Digital Commons Network^™

Law School News: Rwu Day Of Law And Justice Showcases Powerful Combinations At The Statehouse 4-9-2026, Jordan J. Phelan

Life of the Law School (1993- )

No abstract provided.

Correspondence Sen. Lister Hill To Mr. R.C. Barnes On Establishment Of Fsu Nursing Program, Lister Hill

Correspondence

July 8th, 1968, letter from Alabama Senator and Labor and Public Welfare Committee Chair Lister Hill to Mr. R. C. Barnes, general manager of Eliza Coffee Memorial (ECM) Hospital in Florence, Alabama. The letter is concerned with the establishment of the nursing program at Florence State University and cooperative with ECM under the Nurse Training Act of 1964.

The Myth Of Sufficient Technological Barriers: Reevaluating The "Gates-Up-Or-Down" Analogy In Data Scraping, Yucen Zhong

Duke Law & Technology Review

In Van Buren v. United States, the Supreme Court adopted a “gates-up-or-down” analogy from physical trespass law to define “authorization” under the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act (CFAA). Despite historical shifts in judicial interpretation, courts have recently relied on this binary framework to interpret authorization as it applies to online trespass. But courts have struggled to apply this binary inquiry while still accounting for complications in modern authentication technologies. When pursuing a code-based inquiry based on the gates-up-or-down analogy, courts risk oversimplifying the dynamic nature of online trespass. Such an approach fails to account for how modern authentication measures—such as …

Juvenile Justice Probation Officers Association V. Clark County, 123 Nev. Adv. Op. 45 (Apr. 09, 2026), Anastasia Vinson

Nevada Supreme Court Summaries

In Juvenile Justice Probation Officers Association v. Clark County, the Nevada Supreme Court held that a narrow arbitration clause is limited to its terms and cannot cover a statutory PREA termination outside its defined scope.

Smith (Sophia) V. State, 142 Nev. Adv. Op. 26, 587 P.3d 251 (Apr. 9, 2026), Karin Tidgewell

Nevada Supreme Court Summaries

In Smith (Sophia) v. State, the Nevada Supreme Court held that violations of NRS 200.5099(3) should be prosecuted as one count of elder exploitation per victim, regardless of the number of acts that occur against a single victim.

Law School News: Roger Williams University School Of Law Receives Historic $4 Million Gift From Mark Mandell To Establish Premier Trial Advocacy Center 4-9-2026, Hillary Lima, Roger Williams University School Of Law

Life of the Law School (1993- )

No abstract provided.

"From Galaxies To Gloucester" Reday 2026 Undergraduate Panel, Slides 2, Tristan Hightower, Jonathan Holleran, Connor Patterson

Bryant REDay (Research and Engagement Day)

This panel showcases original undergraduate student research exploring how political institutions shape behavior, incentives, and outcomes across diverse contexts. The projects examine interest group theory as applied to the Star Wars universe, presidential rhetoric and congressional response, local political change in Gloucester, MA, and the relationship between senators’ committee assignments and financial interests. Despite varied empirical settings, they share a focus on how actors operate within institutional constraints, how power is exercised, and how political systems structure influence and accountability.

"From Galaxies To Gloucester" Reday 2026 Undergraduate Panel, Slides 1, Tristan M. Hightower, Christian Pereira, Nicholas Poulin

Bryant REDay (Research and Engagement Day)

This panel showcases original undergraduate student research exploring how political institutions shape behavior, incentives, and outcomes across diverse contexts. The projects examine interest group theory as applied to the Star Wars universe, presidential rhetoric and congressional response, local political change in Gloucester, MA, and the relationship between senators’ committee assignments and financial interests. Despite varied empirical settings, they share a focus on how actors operate within institutional constraints, how power is exercised, and how political systems structure influence and accountability.

Hollywood Has Learned Nothing From #Metoo, Clara Sarfati

Cardozo Journal of Equal Rights and Social Justice (ERSJ) Blog

Following the surge of the #MeToo movement in 2017, which exposed widespread unsafe and discriminatory conditions for women in Hollywood, the industry underwent a fundamental shift in how its institutions addressed sexual misconduct and equal opportunity.  Now, with the rattles of the movement stabilizing, Hollywood is reemerging as an unsafe environment for women in entertainment.  One of the most high-profile cases of the 2020s, Lively v. Wayfarer Studios LLC, illustrates how legal frameworks and Hollywood culture continue to fall short on protecting female victims of sexual assault.  Moreover, it underscores how survivors are often still forced to navigate complex legal …

