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

South Dakota law governing restrictive covenants establishes a statutory framework with a simple structure: a general prohibition against restraints on trade, subject to four narrow exceptions. In theory, courts need only determine whether a challenged covenant falls within a statutory exception. In practice, however, courts exercise far broader discretion, applying elaborate analyses that extend well beyond statutory boundaries. In this Article, I critique the current doctrine of restrictive covenant law in South Dakota and contend that the judiciary has provided itself with too many options in deciding how these types of contractual agreements will be assessed and played too active …

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

South Dakota Law Review

In the face of the declining use of the right to trial by jury, this article argues for more action by members of the legal profession, and specifically action grounded in the principles of servant leadership. The article covers the historic roots of the right to trial by jury before turning to its importance in the areas of civic education, continuing legal education, legislative efforts, and innovative interdisciplinary courses in legal education. The article posits that members of the legal profession in all stages of their careers must defend the right to trial by jury through servant-leader based action in …

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

South Dakota Law Review

Statutes have supplanted the common law as the primary source of American law. It is accordingly vital to evaluate how statutes are applied and interpreted. Most statutory interpretation scholarship focuses on enactments by Congress, is based on the perspective of courts alone, and uses non-empirical analysis. This article takes a different perspective. The article focuses on South Dakota statutes and the legislative process. It is centered on an empirical survey of legislators, lobbyists, and professional staff to ascertain their beliefs and preferences about how statutes are enacted and how they should be used. These observations are then compared with existing …

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

South Dakota Law Review

Artificial Intelligence (AI) is rapidly intruding into many professions, from publishing and healthcare to engineering, graphic design, and the law. Law firms are adopting AI for discovery, factual summaries, and briefing. Many courts are embracing AI to streamline docket management and filings. Even some judges are experimenting with AI. This article describes an experiment with the use of an AI Judge to decide both an expert witness issue embedded in a South Dakota Supreme Court appeal and a South Dakota Circuit Court legal malpractice issue. We then compare the AI-generated opinion with the opinions penned by the Judge and Justice, …

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

South Dakota Law Review

Treatment courts in South Dakota are designed to reduce recidivism by treating the root cause of criminal behavior. The data shows that, of the almost three thousand participants who have applied and been selected to take part in a South Dakota treatment court, over a thousand participants have successfully graduated from these post-plea diversion programs. A slight majority of participants, however, did not complete the program and either left voluntarily or were terminated from treatment court. The apparent success of treatment courts can overshadow due process concerns which arise when a participant faces termination. While the Supreme Court of the …

Access To Justice In Indian County: Strengthening The Ecosystem Of Law In Native Communities, Mary Smith

South Dakota Law Review

No abstract provided.

Erased From The Permanent Record: Data Collection Practices And Non-Binary Student Experiences In School, Ashley Carey, Peter Piazza

Education Faculty Publications

State education data systems often undercount non-binary students, constraining schools’ ability to support them. This study examines the scope and implications of non-binary erasure in school data collection. Drawing on survey responses from nearly 13,000students across seven Massachusetts districts, we find that current practices substantially undercount non-binary students, who also report less positive experiences of school culture, including student–teacher relationships, belonging, and emotional safety. Although inclusive data could guide efforts to create more supportive environments, districts face growing political resistance from parent organizations aligned with the White Christian Nationalist movement. These groups frame inclusivity as a threat to parental rights. …

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 …

Nothing To See Here. Yet. Ames V. Ohio Department Of Youth Services, Michael J. Yelnosky

Roger Williams University Law Review

No abstract provided.

Pona V. State, 329 A.3d 485 (R.I. 2025)., Trina Capezza

Roger Williams University Law Review

No abstract provided.

Sepulveda V. Buffum, 334 A.3d 98 (R.I. 2025)., Jack A. Burum

Roger Williams University Law Review

No abstract provided.

Thornton V. State, 332 A.3d 912 (R.I. 2025)., Matthew Alden Zeller

Roger Williams University Law Review

No abstract provided.

Daily Rhythms In Psychosocial Stress, Sleep, And Mood: A Multimethod Approach To Transdiagnostic Psychopathology Risk And Intervention, Gabriel Gilmore

Theses and Dissertations--Psychology

Rhythms are central to nearly every core physiological and psychological process and have profound influences on overall health and well-being, particularly in the context of mood disorders. This dissertation emphasizes a rhythm-centered framework for understanding transdiagnostic psychopathology, proposing that the temporal organization of psychosocial stress, sleep, and mood provides crucial information for the development and treatment of mood disorder symptomology. Current literature relies primarily on mean symptom levels, overlooking day-to-day patterns in psychosocial experiences. To address this key methodological gap, three studies are examined. Study 1 develops and validates the Psychosocial Stress Regularity Measure (PSRM), a brief single-item measure of …

Batting Around Section 363: Sports Franchise Sales, League Consent, And The Boundaries Of Bankruptcy, Katelyn Pantano

Bankruptcy Research Library

(Excerpt)

The question presented is whether a bankruptcy court may authorize the sale of a professional sports franchise without league consent, and whether bankruptcy courts should permit such sales as a matter of policy.

