Digital Commons Network^™

Disability Restriction In U.S. Immigration Policy: From 1882 To The “Final Rule”, Jess Whatcott Dr.

Journal of Law and Policy

Disability justice in the United States and globally demands the dismantling of exclusionary immigration policies. This article surveys the development of disability restrictions in U.S. immigration policy and draws on historical scholarship to describe the specific impact of these policies on racialized groups in the U.S. Since 1882, federal immigration policies have excluded people from entering the U.S. legally based on perceived bodily difference, impairment, pathology, mental defect, or proneness to contagious disease. This continued into the twenty-first century through restrictions on people with HIV/AIDS and against people with a “likelihood of becoming a public charge,” reinforced by the Trump …

The Quest For Objectivity In A World Of Discretion: How The Ohio Risk Assessment System Can Serve As A Blueprint To Overhaul The Sentencing Reform Act And First Step Act, Hadi Akbik

Journal of Law and Policy

The Sentencing Reform Act of 1984 fundamentally altered federal sentencing by introducing the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines to establish consistency and serve as a check to judicial discretion. Yet, over four decades later, those same guidelines are increasingly criticized for their perpetuation of disparities and failure to reflect the individualized characteristics of their offenders and their potential for rehabilitation. While the First Step Act of 2018 aimed to modernize federal sentencing, it remains largely incomplete due to the Act’s hasty rollout and the lack of high quality, empirically grounded tools that can guide the federal sentencing system more effectively. This Note …

Oh, Oh, No Ozempic: The Dangers Of Ozempic’S Direct-To-Consumer Advertisements, Taylor Blicht

Journal of Law and Policy

On average, viewers are exposed to about nine drug advertisements a day. Direct-to-consumer pharmaceutical advertising (“DTCPA”) is when pharmaceutical companies market their prescription drugs straight to consumers. Ozempic is a weekly injection of semaglutide, developed by the pharmaceutical company Novo Nordisk in 2017 for adults with Type-2 diabetes. After people started to show signs of weight loss on Ozempic, Novo Nordisk created Wegovy in June 2021, targeting towards people with obesity. Due to the exploding weight-loss effect of Wegovy, celebrities and social media influencers started taking the medication and sharing their weight loss journeys. DTCPA can be harmful to consumers …

Democratic Integrity Under Threat: Confronting Disinformation With Legislative And Structural Reforms, Sophia Brociner

Journal of Law and Policy

In the modern digital era, disinformation has evolved from a political strategy into a fundamental threat to democratic governance. This Note contends that the absence of comprehensive federal legislation addressing political disinformation on social media has compromised both the integrity of elections and the public’s trust in government institutions. By analyzing the disinformation campaigns that shaped the 2016, 2020, and 2024 presidential elections, this Note demonstrates how false and AI-generated content, amplified by both foreign and domestic actors, has manipulated voters, deepened political polarization, and destabilized public confidence in democratic processes. The discussion examines how rapid technological development, insufficient regulatory …

The Heteronormative Language Of Law: The Win In Bostock And The Loss For Title Ix, Negar Khalaf

Journal of Law and Policy

The struggle for equality in education begins with language. Legal categories like “sex” and “gender identity” shape who is protected and who is left behind. When the Supreme Court decided Bostock v. Clayton County, it extended protection to LGBTQ+ workers but offered no definition robust enough to secure similar rights for students under Title IX. Subsequent efforts by the Department of Education to bridge that gap—culminating in Tennessee v. Cardona and constrained by Loper Bright Enterprises v. Raimondo—reveal the limits of agency action in a post-Chevron era. This Note calls for a legislative solution: an amended Equality Act Bill (“EAB”) …

Incomplete Protection: How Sijs Perpetuates Family Separation And Restricts Rights Of Immigrant Youth, Lillian Schmoker

Journal of Law and Policy

In 1990, Congress enacted the Immigration Act, amending the Immigration and Nationality Act to provide qualifying young immigrants with a pathway to residency and citizenship. Through the new Act, Congress created Special Immigrant Juvenile Status (“SIJS”) to protect immigrant children in a similar way as the domestic foster care system protected U.S. citizen children. An immigrant child may qualify for SIJS if they are under the age of twenty-one, unmarried, and cannot be reunified with one or both of their parents due to abuse, neglect, or abandonment. Many SIJS cases involve a claim of harm against only one parent, with …

Regulatory Settlement, Stare Decisis, And Loper Bright, Lisa Schultz Bressman, Kevin M. Stack

