Preservation And Tile Drainage Regulation After Sackett V. Epa, Caleb M. Swanson

Honors Thesis

Wetlands are some of the world’s most valuable ecosystems, serving as provisioners of species habitat, carbon sequestration, flood mitigation, water quality purification, and other ecosystem services. Human development has resulted in substantial wetland loss the world over. In the 1970s, the United States Congress passed the Clean Water Act, giving the EPA broad authority over wetland protection. However, in the summer of 2023, the United States Supreme Court decided Sackett v. EPA, limiting the EPA’s jurisdiction over wetlands to those indistinguishably connected to generally recognized “Waters of the United States” and removing federal protection for millions of acres of wetlands, …

The Challenges And Opportunities Of Beneficially Reusing Produced Water, Amy Hardberger

Duke Environmental Law & Policy Forum

No abstract provided.

Section 112(A) Strife At The Federal Circuit: A Call For Congressional Amendment To Save The Genus Claim And Preserve Patent Protection In The Biological Arts, James R. Vancamp Jr.

Seton Hall Journal of Legislation and Public Policy

No abstract provided.

Table Of Contents - Vol. 48, No. 2 2024

Seton Hall Journal of Legislation and Public Policy

No abstract provided.

Avoiding The Pitfalls In Administrative Record Review Cases, Kim Wilson, Brian Brammer

Public Land & Resources Law Review

No abstract provided.

"Exceedingly Unpersuasive" - Discrimination, Transgender Students, And School Bathrooms, Mark Dorosin

Belmont Law Review

In 2015, the St. Johns County School District adopted a policy which prohibited transgender students from using the restroom matching their gender identity and required that they use either single stall restrooms or the multi-stall restroom corresponding to their gender listed on their birth certificate (their “biological” sex). Similar policies targeting transgender students had been implemented by school districts across the country; and like many of them, St. Johns’ policy was quickly challenged by a transgender student who asserted that the policy violated his civil rights. In late December 2022, a divided Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeals, sitting en banc, …

Santa Clara Magazine, Volume 65 Number 1, Spring 2024, Santa Clara University

Santa Clara Magazine

14 - A CAMPUS ON THE RISE Six new buildings on campus aren’t the only changes brought by a successful $1 billion fundraising campaign. Lauren Loftus & Leslie Griffy

20 - HUMAN AT HEART How Santa Clara University is distinguishing itself as a leader in human-focused health care innovation. Lauren Loftus

26 - SHEPHERDING INNOVATION How wonder, and God, can make us better scientists. Brother Guy Consolmagno, S.J.

30 - THE CO-OP Santa Clara University has long been a bastion of interdisciplinary learning. A new fund is taking cross-collaboration to new heights. SCM Staff

34 - MAKE AI THE BEST …

Full Issue

Brigham Young University Prelaw Review

No abstract provided.

Proactive International Law, Michal Saliternik, Sivan Shlomo Agon

UC Law Journal

This Article challenges the centuries-old reactive and past-oriented approach of international law. It suggests that while the reactive paradigm has facilitated practical solutions to the concrete problems faced by the international community, this paradigm has also led international law to become backward-looking and short-sighted, thereby hindering the discipline from acting in anticipation of long-term problems and developments.

Against this backdrop, this Article calls for a conceptual shift. It argues that the time has come to couple international law’s traditional reactive paradigm with a more proactive, forward-looking approach that is geared toward the future, with a view to preventing risks and …

Washington Cares: Other States Should Too, Evelyn Wynn

UC Law Journal

The United States is facing a growing challenge in financing long-term care as the population ages and the demand for these services continues to grow. The cost of long-term care can be exorbitant, with many individuals and families struggling to afford the care they need. The baby boomer generation and their families are facing the challenges of aging, which will be exacerbated by a lack of funding for long-term care. Given unmarketable private insurance policies and Medicaid’s spend down strategy, among other issues, the United States needs a feasible financing solution for long-term care.

In response to this challenge, Washington …

User Fee Programs, Erika Lietzan

Faculty Publications

A user fee is a fee assessed by the government when it provides a good or service to a private party. Classic examples include the fee to enter Yellowstone National Park and payment to the U.S. Postal Service for a first-class postage stamp. In these transactions, the government provides a specific benefit to an identifiable recipient, who pays the fee. Although the federal government has assessed user fees since this country's founding, broad authorizing legislation in the middle of the 20th century made it possible for agencies to craft user fee programs on their own initiative. Interest in relying on …

The Price Of Parenthood, David Baloche

North Carolina Civil Rights Law Review

No abstract provided.

Minding The Gap: An Introduction To Empirical Critical Race Scholarship And Complexity Science (With Resources On Agent-Based Modeling), Kevin P. Lee

North Carolina Civil Rights Law Review

No abstract provided.

