Digital Commons Network^™

Undermining Discretion: The Selective Attacks On Progressive Prosecutors, Angela J. Davis

Cardozo Law Review

Prosecutors are the most powerful officials in the criminal legal system. They decide whether to bring criminal charges and what those criminal charges should be. These decisions are totally within their discretion. The U.S. Supreme Court has consistently protected the power and discretion of prosecutors in making these decisions, and legal challenges to the exercise of prosecutorial discretion have been largely unsuccessful.

In recent years, a growing number of individuals have successfully run for chief prosecutor on platforms of reducing the prison and jail populations, consistent with public safety. They pledged to use their power and discretion to implement policies …

Quantum Ai And The Future Of Corporate Law, Michael R. Siebecker

Cardozo Law Review

As quantum computing and AI surge toward mainstream adoption, how corporate directors satisfy their duties of care and oversight requires some fiduciary recalibration. The current fiduciary framework that allows directors to escape liability absent “gross negligence” or “utter failure” in oversight may no longer be defensible in a world where advanced analytics offer unprecedented capacity to model, monitor, and foresee significant corporate risks. Behavioral economics makes clear that humans (including corporate managers) remain vulnerable to a variety of biases and heuristics shortcuts in decision making. Technological evolution provides the means to correct such cognitive distortions if boards take an active …

Rivers Of Sovereignty: The Epa’S New Water Quality Standards Rule As A Potential Channel For Revitalizing Tribal Reserved Water Rights, Mostyn Josty

Cardozo Law Review

This Note explores the federal government’s evolving approach to its obligation to protect tribal reserved water rights through a case study of the Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) 2024 Water Quality Standards Regulatory Revisions to Protect Tribal Reserved Rights rule (the “WQS Rule”). It argues that while the WQS Rule represents a step forward in safeguarding tribal water rights, the legal challenge it faces underscores broader issues of federalism, administrative authority, and the country’s fluctuating commitment to tribal sovereignty. The Note examines the WQS Rule’s legal foundation, its potential challenges, and the implications for tribal self-determination, emphasizing the need for a …

Cardozo Law News Brief: December 19, 2025, Benjamin N. Cardozo School Of Law

Cardozo Law News Briefs

Highlights from the December 19, 2025, Cardozo Law News Brief include:

• Professor Sam Weinstein spoke to ABC News about the uncertainty surrounding Warner Bros. Discovery bids and antitrust deal unpredictability.

• Professor Rebecca Ingber was quoted in The Washington Post questioning the administration’s classification of fentanyl as a weapon of mass destruction.

• Professor Zalman Rothschild wrote an essay for The Atlantic reflecting on Hanukkah and Jewish resilience in the wake of the Bondi Beach shooting.

• Professor Peter Markowitz spoke to Gothamist about reports of armed ICE agents entering NYC shelters without warrants.

Faculty news includes:

• Professor Wilfred Codrington III spoke at …

  ---

  Go to article

Cardozo Law News Brief: December 12, 2025, Benjamin N. Cardozo School Of Law

Cardozo Law News Briefs

Highlights from the December 12, 2025, Cardozo Law News Brief include:

• Professor Rebecca Ingber was quoted in TIME on the legality of Trump’s alleged order for lethal boat strikes in the Caribbean, and again on his pardoning of former Honduran President Juan Orlando Hernández.

• Professor Wilfred Codrington III spoke to Reuters about the Supreme Court’s increasingly ideological pattern in overturning precedents.

• Professor Matthew Wansley spoke to The New York Times about the limitations of autonomous driving systems after a Waymo vehicle ran over a family pet.

• Professor David Rudenstine wrote an op-ed in Bloomberg Law criticizing the constitutional stakes of …

  ---

  Go to article

Nfl Commissioner-Driven Arbitration Versus Other Sports League Arbitration Procedures, Victoria Gracia

Cardozo Journal of Conflict Resolution (CJCR) Blog

Former Miami Dolphins head coach Brian Flores and two other former NFL coaches filed a punitive class action in Manhattan federal court against the NFL in 2022, alleging the league engages in racially discriminatory hiring and retention practices. The NFL moved to compel arbitration pursuant to the provision in its employee contract that incorporates the NFL’s constitution, which includes an arbitration clause. In March 2023, U.S. District Judge Valerie Caproni held that the NFL failed to meet its burden demonstrating that Flores entered an enforceable agreement to arbitrate; therefore, Flores could pursue his claims in federal court, while his two …

Cardozo Law News Brief: December 5, 2025, Benjamin N. Cardozo School Of Law

Cardozo Law News Briefs

Highlights from the December 5, 2025, Cardozo Law News Brief include:

• Cardozo’s Freedom Clinic won a clemency case in New Jersey, securing the release of LaShawn Fitch after 15 years in prison.

