Digital Commons Network^™

Immigrants Vs. Artificial Intelligence: The Human Cost Of Ai In Asylum Decisions, Jems Guirguis

Minnesota Journal of Law & Inequality

No abstract provided.

Fading Prestige: A Comparative Analysis Of Trademark Dilution's Impact On Luxury Fashion Brands In The United States And European Union, Pravalika Surakanti

IP Theory

The paper focuses on the concept of trademark dilution in relation to luxury fashion brands in international markets. Focusing on the United States and the European Union, it will look at the different approaches these regions take and how certain holdups in dilution law affect fashion companies’ global brand protection strategies. The paper looks at the application of the Federal Trademark Dilution Act, the EU Trademark Directive, and other essential laws to their respective jurisdictions’ cases to determine the trends of trademark dilution claims. It is found that both regions provide luxury fashion houses with substantial protection; however, the European …

Tribal Sovereignty, Sales Tax, And States Interference: Why Tax Compacts May Be The Best Way Forward, Emiliana Almanza Lopez

Minnesota Journal of Law & Inequality

No abstract provided.

Refunding The Community: What Defunding Mpd Means And Why It Is Urgent And Realistic, Jli Vol. 39 Editorial Board

Minnesota Journal of Law & Inequality

No abstract provided.

From Endowment To Extraction: Critical Mineral Governance And Supply-Chain Integration In The Arctic, Charles Bollwerk

CMC Senior Theses

Annexing Greenland, making Canada the 51st State – what’s it all about? Critical minerals are often treated as a geological and national security problem that can be fixed through strength and coercion. This thesis argues that, in the Arctic, governance structures are what determine whether critical mineral wealth becomes strategically useful. Through a comparative qualitative analysis of Greenland, Canada, Alaska, Russia, and the Nordic countries, it examines what drives variation in critical mineral extraction and supply-chain integration across Arctic states, an especially relevant topic as Western states seek to reduce dependence on Chinese-controlled supply chains. The analysis applies four variables …

Goods, Practices, Excellence, And The Law: Steps To An Internal Theory Of Value, Rowan Gray

CMC Senior Theses

Practices are the coherent and complex social activities we spend much of our lives engaging in. This category encompasses everything from figure skating to wine-tasting to friend relationships. We gain immense value from participating in practices, and philosophers have articulated a number of accounts for where the value emerges from and how we can best experience it. Many of these theories are ‘externalist’, because they posit that value is incidental to practices and emerges from outside of them.

In contrast, this thesis will argue that the value in practices is internal to each practice. The value comes from each practice’s …

Bitcoin And The American Conflict Over Money And Property, Jacob Smagula

CMC Senior Theses

I argue that Bitcoin is the latest expression of the recurring American conflict over who controls the terms of money and property, and that the political coalition formed around Bitcoin shares the same characteristics as earlier coalitions formed around this struggle. I review three historical cases that each produced a coalition opposing the existing monetary order: the Bank War of the 1830s, the Free Silver movement of the 1890s, and the populist backlash against the Federal Reserve during the 1979 Farm Crisis and the 2008 Great Recession. I find that Bitcoin’s architecture, which allows for self-custody, permissionless access, and an …

More Than A Lawyer: Participation, Representation, And Outcomes In Los Angeles Debt Collection Court, Josephine V. Aspromonte

CMC Senior Theses

This paper estimates the effect of legal representation on case outcomes using 531,959 limited-jurisdiction debt-collection cases filed in the Los Angeles Superior Court between 2012 and 2022. Defendants are classified into three groups: those who defaulted without responding, those who responded pro se, and those who retained counsel. Because defendants are not randomly assigned to representation, three estimation strategies address selection bias: a binary logit, a multinomial logit with text-mined docket covariates, and propensity score matching on pre-treatment characteristics.Three findings emerge. First, the binary logit associates representation with a 10 to 13 percentage point reduction in default probability, but matching …

Moving The Goalposts: Saudi Arabia, Football, And The Changing Rules Of Global Legitimacy, Sanskriti S. Kumar