Vanderbilt Law School Faculty Publications

In Loper Bright v. Raimondo, the Supreme Court adopted and deployed a particular narrative about agency action in support of overruling Chevron: Agencies reverse their own statutory interpretations “as much as [they] like[],” creating pervasive instability in the law, thereby destroying private reliance interests. Based on a study of two decades of agency regulations affirmed by the D.C. Circuit under Chevron, we show how infrequently agencies reversed their interpretive positions. Our study suggests that the Court’s regulatory “whiplash” narrative is overstated and that there is an underappreciated institutional settlement for notice-and-comment rules under Chevron. Identifying this regulatory settlement …

Governing Complexity: A Comparative Assessment Of Four Governance Models With Applications To Climate Change Mitigation And Adaptation, J. B. Ruhl, Niko Soininen, Barbara Cosens, Lance Gunderson

Vanderbilt Law School Faculty Publications

Responses to ongoing global climate change include economy-wide mitigation efforts and large-scale societal adaptation that demand novel approaches to governance. An array of innovative governance models has been proposed since the late 1900s and early 2000s as scholars observed inadequacies of government-centric and formal legal approaches to natural resource management, complexity and uncertainty, failures of neoliberal economic reforms, and cross-scale institutional arrangements. Four such models have come to dominate the solution-oriented discourse on climate change governance: adaptive governance, transition governance, transformation governance, and anticipatory governance. We compare these models in terms of their origin and applicability to deal with the …

Imprisonment When An Offender Cannot Pay A Fine, Benjamin Joshua Ong

Research Collection Yong Pung How School Of Law

According to a common-law rule in place since the 1993 case of Low Meng Chay v Public Prosecutor [1993] 1 SLR(R) 46, if the court is minded to impose a fine but the offender will clearly be unable to pay a fine, the offender should be sentenced to imprisonment instead (as opposed to a fine coupled with a default imprisonment term). While one can understand why the courts may apply this practice, the practice obscures the crucial distinction between: (a) being sentenced to a fine, then imprisoned in default of payment (which, it is submitted, is the correct course of …

Copyright Ownership And Duration Of Ai-Authored Works, Cheng Lim Saw

Research Collection Yong Pung How School Of Law

On the assumption that Parliament has endorsed the notion of AI authorship and the prospect that copyright may well subsist in works created autonomously by the AI itself, this essay further explores allied issues surrounding the ownership and duration of copyright in AI-authored works.

When Environmental Provisions Acquire Primacy Over The Economic Interests – Case Comment Of The Preliminary Ruling In Case C-626/22 C.Z. And Others V Ilva, Katarzyna Błaszczak, Michał Krzaczek

Yearbook of Antitrust and Regulatory Studies

This case note analyses the Court of Justice of the European Union’s (CJEU) preliminary ruling in case C-626/22 (C. Z. and Others v Ilva). The Court interpreted the Industrial Emissions Directive (IED), ruling that Member States cannot derogate from minimum EU environmental requirements. The ruling established that environmental permits must consider all scientifically known harmful substances that could be emitted by installations. The Court also ruled that national regulations permitting repeated extensions to deadlines for installation operations, despite the identification of serious environmental and health risks, were incompatible with the IED. The CJEU’s interpretation confirms the primacy of environmental and …

Estali Spring Forum 2025, 23 May 2025 Insights On (And Beyond) State Aid And The Green Transition, Magdalena Porzeżyńska

Yearbook of Antitrust and Regulatory Studies

Conference report

Rethinking Juror Impartiality, Anna Offit

Faculty Publications

Jury impartiality in the contemporary court often justifies the perpetuation of exclusionary selection practices that make juries more—not less—biased. This Article calls for a rethinking of this important but flawed concept. Constitutional interpretations and conceptions of “impartiality” frame it as a transient orientation toward particular evidence or parties. Yet, during voir dire, the prevailing conception of jury impartiality is that it is an immutable character trait that must be discovered—if not created—by professional legal actors. What voir dire creates is not an impartial jury, but precisely the opposite: a venire shaped by the strategic biases of lawyers.

This Article offers …

Judge Platt Potter: Politics And Principle In Interbranch Conflict, Aaron-Andrew P. Bruhl

Faculty Publications

During the previous Congress, some commentators called on the Senate Judiciary Committee, then controlled by Democrats and chaired by Senator Dick Durbin of Illinois, to demand the testimony of Supreme Court Justices Clarence Thomas and Samuel Alito over allegations of ethical breaches, securing their presence by subpoena if necessary. The Committee did not subpoena the Justices, with Durbin citing the likely lack of sufficient votes and worrying that the Senate would not be able to enforce the subpoenas anyway. During the same Congress, Durbin asked Chief Justice Roberts to testify about judicial ethics, an invitation that Roberts declined.

