Digital Commons Network^™

Who’S Afraid Of Little Old Me? The Record Industry: Protecting Creativity And Promoting Artists’ Rights Through A Narrow Scope Of 17 U.S.C. §§ 103 And 114 Rights For Derivative Works, Margaret Fouberg

Nebraska Law Review

This Comment explores the growing conversation surrounding artist rights and music ownership, catalyzed by Taylor Swift’s public dispute with Big Machine Records. Swift’s efforts to reclaim her work have spotlighted the complexities of U.S. copyright law, particularly the distinct rights afforded to sound recordings versus musical compositions under the Sound Recording Act of 1971. By examining derivative works and their required standard of originality, this Comment argues that a narrow interpretation of copyright protections for derivative works, as outlined in 17 U.S.C. §§ 103 and 114, is essential for fostering creativity and safeguarding artists’ rights. Through an analysis of legislative …

A Judiciary Without Trust?, Brandon J. Johnson

Nebraska Law Review

Public hand wringing over waning faith in the Supreme Court, this Essay contends, mistakes symptom for cause. The real crisis is not distrust but the Court’s persistent failure to earn trust in the first place. Trust is a feeling; trustworthiness is a record. This Essay adopts a common understanding of trustworthiness that evaluates the demonstrated ability of the trusted party to protect the vulnerable trusting parties, and analyzes the Court’s trustworthiness against that yardstick. From Dred Scott, Plessy, and Korematsu to modern “shadow docket” interventions and undisclosed donor funded travel, the Court has too often shown itself untrustworthy …

Not The “Mere Creature” Of Big Tech: The Constitutionality Of Parental Consent Laws For Minors’ Social Media Accounts, Kat Turco

Nebraska Law Review

A growing number of states have passed laws requiring social media platforms to obtain parental consent before granting accounts to minors to combat rising mental health issues, cyberbullying, and screen addiction. Although well intentioned, every such law has been enjoined in the lower courts, and the Supreme Court has yet to address whether laws requiring parental consent for minors’ social‑media accounts violate the First Amendment. This Comment argues that lower courts have miscast such statutes as content‑based speech restrictions requiring strict scrutiny under Brown v. Entertainment Merchants’ Association. Parental consent laws differ from the content-based statute at issue in …

The Self-Erasure Of The Eeoc In Bostock V. Clayton County, Nicholas B. Mauer

Nebraska Law Review

During the decade before the Supreme Court decided Bostock v. Clayton County, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (“EEOC”) interpreted Title VII to prohibit employment discrimination based on gender identity and sexual orientation. Through informal adjudication, independent litigation, and nonacquiescence, the EEOC successfully etched its interpretation of Title VII into law without receiving Chevron deference. The agency made arguments about the meaning of Title VII that succeeded in lower courts and eventually at the Supreme Court. However, the majority opinion in Bostock never mentioned the EEOC’s near-decade of work. Thus, the EEOC’s role in Bostock is both a potential model …

A Study Of The Tap In Center Movement: How Collaboration In The Legal System Is Reducing The Negative Impact Of Bench Warrants And Restoring Justice In Communities, Patrick C. Brayer

Nebraska Law Review

While many aspects of the criminal legal system have been criticized for the harm judicial institutions inflict on communities, a unique legal initiative is garnering praise from observers across the nation. What started as a local effort to help residents withdraw bench warrants during the COVID-19 Pandemic has blossomed into four independent legal service centers in three separate Midwest metropolitan areas called Tap In Centers. The primary mission of the Centers is the recalling of bench warrants issued when criminal defendants fail to appear for court or pay a fine; however, the needs of the individual and the community guide …

Annual Fire Safety Report, 2024, Illinois State University, Environmental Health And Safety

Fire Safety Annual Reports

The Higher Education Opportunity Act (HEOA) requires all institutions of higher education that provide residential housing facilities for students to develop an annual fire safety report. Elements of Illinois State University’s campus fire safety program consists of: fire prevention policies and practices, fire safety educational and training initiatives, description of fire protection equipment in the residence halls, emergency evacuation procedures, fire safety statistics, and plans for future improvements to the residence hall campus fire safety program. The annual fire safety report summarizes the elements of the campus fire safety program, which is administered and maintained by Environmental Health and Safety …

