Law Commons^™

What’S In The Forecast For The Spac Boom & The Pslra?, Nick Krone

SLU Law Journal Online

Special Purpose Acquisition Companies (SPACs) have exploded in popularity. These so-called “blank check” companies are used as vehicles to take companies public without going through a traditional IPO process. Financial projections in SPACs are currently protected by the safe harbor for forward-looking statements afforded by the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act (PSLRA). In this article, Nick Krone examines whether SPACs should be protected by the PSLRA.

Should Missouri Consider The Social Cost Of Carbon In Policymaking?, Matthew Geer

SLU Law Journal Online

The social cost of carbon (SCC) is a tool used by federal agencies to quantify the cost of carbon emissions in policymaking. As concerns surrounding climate change become more pressing, some states have also begun using the SCC in their own policies, rules, and regulations, while other states like Missouri have actively challenged the metric. In this article, Matthew Geer looks at the origin of the federal social cost of carbon and considers its effectiveness as a tool by state governments to guide policymaking that will prevent climate change from causing irreversible harm to Planet Earth.

Judicial Ethics May Decide Whether A Prisoner Can Be Touched As He Is Executed, Mikayla Lewison

SLU Law Journal Online

The community having faith in the judiciary is vital for the U.S. to function as a democracy. Recently, the Court has become seemingly more politicized, even though Americans prefer an apolitical court. In this article, Mikayla Lewison argues that personal interests of the justices on the Court have likely played a role in whether or not prisoners, like John Henry Ramirez, may have a cleric of their choice inside the chamber as they are executed.

Turning Over Stones: Advocating For Stronger Reporting Requirements For Opportunity Zones, Blake Stocke

Saint Louis University Law Journal

In 2017, Congress passed Sections 1400Z-1 and 1400Z-2 into the Internal Revenue Code, effectively codifying new tax legislation dubbed ‘Opportunity Zones.’ This legislation, which received bipartisan support, was meant to provide investors with a tax break to incentivize investment in low-income communities. The Opportunity Zone program is a substantial tax expenditure for Congress, and one that proponents believe can attract investment into parts of the United States suffering from diminutive economic growth. However, critics doubt this program will benefit those living in distressed communities, and fear that Opportunity Zones will instead promote gentrification while giving wealthy investors unnecessary tax breaks. …

The Implications Of Legalized Marijuana On Establishing Probable Cause For A Warrantless Search, Lauren Williams, Samuel D. Hodge Jr.

Saint Louis University Law Journal

A police officer pulled over a speeding automobile. As the officer approached the vehicle, the driver lowered her window, causing the unique odor of marijuana to escape into the air.[1] This smell immediately alerted the officer to the existence of a controlled substance and established probable cause to search the operator and car.[2] Not so fast! Sniff and search is no longer an automatic justification for law enforcement to conduct a warrantless search in those jurisdictions that have legalized or decriminalized cannabis.[3]

The Supreme Court has long recognized the “automobile exception” to the Fourth Amendment’s prohibition against …

Critical Race Theory & The Gospels, Anthony Paul Farley

Saint Louis University Law Journal

Commodities can speak. They pray constantly for release. The slave is the commodity that speaks. This Essay is the slave’s prayer for release, for resurrection. The slave is imprisoned, entombed, in the commodity form, a form in which it appears as a thing that is exchangeable for other things, not an end-in-itself.

Yesterday is not gone. Emancipation has yet to take place. The conceits of the modern era are all around us written in ruin and in specters of future ruin. Critical Race Theory is a flower in the midst of ruin. Critical Race Theory is said to be radical? …

Legislative Push Towards Supersession In Missouri: Why The State Attorney General Should Not Be Statutorily Granted Concurrent Jurisdiction With Locally Elected Prosecutors, Josef Nilhas

Saint Louis University Law Journal

There is a current trend of electing progressive or “reform-minded” prosecutors over “tough-on-crime” prosecutors in local elections across the country. Traditionally, prosecutors have possessed wide discretion over which cases to prosecute or not, and the law presumes that “prosecutors make discretionary decisions disinterestedly, unaffected by their own self-interest or the interest of others.” However, recently in Missouri, state officials have pushed for providing the state attorney general with concurrent jurisdiction over certain cases. In particular, the Missouri Senate passed a provision through an amendment to House Bill 2 (“HB2”) that would allow the State Attorney General to take over homicide …

Table Of Contents

Saint Louis University Journal of Health Law & Policy

No abstract provided.

