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Articles 1 - 30 of 35
Full-Text Articles in Law
Consider Collateral Consequences: The Inherent Hypocrisy Of Veterans Treatment Courts’ Failure To Dismiss Criminal Charges, Julia W. Williams
Consider Collateral Consequences: The Inherent Hypocrisy Of Veterans Treatment Courts’ Failure To Dismiss Criminal Charges, Julia W. Williams
Journal of Law and Policy
American veterans are often plagued by psychological and physical injuries, among other hardships, which, when unaddressed, can lead to substance abuse, criminal behavior, and suicide. As public awareness of the difficulties that American veterans face was growing, the problem-solving court movement was also gaining momentum. Largely inspired by therapeutic jurisprudence, an interdisciplinary framework that sees the law as a way to reach therapeutic outcomes, problem-solving courts seek to identify the root causes of criminal behavior and address those causes in ways that promote rehabilitation and reduce recidivism. Veterans Treatment Courts (“VTCs”) emerged when veterans advocacy intersected with the problem-solving court …
Determining Marriage Length In Support Calculations: Should Cohabitation Count?, Mark Strasser
Determining Marriage Length In Support Calculations: Should Cohabitation Count?, Mark Strasser
Journal of Law and Policy
Many states have sought to make spousal support awards more predictable by linking them to marital length. States doing so must decide whether to include premarital cohabitation within the calculation determining marriage duration, which for many couples will significantly affect the ultimate determination. This Article discusses some of the difficulties in achieving consistency and predictability in marital length determinations, focusing on how the supreme courts in Massachusetts and North Dakota have sacrificed those goals in their attempts to achieve what they likely thought to be more equitable results in individual cases.
Slaying The Serpents: Why Alternative Intervention Is Necessary To Protect Those In Mental Health Crisis From The State-Created Danger “Snake Pit”, Kathleen Giunta
Slaying The Serpents: Why Alternative Intervention Is Necessary To Protect Those In Mental Health Crisis From The State-Created Danger “Snake Pit”, Kathleen Giunta
Journal of Law and Policy
The Black Lives Matter protests in 2020 and ongoing reports of police brutality around the United States sparked extensive debate over qualified immunity and the legal protections that prevent police accountability. Individuals experiencing mental health crises are especially vulnerable to police violence, since police officers lack the requisite skills and knowledge to provide effective crisis support during mental health emergencies. Although the state-created danger doctrine was created by the courts as an exception to qualified immunity, it is so rarely applied that individuals harmed or even killed by police are left without legal remedy. This Note explores qualified immunity and …
No Pact With The Devil: Defending & Strengthening New York City’S Permanent Affordability Commitment Together (Pact) - P3, Madeline Martinez
No Pact With The Devil: Defending & Strengthening New York City’S Permanent Affordability Commitment Together (Pact) - P3, Madeline Martinez
Journal of Law and Policy
Faced with the dual threats of a federal receivership and a growing deficit of federal appropriations, in 2018, New York City Mayor Bill DeBlasio enrolled the New York City Housing Authority (“NYCHA”) into the Permanent Affordability Commitment Together (“PACT”). PACT would allow NYCHA to convert its federal Section 9 funding streams into federal Section 8 vouchers and permit the local public housing authority to enter public-private partnerships with private developers. This move would infuse NYCHA with an additional $12.8 billion in funding to counteract its roughly $31.8 billion deficit. However, immediately after the mayor unveiled his plans to pursue PACT, …
Big Dreams And Pyramid Schemes: The Ftc’S Path To Improving Multi-Level Marketing Consumer Protections In Light Of Amg Capital Management And The 2016 Herbalife Settlement, Camille H. Mangiaratti
Big Dreams And Pyramid Schemes: The Ftc’S Path To Improving Multi-Level Marketing Consumer Protections In Light Of Amg Capital Management And The 2016 Herbalife Settlement, Camille H. Mangiaratti
Journal of Law and Policy
