Digital Commons Network^™

The Contested Contingent Constitution: Plutocrats, Right-Wing Populists, And Labor Rights In The U.S., Kate Andrias

Faculty Scholarship

Constitutional labor rights have long been negligible in the United States. Now, with the ascendance of Donald Trump’s right-wing authoritarianism, even statutory labor rights are under threat. Yet there is an apparent paradox: While the Trump Administration seeks to declare the NLRB unconstitutional and has decimated federal workers’ rights, Trump’s “Make America Great Again” (MAGA) movement rose to power in part by invoking the plight of the American worker. The more populist wing of the American Right does not expressly challenge the constitutionality of labor law. Indeed, some right-wing populists urge an expansion of labor rights, emphasizing such goals as …

The Law Of Health Equity, Govind Persad

Utah Law Review

Since 2025, health equity has faced increasing hostility from federal courts, agencies, and the executive branch. Yet health equity’s promise— to narrow stark health gaps along racial, economic, and other lines— remains urgent and widely endorsed by states, localities, and nongovernmental actors. Evaluating how health equity efforts might falter under or surmount these challenges requires understanding their legal underpinnings: the law of health equity.

This Article is the first in legal scholarship to comprehensively examine federal, state, and private sector health equity commitments. It reveals sustained societal recognition of health equity’s importance, while highlighting the need for more precise and …

Abortion (Re)Federalization, Gerald S. Dickinson

Utah Law Review

 This Article examines how the U.S. Supreme Court’s Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization decision has opened an unconventional pathway for the development of a new form of “bottom-up constitutionalism” that could reshape federal abortion rights in the future. Traditionally, federal constitutional law has exerted a dominant influence over state laws and state court jurisprudence. The uniformity in abortion protections nationwide for decades was a product of the Roe v. Wade era of federal supremacy. However, Dobbs reversed this dynamic by dramatically curtailing federal constitutional authority over abortion, thereby leaving states as primary rights regulators. This Article focuses on the …

Learning From Lochner: When Children Are Harmed By Technological Revolutions, Brooke Hodson Davies

Utah Law Review

Drawing on parallels from child labor reform in the Second Industrial Revolution, this Note argues that stopping Big Tech’s harm to children in the Fourth Industrial Revolution requires Congressional legislation and judicial avoidance of Lochnerian approaches to the Constitution. Like its Big Business predecessors, today Big Tech maximizes profits by harming kids, necessitating government intervention of this market failure. Despite noble attempts, state-based efforts have been rendered relatively ineffective due to legislative non-uniformity, interstate competition, and enforcement limitations. Likewise, federal regulations currently in place fall short and even shield Big Tech from liability. Consequently, Congressional action is urgently needed. Critically, …

Taking The Thumb Off The Scale: Rebalancing Parental And Children’S Rights To Empower Child Protective Services, Sebastian Wagner

Utah Law Review

This Note provides background on the current legal framework of state prevention of child maltreatment in the United States. It discusses parental rights and the Parental Rights Doctrine, child rights in the United States, and how states prevent child maltreatment through child protective service agencies.

This Note also explores the legal landscape surrounding the balance of parental rights and children’s rights in child welfare cases. One of the central issues in the current framework is how the Parental Rights Doctrine can significantly limit the state’s ability to intervene in cases where children are at risk. State intervention, governed by vague …

Constitutional Antecedents Reconsidered: The Irish Influence On The Constitution Of India, Gerard Hogan

National Law School Journal

The conventional view regarding the origins of the Constitution of India 1950 appears to be that it is largely derived from the colonial-era Government of India Act 1935. While this view may be correct so far as the quantity of individual articles for which there is a correspondence between the two documents is concerned, this article questions whether the underlying thesis is in fact entirely correct. The author contends, by contrast, that the Irish Constitution has, if anything, an even more profound influence on the drafting, contents, and structure of the Indian Constitution, particularly in those areas where that Constitution …