Choosing Between Two Meanings Of Competition In Antitrust Law, Randy M. Stutz

University of Baltimore Law Review

No abstract provided.

Mr. Antitrust: A Celebration Of Professor Robert Lande’S Career, John D. Bessler

University of Baltimore Law Review

No abstract provided.

Private Law As Morality: A Critique Of Peter M. Gerhart’S Contract Law And Social Morality, P.T. Babie, Claire Williams, Jessica Viven-Wilksch, James Gilchrist Stewart

Missouri Law Review

This review essay offers a constructive critique of Peter M. Gerhart’s Contract Law and Social Morality (‘CLSM’); it examines, in a very preliminary way, whether humans—parties to contractual negotiation—ever behave in other-regarding, or altruistic, ways. The essay does this through three explorations or investigations. The first considers other-regarding behavior, or altruism, from a scientific perspective: is it possible that humans ever act out of concern for others? Second, it considers CLSM using ideas of altruism found in an eclectically selective use of philosophy. Third, it investigates the concept of the other-regarding person in relation to contract law itself which, of …

Beyond Blood: Informal Adoption And Family Dynamics In Yaoundé, Cameroon. Examining The Social, Traditional, And Family Values Associated With Informal Adoption, Elizabeth Greenberg

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

Although formal adoption exists in Cameroon, it is governed by colonial systems that directly contrast with the values and traditions of the citizens the laws are meant to protect. For this reason, informal adoption is the most prominent method of child circulation. This informal movement of children occurs for various reasons, many of which reflect the sociocultural context in which the children live. The intention of this study was to determine how adoption processes demonstrate Cameroonian notions of family, how individuals perceive the concept of family, and how informal adoption impacts family dynamics. Informal observations and interviews informed the conclusion …

Community Opinions On Environmental Action On Isla Porvenir And Whichub Walla In The Guna Yala Comarca, Sofia Houts

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

The Guna Yala Comarca is the autonomous, self-governed territory of the Guna people, one of seven Indigenous groups in Panama. The Comarca is located on Panama’s eastern Caribbean coast and includes 365 coral islands. Forty nine Guna communities and roughly 32,000 individuals live in the territory. The Guna General Congress is the highest authority, and each community has a local congress. As a low-lying coastal region, Guna Yala is especially vulnerable to climate change and is already impacted by sea level rise, biodiversity loss, and changing precipitation patterns. Sub-national, national, and international forms of governance and environmental action are crucial …

“A Cruel System Indeed”: Extending The Statute Of Limitations For Claims By The Harmed Youth Of West Virginia’S Mismanaged Foster Care System, Caroline Toler

West Virginia Law Review

The current statutes of limitations in West Virginia pose a barrier for harmed youth to bring suits to recover. A child who experiences sexual abuse will have 18 years to bring a civil suit. However, a child who experiences another form of abuse (e.g., psychological or emotional abuse) must bring a suit within two years. In a novel argument, this Note proposes that state legislatures, and the West Virginia State legislature in particular, should extend the statute of limitations for civil suits by former foster youth harmed while in state care. A two-year statute of limitations is an insurmountable barrier …

The Non-Obvious Razor & Generative Ai, Raina Haque, Simone Rose, Nick Desetto

North Carolina Journal of Law & Technology

No abstract provided.

Executive Actions To Ensure Safe And Responsible Ocean Carbon Dioxide Removal Research In The United States, Romany M. Webb, Korey Silverman-Roati

Sabin Center for Climate Change Law

This paper presents recommended actions that federal agencies could take, under existing law, to ensure safe and responsible permitting and regulation of ocean carbon dioxide removal (CDR) research in U.S. waters. Controlled field trials and other in-ocean research is critical to improve scientific and societal understanding of ocean CDR techniques that could help the U.S. reach its climate goals. That could raise a host of legal issues, however. Existing legal frameworks were not designed to regulate ocean CDR, and federal agencies have yet to fully explain how decades-old environmental laws will be applied to a new set of activities. This …

International Governance Of Ocean-Based Carbon Dioxide Removal: Recent Developments And Future Directions, Romany M. Webb

Sabin Center for Climate Change Law

With the impacts of climate change intensifying, and progress in reducing the greenhouse gas emissions that cause it continuing to lag, the parties to the Paris Climate Agreement have emphasized the need to accelerate efforts to remove carbon dioxide from the atmosphere, while simultaneously curbing emissions. As the parties have recognized, the ocean is already a major carbon sink, and could play an important role in future carbon dioxide removal (“CDR”) efforts. Scientists have proposed a variety of ocean-based CDR approaches, but most require further research to fully evaluate their efficacy, benefits, and risks. In-ocean testing of the approaches, and …