• Adjunct Professor Michael Wildes ’89 appeared on CNN to discuss a proposed bill ending dual citizenship.

• Professor Rebecca Ingber was quoted in The Guardian, TIME, and The World on the legality of Trump’s boat strike orders in the Caribbean.

• Professor Samuel Weinstein commented in The New York Times on Meta’s antitrust case win.

• Professor Alexander Reinert spoke to MS NOW about senators' ability to sue the …

  ---

  Go to article

Public Defender Discretion, Alma Magaña

Articles

A focus of criminal legal system reform efforts has been the curtailment of police, prosecutorial, and judicial discretion, which has been criticized for its arbitrariness and its contribution to racial, class, and gender disparities. However, one system actor has largely escaped similar scrutiny: public defenders, who, by grant of authority from ethical rules of practice and Supreme Court jurisprudence, have significant decision-making authority in the cases of indigent persons charged with crimes.

This Article will, for the first time, explore the historical rationale for giving public defenders the power to make life-altering decisions for their clients. Specifically, it dissects the …

Challenging The State To Protect The Right To A Future Healthy Environment, Grace Messimer

Cardozo International & Comparative Law Review (CICLR) Blog

Climate change litigation has been increasingly used in different countries to fight the climate crisis through various judicial systems. As of December 2022, there have been over 2,000 climate-related cases in international courts, federal courts, and more local courthouses, with litigation taking place in 65 different jurisdictions. Climate change litigation includes “cases that raise material issues of law or fact relating to climate change mitigation, adaptation or the science of climate change.”

This post was originally published on the Cardozo International & Comparative Law Review on January 21, 2025. The original post can be accessed via the Archived Link button …

Brief Of Edward A. And Doris Zelinsky In The Appellate Division, Third Department, New York Supreme Court, Edward A. Zelinsky, Doris Zelinsky

Amicus Briefs

To combat COVID, New York in 2020 forbade an out-of-state employee like the petitioner to commute into his New York office, forcing him to instead work at his home in Connecticut. New York now takes the remarkable position that it can tax the income Governor Cuomo forced this out-of-state employee to earn at his home exclusively outside New York. That position is as wrong as it sounds.

Both as a matter of New York law and of federal constitutional law under the Due Process and dormant Commerce Clauses, New York may not tax the income the petitioner earned exclusively at …

Freedom Clinic Faculty And Students Win Clemency Case Through New Jersey Second Chance Initiative, Benjamin N. Cardozo School Of Law

Cardozo Law News Archive

The Perlmutter Center for Legal Justice at Cardozo Law secured clemency for LaShawn Fitch through New Jersey's Second Chance Initiative. Cardozo Freedom Clinic faculty and students helped prepare Mr. Fitch's clemency petition, highlighting issues surrounding felony-murder sentencing, the trial penalty, and juvenile justice.

President Trump And Control Of Administrative Agencies: The Firing Of Nlrb Commissioner Gwynne Wilcox, Gwynne Wilcox, Daniel Silverman, David Rudenstine, Floersheimer Center For Constitutional Democracy, Public Interest Law Student Association (Pilsa), American Constitution Society (Acs), Cardozo Chapter, National Lawyers Guild, Cardozo Chapter, Cardozo Federalist Society

2025 Event Invitations

On November 18, Gwynne Wilcox will join Dan Silverman at Cardozo to discuss her lawsuit against Trump and his administration for firing her as an NLRB commissioner. This conversation will be moderated by Professor David Rudenstine.

On January 27, 2025, President Trump removed Wilcox from the Board prior to her term’s expiration in 2028. Wilcox was the first Board Member to have been removed in 90 years of the Board's inception in 1935. Wilcox filed a lawsuit in Federal Court in Washington, DC, against President Trump challenging her unprecedented and unlawful termination based upon current statutory law and well-established Supreme …

Cardozo Law News Brief: November 14, 2025, Benjamin N. Cardozo School Of Law

Cardozo Law News Briefs

Highlights from the November 14, 2025 Cardozo Law News Brief include:

• Chief Judge Rowan D. Wilson of the New York Court of Appeals was announced as the keynote speaker for Cardozo’s 48th Commencement at Lincoln Center.

• Professor Rebecca Ingber was quoted in The Washington Post and The Christian Science Monitor about the legality of recent U.S. military strikes in the Caribbean.

Faculty news includes:

• Sarah Chu, of the Perlmutter Center for Legal Justice, delivered the closing plenary at Interpol’s 21st International Forensic Science Managers’ Symposium.