Annual Security Report For Calendar Year 2024, Illinois State University Police Department

Clery Act Annual Security Report

Illinois State University Police Department Annual Security Report

Unconventional Philosophies And Practices: Vietnamese Family Firm Performance In Multiple Countries, Amon Simba, Mai Thi Thanh Thai, Aymen Ammari, James V. Koch, Paul Jones

Economics Faculty Publications

The diversity of business philosophies and practices across family firms suggests their performance is influenced by factors that can be hard to isolate or understand. Based on 215 observations of Vietnamese firms operating in Asia, Australia, Europe, and North America, we use fuzzy-set qualitative comparative analysis techniques to discern the configurational relationships underlying their performance pathways. Of the 64 possible configurations, three pathways with a high consistency (95 percent) for high performance are distinguishable. These three pathways are characterized by varying degrees of family labor involvement, social network-based labor sourcing, and capital contributions from partners. They reveal how cultural factors, …

Institutionalisation And Institutional Evolution: A Model Of Selecting Government Officials In Ancient China, Haiwen Zhou

Economics Faculty Publications

The evolution of institutions in selecting government officials in ancient China reflected efficiency considerations and increased power concentration in the hands of the ruler. Selecting government officials in ancient China became more rule‐based over time, and standardisation and centralisation were some key features of this process. In this dynamic model, a higher volume of transactions, shown as the number of candidates needed to be evaluated, leads to institutionalisation, which has a higher fixed cost but a lower marginal cost in processing each transaction. In the steady state, a ruler with a more encompassing interest chooses a higher level of institutionalisation. …

What Role Do Finance Ministers Play In Political Business Cycles? Evidence-Based On A New African Dataset, Christine Olivia Strong

Economics Faculty Publications

This study investigates how the personal characteristics of finance ministers influence political budget cycles in Africa. Using a new dataset covering 300 finance ministers across 23 countries from 1980 to 2020, we find that political budget cycles primarily take the form of increased government consumption during election years. Ministers with prior central banking experience are less likely to amplify spending in election years, effectively curbing political budget cycles. These results remain consistent after accounting for institutional quality, ministerial tenure, and other confounding factors. The findings contribute to the literature by showing that the appointment of finance ministers in African countries …

Ethnic Politics And Fiscal Dominance: Implications For Currency Union Formation In Sub-Saharan Africa, Benjamin D. Keen, Christine O. Strong

Economics Faculty Publications

Numerous currency unions have been proposed in Africa over the past 50 years, but none have succeeded. This paper asserts ethnic favouritism is a crucial yet often overlooked feature that strongly influences an African government’s willingness to join a currency union. We use a Barro and Gordon (1983) style model that incorporates fiscal dominance, political business cycles and ethnic favouritism to assess the benefits and costs to African households and governments of joining a currency union. Our results show that ethnic alignment between the head of state and central bank governor amplifies fiscal dominance, which reduces an African government’s desire …

2025 Annual Report Of The Governor And The General Assembly, Tennessee Registry Of Election Finance

Registry Annual Reports

No abstract provided.

Reversible Degradation Of Peptidoglycan By Lytic Transglycosylases, Aaron Devereaux

Theses and Dissertations (Comprehensive)

Antimicrobial resistance continues to be a burden on the global healthcare system with an estimated cost of billions of dollars and millions of deaths each year. Recently, there has been little to no development on new antibiotics to treat bacterial infection, and any that are developed become resisted to within a few years. Both Gram-positive and Gram-negative bacteria contain a mesh-like layer called peptidoglycan (PG) that surrounds their cells providing strength, cell shape, and protection from their environments. This layer is a polymer of N-acetylmuramic acid (MurNAc) and N-acetylglucosamine (GlcNAc) connected via a b-1,4-glycosidic bond, with each strand being cross-linked …

Front Matter

SMU Annual Texas Survey

No abstract provided.

