Digital Commons Network^™

Gray Advice, Keith Porcaro

Duke Law & Technology Review

Debates over economic protectionism or the technology flavor-of-the-month obscure a simple, urgent truth: people are going online to find help that they cannot get from legal and health professionals. They are being let down, by products with festering trust and quality issues, by regulators slow to apply consumer protection standards to harmful offerings, and by professionals loath to acknowledge changes to how help is delivered. The status quo cannot continue. Waves of capital and code are empowering ever more organizations to build digital products that blur the line between self-help and professional advice. For good or ill, “gray advice” is …

(Ctrl + F)Ourth Amendment Searches Of Digital Storage Devices: A Novel Framework, James Mullen

Duke Law Journal

Judges frequently analogize physical precedents when applying Fourth Amendment law to searches of digital storage devices. But these analogies do not map well from physical to digital spaces because they overlook fundamental structures of digital storage. And the stakes are high—courts’ errors lead to oversearches that irreparably harm device owners regardless of the suspects’ guilt or innocence. This Note examines the structure of common digital storage devices and courts’ erroneous attempts to apply Fourth Amendment law to them.

This Note also proposes a novel two-phase framework that would curb oversearch. The framework uses a forensic program to conduct a limited …

Antitrust Without Competition, Daniel Francis

Duke Law Journal

Competition is everywhere in antitrust. Courts, agencies, and scholars routinely insist that antitrust can, does, and should measure the legality of conduct by asking whether it has harmed or promoted “competition.” The idea that competition is, without further definition, a coherent value that can be increased or reduced—and used to guide the development and application of antitrust rules—has dominated doctrine for a century, and is deployed freely by judges, enforcers, and writers across the political spectrum.

This does more harm than good, and it should stop. There is no single value or quantity, in economics or antitrust law, that competition …

Relocating Justice, Ruhan Sidhu Nagra

Duke Law Journal

Managed retreat—the planned relocation of people facing imminent climate threats—is an inevitable part of future climate adaptation in the United States. Given that Black, Brown, and low-income communities are disproportionately vulnerable to climate hazards, managed retreat has significant justice implications. This Article explores what I call an apparent “justice paradox”—two “justice problems” with managed retreat that seem to point to opposite solutions. On the one hand, managed retreat can be inaccessible to marginalized communities, many of whom lack the resources to successfully navigate the relocation process. This justice problem suggests that decision-makers should prioritize managed retreat for marginalized communities since …

Mass Tort Litigation, Chapter 11, And Good Faith: Let Not Perfect Be The Enemy Of Pretty, Pretty Good, Lawrence Ponoroff

Duke Law Journal Online

Soon after enactment of the current Bankruptcy Code, Chapter 11 emerged as the forum of choice for companies seeking to resolve the otherwise intractable problems associated with mass tort liability. In recent years, the enactment of state law divisive merger statutes opened a new era in the evolution of mass tort liability cases. Specifically, companies could create a new entity that would assume responsibility for all outstanding tort claims, thus keeping the parent firm out of bankruptcy entirely. This practice, colloquially referred to as the Texas Two-Step, gained widespread notoriety when Johnson & Johnson placed its new subsidiary, LTL Management, …

Secrecy By Stipulation, Nora Freeman Engstrom, David Freeman Engstrom, Jonah B. Gelbach, Austin Peters, Aaron Schaffer-Neitz

Duke Law Journal

GM Ignition Switch. Dalkon Shield. Oxycontin. For decades, protective orders—court orders that require parties to maintain the confidentiality of information unearthed during discovery—have hid deadly defects and pervasive abuse from the public, perpetuating unnecessary harm.