Other People's Poverty, Emmanuel Hiram Arnaud, Shaun Ossei-Owusu

Faculty Scholarship

Puerto Ricans have a relationship with the United States that is historically unparalleled. They have been citizens of the United States since 1917, served in every major conflict since World War I, and have been influential members of American culture, politics, and society. Yet, Puerto Rico is not fully part of the United States. The island of 3.2 million people— more than the population of eighteen states—is a U.S. territory. This means the federal government wields its complete and largely unrestrained plenary power over the Island, often treating Puerto Ricans differently than the rest of the United States. This differential …

#Metoo Vs. Anti-Dei, Nicole Porter

Faculty Publications

Nine years ago, the entire country was talking about the #MeToo movement, which can be credited with the unseating of hundreds of powerful men and changing the way we talk about and address sexual harassment in the workplace. In 2026, continued progress of the #MeToo movement might be threatened by a new movement-the Trump Administration's attack on Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) initiatives. This article discusses the ways in which the #MeToo movement conflicts with the anti-DEI movement. Specifically, it addresses how employers will respond to pressure to dismantle DEI programs, offices, and training, and how those responses will affect …

Dari Coattail Ke Midterm Check: Pergeseran Patologi Presidensialisme Dan Rekayasa Baru Keserentakan Pemilu, Fitra Arsil

Jurnal Konstitusi & Demokrasi

This article offers a reinterpretation of the concurrent election practice in a multiparty presidential system. Traditionally, concurrent elections were designed as a constitutional mechanism to prevent political deadlock by aligning executive power with legislative support. However, the dynamics of contemporary presidentialism have raised a new problem: the threat to democracy now often comes from a president who is too powerful because he or she has succeeded in drawing nearly all political forces into an oversized coalition. This massive coalition ultimately becomes a tool of executive domination that legally narrows the space for opposition and undermines the oversight function of parliament. …

Konstitusionalitas Kebijakan Penanaman Modal Asing Sebagai Penerapan Konsep Hak Menguasai Negara Menurut Uud Nri 1945, Rico Novianto, Satya Arinanto, Fatmawati Fatmawati

Jurnal Konstitusi & Demokrasi

This article analyzes how the state position in foreign investment as an instrument for realizing public prosperity. Throughout the history of Indonesian governance, foreign capital has been a tool that can be used and has its own constitutional basis. However, if it is too large and the lack of adequate regulation of foreign investment to maintain the investment climate, it has become one of the causes of the economic and multidimensional crisis, especially around 1998 in Indonesia. In fact, the constitution has mandated an economic system based on the concept of state control, the principles of economic democracy, and the …

Syarat Usia Presiden Dan Wakil Presiden Dalam Perspektif Konstitusi Dan Konstitusionalisme: Makna Dan Kriteria, Ardhes Blandhivay Leuanan, Mei Susanto

Jurnal Konstitusi & Demokrasi

In order to investigate the inconsistent interpretations of the Constitutional Court regarding the age requirements for presidential and vice-presidential candidates, this study will analyze the dynamics of determining age requirements from the perspective of the 1945 Constitution and the principles of constitutionalism. A socio-legal approach is used in the normative research method to analyze the Constitutional Court's decisions in light of the social and political factors that shaped them. According to the results, Constitutional Court Ruling No. 90/PUU-XXI/2023 marks a turning point in the evolution of Indonesian constitutional law. Initially, there was no strict interpretation of the age limits for …

Penolakan Penghapusan Kolom Agama Pada Kartu Tanda Penduduk: Krítík Terhadap Putusan Mahkamah Konstitusi Nomor 146/Puu-Xxii/2024, Krisna Bagas Purwopangestu, Nicholas Gerard Felix Simeone

