Digital Commons Network^™

Toward A Taxonomy Of Freedom Of Movement Claims: Identifying Rights-Based Pathways For Today’S Refugees Beyond The 1951 Refugee Convention, Moria Paz

Faculty Scholarship

This Article discusses the current migratory crisis as one instance of a conceptual mismatch in human rights between formal law and the tools that courts and other quasi-judicial bodies actually utilize in adjudication. While the doctrine centers around individual right-holders, enforcement bodies provide a remedy only when there is a state duty-holder. Human rights scholarship regarding refugees focuses on the right to freedom of movement. However, this right frequently offers little benefit to these individuals adrift at sea or wandering in the desert.

An alternative framing might ultimately be more effective before human rights courts and other quasi-judicial bodies. This …

Making Social Security Progressive, Manoj Viswanathan

Faculty Scholarship

Social Security is funded by a regressive tax in which wages below the wage cap ($160,200 in 2023) are taxed at a flat rate but wages above the cap are taxed at zero. To address this normative shortcoming and make Social Security progressive, this Piece proposes eliminating the wage cap and using the resulting additional revenue to fund a zero-rate Social Security tax bracket analogous to the standard deduction of the federal income tax. IRS data show that these changes could fund an exemption of at least $10,000, thereby saving low-wage taxpayers approximately $1,200. By altering only the distribution of …

The Intrusive State: Restrictions On Gender-Affirming Healthcare For Minors, Exceptions To The Doctrine Of Parental Consent, And Reliance On Science And Medical Expertise, Lois A. Weithorn

Faculty Scholarship

The provision of gender-affirming medical care to transgender or gender diverse (“TGD”) youth is currently the subject of substantial controversy despite an overwhelming consensus in the healthcare community as to the safety and potential benefits of recommended treatments. Much of the debate is fueled by misinformation and inaccurate characterization of research and practice. Against this backdrop, twenty-three states enacted restrictions or complete prohibitions on access to gender-affirming medical care for adolescents between 2021 and the time of this writing in early 2024. The policies typically place healthcare practitioners who provide such services at risk of license revocation. Some statutes create …

“Legally Magic” Words: An Empirical Study Of The Accessibility Of Fifth Amendment Rights, Kate Weisburd, Roseanna Sommers

Faculty Scholarship

Fifth Amendment case law (including Miranda v. Arizona) requires that individuals assert their right to counsel or silence using “explicit,” “clear,” and “unambiguous” statements—or, as some dissenting judges have lamented, using “legally magic” words. Through a survey of 1,718 members of the U.S. public, we investigate what ordinary people believe it takes to assert the right to counsel and the right to silence. We then compare their perceptions against prevailing legal standards governing invocation.

With respect to the right to counsel, the survey results indicate that members of the public have a uniformly lower threshold for invocation than do courts. …

Internet Drug Prohibition And The Opioid Overdose Crisis, Benjamin Barsky

Faculty Scholarship

The Ryan Haight Online Pharmacy Consumer Protection Act (Ryan Haight Act) prohibits controlled substance tele-prescribing when it occurs without a preliminary in-person medical evaluation. This Article details the Ryan Haight Act’s consequences for the practice of telemedicine in general and opioid addiction treatment in particular. In doing so, it builds on literature exploring the tension between the federal criminal regulation of controlled substance prescribing and the management of large-scale public health crises, particularly the opioid overdose crisis.

By restricting the tele-prescription of certain controlled substances used for opioid addiction treatment, the Ryan Haight Act limits access to care for a …

Racial Reckoning And The Police-Free Schools Movement, Thalia Gonzalez, Rebecca Epstein

Faculty Scholarship

Across the country, students of color face daily threats of arrest, exclusion, and violence at the hands of school police officers. Whether deemed threatening, defiant, or hypersexualized, Black students, in particular, pay a heavy price to access their right to free public education. Despite victories in dismantling educational carcerality since the mid-2000s, efforts to formally remove police from public schools has been limited. However, during the 2020 racial reckonings, political opportunity catalyzed social movement campaigns, resulting in the passage of sixty-nine police-free policies. This represented an inflection point for civil rights, education justice, and police abolition scholars and activists. This …

Hierarchies Of Discrimination In Baby Making? A Response To Professor Carroll, Radhika Rao

Faculty Scholarship

No abstract provided.

Standing And Snitches, Emily Strauss

Faculty Scholarship

No abstract provided.

Ai And Antitrust: "The Algorithm Made Me Do It", Robin C. Feldman, Caroline A. Yuen

Faculty Scholarship

As the dawn of artificial intelligence (“AI”) rises rapidly, competition authorities should contemplate the potential for hazy days ahead. Undoubtedly, AI’s already ubiquitous presence offers exciting possibilities, from enhancing efficiency, to leveling the playing field for non-native speakers, to enabling scientific discovery. Despite these breathtaking advancements, however, recent data from the Pew Research Center reveal that only 15% of adults surveyed were “more excited than concerned about the increasing use of AI in daily life,” with 46% expressing “an equal mix of concern and excitement.”

