Digital Commons Network^™

It’S Time For A Change: A Proposal To Abolish Solitary Confinement From Canadian Prisons, Amy Rico

Bridges: An Undergraduate Journal of Contemporary Connections

Despite Canada’s reputation for being a leader in human rights, its treatment of prisoners requires a closer examination. In particular, prisoner and human rights advocates have widely criticized the use of solitary confinement in Canadian federal and provincial prisons as a form of torture. Solitary confinement imposes excruciating and demeaning conditions on prisoners, jeopardizing their mental and physical welfare. Following court decisions deeming solitary confinement unconstitutional, the federal government replaced the formal use of solitary confinement with structured intervention units. However, these units continue to be a reformulated version of the original practice, sustaining the torturous conditions subjected to inmates. …

Documentary History Of The Limitations And Exceptions In The Sccr, Luca Schirru, Lokesh Vyas, Haddija Jawara, Lukas Ruthes Gonçalves, Sean Flynn

Joint PIJIP/TLS Research Paper Series

The objective of this study is to systematically map all meetings of the Standing Committee on Copyright and Related Rights (SCCR) and the General Assemblies (GA) of the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) to extract, compile, and organize all relevant statements made by Member States regarding the Limitations and Exceptions (L&Es).

The analysis was based on publicly available data from the WIPO website, particularly the official pages dedicated to each SCCR and GA meeting. Our primary focus was on statements recorded in the official "Report" document of each session. When available, we also examined supplementary documents, such as the "Summary …

Jurgen Habermas's Views On Legal Validity And Discourse Ethics: A Literature Review, Rika Febriani, Supartiningsih Supartiningsih, Sindung Tjahyadi

Jurnal Civics: Media Kajian Kewarganegaraan

In modern states, law is often reduced to merely a tool of power. Many contemporary practices treat law as nothing more than a procedural requirement, disregarding its substantive values and the social conditions of society. This article discusses the validity of law within a political community from Habermas's perspective. According to him, the law must be discursive and stem from rational subjects capable of effective communication. The fundamental questions addressed are: how can law ideally be derived from norms within a political society? And how can law subsequently foster a democratic society? This article employs historical-factual methods, with primary sources …

Mishaps And Misdiagnosis: The Growing Need For Regulation Over The Preimplantation Genetic Diagnosis Industry, Anna M. Lucchese

SPARK Symposium Presentations

This note explores negligence involved in a unique type of In-Vitro Fertilization (IVF) procedure that incorporates genetic testing to assess whether an embryos has a harmful genetic abnormality before implantation. This procedure is known as Preimplantation Genetic Testing (PGD). The Note explains the current regulatory schemes for PGD in the United States—or lack thereof—compared to other countries and guidelines from international professional societies. It further outlines options for what regulatory authorities in the United States would be best suited to oversee PGD use. The Note ultimately argues that fertility clinics should be required to adopt mandatory quality certifications to enhance …

Toward Gender Parity In The South Carolina Appellate Judiciary, Anna M. Bishop

Senior Theses

In April 2023, former Chief Justice Kay Hearn retired from the Supreme Court of South Carolina, leaving the state without a woman justice on its highest court until June 2024. During this time, South Carolina was the only state in the nation to lack a female presence on its court of last resort. This lack of women was detrimental, as women judges provide crucial insight and experience to the courts on which they serve.

Through a literature review, I examine the importance of women on the bench and how different state judicial selection mechanisms affect the gendered makeup of state …

The Lawyer: Spring 2025, Seattle University School Of Law

Lawyer

No abstract provided.

Clean Data: Recursion As Pollution In Environmental Ai, Joshua Fairfield

Scholarly Articles

If “data is the new oil,” then corruption in the data used to train artificial intelligence (AI) constitutes a new form of pollution. Environmental AI has traditionally been discussed in terms of its indirect effects on the environment—the irony of burning power, processor cycles, and heat to produce solutions to stop and heal environmental damage. But there is a deeper problem. When environmental AI suggests interventions, its outputs are written onto the landscape. If that landscape is then read as data to retrain AI, there is a risk of model collapse and catastrophic forgetting, as the snake devours its own …

Legal Precedents For Slavery And Manumission In Colonial Virginia, Sydney Gilbert

