Law Commons^™

Inadequate Documentation, Communication, And Regulation: How Noaa And Aphis Have Failed Marine Mammals, Mckenzi L. Stevens

Ocean and Coastal Law Journal

Marine mammals have been used in the U.S. entertainment system for several decades. While they were first acquired through capture from the wild, the trade and birth of marine mammals in facilities of public display – zoos and aquariums – has boomed. Since the early 1940s, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration has been tasked with maintaining the record of each marine mammal under U.S. ownership. However, documentation has been improperly maintained, leading to inaccurate data, and even the “misplacement” of marine mammals. This is largely due to the lack of communication of the Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service, …

Jonesing To Repeal The Jones Act, Andrés A. Kenney

Ocean and Coastal Law Journal

The Jones Act—the title for a series of laws—is the backbone of American cabotage laws, and yet, it is rarely talked about in mainstream American discourse. The original Jones Act was enacted in 1920, and since 1920, it has not changed to any measurable degree. The Jones Act requires that all domestic maritime shipping—movement of merchandise from one U.S. point to another U.S. point—be completed by ships that are owned by U.S. citizens, operated by U.S. citizen crews, built in the U.S., and flagged by the U.S. These requirements have hampered the American economy, its security, and the maintenance of …

Fishing Against The Wind: The Federal Government’S Obligation To Consider And Mitigate Fishing Impacts From Offshore Wind Development On The Outer Continental Shelf, Benjamin B. Algeo

Ocean and Coastal Law Journal

As offshore wind development activity increases along the East Coast of the United States, commercial fishing groups have raised concerns about potential impacts on their operations. This comment examines the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management’s legal obligation under the Outer Continental Shelf Lands Act to consider these concerns and mitigate potential impacts during the offshore wind leasing process. The comment concludes that the Act does require the Bureau to both consider any potentially affected fishing uses and to prevent impacts to “reasonable uses,” though the Bureau has significant discretion to determine what constitutes a “reasonable use.”

Pointing Fingers At Nonpoint Source Polluters: How A Coastal Nonpoint Pollution Control Program Could Influence Forestry Practices In Oregon’S Coastal Zone, Brenden Kaze Catt

Ocean and Coastal Law Journal

The Clean Water Act regulates the discharge of pollutants into waters of the United States. Despite nonpoint pollution accounting for most water pollution, the Clean Water Act has few mechanisms to address such pollution. For coastal communities, this is of particular concern. Indeed, this concern facilitated a regulatory regime under the Coastal Zone Management Act and, subsequently, the Coastal Zone Act Reauthorization Amendments. These acts use established coastal management programs as a regulatory vehicle to drive nonpoint pollution mitigation in the coastal zone through the implementation of a Coastal Nonpoint Pollution Control Program. Oregon has an established coastal management program. …

2022 Annual Report, University Of Maine School Of Law

Cumberland Legal Aid Clinic Annual Report

• PROGRAM OVERVIEW 4
• 2022 AT A GLANCE 5
• GENERAL PRACTICE CLINIC 7
• PRISONER ASSISTANCE CLINIC 8
• YOUTH JUSTICE CLINIC 10
• CENTER FOR YOUTH POLICY & LAW 11
• REFUGEE AND HUMAN RIGHTS CLINIC 12
• PROTECTION FROM ABUSE PROGRAM 14
• CLINIC STAFFING 15

Your Biometric Data Is Concrete, Your Injury Is Imminent And Particularized: Articulating A Bipa Claim To Survive Article Iii Standing After Transunion V. Ramirez, Kelsey L. Kenny

Maine Law Review

Biometric data is a digital translation of self which endures in its accuracy for one’s entire lifespan. As integral elements of modern life continue to transition their operations exclusively online, the verifiable “digital self” has become indispensable. The immutable and sensitive nature of biometric data makes it peculiarly vulnerable to misappropriation and abuse. Yet the most frightening is the unknown. For an individual who has had their digital extension-of-self covertly stolen or leaked, the dangers that lie in the technology of the future are innumerable. The Illinois legislature recognized the danger associated with the cavalier collection and handling of biometric …