Breaking The Stigma: The Law And Supreme Court Cases Behind Gender Discrimination Legislation, Camille M. Ogden

Undergraduate Theses

Pauli Murray and Ruth Bader Ginsburg were extremely influential attorneys due to their groundbreaking legal work on sexual discrimination. Murray’s legal work heavily influenced and inspired Ginsburg and this work explored that connection between them. This research asked the question, ““How did case law evolve from 1964-1982 in the United States of America and how did Pauli Murray influence and inspire Ruth Bader Ginsburg?” This thesis examined how Murray influenced Ginsburg and her legal work in the United States from 1966 until 1979. It looked at how case law and precedent changed and evolved mainly focusing on the influence these …

Nursing Migration And The Global Workforce: How The U.S. Nurse Shortage Impacts Developing Countries, Mololuwa Faithful Lasekan

Honors Thesis

As United States (U.S.) healthcare organizations face persistent staffing gaps driven by an aging population, burnout, and limited educational capacity, many institutions increasingly rely on internationally educated nurses (IENs) to stabilize their workforce. This reliance intersects with longstanding structural challenges in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs), where inadequate compensation and limited professional opportunities contribute to high migration intentions among nurses. Using a systematic literature review guided by PRISMA principles, this study synthesized evidence and five major themes emerged: (1) push factors driving nurse emigration from LMICs, (2) pull factors attracting nurses to the U.S., (3) digital globalization and post-COVID recruitment …

Constitutional Structure And Election Law, Manoj Mate

Journal Articles

Since Bush v. Gore, scholarship on election law has centered on a theoretical debate between rights-based and structural theory approaches, and the appropriate role and scope of judicial intervention in election law cases. However, these debates have not fully assessed the degree to which the Court’s approach to constitutional structure has fundamentally reshaped election law. Over the past two decades, the Court has increasingly emphasized the importance of constitutional structure-based approaches in election law cases.

This Article analyzes these dynamics and advances a typology of constitutional structure-based approaches in election law. Drawing on scholarship on modalities of interpretation and …

China Samr’S Review Process In Cross-Border Technology M&A, Gabriel A. Paknia

Honors Scholar Theses

China's State Administration for Market Regulation (SAMR) holds discretionary authority over the merger review process. This paper examines whether SAMR's review of technology and semiconductor transactions since the governing body's inception in 2018 reflects political-economic incentives beyond what competitive harm analysis alone would explain. The paper is broken into three core pillars: accessing SAMR's regulatory code to identify how flexibility to exercise discretion is codified, scrutinizing SAMR's full adverse outcome record for overrepresentation of technology and semiconductor deals, and deconstructing a semiconductor megamerger to illustrate those mechanisms with the backdrop of real time geopolitical events. I find that technology and …

The Crime Of Electronic Document Forgery In Accordance With Federal Decree-Law No. (46) Of 2021 On Electronic Transactions And Trust Services, Kaltham Rashed Almazrouei

Thesis/ Dissertation Defenses

This study aims to examine the crime of electronic document forgery in accordance with the provisions of Federal Decree-Law No. (46) of 2021 on Electronic Transactions and Trust Services in the United Arab Emirates. The study begins by establishing the legal concept of the electronic document and distinguishing it from the traditional written instrument, in order to determine the scope of criminal protection granted under the applicable legislation. It also reviews the possible forms of forgery within the digital environment and addresses the adequacy of the legal provisions in defining the elements of the crime and the penalties prescribed thereto. …

Correcting Confusion Over Commandeering, Supremacy, And Preemption: A User’S Guide To Modern Federalism, Vikram David Amar

Pepperdine Law Review

Current disputes between state/local entities and the Trump administration, some of which build on flare-ups over the past few decades, place in sharp relief the key doctrinal features of modern federalism, many of which seem to confound the Supreme and lower courts, to say nothing of political actors and legal analysts. The mistakes being made run in both directions; sometimes states are wrongly confined, and in other episodes states are given (or are seeking) more than they are constitutionally due. In this Essay, I use several case studies—some from recent weeks or months and others from recent years or decades—to …

Table Of Contents & Masthead, Mitchell Brost

Pepperdine Law Review

No abstract provided.