The Impact Of Bostock V. Clayton County On Access To Health Care For Lgbtq Persons, Hiba B. Al-Ramahi

Saint Louis University Journal of Health Law & Policy

LGBTQ individuals face countless acts of discrimination in health care insurance and delivery. In spite of this inequality, there are zero LGBTQ-inclusive health insurance protections in over half of the United States. Title VII of the Civil Rights Act (Title VII) and Section 1557 of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (ACA) are two federal statutes that prohibit discrimination, in relevant part, on the basis of sex. Both federal statutes have been greatly impacted by the Supreme Court decision in Bostock v. Clayton County, which interpreted “sex” in Title VII to include gender identity and sexual orientation. This …

Table Of Contents

Saint Louis University Law Journal

No abstract provided.

Teaching Constitutional Law, Administrative Law, And Health Law As Presidential Administrations Change, Renée M. Landers

Saint Louis University Law Journal

When elections bring about changes in the political party of the president, the shifts frequently involve a change in the philosophies that inform the approach to governing. In teaching constitutional law, administrative law, and health law, this author cautions students to consider the political content of agency actions underlying the judicial opinions studied. Examining the political and discretionary judgment government officials exercise may provide an explanation for the results or an analysis when the law does not seem to account for the agency action or court decision. This Article examines the opportunities available to an incoming administration to undo the …

Doing Law School Wrong: Case Teaching And An Integrated Legal Practice Method, Gregory J. Marsden, Soledad Atienza

Saint Louis University Law Journal

Since its inception, the Langdellian case method has been used to teach legal analysis and reasoning to generations of U.S. law students. For nearly as long, business school faculty have used their own version of the case method to teach management decision-making. In law school, a “case” is an appellate court decision, which students must analyze in preparation for Socratic questioning. To business students, a “case” is a narrative problem they must solve before debating and defending their solutions in a moderated classroom discussion.

This Article asserts that neither of these two methods are optimal to prepare students for bar …

Table Of Contents

Saint Louis University Law Journal

No abstract provided.

Table Of Contents

Saint Louis University Law Journal

No abstract provided.

Masthead

Saint Louis University Law Journal

No abstract provided.

Textualism And The Modern Explanatory Statute, Adam Crews

Saint Louis University Law Journal

The explanatory statute is a largely forgotten legislative tool. Once common, the explanatory statute was a retrospective act that identified an ambiguity or erroneous interpretation of a prior law and then directed the legislature’s view of the correct interpretation.

Although now rare, the explanatory statute is not dead. Just a few years ago, Congress enacted an amendment to Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act—a now hotly contested topic—with the hallmarks of an explanatory statute. In the Allow States and Victims to Fight Online Sex Trafficking Act of 2017 (“FOSTA”), Congress concluded that courts had over-extended Section 230 immunity to …

Missouri’S Chance At Low-Cost Renewable Energy ‘Gone With The Wind’?, Jeff Becker

Saint Louis University Law Journal

The Grain Belt Express, a proposed wind energy transmission line that will span across much of the Midwest,[1] has been stalled for the past five years due to the legal battles it has faced in Missouri[2] over whether the company can be properly granted the authority to exercise eminent domain power over landowners in the state who oppose the project.[3] This Note provides a comprehensive analysis of the issues surrounding the Grain Belt Express in Missouri in order to argue that the project is in the state’s public interest—as correctly decided by Missouri’s Public Service Commission in …

Masthead

Saint Louis University Law Journal

No abstract provided.