What's Love Got To Do With It? Redefining Domestic Violence To Close Federal Firearm Loopholes, Cecilia Shields-Auble

Maine Law Review

Closing the “boyfriend loophole” by expanding the definition of a misdemeanor crime of domestic violence to include the abuse of “dating partners” further entrenches the law into an unworkable quasi-marital framework rooted in an antiquated understanding of domestic violence. The federal firearm prohibition would more effectively target high-risk offenders if 18 U.S.C. § 921(a)(33)(A) were revised to eliminate the quasi-marital framework and reflect a modern understanding of the power and control dynamics involved in intimate partner violence. This Comment begins by summarizing the emergence of federal domestic violence law and describing the limitations of the Lautenberg Amendment. It then examines …

Our Biggest Fans: Nuisance Immunity For Grid-Scale Wind Energy Projects In Maine, Andrew D. Hersom

Maine Law Review

Global climate change and its attendant impacts threaten to change life on Earth as we know it. The sea level rise that comes with rising temperatures is an issue of particular importance to coastal states like Maine. Thankfully, continued investment in renewable energy technology is beginning to make certain renewable energy sources competitive with their nonrenewable counterparts. This Comment highlights wind energy as a particularly effective option for meeting Maine’s energy needs while significantly reducing the harmful greenhouse gas emissions that contribute to climate change. Despite its many benefits, wind energy technology still has its detractors. Wind energy projects (especially …

Dabus, An Artificial Intelligence Machine, Invented Something New And Useful, But The Uspto Is Not Buying It, Trevor F. Ward

Maine Law Review

U.S. patent laws are designed to promote science and the useful arts. They grant temporary monopoly rights to inventors in order to incentivize inventive activity. In the United States, patent rights revolve around the inventor. However, what happens when an Artificial Intelligence (AI) machine invents? Who deserves monopoly rights to the invention? Who will be incentivized by such monopolies? Do U.S. laws protect companies’ investments in AI? In 2019, for the first time in history, an AI machine called DABUS was listed as an inventor on two U.S. patent applications. The United States Patent and Trademark Office denied the applications, …

Contracts For Cohabitating Romantic Partners, Bailey D. Barnes

Maine Law Review

Marriage rates in the United States are at record lows; meanwhile, more couples are choosing to live together outside of marriage. Despite the changing landscape of romantic relationships, the law of nonmarriage has not kept pace. Rather than having a coherent, majority rule approach, the individual states have employed differing methods of providing for property distribution at the end of a long-term unmarried cohabitation. Unfortunately, absent the formal protections offered by marriage for both parties following a divorce, many cohabitants are at risk of suffering inequitable property distribution following the termination of a cohabitation. This Article proposes that states uniformly …

Governance Of Ocean-Based Carbon Dioxide Removal Research Under The United Nations Conventions On The Law Of The Sea, Wil Burns

Maine Law Review

There has been a spate of research in recent years indicating that achievement of the temperature objectives of the Paris Agreement can only be effectuated through both aggressive decarbonization of the global economy and large-scale deployment of so-called carbon dioxide removal (CDR) approaches. While much of the early focus of CDR research was on terrestrial options, such as afforestation, direct air capture, and bioenergy with carbon capture and storage, more recently, many in the scientific and policy community have increasingly focused on potential ocean-based approaches, including ocean fertilization, ocean alkalinity enhancement, macroalgae harvesting, and ocean upwelling and downwelling. However, while …

Primacy In Theory And Application: Lessons From A Half-Century Of New Judicial Federalism, Catherine R. Connors, Connor Finch

Maine Law Review

In his 1977 article, State Constitutions and the Protection of Individual Rights, Justice Brennan famously reminded jurists that our governmental system includes two constitutions applicable to each state, and New Judicial Federalism was born. Since then, state courts have applied their own Bills of Rights using different approaches with varying degrees of enthusiasm. The primacy approach, requiring state courts to consider the state constitution first, and turning to the federal constitution only if needed to resolve the case, is theoretically optimal but inconsistently followed, even in the few jurisdictions professing to adopt that approach. This Article posits that the reason …