You’Ve Got Mail—Or Not? The Deepening, Decades-Long Circuit Split Surrounding The Tax Filing Mailbox Rule, Colton Franks

SMU Law Review

Tax filing deadlines have always been a source of anxiety for U.S. citizens, and the law surrounding the subject is equally perplexing. Federal courts developed a mailbox rule to determine whether a document is timely filed through the mail, but the federal circuits did not agree on how it functioned. Congress subsequently passed Section 7502 of the Internal Revenue Code to clear up confusion among the circuits. However, this only sparked a new debate—whether the statute takes the place of the common law mailbox rule or merely adds another avenue for the taxpayer to prove timely filing. This circuit split …

After Identity: Reverse Discrimination, Anti-Essentialism, And The Future Of Title Vii, Maayan Sudai, Lihi Yona

SMU Law Review

This Article argues that the Supreme Court’s unanimous decision in Ames v. Ohio Department of Youth Services marks a turning point in Title VII’s long-standing struggle with identity. By striking down the “background circumstances” rule, a doctrine that required majority-group plaintiffs to meet a heightened evidentiary burden, the Court appeared at first glance to reaffirm its steady march toward strict anticlassification. We offer a different reading. We contend that Ames gestures toward a third, overlooked normative framework within antidiscrimination law: anti-essentialism. This framework, rooted in feminist, critical race, and queer theory, rejects both the rigidity of anticlassification and the categorical …

The Neuroscience Of Evidentiary Rules: The Case Of The Present Sense Impression, Christopher S. Sundby

SMU Law Review

The Federal Rules of Evidence (FRE) play a critical role in federal trials by determining what evidence the jury will be allowed to hear. Nonetheless, the rules are largely premised on untested psychological assumptions. The Present Sense Impression Rule (PSIR), for example, is an exception to the general ban against hearsay based on the assumptions that statements about contemporaneous events have fewer memory errors; are less likely to be lies; and, when they are lies, that listeners are better able to detect the lie than if the declarant has had time to prepare.

The rule, in other words, is based …

Socially Responsible Ai In The Gpt Era, Yussuf A. Aleem

SMU Law Review

Recent advancements in artificial intelligence (AI) showcase its rapid evolution and promise, with the potential to profoundly transform decision-making, self-expression, and even the practice of law. However, AI also presents formidable challenges, including the further entrenchment of societal inequalities, widespread labor disruption, and existential threats to humanity. Modern AI systems show early signs of general intelligence, enabling them to perform a wide range of tasks beyond those of chatbots in both virtual and physical environments. Despite industry assurances of responsible AI development, these technologies are easily exploited and often exhibit troubling behaviors that even their creators struggle to understand.

This …

Symposium Preface, Madeleine Nelson

SMU Law Review

No abstract provided.

Ready Or Not: How Congressional Dysfunction And Loper Bright Enterprises V. Raimondo Will Shift U.S. Regulation Of Emerging Technologies To The Federal Bench, Michelle Benedetto Neitz

SMU Law Review

This Article is the first in legal academic literature to consider how the power shift generated by Congressional dysfunction and the Supreme Court’s decision in Loper Bright Enterprises v. Raimondo will affect emerging technology law. Power is moving toward the judicial branch of government— and away from the legislative and executive branches. As a result, federal courts will now take a leading role in the evolution of emerging technology law in the United States.

Unfortunately, the federal judiciary is not prepared for this new era. Drawing from the information processing theory, this Article explains why federal judges will be deciding …

Collegiate Athletes’ Name, Image, And Likeness As A Constitutionally Protected Interest, Josh Lens

SMU Law Review

Courts have long held that collegiate athletes’ athletics participation does not constitute a liberty or property interest afforded constitutional due process protection. Thus, universities, athletics departments, and coaches generally have not had to provide much process when suspending athletes from their teams for disciplinary reasons, for example.

Recently, however, college athletics’ primary governing entity—the National Collegiate Athletics Association (NCAA)—altered its longstanding rules to permit athletes to accept remuneration from third parties for the use of their names, images, and likenesses. This newfound ability has significantly benefited athletes in college athletics’ transformative name, image, and likeness (NIL) era.

