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Star Trek, Star Wars, Or Battlestar Galactica—The Occurring Privatization Of Space Exploration, And The Need For “Global” Regulations, Marty Levers

San Diego International Law Journal

Privatized space travel is not innately bad because of its commercial nature. Commercialization leads to efficient innovation; and our scientific pursuits benefit from advancements in technology in every space-related industry. This is not to say that privatized space travel is not without disgust and dissenters. As a dissenter, Buzz Aldrin questioned Elon Musk’s Mars proposal by arguing, “Well, now, when your [rocket] lands on Mars with people, is there going to be anything down there for you to live in or do?” Buzz Aldrin is not alone in his questioning of the motives behind mega corporations’ space projects. Billionaire-funded space …

The Black Sea Grain Initiative: Russia’S Strategic Blunder Or Diplomatic Coup?, Raul (Pete) Pedrozo

International Law Studies

On July 22, 2022, Ukraine, the Russian Federation, Türkiye, and the United Nations signed a groundbreaking agreement to allow for the safe transport of grain, related foodstuffs, and fertilizer from three Ukrainian ports to global markets. Concurrently, a second (lesser known) agreement was concluded between the United Nations and Russia that would allow the unimpeded export of Russian food and fertilizer (including raw materials to produce fertilizers) to world markets. These agreements were hailed as a critical solution for the impending global food crisis and the safety and security of neutral shipping in the Black Sea resulting from the Russia-Ukraine …

To The Court Of Last Resort: A Prosecutorial Roadmap In The Aftermath Of State Violence In Chile And Colombia, David F. Scollan

University of Miami Inter-American Law Review

A great deal of academic research and writing has been done on the most glaring examples of war crimes and crimes against humanity. But, only a small cadre of authors have endeavored to identify the ‘lower limit’ of when state action qualifies as these heinous acts. This Note strives to add to that area of legal scholarship aimed at bringing instances of in-country state perpetrated violence out from the behind the veil of sovereign police action and into the spotlight to call them what they are: crimes worthy of international condemnation and punishment. Specifically, this Note unpacks two spasms of …

Disinformation And The First Amendment: Fraud On The Public, Wes Henricksen

St. John's Law Review

(Excerpt)

Following the 2020 presidential election, the losing candidate, Donald Trump, along with most of the Republican Party, spread the false claim that the election had been stolen by Democrats. Joe Biden, so the claim went, had not been legitimately elected, and was therefore an illegitimate President and needed to be removed. This profitable falsehood6 became known as the “Big Lie.” It was not only baseless, but it was in fact made in spite of and in direct conflict with the overwhelming evidence debunking it. This did not stop people from believing it. Millions bought into the Big Lie, which …

The True Meaning Of "Going Armed" In The Statute Of Northampton: A Response To Patrick J. Charles, Richard E. Gardiner

Cleveland State Law Review

In the debate over the meaning of the right to keep and bear arms guaranteed by the Second Amendment, some writers have argued that the prohibition in the 1328 English Statute of Northampton on "going armed" referred to carrying weapons, thus purportedly showing that regulation of carrying weapons was well known and established when the Second Amendment was adopted. For the first time, this Article reveals, through a thorough analysis of medieval royal proclamations and acts of parliament, well-regarded legal treatises, literature of the time, and English case law, that "going armed" did not refer to carrying weapons, but rather …

Movement Administrative Procedure, Evan D. Bernick

Notre Dame Law Review

On April 4, 1946, The Potters Herald, a Thursday weekly dedicated to labor and union news, published an editorial warning readers of pending legislation “which may seriously affect labor” despite not containing a “single word about labor” in its text. This legislation would empower “anti-labor judges” to overturn decisions by the National Labor Relations Board. Despite its neutral appearance, it was in reality designed to “kick [labor and the NLRB] in the teeth” and would result in “a field day for the corporation lawyers.”

