Law Commons^™

West Virginia’S “Major Questions” And The Silent Disappearance Of The Chevron Doctrine, Hunter W. Collins

San Diego Law Review

This Note analyzes the Court’s determination that an administrative agency’s action must be explicitly authorized under “clear congressional authorization” when it involves great “economic and political significance.” Part II of this Note provides a brief overview of the CAA and how the act has been used to cut GHG pollution. Part III examines the EPA’s focus on the power sector in particular, as well as the paths that differing presidential administrations have taken to provide a stable energy grid. Part IV discusses the litigation between West Virginia and the EPA, which resulted in the controversial 6–3 decision in the Supreme …

V.60-4, 2023 Masthead

San Diego Law Review

No abstract provided.

Protecting The Promise To The Families Of Tuskegee: Banning The Use Of Persuasive Ai In Obtaining Informed Consent For Commercial Drug Trials, Jennifer S. Bard

San Diego Law Review

This is the first article to call for a ban on the use of AI technology designed to influence human decision-making, “Persuasive AI,” for the purpose of recruiting or enrolling human participants in drug trials sponsored by commercial entities. It does so from a perspective of precaution, not fear. Advances in Artificial Technology that can assist human decision-making have tremendous potential for good. It makes the case for doing so based on both the substantial risk of harm to the decision-making process and the ineffectiveness of intermediate regulatory measures. This Article looks directly at Persuasive AI, a type of AI …

Growing, Growing, Gone: How Dobbs Fundamentally Altered The Way Reproductive Freedom, Private And Professional Liability, And Constitutional Rights Will Be Analyzed In A Post–Roe America, Amanda J. Sharp

San Diego Law Review

This Note examines the Dobbs decision and its implications. Part II analyzes the history of abortion rights in the United States, including the role Dobbs played in overturning precedential cases. Part III describes the legal implications of Dobbs, including the status of abortion rights and how this decision altered the state of women’s healthcare. It then addresses Dobbs’ indirect implications, including its potential impacts on the foster care system, implied liability in healthcare professions, data privacy laws, and the employer-employee relationship. Part IV briefly proposes next steps that could be taken and concludes with a call to action.

Turning Fake Data Into Fake News: Ai Training Set As A Trojan Horse Of Misinformation, Bill Tomlinson, Donald J. Patterson, Andrew W. Torrance

San Diego Law Review

Generative artificial intelligence (AI) offers tremendous benefits to society. However, these benefits must be carefully weighed against the societal damage AI can also cause. Dangers posed by inaccurate training sets have been raised by many authors. These include racial discrimination, sexual bias, and other pernicious forms of misinformation. One remedy to such problems is to ensure that training sets used to teach AI models are correct and that the data upon which they rely are accurate. An assumption behind this correction is that data inaccuracies are inadvertent mistakes. However, a darker possibility exists: the deliberate seeding of training sets with …

V.60-3, 2023 Masthead

San Diego Law Review

No abstract provided.

California Assembly Bill 3121’S Claim For Black Redress: The Case For A State Truth And Reconciliation Commission And Housing Vouchers, Jessica Robertson

San Diego Law Review

On September 30, 2020, Assembly Bill 3121 (AB 3121) established the Task Force to Study and Develop Reparation Proposals for African Americans (Task Force). AB 3121 charges the Task Force with three duties: (1) identify and synthesize evidentiary documentation of “[t]he institution of slavery . . . that existed within the United States and the colonies that became the United States from 1619 to 1865, inclusive”; (2) recommend ways to educate the public of its findings; and (3) recommend “appropriate remedies in consideration of the task force’s findings on the matters described in this section.” Per these duties, the Task …

Healthcare Reparations In California, Chelsea J. Gaudet

San Diego Law Review

The Reparations Task Force has recommended several key areas in which the state of California can offer reparations for its systemic abuse of African Americans. The Interim Report issued by the Task Force highlights the discrepancy in health outcomes for White Californians versus Black Californians and attributes the difference not just to inequitable access, but also to a special compounding effect of physical and mental stress suffered solely by Black Californians as a result of systemic and personal environmental racial discrimination.

