Digital Commons Network^™

Common Law Creep And Judicial Optionality: A Measured Critique Of Restrictive Covenant Law In South Dakota, Alex M. Hagen

South Dakota Law Review

No abstract provided.

An Empirical Analysis Of Statutory Enactment And Interpretation In South Dakota: Are We Aligned?, Neil Fulton, Zane Rankin

South Dakota Law Review

No abstract provided.

May It Please The Artificial Intelligence: Experimental Ai-Authored Jurisprudence And Authentic Human-Authored Counterparts, Justin Huston, Thomas E. Simmons

South Dakota Law Review

No abstract provided.

Protecting The Due Process Rights Of South Dakota Treatment Court Participants Facing Termination, Ryleigh Christopherson

South Dakota Law Review

No abstract provided.

Protecting Democracy Through Servant Leadership Actions On The Jury Trial System, Laura Anne Rose

South Dakota Law Review

No abstract provided.

Barriers Behind Bars: The Prison Litigation Reform Act And Prisoner Litigants' Struggle For Access To Justice, Brooke Stivers

South Dakota Law Review

No abstract provided.

Microbial Mats In Dinosaur Ichnocoenoses, Nora Noffke, Paul C. Murphy, Roger C. Buntin, Martin G. Lockley

OES Faculty Publications

Until now, the significance of microbial mats in preservation of dinosaur tracks and in reconstructing the palaeoenvironment in which dinosaurs roamed was rarely studied. Dinosaur tracks are commonly found close to ancient aquatic bodies where moist sediment had once allowed footstep registration. At such sites, epibenthic or endobenthic microbial mats may have developed as well and may have led to exquisite track preservation. Microbial mats in coastal, lacustrine or flood plain environments cause 'microbially induced sedimentary structures—MISS', which are micobialites found in sandy or evaporitic settings. The microbial structures record environmental parameters including meteorological conditions that existed at the time …

Efficient Preservation Of Old Methane-Derived Organic Carbon In Deep-Sea Surface Sediments, Rui Bao, Yangli Che, Mingzhi Liu, Naiyu Zhang, Yang Zhou, Lihua Dong, Shen Li, Owen A. Sherwood, Min Yu, Zongheng Chen, Shengxiong Yang, Nan Wang, Longhai Zhu, Jiawang Chen, Mutai Bao, Haoshuai Li, Luonan Chen, Weifeng Wu, Haiyue Ma, David J. Burdige

OES Faculty Publications

Methane released from the subseafloor is significantly attenuated during upward migration, yet the preservation of methane-derived organic carbon (OC) in global deep-sea sediments remains poorly understood. Here, we measured carbon isotopes coupled with temperature-ramped analyses on various methane seepage sediments. Our results reveal a correlation between the radiocarbon (¹⁴)C) content in deep-sea surface sediments and sulfate-methane transition depth. Notably, our findings suggest that a substantial amount of (¹⁴)C-depleted OC may originate from deep-seated methane and is efficiently preserved in surface seepage sediments. We propose that the efficient OC preservation is related to microbial-mediated aggregate formation at the seawater-sediment interface, where …

Reclaiming Homeowner Wealth: A Conversation With Barry, Fried, And Hatfield, Prentiss Cox

Articles

Homeowners in the United States pay residential real estate brokers commission rates that are about twice as high as the commission charges by brokers in comparable countries. Given the enormous size of the residential home sale market—both in aggregate terms and as a percentage of wealth owned by the average homeowner—this cost discrepancy results in U.S. homeowners transferring tens of billions of dollars each year to brokers that would be saved in a more competitive and fair market. In Et Tu, Agent? Commission-Based Steering in Residential Real Estate (“Et Tu?”), Jordan M. Barry, Will Fried, and John William Hatfield provide …

Implementing Climate Remedies, Camila Bustos

Vanderbilt Law Review

Climate change litigation has emerged as a powerful tool for addressing the climate crisis, particularly in the face of executive and legislative inaction. Across jurisdictions, courts have issued landmark decisions mandating stronger mitigation targets and recognizing rights-based claims against governments and corporations. While recent scholarship has examined the trends, legal theories, and broader effects of this relatively new phenomenon, it has primarily focused on bringing and winning legal challenges. Less attention has been paid to a crucial phase: the implementation and enforcement of judicial rulings. A deeper understanding of how climate remedies are implemented can provide valuable insights for climate …