The complained-of legislation was the Administrative Procedure Act of 1946 (APA). From today’s vantage point, …

Cyberoperations And Sovereignty In International Law, Joel Wei Xuan Fun

Singapore Law Journal (Lexicon)

The cyberspace is sometimes seen as having no jurisdictional boundaries, given that no single state controls the entirety of the cyberspace. At the same time, given how pervasive the cyberspace has become today, many important interests of states now lie in the domain of cyberspace. This uneasy tension has led to many questions involving the intersectionality between the state’s sovereignty over its territory and the cyberspace, which is exacerbated when states use the cyberspace to conduct their myriad operations. This paper seeks to delineate permissible and impermissible cyberoperations and argues that the present international law on sovereignty is sufficiently robust …

After Mccleskey, Robert L. Tsai

Faculty Scholarship

In the 1987 decision, McCleskey v. Kemp, the Supreme Court rejected a black death row inmate's argument that significant racial disparities in the administration of Georgia's capital punishment laws violated the Fourteenth Amendment's Equal Protection Clause. In brushing aside the most sophisticated empirical study of a state 's capital practices to date, that ruling seemingly slammed the door on structural inequality claims against the criminal justice system. Most accounts of the case end after noting the ruling's incompatibility with more robust theories of equality and meditating on the deep sense of demoralization felt by social justice advocates. One might …

War, Decisions, И Деньги: Analyzing Private Military Companies In American And Russian Contexts, Tara Harper

University Honors Theses

Private Military Companies (PMCs) have become increasingly prevalent throughout the global security landscape. Their rise has led war - and the tools state's use to wage it - to become increasingly privatized with each state's varied approach to the evolving security landscape. Understanding and comparing the role of PMCs in such states as the U.S. and Russia allows for greater clarity regarding the industry as a whole, due to the structural differences in each state's approach to utilizing these companies. Regarding the Russian context, such companies as the Wagner Group have increasingly gained global attention due to how they are …

Former Gang Members And The Particular Social Group Standard: Why America's Highest Court Should Green Light The Killing Of The Bia's Three-Prong Test, Téa Antonino

San Diego Law Review

This Comment establishes why the Supreme Court should clarify the elusive definition of “[m]embership in a particular social group” to resolve confusion amongst the circuit courts. Part II provides an overview of the historical context and legal basis for former gang members seeking asylum and withholding of removal. Part III explores the circuit courts’ disagreement behind the reasonableness of the BIA’s three-prong test for establishing a PSG claim: immutability, particularity, and social distinction. Part IV explains why the current three-prong PSG test is not entitled to Chevron deference, while Part V proposes the Supreme Court reimplement the Acosta factors—based on …

Rights-Based Boundaries Of Unilateral Sanctions, Seyed Mohsen Rowhani

Washington International Law Journal

This Article serves as a model for sender states to consider when designing and implementing unilateral sanctions and also provides a framework for targeted states to challenge the legality of sanctions. In this context, the Article investigates several multilateral treaties, including the United Nations (“UN”) Charter and its principles of nonintervention and sovereignty and its rights-based boundaries. The Article also investigates other rights-based treaties to determine if their member states may have any extraterritorial obligations to promote human rights beyond their borders. In addition, the Article analyses International Court of Justice (“ICJ”) rulings in cases where one party claims that …

The Issue Of Enforcement In International Law: A Case Study Of The War In Ukraine, Luana M. Denegre

Undergraduate Honors Theses

This thesis seeks to outline ways to enforce international law more effectively. Through the analysis of the current international legal framework and the different mechanisms created to enforce international law, it identifies why they are insufficient to enforce international law effectively, and it gives recommendations to ameliorate the way international law is currently enforced. This research focuses on the ongoing war in Ukraine as a case study, and provides specific examples of ways international law was grossly violated by Russia, a U.N. permanent Security Council member, in order to identify patterns in the non-enforcement of international law. To bridge the …

Geniuses Dare To Ride Their Luck: Clausewitz’S Card Game Analogies, Nicholas A. A. Murray

The US Army War College Quarterly: Parameters

Scholars have been using the wrong card games to analyze Carl von Clausewitz’s analogies in On War, which has led to errors in understanding his ideas. This article identifies the games Clausewitz discusses, allowing for a more accurate interpretation of his original meaning for the study of war. Since Clausewitz’s ideas underpin strategy development within service education systems, it is critical his ideas are fully understood in context.