This Essay discusses the unique aspects of “weathering” and the insidious effect of racial bias in research meant to …

Affirming And Supporting Black Women’S Lactation Agency As Redress, Dorothy Couchman

San Diego Law Review

This Article opens with Truth baring her breasts for four reasons. First, for many women like Truth who survived enslavement, lactation was a specifically gendered and racialized site of atrocity. Under chattel slavery in the United States, enslaved women were prevented from breastfeeding their infants as needed, compelled to wean their children far too early at the demands of their enslavers, or made to wet-nurse their enslavers’ White children in place of their own. This lactational coercion was part of a larger atrocity of reproductive abuse perpetuated against enslaved women.

Second, as Truth notes, enslaved women’s children were harmed when …

Transformative Dynamics: Reframing The Role Of Reparations In Transforming Social Order, Emily J. Kawahara

San Diego Law Review

According to Kathryn Sikkink, a revolution of human rights advocacy in tandem with heightened levels of accountability for human rights abuses has led to a “justice cascade,” where it is now expected that human rights violators will be held criminally accountable for transgressions. This normative shift of prosecuting individual perpetrators for human rights violations has also affected the larger picture of justice: human rights violations do not live in a silo and often occur against a backdrop of much-needed institutional reform. This Article considers the relationship between transitional justice, development programs, and social services, specifically using reparations as an example …

Symposium Introduction: Walking With Destiny, Roy L. Brooks

San Diego Law Review

During the Enlightenment, the poet Robert Burns lamented, “Man’s inhumanity to man [m]akes countless thousands mourn.” Burns was looking back over centuries of human injustices—atrocities—as the empirical basis for his mournful reflection. But even now, long after the Enlightenment, we have not been able to curb our proclivity for committing atrocities. What we have been able to do after all these centuries, however, is enlarge the human capacity for redressing—repairing—the damage wrought by our atrocities. As atrocities do not appear to be ending, redress has become our destiny.

California is attempting to walk with this destiny. Our most populous state …

Appendix, California Task Force

San Diego Law Review

No abstract provided.

No Apology Until Abolition: Redressing The Ongoing Atrocity Of Slavery, Brandee Mcgee

San Diego Law Review

There are currently more Black adults under correctional control than there were enslaved at the height of slavery. Despite Black Americans making up only 12% of the domestic population, states imprison them at more than five times the rate of White Americans. In California, the ratio is even higher: the “Black/‌white disparity [is] larger than 9:1.” Although many White Americans are also imprisoned, Michelle Alexander in The New Jim Crow argues that these White prisoners are “collateral damage” to mask a racialized prison-industrial complex (PIC)—with mass incarceration as the main feature.

In 1865, after decades of activism by the abolitionist …

Understanding Discursive Framings Of Reparations For Slavery And Jim Crow, Carol Klier

San Diego Law Review

A meaningful reframing can be an effective tool for social change. The work of cognitive scientist and linguist, George Lakoff, explores the relationship between language use and the way we understand the world around us. Pertinent to the discussion of slave redress and reparations is the significance of discursive framing as a means of both promoting and dispelling worldviews. The manner in which we communicate particular ideas reveals much about how we conceptualize that subject. How we frame impacts the effectiveness of our messaging to others. As Lakoff indicates, “[F]acts matter enormously, but to be meaningful they must be framed …

Eradicating The “Fear Environment” In Education That Threatens Free Speech And Emboldens Sexual Discrimination, Stephen M. Mcloughlin

San Diego Law Review

This Article proposes a new conception of sexual harassment that melds the insight of social science with the parameters of sexual harassment established through the Dueling Title IX Conceptions of sexual harassment. This Fear Environment Conception of sexual harassment defines sexual harassing speech as:

Speech that creates an environment of fear that interferes with the educational experience of students by causing a reasonable student to believe that (1) they will face similar threats in the future that (2) they cannot avoid, based on the (3) perceived harmful intent of the speaker.