A Direct Path Should Be Easy To Follow: Reframing The “Direct Effect” Test For Jurisdictional Immunity Under The Foreign Sovereign Immunities Act, Greggory Cashmark

Vanderbilt Law Review

As sovereign nations become more involved in international commercial dealings, it becomes more important to establish a reliable and stable framework for resolving disputes with foreign sovereigns. The FSIA is the result of a long historical trend towards establishing that framework. While the FSIA is a step in the right direction, there are a number of interpretive questions regarding where it places the boundaries of a court's jurisdiction over foreign sovereign activity. While these questions remain open and while courts continue to find reasons to keep them open, they undermine the principal purpose of the FSIA: predictability. There is no …

Lower Suicidal Ideation Linked To Easier Access To Urban Green Spaces During The Covid-19 Pandemic: A Nationwide Study In Japan, Zheng Xian, Tomoki Nakaya, Clive E. Sabel, Ryo Okubo, Kun Liu, Jinguang Zhang, Takahiro Tabuchi

School of Geography, Earth and Environmental Sciences

Urban green spaces (UGSs) have been linked to improved mental health and lower suicide rates, yet their protective role during large-scale crises remains underexplored. We examined associations of UGS accessibility with long-term and pandemic induced new-onset suicidal ideation during the early phase of the COVID-19 pandemic in urban Japan, using data from a nationwide health survey of 17,376 participants (August 2020). Modified Poisson regression models estimated prevalence ratios (PRs) for suicidal ideation by UGS accessibility (area, number, and type) within 5, 10, and 15-minute walking thresholds from home, controlling for individual and area-level confounders. UGS accessibility exhibited dose-response relationships with …

Dischargeability Of Student Loan Debt In Bankruptcy Cases, Dean Van Noy

Bankruptcy Research Library

(Excerpt)

Student loan debt represents one of the largest categories of consumer debt in the United States. Currently, statistics show that there is $1.8 trillion in outstanding student-loan debt owed by approximately 42.5 – 45.8 million debtors. This statistic can be attributed to the fact that the cost of higher education has increased significantly. Department of Education data shows that average tuition prices have more than doubled at colleges and universities around the country over the last three decades. As a direct consequence of this continuously increasing cost of tuition, many debtors have struggled to pay back their student-loan debt, …

Corporate Structuring, Ip Holding Companies & Bankruptcy, Ava Sheftick

Bankruptcy Research Library

(Excerpt)

There are various ways in which the founders of a company may structure their business. While a key focus of corporate planning is how to maximize revenue and operate efficiently, minimizing the risk associated with financial distress is an equally important consideration. A corporation’s structure is made during a time of stability, but it must account for the ultimate financial distress—bankruptcy. Asset allocation is a critical step in the planning stage of a business enterprise, especially when considering creditors the company is going to take on. Companies’ intellectual property ("IP") may be highly valuable assets that must be considered …

William Bacon Oliver Collection, University Of Alabama School Of Law

Manuscript Collections

The William Bacon Oliver Collection consists of books, papers, memorabilia, and clothing from William Bacon Oliver, United States Representative from Alabama.

Howell Thomas Heflin Collection, University Of Alabama School Of Law

Manuscript Collections

The Howell Thomas Heflin Collection documents Heflin's years as legal reformer and Alabama State Supreme Court Chief Justice, as well as his tenure as United States Senator through press clippings, scrapbooks, speech files, audiotapes, videotapes, press releases and statements, newsletters and various printed materials, photographs, negatives, campaign materials, and memorabilia.

Frank Minis Johnson, Jr. Collection, University Of Alabama School Of Law

Manuscript Collections

The Frank Minis Johnson, Jr. Collection consists of correspondence, scrapbooks, audiotapes, and videotapes from Judge Johnson's career. Johnson served the on United States District Court for the Middle District of Alabama, United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit, and United States Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit.