Policymakers also manifest concerns about AI, exemplified by the extent to which government actors are …

“Cancel Culture” And Criminal Justice, Steven Arrigg Koh

UC Law Journal

This Article explores the relationship between two normative systems in modern society: “cancel culture” and criminal justice. It argues that cancel culture—a ubiquitous phenomenon in contemporary life—may rectify deficiencies of over- and under-enforcement in the U.S. criminal justice system. However, the downsides of cancel culture’s structure—imprecise factfinding, potentially disproportionate sanctions leading to collateral consequences, a “thin” conception of the wrongdoer as beyond rehabilitation, and a broader cultural anxiety that “chills” certain human conduct—reflect problematic U.S. punitive impulses that characterize our era of mass incarceration. This Article thus argues that social media reform proposals obscure a deeper necessity: transcendence of blame …

New Problem, Same Old Ecpa: Facebook, Inc. V. State Of New Jersey And The Electronic Communications Privacy Act’S Growing Inadequacy, Austin Fauni

UC Law SF Communications and Entertainment Journal

No abstract provided.

One Step Forward Or Two Steps Back For The Music Industry: Analyzing The Statutory And Practical Issues In Title I Of The Music Modernization Act, Gabriel Ross

UC Law SF Communications and Entertainment Journal

No abstract provided.

Adopting A Solution To Copyright’S Orphan Works Problem, Kylie Arman

UC Law SF Communications and Entertainment Journal

No abstract provided.

A Good “Idea” With No Clear Plan: The Lack Of Uniformity In Evaluating Compliance With The Idea’S Least Restrictive Environment Provision Has Led To Arbitrary Segregation Of Children With Disabilities Across The United States, Alexis Cherry

UC Law SF Journal on Gender and Justice

The Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (“IDEA”) states that students with disabilities are to be provided with a free appropriate public education in the least restrictive environment. Despite this requirement, children with disabilities continue to face segregation in the education system across the country. Although there have been several lawsuits regarding proper placement of children with disabilities, the United States Supreme Court refuses to establish a uniform standard for lower courts to adopt. As a result, there are currently four different approaches—employed across ten different circuits—on how to determine whether a child has been placed in the least restrictive environment. …

The Unfulfilled Promise Of Environmental Constitutionalism, Amber Polk

UC Law Journal

The political push for the adoption of state-level “green amendments” in the United States has gained significant traction in just the last couple of years. Green amendments add an environmental right to a state’s constitution. Five such amendments were made in the 1970s in Pennsylvania, Montana, Hawaii, Massachusetts, and Illinois. This Article looks in depth at the case law that has developed the contours of these constitutional environmental rights in the wake of the political revival of environmental constitutionalism in the United States. I distill two lessons from this jurisprudence. First, constitutional environmental rights are interpreted by the courts as …

Proving Actionable Racial Disparity Under The California Racial Justice Act, Colleen V. Chien, W. David Ball, William A. Sundstrom

UC Law Journal

Racial disparity is a fact of the United States criminal justice system, but under the Supreme Court’s holding in McCleskey v. Kemp, racial disparities—even sizable, statistically significant disparities—do not establish an equal protection violation without a showing of “purposeful discrimination.” The California Racial Justice Act (CRJA), enacted in 2020 and further amended in 2022, introduced a first-of-its-kind test for actionable racial disparity even in the absence of a showing of intent, allowing for relief when the “totality of the evidence demonstrates a significant difference” in charging, conviction, or sentencing across racial groups when compared to those who are “similarly situated” …

Restraining Chatgpt, Roee Sarel

UC Law Journal

ChatGPT is a prominent example of how Artificial Intelligence (AI) has stormed into our lives. Within a matter of weeks, this new AI—which produces coherent and humanlike textual answers to questions—managed to become an object of both admiration and anxiety. Can we trust generative AI systems, such as ChatGPT, without regulatory oversight?

Designing an effective legal framework for AI requires answering three main questions: (i) is there a market failure that requires legal intervention?; (ii) should AI be governed through public regulation, tort liability, or a mixture of both?; and (iii) should liability be based on strict liability or a …

Public Enforcement And Disability: A United States-South Korea Comparison, Joonghan (Joseph) Jo

UC Law Journal

The Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) was enacted with the hope that it would solve issues regarding discrimination against the disabled. However, the outcome fell short of its aspirations. Many people with disabilities still suffer from ongoing discrimination. This Note argues that the ADA’s heavy reliance on private enforcement is the main reason for this shortcoming. This Note analyzes the effectiveness of public enforcement in South Korea under the Act on the Prohibition of Discrimination Against Persons with Disabilities, Remedy Against Infringement of Their Rights (Korean Disability Discrimination Act. This Note then argues that civil law country-style public enforcement based …

Reviving The Greenbook In The Context Of Failure To Protect: Assessing Risk Of Harm In Domestic Violence Situations To Best Assist Battered Mothers And Their Children, Nikki Viavant