Helms School of Government Spring Public Policy Conference

Legal precedence played a significant role in the development of Virginia’s slave and manumission laws. Virginia’s society and government is derived from English legal traditions and common law; however, as the colony developed, the Virginia courts and General Assembly produced their own traditions and precedents in response to its growing society. Similarly, the colony’s slave system initially relied on principles from English law but was established in response to Virginia’s unique societal and economic developments through court rulings and laws by the General Assembly. In addition to the laws passed by the Virginia General Assembly, the status of Africans and …

The Death Penalty In The Bible: What Does God’S Word Say?, Caily Shriver

Helms School of Government Spring Public Policy Conference

The death penalty is widely debated among Christians, as various verses are used to support both sides of this argument. Although this topic can be controversial, the Bible shows that God said, “Thou shall not murder” when he gave Moses the Ten Commandments and that Jesus tells Christians to love their neighbor. Christians need to have a more unified view on this issue because many Christians on the opposing side of the death penalty essentially claim that the Bible contradicts itself. Such a belief destroys the Bible’s credibility and our credibility as Christians because our beliefs come from God’s Word. …

Re-Imagining Tomorrow: A Technology, Innovation Law, And Ethics Symposium On Addictive Technology And Children, Margaret Chon

Seattle University Law Review

In this Foreword, Professor Margaret Chon introduces Seattle University's Technology, Innovation Law, and Ethics (TILE) program, the 2024 TILE Symposium, and Dr. Gaia Bernstein’s Unwired: Gaining Control Over Addictive Technologies.

Analysis Of The Agenda For Sccr 46, Pijip

Joint PIJIP/TLS Research Paper Series

Protection of Broadcasting Organizations

The central question for the Broadcasting Treaty, in line with the 2007 General Assembly Mandate, is whether there is sufficient “agreement on objectives, specific scope and object of protection” to warrant a recommendation for a diplomatic conference. (WO/GA/34/16). The 2006 GA mandated that the Broadcasting Treaty be “confined to the protection of broadcasting and cablecasting organizations in the traditional sense” and “based on a signal-based approach” (WO/GA/33/10, para 107, 2006).

The SCCR 45 Chair’s Summary states:“[w]ith respect to objectives, there is common understanding … that the treaty should be narrowly focused on …

Objectives And Principles For An Instrument On Limitations And Exceptions: Relevant Excerpts And Proposals, Sean Flynn, Luca Schirru

Joint PIJIP/TLS Research Paper Series

The Committee on Copyright and Related Rights (SCCR) has been mandated by the 2012 General Assembly to work toward “an appropriate international legal instrument or instruments (whether through model law, joint recommendation, treaty, and/or other forms)”. In SCCR 43, the Committee adopted a Work Program (SCCR/43/8) to draft “objectives, principles, and options” for potential instruments. With the goal of facilitating the discussion within the Committee and the design of principles and objectives, our research team systematically gathered and organized relevant excerpts from a variety of sources including existing treaties, laws, SCCR documents, academic contributions, and civil society proposals. This document …

Legal Writing Simplified, Michelle Zakarin

Open Touro Created

2025

This book has been designed to help law students learn to write analytically in a straight-forward, simple, yet effective style. I have included text to explain the particular writing concepts and videos that explain concepts clearly. Different modalities can be useful in order to appeal to different learning styles. My hope is to demonstrate that mastering the art of legal writing can positively impact all aspects of law school and all aspects of a legal career.

The Decalogue As A Transitional Model For Fear, Pamela Jensen Ikasalo

Liberty Theological Review

God’s original intention for relationships was disrupted by the fall of man as recorded in Genesis 3. From that point, fear of man played an intricate role in both interpersonal relationships and decision-making. The purpose of the Decalogue was to moderate relationships among the people and with their God. However, there is an additional purpose as well. The Decalogue serves as a transitional model from fear of man to fear of the Lord. When God’s people live according to the precedents found in Exodus 20 and Deuteronomy 5 their lifestyle no longer follows the pattern set by fallen humanity. Both …

Reforming Copyright Or Toward Another Science? A More Human Rights-Oriented Approach Under The Rebspa In Constructing A "Right To Research" For Scholarly Publishing, Klaus Beiter