But how worrisome are these protective orders, really? Under Rule 26(c)’s plain language, protective orders are to be granted only upon a showing of “good cause.” Doesn’t that adequately cabin the orders’ entry? Prominent judges and scholars have long insisted it does, and that, under Rule 26(c), the day-to-day grant of protective orders is careful, not cavalier. Critics disagree. They charge that parties frequently agree …

Restoring The Citizenship Of The Soldier, Chandler B. Cole

Duke Law Journal

Modern jurisprudence consistently treats the U.S. military as legally distinct, imposing different standards for service members’ constitutional rights, Federal Tort Claims Act lawsuits, and Title VII protections than it does for their civilian counterparts. The legal foundation for this treatment relies in large part on the constitutional military structure, which empowers Congress to prescribe rules and regulations for the “land and naval Forces” and exercise extensive power over “armies.” Usually, both entities—armies and the larger “land and naval Forces”—are considered synonymous with the modern-day all-volunteer force (“AVF”). This interpretation, though, neglects the foundational role the constitutional militia played in composing …

Tribes And Ai: Possibilities For Tribal Sovereignty, Adam Crepelle

Duke Law & Technology Review

Artificial Intelligence (AI) has permeated every facet of modern existence. Governments across the globe are exploring its applications and attempting to establish regulatory frameworks. Numerous scholars have proffered recommendations for governing AI at the local, national, and international levels. However, as is often the case, Indian tribes have been neglected in AI policy discussions. This oversight is significant because the 574 federally recognized tribes are sovereigns with their own judicial, education, and healthcare systems. Due to their relatively small populations and geographic isolation, tribes stand to benefit significantly from the services AI can perform. Moreover, tribes are uniquely well-suited to …

On Responsive Judging, Rosalind Dixon

Judicature International

No abstract provided.

Volume 108, Number 1 (2024)

Judicature

No abstract provided.

When John Locke Meets Lao Tzu: The Relationship Between Intellectual Property, Biodiversity, And Indigenous Knowledge And The Implications For Food Security, Paolo Davide Farah, Marek Prityi

Duke Environmental Law & Policy Forum

No abstract provided.

Human Rights In Texas: Analyzing Operation Lone Star Through A Human Rights Framework, Olivia S. Callan

Duke Journal of Comparative & International Law

In 2021, Texas Governor Greg Abbott launched Operation Lone Star (OLS) under the guise of border security. For over three years, OLS has threatened the lives of migrants and U.S. citizens alike. While advocates have primarily challenged OLS under U.S. state and federal law, this Note examines arguments based on the U.S.'s international treaty obligations, particularly emphasizing the importance of enforcing international mechanisms of accountability. This Note analyzes OLS under three international law treaties the U.S. has ratified: the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination, the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, and the …

Facing Up To Internet Giants, Shai Dothan

Duke Journal of Comparative & International Law

Mancur Olson claimed that concentrated interests win against diffuse interests even in advanced democracies. Multinational companies, for example, work well in unison to suit their interests. The rest of the public is not motivated or informed enough to resist them. In contrast, other scholars argued that diffuse interests may be able to fight back, but only when certain conditions prevail. One of the conditions for the success of diffuse interests is the intervention of national and international courts. Courts are able to fix problems affecting diffuse interests. Courts can also indirectly empower diffuse interests by initiating deliberation to inform the …

International Human Rights In Asian Constitutions, Ngoc Son Bui

Duke Journal of Comparative & International Law

International law is integrated into national constitutions across the world. Particularly, the convergence of national constitutions with international human rights (IHR) law has been a global trend. Asia has been underexplored in the global scholarship on constitutional convergence. This Article seeks to make both theoretical and empirical contributions by exploring three models of convergence with IHR law in seven Asian constitutions: convergence impelled by international inducement in post-war and post-conflict states (Japan and Cambodia), convergence propelled by the domestic precommitment of new democracies (South Korea and Indonesia), and convergence compelled by the international socialization of the socialist states (China, Laos, …

The Right To Resistance And The Western Sahara: A Twail Analysis Of The International Legal Order And Its Constraints On Decolonization, Christina Wrapp