UC Law SF Journal on Gender and Justice

This paper examines the typical responses and approaches our child welfare agencies and juvenile courts take when handling dependency cases involving families experiencing domestic violence that fall under California Welfare and Institutions Code section 300(b). All too often, when a child is exposed to domestic violence, their mothers, survivors of the domestic abuse, are adjudged to have acted negligently for “failing to protect” their children adequately from domestic violence. Unfortunately, jumping rashly to this jurisdictional finding results in the removal of countless children from their battered yet otherwise fit mothers, and, in some instances, can ultimately lead to the termination …

Pricing Corporate Governance, Albert H. Choi

UC Law Journal

Scholars and practitioners have long theorized that by penalizing firms with unattractive governance features, the stock market incentivizes firms to adopt the optimal governance structure at their initial public offerings (IPOs). This theory, however, does not seem to match with practice. Not only do many IPO firms offer putatively suboptimal governance arrangements, such as staggered boards and dual-class structures, but these arrangements have been gaining popularity among IPO firms. This Article argues that the IPO market is unlikely to provide the necessary discipline to incentivize companies to adopt the optimal governance package. In particular, when the optimal governance package differs …

Comparing Reasons For Hate Crime Reporting Using Racialized Legal Status, Pamela Ho

UC Law Journal

In the past decade, Latinxs and Asians in the United States have experienced an increase in hate crime victimization. Previous research has identified correlations between hate crime reporting and race. However, few statistical studies examine the intersection of race, immigration status, and hate crime reporting. This Note explores how racialized legal status applies to Latinx and Asian communities respectively and how racialized legal status affects a hate crime victim’s decision to report the crime to police. This Note then sets forth some recommendations for increasing hate crime reporting rates by Latinx and Asian victims.

“It’S Like I’Ve Got This Music In My Mind”: Protecting Human Authorship In The Age Of Generative Artificial Intelligence, Justine Magowan

UC Law Journal

The music industry stands on the brink of a crisis. With unpredictable judicial standards that are inconsistent across the country, plaintiffs seeking to protect their musical works against copyright infringement face a heavy burden of proof, especially when facing defendants who are more wellknown and more well-funded. Not only that, but plaintiffs may not receive their day in court given that powerhouse artists like Taylor Swift, Sam Smith, and Bruno Mars have chosen to settle rather than defend their musical works in court. Now, Generative Artificial Intelligence (“Generative A.I.”) and A.I.-generated music will inevitably send the music industry into a …

Educational Policy Committee Meeting – Open Session Book 11/09/2023, Uc Law Sf

2023 Board of Directors Agenda and Materials

No abstract provided.

Board Of Directors Special Meeting - Open Session Book 10/24/2023, Uc Law Sf

2023 Board of Directors Agenda and Materials

No abstract provided.

Special Joint Meeting Of Audit Subcommittee & The Finance Committee - Open Session Book 10/17/23, Uc Law Sf

2023 Board of Directors Agenda and Materials

No abstract provided.

Board Of Directors Quarterly Meeting - Open Session Packet 09/08/2023, Uc Law Sf

2023 Board of Directors Agenda and Materials

No abstract provided.

Finance Committee Meeting - Open Session Packet 08/24/2023, Uc Law Sf

2023 Board of Directors Agenda and Materials

No abstract provided.

Governmental And Semi-Governmental Federal Charitable Entities, Ellen P. Aprill

UC Law Journal

The standard view of the relationship between government and the nonprofit charitable sector treats them as separate and distinct. But they are not. Numerous federal agencies have statutory authority to receive tax-deductible charitable deductions. Their ability to do so, however, undermines the oversight accomplished through the constitutionally mandated appropriations process. Congress has also created many nonprofit tax-exempt organizations. These entities enjoy flexibility as to fundraising, investment, and spending that government agencies lack. However, they avoid the accountability that various federal statutes impose on government agencies, on the one hand, and that state nonprofit laws accomplish for private nonprofit organizations, on …

Interstate Immunity And The Uncompleted Constitution, Mark D. Rosen

UC Law Journal

In a recent decision, the Supreme Court held that “the founding generation took as a given” that states would be constitutionally immune to suit in the courts of sister states, overruling an earlier ruling that interstate immunity is governed by state law. This Article rejects both approaches, showing that interstate immunity was unaddressed by the original Constitution and the Eleventh Amendment. But though interstate immunity is what this Article calls a “constitutional omission,” what ultimately fills it must be federal law. Filling in a constitutional omission necessarily requires a choice among options—what philosophers call an exercise of agency. But the …

The New Fourth Era Of American Religious Freedom, John Witte Jr., Eric Wang

UC Law Journal

The U.S. Supreme Court has entered decisively into a new fourth era of American religious freedom. In the first era, from 1776 to 1940, the Court largely left governance of religious freedom to the individual states and did little to enforce the First Amendment Religion Clauses. In the second era, from 1940 to 1990, the Court “incorporated” the First Amendment into the Fourteenth Amendment Due Process Clause and applied both a strong Free Exercise Clause and a strong Establishment Clause against federal, state, and local governments alike. In the third era, from the mid-1980s to 2010, the Court softened the …