Jurnal Konstitusi & Demokrasi

This article examines the Constítutíonal Court (MK) Decisíon No. 146/PUU–XXII/2024 which rejected the request to delete the religion column on the Identity Card (KTP). The Decision affirms that every Indonesian citizen must declare their religion or belief in God as expected by Pancasila and the constitutional mandate. The Constitutional Court stated that “not having a religion or belief in God cannot be considered as freedom of religion”. The Constitutional Court Decision has revived the dispute on the urgency of including religion identity on the KTP, especially about the relation between administrative requirements, the legal system of Indonesia, and protection of …

Reorientasi Kebijakan Pelindungan Anak Terhadap Adiksi Internet Dalam Perspektif Pemenuhan Hak Konstitusional Di Indonesia, I Kadek Agus Aditya Firmantara, Bagus Hermanto

Jurnal Konstitusi & Demokrasi

This article examines the paradigm shift in child protection policy in the digital environment through Government Regulation Number 17 of 2025 concerning the Governance of Electronic System Providers for Child Protection (PP TUNAS) from the perspective of fulfilling children's constitutional rights in Indonesia. The study is motivated by the increasing use of the internet by children, which not only exposes them to risks such as harmful content, sexual exploitation, and misuse of personal data, but also creates the risk of internet addiction that may adversely affect children's health, education, and overall development. Despite these concerns, internet addiction has not been …

ความรับผิดทางอาญาของนิติบุคคลในประเทศฝรั่งเศส: วิวัฒนาการและความสำคัญทางหลักกฎหมายของแนวคิด “Personnes Morales” (Corporate Criminal Liability In France: The Evolution And Jurisprudential Significance Of The Personnes Morales Concept), Rose Charmette

Chulalongkorn University Law Journal

บทความนี้ศึกษาวิวัฒนาการของความรับผิดทางอาญาของนิติบุคคลในประเทศฝรั่งเศสผ่านแนวคิด personnes morales ซึ่งบัญญัติไว้ในมาตรา 121-2 แห่งประมวลกฎหมายอาญาฝรั่งเศส โดยศึกษาแนวคิดนี้ภายใต้กรอบของความรับผิดของนิติบุคคลต่ออาชญากรรมร้ายแรง โดยเฉพาะอย่างยิ่งในบริบทของกฎหมายอาญาระหว่างประเทศ ซึ่งโดยหลักแล้วกำหนดความรับผิดแก่บุคคลธรรมดาเท่านั้น คำถามวิจัยหลักของการศึกษานี้คือ แนวคิด personnes morales ของฝรั่งเศสช่วยอุดช่องว่างของความรับผิดทางอาญาในกรณีที่นิติบุคคลได้เข้ามามีส่วนร่วมในการกระทำความผิดอาญาร้ายแรงตามธรรมนูญกรุงโรมได้หรือไม่ และแนวคิดนี้สามารถนำมาใช้กับความรับผิดทางอาญาระหว่างประเทศได้เพียงใด บทความได้วิเคราะห์คดีสำคัญ เช่น คดีอื้อฉาวทางเภสัชกรรม Mediator คดี Lafarge S.A. ในซีเรีย และคำพิพากษา Association Sportive ซึ่งตัดสินโดยศาลอาญาของฝรั่งเศส โดยที่ศาลได้วางหลักเกี่ยวกับเจตนาของนิติบุคคล (corporate mens rea) ผสมผสานกับความรับผิดโดยอาศัยการเป็นตัวแทนและความรับผิดโดยอิสระขององค์กร รวมถึงวิธีที่ศาลฝรั่งเศสบังคับใช้บทลงโทษกับนิติบุคคลได้อย่างมีประสิทธิภาพ นอกจากนี้ ยังมีการอ้างอิงเปรียบเทียบกับสหราชอาณาจักรและสวีเดนเพื่อแสดงให้เห็นแนวทางทางเลือกอื่น ๆ และเน้นย้ำว่าระบบฝรั่งเศสมีส่วนช่วยในการพัฒนาแนวคิดความรับผิดทางอาญาของนิติบุคคลอย่างไร ท้ายที่สุด บทความนี้ชี้ให้เห็นว่าหลักคำสอนของ personnes morales ไม่เพียงแต่เป็นกรอบแนวคิดเชิงปฏิบัติเท่านั้น แต่ยังเป็นแนวทางเชิงทฤษฎีที่สามารถแก้ไขปัญหาช่องว่างของความรับผิดในกฎหมายอาญาระหว่างประเทศได้และเสนอข้อคิดสำคัญสำหรับการปฏิรูปในอนาคตเพื่อเสริมสร้างความรับผิดชอบของภาคธุรกิจในระดับข้ามเขตอำนาจศาล

