Digital Commons Network^™

Housing Justice Pipeline: Harnessing Housing Clinics To Transform The Right To Counsel Movement, Erica Braudy, Thomas Honan, Tuhfa Begum

Seattle Journal for Social Justice

No abstract provided.

Table Of Contents, Sjsj

Seattle Journal for Social Justice

No abstract provided.

The First Prison, William Gillis

Seattle Journal for Social Justice

No abstract provided.

A Public Pools Grant Program For Racial Justice, Diana Rendler

Seattle Journal for Social Justice

No abstract provided.

And The Cycle Continues., Ashley Elizabeth

Seattle Journal for Social Justice

No abstract provided.

Justice Requires The Freedom To Play, Heavenly Possum

Seattle Journal for Social Justice

No abstract provided.

To The Boys Who Say “Your Body, My Choice”, Kaitlyn Demeyere

Seattle Journal for Social Justice

No abstract provided.

Hope, Peter Jung

Seattle Journal for Social Justice

No abstract provided.

“Pick-Up Orders” And Foster Youth In Washington, Lauren Higgins

Seattle Journal for Social Justice

No abstract provided.

Introduction To The Issue, Craig S. Maher, Bruce D. Mcdonald Iii

School of Public Service Faculty Publications

This edition of Public Finance Journal brings together research exploring critical issues in public finance, from voter perceptions of fiscal health to the evolving landscape of municipal finance and intergovernmental grants. As governments at all levels navigate financial sustainability, transparency, and accountability, these studies provide fresh insights into how financial policies and practices influence governance and public trust. The articles examine the political consequences of municipal credit ratings, the practical challenges of public records laws, the complexities of managing federal grants at the local level, and the rise of green bonds as a financial instrument for sustainable development. This research …

Common Law Executive Privilege(S), Jonathan Shaub

Law Faculty Scholarly Articles

There are few Supreme Court cases that enjoy as much widespread support as the unanimous decision in United States v. Nixon. The recent pitched battles between Congress and the executive branch have made apparent the vast disagreement between the two branches over access to information. But that disagreement does not extend to Nixon, the unquestioned jurisprudential foundation for the doctrine of executive privilege. Closer inspection shows, however, that this foundation is not a stable one, but one constructed from unnecessary, ill-considered dicta.

As this Article demonstrates, Nixon conflated the constitutional question about one branch’s power vis-à-vis another branch with an …

Visual Legal Rhetoric In The Age Of Generative Ai And Deepfakes: Renaissance Or Dark Ages?, Michael D. Murray

Law Faculty Scholarly Articles

The paradoxical development of visual generative AI tools, such as OpenAI’s DALL-E 3, Midjourney, and Stable Diffusion, simultaneously signals a renaissance and a potential dark age in visual rhetoric and communication. On the one hand, these tools democratize the creation of visual content, empowering attorneys and others to become artists and illustrators of their legal communications without needing to learn how to draw. These AI systems can simplify complex legal concepts, bridge language barriers, and enhance advocacy. But on the other hand, the proliferation of deepfakes presents significant challenges for visual rhetoric. Deepfakes can quickly and easily create realistic but …

West Virginia V. Epa: Considerations For The Future Of Epa Greenhouse Gas Regulation, Shavonnie R. Carthens

Law Faculty Scholarly Articles

When compared to historical levels, the air quality in the United States has improved. However, exposure to air pollution still rises to the top of environmental health risks experienced by Americans. It is estimated that one hundred thousand to two hundred thousand deaths annually are associated with this exposure, which exceeds the deaths from murders and car crashes combined. Further, evidence establishes that “rising concentrations of carbon dioxide, methane, and other greenhouse gases pose serious threats to public health.” Looking to the sources of greenhouse gas emissions, fossil fuel-fired power plants are the largest source of greenhouse gas emissions in …

West Virginia V. Epa: Consideration For The Future Of Epa Greenhouse Gas Regulation, Shavonnie R. Carthens

Kentucky Journal of Equine, Agriculture, & Natural Resources Law

In this article, Shavonnie Carthens examines the implications of West Virginia v. EPA, emphasizing how the Supreme Court’s use of the major questions doctrine creates uncertainty around the Environmental Protection Agency’s (“EPA”) authority to regulate greenhouse gas emissions. It argues that, in light of the doctrine’s growing influence and the end of Chevron deference, Congress should revise the Clean Air Act to explicitly authorize the EPA to regulate greenhouse emissions through system-based transitions to cleaner power-generating sources, public health-conscious considerations, and multi-agency regulatory approaches to ensure durable and effective climate policy.