Multi-level marketing, also known as “MLM,” is a type of sales business that relies on both sales to consumers and recruitment of sellers into the company’s tiered commission structure. MLMs are wildly and enduringly popular, especially because they claim to be a flexible and easy source of income for people who need it most. However, almost everyone who joins an MLM will lose money, and many MLMs are illegal pyramid schemes. Millions of Americans are harmed by MLMs every year. Despite this, the government does very little to punish MLMs who lie to prospective participants about their odds of success. …
The Roberts Court, State Courts, And State Constitutions: Judicial Role Shopping, Ariel L. Bendor, Joshua Segev
The Roberts Court, State Courts, And State Constitutions: Judicial Role Shopping, Ariel L. Bendor, Joshua Segev
Journal of Law and Policy
In this Article we reveal a dual dilemma, both material and institutional, that the Supreme Court in its current composition faces when reviewing liberal state court decisions based on the state constitution. The Article further describes substantive and procedural tactics that the Court adopts to address this dilemma, and illustrates the arguments by analyzing a number of recent Supreme Court decisions. The two dilemmas, the combination of which serve as a “power multiplier,” of sorts, have arisen following the last three appointments to the Supreme Court, which resulted in a solid majority of conservative Justices nominated by Republican presidents. One …
Civil Asset Forfeitures: How Prosecutors Can Facilitate Community-Based Criminal Justice Reform, Lane Waples
Civil Asset Forfeitures: How Prosecutors Can Facilitate Community-Based Criminal Justice Reform, Lane Waples
Journal of Law and Policy
Criminal justice reform is elusive in the United States. Despite evidence that the system is broken, change remains ephemeral at best. This is partially attributable to the fact that most attempts to reform the criminal legal system have occurred through the political process. However, another method of criminal justice reform is to assist communities as they address the root causes of crime. Undergirding this approach is the belief that building stronger communities contributes to less crime and reduces recidivism. After seizing $250 million via prosecutions of financial crimes in 2016, the New York County District Attorney’s Office created a “first-of-its-kind” …
A Firm Pillar Of Local Justice: The Failures Of The New York Town And Village Justice Courts Supporting Statewide Adoption Of The District Court Model, Noah Sexton
Journal of Law and Policy
Town and village justice courts have been the center of municipal law, both civil and criminal, since the mid-nineteenth century. However, in the modern world, they have become corrupt, poorly managed institutions, creating issues involving procedural integrity and civil rights. In order to remedy these failures and modernize the New York State Unified Court System, state legislators must look to the district court model as it currently exists in Nassau and Eastern Suffolk Counties. The district court model offers several benefits, including the imposition of educational and experiential requirements for judges, the creation of internal and external oversight institutions, the …
Landlord Bounty Hunters: Qui Tam As An Effective Tool For Housing Code Enforcement, Alex Ellefson
Landlord Bounty Hunters: Qui Tam As An Effective Tool For Housing Code Enforcement, Alex Ellefson
Journal of Law and Policy
Millions of American renters live in substandard housing. Conditions in these homes not only affect individual renters’ quality of life, but in the aggregate create enormous burdens on public resources in the form of higher healthcare costs, demand for public benefits, and lower economic productivity. Furthermore, the legacy of racist housing policies in the United States has concentrated poor housing conditions in low-income communities of color. This Note argues that existing methods of housing code enforcement are inadequate. Instead, housing advocates should turn to an ancient remedy that has been used to prosecute fraud, labor violations, and even pirates: qui …
Decriminalizing Prostitution: Embracing The Swedish Model By Removing The Mistake-Of-Age Defense From New York’S Stop Violence In The Sex Trade Act, Carley Cooke
Journal of Law and Policy
In recent years, New York has re-focused on the widely debated topic of how to best manage and regulate prostitution in the United States. As a state-level issue, the debate presents an invaluable opportunity to re-examine how New York as a society views sex work. The answer in New York focuses on the idea that sex work is real work, where workers should be able to carry out their profession without stigma or fear of arrest. As it stands, the proposed reform largely focuses on decriminalizing both the purchase and sale of sex. This approach contrasts with the legal structure …
