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Full-Text Articles in Law

From Nucleotides To Nuanced Law: The Value Of An Incremental Approach To Experimentation In State-Level Genetic Anti-Discrimination Legislation, Katelyn Fisher Jun 2021

From Nucleotides To Nuanced Law: The Value Of An Incremental Approach To Experimentation In State-Level Genetic Anti-Discrimination Legislation, Katelyn Fisher

University of Massachusetts Law Review

A person’s genetic information tells a detailed story of what someone looks like, who her relatives are, and even what illnesses she may develop. This information, as enlightening as it may be, can be especially damaging when utilized in a discriminatory way. This Note explores how the protections under the Genetic Non Discrimination Act of 2008 will no longer be sufficient for protecting individuals from genetic discrimination as the use of genetic information becomes more commonplace. The questions become: Where do we start? How and where should protections that extend to circumstances not covered by GINA be created in a …


Perils Of The Reverse Silver Platter Under U.S. Border Patrol Operations, D. Anthony Jun 2021

Perils Of The Reverse Silver Platter Under U.S. Border Patrol Operations, D. Anthony

University of Massachusetts Law Review

In the face of expanding U.S. Border Patrol operations across the country, that agency often acquires evidence during its searches that is unrelated to immigration or other federal crimes but may involve state crimes. States are then faced with the question of whether to accept such evidence for state prosecutions when it was lawfully obtained by federal agents consistent with federal law but in violation of the state’s own search and seizure provisions. Sometimes referred to as “reverse silver platter” evidence, states have come to widely varying conclusions as to the admissibility of federally obtained evidence that would clearly have …


A Breath Of Fresh Air: A Constitutional Amendment Legalizing Marijuana Through An Article V Convention Of The States, Ryan C. Griffith, Esq. Jun 2021

A Breath Of Fresh Air: A Constitutional Amendment Legalizing Marijuana Through An Article V Convention Of The States, Ryan C. Griffith, Esq.

University of Massachusetts Law Review

Criminal enforcement of anti-marijuana laws by the United States federal government has been non-sensical for more than twenty years. Culminating, ultimately, in an anomaly within American jurisprudence when California legalized marijuana in 1996 in direct violation of federal law, yet the federal government did little to stop it. Since then, a majority of states have followed California and legalized marijuana. Currently, thirty-six states and the District of Columbia have legalized medical marijuana despite federal law. Every year billions of dollars are spent on the federal enforcement of anti-marijuana laws while states collect billions in tax revenue from marijuana sales. Even …


Biometric Data Regulation And The Right Of Publicity: A Path To Regaining Autonomy Over Our Commodified Identity, Lisa Raimondi Jun 2021

Biometric Data Regulation And The Right Of Publicity: A Path To Regaining Autonomy Over Our Commodified Identity, Lisa Raimondi

University of Massachusetts Law Review

This Note explores how a right of publicity action might be used to address present day concerns regarding biometric data ownership rights where an individual’s likeness can essentially be bought and sold. As social networking and use of the internet has grown, so has the opportunity for people to engage with others and share their lives. However, that opportunity also comes with risk. More and more, people are required to accept the terms of use and privacy policies detailing how their biometric data will be collected and stored if they want to download and use certain technological applications. Most of …


Cartoon Contracts And The Proactive Visualization Of Law, Michael D. Murray Jun 2021

Cartoon Contracts And The Proactive Visualization Of Law, Michael D. Murray

University of Massachusetts Law Review

Contracts have always relied on text first, foremost, and usually exclusively. Yet, this approach leaves many users of contracts in the dark as to the actual meaning of the transactional documents and instruments they enter into. The average contract routinely uses language that only lawyers, law-trained readers, and highly literate persons can truly understand. There is a movement in the law in the United States and many other nations called the visualization of law movement that attempts to bridge these gaps in contractual communication by using highly visual instruments. In appropriate circumstances, even cartoons and comic book forms of sequential …


The Development Of Intellectual Disabilities In United States Capital Cases And The Modern Application Of Moore V. Texas To State Court Decisions, Dr. Alexander Updegrove Jun 2021

The Development Of Intellectual Disabilities In United States Capital Cases And The Modern Application Of Moore V. Texas To State Court Decisions, Dr. Alexander Updegrove

University of Massachusetts Law Review

Although in 1989 the Supreme Court of the United States initially held that the Eighth Amendment did not prohibit executing persons with intellectual disabilities in Penry v. Lynaugh, in 2002 it subsequently reversed this decision in Atkins v. Virginia, citing changing state legislation. Since the Atkins decision, state courts have interpreted the Court’s Atkins provisions in a variety of ways, some more faithfully than others. As a result, the Court provided additional clarification in its 2014 and 2015 Hall v. Florida and Brumfield v. Cain decisions, ruling that states must apply a Standard Error of Measurement of +5/-5 to all …