Digital Commons Network^™

Lessons Learned From The Trump Rule Of Law Stress Test: Beware Bad Faith Actors, Brian Z. Tamanaha

Scholarship@WashULaw

The second Trump Administration has engaged in a vast swath of actions that press against the outer boundaries of legality. These actions provide a unique opportunity to identify potential vulnerabilities and expose how the rule of law can be undermined. While I will elucidate well-known points along the way, my primary aim is to bring out aspects of the rule of law that usually go unnoticed or under the radar. After setting out basic aspects of the rule of law, I cover three topics: 1) adhering to the truth, 2) pretextual arguments, and 3) flooding the field with actions and …

Brief In Support Of Respondents As Amici Curiae, Donald J. Trump, President Of The United States, Et Al. V. Rebecca Kelly Slaughter, Et. Al, No. 25-332, Andrea Scoseria Katz, Jonathan Gienapp

Scholarship@WashULaw

In the years since this Court’s decision in Seila Law LLC v. Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, 591 U.S. 197 (2020), legal historians—including originalists—have unearthed a rich body of evidence challenging the conventional wisdom concerning the scope of the President’s removal powers at the Founding. Revisiting not only the Framers’ intellectual influences, but also their driving philosophical concerns and political incentives, this scholarship explains that removal authority was not understood to be vested exclusively in the President as a matter of settled constitutional law, but rather was permissibly exercised by various actors in various ways, intentionally not settled by the …

Separation-Of-Powers Lochnerism, Andrea Scoseria Katz

Scholarship@WashULaw

One hundred and twenty years ago, the Supreme Court handed down one of the single most notorious opinions ever rendered, striking down a New York labor law for violating a right to contract found nowhere in the text of the Constitution. The era of Lochner v. NY (1905) is well past us, but not the judicial impulses that gave rise to the case. With a new champion in the Roberts Court, Lochnerism is alive and well, deployed in a new context to redefine the relationships between the President, Congress, federal agencies, and the courts. Bringing together two lines of case-law-on …

Disagreement And Historical Argument Or How Not To Think About Removal, Andrea Scoseria Katz, Noah A. Rosenblum, Jane Manners

Scholarship@WashULaw

Scholars have debated the reach of the President’s power to remove government officers for over one hundred years. This old fight is now suddenly urgent as President Trump asserts far-reaching powers to control the federal bureaucracy and the Supreme Court transforms Unitary Executive Theory into caselaw. Yet the scholarly case for an indefeasible presidential removal power has never been weaker.

This Essay continues an ongoing conversation about how to read some critical early republic evidence about removal. It briefly recapitulates the stakes of the disagreement before offering in-depth analyses of developments in Pennsylvania removal practice, including a reading of the …

International Space Law Under The Trump Administration: Commerce And Security, Melissa (M.J.) Durkee

Scholarship@WashULaw

Early themes of the second Trump administration's orientation toward international space law include military assertiveness, privatization, and nominal diplomatic engagement. These themes carry significant implications for international space law. They pressure longstanding international legal ambiguities, widen existing geopolitical divisions, and raise questions about how public-private interdependence will shape state responsibility and the development of norms in space. This essay was prepared for a special issue of the American Journal of International Law that offers an introduction and overview of the U.S. government's actions across a wide range of international legal issues in the first six months of President Trump's second …

Rational Gridlock, Scott Baker, Michael D. Gilbert

Scholarship@WashULaw

We examine the design of lawmaking institutions when advocates have agenda setting power and there is randomness in the status quo laws eligible for reform. The institutional designer maximizes voter welfare. We find that the optimal arrangement consists of two lawmaking institutions that must agree to enact any reforms. The institutions do not share preferences with one another or with the median voter. As a result, gridlock arises: the institutions reject some reforms that the median voter favors. However, when reform succeeds, it tends to be modest in scope and to more closely track what the median voter prefers. The …

The Curiously Minor Role Of Minor V. Happersett (Foreword), Susan Frelich Appleton, Travis Crum, Hannah Keidan

Scholarship@WashULaw

This Foreword introduces a symposium marking the 150th anniversary of Minor v. Happersett, a Supreme Court decision unanimously holding that the Fourteenth Amendment's Privileges or Immunities Clause did not enfranchise women. Notwithstanding its impact on the women's suffrage movement and the subsequent ratification of the Nineteenth Amendment, Minor presents a puzzle: it is a relatively obscure precedent that remains deeply relevant to contemporary legal debates. To elucidate this point, this Foreword juxtaposes Minor with two notorious Supreme Court decisions: Dred Scott and Dobbs.