What's Your Damage?! The Supreme Court Has Wrecked Temporary Takings Jurisprudence, Timothy M. Harris

Faculty Publications

In Cedar Point Nursery v. Hassid, the U.S. Supreme Court unnecessarily expanded the Fifth Amendment’s Takings Clause. In doing so, the Court veered away from established precedent and overturned prior case law—without expressly admitting to doing so. In 2021, the Court held that a California law allowing access by union organizers to enter private property under certain conditions took away a landowner’s right to exclude others and was (apparently) immediately compensable under the Fifth Amendment’s Takings Clause. Prior law had subjected temporary takings to an uncertain, unpopular, and ambiguous balancing test—but the Cedar Point holding turned temporary takings jurisprudence on …

Price Gouging, The Pandemic, And What Comes Next, Kaitlin A. Caruso

Faculty Publications

Whenever there is a disaster, there are complaints of price gouging — that is, of people selling critical goods at grossly inflated prices. Over the last half-century, states and territories have increasingly responded by adopting anti-gouging laws that limit how much sellers can increase prices on at least some goods and services during an emergency. An overwhelming majority of jurisdictions now have such laws, and all share a few common characteristics. The laws vary considerably between jurisdictions, however, including on what products, services, and sellers they cover, how long they last, and how strictly they limit price increases. This Article …

Abortion Localism And Preemption In A Post-Roe Era, Kaitlin A. Caruso

Faculty Publications

In Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization, the Supreme Court eliminated federal constitutional protections for abortion in the United States, overruling Roe v. Wade and Planned Parenthood of Southeastern Pennsylvania v. Casey. That ruling returned much regulation of abortion to state control. But it will also accelerate a longstanding trend: municipal abortion regulation. And in the current world of local government law, increased local activity brings with it the question of state preemption. This article is the first to bring together the history and trends in local abortion policy with intrastate preemption doctrine to fully canvass the post-Roe local abortion …

Demystifying The Elusive Quest For Cyber Insurance Protection: The Need For New Contract Language, Deborah L. Johnson

Faculty Publications

Cyberattacks and electronic data breaches are on the rise, and the costs associated with those breaches can be astronomical. In response, the insurance industry has created a specialty market for cyber coverage. However, despite the number of cyber insurance policies currently offered on the market, insurers frequently deny claims for cyber coverage under both these specialty and traditional policies. Examining the evolution of cyberattacks, data breaches, and the massive harm they can cause to businesses, this Article explores the legal and market obstacles to obtaining adequate cyber insurance coverage and offers potential solutions to policyholders and insurers to satisfy this …

Political Advertising In Virtual Reality, Scott P. Bloomberg

Faculty Publications

This Article is about how biometric data collected through VR technologies will greatly exacerbate existing problems with political ad microtargeting. Commercially available VR devices can—and in some cases, must—be integrated with sensors that track users’ eyes, faces, hands, and bodies. Political campaigns will be able to leverage this data to target ads with extraordinary precision. Indeed, targeting ads with biometric data may well be the next step in the evolution of microtargeted political messaging—a practice that has contributed to a rise in disinformation, filter-bubbles, and privacy invasions. If this sounds like science fiction, it is closer than you may think. …

Private Environmental Nudges, Anthony Moffa

Faculty Publications

Environmentalist outcry against single-use plastics has rapidly translated into municipal and state policy. Bans and taxes on plastic bags, and, to a lesser extent, polices targeting plastic food/drink containers and plastic straws, have popped up all over the country. Many large national corporations, including Starbucks, Disney, and Hyatt to name a few, have also taken steps to reduce the amount of single-use plastics that their customers add to the waste stream.

