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Full-Text Articles in Law

Compelled Unionism In The Private Sector After Janus: Why Unions Should Not Profit From Dissenting Employees, Giovanna Bonafede Dec 2021

Compelled Unionism In The Private Sector After Janus: Why Unions Should Not Profit From Dissenting Employees, Giovanna Bonafede

Catholic University Law Review

This Note examines the impact of the 2018 landmark labor law case Janus v. AFSCME. Janus held it unconstitutional under the First Amendment to require public sector employees to pay fees to a union to which they are not a member. The Supreme Court based their decision on the idea that compelling public employees to subsidize union speech to which they disagreed violated their free speech rights. The author argues that the Court’s holding in Janus should be extended to protect the free speech rights of private sector employees through a finding of state action in the private unionized …


In The Name Of Diversity: Why Mandatory Diversity Statements Violate The First Amendment And Reduce Intellectual Diversity In Academia, Daniel M. Ortner Dec 2021

In The Name Of Diversity: Why Mandatory Diversity Statements Violate The First Amendment And Reduce Intellectual Diversity In Academia, Daniel M. Ortner

Catholic University Law Review

In the 1950s and 1960s in many parts of the country, a professor could be fired or never hired if he refused to denounce communism or declare loyalty to the United States Constitution. The University of California system took the lead in enforcing these loyalty oaths. These loyalty oaths were challenged all the way up to the United States Supreme Court and were soundly rejected, establishing the centrality of academic freedom and open inquiry on the university campus. So why are loyalty oaths making their resurgence in the form of mandatory diversity statements? Universities have begun requiring faculty members to …


A Democratic View Of Public Employee Speech Rights, R. George Wright Sep 2021

A Democratic View Of Public Employee Speech Rights, R. George Wright

Catholic University Law Review

The question of the scope of public employee free speech rights is of obvious importance. Such cases are frequently litigated. The speaker's continuing employment is commonly at stake. The appropriate functioning of the government agency may be at issue as well. But government agencies are intended to operate not only with internal efficiency but with proper accountability to the public. And such accountability requires an appropriate degree of agency openness, transparency, and meaningful disclosure on publicly significant matters. Adequately assuring the democratic accountability of government agencies, it turns out, requires greater protection of public employee speech than is currently available.


(Anti)-Slapp Happy In Federal Court?: The Applicability Of State Anti-Slapp Statutes In Federal Court And The Need For Federal Protection Against Slapps, Caitlin Daday Sep 2021

(Anti)-Slapp Happy In Federal Court?: The Applicability Of State Anti-Slapp Statutes In Federal Court And The Need For Federal Protection Against Slapps, Caitlin Daday

Catholic University Law Review

In recent years, lawsuits known as Strategic Lawsuits Against Public Participation, or SLAPPs, have become increasingly common. These suits seek to intimidate and punish people for exercising their First Amendment rights. In response to SLAPPs, over half of the states have enacted anti-SLAPP statutes to protect the targets of SLAPPs. They do so by providing a mechanism for the target to dismiss the lawsuit more quickly than they would normally be able to. In federal courts, the question has arisen as to whether anti-SLAPP statutes should be applied in diversity suits given their close alignment to Federal Rules 8, 12, …


Seeing (Platforms) Like A State: Digital Legibility And Lessons For Platform Governance, Neil Chilson Jan 2021

Seeing (Platforms) Like A State: Digital Legibility And Lessons For Platform Governance, Neil Chilson

Catholic University Journal of Law and Technology

The growing backlash against Big Tech companies is a symptom of digital technology increasing the world’s legibility. James C. Scott’s book, Seeing Like a State: How Certain Schemes to Improve the Human Condition Have Failed, explores how past governments responded to increased legibility – for good and for ill. This article shows how Scott’s historical lessons can guide governments and tech platforms as they seek to improve the human condition online.


No Ifs, Ands, Or Juuls About It: Why Influencers Must Be Held Accountable, Krystina Dorta Jan 2021

No Ifs, Ands, Or Juuls About It: Why Influencers Must Be Held Accountable, Krystina Dorta

Catholic University Journal of Law and Technology

This article analyzes how the FTC’s Endorsement Guide regulating the advertising of e-cigarette products should be applied to social media influencers. The struggle to regulate e-cigarettes by the FDA and the FTC has led to different advertising methods, which either comply with or neglect the FTC’s Endorsement Guide. This article evaluates the federal government’s reaction to the e-cigarette health crisis, followed by a review of the FTC’s previous actions addressing Endorsement Guide violations, along with the consequences on other companies’ marketing strategies. Finally, this article reviews influencer liability standards for Endorsement Guide violations and develops recommendations to improve those standards.


Sounds Of Science: Copyright Infringement In Ai Music Generator Outputs, Eric Sunray Jan 2021

Sounds Of Science: Copyright Infringement In Ai Music Generator Outputs, Eric Sunray

Catholic University Journal of Law and Technology

The music business is no stranger to disruptive technology. The industry’s apparent comeback from the devastating downturn caused by illegal file sharing seems to have arrived just in time for what may be an even more disruptive technological phenomenon: artificial intelligence (“AI”). Much has been said about the implications of AI-generated music, ranging from issues of ownership, to rights of publicity. However, there has been surprisingly little discussion of infringement in the AI systems’ outputs. By examining the functionality of AI music generators through the lens of de minimis use case law, this paper will explain how the outputs of …


Hybrid Ip Rights For Software, Apis, And Guis: Understanding Copyright's Paradigm Shift, Howard Skaist Jan 2021

Hybrid Ip Rights For Software, Apis, And Guis: Understanding Copyright's Paradigm Shift, Howard Skaist

Catholic University Journal of Law and Technology

The non-literal scope of protection for software is intricate legally and is intricate technical. Thus, despite literally decades of court decisions and a mountain of legal scholar written on the subject in that time, it appears that there is still no consistent agreement about it, as evidenced by the Google v. Oracle which has percolated in the courts for nearly a decade and is now being heard by the US Supreme Court (oral argument was on October 7, 2020). However, the thesis of this article that a legal construct is capable of being formulated that is analytically consistent and that …


Masthead, Editor-In- Chief Jan 2021

Masthead, Editor-In- Chief

Catholic University Journal of Law and Technology

No abstract provided.


Table Of Contents, Editor-In- Chief Jan 2021

Table Of Contents, Editor-In- Chief

Catholic University Journal of Law and Technology

No abstract provided.


The End Of The Affair, Marc O. Degirolami Jan 2021

The End Of The Affair, Marc O. Degirolami

Scholarly Articles

Religion and liberalism have reached a complicated entente in the law of American and European democracies. At times the relationship has been diffi- dently cordial; at others something that appeared warmer. This period marked a change from previous eras of far more open mutual hostility. Liberalism and the traditional, historically rich and influential religions—particularly Christianity— never have been allies. To the contrary, liberalism was designed in part expressly to neuter the communal and political power of religion—again, especially Christianity—and to separate law from religion for the purpose of weakening the latter. The current rapprochement has endured for more than a …