Like Dred Scott, Minor pairs a morally repugnant result with legalistic reasoning. But whereas …

Reflections On Translating Law And Economic Models For Lawyers And Law Professors, Scott Baker

Scholarship@WashULaw

Written as part of a keynote address for the 20th Annual Asian Law and Economics Conference, these remarks reflect on the way lawyers, judges, and law professors without economic training view and use law and economic models. After revisiting notably successes of classic results from the tort model – results that have penetrated the legal profession – it turns to the translation of more recent models of lawyer argumentation and precedent. Throughout, the point is to demonstrate how model insights can be used to help argue cases and distinguish precedent.

Viability As Abortion-Rights Orthodoxy, Susan Frelich Appleton

Scholarship@WashULaw

Borrowing a quotation from Justice Jackson’s influential opinion in West Virginia Board of Education v. Barnette, Professors Linda McClain and James Fleming have named their ambitious and illuminating new book “What Shall Be Orthodox” in Polarized Times. As Justice Jackson wrote in applying the First Amendment to protect school children with familial objections to a required flag salute: “If there is any fixed star in our constitutional constellation, it is that no official, high or petty, can prescribe what shall be orthodox in politics, nationalism, religion, or other matters of opinion or force citizens to confess by word or act …

A Liberty-Balancing Approach To Crime, Sheldon Evans

Scholarship@WashULaw

At its core, the criminal legal system is an ecosystem of institutions that seek to balance liberty interests. The insightful theories and complex practices of crime policy coalesce around questions on how crime impacts the liberties of individuals and communities to be safe, and how this correlates with the deprivation of liberty from offenders through our punishment system. But modern criminal policy, most often associated with the problems of overcriminalization and mass incarceration, has wholly abandoned any such delicate and nuanced balancing. Instead, the system thrives on sacrificing the liberties of offenders in a perverse and ineffective regime that leads …

Grading Machines: Can Ai Exam-Grading Replace Law Professors?, Jens Frankenreiter, Kevin L. Cope, Scott Hirst, Eric A. Posner, Daniel Schwarcz, Dane Thorley

Scholarship@WashULaw

In the past few years, large language models (LLMs) have achieved significant technical advances, such that legal-advocacy organizations are increasingly adopting them as complements to—or substitutes for—lawyers and other human experts. Several studies have examined LLMs' performance in taking law school exams, finding mixed results. Yet there have been no published studies systematically analyzing LLMs' competence at one of law professors' chief responsibilities: grading law school exams. This paper presents results of an analysis of how LLMs perform in evaluating student responses to legal analysis questions of the kind typically administered in law school exams. The underlying data come from …

The Practice Of Executive Constitutionalism, Conor Clarke, Daniel Epps

Scholarship@WashULaw

The Executive Branch must inevitably interpret the Constitution. Although departmentalists and judicial supremacists disagree about the scope of the Executive’s constitutional authority, few believe the Constitution is only for the courts. But what are the practices through which the Executive Branch interprets the Constitution and translates those interpretations into concrete decisions? What is their history? And what, if anything, is distinctive about them? While a rich and growing literature has examined some aspects of these questions, scholars have not broadly canvased the most central tools by which the Executive Branch shapes and implements constitutional law, or considered what makes them …

Dark Patterns In The Opt-Out Process And Compliance With The California Consumer Privacy Act (Ccpa), Jens Frankenreiter, Van Hong Tran, Aarushi Mehrotra, Ranya Sharma, Marshini Chetty, Nick Feamster, Lior Strahilevitz

Scholarship@WashULaw

To protect consumer privacy, the California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA) mandates that businesses provide consumers with a straightforward way to opt out of the sale and sharing of their personal information. However, the control that businesses enjoy over the opt-out process allows them to impose hurdles on consumers aiming to opt out, including by employing dark patterns. Motivated by the enactment of the California Privacy Rights Act (CPRA), which strengthens the CCPA and explicitly forbids certain dark patterns in the opt-out process, we investigate how dark patterns are used in opt-out processes and assess their compliance with CCPA regulations. Our …

Judicial Reform From The Inside Out, Daniel Epps, Marin K. Levy

Scholarship@WashULaw

Prepared for the Notre Dame Law Review’s Spring 2025 Federal Courts Symposium on the 100th Anniversary of the Judiciary Act of 1925.

