Law Commons^™

Boggs V. Johnston Asphalt, Llc, 334 A.3d 965 (R.I. 2025)., Gracie May Mccall

Roger Williams University Law Review

No abstract provided.

Goodbye, Nomcompetes? Policy Diffusion And State-Level Reforms, Lorenzo G. Luisetto, Norman D. Bishara

Law Faculty Articles and Essays

Post-employment non-competition agreements (“noncompetes”) have been part of the common law dating back to at least 1414. The past 16 years have seen an unprecedented wave of scrutiny that is mostly aimed at curtailing these agreements, culminating in the contentious 2024 Federal Trade Commission’s (FTC) attempted noncompete ban. With the broad FTC ban on hold for the foreseeable future, the spotlight shifts back to the states where innovation in noncompete policy is blossoming. In this study, we systematically explore the legislative and policy trends reshaping the U.S. noncompete landscape. We propose a novel typology of these reforms and apply a …

Rewriting The Sentence: Second Look Sentencing In Rhode Island, Carter Hazzard

Roger Williams University Law Review

No abstract provided.

A New Middle Ground: The Continuous Treatment Doctrine As A Solution To Rhode Island’S Incomplete Tort Reform, Justin Edward Keyes

Roger Williams University Law Review

No abstract provided.

Mile V. Kirkbrae Country Club, 331 A.3d 1003 (R.I. 2025)., Taylor Payne

Roger Williams University Law Review

No abstract provided.

State V. Mclean., 337 A.3d 655 (R.I. 2025)., Kelsey Carter

Roger Williams University Law Review

No abstract provided.

State V. Roman, 335 A.3d 782 (R.I. 2025)., Kylie Rau

Roger Williams University Law Review

No abstract provided.

In Re N.O., 336 A.3d 29 (R.I. 2025)., Salvamarie Alifonso

Roger Williams University Law Review

No abstract provided.

Obituary For The Birth Certificate, Malinda L. Seymore

Faculty Scholarship

Have birth certificates outlived their usefulness? Birth certificates establish an individual’s name, identity, age, race, sex and gender, parental authority, and citizenship. In addition, the information collected at the time of birth and reflected on a long-form birth certificate provides data for public health policy, population statistics, internal migration, government planning, and resource allocation. Birth certificates are also the all-access pass to American life, necessary for many functions of modern life: registering a child in school, signing a child up for soccer, getting a driver’s license and passport, enlisting in the military, and applying for government benefits. All of this, …

Oregon’S History Of Using The Law To “Stack The Deck” In Favor Of White Males, Janet Steverson

Lewis & Clark Law Review

The United States has a sordid, racist history that permeates society still today. The State of Oregon has its own racist history, systematically excluding persons of Black African ancestry in its early years. This Essay explains this history and how seemingly historical practices continue to provide advantages to some, while detrimentally impacting others. This history is put in context by providing explanations of particular terms and this Essay further explains why examining these historical laws are critical in moving forward.

Taking Off The “Blindfold”: Exploring Montana’S Public Trust Doctrine And The Right To A Clean And Healthful Environment After Held V. Montana, Lizzy Gazeley

Lewis & Clark Law Review

As global average temperatures continue to rise, the threat of climate change looms closer. To evade climate catastrophe, greenhouse gas emissions will need to be substantially reduced. Despite climate change’s imminent risks, in the United States, both the federal government and states remain resistant to transitioning away from fossil fuel energy sources. To combat this government inaction, some litigants have turned to an ancient doctrine. The public trust doctrine provides that sovereigns must protect natural resources from substantial impairment to ensure the public’s right to use those resources.