The Central American Minors Program: Advocating For Private Sponsorship, Magaly Velasco-Escobar

Master's Theses

Under this recommendation, minors would be interviewed by qualified officers at resettlement agencies in their home countries to assess credible fear, those deemed eligible but lacking an eligible relative would be referred for a private sponsorship pathway. Sponsors would be vetted and qualified using protocols currently in place by the Welcome Corps and Refugee Foster Care. Ideally, the Office of Refugee Resettlement (ORR) would coordinate between the private sponsors and overseas resettlement agencies, given they already do the work of vetting eligible sponsors for minors. ORR could create a program staffed with qualified individuals to coordinate this program or provide …

Must China Pay? How Claims Against China For Covid-19 Reveal Flaws In The International Legal System That Make Accountability Impractical, Talia Danielle Sturkie

Penn State Journal of Law & International Affairs (2012 - Present)

No abstract provided.

The Jus Ad Bellum In Cyberspace: A New Framework, M. Walker Brunner

Penn State Journal of Law & International Affairs (2012 - Present)

No abstract provided.

The Newport Manual On The Law Of Naval Warfare, James Kraska, Raul "Pete" Pedrozo, David Letts, Wolff Heintschel Von Heinegg, Rob Mclaughlin, James Farrant, Yurika Ishii, Gurpreet S. Khurana, Koki Sato

International Law Studies

This first edition of the Newport Manual has been superseded by the Newport Manual on the Law of Naval Warfare, Second Edition, published as Volume 105 (2025) of International Law Studies.

Due Process Discontents In Mass-Tort Bankruptcy, J. Maria Glover

DePaul Law Review

No abstract provided.

From Instability To Civil Liberties: Nonviolent Resistance In Afghanistan, Rachel L. Knowles

Master's Theses

When people have a fundamental issue at stake, giving in is not an option. For these types of conflict, when people’s rights are being violated, when their countries are occupied, or when they are oppressed and humiliated, they need a powerful way to persist and fight back. Oftentimes when people are left with no choice they will use the terrible and destructive nature of violence. For decades nonviolent resistance (NVR) movements have been associated with Gandhi and Martin Luther King, but people have been using nonviolent action for years. In fact, NVR has been a part of political life for …

Blue Water Navy Veterans And The Agent Orange Rulings: A Lifeboat For The Veterans; A Storm Warning For The Vba, Jennifer Howley

Catholic University Law Review

Agent Orange was a herbicidal chemical used by the U.S. military for tactical use during the Vietnam War. Although initially told by the government not to worry about exposure to the chemical, veterans, their wives, and their offspring began having severe health and reproductive issues. In the early 1990’s, Congress passed the Agent Orange Act and the government directed the Institute of Medicine to report on the health effects of Agent Orange. Through this approach, Vietnam Veterans could claim benefits for illnesses listed in connection with Agent Orange. But only some Vietnam Veterans.