The Executive’S Takeover Of Independent Agencies: How Institutional Design Gave Way To Political Will, Neal Devins

Pepperdine Law Review

The anticipated demise of the independent agency is a saga that implicates Congress as much as it does the President or the Supreme Court. By capitulating to presidential initiatives and failing to defend their institutional prerogatives, Congress has facilitated presidential control of the administrative state. Indeed, irrespective of whether the Court formally repudiates Humphrey’s Executor, Congress has largely acquiesced to a regime whereby presidents essentially control independent agencies. By highlighting the competing incentives of Congress and the White House, this Essay explains the rise of presidential unilateralism vis-à-vis independent agencies. This Essay also casts light on a critically important but …

The Imperious Presidency: Brazen Power Plays And Executive Overreach, Daniel Farber

Pepperdine Law Review

The Trump Administration has been prone to brazen power plays. These actions have three basic characteristics: they are dramatic deviations from conventional governance, generating headlines and online clicks; their legal (and sometimes factual) foundations are tenuous; and they are potentially effective even if they are ultimately held lawful. This Essay analyzes this phenomenon. It argues that such power plays can be a rational strategy for a president under certain circumstances. Power plays can help dominate the news flow and energize the political base. They can also cause behavior shifts in their targets, even when litigation would be likely to overturn …

“The Future Of Executive Power”: An Overview, Robert J. Pushaw Jr.

Pepperdine Law Review

This symposium overview examines the rapid expansion of presidential power in the modern era, culminating in what the author and contributors describe as an unprecedented assertion of Article II authority during President Trump’s second term. It argues that the Constitution’s original separation-of-powers framework—designed to prioritize legislative authority and constrain the executive—has been inverted due to the growth of presidential control over foreign affairs, the administrative state, and policymaking. The article traces this shift through historical developments such as the New Deal, the rise of independent agencies, and the emergence of the “unitary executive” theory, while also analyzing recent Supreme Court …

Combatting Ai-Generated Child Sexual Exploitation And Abuse Material: An Analysis Of India’S Techno-Legal Response, Dhruv Garg, Dedipyaman Shukla

Indian Journal of Law and Technology

The emergence of generative artificial intelligence (“AI”) presents a significant threat to child safety online, enabling the rapid creation and dissemination of child sexual exploitation and abuse material (“CSEAM”) at an unprecedented scale. This paper examines legal, institutional, and technical responses to AI-generated CSEAM in the Indian context, with a particular focus on the role of digital intermediaries, law enforcement coordination through the Sahyog Portal, and judicial interpretation under Indian law. Drawing on this analysis of key stakeholders, the paper argues for the orientation of India’s CSEAM framework towards proactive detection, and better integration between intermediaries and law enforcement. The …

Beyond Capitalist Law: A Commentary On Katharina Pistor, The Law Of Capitalism And How To Transform It, Martijn W. Hesselink

University of Miami Law Review

In her powerful new book, Katharina Pistor, grounded in the argument that capitalism is a legal regime, outlines a pathway beyond capitalist law: the transformation of private law in accordance with constitutional principles and the human capabilities approach. This short essay questions whether existing constitutions and the capabilities approach have the normative resources to overcome capitalism. Given existing corporate power entrenched in private rights, the paper also wonders who could be effective and legitimate agents of change able to transform private law into post-capitalist law. It suggests that nothing less than a revolution is needed to overcome capitalist private law …

“Conditional” Class Certification Under The Flsa: Violation Of Rule 23 And The Rules Enabling Act, Markham R. Leventhal

University of Miami Law Review

So-called “collective” actions under § 216(b) of the Fair Labor Standards Act (the “FLSA”) are nothing more than “opt-in” class actions. This Article exposes the unjustifiable failure to apply Rule 23 of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure to these actions, the erroneous conclusion by several circuit courts that these actions are not “representative” actions but rather some kind of “mass joinder,” and the resulting violation of the Rules Enabling Act when courts allow these “collective” actions to proceed without satisfying the requirements of Rules 23(a) and (b). The author explains why the vast majority of federal courts, using an …

How To Transform Capitalism Through Law, Katharina Pistor

University of Miami Law Review

This essay is based on the presentation of my book, The Law of Capitalism and How to Transform It, at the University of Miami Law School on October 14, 2025. I am grateful for the opportunity to share a summary of this work in the University of Miami Law Review and to my colleagues Ingo Venzke and Martijn Hesselink, who were kind enough to offer their thoughts on it for this mini symposium.

Contractualizing Corporate Governance, Jonathan C. Lipson, Eli Alexander Evans

University of Miami Law Review

The relationship between fiduciary duty and contract has never been clear. The law of fiduciaries has long constrained discretionary control of other people’s property, notably in corporate governance, where directors owe a corporation duties of care and loyalty. Yet, contract has also had the capacity to modify these duties in important—but uncertain—ways because neither body of law contains a meta-rule specifying which would “trump” in the event of conflict. Uncertainty was rarely problematic, however, because directors lacked the power to fully contract away their control of the corporation or their concomitant fiduciary duties.