Joint PIJIP/TLS Research Paper Series

This article identifies copyright impediments existing in the sphere of science, and then tentatively suggests how such impediments may be overcome. It focuses on scholarly publishing only, and here primarily on digital content, and specifically asks whether expensive commercial scholarly publishers continue to “add value” to research in the digital era. The deficits of copyright law and potential solutions thereto are assessed in the light of the right of everyone “to enjoy the benefits of scientific progress and its applications” (REBSPA) as laid down in Article 15(1)(b) of the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (ICESCR) of 1966. …

When Anti-Fraud Laws Become A Barrier To Computer Science Research, Madelyne Xiao, Andrew Sellars, Sarah Scheffler

Faculty Scholarship

Computer science research sometimes brushes with the law, from red-team exercises that probe the boundaries of authentication mechanisms, to AI research processing copyrighted material, to platform research measuring the behavior of algorithms and users. U.S.-based computer security research is no stranger to the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act (CFAA) and the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) in a relationship that is still evolving through case law, research practices, changing policies, and legislation

Amid the landscape computer scientists, lawyers, and policymakers have learned to navigate, anti-fraud laws are a surprisingly under-examined challenge for computer science research. Fraud brings separate issues that …

Technologically Competent Reprised: Ethical Practice In An Ai Age And Considerations For Our Courts In A Burgeoning Ai Era, Heidi L. Frostestad

College of Law Faculty Publications

The recent explosion of artificial intelligence and generative AI undeniably impacts our federal and state courts. Currently, ABA Model Rule 1.1 and its Comment include a broad requirement of technological competence for an ethical practice. This Article will identify the technical competence obligations embodied in Model Rule 1.1 and examine the implications of AI for technological competence standards. After reviewing the timeline of cases that invoke AI hallucinations and other issues and current scholarly literature, this Article will propose a more specific ethical standard for baseline knowledge of various AI technologies according to current practice and use of ever-expanding technologies …

Unraveling The Ties That Bind: How Dobbs And Loper Bright Might Reconfigure American Party Politics, Gregory A. Elinson

College of Law Faculty Publications

What happens to partisan politics when long-standing doctrinal equilibria are upended? In search of answers, this essay engages in an extended comparison of two recent landmark Supreme Court rulings: Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization, which overruled Roe v. Wade, and Loper Bright Enterprises v. Raimondo, which overruled Chevron USA v. Natural Resources Defense Council.

It begins with the observation that opposition to abortion and judicial deference on the right, and support for abortion and judicial deference on the left, helped unite the major party coalitions, forging durable alliances among elected officials, organized interests, donors, activists, …

Cronyism In Creating Chronic Disease—A Path To Food Justice, Martha Leonard

St. Thomas Law Review

Central to this discussion is a quote often attributed to the ancient Greek physician Hippocrates: “Let food be thy medicine, and medicine be thy food.” Today, physicians recognize the crucial role of diet in maintaining good health and preventing chronic disease, but U.S. laws fail to reflect this understanding. The health field has seen significant progress in scientific research on pathology; however, nutritional research presents a challenging and contradictory landscape. Corporate influence in scientific research leads to a lack of consensus on the most optimal diet for promoting general health, presenting a challenge for policymaking. The dark reality is that …

The New World's Pandemic: Sexual Exploitation In The Digital Age, Rocio Iglesias Gonzalez

St. Thomas Law Review

Mary is a fifteen-year-old who is excited about starting her sophomore year of high school. Unbeknownst to Mary, George, a classmate whose romantic advances Mary had rejected, created a sexually explicit image generated by artificial intelligence, most commonly known as a deepfake, of Mary and started sending it to other classmates. Once Mary discovered the deepfaked pictures, she and her parents sought legal advice on available remedies. Unfortunately, Mary lives in Nevada, a state that has no legislation addressing the issue of nonconsensual sexually explicit deepfakes. Similarly, at the federal level, Mary has no course of action against her offender. …

2025 Shepard Broad College Of Law Admissions Viewbook, Nova Southeastern University

Shepard Broad College of Law Viewbook

No abstract provided.

6. Mark: Sources And References, Matthew Lipman

Secondary School Curriculum

This sequential bibliography matches the 1980 edition of Mark page by page. It contains both sources—works that influenced Matthew Lipman in writing the novel—and references to philosophical works he and Ann Margaret Sharp recommend to explore the novels’ philosophical themes.