CMC Senior Theses

Most commentary on Gulf state sports investment concludes that sportswashing fails: Saudi Arabia's favorability ratings remain low, its human rights situation has deteriorated, and Western public opinion shows no measurable improvement. This thesis argues that this conclusion applies the wrong standard. Asking whether Saudi Arabia has become more admired misses the more consequential question of whether it has become more accepted, and treating those two outcomes as equivalent produces misleading results. This thesis develops an original Normalization-Attraction Framework to evaluate whether the Saudi Public Investment Fund's October 2021 acquisition of Newcastle United Football Club has generated measurable political returns. The …

From Governed To Subjected: The Supreme Court And The Collapse Of Rule-Of-Law Adjudication, Katherine E. Schwab

CMC Senior Theses

This thesis argues that the Supreme Court is producing a structural crisis in rule-of-law adjudication through three converging mechanisms: the expanded use of the shadow docket, the cynical appropriation of precedent, and the dominance of strict originalism. Each independently undermines the conditions that distinguish legitimate governance from the mere exercise of coercive power. Together, they replace the general, stable, publicly intelligible norms the rule of law requires with the successive pronouncements of whoever currently holds interpretive power.

The thesis develops its argument in three stages. First, drawing on Antonin Scalia's account of rule-like precedent and Jeremy Waldron's layered theory of …

Foreign States, Private Proxies, And “Discretionary” Torts On U.S. Soil, George K. Foster

Indiana Law Journal

The tortious act exception to sovereign immunity offers a vital path for tort victims to seek redress against foreign states for harms committed on U.S. soil. Yet some courts have narrowed the exception in troubling ways when rejecting claims alleging clergy abuse cover-ups, cyberattacks, and other serious misconduct. Some have held that the exception applies only to torts committed by state officials and employees, excluding private actors even when acting under state direction. Others have deemed conduct “discretionary”—and therefore immune—even when it patently violated U.S. law or contractual obligations. This Article challenges both readings. Drawing on legislative history, common law, …

Shifting Structural Power: The Tech Energy Transition, Amy L. Stein

Indiana Law Journal

For the first time in over a decade, flat and stagnant electricity demand is expected to skyrocket. This increased demand is driven in large part by data centers that support artificial intelligence, crypto mining, and cloud computing. This is straining the electric grid, its stakeholders, and legal constructs in significant ways. Legal energy scholarship has spent the last fifteen years focused on the challenges of managing an electric grid transitioning to clean energy, in a world where privately owned electric utilities maintain powerful monopolies across the country. But there are no accounts of how the balance of power in this …

Revisionist Political Coalitions, Queering, And The Transmission Of Violence, Tom Y. Inouye

CMC Senior Theses

This thesis examines the ways in which violent non-state actors (VNSAs), specifically revisionist political coalitions (RPCs), emerge from a state-centric international system that denies them access to formal avenues of political advocacy, legitimacy, and recognition. Challenging dominant portraits in international security that cast non-state-perpetrated violence as irrational or deviant, I argue that RPCs turn to brutality as a strategic response to exclusion produced by the Westphalian paradigm. Queer theory, particularly the concepts of legibility and strategic disidentification, is central to the reconceptualization of RPCs as “queered” political objects whose existence falls outside the normative boundaries of sovereignty and legitimacy.

To …

Lessons Unlearned: Cultural Competence And The Limits Of U.S. Army Doctrine In Iraq And Afghanistan, Kylie W. Ha

CMC Senior Theses

This thesis examines how the absence of comprehensive cultural and linguistic competence within U.S. Army doctrine contributed to operational and ethical failures during the wars in Iraq (2003–2011) and Afghanistan (2001–2021). It focuses on the gap between doctrinal recognition of culture and language and the failure to institutionalize these elements as measurable, force-wide competencies. The thesis analyzes doctrinal publications spanning the period from 2001 to 2014 and finds that, while these publications increasingly acknowledged the importance of cultural awareness, language, and local context—particularly in counterinsurgency operations—these elements were not embedded as standardized requirements across training, planning, or evaluation. Iraq and …

Interrogating The Facts Of The Case, Anna Roberts

Indiana Law Journal

Buried within many criminal judicial opinions is the origin of their “facts”—the interrogation room. Criminal law pedagogy should expose this origin. If we treat the alleged product of interrogation as “what happened,” as criminal cases (and professors) sometimes do, we obscure the ways in which interrogators are trained to incriminate and to co-create confessions. We also risk obscuring subsequent layers of reporting by police, prosecutors, or judges.