Living Landmarks: Equipping Landmark Protection For Today’S Challenges, Kyle Campion
Living Landmarks: Equipping Landmark Protection For Today’S Challenges, Kyle Campion
Journal of Law and Policy
The past few decades have brought tremendous change to New York City as gentrification continues its march through many of the city’s neighborhoods. This change has transformed formerly neglected neighborhoods into highly desired locations. While these changes have introduced potential benefits to the transformed areas, they have also put immense economic pressure on important local establishments, such as diners, bars, and other informal gathering spaces that played an important role in their communities before the neighborhoods became “hot.” Increasingly, this pressure has resulted in the shuttering of many such local establishments. Their disappearance represents not only a loss of an …
The Legal History Of State Legislative Vacancies And Temporary Appointments, Tyler Yeargain
The Legal History Of State Legislative Vacancies And Temporary Appointments, Tyler Yeargain
Journal of Law and Policy
We love paying attention to special elections. They operate as catharsis for opposition parties and activists, easily serve as proxies for how well the governing party is doing, and are ripe for over-extrapolation by prognosticators. But in thirty states and territories throughout the United States, state legislative vacancies are filled by a combination of special elections and temporary appointments. These appointment systems are rarely studied or discussed in academic literature but have a fascinating legal history that dates back to pre-Revolutionary America. They have substantially changed in the last four centuries, transitioning from a system that, like the Electoral College, …
When Death Becomes An Option: How Aedpa’S Opt-In Provisions Will Violate The Constitutional Rights Of Habeas Corpus Petitioners, Alexander Brock
When Death Becomes An Option: How Aedpa’S Opt-In Provisions Will Violate The Constitutional Rights Of Habeas Corpus Petitioners, Alexander Brock
Journal of Law and Policy
For centuries, the writ of habeas corpus has allowed imprisoned men and women to challenge the validity of their detention as the final source of relief from criminal sentences. For those convicted of the death penalty, it is the last resource standing between life and death. Despite its monumental significance in America’s legal history, the “Great Writ” was dealt a devastating blow with the introduction of the Antiterrorism and Effective Death Penalty Act (“AEDPA”) of 1996. Designed to expedite the legal processes from sentencing to execution, AEDPA drastically limited the avenues of relief sought by habeas petitioners. Yet, the law …
Single Subject Rules And Civil Rights: Using Legislative-Process Restrictions To Facially Challenge Constitutionally Suspect Laws, Annie Melton
Journal of Law and Policy
This Note argues that the single subject rule, a procedural restriction, can be used to facially challenge certain insidious laws. By giving courts an opening to review a law in its most elemental form—a deliberated-over means of adequately implementing a new, or remedying an existing, policy—the single subject rule tests it for characteristics like clarity, practicality, and predictability. The rule is rarely litigated in many states, but doing so draws attention to a fundamental philosophy of the legislative process, which is especially compelling in light of the ideological battles that are dominating statehouses across the country and giving rise to …
Looking Out For The Little Guy: Protecting Child Informants And Witnesses, Sarah Glasser
Looking Out For The Little Guy: Protecting Child Informants And Witnesses, Sarah Glasser
Journal of Law and Policy
Too often, young people in the United States who become involved in the criminal justice system as informants and witnesses are not afforded the protections they need and deserve, and risk being murdered for providing critical information in the pursuit of an arrest or conviction. The immediate adoption of state legislation to protect children who serve as informants or are compelled to testify as witnesses in criminal cases is imperative to avoid the loss of young lives. Such legislation should be compelled via restrictions on state access to federal funds for witness protection, law enforcement, and judicial programs until appropriate …