การบังคับใช้กฎหมายว่าด้วยหนี้ในทางปฏิบัติให้เสร็จสิ้นครบถ้วนตามกระบวนการแห่งกฎหมายวิธีพิจารณาความแพ่ง (Practical Enforcement Of The Law Of Obligations: Ensuring Complete Execution Under The Civil Procedure Law), Jutaporn Chaidejsuriya

Chulalongkorn University Law Journal

บทความวิจัยนี้มุ่งศึกษาความสัมพันธ์ระหว่างหลักกฎหมายว่าด้วยหนี้ตามประมวลกฎหมายแพ่งและพาณิชย์ กับหลักเกณฑ์การเสนอคดีตามประมวลกฎหมายวิธีพิจารณาความแพ่ง อันเป็นกลไกสำคัญในการบังคับใช้สิทธิของเจ้าหนี้ในทางปฏิบัติ เนื่องจาก “หนี้” เป็นบุคคลสิทธิ เจ้าหนี้จึงไม่อาจบังคับชำระหนี้ได้ด้วยตนเอง แต่ต้องเสนอคดีต่อศาลเพื่อบังคับให้ชำระหนี้ การวิจัยนี้เป็นการวิจัยเชิงหลักกฎหมาย (Doctrinal Legal Research) โดยวิเคราะห์ประเด็นสำคัญเกี่ยวกับหนี้ 7 ประการ ได้แก่ การบอกกล่าวลูกหนี้กับอำนาจฟ้อง การบังคับชำระหนี้ การเรียกดอกเบี้ยกรณีลูกหนี้ผิดนัด การใช้สิทธิเรียกร้องของลูกหนี้ การโอนสิทธิเรียกร้อง การเพิกถอนการฉ้อฉล และอายุความบังคับจำนอง ทั้งนี้ ผู้วิจัยได้จำแนกบทบัญญัติว่าด้วยหนี้ออกเป็น 3 ประเภท ได้แก่ (1) บทบัญญัติที่มีเนื้อหาไม่ครอบคลุมเกี่ยวกับการเสนอคดี (2) บทบัญญัติที่กำหนดวิธีไว้แต่ไม่ครบถ้วนหรือมีปัญหาในการตีความ และ (3) บทบัญญัติที่ไม่สอดคล้องกับกฎหมายวิธีพิจารณาความแพ่ง แล้วนำมาวิเคราะห์เชื่อมโยงกับบทบัญญัติในประมวลกฎหมายวิธีพิจารณาความแพ่ง รวมถึงศึกษาจากตำราและแนวคำพิพากษาศาลฎีกา ผลการศึกษาพบว่า การบังคับใช้กฎหมายว่าด้วยหนี้ให้มีประสิทธิภาพ จำเป็นต้องตีความและบังคับใช้สอดคล้องกับกฎหมายวิธีพิจารณาความแพ่ง ซึ่งผลลัพธ์ของงานวิจัยนี้จะช่วยลดปัญหาทางปฏิบัติและเสริมสร้างความเข้าใจที่ถูกต้องแก่ผู้ศึกษากฎหมายและผู้ปฏิบัติงานในคดีแพ่ง