The Judiciary Act of 1925, the subject of this Symposium, is known as “The Judges Bill” for a reason. The Justices of the Supreme Court, and Chief Justice Taft in particular, produced the Act and persuaded Congress to enact it. To modern eyes, such efforts seem indecorous; perhaps even scandalous. But in fact, Supreme Court Justices and other federal judges have been extensively involved in judicial reform throughout American history. This Essay examines participation by federal judges in …

When Hard Cases Make Bad Law: A Theory Of How Case Facts Affect Judge-Made Law, Sepehr Shahshahani

Scholarship@WashULaw

“Hard cases make bad law” is one of the most famous aphorisms in Anglo-American law. Its insight is that when strict application of a generally sound law would impose a special hardship on someone, a court may be tempted to distort the law to avoid the hardship. Scholars have long debated the meaning and truth of the aphorism, but the debate has suffered from an imprecise conceptualization of what makes a case “hard.” This lack of precision limits our ability to disentangle and work through the important questions the aphorism raises about how the facts of a particular case affect …

Private Law Without Precedent, Danielle D'Onfro

Scholarship@WashULaw

A common-law system assumes that judges regularly issue new opinions that clarify and update the law over time. At the same time, our federal system assumes that state courts will do the bulk of judicial lawmaking, especially in private law. And, with a few exceptions, our broader legal system assumes that state private law has allocated entitlements and obligations into a coherent system. None of these assumptions has been true for a long time.

This Article offers a comprehensive account of when and why these assumptions about the proper functioning of private law fail. It then uses this account to …

Championing Change: Equipping Employees For Digital Transformation, Tracie Edwards

Doctor of Strategic Leadership (DSL) Capstone Abstracts

Title of Project: Championing Change: Equipping Employees for Digital Transformation Defense Date: March 5, 2025 Candidate Name: Tracie Edwards Personal Email Address: [email protected] First Advisor: Dr. Bethany Peters Second Advisor: Dr. Jolene Erlacher

DSL Final Project Abstract: According to various sources, 70% or more of digital transformation initiatives fail. Some authors believe the failures are due to “people” problems and the inability of organizations to overcome resistance or a lack of skills among employees. Many organizations also choose to downsize rather than skill up existing staff. However, doing so incurs costs, including the loss of business knowledge and the need …

From Pulpit To Policy: Transforming Latino Evangelical Communities Through Pastoral Civic Capacity Building, Mark A. Vega

Doctor of Strategic Leadership (DSL) Capstone Abstracts

Title of Project: One Day Seminar: From Pulpit to Policy: Transforming Latino Evangelical Communities Through Pastoral Civic Capacity Building

Defense Date: April 1, 2025

Candidate Name: Mark Vega

Personal Email Address: [email protected]

First Advisor: Dr. Emile Hawkins

Second Advisor: Dr. Bethany Peters

DSL Final Project Abstract: This project investigates the transformative potential of Latino evangelical churches in enhancing civic engagement and community advocacy through pastoral leadership. Utilizing Kotter’s 8-Step Change Model, the research identifies significant socioeconomic, cultural, and institutional barriers that impede civic participation among Latino communities. Through qualitative analysis involving Latino evangelical pastors and leaders, the seminar-based approach equips …

Provision Cfo: Empowering Strategic Financial Excellence For Small Businesses And Entrepreneurs, Cindra Vang

Doctor of Strategic Leadership (DSL) Capstone Abstracts

Project Overview

ProVision CFO offers strategic financial management solutions tailored to the unique needs of entrepreneurs, small businesses, and rapidly growing organizations. This project aims to equip clients with robust financial strategies and actionable insights necessary for sustainable growth, operational excellence, and long-term success. ProVision CFO provides comprehensive financial guidance including fractional CFO and accounting services.