Quieting The Cacophony: How To Reduce Greenwashing And Environmental Damage From The Food Industry, Alex Woodward

Kentucky Journal of Equine, Agriculture, & Natural Resources Law

In this article, Alex G. Woodward addresses the problem of greenwashing and environmental harm caused by industrial agriculture and misleading food labeling. Woodward explains that while agriculture is essential to feeding a growing global population, its large-scale, profit-driven practices cause significant environmental damage. Woodward argues for a strategy that compels transparency through warning labels and expanding credible certification frameworks. Woodward proposes that the USDA implement a tiered labeling system under its Organic Program and require factual, noncontroversial disclosures about environmental harms on food packaging, with the goal of informing consumers, restoring trust, and incentivizing environmentally responsible agricultural practices.

This Land Is Our Land: Addressing Foreign Ownership Of Agricultural Land In The United States, Will Miller

Kentucky Journal of Equine, Agriculture, & Natural Resources Law

In this note, Will Miller examines the rapid increase in foreign ownership of U.S. agricultural land and the national security and food security risks it creates. He explains that the Agricultural Foreign Investment Disclosure Act (AFIDA) only requires reporting of foreign ownership but imposes no restrictions, leaving regulation largely to a patchwork of state laws. Miller argues for federal oversight, contending that matters of foreign affairs and national security are best handled at the national level. He proposes a comprehensive federal regulatory scheme which would set nationwide minimum standards such as prohibiting ownership by foreign adversaries and capping total foreign-held …

The Working Student Problem: Why Unpaid Interns In The Kentucky Equine Industry Need Greater Statutory Protection, Sarah Turri

Kentucky Journal of Equine, Agriculture, & Natural Resources Law

In this note, Sarah Turri explores how working students in Kentucky’s equine industry are treated like unpaid interns, working long hours for little or no pay. She explains that this leaves them without minimum wage or civil rights protections and worsens inequality in the equestrian sport. Turri argues for extending statutory protections to working students and proposes that Kentucky follow other states in safeguarding these vulnerable workers.

The Impact Of Veterinary Stewardship Program Implementations On Backyard Chicken Farming In Rural Georgia, Lauren Ashley Herrin

Kentucky Journal of Equine, Agriculture, & Natural Resources Law

In this article, Lauren Ashley Herrin examines the impacts of new FDA veterinary stewardship regulations on backyard chicken farming in rural Georgia. She explains that requiring prescriptions for previously over-the-counter antibiotics disproportionately harms low-income and rural communities by limiting access to affordable veterinary care, worsening risks of disease spread and public health threats. Herrin argues for policy approaches that balance antimicrobial resistance concerns with the realities of rural accessibility. She proposes solutions such as telehealth veterinary consultations, scholarship programs to encourage rural veterinary practice, and expanding prescriptive authority for veterinary technicians to ensure sustainable animal health care in underserved areas

When Breathing Becomes Wheezing: Why Kentucky Should Require Schools To Conduct Radon Testing, Abbey Norvell

Kentucky Journal of Equine, Agriculture, & Natural Resources Law

In this note, Abbey Norvell analyzes the dangers of radon exposure in Kentucky schools, highlighting the state’s nation-leading lung cancer rates and the heightened risks for children. She explains that Kentucky has no law requiring schools to test for or mitigate radon levels, leaving students vulnerable. Norvell argues for mandatory radon testing and remediation in Kentucky schools. She proposes legislation modeled on other states requiring testing in both public and private schools within five years, and remediation within two years if levels exceed EPA standards.

Pesticide Lies! A Call For Epa Action As Recent Judicial Decisions Reveal The Harmful Truth Resulting From Exposure, Stevi Whitman

Kentucky Journal of Equine, Agriculture, & Natural Resources Law

In this note, Stevi Whitman analyzes the dangers of weak pesticide regulation in the United States. Whitman explains that the EPA’s reliance on the vague “unreasonable adverse effects” standard under the Federal Insecticide, Fungicide, and Rodenticide Act (FIFRA) allows harmful products like Roundup to remain on the market despite strong evidence of health risks. Whitman argues for strengthening U.S. pesticide laws to match the European Union’s stricter safety threshold. She proposes amending FIFRA to require proactive bans on hazardous pesticides and greater accountability from manufacturers to better protect public health and the environment.

Please Provide Feedback? How To Effectively Receive And Learn From Feedback About Your Writing, Melissa N. Henke

Law Faculty Popular Media

We have all been there. We submit a draft document to a supervising attorney or valued colleague. And then we wait. Will we receive criticism? Will we receive praise? At some point we just hope to hear something in response. Or do we?

Once we get a response, the criticism is hard to receive. We may get angry or upset, we may feel defensive or defeated, or we may just shut down and try to avoid the feedback altogether. Sometimes even feedback framed as praise can leave us feeling uncomfortable or overwhelmed.