Civil Rights Era Newspaper Collection, University Of Alabama School Of Law

Manuscript Collections

The Civil Rights Era Newspaper Collection consists of newspapers from The Birmingham Post-Herald, The Birmingham News, The Crimson White, The Atlanta Constitution, The Atlanta Journal, and The Tuscaloosa News.

Cecil Maxwell Deason Collection, University Of Alabama School Of Law

Manuscript Collections

This collection contains personal papers and photographs from Alabama state trial court judge and assistant solicitor Cecil Maxwell Deason from his times serving in the Pacific theatre of WWII, on the bench in Jefferson county, and in the solicitor's office.

Mirza Anwer Beg Collection, University Of Alabama School Of Law

Manuscript Collections

This collection consists of a large number of books, files, photographs, and notebooks on topics ranging from Islam and Islamic/Arabic themes to poetry and art as well as topics on law, diplomacy, history, and philosophy.

Samuel Blackwell Collection, University Of Alabama School Of Law

Manuscript Collections

Samuel Blackwell was born in 1848 and died in 1918. In 1889, Blackwell ran an unsuccessful campaign for Congress. He served as mayor of New Decatur in the early twentieth century, solicitor for the Morgan County Law and Equity Court, and a Morgan County delegate to the Constitutional Convention in 1901.

Video Interaction Guidance With Adults With Intellectual Disabilities And Their Support Workers: A Service Evaluation, Áine Maguire, Vicky Anagnostopoulou, Joe Levi-French, Deanna J. Gallichan

School of Psychology

Background: This service evaluation focused on support workers' perceptions of Video Interaction Guidance (VIG) offered by an NHS Community Learning Disabilities Team. Methods: A mixed-methods design was employed. Support workers developed goals and rated their progress before and after VIG sessions. Thematic analysis was used to analyse qualitative data on the nature of the goals developed, and the strengths and working points identified. The differences between progress ratings before and after VIG were analysed using the Wilcoxon signed-rank test. Retrospective interviews helped to further understand support workers' experiences of VIG. Findings: Support workers identified goals, strengths and working points that …

Exploring The Views Of Children With Cerebral Palsy, Their Parents And Physiotherapists On Participating In A Feasibility Randomised Controlled Trial Testing An Exergaming Device: A Qualitative Study, Rachel Rapson, Jos M. Latour, Jonathan Marsden, Bernie Carter

School of Nursing and Midwifery

Background: This study aimed to understand the experiences and views of children with cerebral palsy, their parents and physiotherapists participating in the ACCEPT feasibility randomised controlled trial, which explored a 10-week physiotherapy intervention using an interactive gaming training device. Design: Qualitative methods included semi-structured interviews, e-diary and photographs. Nine parent–child dyads and three physiotherapists participated. Children were aged between 7 and 16 years; four had co-existing additional needs. Interviews were transcribed. Reflexive thematic analysis was used. Results: Five themes covered the breadth of participants’ experiences: (1) Fitting in therapy; (2) Motivation; (3) New opportunities; (4) Physiotherapists out of their comfort …

Buying Blind: Corruption Risk And The Erosion Of Oversight In Federal Ai Procurement, Jessica Tillipman

GW Law Faculty Publications & Other Works

The United States is accelerating toward a corruption crisis of its own making. In its race to rapidly acquire artificial intelligence (AI), current policy risks undermining longstanding procurement integrity safeguards. This article examines how AI increases traditional corruption risks and introduces new vulnerabilities that current oversight mechanisms are ill-equipped to address.

Recent federal AI policies have accelerated adoption while simultaneously narrowing regulatory oversight, effectively leaving “regulation by contract” as the primary—and profoundly inadequate—mechanism for embedding safeguards. The consequence of these policies is that the government is “buying blind,” acquiring AI technologies without adequate transparency, audit rights, or testing requirements. These …

Ethnonationalism By Algorithm, Spencer A. Overton

GW Law Faculty Publications & Other Works

In the United States, artificial intelligence (“AI”) policy has become a critical arena for ethnonationalism—an ideology that defines national belonging through shared ancestry, culture, and language. Amid rapid demographic change and cultural anxiety, the second Trump Administration has harnessed federal AI governance to advance its broader agenda of dismantling diversity—most notably through Executive Order 14,179, “Removing Barriers to American Leadership in Artificial Intelligence” and related legal directives. By eliminating safeguards against algorithmic bias and recasting equity as an ideological threat to innovation, the policies facilitate exclusion under the guise of neutrality. These moves are not merely deregulatory; they represent a …

