Digital Commons Network^™

Cox V. Sony: Let’S Call Gershwin Off, Jonathan Band

Joint PIJIP/TLS Research Paper Series

No abstract provided.

Workplace Monitoring Platforms Are Sharing Your Data: An Investigation & Roadmap To Address Data Abuses, Stephanie T. Nguyen, Levi Kaplan, David Choffnes, Alan Mislove, Seth Frotman, Erie Meyer

Center for Law and the Economy

This report investigates the data collection practices of nine widely used workplace monitoring platforms to determine the extent to which they track and analyze employee activity, behavior, or performance during work, including how these platforms transmit worker information and to which third-parties. This report finds that (1) nine out of nine workplace monitoring platforms studied directly shared identifying worker data to third parties, (2) nine out of nine workplace monitoring platforms studied shared information about workers’ online activities with third parties, and (3) three out of nine workplace monitoring platforms studied utilize features to track workers’ precise location. This report …

Mere Machines: Why Originalism Requires Robotic Judging, Michael Showalter

SMU Law Review Forum

In 1776, Thomas Jefferson argued that judges are “mere machines.” This statement captures founding generation’s conception of the judicial task. From Edward Coke to Montesquieu to William Blackstone to Alexander Hamilton to John Marshall, the founding era’s governing legal tradition taught that judges do no more than mechanically apply the law to reach a case’s correct answer. Judges find the law, the Founders consistently emphasized, they do not choose it.

Under originalism, that original understanding of the Article III judicial power controls how federal judges must adjudicate today. Theorists leveled sustained criticism against the Framers’ beliefs in the twentieth century, …

Place, Democracy, Law, And The Necessity Of Local News, Erin C. Carroll

Georgetown Law Faculty Publications and Other Works

In 2025, the painter Amy Sherald pulled her show American Sublime from the Smithsonian after the museum considered removing a painting of a transgender Statue of Liberty to avoid angering President Trump. The Baltimore Museum of Art stepped in, and it was important that it did. American Sublime needs to be seen in person. It comprises dozens of portraits of Black Americans—a farmer, a bicyclist, a balloon-holder, a child on a playground slide. The portraits are dignified, beautiful, warm, and alluring. They are, in a word, human.

In the gallery, the paintings were hung low on the walls to increase …

Bluebook Bites: Practicing Citation One Day At A Time, Heather Kolinsky

UF Law Faculty Publications

Seeking student feedback in a tangible manner during the semester has inherent value. Ongoing student feedback can help a professor gauge what is (and what is not) working in the classroom. The professor can take the temperature of the class and get a decent read on how things are going.

This article discusses how student feedback in my Fall 2024 class birthed a practice of delivering a daily question (sometimes with subparts) to students about creating or editing Bluebook citations. I call it “Bluebook Bites.” In Part I of this article, I explain how I gather student feedback and how …

"Market Shift Liability" For Generic Drugs: Market Share Theory's Eccentric New Cousin, Lars Noah

UF Law Faculty Publications

Market share liability, which permits allocating proportional responsibility to each tortious member of an industry when victims cannot identify the exact source of their injurious exposure, enjoyed its judicial heyday in the 1980s. It originated in the peculiar setting of litigation over a distinctive cancer that developed decades after in utero exposure to the drug diethylstilbestrol (“DES”), which a few hundred companies had produced and sold for the prevention of miscarriages before federal regulators withdrew it from the marketplace. Although judges have occasionally attempted novel extensions of this theory to other products, and academic commentators remain fascinated by its use, …

Cornerstones And Keystones: Confronting Stealth Attacks On The Regulatory State, Michael Allan Wolf

UF Law Faculty Publications

This Article is the first to identify the Roberts Court’s pattern of stealth overruling of several takings precedents by neutralizing or ignoring essential language from prior decisions. The Article explores six examples of this phenomenon and proposes a framework for identifying when a subsequent Court’s critical assessment of key language from a prior decision, whether it technically qualifies as a “holding” or not, necessitates consideration of the stare decisis factors used in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization. Rather than focusing on the sometimes-arbitrary distinction between holding and dictum, the Article introduces two other indicia of precedential language that …

Against The Single-Subject Rule For The Citizen Initiative, Jonathan L. Marshfield

UF Law Faculty Publications

The citizen initiative allows voters to bypass state legislatures and propose laws for a statewide referendum. It exists in twenty-four states but has national significance because initiatives drive reform on contested issues. Recently, courts have begun to clamp down on the initiative. One significant trend is the strict enforcement of the single-subject rule to strike initiatives when they are considered too broad. Although courts are notoriously inconsistent with the rule, they assert two reasons for aggressive enforcement. First, they claim the rule’s historic purpose is to prevent any form of “logrolling”—including any imaginable aggregation of public-regarding voting blocs. Second, courts …

Social Bonds And Dynamic Risk In Predicting Juvenile Recidivism Among Florida Probation Youth, Shadrach Sackey

Department of Sociology: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

Juvenile recidivism remains a persistent challenge within the United States juvenile justice system, particularly among youth supervised in community-based probation programs. This study examines how family context, school engagement, peer associations, antisocial beliefs, and overall dynamic risk are associated with recidivism among juvenile probation youth in Florida. Drawing on social bond theory and social learning theory, the analysis uses administrative data from the Florida Department of Juvenile Justice (FDJJ) Juvenile Justice Information System, including 6,215 youth who completed community-based probation supervision between 2015 and 2018. Recidivism was measured using two outcomes within a 365-day follow-up period: rearrest and readjudication. Descriptive …

We The People And The Courts: Our Indispensable Compact, Kim Mueller

University of the Pacific Law Review

No abstract provided.