Recent scholarly literature urges criminal law professors to teach differently, warning that we distort, sanitize, and bolster the carceral state when we erase governmental agents and bypass procedure. Treating the “facts of the …

Misinformation And The Jury, Gustavo Ribeiro

Indiana Law Journal

This Article bridges critical gaps between the growing body of social science research on misinformation and the persistent challenges jurors face in evaluating potentially unreliable evidence in courtrooms. Misinformation—a pervasive issue undermining decision-making in democratic societies—mirrors the difficulties jurors encounter in distinguishing truth from falsehood amid compelling but unreliable evidence. The consequences of such challenges are dire: wrongful convictions, racial disparities, and the erosion of public trust in the legal system.

This Article is the first piece of legal scholarship to provide a comprehensive discussion of current research on the psychological mechanisms underlying susceptibility to misinformation—such as the illusory truth …

From Vision To Practice: Developing A Field-Informed Framework For Music Education In Catholic Schools, Melita Mudri-Zubacz

Doctor of Education (EdD)

This study aimed to develop a sustainable and mission-focused framework for music  education in Catholic elementary schools, in order to bridge the gap between the theological ideals of Catholic education and the lack of operational models for its implementation. The problem had significant implications for school leaders, music teachers, and students, as it restricted the potential of the school’s music programs to support the development of Catholic identity and liturgical participation.

The purpose of this study was to develop a field-informed and consensus-driven framework based on Catholic identity, sustainability, and expertise. The conceptual framework for this study integrated theological and …

Table Of Contents

University of the District of Columbia Law Review

No abstract provided.

Preface, Crystal Barnes-Bullock

University of the District of Columbia Law Review

No abstract provided.

The Fatality Of Rights-Based Argumentation: Conservative Co-Optation, Liberal Fragmentation, And The Battle For The Narrative, Yesha Shah

University of the District of Columbia Law Review

Rights-based liberal argumentation has become increasingly vulnerable to conservative co-optation. Because rights language is often indeterminate and easily reinterpreted, conservatives can appropriate liberal rhetoric, recast it in service of contrary ends, and redirect attention away from substantive policy consequences. This Article examines that dynamic through case studies on abortion, criminal justice reform, and affirmative action, and argues that liberals should rely more heavily on cost-benefit analysis as a complementary framework for political messaging. More concrete and empirically grounded than abstract rights rhetoric, cost-benefit analysis may be less susceptible to rhetorical hijacking while still supporting progressive policy outcomes.

The Fiction Of Separation: Racial Gerrymandering Disguised As Partisan Redistricting, Crystal Barnes-Bullock

University of the District of Columbia Law Review

While constitutional doctrine formally distinguishes between racial and partisan gerrymandering, this distinction has become increasingly untenable in the modern electoral landscape. In many jurisdictions, particularly in the South, race and political affiliation are deeply intertwined. As a result, what courts treat as “partisan” redistricting often operates as de facto racial gerrymandering, shielding racially discriminatory practices from judicial review. The legal separation of race and party not only reflects a formalist fiction but also undermines the protections the Equal Protection Clause and the Voting Rights Act were designed to provide. The current legal framework that distinguishes racial gerrymandering from partisan gerrymandering …

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University of the District of Columbia Law Review

No abstract provided.

Rooted In Family Unity: Advocating For U.S. Citizen Children As Qualifying Relatives, Kevin J. Henriquez

University of the District of Columbia Law Review

This paper advocates for expanding the scope of unlawful presence waivers under § 212(a)(9)(B)(v) of the Immigration and Nationality Act (“INA”) to include U.S. citizen offspring as “qualifying relatives.” Under current law, the waiver only recognizes hardship to U.S. citizens or lawful permanent resident spouses or parents, excluding offsprings entirely despite their central role in family life. This exclusion undermines decades of immigration policy prioritizing family unity and creates devastating consequences for mixed-status families, particularly where U.S. citizens, minors, or adults depend on undocumented parents for financial, emotional, or medical support. This paper traces the statutory and legislative history of …

Silos, Gaps, And Bridges: A Call To Action For Law Schools To Facilitate Collaboration Across The Curriculum At The Dawn Of The Nextgen Bar, Elizabeth Usman, Andrea Gemignani

University of the District of Columbia Law Review

Now is a time for action. With the advent of the NextGen bar exam and the recent changes to the ABA accreditation standards for law schools, which both focus on valuing practical legal skills, law schools have a unique opportunity. By coordinating practical and doctrinal content across the curriculum, law schools can ensure that all graduates are proficient in fundamental lawyering skills and prepared for both the bar exam and practice success. ...