This Fear Environment Conception focuses on the education interference …

Challenges To Environmental Impact Reports Under The California Environmental Quality Act: To Partially Decertify Or Not, That Is The Question, Andrew Dallas Kent

San Diego Law Review

This Comment will provide (1) a background of CEQA and the importance of the EIR for decision-making; (2) a framework of the current split in the California Courts of Appeal as to whether an EIR can be partially decertified; (3) a breakdown on the current split; (4) an analysis of the potential impacts the split has on development projects; and (5) solutions that clarify a court’s remedies explicitly allowing partial decertification of an EIR under CEQA.

Defending Dobbs: Ending The Futile Search For A Constitutional Right To Abortion, Robert J. Pushaw, Jr.

San Diego Law Review

In short, the Court is on the right track in cases like Dobbs by retreating from eccentric, unreviewable, common law policymaking and instead focusing on the Constitution itself.

Alas, average Americans, politicians, pundits, and even lawyers rarely read Court opinions but instead care only about whether they personally agree with the outcome, as the reaction to Dobbs illustrates. One can hardly blame them, as the Court’s constitutional opinions have often featured legal window dressing for results already reached on political or ideological grounds. Therefore, the current majority of Justices must illuminate the public about the Court’s proper role in interpreting …

Mother Nature On The Run: The Sec, Climate Change Disclosure, And The Major Questions Doctrine, J. Robert Brown, Jr.

San Diego Law Review

The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC or Commission) has proposed a rule that addresses the disclosure needs of investors with respect to climate change. The proposal would require that public companies tell investors about the risks to their business associated with climate change and explain the system and strategy of governance for monitoring those risks. In addition, the proposal would mandate the disclosure of certain greenhouse gas emissions.

The SEC’s proposal arrived contemporaneously with the Supreme Court’s announcement of the “major questions” doctrine. A deliberate attempt to limit the authority of the executive branch, the doctrine would restrict agencies from …

V.60-2, 2023 Masthead

San Diego Law Review

No abstract provided.

Queer Rights After Dobbs V. Jackson Women's Health Organization, Robin Maril

San Diego Law Review

Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization has ignited a firestorm of commentary warning that the end of Roe v. Wade would inevitably lead to the end of constitutionally protected queer rights. This article argues that it is far too soon to concede that Lawrence v. Texas and Obergefell v. Hodges are destined for the dustbin of history. Queer rights and abortion rights both advance equality and have significant liberatory value, but they are functionally different rights that rest on distinct legal foundations. Although both sets of rights may be essential to a progressive platform for inclusive political and social change, …

Trolley Problems, Private Necessity, And The Duty To Rescue, Laura A. Heymann

San Diego Law Review

Laidlaw v. Sage is generally, at best, an oddity in Torts casebooks today. A case that captured the imagination of New York newspaper readers at the time, Laidlaw involved an explosion that, William Laidlaw argued, the wealthy Russell Sage survived only because, at the last moment, he pulled Laidlaw in front of him to absorb the brunt of the blast. As taught in Torts classrooms, Laidlaw is either a case about the intent requirement for battery or a case about causation. But the case, assuming the plaintiff’s story was true, also provides an interesting window into what would seem to …

Russia's Roulette: Sanctions, Strange Contracts & Sovereign Default, Lev E. Breydo

San Diego Law Review

The Russian Federation stands on the edge of financial abyss—excommunicated from the world economy and facing its first foreign currency sovereign default in over a century. Just deserts.

This Article is the first comprehensive, multi-disciplinary analysis of Russia’s sovereign debt and the consequences of a default. It makes a number of critically important findings with immediate implications for policy makers and practitioners navigating these wholly unchartered waters.