In Held v. Montana, youth plaintiffs alleged that the State of Montana …

Regulated Victimization: The Rise Of Human Trafficking Within The Oregon Massage Industry, Hannah Beaulieu

Lewis & Clark Law Review

Illicit massage businesses are massage spas that appear to operate as legitimate businesses but facilitate commercial sex acts behind closed doors. Recent law enforcement investigations in Oregon have revealed that some illicit massage businesses have facilitated the human trafficking of multiple victims. The illicit massage industry has steadily grown across the country but has especially boomed in recent years in Oregon. This Note investigates how the illicit massage industry has evolved to be so prevalent in our communities and what factors have contributed to the growth. It goes on to recommend ways to protect victims, to prevent further harm, and …

Quo Warranto In The Aftermath Of Loper Bright, Dennis Hall

Lewis & Clark Law Review

In 2024, the Supreme Court did away with Chevron deference in Loper Bright Enterprises v. Raimondo. One previously undiscussed consequence of this decision is how it opens the door to a broader use of quo warranto corporate charter revocation. Quo warranto is a legal remedy held by the states that has fallen into relative obscurity, but it has the power to regulate large corporations that have strayed from the bounds of acceptable activity. This Comment examines the history of corporations and corporate oversight regulation in the United States, as well as the history of quo warranto as a remedy. Additionally, …

287(G) Or Not 287(G)? That Is The Question: Nevada’S Role In Regulating Local-Federal Cooperation On Immigration Enforcement, Zachary Sweetin, Elizabeth Swenson

Nevada Law Journal Forum

This White Paper aims to examine the authority of local agencies and institutions in Nevada to enter into cooperative 287(g) agreements with ICE without state approval. Part I provides an overview of the history and structure of 287(g) agreements, including the recent adoption of this cooperative model by four Nevada jurisdictions. This Paper will also explore sections of Nevada Re- vised Statutes that may affect the legality of 287(g) agreements, focusing in Part II on Nevada’s modified Dillon’s Rule and in Part III on Nevada Revised Statutes (NRS) 228.206. Using pending American Civil Liberties Union of Nevada (ACLU) litigation against …

Rewwild: Reimagining Environmental And Wildlife Wellbeing Through Innovative Lawn Design, Morgan J. Sandau, Maiya G. Roelen, Katia E. Chavez, Lydia K. Niedermeyer

Undergraduate Theses, Professional Papers, and Capstone Artifacts

Manicured, monoculture lawns often dominate private land in urban areas for aesthetic organization. Colonialist roots are embedded in the history of turfgrass lawns and white-picket fences intended to suppress Indigenous knowledge and ways of caring for the diverse land around us. Private land misuse and homogenous lawns are not limited to the United States; the modern lawn contributes to biodiversity loss on a global scale. Humans are concentrated in cities across the world, and urban areas are known to have negative implications for wildlife and habitat, human health, and sustainable resource use. Management of private land in urban settings is …

Justice For The Accomplice: Minnesota's 2023 Accomplice Liability Amendment And Its Shortcomings, John M. Thompson

Mitchell Hamline Law Review

No abstract provided.

Vicarious Liability In Sexual Misconduct Cases In Minnesota, Mike Steenson

Mitchell Hamline Law Review

Employers are vicariously liable for torts committed by their employees acting within the course and scope of their employment. The predominant test turns on whether the employee acted, at least in part, out of a desire to serve the employer’s interests. That test is problematic in cases involving intentional torts committed by an employee, particularly in sexual assault cases. Existing vicarious liability rules have been heavily criticized for the motive rule’s limiting effect, even where the nature of the employment may facilitate the tort. A minority of jurisdictions impose vicarious liability in cases where the tort is a characteristic risk …

Key

California Regulatory Law Reporter

No abstract provided.

Immigration Federalism And The Promise Of State Constitutions, Joanne Gottesman

Lewis & Clark Law Review

This Article explores state constitutions’ promises and pitfalls for immigrant rights advocacy. This is a particularly urgent endeavor, given the anti-immigrant measures of President Trump’s second term and a U.S. Supreme Court that is willing to reverse longstanding precedent. Even cases like Plyler v. Doe, with its guarantee of free public education to undocumented children, could be vulnerable. While U.S. Supreme Court opinions protecting immigrant rights are the gold standard because they apply nationwide, state courts and state constitutions provide critical alternative avenues for relief that should not be overlooked.