The Federalism Canons As Ordinary Interpretation, Anthony J. Bellia Jr., Bradford R. Clark

GW Law Faculty Publications & Other Works

Scholars remain generally skeptical of substantive canons of statutory interpretation even as courts continue to employ such canons in important cases. Unlike semantic canons, which help judges discern the best meaning of statutory text in context, substantive canons provide tiebreakers when the text is unclear or require special clarity in order for the text to perform certain functions. Among the substantive canons, the so-called “federalism canons” have been singled out for special scrutiny. The federalism canons are a family of canons that require courts to avoid interpreting an act of Congress to divest states of certain sovereign rights or powers—including …

Brief Of Amicus Curiae Professor Steven L. Schooner In Support Of Petitioners' Petition For Certiorari In King V. United States (U.S. Supreme Court), Aram A. Gavoor, Eric Frank, Giovanna Milano, Matt Novotny, Tegan Oliver, Kaci Waguespack, Steven L. Schooner

GW Law Faculty Publications & Other Works

This is an amicus brief in support of a U.S. Supreme Court petition for certiorari in King v. United States (No. 25-856), in which GW Law School's GW Law’s Administrative Law, Issues, and Appeals Clinic represented government contracts expert, GW Law Professor Steven L. Schooner). Petitioners—retired UPS employees William King, Stephen Dardzinski, and the Estate of Anthony Gugliuzza (on behalf of a class of retirees and pension beneficiaries)—challenge the Federal Circuit’s novel “underlying assets” test (created in reviewing a matter initially decided in the U.S. Court of Federal Claims), which withholds per se Takings Clause protection for vested rights to …

Information Regulation As Antidiscrimination, Naomi Schoenbaum

GW Law Faculty Publications & Other Works

Employment discrimination law is under sustained retrenchment, nowhere more so than in hiring, the gateway to work and the foundation of equal employment opportunity. A recent executive order declared the disparate impact theory—a key doctrine of hiring equality—unconstitutional and barred its use by the federal government. The Supreme Court’s curtailment of race-conscious admissions has cast serious doubt on the future of affirmative action in employment. Enforcement agencies have redirected their efforts, abandoning disparate impact suits, scrutinizing employers’ diversity initiatives, and soliciting claims by white men. These developments further weaken a regime that has long struggled to redress discrimination at the …

Brief For International Law Scholars As Amici Curiae In Support Of Respondents, Cisco Systems, Inc. V. Doe I, William S. Dodge

GW Law Faculty Publications & Other Works

This amicus brief was filed with the U.S. Supreme Court on behalf of international law scholars in Cisco Systems, Inc. v. Doe I. The brief addresses whether claims for aiding and abetting violations of international human rights may be brought under the Alien Tort Statute. Part I argues that, under Sosa v. Alvarez-Machain (2004), whether aiding and abetting claims are actionable is determined by customary international law rather than U.S. domestic law. Part II argues that customary international law’s prohibition against aiding and abetting human rights violations meets the Sosa standard. Drawing on instruments establishing the Nuremberg tribunals, the International …

Brief Of Amici Curiae Professors Steven L. Schooner And Gregory C. Sisk In Support Of Petitioners' Combined Petition For Panel Rehearing And Rehearing En Banc In Syneren Technologies Corp., Et Al, V. United States (U.S. Federal Circuit), April 6, 2026., Steven L. Schooner, Gregory C. Sisk, Travis L. Mullaney

GW Law Faculty Publications & Other Works

This is an amicus brief in support of a petition for rehearing (and rehearing en banc) in Syneren Technologies Corp., et al, v. United States (No. 2024-1424). Amici are law professors interested in ensuring that bedrock principles of administrative law, including Administrative Procedure Act (“APA”) standards, are applied to ensure that federal agencies act with integrity, accountability, and engage in fair and regular processes that do not subject contractors to arbitrary and capricious government action.

The brief advocates for U.S. Federal Circuit en banc rehearing on the issue of whether a federal agency can unilaterally, and without leave of the …