Teaching Environmental Law After Trump, Doug Williams

Saint Louis University Law Journal

This Article addresses some of the challenges in teaching environmental law after the administration of President Donald Trump. The Trump Administration mounted a relentless, aggressive, and largely deregulatory overhaul of the nation’s major environmental regulatory efforts, particularly the efforts of the prior Obama Administration. Many of these efforts by the Trump Administration have been challenged in court, some successfully, while others have been reversed or are in the process of reversal by the administration of President Joseph Biden. For teachers of environmental law, these actions present opportunities to demonstrate how regulatory agencies (under the direction of presidents), rather than Congress, …

Change Is Nothing New Teaching Public Policy, Nicholas W. Allard

Saint Louis University Law Journal

This Article addresses the paradox that change is nothing new for those who teach aspiring lawyers how to effectively engage in the reality of the complex public policy arena. It rejects the notion that money buys results, and success is merely a matter of quick-fix influence peddling and personal relationships. Instead, to teach students how to provide public policy analysis, advice, and advocacy, teachers must help them understand and be prepared for a relentlessly dynamic, continuously evolving professional ecosystem where the very object of the work is to either advance or forestall legal change, often involving issues contested on multiple …

Breaking The Cultural Cycle Of Sexual Harassment In The Professional Sports Industry: Time To Step Up Prevention & Punishment, Lauren Sullivan

Saint Louis University Law Journal

The National Football League’s Washington Football Team, now known as the Washington Commanders, faces an abundant amount of franchise issues, but its toxic workplace environment full of sexual harassment towers above the rest. This is just the most recent example of a professional sports team mistreating its women employees. Year after year, sexual harassment allegations resurface, revealing a contemplation of whether the current “solutions” for curbing sexual harassment in the professional sports industry are effective.

Current remedies, both in a legal and societal context, have inhibited efforts by women for equal treatment from the teams who employ them. When allegations …

Developing A Health Care Workforce That Supports Team-Based Care Models That Integrate Health And Social Services, Jessica Mantel, Mcclain Sampson, David S. Buck, Winston Liaw, Lechauncy Woodard, Jasmine Singh

Saint Louis University Journal of Health Law & Policy

Across the country, health care professionals are joining forces to improve the health care of populations with complex social, financial, and behavioral health needs. One promising approach relies on community-based integrated health teams (CIHTs), or interprofessional teams that integrate a broad range of medical, behavioral health, and social services, offer intensive case management, and link patients to available community resources. Yet whether CIHTs fulfill their potential depends in part on policymakers enacting policies that support CIHTs delivering comprehensive, high-value care to their patients. Drawing on the insights of CIHT professionals shared with the authors, this Article highlights several factors that …

Immigration Reforms As Health Policy, Medha D. Makhlouf, Patrick J. Glen

Saint Louis University Journal of Health Law & Policy

The 2020 election, uniting control of the political branches in the Democratic party, opened up a realistic possibility of immigration reform. Reform of the immigration system is long overdue, but in pursuing such reform, Congress should cast a broad net and recognize the health policies embedded in immigration laws. Some immigration laws undermine health policies designed to improve individual and population health. For example, immigration inadmissibility and deportability laws that chill noncitizens from enrolling in health-promoting public benefits contribute to health inequities in immigrant communities that spill over into the broader population—a fact highlighted by the still-raging COVID-19 pandemic. Restrictions …

What Does The Decline In The U.S. Dollar’S Global Role Mean For Cryptocurrencies?, Carol R. Goforth

Saint Louis University Law Journal

Cryptocurrencies were at the forefront of a number of newsworthy events in 2021. One of those stories suggests that Bitcoin might be well-positioned to replace the U.S. dollar as the most popular global reserve currency. This article reviews what it means to be a reserve currency, as well as the costs and benefits for the United States to have its dollar serve as the medium of exchange for most international commercial transactions and to have it held by so many governments, central banks, and financial institutions. It then evaluates whether recent events that weaken the dollar’s influence and popularity create …