• Professor Wilfred Codrington III spoke at symposia hosted by Northwestern University Law Review and …

  ---

  Go to article

Is The Game Rigged? Why Sports Betting Is Becoming A Legal Time Bomb, Lawrence Kirzhner

Cardozo Arts & Entertainment Law Journal (AELJ) Blog

The International Olympic Committee defines “competition manipulation” as “when the result of a tournament or competition is partially or completely decided in advance and the match is played to ensure the pre-determined outcome.” Considering the Olympics hosts 43 sports, this definition can probably be applied to many, if not all, sports around the globe. While it is against the rules of sportsmanship as well as against the law, athletes “who bet on their sport might be tempted to fully or partially manipulate their competition in order to receive financial gain.” The sports world has experienced many scandals of manipulated competition …

The Voting Rights Act, Race, Redistricting, And The Future Of U.S. Democracy, Wilfred U. Codrington Iii, Sophia Lankin, Michael Li, Jarret Berg, Carl Unegbu, Floersheimer Center For Constitutional Democracy

2025 Event Invitations

Join us for a timely and critical moderated conversation on the future of American democracy as leading experts on U.S. voting rights Wilfred Codrington III (Cardozo School of Law), Sophia Lankin (ACLU), Michael Li (Brennan Center for Justice), and Jarret Berg (VoteEarlyNY) unpack the ongoing legal battles shaping representation in the United States, most notably the fight over continued viability of the Voting Rights Act. The conversation will be moderated by Carl Unegbu.

The Voting Rights, Race, Redistricting, & The Future Of U.S Democracy, Floersheimer Center For Constitutional Democracy, American Constitution Society, Cardozo Chapter

2025–2026 Flyers

No abstract provided.

Administrative Variability & The Price Of Title Ix Compliance On Minority-Serving Institutions, Jacob Wall

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

The Department of Education (“ED”) enforces civil rights in education through Title IX. Title IX prohibits sex-based discrimination in federally funded educational programs, and promotes inclusion in higher education.  Significantly, Title IX enforcement depends on the executive branch controlling the ED, as this power rests with both the Department of Justice and the ED’s Office for Civil Rights (OCR). Historically, judicial enforcement of statutes like Title IX relied on agency interpretation under Chevron U.S.A., Inc. v. Natural Resources Defense Council, Inc., which required judicial deference to executive agencies when statutes are ambiguous.  However, the Supreme Court’s 2024 decision in …

Cardozo Law News Briefs: October 24, 2025, Benjamin N. Cardozo School Of Law

Cardozo Law News Briefs

Highlights from the October 24, 2025 Cardozo Law News Brief include:

Professors Reinert, Codrington III, Ingber, Vishnubhakat, Roth, Wansley, Rona, and Zelinsky were featured in major media outlets including The New York Times, TIME, Washington Post, HuffPost, ABC News, CNN, and Wall Street Journal on topics such as ICE enforcement, Voting Rights Act challenges, Amazon Web Services outages, and Tesla’s self-driving technology.

Faculty news includes:

• Professor Rebecca Ingber discussed U.S. military strikes on podcasts and will speak at International Law Weekend 2025.

• Professor Young Ran (Christine) Kim presented her book The International Tax Revolution …

  ---

  Go to article

A Conversation With Danielle Sassoon, Jacob Burns Center For Ethics In The Practice Of Law, Cardozo Criminal Law Society, American Constitution Society (Acs), Danielle Sassoon, Jessica A. Roth

2025 Event Invitations

Danielle Sassoon is currently a senior fellow at the Manhattan Institute. Prior to her appointment as Interim U.S. Attorney in January 2025 by President Trump, Ms. Sassoon served as an Assistant United States Attorney in the Southern District of New York for over eight years. Among her notable cases as an Assistant U.S. Attorney were the prosecution of Lawrence Ray for racketeering conspiracy, extortion, forced labor, and sex trafficking, related to his abuse and exploitation of his daughter’s college roommates and others. She also investigated and prosecuted Samuel Bankman-Fried and others for the multi-billion-dollar fraud on customers of FTX.com. In …

Cardozo Law News Brief: October 17, 2025, Benjamin N. Cardozo School Of Law

Cardozo Law News Briefs

Cardozo received a $6 million gift from Kwanza Jones and José E. Feliciano to name its Clinical Education Program.

Professors Roth, Nash, Noti-Victor, Rothschild, Wansley, and Rona were featured in major media outlets on topics including political prosecutions, ICE surveillance, AI copyright law, religious engagement, Tesla’s robotaxis, and U.S. military response.

Faculty updates include awards, podcasts, grants, and national presentations by Professors Kestenbaum, Kim, Reinert, Sebok, and Zelinsky.

