Digital Commons Network^™

2022g_Ebs38_Approved_Nc_Eesl_6663-Teaching-People-From-Other-Cultures, Graduate Council

All Approved Curriculum

No abstract provided.

2021g_Bu17_Approved_Reconfiguration_Ms_Applied-Digital-Technology, Graduate Council

All Approved Curriculum

No abstract provided.

2022g_Bu23_Approved_Nc_Mktg_6273-Digital-Marketing-Revised, Graduate Council

All Approved Curriculum

No abstract provided.

From Sidewalks, Streets, And Parks To Social Media: How Should Courts Apply The Public Forum Doctrine In The Digital Age?, Laurel Wanger

St. John's Law Review

(Excerpt)

This Note examines the circuit split over whether government officials’ social media pages constitute public forums and analyzes how the Supreme Court settled the doctrinal uncertainty in Lindke v. Freed. Part I presents context for this issue by explaining the origins of the public forum doctrine, the ways in which government officials use social media as a means of interacting with their constituents, and the circuit split regarding the proper test to be used when deciding these issues. Part II provides an overview of the majority test used by the Second, Fourth, Eighth, Ninth, and Eleventh Circuits, and …

It’S “Purposeful” For A Reason: Amb Media And Purposeful Availment In The Internet Age, Levi C. Griesing

St. John's Law Review

(Excerpt)

This Note argues that the Sixth Circuit’s ruling in AMB Media II expands the scope of personal jurisdiction to a degree that prevents fairness and due process for out-of-state defendants. Thus, this Note argues that the purposeful availment inquiry for cases involving generally-available commercial websites should include a targeting requirement—that there must first be an action to solicit business taken on behalf of the defendant in the forum state. Part I will review the goals of the personal jurisdiction doctrine and a brief history of purposeful availment cases before and after the Internet age. Part II will discuss AMB …

Betrayal Of Trust, Restoration Of Hope: How To Enforce The Law And Transform The Lives Of Immigrants Ripped Off And Damaged By Bad Lawyers And Scammer Notarios, Vanessa Merton

St. John's Law Review

(Excerpt)

Immigrants seeking lawful status, or otherwise facing denial of entry or deportation, have no right to counsel at government expense. Not even the most sophisticated immigrant can effectively navigate the morass of U.S. immigration law, frequently described by federal judges as “labyrinthine,” “baffling,” “arcane,” and “almost as impenetrable as the Internal Revenue Code.” Competent, ethical representation is essential and, in theory, available from lawyers or accredited representatives. Yet, for most, such representation is shockingly hard to locate and prohibitively expensive. While over 200 nonprofit organizations provide low-cost or free representation to noncitizens, they can assist only a small fraction …

Disposing Of Misdemeanors: An Empirical Perspective, Cynthia Alkon, Jonathan Marshall, Kyle Chrisman, Lydia Sidhom

St. John's Law Review

(Excerpt)

This Article will begin by discussing why misdemeanors matter and the importance of examining these cases to better understand how the criminal legal system is functioning or not. Next, in Section III, we will discuss the importance of plea bargaining, both how it works in practice and the concerns surrounding this process. We will then turn, in Section IV, to a discussion of why it matters to have better data so that the players in the system are better informed about how the legal system actually works. Better data contributes to transparency, which can help improve the general public’s …

Packing Our Way To Balance: A Necessary Correction For The Supreme Court, Robert E. Wagner

St. John's Law Review

The Supreme Court is in turmoil. It has the lowest recorded approval rating in its history. Multiple decisions over the past decade made by Justices nominated by a single political party, that the majority of the country viewed as political in nature, have tarnished the reputation of what was once a beacon of justice and impartiality. The Court is increasingly seen as a partisan institution with political actors rather than the fair and honest arbiter America needs it to be. In addition to dramatically unpopular decisions, the Court has suffered increasingly hostile and political machinations in its nominating process. This …

Gilded Executive Privilege: The Unstated Evidentiary Rule In Trump V. United States, Matthew D. Woodham, Ramona C. Albin