The New York Court Of Appeals' Expansion Of The Definition Of The Term “Parent” Leaves Future Questions Unanswered, Ilana Sharan
The New York Court Of Appeals' Expansion Of The Definition Of The Term “Parent” Leaves Future Questions Unanswered, Ilana Sharan
Journal of Law and Policy
On August 30, 2016, the New York Court of Appeals in Brooke S.B. v. Elizabeth A.C.C., expanded the definition of the term “parent,” overruling the twenty-five-year-old bright line rule that limited standing to seek custody or visitation to traditional parents. In 1991, the New York Court of Appeals decided Alison D. v. Virginia M. where they defined “parent” to include only people who have a biological or adoptive relationship with the child, reasoning that the typical family consisted of a husband and wife. In many cases subsequent to Alison D., the court attempted to alleviate the harsh application this rule …
No “Gift” Giving Here: The Inadequate Gifted Education Programs In New York State And The Need For Gifted Education Reform, Jamie M. Kautz
No “Gift” Giving Here: The Inadequate Gifted Education Programs In New York State And The Need For Gifted Education Reform, Jamie M. Kautz
Journal of Law and Policy
Gifted Education is a topic that is often not at the forefront of educational issues throughout federal and state discussions and legislative actions. However, while there are a large number of students in classrooms across the country who are “gifted,” the number of individual states with comprehensive gifted programs within their public school districts is small. As a result, gifted programming is limited and gifted students are not guaranteed any sort of academic assistance beyond that of a standard classroom curriculum for their designated grade levels. More importantly, in the majority of states, including New York, the legal protections offered …
“Making Bail”: Limiting The Use Of Bail Schedules And Defining The Elusive Meaning Of “Excessive Bail”, James A. Allen
“Making Bail”: Limiting The Use Of Bail Schedules And Defining The Elusive Meaning Of “Excessive Bail”, James A. Allen
Journal of Law and Policy
Every day in the United States, thousands of people are waiting in jail postarrest prior to any trial or conviction. Once arrested, these individuals frequently face harsh conditions while they are held for their first appearance to be assigned bail. Thousands of individuals wait more than forty-eight hours to first appear in front of a judicial officer who determines their bail conditions. Innocent people––people who have committed no offense except that of being underprivileged––are pressured into accepting plea bargains because they cannot pay bail. Thousands remain in jail unwilling to accept plea bargains or admit guilt but are detained nevertheless …
Fighting For Fair Fares In New York City Through Civil Society Enforcement Of Title Vi, Sara Amri
Fighting For Fair Fares In New York City Through Civil Society Enforcement Of Title Vi, Sara Amri
Journal of Law and Policy
Low-income New Yorkers rely heavily on public transportation to travel around the city. However, riding the New York City subway system is becoming increasingly unaffordable. New York City’s Metropolitan Transit Authority (MTA) has set forth plans to implement semiannual fare increases. No alleviation has been provided, however, to New Yorkers living at or below the federal poverty level, despite the discounts provided to other groups regardless of their income. The inability to travel can have a devastating impact on the upward mobility of poor New Yorkers, and, alarmingly, fare increases appear to have a disparate impact on low-income people of …
The Foreign Emoluments Clause: Protecting Our National Security Interests, Deborah Samuel Sills
The Foreign Emoluments Clause: Protecting Our National Security Interests, Deborah Samuel Sills
Journal of Law and Policy
Classical republican ideals played an important role in the formation of our country. Guided by these ideals, several provisions were included in the Constitution to protect the United States from these harms, including the Emoluments Clause. This Clause prohibits United States officials from accepting certain types of benefits from foreign nations, except with Congress's consent. It protects our national interests by ensuring that federal officials remain free from improper pressures from foreign states and act for the welfare of our country. This provision promotes transparency and accountability and helps guard against corrupt influences that could undermine, and even destroy, a …