Initially, only veterans who served on-shore or …

Un País Invertido: The Current Immigration Regime Of Colombia, Magdalena Hendrickson

Honors Theses

Throughout its turbulent history, Colombia has seen drastic changes in structure and administration. From military coups to shaky coalitions, the country’s infamous instability has long forced its citizens to find better prospects elsewhere. However, with the rise of the Maduro administration in Venezuela, Colombia faced a massive new flow of migrants and was forced to rectify current circumstances without properly addressing its internal issues beforehand. Despite its historical status as a nation of emigrants, Colombia marks a new norm for the rest of the globe. As new issues like climate change and increased armed conflict grow worldwide, countries on the …

The Railsplitter And The Pathfinder: The Relationship Between Abraham Lincoln And John C. Frémont, Kourtney Yantis

Electronic Theses & Dissertations

This study serves as an analysis of the connections between Abraham Lincoln as President of the United States and John Charles Frémont as a Civil War general. Lincoln’s position within history is solid, unlike that of John C. Frémont. The thesis will elevate Frémont to a higher status as a historical figure by arguing that the emancipation edict that he issued for Missouri in August of 1861 would influence Abraham Lincoln’s preliminary emancipation proclamation of September 1862, even though Lincoln repealed Frémont’s decree. In biographies of each man, their interactions are merely a small part of the stories of their …

Child Soldiers & Juveniles In Gangs: Opposite Sides Of The Same Coin With Dissimilar Legal Liabilities In International And American Constitutional Law, Jason Blevins

Master's Theses

No abstract provided.

Tribal Statecraft And Freedom Of Expression In Jordan, Taylor Northcutt

Honors Theses

In this research paper, I investigate the connection between the policies regarding freedom of speech and expression promulgated by the government of Jordan in the decade following the Arab Spring and Jordan’s tribal Bedouin heritage, with a focus on how traditional Bedouin values and attitudes regarding the nature and purpose of public spaces influence modern state policies regarding freedom of expression. In the investigation of this subject, I surveyed a diverse catalog of research covering politics and issues of freedom of expression in Jordan in the 2010s as well as the political and social values of tribal Arab culture in …

Should Have Known Better? The Standard Of Knowledge For Command Responsibility In International Criminal Law, Roee Bloch

International Law Studies

The criminal doctrine of command responsibility has a rich legal history, which makes it a widely recognized, if unsettled, concept of international criminal law. This article focuses on a key element of command responsibility: the commander’s knowledge of a subordinate's crimes. This article argues that current customary law instructs to apply a standard of actual knowledge of the commander, rather than the lower standard of constructive knowledge. The article reaches this conclusion by observing the primary shaping factor of international law—State behavior. Through the example of six diverse legal systems, the article demonstrates how the approach of legislative, executive, and …

All Hands On Deck: The Role Of Government Employees As Qui Tam Relators, Renée Brooker, Jaclyn S. Tayabji

University of Cincinnati Law Review

No abstract provided.

Limitation For Liberty, Riley Banker

Helm's School of Government Conference - 2021-2024

This paper examines how the foundational principals of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness are under attack in our nation today and demonstrates why protecting them through Federalism is so important.

Christian Influence On Roman Natural Law In The Corpus Juris Civilis, Bryce Tenberg

Helm's School of Government Conference - 2021-2024

Few civilizations have influenced the contemporary world more than the Romans, and the same can be said regarding the field of law. Today, legal foundations throughout the West are built upon the Roman legal system, with the Code of Justinian—also known as the Corpus Juris Civilis—being arguably the most influential. This work compiled and simplified centuries of Roman law to ensure a more efficient jurisprudence, and due to its survival, it would form the foundation of the modern jurisprudence. However, at the same time this work was written, the empire had changed significantly with the adoption of Christianity. This …

When A Corporation’S Deliberate Ignorance Causes Harm: Charting A New Role For Tort Law, Wendy Wagner

DePaul Law Review

No abstract provided.

The Unethical Use Of Children In War, Mariana Davis

Helm's School of Government Conference - 2021-2024

This paper examines the role the nature of children has in the immorality of their use in warfare. The exploitation of children in war is a long, pervasive issue that is primarily documented in third-world countries with ongoing conflicts. This paper details the developments in the legality of the use of children in war. It expounds upon the current and historical use of child soldiers and the horrors that come with it. Evidence was taken from the consequences to the children and the nations that use them to demonstrate why this practice is unethical and immoral. This paper studies why …