Duke Journal of Comparative & International Law

"The Western Sahara is often called the "Last Colony in the World," in reference to its anachronistic status as a territory deemed to have self-determination by the United Nations and ICJ, but still under the rule of another country. Scholarship on the Western Sahara tends to concentrate on the protracted stalemate in their war of independence against Morocco, highlighting the roles of several individual actors, such as France, the United States, the United Nations, and the Polisario, and how these actors create a particular structure to the conflict. This Note focuses on the role of the International Legal Order, as …

Kohlhaas V. State: Encouraging Democratic Reform Through Constitutional Flexibility, Allyson Barkley, Connor Sakati

Alaska Law Review

In the spirit of democracy reform, Alaska recently adopted a jungle primary and ranked choice voting electoral system for all state-wide elections. In Kohlhaas v. State, the Alaska Supreme Court upheld this reform against numerous state and federal constitutional challenges. While doing so, the court avoided rigid constitutional interpretations that would have frozen the electoral system in its current first-past-the-post state. Moreover, the court refused to credit the plaintiff's speculation about the hypothetical malign effects of ranked-choice voting, placing the burden to produce hard evidence of their critiques on RCV's opponents. Alaska can serve as a model for other …

State Public Morality Regulation And The Dormant Commerce Clause, Douglas Kysar

Duke Journal of Constitutional Law & Public Policy

No abstract provided.

Note From The Editor

Alaska Law Review

No abstract provided.

"Still Broken": Alaska Rule Of Professional Conduct 8.4(F) And (G)'S Insufficient Response To Workplace Harassment By Lawyers, Sam Turner

Alaska Law Review

A report by Women Lawyers On Guard, entitled "Still Broken," reported the results of a 2019 survey about sexual harassment and misconduct in the legal profession. It concluded that issues relating to sexual harassment and misconduct in the legal profession had not improved in the past thirty years. This Article looks at the Alaska Rules of Professional Conduct's rule regarding harassment and discrimination by lawyers and argues that the rule does not sufficiently address workplace harassment by lawyers.

Alaska Rule of Professional Conduct 8.4(f), enacted in 2021, prohibits harassment or invidious discrimination by a lawyer "in the lawyer's dealings with …

Facial Recognition Ai: Alaska Is An Ideal Forum For Introducing Regulation, Sarah Edwards

Alaska Law Review

As artificial intelligence becomes increasingly commonplace, we are all exposed to shockingly dystopian forms of surveillance. This Note details the unique danger of facial recognition technologies powered by artificial intelligence. First, this Note examines the rise of facial recognition technologies in both the public and the private sector. It illustrates this phenomenon by highlighting a few key players in both the development and implementation of facial recognition. Second, it proceeds by examining the current privacy landscape in Alaska. Alaska's unique focus on privacy rights makes the State a promising forum for regulation. Finally, it provides possible statutory and judicial solutions …

Blight Made Right: Defects In State Condemnation Laws And A Roadmap For Reform In Alaska And Beyond, Sam Spiegelman

Alaska Law Review

Susette Kelo's old house in New London, Connecticut is long gone, as is the entire Fort Trumbull neighborhood that once surrounded it. In 2005, the U.S. Supreme Court decided a case—Kelo v. City of New London—that cost her and her neighbors their homes and sparked a wave of state-level reforms to mitigate its potential damage to private property. In Kelo, the Court held that "economic development" as a "public purpose" was also a legitimate "public use" under the Fifth Amendment's Takings Clause, which provides "nor shall private property be taken for public use, without just compensation." As Justice …

Alaska's Recognition Of Tribes: Alaska House Bill 123 And Tribal Trust Lands, Gloria R. Jacobsen

Alaska Law Review

For decades, the United States Department of the Interior's land acquisition regulations included an "Alaska Exception" that barred acquisition of land into trust in Alaska apart from those acquisitions made for the Metlakatla Indian Community. Although the "Alaska Exception" was initially removed from the regulations in 2014, the fight continues over land-into-trust acquisitions within Alaska. Throughout these debates, the state of Alaska has consistently opposed land-into-trust acquisitions. This Practitioner Guide provides an overview of the recent history of land-into-trust acquisitions in Alaska and analyzes the juxtaposition of the intent behind Alaska's "State Recognition of Tribes" in House Bill 123 and …