Project Themes

The ProVision CFO framework encompasses three key components designed to optimize financial performance and organizational effectiveness. Component One—Strategic Clarity: Establishing clear financial goals aligned with organizational vision, mission, and values. Component Two—Financial Optimization: Providing accounting services to streamline financial processes and enhance …

Permission To Unpack: Releasing The Traumas From Toxic Relationships, One Brick At A Time, Tomasa Villaronga

Doctor of Strategic Leadership (DSL) Capstone Abstracts

"Permission to Unpack: Releasing the Traumas from Toxic Relationships, One Brick at a Time" is a transformative manuscript designed to empower women to confront and heal from the traumas tied to toxic relationships. This book serves as a comprehensive guide, offering practical tools and insights to help readers engage in self-discovery and healing at their own pace. Central to the narrative are the principles of transformational leadership, guiding women on a journey of self-exploration and empowerment.

The text delves into critical themes such as Depression, Cycles, Love Bombing, Domestic Violence, Relapse, Sex, Narcissism, Trauma Bonds, Rebounding, Grief, and Forgiveness, providing …

Applications Of Reservoir Simulation And Machine Learning In Subsurface Energy Systems For Decarbonization, Seyedmohammadmehdi Nassabeh

Theses: Doctorates and Masters

The transition to a low-carbon future necessitates innovative approaches to carbon management and hydrogen storage, particularly in the context of enhanced oil recovery (EOR) from hydrocarbon reservoirs. This study employs advanced analytics and machine learning techniques to optimize carbon management strategies. One key focus of this research is to evaluate the effectiveness of flue gas and CO2 in Water Alternating Gas (WAG) injection within a homogeneous fractured carbonate reservoir characterized by low porosity and permeability. A computational model was developed to depict the flow regime in the reservoir and simulate reservoir fluid behavior using Eclipse (E300) software, various hybrid EOR …

Optimal Bag Valve Mask Ventilation Efficacy Of Smart Bag Ventilation Compared To Traditional Adult And Paediatric Bag Valve Ventilation During Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation, Ian Dawson

Theses: Doctorates and Masters

Background: Out-of-Hospital Cardiac Arrest (OHCA) is one of the world’s leading causes of mortality. Survival rates are low, ranging from 3.1–20.4% internationally. The most effective oxygenation method for patients during pre-hospital cardiac arrest is ventilating using a self- inflating Bag-Valve-Mask (BVM). Yet, extensive research has identified a lack of compliance with ventilator guidelines during OHCA cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR). As a result, clinicians often ventilate patients too aggressively using the BVM, delivering breaths excessively higher than the International Liaison Committee on Resuscitation (ILCOR) recommended rate of 10 breaths per minute (BPM). Hyperventilation can lead to complications such as aspiration, barotrauma, and …

The Impact Of Direct Emergency Policies Of Corona Pandemic On The Education Process Affecting Economic Labor Productivity, Shimaa Mohammed Hamdy Derbala, Usama Helmy Mohmmed

Mansoura Engineering Journal

This research examines the impacts of immediate emergency policies of the Corona Virus pandemic on the education process at Minya University; Egypt; along with impacts on economic labor productivity. It hypothesizes that academic performance of graduates during the pandemic declined, including impacts on employment, quality of labor, and economic productivity.The research reviews experiences of Malaysia, KSA, Kuwait, and Egypt in managing the education process during the pandemic. Two questionnaires were used, to analyze students’ satisfaction with the experience of distant teaching/learning, and to analyze workers’ satisfaction with the efficiency of economic labor productivity during the pandemic. SPSS Non …

Non-Line-Of-Sight Classification In Urban Areas Based On Machine Learning Algorithms, Mohamed Ali Ezzelarab, Mohamed Abdelazim Mohamed, Eman Abdelhalim, Ashraf Abosekeen

Mansoura Engineering Journal

Non-Line-Of-Sight (NLOS) and multipath errors are significant causes of poor accuracy in Global Navigation Satellite Systems (GNSS). These errors occur when satellite signals are diffracted or reflected by obstacles instead of traveling directly along the Line-Of-Sight (LOS), particularly in urban environments. Such diffracted or reflected signals can reach GNSS receivers, skewing pseudorange measurements and posing challenges to accurate GNSS positioning. This study introduces an innovative approach using supervised Machine Learning (ML) models to detect and mitigate NLOS error. To develop and validate these models, GNSS data collected during the smartLoc project from Frankfurt and Berlin in Germany were leveraged, representing …