Two ongoing discussions in the environmental law scholarship parallel these innovations in policy. The first re-examines the proper role for subnational governments in environmental policymaking, reviving a debate about …

From Comprehensive Liability To Climate Liability: The Case For A Climate Adaptation Resilience And Liability Act (Carla), Anthony Moffa

Faculty Publications

The Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act (CERCLA) created a uniquely broad and powerful scheme of statutory liability for environmental cleanup of contaminated sites. CERCLA famously imposes strict, retroactive, joint and severable liability. One might wonder, especially through the lens of contemporary partisanship, how such a powerful, comprehensive liability scheme passed through Congress in 1980. In large part, CERCLA’s passage can be attributed to historical context that may appear wholly unique at first blush. Now, the world confronts another watershed of environmental history and past actors face a potential flood of liability. Much of the situation is different in …

Digitizing The Fourth Amendment: Privacy In The Age Of Big Data Policing, Charles E. Volkwein

Privacy Certificate Student Publications

Today’s availability of massive data sets, inexpensive data storage, and sophisticated analytical software has transformed the capabilities of law enforcement and created new forms of “Big Data Policing.” While Big Data Policing may improve the administration of public safety, these methods endanger constitutional protections against warrantless searches and seizures. This Article explores the Fourth Amendment consequences of Big Data Policing in three parts. First, it provides an overview of Fourth Amendment jurisprudence and its evolution in light of new policing technologies. Next, the Article reviews the concept of “Big Data” and examines three forms of Big Data Policing: Predictive Policing …

Revenge Porn: The Result Of A Lack Of Privacy In An Internet-Based Society, Shelbie M. Mora

Privacy Certificate Student Publications

This paper is about revenge porn statutes within and outside of the United States and their privacy consequences to victims. This paper focuses heavily on two state laws and reviews a case in each state and then explains the implications the ruling has on victims. With other countries' statutes, the paper primarily focuses on penalties for violations. To finish, there is a review of a failed proposed US statute and then I propose my own law and penalties.

Uniform Maine Citations, 2022-2024 Edition, Michael D. Seitzinger, Charles K. Leadbetter, Sara T.S. Wolff

Uniform Maine Citations

Uniform Maine Citations is organized so that similar types of references to Maine authorities appear together. The organization is grouped by primary or secondary research materials, including subdivisions for (1) statutory and legislative materials, including constitutions, statutes, legislative documents, and municipal ordinances; (2) court decisions, rules, and documents; (3) executive agency regulations, reports, and other documents; and (4) secondary materials that analyze and interpret the primary materials, including Maine-specific treatises, practice books, and legal periodicals. Beyond guidance for proper citation, the primary and secondary sources identified in this edition constitute a useful catalog of materials available to support research into …

Life's Not Fair. Is Life Insurance?, Mark A. Sayre

Privacy Certificate Student Publications

The rapid adoption of artificial intelligence by life insurance companies increases the risk that such practices may unfairly discriminate against insurance applicants based on race. The article briefly discusses the history of racial discrimination in life insurance pricing, followed by a summary of current antidiscrimination law. Next, proposed state legislation to address discrimination risks posed by artificial intelligence is discussed. Finally, the article discusses the potential that professional standards may provide a faster way to mitigate discrimination risk in a nationally uniform manner.

Leaning Into Chaos (Child's Health And Online Safety Act): Revision To Ftc's Enforcement Of Coppa & New Model Rule For Child Advertising, Gabrielle N. Schwartz

Privacy Certificate Student Publications

This article focuses on the need for a new model act introduced by the author (the Child’s Health and Online Safety Act) to amend the Child’s Online Privacy Protection Rule. First, to understand the landscape of existing child privacy protections, this article discusses the historical background of the Federal Trade Commission’s (FTC’s) authority to regulate child advertising. Furthermore, this article illustrates how the current law, the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Rule (COPPA), regulates entities who direct their websites or online services and advertising to children. Next, this article introduces case law that illustrates the weaknesses of COPPA. Finally, the focus …

Does The Constitution Allow Private Companies To Use Eminent Domain Against A State? Penn East Pipeline Co., Llc V. New Jersey, Crystal J. Anthony