Equitable Relief For Private Rico Plaintiffs: Using Donziger To Remedy Courthouse Corruption, Anna Hanke
Equitable Relief For Private Rico Plaintiffs: Using Donziger To Remedy Courthouse Corruption, Anna Hanke
Journal of Law and Policy
In Chevron Corp. v. Steven Donziger, the Southern District of New York granted Chevron an injunction against Donziger under the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations (RICO) Act, preventing the enforcement of an Ecuadorean judgment against it in the United States. This Note discusses the circuit court split on whether injunctive relief may be granted in a civil RICO suit, arguing that injunctive relief is an available remedy within the statute’s plain meaning, legislative intent, and evolving jurisprudence of civil RICO. The Note applies the Donziger interpretation of RICO to a case of a similarly corrupted judgment, Caperton v. A.T. Massey …
Beyond Walls And Fences: Exploring The Legal Geography Of Gated Communities In Mixed Spaces, Manal Totry-Jubran
Beyond Walls And Fences: Exploring The Legal Geography Of Gated Communities In Mixed Spaces, Manal Totry-Jubran
Journal of Law and Policy
In the last three decades, a new type of physical seclusion has appeared around the world: the gating and walling of urban and suburban spatial residences. This phenomenon, led mainly by dominant socio-economic groups, is referred to as “gated communities.” This article focuses on the legal challenges that gated communities raise in ethnocratic societies that share a legacy of segregation and of unequal distribution of land. The main argument is that, due to this legacy, the legality of gated communities and walls that separate communities generate legal debates that goes beyond classic legal claims of rights violations of non-residents of …
Lowering The Threshold: How Far Has The Americans With Disabilities Act Expanded Access To The Courts In Employment Litigation?, Curtis D. Edmonds
Lowering The Threshold: How Far Has The Americans With Disabilities Act Expanded Access To The Courts In Employment Litigation?, Curtis D. Edmonds
Journal of Law and Policy
The purpose of the Americans with Disabilities Act Amendments Act (“ADAAA”) was to restructure and clarify the definition of the legal term “disability” in the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 (“ADA”). One of the three prongs of the ADA’s definition of disability is “a physical or mental impairment that substantially limits one or more major life activities of such individual.” The ADAAA was the result of a compromise reached after thirteen weeks of negotiations between representatives of the business and disabilities communities over its provisions. Like many other compromises, the ADAAA did not leave either side fully satisfied. Almost …
Legislatively Mandating A Cba Is Not The Way: A Case Study Of Detroit’S Proposed Community Benefits Ordinance And Its Constitutionality Under The Takings Clause Of The Fifth Amendment, Colyn Eppes
Journal of Law and Policy
Community Benefit Agreements, or CBAs, have quickly become a useful tool to ensure that the benefits reaped from large-scale urban development projects are shared among all stakeholders, particularly the community in which the development takes place. In exchange for the local community’s support, which is critical to the developer to progress through the permit application process efficiently, the developer contractually agrees to provide a slate of benefits to the affected community. CBAs have been lauded for their ability to require developers to promote affordable housing, first-source hiring programs, and other targeted benefits which the host community contracted for. However, one …
Beyond Walls And Fences: Exploring The Legal Geography Of Gated Communities In Mixed Spaces, Manal Totry-Jubran
Beyond Walls And Fences: Exploring The Legal Geography Of Gated Communities In Mixed Spaces, Manal Totry-Jubran
Journal of Law and Policy
In the last three decades, a new type of physical seclusion has appeared around the world: the gating and walling of urban and suburban spatial residences. This phenomenon, led mainly by dominant socio-economic groups, is referred to as “gated communities.” This article focuses on the legal challenges that gated communities raise in ethnocratic societies that share a legacy of segregation and of unequal distribution of land. The main argument is that, due to this legacy, the legality of gated communities and walls that separate communities generate legal debates that goes beyond classic legal claims of rights violations of non-residents of …