The client, The New York Bets (“the Bets”), is a professional baseball franchise experiencing financial distress and is considering filing for Chapter 11 bankruptcy to facilitate a sale to a new owner. The MLB’s governing documents require league approval, a three-quarters vote of all club owners, for any ownership transfer. The client is now considering Chapter 11 bankruptcy to avoid this approval process and instead have …

Corporate Cybersecurity Governance: Director Liability Under Europe’S Nis2 Directive And The Emerging Fiduciary Duty Of Proactive Cybersecurity Oversight, Stacey B. Barrack

American University Business Law Review

This Comment examines the implications of the European Union’s Network and Information Security 2 Directive (“NIS2”) on corporate cybersecurity governance, with a particular focus on the fiduciary duties of directors in multinational corporations operating in the United States. The NIS2 Directive, adopted in 2023 and currently being transposed into national law by EU member states, mandates that boards of directors must directly approve and oversee—and can be liable for—the cybersecurity risk management measures taken by their companies. 

This Comment delves into the intersection of NIS2 with Delaware corporate law and examines how NIS2 influences the fiduciary duty of oversight for …

The Future Of Monetary Federalism: Rethinking Supremacy In The Stablecoin Era, Richard H. Fair

American University Business Law Review

[INTRODUCTION] In the summer of 2023, the State of Wyoming enacted a law authorizing its state treasurer to issue a blockchain-based, state-backed digital stablecoin known as the Wyoming Stable Token (“WYST”). Two years later, Congress passed the Guiding and Establishing National Innovation for U.S. Stablecoins Act (GENIUS Act, GENIUS, or the Act), moving to establish a comprehensive federal regulatory regime for stablecoins. These dueling initiatives have sparked more than regulatory confusion; they have set the stage for a structural clash between state financial innovation and federal monetary supremacy. At the heart of this confrontation lies a question that the Constitution …

A Proposed Tort To Address The Negligent Enablement Of Cloud Data Breaches, Michael L. Rustad

American University Business Law Review

[INTRODUCTION] The term “cloud computing” means the remote storage of software applications, tools, and data accessed through the internet. Cloud customers enter into subscription agreements with providers who give 24/7, on-demand, as-needed access to software, storage, and networking services owned and managed by providers through a web browser. “Many businesses are transitioning to the cloud for data storage, remote work, and collaboration.” Cloud providers operate their software as a software-as-a-service (“SaaS”) model, under which customers pay a subscription fee to access the software. Netflix and Amazon Prime Video are examples of subscription services that deliver television programs and videos through …

Preserving Platform Innovation With A Narrow Exception: Section 230(C)(1) Immunity For Algorithmic Recommendations, John "Jack" Di Masi

American University Business Law Review

This Comment examines Section 230(c)(1)’s immunity for online platforms that use machine-learning algorithms to recommend third party content and proposes a narrow exception for truly “bad-actor” cases. It reviews Section 230’s text, as well as its early cases, showing that Congress intended broad protection for editorial functions such as content organization. It then traces how recommendation algorithms evolved and how courts treat algorithmic sorting as a neutral tool. This Comment addresses conflicting interpretations and defends broad immunity for routine curation. This Comment argues that immunity should be stripped only after a balancing test under a three-factor “bad-actor” framework—one that evaluates …

The Growing Divide: The Video Privacy Protection Act’S Inconsistent Subscriber Standard And The Need For Reform, Andrea Pacheco

American University Business Law Review

The Video Privacy Protection Act of 1988 (“VPPA”) has been brought into the twenty-first century due to a series of class action lawsuits surrounding consumer privacy rights in an increasingly digital world. A circuit split has emerged among the federal appellate courts on the meaning of the word “subscriber” under the VPPA and whether the statute’s protections should extend to casual users of goods and services provided by videotape service providers. The outcome of this debate carries significant implications for consumer privacy and business compliance obligations due to the escalation of business practices involving the collection of consumer data and …

Blame It On The Algorithm (But Sue Them Both): Joint Enterprise And Agency In Ai-Driven Hiring Discrimination, Khushi Palan

American University Business Law Review

The proliferation of artificial intelligence (AI) in hiring processes has created a significant accountability gap in employment discrimination law. While federal statutes like Title VII of the Civil Rights Act, the Americans with Disabilities Act, and the Age Discrimination in Employment Act focus on finding liability for traditional employers, they fail to adequately address the unique role of third-party AI vendors whose algorithms often drive discriminatory outcomes. This Comment examines the emerging legal landscape through the lens of Mobley v. Workday, where the District Court for the Northern District of California recognized that AI vendors can function as “agents” of …

Public Facing, Privately Shielded: The Employment Gap Created By Title Vii’S Private Club Exemption, Ansley Salmon