Place, Democracy, Rule Of Law, And The Necessity Of Local News, Erin C. Carroll

University of the Pacific Law Review

No abstract provided.

The Death Of The Rule Of Law In America: The Responsibility Of The Lawyers, Steven A. Ramirez

University of the Pacific Law Review

No abstract provided.

The Lived Experiences Of African American Youth With The Juvenile Justice System, Marion D. Rogers

Theses, Dissertations and Culminating Projects

This qualitative case study examined the lived experiences of African American youth in the juvenile justice system using Bronfenbrenner’s Ecological Systems Theory and Intersectionality Theory as guiding frameworks. Three participants engaged in three rounds of in-depth interviews, and the data were analyzed using open, axial, and selective coding, with findings presented at the within-case and cross-case levels. Results revealed how family dynamics, school exclusion, community survival strategies, and systemic surveillance shaped participants’ pathways through the justice system, while experiences of resilience coexisted with mistrust, invisibility, and ambivalence toward counselors and authority figures. The study highlights the importance of culturally responsive …

Joint Bank Accounts: Who Needs Them?, Reid K. Weisbord, Stewart E. Sterk

Articles

Joint bank accounts, once known as a “poor man’s will,” emerged more than a century ago as a probate avoidance device. This Article contends that joint accounts no longer serve a useful estate planning function, and they pose an unacceptably high risk to banking consumers because the legal framework governing lifetime ownership rights is deeply flawed and underdeveloped. Courts typically apply one of two prevailing models for allocating lifetime rights: (1) the traditional joint tenancy approach, which presumes equal ownership of account funds by each party; and (2) the Uniform Probate Code’s approach, which presumes ownership in proportion to each …

Agency Fact-Making, Haiyun Damon-Feng

Articles

Modern administrative-law scholarship, theory, and doctrine generally conceptualize agencies as engaging in three primary functions: rulemaking, enforcement, and adjudication. This understanding of agencies has informed deep debates surrounding the power, independence, and constitutional legitimacy of the administrative state. But the prevailing account is incomplete. It overlooks a fourth core function of the administrative state: its fact-making, or epistemic, function. Across the administrative state, agencies create and disseminate information in ways that are uniquely comprehensive and uniquely powerful. Agencies’ epistemic outputs include the census generated by the Census Bureau, repositories of public-health information maintained by the Centers for Disease Control and …

Upr Report Submissions: Compiled By The International Human Rights Clinic At The University Of Illinois Chicago School Of Law And The Human Rights At Home Litigation Clinic At The Saint Louis University School Of Law, Sarah Dàvila A., Lauren E. Bartlett

Faculty White Papers

This unofficial summary compiles information from reports submitted by civil society and others for the Fourth Cycle of the Universal Periodic Review of the United States.

The authors reviewed the submissions, which are reports from civil society and others, and grouped issues thematically, using the 2020 UPR themes and recommendations as the organizing framework. Within each theme, the authors synthesized recurring issues, patterns, and concerns identified across multiple submissions. For each issue, the unofficial summary follows a structured approach that presents international obligations first, followed by United States domestic law, and then facts drawn from the submissions. However, where reports …

Criminalizing Curation, Duncan Hosie

William & Mary Bill of Rights Journal

This Article surfaces emerging threats to artistic expression posed by the Dost test, which outlines six factors for interpreting a “lascivious exhibition of the genitals” under federal and many state child pornography laws. It argues that the present state of American politics has eroded normative inhibitions that previously prevented the ambiguities and vulnerabilities of child pornography prosecutions from being systematically exploited. By way of repair, the Article offers two jurisprudential reform proposals.

Synthesizing precedent, criticism, and theory, the Article demonstrates Dost invites selective enforcement against politically and religiously unpopular artwork by authorizing courts and prosecutors to assess polysemous visual works …

The Constitutional Penumbras Of Home Rights, Gerald S. Dickinson

William & Mary Bill of Rights Journal

Justice William Douglas’s famous parable in Griswold v. Connecticut argued that the Bill of Rights contains penumbras—implied zones of privacy protections— that emanate from the First, Third, Fourth, and Fifth Amendments. His penumbral conception of privacy rights has sparked extensive debate among legal scholars, reflecting both its influence and its ongoing controversy. Yet, there is more to Justice Douglas’s penumbra story to explore. In expounding on his privacy innovations in Griswold, Justice Douglas explained that the Fourth and Fifth Amendments protect against all governmental invasions of the sanctity of a man’s home and the privacies of life. Indeed, the …

Locked And Unloaded: The Constitutional And Empirical Case For Firearm Safe Storage Advisories, Hillel Y. Levin, Kay L. Levine

William & Mary Bill of Rights Journal

Constitutional law haunts our efforts to reduce the number of firearm deaths each year. But even with the evolving scope of individual rights, sensible regulation remains possible.