Fighting For Fair Fares In New York City Through Civil Society Enforcement Of Title Vi, Sara Amri
Fighting For Fair Fares In New York City Through Civil Society Enforcement Of Title Vi, Sara Amri
Journal of Law and Policy
Low-income New Yorkers rely heavily on public transportation to travel around the city. However, riding the New York City subway system is becoming increasingly unaffordable. New York City’s Metropolitan Transit Authority (MTA) has set forth plans to implement semiannual fare increases. No alleviation has been provided, however, to New Yorkers living at or below the federal poverty level, despite the discounts provided to other groups regardless of their income. The inability to travel can have a devastating impact on the upward mobility of poor New Yorkers, and, alarmingly, fare increases appear to have a disparate impact on low-income people of …
Ballot Selfies: Balancing The Right To Speak Out On Political Issues And The Right To Vote Free From Improper Influence And Coercion, Isidora Koutsoulias
Ballot Selfies: Balancing The Right To Speak Out On Political Issues And The Right To Vote Free From Improper Influence And Coercion, Isidora Koutsoulias
Journal of Law and Policy
Courts and legislatures face the difficult task of balancing individual First Amendment rights with other basic freedoms, a task that has become increasingly challenging with the advent of new technology. The emergence of the ballot selfie has caused a legal uproar due to the perception that it may compromise the sanctity of the electoral process and the secret ballot process by facilitating vote buying and coercion. Consequently, several states have enacted laws that prohibit most or all ballot selfies. However, many individuals have rightfully protested these laws as an unreasonable restraint on freedom of speech. This Note argues that although …
Equitable Relief For Private Rico Plaintiffs: Using Donziger To Remedy Courthouse Corruption, Anna Hanke
Equitable Relief For Private Rico Plaintiffs: Using Donziger To Remedy Courthouse Corruption, Anna Hanke
Journal of Law and Policy
In Chevron Corp. v. Steven Donziger, the Southern District of New York granted Chevron an injunction against Donziger under the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations (RICO) Act, preventing the enforcement of an Ecuadorean judgment against it in the United States. This Note discusses the circuit court split on whether injunctive relief may be granted in a civil RICO suit, arguing that injunctive relief is an available remedy within the statute’s plain meaning, legislative intent, and evolving jurisprudence of civil RICO. The Note applies the Donziger interpretation of RICO to a case of a similarly corrupted judgment, Caperton v. A.T. Massey …
Free Agency: The Constitutionality Of Methods That Influence A Presidential Elector’S Ability To Exercise Personal Judgment, Zachary J. Shapiro
Free Agency: The Constitutionality Of Methods That Influence A Presidential Elector’S Ability To Exercise Personal Judgment, Zachary J. Shapiro
Journal of Law and Policy
When the Constitution of the United States went into effect on March 4, 1789, it established a new, hybrid form of government. As such, it created a complex and multifaceted process of electing our nation’s chief executive. Most notably, it granted states the power to choose a slate of presidential electors to debate the qualifications of the candidates selected by the voters. In recent history, however, certain states have established laws that severely limit the ability of presidential electors to exercise their right to vote for the candidates that they believe to be the best choice to sit in the …
Legislatively Mandating A Cba Is Not The Way: A Case Study Of Detroit’S Proposed Community Benefits Ordinance And Its Constitutionality Under The Takings Clause Of The Fifth Amendment, Colyn Eppes
Journal of Law and Policy
Community Benefit Agreements, or CBAs, have quickly become a useful tool to ensure that the benefits reaped from large-scale urban development projects are shared among all stakeholders, particularly the community in which the development takes place. In exchange for the local community’s support, which is critical to the developer to progress through the permit application process efficiently, the developer contractually agrees to provide a slate of benefits to the affected community. CBAs have been lauded for their ability to require developers to promote affordable housing, first-source hiring programs, and other targeted benefits which the host community contracted for. However, one …