Women’S Participation In Middle Eastern Politics: Between Cultural Norms And Democratic Aspirations, Siham Abidi, Thomas Sheku Marah

Journal Of Middle East and Islamic Studies

Women’s political participation in the Middle East remains shaped by the complex interaction of cultural norms, religious interpretations, and democratic reform processes. While existing scholarship has examined these factors extensively, limited attention has been devoted to explaining why women’s political participation varies across states with broadly similar socio-cultural and religious contexts. This study addresses this gap through a qualitative comparative analysis of Tunisia, Saudi Arabia, and Iran. Guided by Feminist Institutionalism and Political Opportunity Structure theory, the study draws on secondary data from peer-reviewed literature, legal documents, and policy reports. The findings demonstrate that women’s political participation is not determined …

Governing Algorithmic Attention: Attention Safeguard Models And The Cognitive Attentional Standard As System Level Interventions In Human Computer Interaction, Behavioral Economics, And Artificial Intelligence, Delante Clark

Graduate Scholarship and Creative Works

Algorithmic recommendation systems and interface designs shape attention by combining visually salient cues with uncertain reward timing and low friction interaction. These conditions can sustain anticipatory checking, extend time on task, and reduce natural disengagement points through patterns such as infinite scrolling and autoplay. This paper synthesizes research across neuroscience, human computer interaction, behavioral economics, and artificial intelligence to argue that attention capture is a predictable outcome of incentive driven design rather than an individual failure of self regulation. It advances the Attention Safeguard Models and the Cognitive Attentional Standard as system level interventions that regulate exposure conditions, pacing, and …

A Legal Comedy Of Errors: Foia’S Judicial Drama Over Who Controls The Oversight Script, Caroline Savini

Villanova Law Review (1956 - )

No abstract provided.

[Early Bird] The Texas Common Ownership Litigation: Sustainability, Competition, And The Boundaries Of Asset Manager Capitalism, Federico Ghezzi

Yearbook of Antitrust and Regulatory Studies

This article analyzes the recent attempt by the Texas Attorney General to invoke the common ownership doctrine as a new antitrust weapon against large institutional investors allegedly engaged in coordinated ESG strategies. The case represents a peculiar reversal of the traditional logic of the theory: rather than being used to constrain horizontal shareholdings that may reduce competition, common ownership is deployed here to challenge collective action aimed at promoting environmental sustainability. The paper situates this development within the broader debate on the anticompetitive effects of horizontal ownership, briefly examining the economic assumptions underlying the theory, the limits of its empirical …

Ndls Communicator: Week Of 06.29.26, Notre Dame Law School

NDLS Communicator

The Latest News

• Olivia Rogers ’23 J.D. to clerk for U.S. Supreme Court Justice Amy Coney Barrett
• Notre Dame Law School Announces Faculty Promotions for Susan Azyndar and Msgr. John Paul Kimes
• ND Law’s Program on Church, State & Society Announces 2026 Writing Competition Winners
• Notre Dame Law School is Cultivating Hope

Faculty Briefs

• Paolo Carozza
• Francisco Urbina
• Mary Ellen O'Connell
• Jeff Pojanowski
• Haley Proctor
• Derek Muller
• Rick Garnett
• Ashley Sanchez
• Susan Azyndar & Yan Yu
• Carter Snead
• Emily Bremmer
• Emilia Powell
• Howard Glickstein

ND Law in the News

• Notre Dame Law School was mentioned in coverage of Indiana’s eviction …

Aligning Artificial Intelligence To The Law, Jack Boeglin

Villanova Law Review (1956 - )

No abstract provided.

Protecting Dependent Children In Bankruptcy, Michael D. Sousa, L. Alexis Whitley Esq.

Villanova Law Review (1956 - )

No abstract provided.

Lessons From Eugenics: Safeguarding Autonomy In Procreation, Claire Bass

Villanova Law Review (1956 - )

No abstract provided.