This Article examines …

Wills & Trusts, Gerry W. Beyer

SMU Annual Texas Survey

This Article discusses developments relating to the Texas law of intestacy, wills, estate administration, trusts, and other estate planning matters during the Survey period of December 1, 2023, through November 30, 2024. The reader is warned that not all cases decided during the Survey period are presented, and not all aspects of each case is analyzed. You must read and study each case’s full text before relying on it or using it as precedent. The discussion of most cases includes a moral, that is, the important lesson to be learned from the case. By recognizing situations that resulted in time- …

Texas Business Court, Byron F. Egan

SMU Annual Texas Survey

No abstract provided.

Roaring Skies: The Law Of Supersonic Commercial Flight And Arguments For Its Return, Caleb S. Dorris

Journal of Air Law and Commerce

The prospect of supersonic commercial flight is no longer confined to history; it is reemerging as a viable transportation model in the 21st century. With major airlines placing orders for next-generation supersonic aircraft and regulatory agencies, including the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) and the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO), reconsidering longstanding restrictions, the return of supersonic flight is imminent. This article examines the legal, regulatory, and policy considerations that have shaped supersonic aviation’s trajectory and explores the challenges that remain for its full reintroduction into global airspace.

First, this article surveys the historical rise and fall of supersonic passenger aviation, …

Airplane!: Does The Federal Aviation Act Preempt State Law Design Defect Claims?, Max Birmingham

Journal of Air Law and Commerce

Which level of government—state or federal—has jurisdiction to set safety standards for aviation defect design is a nuanced issue. Generally speaking, federal law preempts state law in this context by occupying the field through a regulatory scheme that permeates aviation safety. The Federal Aviation Act of 1958 (FAAct) confers its namesake agency—the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA)—the powers to prescribe the “minimum standards required in the interest of safety.” The word “minimum” has been seized upon by those on the state side of the debate to advocate that it means the floor. And they contend that those in the Union have …

Air Strikes In Myanmar - An Analysis Under International Law, Jacob Davis

Journal of Air Law and Commerce

Since the Russian invasion of Ukraine in 2022, and the reignited Israel-Palestine conflict in 2023, international law regulating the use of air power has been put to the test. The use of air strikes in civilian areas has put this shortcoming at the forefront of conversation about the use of force, and what constitutes a war crime in modern conflict.

This conversation has centered around the two aforementioned conflicts but has left other international disputes out of the discussion. In particular the civil war in Myanmar, a bloody conflict which follows decades of ethnic violence, political stratification, and a successful …

Let’S Jettison Some Executive Perks: Exploring The Sec And Irs Approaches To Personal Use Of Corporate Aircraft, Christine Lane

Journal of Air Law and Commerce

In 2023, 46% of the S&P 500 companies provided personal use of corporate aircraft to their chief executive officers, and 31% provided this perk to other named executive officers. This type of executive compensation has notoriously garnered much attention from the media, given the large amount of investor money spent on personal travel and the environmental impacts of flying private. In addition, the line between personal travel and business travel is often blurred, and the media has tracked flight paths of corporate aircraft to speculate that some flights may be incorrectly categorized as business trips when the jets land and …

History's Identity Crisis, Allison Orr Larsen

SMU Law Review

Lower court judges across the country are struggling to manage the Supreme Court’s new “history and tradition” test that applies to Second Amendment challenges. This Article articulates one fundamental reason for the struggle: nobody is quite sure what a judge is actually doing when she evaluates claims about what happened in the past. Is it traditional legal reasoning—weighing evidence and looking for patterns? Is it fact-finding of the sort we think expert historians should testify about—conveying to a trial judge the best evidence we have about the purpose of colonial gun laws? Or is it a different sort of fact-finding—generalized …

A Tribute To Dean C. Paul Rogers Iii, Michael J. Truncale

SMU Law Review

No abstract provided.

Fy 2025 Financial Report - February, Tennessee. Emergency Communications Board., Tennessee. Department Of Commerce And Insurance

Financial Reports

No abstract provided.