From Bets To Threats: The Impact Of Murphy On Student-Athletes, Rachel Bender

Cardozo Arts & Entertainment Law Journal (AELJ) Blog

The United States is experiencing a surge in the sports betting market following the Supreme Court’s 2018 decision to open the door for legalization. College sports, a beloved tradition for decades, has only become more popular with the rise of social media, which allows fans to interact with the athletes directly without ever leaving their homes. Due to this accessibility and popularity, it is easy to see why sports betting and collegiate sports would go hand in hand. With the legalization of sports betting, fans are no longer just viewers of the game; they are investors. Fans can place proposition …

Annotated Legal Bibliography

Cardozo Journal of Equal Rights & Social Justice

No abstract provided.

Extreme Prison Sentences: Legal And Normative Consequences, Melissa Hamilton

Cardozo Law Review

The article examines the phenomenon of extreme sentences—defined as those exceeding 200 years—in the federal criminal justice system, raising critical questions about their rationale, proportionality, and alignment with traditional theories of punishment. Through an empirical study of 55 such cases, the analysis highlights the role of mandatory minimums, cognitive biases, and an exclusionist mindset in driving these sentences. It critiques the normalization of extreme penalties and their implications for mass incarceration, deterrence, and human dignity.

2025 Fall - Clihhr Newsletter, Cardozo Law Institute In Holocaust And Human Rights (Clihhr)

CLIHHR Newsletters

This Fall 2025 issue of the CLIHHR Newsletter highlights the Cardozo Law Institute in Holocaust and Human Rights’ continued work in advocacy, research, and education. It features the Institute’s landmark report on Indigenous land rights in the Brazilian Amazon, major events including the 2025 Lemkin Award Ceremony, faculty and student achievements, alumni spotlights, and engagement with international human rights mechanisms. The newsletter reflects CLIHHR’s ongoing commitment to supporting marginalized communities and advancing human rights and atrocity prevention efforts.

Religious Conflicts In Disguise: The Limits Of The Law In Tackling Conflicts With Religious Dimensions, Yael Efron

Cardozo Journal of Conflict Resolution

In previous publications, we have established the crucial differences between conflicts with religious dimensions (CRDs) and other types of conflicts. We claim that a legal solution to CRDs is rarely sufficient to terminate the conflict and often might lead to further damage to communities and persons, sometimes even harsher than the original dispute. Since not all CRDs are similar, a theorized model of their distinguishing elements—time, intensity, and proximity to core values—assists us in differentiating them. By analyzing the elements of CRDs in accordance with the TIV model, we can more easily determine which conflicts are suitable for legal process …

Dispute Resolution Tradeoffs In Ombuds Office Design, Kristen M. Blankley

Cardozo Journal of Conflict Resolution

An organizational ombudsman (or “ombuds,” used as the preferred term in this paper) is a conflict resolution specialist who works as either an employee or contractor within the organization it serves. Unlike mediators or arbitrators, ombuds work only with a designated constituency group (often employees or other stakeholders) to solve a variety of conflicts at the lowest level possible within the organization. Ombuds, while preserving the confidentiality of the information they learn, can report trends to the organization or the public. While ombuds do not have the authority to make formal policy changes or other formal decisions, their work informs …

Pursuing Restorative Justice For The Legacy Of Federal Indian Boarding Schools, Jilly Horowitz

Cardozo Journal of Conflict Resolution

This Note examines the United States’ federal boarding school policy, designed to eliminate Native populations, and the federal government’s efforts from June 2021 to December 2024 to acknowledge and address its harms. For 150 years, Native children were subjected to this brutal policy and were removed from their communities and placed in boarding schools. These schools were focused less on providing education and opportunity for Native students, and instead were tools to carry out a concentrated federal policy of cultural assimilation and forcible removal from Native lands. The federal government implemented this policy throughout the country, operating or funding 451 …

Blazing A New Path: How Regulatory Negotiation Can Resolve Cannabis Legalization’S Shortcomings, Natalie Pearson

Cardozo Journal of Conflict Resolution

New York’s ambitious cannabis legalization effort has fallen short of its promises, burdened by regulatory confusion, industry roadblocks, and an unchecked illicit market. Despite state-level approval, legalization remains riddled with contradictions and obstacles, leaving businesses and policymakers struggling to navigate an unstable framework. This Note explores how regulatory negotiation, an alternative dispute resolution (“ADR”) mechanism, can address key industry challenges, particularly those arising from conflicting federal and state laws.

Effectiveness Is Not A Criterion Here: The Curriculum Marketplace And The Students It Leaves Behind, Serena E. Roche

Cardozo Journal of Equal Rights & Social Justice

No abstract provided.

Masthead - Cardozo Arts & Entertainment Law Journal, Vol. 32 (2025-26)

Cardozo Journal of Equal Rights & Social Justice

No abstract provided.