Part I of this article examines the foundations of American legal education from apprenticeships to the emergence of the case study method. It then explores the calls …

Rights Without Remedies: How Trump V. Casa Undermines Universal Injunctions And Uniform Constitutional Enforcement, Savannah Cobbs

University of the District of Columbia Law Review

Trump v. CASA, Inc. significantly reduced the remedial authority of the federal judiciary by rejecting the power of federal district courts to issue universal injunctions, a tool long used to halt widespread constitutional violations. Framed as a procedural decision about equitable remedies, the ruling severely narrows the scope of relief available in challenges to executive action. This Comment examines how the Court’s decision limits lower courts’ capacity to provide meaningful remedies and reshapes the balance of power among the branches of government. The analysis argues that the majority misapplies case law like Grupo Mexicano by imposing an unduly rigid historical …

Criminalizing The Platform: Fosta-Sesta, Internet Governance, And The Erosion Of Online Speech, Fenny Gandhi

University of the District of Columbia Law Review

For decades, sex work operated in the shadows—negotiated in alleyways, mediated by third parties, and shaped by constant risk. Today, much of it happens online, where a screen can mean the difference between autonomy and danger. But, when the law pushes an industry underground, it does not eliminate it; rather, it reshapes how it operates, often in ways that increase vulnerability and reduce accountability. Sex work is the exchange of specific sexual services for money. The experiences of people who engage in sex work are diverse and influenced by social structures and economic realities. The internet provides consensual sex workers …

Clean Hands, Dirty Money, And The Codification Of Sec Disgorgement, Stephanie Palma

Fordham Law Review

Disgorgement is the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission’s (SEC) most powerful enforcement tool and among its most controversial. For decades, federal courts treated disgorgement in securities enforcement actions as an equitable remedy, a view that the U.S. Supreme Court confirmed in Liu v. SEC. Months after Liu, Congress passed the William M. (Mac) Thornberry National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2021, which codified disgorgement in SEC enforcement actions. The codification of disgorgement sparked a circuit split between the U.S. Courts of Appeals for the Fifth and Second Circuits over whether Congress created a new statutory form of …

Artificial Intelligence Research In K–12 Education: A Bibliometric Analysis, Thomas Frank Mauro

Selected Full Text Dissertations, 2011-

Research on artificial intelligence (AI) in K–12 education has expanded rapidly over the past two decades, producing a growing and sometimes fragmented body of scholarly literature. As new AI applications, including machine learning systems, intelligent tutoring systems, and generative AI tools, continue to emerge, understanding how this research has evolved over time is increasingly important for educators, policymakers, and researchers. This study conducted a bibliometric analysis of scholarly publications on AI in K–12 education to address the following three research questions. How has research on artificial intelligence in K–12 education evolved over time? Who are the significant contributors to AI …

Beyond Hipaa: The Ftc’S Expanding Role In Digital Health Privacy Enforcement, Sandhya Srinivasa

SMU Science and Technology Law Review

Consumer digital health platforms have become an increasingly prominent feature of modern health care, collecting and storing sensitive health information directly from users. Yet most of these applications operate outside the scope of the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA), creating a significant regulatory gap in the protection of personal health data. This case note examines how the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) has stepped into that gap by leveraging Section 5 of the FTC Act and the Health Breach Notification Rule (HBNR) to police privacy and data security practices among non-HIPAA-covered digital health platforms. Focusing on three landmark enforcement …

Annual Report Of The Officers Of The Town Of Jackson, New Hampshire For The Fiscal Year Ending December 31, 2025, Jackson Town Representatives

Jackson, NH Annual Reports

This is an annual report containing vital statistics for a town/city in the state of New Hampshire.