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The "People's Total War On Covid-19": Urban Pandemic Management Through (Non-)Law In Wuhan, China, Philipp Renninger Dec 2020

The "People's Total War On Covid-19": Urban Pandemic Management Through (Non-)Law In Wuhan, China, Philipp Renninger

Washington International Law Journal

Although COVID-19 was first detected in the People’s Republic of China, the pandemic now appears contained there. Western and Chinese media attribute this apparent success to the central level of the Chinese state and the Communist Party. However, this article reveals that local entities provided critical contributions to China’s COVID-19 management, particularly in the pandemic’s first epicenter: Wuhan city in Hubei province. Chinese cities like Wuhan can fight public health emergencies through legal and nonlegal instruments. Although Wuhan had prepared for possible pandemics, its existing plans, institutions, and warning systems initially failed against COVID-19. The city did not contain the …


Sonograms And Speech: Informed Consent, Professional Speech, And Physicians' First Amendment Rights, Oliana Luke Dec 2020

Sonograms And Speech: Informed Consent, Professional Speech, And Physicians' First Amendment Rights, Oliana Luke

Washington Law Review

Abortion is an extremely divisive topic that has caused waves of litigation. The right to access abortion has traditionally been challenged based on due process, equal protection, and privacy grounds. However, in a more recent string of cases, physicians have been challenging laws that require the physician to narrate an ultrasound before an abortion as an abridgment of their First Amendment rights. These cases require courts to balance the government’s ability to reasonably regulate a physician through professional licensing with the physician’s First Amendment protections against government-compelled speech. This Comment argues that, to balance these ideals and survive First Amendment …


A Big Fracking Deal: Pennsylvania's Departure From Traditional Rule Of Capture Interpretation Paves Way For Fracking Trespass Claims, Andrew Belack Jun 2020

A Big Fracking Deal: Pennsylvania's Departure From Traditional Rule Of Capture Interpretation Paves Way For Fracking Trespass Claims, Andrew Belack

Washington Journal of Environmental Law & Policy

This Comment explores the Pennsylvania Superior Court's rejection of the traditional rule of capture as it applies to oil extraction from adjacent land parcels using the hydraulic-fracturing method. At the time of writing, the Pennsylvania Superior Court's departure from the rule of capture has opened the door for trespass claims filed by an adjacent land owner, when oil under her property is extracted by a neighboring frack well. This Comment also examines the various health and environmental concerns that are consequent of the hydraulic-fracturing method of oil extraction.


The Dangers Of Disclosure: How Hiv Laws Harm Domestic Violence Survivors, Courtney K. Cross Mar 2020

The Dangers Of Disclosure: How Hiv Laws Harm Domestic Violence Survivors, Courtney K. Cross

Washington Law Review

People living with HIV or AIDS must decide whether, how, and when to disclose their positive status. State laws play an outsized role in this highly personal calculus. Partner notification laws require that current and former sexual partners of individuals newly diagnosed with HIV be informed of their potential exposure to the disease. Meanwhile, people who fail to disclose their positive status prior to engaging in sexual acts—even acts that carry low to no risk of infection—can be prosecuted and incarcerated for exposing their partners to HIV. Although both partner notification laws and criminal HIV exposure laws were ostensibly created …


The Birth Of Fertility Fraud: How To Protect Washingtonians, Sarah Chicoine Jan 2020

The Birth Of Fertility Fraud: How To Protect Washingtonians, Sarah Chicoine

Washington Law Review Online

Doctors in multiple states have been accused of using their own sperm to impregnate patients without the patient’s consent. Because most states do not have laws prohibiting fertility doctors from using their own sperm to impregnate their patients, families have not been able to seek meaningful legal remedies. State legislatures enacted new fertility fraud laws to deter, criminalize, and provide a legal civil cause of action to those harmed by these actions—but only after these allegations came to light. If the Washington State Legislature creates a law before any similar allegations come to light in Washington, those patients harmed in …