Profess, Apply, Pickle, And Trash: Four Legal Educators' Approaches To The Law, David Ray Papke

Saint Louis University Law Journal

Outsiders might assume that law professors at a given school teach their students all of the laws. But alas, an undertaking of that sort would be impossible. The laws are simply too numerous and variable to be presented in full. What law professors can and do convey, meanwhile, are approaches to the selected laws they might be teaching. After graduation from law school, many lawyers will hold onto and use their professors’ approaches for the rest of their professional lives.

Humanizing The Law: Building Better Lawyers Through Mediation Coursework, Simone A. Haberstock

Saint Louis University Law Journal

Many students enter law school with the goal of helping others. Traditional law school classes do not help students develop empathy and an understanding of client needs and interests. This paper argues that mediation training in law school helps students improve their understanding of the human experience of litigants involved in legal disputes and builds important empathic, relational, conflict resolution, and problem-solving skills. These skills not only help students connect with and understand their clients better but can promote the self-awareness and self-care necessary for students to become healthier and happier practicing attorneys. This results in students who are more …

The Unethical Practices Of Force-Placed Insurance: How To Protect And Indemnify The Forgotten Investors Of Mortgage-Backed Securities, Devin Moore

St. Thomas Law Review

In the United States, the media has been attempting to inform homeowners of an abusive insurance policy: force-placed insurance. Force-placed insurance is a type of policy that only protects the interest of the mortgage lender or mortgage servicer, and not the homeowner. While federal and state governments have restricted force-placed insurance policies for homeowners, the laws do not protect investors of mortgage-backed securities with force-placed insurance policies. These investors have an extensive impact on the general population since their investments are funded by retirement savings plans. As a result, the investors could lose the retirement savings of millions without proper …

Tsai Today (2025), Southern Methodist University, Dedman School Of Law, Tsai Center For Law, Science And Innovation

Tsai Today

No abstract provided.

The Irony Of Humphrey's Executor & The Separation Of Powers Doctrine, Nicholas R. Barrow

St. Thomas Law Review

The vestiges of the Humphrey’s Executor1 exception for independent agencies are crumbling. Just as with Chevron, the Roberts Court—particularly in the turbulent wake of Free Enterprise, Lucia, and Seila Law—has seemed to suggest that Humphrey’s days are numbered. When Consumers’ Research v. Consumer Product Safety Commission finally arrived at the doorstep of the high Court, the inevitable had seemingly arrived—Humphrey’s was finally to fall. Yet there were not four votes to hear the case. The Fifth Circuit was so hotly divided amongst itself as to Humphrey’s continued meaning and applicability to modern administrative agencies that a bare-thin majority (9-8) concluded …

Clarifying The Constitutional Boundaries Of Income Taxation After Moore V. United States, Catherine Gluchowski

St. Thomas Law Review

Despite the significance of the term “income,” both the United States Supreme Court and the Internal Revenue Code do not provide an explicit definition of the term. This ambiguity causes the constitutionality of income taxation to remain a contested issue. Central to this ongoing debate is the issue of realization as a prerequisite for income taxation, exemplified by the case of Moore v. United States. In a landmark decision, the Ninth Circuit ruled that realization is not a constitutional requirement for Congress to impose a tax exempt from apportionment under the Sixteenth Amendment. This decision marked a pivotal departure from …

Oh Mother, Where Art Thou Paycheck?: Answering The Mommy Blogger Dilemma With Increased Privacy And Financial Protections For Minors, Sarah M. Parker

SPARK Symposium Presentations

This paper provides an overview of the current child entertainment laws and highlights the need for increased protection of minors working on social media, ultimately arguing for the adoption of a nationwide Coogan Law modeled after Illinois' law and the European Union's General Data Protection Regulation. The paper provides a sample Uniform Coogan Code that jurisdictions could adopt to implement such protections for minors online, including provisions covering required savings, financial access by parents, and the right to be forgotten.

Birth On Mother Earth: Mitigating The Maternal Health Crisis, Jill C. Engle

Faculty Scholarship

Maternal health outcomes in the U.S. are remarkably poor, especially when compared to those in other industrialized countries. For example, our maternal death rate is more than twice that of Canada’s. Women of color in the U.S. suffer maternal morbidity and mortality at rates considerably higher than white women. Indigenous women experience the worst maternal health outcomes of all. Yet, most maternal deaths and injuries are preventable. Furthermore, rates of maternal harm, including death, are lower when midwives and similar birthing attendants are involved. This Article is the first to fully explore the unique skillset of traditional birth attendants (TBAs). …