Rebutting 33 False Claims About Solar, Wind, And Electric Vehicles, Matthew Eisenson, Jacob Elkin, Andy Fitch, Matthew Ard, Kaya Sittinger, Samuel Lavine

Sabin Center for Climate Change Law

Achieving the United States’ ambitious emissions reduction goals depends in large part on the rapid adoption of wind and solar energy and the electrification of consumer vehicles. However, misinformation and coordinated disinformation about renewable energy is widespread and threatens to undermine the transition. In this report, the Sabin Center identifies and examines 33 of the most pervasive false claims about solar energy, wind energy, and electric vehicles, with the aim of promoting a more informed discussion.

Sackett V. Epa: The Narrowing Of "Waters Of The United States" Under The Clean Water Act And Its Downstream Effects On South Carolina Wetland Regulation, Simpson Z. Fant Jr.

South Carolina Law Review

No abstract provided.

A Framework For Managing Disputes Over Intellectual Property Rights In Traditional Knowledge, Stephen R. Munzer

Michigan Journal of Race and Law

Major controversies in moral and political theory concern the rights, if any, Indigenous peoples should have over their traditional knowledge. Many scholars, including me, have tackled these controversies. This Article addresses a highly important practical issue: Can we come up with a solid framework for resolving disputes over actual or proposed intellectual property rights in traditional knowledge?

Yes, we can. The framework suggested here starts with a preliminary distinction between control rights and income rights. It then moves to four categories that help to understand disputes: nature of the traditional knowledge under dispute; dynamics between named parties to disputes; unnamed …

Innocence Through An Intersectional Lens: An Examination Of Women And Wrongful Convictions, Briana Paige

Sociology & Criminal Justice Theses & Dissertations

According to The National Registry of Exonerations (2022), nearly 40% of all exonerations involve a no-crime wrongful conviction. While women make up less than 10% of all exonerees, nearly 73% of exonerated women were originally convicted of crimes that never happened, compared to only 38% of exonerated men. Despite their prevalence, the topic of no crime wrongful convictions is extremely understudied in the wrongful conviction literature.

Additionally, since prior research on wrongful convictions has been primarily male centered, the likelihood that a woman’s case will be accepted to be reviewed for innocence is significantly lower than men (Free and Ruesink, …

Safeguarding Wetlands Post-Sackett V. Epa: Protecting Indigenous Territories And Environmental Health, Anna J. Mahler, Emily Richardson

Brigham Young University Prelaw Review

The Clean Water Act (CWA) has been a tool for federally recognized tribes to protect the waters within their borders and sacred lands that exist outside the borders of the tribe. Sackett v. EPA limited the scope of the CWA to cover only wetlands that have a continuous surface connection. This restricts the ability of Tribes to protect important waters. The Sackett decision decreases the nation’s ability to protect the chemical, physical, and biological aspects of the waters. This paper explores past legislative remedies and proposes federal wetland protection.

Constitutional Law—Arkansas's Unconstitutional Attack On Transgender Children And The Rights Of Their Parents, Falyn Traina

University of Arkansas at Little Rock Law Review

No abstract provided.

Analyzing The Intersectionality Of Race And Socioeconomics In Foster Care And Child Welfare, Isabella Gallardo

Political Science Theses and Capstones

Racial disparities continue to persist in the child welfare system, resulting in disproportionate representation and differential treatment for children from diverse racial and ethnic backgrounds. Understanding the root causes, systemic factors, biases, and consequences of these disparities is vital for discovering solutions to ensure fair and equitable treatment for all children. I synthesize existing research conducted on racial disparities in child welfare, delving into systemic factors, biases, and their consequences. The dataset I most utilized is from the National Data Archive on Child Abuse and Neglect (NDACAN). Correlation analysis was used to show the relationship between racial disproportionality and systematic …

An Evolving Landscape: Name, Image, And Likeness Rights In High School Athletics, Adam Epstein --, Nathaniel Grow -- Associate Professor Of Business Law & Ethics, Kathryn Kisska-Schulze -- Assoc. Professor Of Business Law

Vanderbilt Law Review

Amateur sports have entered a changing landscape. The onset of Name, Image, and Likeness (“NIL”) opportunities at the college level has prompted over half of state high school athletic associations to likewise permit high school student-athletes to pursue similar financial opportunities. The purpose of this Essay is not to argue for or against the emergence of NIL opportunities at the high school level but instead to explore this newly evolving landscape, identify accompanying financial dangers, and propose a statutory framework that builds upon California’s Coogan’s Law—a measure providing financial safeguards to children working in the entertainment industry—to better protect minor …