Unintentional Algorithmic Discrimination: How Artificial Intelligence Undermines Disparate Impact Jurisprudence, Vincent Calderon

Duke Law & Technology Review

Artificial intelligence holds the capacity to revolutionize the economy by capturing efficiencies. These benefits, ostensibly, should pass down to consumers, thereby benefitting the general public. But the immense complexity of AI systems is bound to introduce legal hurdles for plaintiffs and frustrate our disparate impact jurisprudence. Specifically, demonstrating causation and proffering a less discriminatory alternative are herculean tasks for a plaintiff seeking to prove a disparate impact upon which legal relief may be granted. The courts have already begun to wrestle with these issues, primarily in the housing and employment sectors. With the rapid surge of AI systems, courts should …

Can Chatgpt Keep A Secret? An Evaluation Of The Applicability And Suitability Of Trade Secrecy Protection For Ai-Generated Inventions, Gina Campanelli

Duke Law & Technology Review

The rising popularity of generative artificial intelligence has sparked questions around whether AI-generated inventions and works can be protected under current intellectual property regimes, and if so, how. Guidance from the U.S. Copyright Office and recent court cases shed some light on the applicability of copyright and patent protection to AI-generated products; namely “authors” and “inventors” are limited to natural persons. But further developments in copyright and patent law are still lagging behind generative-AI’s rapid growth. Trade secrecy emerges as the most viable path forward to protect AI-generated works and inventions because ownership of trade secrets is not limited to …

Decoding Cryptocurrency Taxes: The Challenges For Estate Planners, Max Angel

Duke Law & Technology Review

In this article, Angel explores the unique challenges of estate planning with cryptocurrency, which include accurately valuing those assets, preserving their value, and addressing the complex tax implications of transferring cryptocurrency to heirs.

In Conversation About The U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum’S New Mass Atrocity Prevention Training, Tatiana Varanko, Ann O’Rourke

Judicature International

No abstract provided.

Informationalism Beyond Managerialism, Salomé Viljoen

Law and Contemporary Problems

No abstract provided.

The Letter And Its Spirit: Interpretive Dynamism And Mediating Change In Biblical And Constitutional Law, Caleb V. Strawn

Law and Contemporary Problems

No abstract provided.

Beyond Patents: Incentive Strategies For Ocean Plastic Remediation Technologies, Jacob Stotser

Duke Law & Technology Review

With a garbage truck’s worth of plastic being dumped in the ocean each minute, there is a dire need for effective technological solutions aimed at mitigating the marine plastic pollution problem. However, the reliance of the U.S. patent system on market demand to incentivize this type of innovation has proven insufficient in light of the peculiarities of “green” technologies. To remedy this, this article proposes a multi-faceted incentivization approach that looks beyond the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office to stimulate the development of remediation technologies through comprehensive regulatory interventions, the establishment of prize funds and other alternative incentive mechanisms, and …

Discharging Equity: Harrington V. Purdue Pharma L.P. And The Validity Of Nonconsensual Third-Party Releases, Andrew Klauber

Duke Journal of Constitutional Law & Public Policy Sidebar

In September 2019, Purdue Pharma L.P. petitioned for bankruptcy in the Southern District of New York. Purdue, which the Sackler family had owned and operated for decades, developed and aggressively marketed addictive opioid products, contributing to the modern opioid epidemic. The tsunami of litigation arising from the opioid epidemic gave rise to claims against Purdue and the Sackler family estimated to total more than $40 trillion, causing Purdue to petition for Chapter 11 bankruptcy.

In Purdue’s plan of reorganization, it employed a nonconsensual third-party release to discharge claims against the Sackler family. Nonconsensual third-party releases controversially enjoin parties to a …