St. John's Law Review

(Excerpt)

In Trump v. United States, the Supreme Court of the United States held that a former President has absolute immunity from criminal prosecution for official acts within his core constitutional powers, presumptive immunity for all other official acts, and no immunity for private conduct undertaken while in office. Although the Court granted certiorari to address an immunity question, it then strayed into an evidentiary one in holding certain official acts evidence to be categorically inadmissible in the prosecution of private conduct. This Article interrogates the evidentiary foundation for this lesser-explored aspect of the Trump opinion and the danger …

Table Of Contents

St. John's Law Review

No abstract provided.

Review Of The Hutterites In North America, John D. Roth

Communal Societies

No abstract provided.

Single-Sex, Secular Intentional Communities In Australia, William J. Metcalf

Communal Societies

No abstract provided.

The New Kibbutzim: Case Study Overview Of The Structure, Organization, And Management Of A Kibbutz Of Kvutzot, James Horrox

Communal Societies

No abstract provided.

Review Of Modem Polygamy In The United States: Historical, Cultural, And Legal Issues, Christopher James Blythe

Communal Societies

No abstract provided.

Examining Diversity Messaging Practices Of Division I Athletic College Sports Communicators, David Cassilo

Journal of Issues in Intercollegiate Athletics

In recent years, college athletic communication departments have been tasked with more messaging related to race and diversity. This research used semi-structured interviews to understand the message creation practices of Division I athletic communication departments when generating diversity and social justice messaging. The research was examined within the context of the theory of racialized organizations. Interviews were conducted with 11 athletic communication staff members at Division I universities. Five themes were constructed related to diversity and social justice messaging of athletic communication departments at Division I universities. These are (a) a White world, (b) need to represent collegiate athletes, (c) …

Review Of The Intentional Christian Community Handbook, Jon Trott

Communal Societies

No abstract provided.

Review Of Utopias: A Brief History From Ancient Writings To Virtual Communities, Tom Moylan

Communal Societies

No abstract provided.

A Community Of Bruderhof Leavers: Reflections On The Kit /Hummer Process, J. Timothy Johnson, Ruth Lambach

Communal Societies

No abstract provided.

Deathbed Estate Planning For The Investor When, Claireen L. Herting

Tax Adviser

No abstract provided.

Exploring Saudi Arabia’S Failed War In Yemen Through A Civil-Military Relations Lens, Zachariah Richards

Bates College Journal of Political Studies

This article argues that the Saudi Arabian military's inability to achieve its goals in its war against the Houthi rebels in Yemen is largely the result of the relationship dynamics between the country's civilian and military institutions. For decades, this relationship has been defined by extensive coup-proofing on behalf of the Saudi civilian monarchy that has weakened some of its military's capabilities and fundamentally affected its battlefield quality. Through exploring specific cases of the Saudi military's performance in Yemen and incorporating relevant literature on coup-proofing and the civil-military problematique, this article contends that a country's military performance cannot be analyzed …

Trump Vs. The Fourteenth Amendment, Rye Maccurtain

Bates College Journal of Political Studies

This paper argues that President Trump’s 2025 executive order to end birthright citizenship represents a major break from constitutional tradition and a clear turn toward far-right ideology. The order challenges the Fourteenth Amendment, which guarantees citizenship to anyone born on United States soil and has been upheld for more than a century, including in the Supreme Court case United States v. Wong Kim Ark. Although some conservatives may frame the action as a routine effort to strengthen immigration policy, the order moves beyond traditional conservatism. It departs from the rule of law, rejects long-standing legal precedent, and promotes an exclusionary …

Ai Against Copyright Law And Intellectual Property, Nate Oh

Bates College Undergraduate Law Review

No abstract provided.

The New Language: Contractual Interpretation In The Age Of Emojis, Kosi Moneke

Bates College Undergraduate Law Review

Since their creation in 1999, emojis have evolved from just playful visual expressions to communicative tools that are increasingly appearing in legal disputes. This paper explores emojis as mediums of legal meaning. It examines how U.S. contract law approaches emojis as evidence of assent, threat, conspiracy, and intent, and how established contractual doctrines have adapted to emojis as tools of expressive communication. Though ambiguous, this paper aims to demonstrate that emojis can be interpreted within existing contractual frameworks.