Integrating Aerodynamic Behavior In The Design Process Through Digital Tools: An Architectural Pedagogic Exercise, Mahmoud M. Elghawaby

Mansoura Engineering Journal

Analyzing air movement in open spaces is essential for developing livable environments and fostering unique atmospheres. By visualizing this intangible element, designers can enhance spatial quality and explore innovative solutions. This article examines the integration of aerodynamic simulations of air movement into the design process of an architectural graduation project conducted at the Grenoble School of Architecture, in collaboration with the Cresson research team and the Design by Research Lab. The project focuses on designing living bridges over the Nile in Cairo as part of an international architecture competition.The pedagogical exercise comprised theoretical lectures complemented by simulation sessions, designed to …

Sustainable Hospitals Lighting Design Optimization To Enhance Patient Well-Being, Merna R. Ashac, Rania F. Ismail, Nasreen Fathy Abdelsalam

Mansoura Engineering Journal

This research investigates the critical role of lighting design in hospitals environments, focusing on its impact on patient outcomes and environmental sustainability. By integrating energy-efficient LEDs and natural light, the study aims to enhance patient well-being and staff performance. To achieve this, the research explores aligning artificial lighting with circadian rhythms to improve both patient outcomes and staff performance. Using mixed-methods approach, the research includes a literature review, case studies, and analysis using DIALux simulation software. The literature review achieves a framework for sustainable, human-centric lighting, while case studies provide practical insights into effective designs in patient rooms. DIALux simulations …

Strengthening Of R.C. Beams Subjected To Shear And Torsion Using Externally Bonded Cfrp Sheets, Hazem Elbakry, El-Tony Mahmoud El-Tony, Momen M. Ali

Mansoura Engineering Journal

The primary objective of this study was to examine the behavior of reinforced concrete beams subjected to shear and torsion and strengthened with external CFRP sheets. To achieve this, seven reinforced concrete beams with identical cross section dimensions (300 mm × 200 mm), shear span (530 mm) were fabricated and tested under combined shear and torsion. Similar flexural and shear reinforcements were used for all specimens. The experimental program included one control specimen, without CFRP sheets, and six strengthened specimens utilizing different strengthening configurations of CFRP sheets. The key variables in the study were the strengthening configuration and the width …

Review And Comparative Study On Renewable Energy Use And Policies In Egypt And Leading Countries, Salwa Abdel Monem El Gindi

Mansoura Engineering Journal

Improving energy efficiency and sustainability in buildings is essential for maintaining good environmental quality. Renewable energy use has become imperative as a result of shortage and disadvantages of traditional energy sources. Although the world has taken measures to develop renewable energy, the amount of greenhouse gas emissions is continuously increasing. This may be related with a low level of elaboration of the ongoing policies, with obstacles to the renewable energy market growth. The energy sector in Egypt is overwhelmed with the local energy demands. Considering Egypt’s signature on the Kyoto protocol and hosting COP27 as it acknowledges the significance of …

The Role Of Gis In Promoting The 15-Minute City Concept For Sustainable Urban Using Network Analysis (Case Study: El Rehab City), Eman Metwally, Yara Menshway, Farag Mohamed Zaki

Mansoura Engineering Journal

The 15-minute city concept emphasizes the importance of urban planning where essential services and amenities are accessible within a 15-minute walk or bike ride. Geographic Information Systems (GIS) provide powerful tools to evaluate and enhance this concept. This study applies a theoretical framework combined with quantitative methods, utilizing GIS-based network analysis to evaluate the accessibility of key services within a 15-minute walking and cycling distance. The goal is to identify critical amenities that support urban sustainability and mobility. In this case, GIS is used to model El Rehab’s Road network, pedestrian paths, and bike lanes. Network analysis techniques calculate the …

Monitoring And Analysing Billboards On The Ring Road In Cairo To Promote Energy Saving Behaviour, Sherif Elsayed Elsaid Mohamed

Mansoura Engineering Journal

Billboards in Egypt are one of the means of outdoor advertising widely used on highways for commercial or governmental purposes, and their spread has been observed on the ring road in an unsystematic manner, in addition to the use of very many lighting units in all areas. These billboards result in the consumption of large amounts of electricity, in addition to the non-compliance of some of the commercial institutions that own these billboards with the security and safety requirements for the places where the billboard is installed, as well as the methods of construction and installation, in addition to the …