These incidents …

The Political Dynamics Of Constitutional Law, Neal Devins

William & Mary Bill of Rights Journal

No abstract provided.

What Makes A Con Law "Doctrine" And Why Does It Matter?, Allison Orr Larsen

William & Mary Bill of Rights Journal

A few years ago, I started wondering about the “major questions doctrine” (or MQD) in administrative law, and I found myself asking: “When did that become a thing?” I was familiar with the cases that stand for the proposition that Congress does not lightly delegate high stakes questions to administrative agencies—cases that date back to 2000 and specifically to a decision about cigarette advertising and the FDA. But up until 2022, it was rare for courts and commentators to refer to that collection of cases as a “doctrine.” Today, by contrast, the major questions doctrine is bread and butter administrative …

Presumption Of Creditworthiness, Nakita Q. Cuttino

Michigan Law Review

Creditworthiness, or the likelihood that one will repay one’s debts, is typically signaled through a three-digit number known as a credit score. Yet, over thirty-two million adult-aged consumers lack adequate consumer credit reports and therefore do not have a traditional credit score. As a result of being unscored, these consumers are generally presumed uncreditworthy and foreclosed from mainstream credit markets. Unscored consumers are often relegated to extractive, fringe credit markets that neither require nor build credit scores. More insidiously, however, a growing number of non-credit contexts, including rental housing, utility services, and employment markets, look to creditworthiness to determine eligibility …

Disability Rights On Probation And Parole, Alexis Karteron

Michigan Law Review

This Article addresses disability discrimination in community supervision programs, a large—but frequently overlooked—component of the criminal legal system and important contributor to America’s mass incarceration crisis. The long-standing concerns of legal scholars and advocates about disability discrimination in prisons and policing, particularly against people with mental health disabilities, apply with equal measure to probation and parole. This Article examines the experiences of people with intellectual/developmental, cognitive, and mental health disabilities to understand how disability discrimination manifests in probation and parole programs and identifies numerous policies and practices that likely run afoul of two major federal disability rights laws: the Americans …

From Medical Exceptions To Reproductive Freedom, David S. Cohen, Greer Donley

Michigan Law Review

Since the Supreme Court overruled Roe v. Wade in 2022, there has been a significant focus on pregnancy complications. This focus has created some risks. Highlighting medically indicated abortion stories could stigmatize the vast majority of abortion seekers who lack medical reasons for abortion and result in narrow remedies that do nothing to undermine abortion bans. This Article presents a way to convert these risks into an opportunity: to use pregnancy complications as a wedge to challenge abortion bans more generally and make abortion more accessible for everyone. We present a long-term strategy to dismantle abortion bans, using several legal …

Dentistry And The Law: Miscellaneous Questions About Dental Records, Daniel Schulte Jd

The Journal of the Michigan Dental Association

This column addresses the legal requirements surrounding dental records. Dentists must furnish copies of records to patients or those acting on their behalf (with signed consent), but the original records should always be retained by the treating dentist. Patient information regarding care and treatment is confidential and privileged; disclosure requires written patient consent unless specific legal exceptions apply, such as court orders, defense of a claim, or HIPAA compliance for treatment, payment, or healthcare operations. Dentists must also obtain a signed release from the patient (or guardian for minors) before displaying "before and after" photos for commercial use to avoid …

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The Road To Regulation: A Literature Review Of The Influences On The Updated Silica Standards, Skye M. Medcraft

Capstone Experience: Master of Public Health

Silica is a hazardous compound that poses a risk to human health resulting from dust creating activities across various industries. Several agencies, including OSHA (Occupational Health and Safety Administration) and MSHA (Mine Safety and Health Administration) have adopted regulatory oversight of silica exposure in the workplace. As more research has been conducted on silica exposure, the health effects are becoming better described, which has led to the creation and updating of exposure regulations to protect worker health. The objective of this literature study is to review the data presented to the Department of Labor and discuss how the factors that …

Eyewitness Consent To Be Video Recorded: Implications For Identification Accuracy And Confidence, Sarah Argüelles

Student Theses

Recently, a recommendation has emerged for law enforcement to record the full eyewitness identification procedure, recognizing the critical role eyewitness testimony plays in the justice system (Wells et al., 2020). However, in some states, such as New York, law enforcement is required to seek consent from witnesses before recording (Municipal Police Training Council & Division of Criminal Justice Services, 2017). Since this practice is relatively new, there has been limited research on how obtaining consent may affect eyewitness accuracy. It was hypothesized that obtaining consent to video record could be linked to a witness’s confidence in their identification, with higher …