Recent Developments, Steven H. Jacobs

Arkansas Law Review

Recent Developments in Arkansas Law

Anchoring’S Absurd Influence On Judging, Jeffrey J. Rachlinski, Andrew J. Wistrich

Arkansas Law Review

Society demands much from its judges. Notably, judges should never be illogical or inconsistent. The heart of what we expect of a judge is to apply the law to the facts in a logical and consistent way. The human mind, however, is not a giant syllogistic machine. People are obviously capable of using deductive logic, but decades of research on judgment and choice indicate that commonly used cognitive strategies to make decisions do not conform to the dictates of deductive logic. People rely on mental shortcuts, rather than logic. These shortcuts can be efficient and useful, but they do not …

A New Prescription: Arkansas Law On Pharmacy Benefit Managers, Emilee Webb

Arkansas Law Review

Seven thousand pharmacies have closed throughout the United States since 2019. This number includes both local pharmacies and larger chains. The effect of both types of closures, though, is the same—pharmacy deserts. A pharmacy desert can occur in all types of areas; it simply means that consumers lack “reasonable access” to a pharmacy. The usual standard is a pharmacy located more than one mile away in urban areas, two miles away in suburban areas, and ten miles away in rural areas. However, an objective mile range is not always dispositive of a pharmacy desert. Even if a pharmacy is located …

Judicial Rhetoric: Writing Persuasive Opinions, Gerald Lebovits

Arkansas Law Review

In 1947, Judge George Rose Smith denounced, in the Arkansas Law Review, the “dearth of material concerning the mechanics of writing a judicial opinion” as a “striking omission in legal literature.” He was right.

The lack of attention given to the judicial opinion-writing process back then was hard to justify. Judges spend much of their time writing decisions. Decisions are important. They determine rights and responsibilities, as well as resolve controversies. Scholars have written about every aspect of judging and legal issue—except one of the most important ones: how to decide a case and justify the decision. Judicial opinions set …

Promoting A Rhetoric Of Judicial Legitimacy In Pro Se Litigation, Alistair E. Newbern

Arkansas Law Review

In recent months, headline after headline has decried twin threats to the federal judiciary: declining public trust in the courts and escalating threats to judges’ personal safety. The public’s opinion of the Supreme Court reached “close to a three decade low” in 2025, while Americans’ confidence in the federal judiciary as a whole “dropped to a record-low 35% in 2024.”

In his 2024 Year End Report on the Federal Judiciary, Chief Justice John Roberts identified a recent uptick in four areas of “illegitimate activity” that “threaten the independence of judges on which the rule of law depends: (1) violence, (2) …

Intellectual Humility By Design: How Courts Earn Legitimacy And Improve Decisions, Steve Leben

Arkansas Law Review

Courts decide disputes as one branch of our government. Their authority depends not only on getting the outcome right but also on public acceptance of their authority. In a time when confidence in institutions is under pressure, courts cannot assume that legitimacy will take care of itself. They must earn it—case by case—through both the substance of what they decide and the way they exercise authority in public view.

A large body of procedural-justice research explains one side of that equation. People are more willing to accept court decisions, even unfavorable ones, when the process communicates voice, neutrality, respect, and …

The Rise Of Options Contracts In Sports, The Post-Murphy Regulatory Conundrum, And Implications On Federalism, Scott Barboza

UNH Sports Law Review

The Supreme Court’s decision in Murphy v. N.C.A.A. dismantled the federal prohibition on state-authorized sports betting and returned its primary regulatory authority over to the states. Following Murphy, states adopted widely varying sports-betting regimes. At the same time, advances in financial technology and the growing popularity of prediction markets created a new form of event-based speculation operating outside the traditional sportsbook model. Platforms such as Kalshi began offering “yes-no” contracts tied to sporting outcomes through federally regulated exchanges overseen by the Commodity Futures Trading Commission, framing such products not as wagers, but as financial derivatives governed by the Commodity Exchange …