This paper is structured as follows: it situates emojis as a continuation of contract law's historical engagement with nonverbal assent. It will …

Rethinking Coercion: Moving Beyond Moralized Accounts Of Coercion, Lorenz N. Soukup

Bates College Journal of Political Studies

Coercion is often portrayed as a vile act, which is inherently immoral. Typical examples include blackmail or receiving an offer at gunpoint. Most contemporary theories centre around this characteristic immorality of coercion. In the following paper I will argue that coercion need not involve an immoral act. I will look at two distinctly different theories of coercion. On the one hand, a moralised account proposed by Jennifer Lackey and on the other hand, an account refraining from moralising coercion brought forward by Scott Anderson. The aim of this paper is not to define coercion but to motivate a shift in …

Recurring Patterns In Democratic Backsliding: The United States, Hungary, And Israel, Leah Brouda

Bates College Journal of Political Studies

Utilizing a three-pronged analysis method, this article argues that not only is democratic backsliding – the degrading quality of democratic institutions in a state – on the rise but that it has frequent recurring themes. These themes are consolidation of executive authority, changes in court power and judicial independence, and election manipulation. Utilizing a combination of public opinion research and indexes such as Freedom House and the Global State of Democracy Index (GSDI), these themes emerge as patterns that are both understood and misconstrued by citizens in each country and of the world. The analysis is based on themes in …

Trump Vs. The Fourteenth Amendment, Rye Maccurtain

Bates College Undergraduate Law Review

This paper argues that President Trump’s 2025 executive order to end birthright citizenship represents a major break from constitutional tradition and a clear turn toward far-right ideology. The order challenges the Fourteenth Amendment, which guarantees citizenship to anyone born on United States soil and has been upheld for more than a century, including in the Supreme Court case United States v. Wong Kim Ark. Although some conservatives may frame the action as a routine effort to strengthen immigration policy, the order moves beyond traditional conservatism. It departs from the rule of law, rejects long-standing legal precedent, and promotes an exclusionary …

Silenced Voices: An Exploration Of Religious Oppression And Human Rights Violation In Post-Revolutionary Iran, Isabella Caradonna

Bates College Undergraduate Law Review

No abstract provided.

Bates College Undergraduate Law Review: Volume Ii, Issue I, Fall 2025, Bates College Law Society

Bates College Undergraduate Law Review

No abstract provided.

Automated Spatial Localization Of Iot Devices Via Visual Detection And Network-Initiated Feedback, Michael Christopher Yu

Defensive Publications Series

Manually registering the spatial positions of numerous Internet of Things (IoT) devices within an Extended Reality (XR) environment is a cumbersome process for users. This lack of automated spatial mapping limits the ability to perform context-aware interactions with these devices. The disclosed method addresses this by using an XR device’s vision and depth sensors to first detect a potential IoT device and estimate its 3D position. The XR device then sends a network-based request to candidate devices, instructing them to provide a confirmation signal, such as illuminating an LED. When the XR device’s camera detects this signal, the device's identity …

Predicting User Interaction Intent For Adaptive Ui Highlighting In Extended Reality Environments, Tushar Chugh, Aditya Shrikant Mone, Karthik Kumara

Defensive Publications Series

In extended reality (XR) environments, persistent highlighting of user interface (UI) elements based on gaze can distract users during non-interactive tasks, such as reading. Conversely, a complete lack of highlighting can reduce interaction precision and increase the risk of accidentally activating critical controls. The disclosed technology is a method for adaptive gaze highlighting that dynamically controls the visibility of these visual cues. The method utilizes a model to analyze multimodal inputs, such as gaze patterns, gestural cues, and application context, to predict a user’s intent to interact. A necessity score is calculated based on the UI element’s characteristics and the …