An aversion to feedback, especially to criticism, is …

Work And Human Vocation In Catholic Social Teaching, Stefan M. Mcdaniel

Saint Louis University Law Journal

This essay explores Catholic social teaching on work, focusing on how labor should enable humans to fulfill their vocation through experiences of dominion and communion. Drawing from papal encyclicals and theological anthropology, it examines how work becomes a means for humans to exercise their God-like faculties by intelligently shaping creation (dominion) and building rich relationships (communion). The essay argues that Catholic teaching offers distinctive contributions to contemporary workplace justice movements through its emphasis on two priorities: promoting worker-ownership and supporting family life. Worker-ownership, especially through cooperatives, enables labor to become an exercise of dominion, while family-centered policies make work a …

What Rerum Novarum Did And Did Not Do For The American Labor Movement, 1891-1935, Janine Giordano Drake

Saint Louis University Law Journal

The papal encyclical Rerum Novarum (1891), a statement which defended workers’ human rights, has been celebrated by both leftwing and rightwing Christians as a central document in the history of the Church. To trade union leaders of the late nineteenth and twentieth centuries, it was a powerful tool for reminding workers that the Holy Father supported fair wages and healthy working conditions for all God’s people. Just the same, for business leaders of the several Red Scares (especially 1917-1920 and 1945-1955), it became a powerful tool in discrediting socialist demands as both “materialistic” and “atheistic.” This piece illustrates that while …

Cultivating Thoughtful Dialogue, Shared Humanity, And Emotional Intelligence In Client Counseling Courses, Jacki J. Langum

Saint Louis University Law Journal

Historically, client counseling courses in law schools across the country omitted concepts fundamental to a successful attorney-client relationship–thoughtful dialogue, shared humanity, and emotional intelligence. Psychology and the practice of law, including the omitted concepts, are now being integrated into more courses each semester. The essay demonstrates how I integrate them into my own course and work alongside students to help them practice those concepts and the most important skill of active listening. The students’ practice requires thoughtful work around self-awareness, bias, power, and money–topics often neglected because of the discomfort involved in their contemplation and reflection. The earlier students are …

Teaching Client Counseling In The Shadow Of Homelessness, Gregory M. Zlotnick

Saint Louis University Law Journal

Working with clients at risk of, or experiencing, homelessness teaches personal and professional humility like few other experiences in law school or the practice of law. Yet such sensitive work also provides an opportunity for law students to develop both a keener understanding of their own professional identity—with its capacities and limitations—and critical counseling skills.

This essay draws upon experiences gained in three distinct law school projects that work with clients at risk of, or experiencing, homelessness. After providing a brief overview of each project, the essay will explore methods used for training and supervising students during their counseling sessions, …

Bail-Ing Out Of Cash Bail: Navigating The Pretrial Fairness Act And Illinois’ Cashless Frontier, Sara Worrell

Saint Louis University Law Journal

Cash bail, once a tool intended to ensure appearances in court, has evolved into a system that disproportionately incarcerates marginalized and economically disadvantaged communities. This national reckoning with the failures of the cash bail system necessiates a critical reevaluation of pretrial justice in the United States. Calls for bail reform have been ringing across the nation and Illinois has answered.

This note critically examines the Pretrial Fairness Act (PFA), a landmark reform in the Illinois SAFE-T Act which abolishes cash bail and restores the presumption of innocence to pretrial detention decisions in Illinois. In response to the systemic inequities of …

Table Of Contents

Saint Louis University Law Journal

No abstract provided.

Masthead

Saint Louis University Law Journal

No abstract provided.

The Wages Of Constitutional Interpretation, Francesca Procaccini

Saint Louis University Law Journal

The future of constitutional interpretation is a dynamic amalgam of knowns and unknowns. This article explores three. First, an unknown known: the Court’s embrace of formal equality methodologies, more than originalist methodologies, is driving current conservative changes in constitutional law and ushering in a stale and acontextual bent to constitutional rights. Second, another unknown known: both the Court’s equality and originalist methodologies serve to jettison the longstanding and widespread use of intermediate scrutiny and thereby push the level of protection for rights to the extremes. Finally, a known unknown: the Court’s embrace of hyper-formal equality and originalist rules transfers hegemonic …

Originalism And The Chronological Separation Of Powers, Daniel Kiel

Saint Louis University Law Journal

Inspired by the 2024 Childress Lecture, this essay considers originalism in two distinct guises: first, as a method of constitutional interpretation and then, as a politically-coded signal used to ensure predictability of judicial behavior. Regarding interpretation, the essay critiques originalism and its claim as a determinative source of constitutional understanding as a violation of the oft-overlooked chronological separation of powers embedded in the Constitution. Though originalism is often styled as a way of checking the power of judges, it threatens to impose a tyranny of the past that runs counter to a constitutional structure built upon the diffusion of power. …