Law Commons^™

Dobbs, Abortion Laws, And In Vitro Fertilization, Kerry L. Macintosh

Faculty Publications

Health Organization1 has upended abortion jurisprudence. The case concerned a Mississippi law barring most abortions when the probable gestational age of the fetus was greater than fifteen weeks.2 Holding that the U.S. Constitution did not protect a right to abortion through the Due Process Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment,3 the Court overruled Roe v. Wade4 and Planned Parenthood of Southeastern Pennsylvania v. Casey.

5 Abortion, it explained, differed from other protected acts because abortion destroyed potential life.6 Deeming rational basis review appropriate,7 the Court concluded that the Mississippi law was rationally related to what the Court accepted as legitimate state …

Doctors’ Duty To Provide Abortion Information, Michelle Oberman, Lisa Soleymani Lehmann

Faculty Publications

With abortion remaining legal in over half of the country and a proliferation of websites offering information on how to access abortion medications, ending an unwanted early-stage pregnancy remains surprisingly easy. That is, easy for those who know where to look. But not all patients have equal access to reliable information. This Article addresses the urgent downstream harms caused by the lack of access to abortion information, particularly among the most vulnerable Americans, and argues that, in view of these consequences, regardless of abortion’s legal status, clinicians have a duty to provide their patients with abortion information.

We begin with …

Against Silence: Why Doctors Are Obligated To Provide Abortion, Michelle Oberman

Faculty Publications

As a lawyer, I have long been interested in the gap between law and the books and law in practice. In 2008, this curiosity led me to Latin America, where I began studying the impact of the world's most restrictive abortion bans. My first stop was Chile, which at the time banned abortion under all conditions–– there was not even an exception to save women's lives. Raised on the history of what happened when abortion was illegal in the United States prior to Roe v. Wade, I knew asking doctors to share their experiences was one way to gauge the …

Abortion Counseling, Liability, And The First Amendment, Michelle Oberman, Katie Watson

Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

Marvin Claims At Death, Patricia A. Cain

Faculty Publications

In 1976, the California Supreme Court handed down its decision in Marvin v. Marvin, recognizing the enforcement of contract and equitable claims that could be asserted when an unmarried partnership was dissolved. Most states have followed the basic holding in Marvin, although important differences in state law have developed over time. Recently, the Uniform Law Commission has approved a uniform act dealing with these issues, the Uniform Cohabitants' Economic Remedies Act (UCERA)

Much has been written about the rights that unmarried partners can assert against each other. Most of the scholarship has focused on the rights that arise …

The New Ali Restatement And The Doctrine Of Non-Self-Executing Treaties, David Sloss

Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

Does Mitochondrial Replacement Therapy Violate Laws Against Human Cloning?, Kerry L. Macintosh

Faculty Publications

All human beings have mitochondria within their cells that produce energy.1 Most of us inherit healthy mitochondria through the eggs of our mothers,2 but some of us are not so lucky. Mutations in mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) can cause these tiny organelles to function improperly and disrupt tissues that require a lot of energy, like the brain, kidney, liver, heart, muscle, and central nervous system.3 For example, a specific mtDNA mutation induces Leigh syndrome, a condition in which seizures and respiratory failure lead to decline in mental and motor skills, disabil- ity, and death.4 Mitochondrial replacement therapy (MRT) offers a solution …

The Texas Second Chance Non-Disclosure/Sealing Gap, Colleen Chien

Faculty Publications

Texas Gov. Code Chap. 411 allows individuals whose criminal records meet certain conditions to non-disclose or seal their records. Ascertaining, then applying the law to the criminal profiles of Texans with convictions or deferred adjudications, as reflected in the Texas Computerized Criminal History System database (CCH) obtained from the Texas Department of Public Safety (described in Appendix B), as well as a sample of 2,362 criminal histories, and then 4 extrapolating to the estimated population of 4.8M individuals in the state with conviction records and estimated population of 7M individuals in the state with any record we estimate the share …

The Financial Impact Of Lost Licenses In Texas, Colleen Chien

Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

Restrictions On Worker Mobility And The Need For Stronger Policies On Anticompetitive Employment Contract Provisions, Donald J. Polden

Faculty Publications

There is increasing concern in the United States about the difficulties that American workers are facing including concerns about limits on worker job mobility and how those limits affect workers’ wages and compensation, employee benefits, and finding their next job.2 Workers believe the challenges they face in changing jobs for better salary and benefits should be addressed so they have greater job mobility and opportunities for advancement. Workers are subject to restraints on job mobility across the spectrum of jobs, including those in executive-level positions as well as minimum- wage employees. Workers complain that they are not constrained in getting …

The Minnesota Second Chance Expungement Gap, Colleen Chien

Faculty Publications

Minnesota Statute Sections 609A, 243.166, and 609.02 define conditions under which individuals with criminal records can expunge their records. Ascertaining, then applying the law to a sample of 581,478 criminal histories of people with convictions records, and then extrapolating to the estimated population of 1.1M individuals in the state with criminal records , 2 we estimate the share and number of people who are eligible for relief but have not received it and therefore fall into the “second chance gap,” the difference between eligibility for and receipt of records relief. Importantly, we assumed that all who met the threshold criteria …

The New York Second Chance Sealing Gap, Colleen Chien

Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

The Missouri Second Chance Expungement Gap, Colleen Chien

Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

The Financial Impact Of Suspended Licenses In Illinois, Colleen Chien

Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

The Illinois Second Chance Expungement/Sealing Gap, Colleen Chien

Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

The Oregon Second Chance Set-Aside Gap, Colleen Chien

Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

The California Way: An Analysis Of California’S Immigrant-Friendly Changes To Its Criminal Laws, Evangeline G. Abriel

Faculty Publications

Immigration falls exclusively within the federal government’s purview, and states are generally prohibited from legislating in the area of immigration. At the same time, however, a large number of individuals are subject to deportation, denial of admission, and denial of immigration benefits based upon convictions of state crimes, over which states generally have exclusive authority. At a time when both the federal government and some states seem determined to expand the immigration consequences of even relatively minor criminal con- duct, is there anything states can do to protect their noncitizen re- sidents? Surprisingly, yes, quite a bit. California, for example, …

The Right To A Public Trial, Conditional Courtroom Entry And Tiers Of Constitutional Scrutiny, Stephen Smith

Faculty Publications

The constitutional test the SupremeCourt has prescribed to review courtroom closures for compliance with the Sixth Amendment’s right to a public trial is in the nature ofstrictscrutiny. The Courtrequires an “overriding interest” to justify the closure, and a narrow, minimally restrictive scope to the closure. Many lower courts have imposed a less demanding test for “partial” closures, which admit to the courtroom some, but not all, of the public. These courts require a less demanding justification before closing the courtroom to certain individuals—the justification need be only “substantial,” ratherthan “overriding.” Thisstandard is in the nature of intermediate scrutiny, as applied …