American University Business Law Review

Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 prohibits employment discrimination by employers but exempts “bona fide private membership clubs” that are tax-exempt under Internal Revenue Code Section 501(c). Despite this seemingly clear statutory language, there is a notable lack of appellate decisions interpreting this exemption under Title VII. This scarcity of precedent has led to inconsistent approaches across circuits. For example, the Fifth Circuit has drawn heavily from the Private Club Exemption under Title II of the Civil Rights Act while the Seventh Circuit has treated the two exemptions as entirely distinct. This Comment argues that the Title …

The Tech-Nuclear Renaissance: A New Critical Juncture For American Nuclear Energy Policy, Henry P. Otte

CMC Senior Theses

Nuclear energy has re-emerged as a central priority in American energy policy. This thesis examines the Trump administration’s efforts to support nuclear energy development and plant restarts, and asks whether today’s nuclear renaissance represents a critical juncture for nuclear energy policy. By analyzing American, French, and Swedish nuclear energy history, this thesis applies a three-variable analytical framework, state autonomy and administrative structure, political permeability, and crisis influence, to identify the institutional conditions necessary for durable policy change and evaluate the structural characteristics of this new environment. The central finding is that today’s push is distinct from prior attempts at expansion, …

Immigration, “Literary Value”, And The Logic Of Late Capitalism In Piersandro Pallavicini’S Il Mostro Di Vigevano (1999), Simone Brioni Dr.

Department of English Faculty Publications

According to Fredric Jameson’s Postmodernism, or, The Cultural Logic of Late Capitalism (1991), postmodern culture functions as an expression of the logic of late capitalism, manifesting in stylistic pastiche, the dominance of spectacle, a waning of historical consciousness, and a corresponding erosion of affect. Central to Jameson’s critique is the contention that postmodernism forecloses the possibility of imagining alternatives to capitalism. This article argues that Piersandro Pallavicini’s Il mostro di Vigevano (1999) exemplifies some of these features, and it shows how its description of immigrants to Italy as ingenuous, innocent, and simple-minded insinuates that they come from backward places …

Qui Tam Relators As Article Iv Officials, Chad Squitieri

Scholarly Articles

Since the earliest days of the republic, Congress has empowered private plaintiffs—called qui tam relators—to bring claims in court on behalf of the United States. Today, qui tam litigation accounts for billions of dollars in judgments and settlements each year. But despite qui tam’s modern significance and historical pedigree, its constitutionality has recently been questioned. To wit, several sitting Supreme Court Justices have suggested that qui tam violates the President’s Article II authority because it empowers private relators—who are neither appointed nor supervised by the President—to enforce federal law. Following similar logic, a lower federal court recently ruled a prominent …

Treatment Of Assignment Of Rents In Bankruptcy Under New York Law, James Agoglia

Bankruptcy Research Library

(Excerpt)

Assignments of rents are a common feature of commercial real estate financing in New York. In connection with a mortgage or other secured loan, a borrower that owns income-producing property typically grants the lender an assignment of rents as additional security, entitling the lender to rental income generated by leases at the property upon the borrower’s default. These assignments are intended to protect the lender’s interest by providing an alternative source of repayment and by limiting the borrower’s ability to divert rental income during periods of financial distress.

Disputes concerning assignments of rents often arise when a borrower defaults …

Priority Of Warn Act Claims In Bankruptcy And Rights Of Independent Contractors, Colin Hanlon

Bankruptcy Research Library

(Excerpt)

The Bankruptcy Code establishes a tiered priority system for the payment of unsecured claims, governing the order of distribution when there are insufficient assets to pay all creditors in full. The priority system is fundamental to the operation of the Bankruptcy Code because in most bankruptcy cases, the debtor lacks adequate assets to fully pay all creditors. The Bankruptcy Code grants fourth-level priority up to $17,150 per individual for “wages, salaries, or commissions, including vacation, severance, and sick leave pay earned by an individual.” To receive priority treatment, wages must be earned within 180 days before either the petition …

Ulcer Osteoma: The Role Of Mri In Differentiating Reactive Proliferative Periostitis From Osteomyelitis, Reza Ayoubi, Mathew Dixon

South Atlantic Division GME Research Days 2026

No abstract provided.

Cardiac Myxoma Presenting As Congestive Heart Failure In An Otherwise Healthy 79-Year-Old Female, Kristen Stovall, Anmoi Patel, Kristin Mcphillips

South Atlantic Division GME Research Days 2026

No abstract provided.

Korean Wedding Hanbok In The May Weber Ethnographic Study Collection, Odette Collins

Department of Anthropology

This report examines a men’s ceremonial hanbok from the May Weber Ethnographic Study Collection, attributed to South Korea in the mid-twentieth century. It discusses the garment’s materials, construction, and decorative techniques, as well as its function as wedding attire. The report situates the object within the historical context of Joseon dynasty court dress, particularly dallyeong robes, and analyzes its symbolic motifs, including crane rank badges. It also considers issues of attribution, provenance, and the broader cultural significance of hanbok in relation to class, tradition, and modern production.