This Article proposes one such regulatory tool. State governments legally can and pragmatically should require firearm sellers to advise their customers of the association between improper gun storage and the risk of accidental death and suicide. Mandatory safe storage advisories implicate two strands of constitutional jurisprudence: the First Amendment’s protection against compelled speech and the Second Amendment’s right to bear arms. While the Supreme Court has strengthened both doctrines in recent years, jurisdictions …

The Constitutional Future Of Trademark Tarnishment, Jake Linford

William & Mary Bill of Rights Journal

This Article is the first to examine whether trademark anti-tarnishment laws should be deemed constitutional after the Supreme Court’s 2024 decision in Vidal v. Elster. Anti-tarnishment laws protect famous brands from uses that could damage their reputation, even when consumers are not confused about who makes the tarnishing product.

The Supreme Court recently declared some trademark registration restrictions unconstitutional in Matal v. Tam and Iancu v. Brunetti. In these cases, the Court struck down federal laws that prevented registration of “disparaging” trademarks and “scandalous or immoral” trademarks because they categorized the registration bars as unconstitutional viewpoint-based restrictions. These …

Freedom At The Polls: Guns, Speech, And The Right To Vote, Matthew B. Russett

William & Mary Bill of Rights Journal

Part I of this Note provides a brief overview of current firearm prohibitions at polling locations and examines the legislative justifications for these restrictions. Recently, an increasing number of states have enacted firearm prohibitions as a prophylactic measure against voter intimidation and disruption. Part II applies New York State Rifle & Pistol Ass’n v. Bruen’s history and tradition test to determine whether these prohibitions pass constitutional muster under the Second Amendment. Indeed, a critical examination of historical voting laws in America shows a compelling history of limiting firearms near polling locations. Part III examines similar themes in First Amendment …

The End Of The List: Constructive Waiver Of The Right To Counsel In Virginia, Thomas C. Squires

William & Mary Bill of Rights Journal

This Note will first give a general background on the right to counsel in the United States that stems from the Sixth Amendment of the U.S. Constitution, with a focus on the right as applied in the Commonwealth of Virginia. A brief examination of the specific Virginia Code section that is relevant when discussing this issue will follow. This code section and its deficiencies collectively present potential threats to defendants’ right to counsel. An evaluation of federal case law and Virginia case law on constructive waiver will follow. This Note will conclude by offering potential solutions to head the looming …

The Role And Professional Obligations Of Crown Attorneys In Disposition Hearings For Not Criminally Responsible Accused At Provincial Review Boards, Andrew Flavelle Martin

Dalhousie Law Journal

Crown attorneys perform several different roles, each accompanied by a set of professional obligations. R v Boucher makes it clear that the role and professional obligations of the Crown attorney at trial are to pursue justice, not to win. Much less clear are the role and professional obligations of Crown attorneys at review board disposition hearings for not criminally responsible (NCR) accused under Part XX.1 of the Criminal Code. In this article, I do two things. First, I canvass and synthesize the case law, legislative proceedings, and literature to identify the correct role of Crown attorneys at disposition hearings. I …

Vaccines, Religious Liberty, And The Gvr As Doctrinal Signal, Zalman Rothschild

Articles

This Essay proceeds in four Parts. Part I traces the doctrinal baseline, showing that vaccines have long functioned as the limit case for religious liberty. Part II briefly describes the doctrinal changes of the COVID-19 era — the Supreme Court’s expansion of religious equality doctrine, and its emergency-docket denials that left vaccine mandates formally unresolved — before explaining why the GVR in Miller signals a different move: the extension of the religious liberty framework to vaccine mandates, bypassing the comparability analysis that had allowed most courts to sustain them under the equality model. Part III turns to Miller itself and …

Contents, North Carolina Law Review

North Carolina Law Review

No abstract provided.

Overview: Neuroscience And The Law, John M. Conley, Rami Major

North Carolina Law Review

No abstract provided.

Off-Label Neuroimaging, Jane Campbell Moriarty

North Carolina Law Review

No abstract provided.

Neural Implants: The Promise, Peril, And Regulatory Challenges, Richard S. Saver, Jeffrey L. Saver

North Carolina Law Review

No abstract provided.

Legal And Regulatory Considerations For Post-Trial Access To Maintenance Of Beneficial Investigational Neural Devices, Alexandra L. Foulkes, Erika Versalovic, Amanda R. Merner, Gabriel Lázaro-Muñoz

North Carolina Law Review

No abstract provided.

Memoir: The Brain, Neuroethics, And Bioethics, Leslie C. Griffin

North Carolina Law Review

No abstract provided.