This Article considers some state constitutional provisions that may help …

Food Stamp Participation And Health Outcomes In Ca Immigrants, Esther Kang

Scripps Senior Theses

The U.S. social welfare system includes programs aiming to increase access to nutritious food to reduce nutrition insecurity. However, studies suggest that immigrants continue to face disproportionate risks of nutrition insecurity and may face barriers to enrollment due to legal status. This study, using secondary data from the 2023 California Health Interview Survey, examines the associations between food stamp participation, food insecurity, and clinical diagnosis of diabetes among adult U.S.-born, naturalized, and non-citizen adults in California. The findings suggest that those enrolled in food stamps are more likely to report food insecurity than those who are not enrolled, and that …

Private Prosecution And The State, Anna Arons

Faculty Publications

The modern family regulation system is paradigmatically public. In the common account, the state plays a monopolistic role. It decides which families to investigate and which to prosecute, which families to surveil and which to separate, and which services and benefits to provision for families entangled in the system. Yet, this public family regulation paradigm obscures the role of private prosecution. Nearly half of states permit private individuals to initiate dependency prosecutions. In these cases, private prosecutors allege that parents have neglected or abused their children and seek state intervention on the fundamental right to family integrity.

This Article surfaces …

The Right To Seek Joy, Tyler Rose Clemons

Faculty Publications

Within the past three years, roughly half of American states have restricted access to gender-affirming medical treatment for children. In this article, I argue that these bans violate transgender children’s right to liberty guaranteed by the Fourteenth Amendment’s Due Process Clause. I do so by excavating the Framers’ understanding of liberty as the right to seek joy. Rooted in the philosophies of John Locke and Epicurus, the Framers understood liberty as the right to make important life decisions according to one’s subjective preferences without undue interference from the government. Based on this understanding, I develop a new framework for substantive …

Can Federalism Protect Subnational Liberal Democracy From Central Authoritarianism?, James A. Gardner

Journal Articles

Liberal democracy is eroding rapidly around the globe, including in the United States, raising alarming questions about whether American democratic institutions will endure. Nevertheless, some have speculated that federalism may protect liberal democracy at the subnational level when the central government turns authoritarian. This article argues that such optimism is premature: there is no a priori basis on which to predict the effect of central democratic backsliding on the quality of subnational democracy. Federal theory does suggest that internal heterogeneity in basic political commitments is likely to produce an escalating pattern of severe and possibly intractable intergovernmental conflict. Empirical evidence …

Asset Forfeiture As An Animal Welfare Law: A Case Study On South Carolina's Bond-Or-Forfeit Statute, Morgan Mercer

Animal Law Review

This Comment examines South Carolina’s 2024 bond-or-forfeit statute (H.B. 3682) as a case study in the growing trend of extending existing legal frameworks to promote animal welfare. Traditionally, asset forfeiture treats animals purely as property subject to seizure. However, by shifting the costs of caring for seized animals from public agencies to the animals’ owners, H.B. 3682 embeds a concern for animal well-being into a framework historically focused on economic and property interests. This Comment argues that bond-or-forfeit statutes are part of a broader trend toward recognizing animals as sentient beings with welfare interests distinct from their owners’ property rights. …

A Mandate With Teeth: Biting Back At The Neglect Of New York's Humane Education Law, Mei Brunson

Animal Law Review

New York passed its compulsory humane education law in 1917, which obligates school districts to provide weekly instruction in the “humane treatment and protection of animals” to all elementary school students. Though this mandate is clear, New York school districts routinely ignore it and deprive students of the humane education that they are statutorily entitled to. To make matters worse, the New York Commissioner of Education has abdicated their responsibility to enforce this minimum educational standard. Over the years, the laudable efforts of advocacy groups, educators, and legislators have brought about some instances of district compliance. Nevertheless, widespread district noncompliance …

Rethinking The Religious Purpose Test After Catholic Charities Bureau: The Sincerity-Then-Standards Framework, Victoria Litman

Roger Williams University Law Review

No abstract provided.

Koziol Firearms, Inc. V. Marchand, 334 A.3d 439 (R.I. 2025)., Grace D. Guachione

Roger Williams University Law Review

No abstract provided.

Kazarian V. New London Cnty. Mut. Ins. Co., 331 A.3d 984 (R.I. 2025)., Nicole Aprile

Roger Williams University Law Review

No abstract provided.

2025 Rhode Island Public Laws, Ryan Claudino

Roger Williams University Law Review

No abstract provided.

Watch Hill Fire Dist. V. Westerly Zoning Bd. Of Rev., 338 A.3d 326 (R.I. 2025)., Trent Huff

Roger Williams University Law Review

No abstract provided.