Constitutional Obiter Dicta On Male-Male Sex And Fundamental Rights In Singapore, Benjamin Joshua Ong

Research Collection Yong Pung How School Of Law

The Singapore Court of Appeal held a law prohibiting male–male sexual intercourse (s 377A of the Penal Code) unenforceable on non-rights-based grounds. The court's remarks about the rights to life and liberty (including whether sexual orientation is mutable), freedom of expression, and equality are obiter. But they are significant, since in Singapore, there are few constitutional rights cases and the courts focus on spelling out the limits to executive and legislative power without necessarily striking down exercises of such power on rights grounds. Indeed, the obiter dicta prompted the Legislature to repeal s 377A. Given the repeal, the obiter dicta …

Copyright In The Generative Ai Era: Reimagining Creativity And Fairness, Huijuan Peng, David Tan

Research Collection Yong Pung How School Of Law

This article examines the need for copyright reform in response to the transformative impact of generative artificial intelligence. It identifies key legal challenges, including the absence of clear criteria for authorship and the infringement risks associated with both inputs (training of large language models) and outputs (AI-generated content). The authors argue that two overarching themes—creativity and fairness—will drive the future development of copyright law. Through a comparative analysis of how three jurisdictions—the United States, China, and Singapore—have addressed these challenges, the article offers practical and forward-looking insights for navigating the complex copyright landscape of the generative AI era.

This article …

The Problem With The Pursuit Of Pleasure And Why It Isn’T The Same As Joy, Seow Hon Tan

Research Collection Yong Pung How School Of Law

One is fleeting and depends on circumstances, the other comes from persevering in what one values and loving others.

Building A Restructuring Hub: Lessons From Singapore, Aurelio Gurrea-Martinez

Research Collection Yong Pung How School Of Law

This article seeks to analyze the legal, market, and institutional features needed to become an international hub for debt restructuring. To that end, it examines the strategy adopted by Singapore as well as the market and institutional factors generally found in other leading legal and financial centers such as the United States, the United Kingdom, and Hong Kong. It is argued that in jurisdictions that have traditionally had creditor-oriented insolvency systems, such as Singapore, the United Kingdom, and Hong Kong, one of the primary challenges when enhancing the restructuring framework for debtors is ensuring that the insolvency system remains protective …

One Size Does Not Fit All: Contract Design In Fintech Lending, Jianfeng Hu, Changcheng Song, Gloria Yang Yu

Research Collection Lee Kong Chian School Of Business

Many fintech lenders rely on standardized contract terms to support scale and operational speed. This paper examines whether modest tailoring of loan contracts can improve credit market outcomes. We conduct a randomized field experiment with a large fintech lender that varies loan due dates relative to borrowers' salary paydays. Synchronizing repayment schedules with income cycles reduces delinquency by 29.1% in the experiment and 15.7% in the administrative data. Effects concentrate among liquidity-constrained borrowers: young, low-income, and low-creditlimit individuals. Tailored repayment timing generates substantial economic benefits: borrowers save on overdue penalties, lenders accelerate cash flows, and improved repayment increases future credit …

Did Copyright Fail Music Artists?, Rachel Landy

Articles

Music soundtracks our lives, supports over two million domestic jobs annually, and is listened to more than ever before. The record industry is thriving, having made over $17 billion in 2024. Yet, many professional artists are barely surviving. Artists signed to record deals lament royalty payments that amount to a fraction of a penny for each stream of their songs. So where is all the money going, and who, or what, is to blame? Public rhetoric and existing legislative proposals implicate copyright as a guilty party. But are those concerns justified?

This Article unpacks the music supply chain. It builds …

Penambahan Jumlah Kementerian Negara: Analisis Terhadap Efektivitas Dan Efisiensi Pemerintahan, Bayu Saputro, Alfi Syahri Lubis, Renaldy Wijaksana Wibowo, M. Fariz Al-Qindi

Jurnal Hukum & Pembangunan

The revision of Law 39/2008 on State Ministries, which removes the maximum limit of 34 ministries, has become a polemic issue in society. Analysis shows that increasing the number of ministries is not urgent and runs counter to the spirit of bureaucratic reform. This policy also does not improve the effectiveness of government administration, because the main issue affecting the effectiveness of ministries lies in the quality of ministers, not the number of ministries. The addition of ministries has the potential to cause overlapping authorities, regulatory disharmony, and sectoral egos. From an efficiency perspective, this policy places a heavy burden …