Ocean and Coastal Law Journal

In 2021 the United States Supreme Court decided in the case PennEast Pipeline Co. v. New Jersey that Section 717(h) of the Natural Gas Act authorized the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) to delegate the government’s eminent domain power to private companies. The Court’s decision allows a private company to condemn all “necessary rights-of-way,” whether privately-owned or state-owned land. This case note explores the history of the government’s eminent domain power and the states’ Eleventh Amendment immunity from lawsuits. The majority opinion in PennEast reasoned that the states waived their sovereign immunity at the ratification of the Constitution. Thus, according …

Maine Lobstermen And The North Atlantic Right Whale: The Ongoing Conflict And The Obvious Solution, Allison K. Briggs

Ocean and Coastal Law Journal

The majestic North Atlantic right whale is on the brink of extinction. With fewer than seventy breeding females left, every loss contributes to a decrease in biodiversity and brings us closer to an unrecognizable planet. Like most critically endangered species, the plummeting number of North Atlantic right whales is a direct result of human activity. Specifically, gear used by the lobster fishing industry is entangling and killing right whales off the coast of Maine. The federal Endangered Species Act, meant to protect vulnerable species like the North Atlantic right whale, is violated every time the State of Maine permits Maine …

United States V. Safehouse: The Future Of Supervised Consumption Sites In Maine And Beyond, Jeff P. Sherman

Maine Law Review

People who use drugs are dying at an unprecedented rate. However, many of these deaths can be prevented. When a person experiencing an opioid overdose is timely treated with naloxone and oxygen the overdose is reversed. Access to a supervised consumption site—a place where people can use pre-obtained drugs in the safety and presence of others—ensures that when a person overdoses, they receive this life-saving treatment. In response to a proposed supervised consumption site in Philadelphia, the Department of Justice sued to prevent it from opening. The government claimed that the facility, called “Safehouse,” would violate 21 U.S.C. § 856(a)(2) …

What's My Age Again?: Adolescent Development And The Case For Expanding Original Juvenile Court Jurisdiction And Investing In Alternatives For Emerging Adults Involved In Maine's Justice System, Christopher M. Northrop, Jill M. Ward, Jonathan J. Ruterbories, Jess N. Mizzi

Maine Law Review

While many aspects of Maine’s Juvenile Justice system are ripe for reform, this Article advocates for improving the system’s response to one group of offenders often overlooked by policymakers: emerging adults. The Supreme Court, in Roper v. Simmons, stated that “[t]he qualities that distinguish juveniles from adults do not disappear when an individual turns 18.” In fact, studies have shown that criminal conduct attributable to the unstable and impulsive nature of the adolescent mind continues well into a person’s mid-twenties. These eighteen to twenty-five-year-old offenders, termed “emerging adults” by researchers, experience much of the same developmental and physiological challenges as …

After A.S.: Proposals To Alleviate Psychiatric Boarding In Maine, Meredith K. Cook

Maine Law Review

When someone presents to an emergency room with a mental illness manifesting in danger to themselves or others, they can be admitted against their will on an emergency basis to inpatient mental health care through a process colloquially known as a Blue Paper application. However, when an inpatient bed is not immediately available, patients are “boarded” against their will in emergency rooms with little to no therapeutic care, sometimes for several weeks at a time before they are transferred to inpatient care, or their condition stabilizes enough for them to be discharged into the community. In February 2020, a man …

Eli-Tpitahatomek Tpaskuwakonol Waponahkik (How We, Native People, Reflect On The Law In The Dawnland), Michael-Corey F. Hinton, Erick J. Giles

Maine Law Review

Multiple nations within the Wabanaki Confederacy, including the Maliseet Nation, Mi’kmaq Nation, Passamaquoddy Tribe, and Penobscot Nation, were signatories to the July 19, 1776 Treaty of Watertown, which was the first ever treaty entered into by the United States of America following the Declaration of Independence. Following the Treaty of Watertown, Wabanaki warriors served directly under General George Washington and made critical contributions in support of the Americans’ Revolutionary War. Such contributions were made based on the Americans’ promise that the Wabanaki Nations’ lands, natural resources, and traditional ways of life would be forever protected by the fledgling United States. …