International Application Of Cfaa: Scraping Data Or Scraping Law?, King Fung Tsang

Saint Louis University Law Journal

Web scraping has resulted in a growing number of civil litigations internationally, including claims under the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act (“CFAA”) in the United States. With the Supreme Court’s first ever decision on the CFAA, in Van Buren v. United States, and its granting of LinkedIn’s petition for certiorari in June 2021, the CFAA is expected to attract even more interest among scholars and practitioners. However, little attention has been given to its cross-border ramifications. Cases show that U.S. courts are more than willing to apply the CFAA extraterritorially, even though their analyses are often flawed. In addition, …

Missing Link: League Punishments Of Team Executives, Michael A. Mccann

Saint Louis University Law Journal

Is it lawful for a professional sports league to punish an executive of a team when that executive isn’t employed by the league and, unlike a player, isn’t a member of a union that collectively bargains with the league?

The answer to this question has long been presumed as “yes,” despite the non-employing league lacking a contractual link to the executive—a third party—it fines, suspends, or even bans from employment with businesses owned by others.

This Article challenges that presumption. It does so by applying employment law, franchise law, and private association law to the unique relationship between sports leagues …

The Future Of The Ada: Understanding Title Iii’S Application To Websites, Patrick Ganninger

Saint Louis University Law Journal

In recent years, the Americans with Disabilities Act has become a significant source of confusing and controversial litigation over website accessibility. This confusion and controversy stems from the fact that the Americans with Disabilities Act and its accompanying regulations offer zero explanation as to how the Act applies to websites. Faced with a circuit split, due process concerns, and a lack of any meaningful technical guidance from administrative agencies, defendant website operators are desperate for clear guidelines for how to comply with the Americans with Disabilities Act. Adding to this desperation is a barrage of opportunistic lawsuits, dubbed “surf-by lawsuits,” …

Teaching Constitutional Law After The Trump Presidency, Joel K. Goldstein

Saint Louis University Law Journal

Teaching Constitutional Law will not, and should not, be the same after the presidency of Donald Trump. President Trump conducted his presidency in a manner which disregarded constitutional limits and assaulted basic constitutional principles. At the most conventional level for Constitutional Law courses, the Supreme Court generated new doctrinal responses to some of Trump’s presidential acts. Moreover, Trump’s presidency engaged non-judicial actors in considering how relatively obscure constitutional barriers operated, such as the Emoluments and Pardon Clauses, provisions regarding presidential inability and impeachment, and even segments of the Twelfth Amendment related to the role of the Senate president during the …

A New Kind Of Mma Fight: Balancing Statutory Damages For Works In Compilations After The Music Modernization Act And The Rise Of Streaming Services, Alex Beezley

Saint Louis University Law Journal

Due to the ambiguous language of Section 504(c) of the Copyright Act of 1976, judges and legal scholars have been confounded for decades about how statutory damages should be distributed when the copyright of multiple items in a compilation has been infringed. Several circuits hold that separate statutory damages awards can be given for each item in a compilation that has been infringed if the items each have an economic value. In contrast, the Second Circuit holds that only one statutory damages award can be given for an infringed compilation unless the items contained within have been issued separately.

This …

Pretrial Release In Domestic Violence Cases: How States Handle The Notoriously Private Crime, Jacquelyn Sicilia

Saint Louis University Law Journal

Domestic violence has plagued society for years. However, until 1994, domestic violence was not federally criminalized. Today, domestic violence affects over ten million Americans per year. Because of the criminal justice system’s slow reaction to domestic violence, how the criminal justice system handles domestic violence cases is far from ideal. Pretrial release in domestic violence cases is one area of domestic violence that is ripe for research, guidance, and change. Pretrial release brings to light a unique balance; defendants are presumed to be innocent, but at the same time, the fact of arrest may point to an ongoing risk of …