Based on an in-depth analysis of a quarter-century of Russian debt contracts, this Article posits a clear, geopolitically-driven evolutive patten and corresponding taxonomy. Starting with relatively “standard” terms in late-1990s vintage bonds, as …

Consumer Welfare Of The Future: Harm To Innovation As An Antitrust Injury, Brenton Gutkowski

San Diego Law Review

This Comment will discuss pertinent background information regarding American antitrust jurisprudence. Second, this Comment will define Big Tech and discuss its rise to a dominant market position in the American economy. Third, this Comment will break down the District of Columbia District Court’s decision in United States v. Microsoft Corp. and will discuss how the courts’ reasoning can establish a new standard of harm to innovation under the consumer welfare standard. Fourth, this Comment will discuss two different situations in which the harm to innovation standard works to espouse antitrust goals. In summation, this Comment will address objections to …

V.60-1, 2023 Masthead

San Diego Law Review

No abstract provided.

Former Gang Members And The Particular Social Group Standard: Why America's Highest Court Should Green Light The Killing Of The Bia's Three-Prong Test, Téa Antonino

San Diego Law Review

This Comment establishes why the Supreme Court should clarify the elusive definition of “[m]embership in a particular social group” to resolve confusion amongst the circuit courts. Part II provides an overview of the historical context and legal basis for former gang members seeking asylum and withholding of removal. Part III explores the circuit courts’ disagreement behind the reasonableness of the BIA’s three-prong test for establishing a PSG claim: immutability, particularity, and social distinction. Part IV explains why the current three-prong PSG test is not entitled to Chevron deference, while Part V proposes the Supreme Court reimplement the Acosta factors—based on …

V.59-4, 2022 Masthead

San Diego Law Review

No abstract provided.

Head In The Bitcloud: A Discussion On The Copyrightability And Ownership Rights In Generative Digital Art And Non-Fungible Tokens, Amanda J. Sharp

San Diego Law Review

This Comment discusses three major copyright questions raised by non-fungible tokens (NFTs) creation and distribution in the digital art world. First, how does employing AI in the creation of generative and derivative digital art and NFTs affect the copyright requirements of authorship? Second, who is the rightful owner of an NFT image pre- and post-purchase? Finally, how does the first sale doctrine apply to NFT image purchases and are those protections enough to resolve future copyright-specific NFT claims? In Part I, an introductory example is laid out to showcase the complex issues generative and derivative digital art and NFT images …

How Much Is Your Data Worth? Ccpa's Data Valuation Requirement Explored, Jeewon Kim Serrato

San Diego Law Review

On January 28, 2022, the Office of the Attorney General of the State of California (OAG or the California Attorney General) put businesses operating loyalty programs on notice for violations of the California Privacy Protection Act (CCPA). Immediately following this press release, the California Attorney General sent a number of Notice of Violation letters to businesses, which alleged that if a business is offering “discounts, free items, or other rewards, in exchange for personal information[, it] must provide consumers with a notice of financial incentive.” These letters were sent to “major corporations in the retail, home improvement, travel, and food …

Forgotten "People": Reviving Textualism In The Fourth Amendment, Peter C. Douglas

San Diego Law Review

For more than a century, the Supreme Court has struggled to develop a coherent and sustainable theory of the Fourth Amendment. Before the ink is dry on a new Fourth Amendment opinion, it is cabined, abrogated, or outright overruled. As one scholar has commented, the “evolution of Fourth Amendment doctrine over the past century bears a striking resemblance to Hamlet’s descent into insanity.” While the Court vacillates between “theories” of the Fourth Amendment that might bring clarity to a difficult body of constitutional law, the rights it bespeaks lie vulnerable and unprotected. This Article argues that the problem flows from …

The Right To Data Encryption, Steven W. Schlesinger, Dr. Shlomit Yanisky-Ravid

San Diego Law Review

Technology drives our society, and we are data-dependent as a people. Though the legal system in the United States lacks neither basic protections nor methods to address data protection-related issues, this Article proposes an essential and more robust alternative.

This Article introduces the prevalence and reliance on data and stored information, noting the growing need for a better balance between enabling users’ ability to access encryption tools and the threats and concerns from a governmental perspective for malicious use of encryption tools for criminal and terror purposes.

The Article first recounts a brief history of encryption, focusing on its growing …