This has changed in the past thirty …

Reforming The Limitation Act: We’Ll Cross That Bridge When We Get There? Well, We’Re Here And That Bridge Has Already Fallen, Marianne E. Adams

University of Miami Law Review

When the M/V Dali, a Singaporean-flagged container ship, struck Baltimore’s Francis Scott Key Bridge in March 2024, the foreign vessel owners turned to a centuries-old American statute that allows shipowners to limit their liability to the post-accident value of a vessel. The Limitation of Liability Act of 1851 (the “Limitation Act” or “Act”) was originally designed to protect and promote a nascent American shipping industry from the unpredictable perils of nineteenth-century seas. Today, however, it operates in a vastly different maritime economy, where foreign-flagged vessel owners routinely rely on the Act to shield themselves from full financial responsibility. In …

Property Without Shelter: How Anti-Public-Camping Laws Violate The Substantive Due Process Rights Of The Homeless, Aaron Rissman

University of Miami Law Review

In City of Grants Pass v. Johnson, the Supreme Court held that enforcing anti-public-camping ordinances against homeless individuals does not violate the Eighth Amendment’s prohibition on status crimes. While the Court foreclosed the Eighth Amendment as a vehicle for challenging such laws, it suggested that other constitutional protections may remain available. This Note takes up the Court’s invitation and argues that many anti-public-camping laws violate the Fourteenth Amendment’s substantive due process guarantees.

Drawing on historical sources from common-law England through the Founding and Reconstruction eras, this Note demonstrates that the right to acquire, own, control, use, enjoy, and protect …

Administering Election Disputes, Rebecca Green

University of Miami Law Review

U.S. election administration has become supercharged with controversy. A process that should be mundane—casting and counting votes—has become the target of relentless litigation, much of which ends in non-merits rulings that risk perpetuating rather than resolving public concerns. The high volume of election litigation is costly, strains election officials, and risks eroding public trust in both elections and the courts. Recognizing the need to resolve election claims fairly and efficiently, Administering Election Disputes examines administrative remedies as an under-theorized alternative to judicial resolution. Increased use of well-designed administrative election dispute resolution (AEDR) could reduce pressure on courts, deliver faster and …

The Hypocrisy Of The Wizards—A Proposal To Correct Incentives In Higher Education Loan Financing, Caden Benedict

School of Public Policy Capstones

This paper explores the origins of the student loan debt crisis and proposes tying university incentives to graduates' repayment plans and disclosing median earnings for degrees before students apply. Specifically, while there are numerous factors explaining why the price of education has increased dramatically since the 1970s, this paper proposes solutions that will specifically target university moral hazards by requiring universities fund: (1) the current subsidies to federal student loan repayments under income-driven plans as the House of Representatives intended before the Senate removed "risk-sharing," and (2) bankruptcy law discharge amounts. Moreover, requiring universities to disclose the median earnings of …

It’S A Lawyers’ World!: A Commentary On Katharina Pistor, The Law Of Capitalism And How To Transform It, Ingo Venzke

University of Miami Law Review

Affirming Katharina Pistor’s significant contributions to understanding law’s centrality in capitalism, this commentary explores the tension between law’s stabilizing function and its potential for change. Regarding the drivers of change, the commentary highlights an unexpected, unspoken love for lawyers. Those “masters of the code of capital” have made the law into what it is today, and now they should remake it. Could they, even if they wanted to? What would that something else be? By freeing herself from the binary choice between capitalism and socialism, Pistor inevitably raises the question of what socioeconomic system will emerge instead. If The Code …

How Gender Impacts Mock Jurors’ Receptiveness To Aggravating And Mitigating Evidence In Capital Trials, Jolie E. Parker

Undergraduate Theses

This study examines how gender influences mock jurors’ receptiveness to aggravating and mitigating evidence in capital trials. Drawing on prior research that highlights the critical role of mitigation in reducing death sentences and persistent gender differences in death penalty attitudes, this study addresses a gap in the literature by analyzing how gender shapes responses to specific types of evidence rather than general support for capital punishment. Using a quantitative survey of 209 participants, the research analyzes Likert-scale responses measuring how various aggravating and mitigating factors impact sentencing preferences. Results indicate a weak but consistent relationship between gender and receptivity to …