Law Commons^™

The Brave New World Of Judicial Election, Charles G. Geyh

Articles by Maurer Faculty

The 2023 Wisconsin Supreme Court election heralded the arrival of a new generation of judicial races in which state supreme courts are becoming war-torn forums for the resolution of deeply divisive policy questions that the federal courts and the other branches of government are unwilling or unable to address. It is a development that portends to be of unprecedented intensity, relative to the fractious “new politics of judicial elections” of the recent past and poses new challenges for legal theory and the existing judicial elections literature to explain. It adds new urgency to an increasingly stark choice: fight for the …

A Primer On International Agreements Relevant To Marine Carbon Dioxide Removal, Korey Silverman-Roati, Romany M. Webb

Sabin Center for Climate Change Law

This primer provides an introduction to seven international agreements relevant to marine carbon dioxide removal (mCDR) research activities in the ocean. Each of these agreements has implications for whether, when, where, and how in-ocean mCDR projects will go forward. The primer is intended to provide policymakers, non-government organizations (NGOs), scientists, and others working on mCDR with an introduction to the agreements and explain their relevance to mCDR. It also offers guidance to those wishing to engage in discussions regarding mCDR under the agreements, which could help resolve open legal questions on their applicability to, and governance of, mCDR.

Regulation Of Coastal Weathering In Massachusetts, Ashwin Murthy, Korey Silverman-Roati, Romany M. Webb

Sabin Center for Climate Change Law

Carbon dioxide removal (“CDR”) will be needed, alongside emissions reductions, to achieve global climate objectives. One such technique is coastal enhanced weathering (“CEW”), which looks to accelerate the natural processes of weathering of alkaline-rich rocks to remove and sequester carbon dioxide from the atmosphere. This natural weathering process occurs slowly — over centuries to millennia — but scientists have suggested the possibility of speeding it up by finely grinding alkaline rocks and spreading them in the coastal zone, where the natural wave and tidal forces will catalyze weathering. As the alkaline rocks weather, they convert carbonic acid present in the …

Compensation For Victims Of Crimes: Should Victims’ Financial Means And Insurance Coverage Matter? — Criminal Procedure Code 2010, S 359(1); Public Prosecutor V Ong Eng Siew [2025] Sghc 55, Benjamin Joshua Ong

Research Collection Yong Pung How School Of Law

Under s 359(1) of the Criminal Procedure Code 2010, the court can order an offender to compensate the victim with a sum which the victim would have been able to recover in a civil claim in tort against the offender. The courts have used this useful power extensively, though problems remain. One such problem is seen in Ong Eng Siew, where the court declined to make a compensation order. Given the purpose of the compensation system, the court was not correct to hold – in effect – that the purpose of s 359(1) is to benefit only impecunious victims, and …

Success And Flourishing In Singapore: The Impact Of Laws And Policies On The Ethos And Character Of A People, Seow Hon Tan

Research Collection Yong Pung How School Of Law

According to virtue jurisprudence, good laws can be conducive to virtuous living; poor laws can contribute to character vices and entrench prejudices. This article focuses on what lies beyond the strict categorization of virtue and vice simpliciter—the ethos and mindset of a people. Using a case study of Singapore, this article examines how law, conceived of in the broadest sense as including policies chosen in a legal regime that leaves the concretization of policies to government bodies, can diminish the capacity and desire of individuals to live examined lives in pursuit of eudaimonia or flourishing. Insofar as living examined lives …

The History Of Multi-Member Commissions At The Founding, 1789-1840: New Evidence On Independent Agencies, Victoria Frances Nourse

Georgetown Law Faculty Publications and Other Works

The executive removal power figures prominently on the Supreme Court’s current agenda. That agenda is beset, however, by a historical misunderstanding, when it comes to multi-member bodies, which too often are assumed to be modern creatures. This paper provides crucial new historical evidence showing that the Founders, indeed a who’s who list of Founders, approved and even sat on commissions in the Republic’s early years. In some cases, the Founders called these early commissions “independent,” deferred to their judgments as “final,” and demanded that the members be “impartial.” Given the vast discretion given these commissions, these characteristics are best described …

The Pro Bono Industrial Complex, Tanina Rostain

Georgetown Law Faculty Publications and Other Works

Recent settlements between corporate law firms and the Trump Administration, consisting of donations totaling nearly $1billion in free representation, have brought law firm pro bono to the fore. Pro bono has been institutionalized in corporate law firms since the turn of the 21^st century. Pro bono evangelists and corporate law firms contend that pro bono increases access to justice and protects individual rights. Scholarship on pro bono has not challenged these claims, focusing instead on managerial and organizational incentives that could increase the number of hours corporate firms devote to pro bono. Given the prominence of corporate law firm …

Chicana Professionalism: Embracing Greñas, Glitter & Boots, Luz E. Herrera

Faculty Scholarship

The current political moment, where immigrant identity is scapegoated and academic freedom is threatened, requires an affirmation of personal identity, a recognition of personal struggle, and a celebration of resilience. This Essay embraces the ideas that professional identity development is temporal and that the current conceptualization of professionalism requires embarking on a reflection journey that addresses the dissonance between personal conscience and professional duty.   Part I briefly revisits the work of Professor Margaret E. Montoya, one of the first Chicana law professors that describes the formation of her professional identity as a law student. It explores the status of Latinas …

Trust In Regulation In A Time Of Revolution, Cristie Ford

All Faculty Publications

In a moment when big-P Politics feel practically catastrophic, the suggestion that we should be focusing on regulation could seem foolish, or worse: it could seem like some kind of self-serving effort to pretend our work rearranging deck chairs continues to matter. Regulation can feel like the opposite of resistance, and resistance is on many peoples’ minds these days, particularly in the United States. And, the goal of this paper is to argue that failing to focus on regulation – and especially on trust in regulation, in this time of revolution – would be a terrible mistake. Regulation is at …

Cardozo Law News Brief: February 27, 2026, Benjamin N. Cardozo School Of Law

Cardozo Law News Briefs

Highlights from the February 27, 2026, Cardozo Law News Brief include:

• Student leaders hosted expert panels during P*LAW Week 2026, bringing together the Cardozo community to address pressing public interest law issues under the guidance of the Center for Public Service Law.

• Professor David Rudenstine was quoted in USA Today discussing heightened tensions between the Trump administration and the press.

• Professor Peter Markowitz spoke to NewsNation about no-bond ICE detentions and the growing number of successful habeas petitions challenging federal detention practices.

• Professor Tyson-Lord Gray authored a Law360 article analyzing interstate litigation strategy surrounding SNAP regulatory challenges.

Faculty news …

Amicus Brief In Trump V. Barbara: An Originalist Defense Of Birthright Citizenship, Jed Handelsman Shugerman, Evan D. Bernick

Faculty Scholarship

For nearly all of the first 235 years under the Constitution, the citizenship of every child born in the United States to alien parents, with immaterial exceptions, was a given. Then, in 2025, the Trump administration changed course. Even though the Fourteenth Amendment makes no mention of limiting birthright citizenship to the children of domiciled parents, the Government now claims that is what “subject to the jurisdiction thereof” has always meant. While the Government and its amici admit that the common law recognized the citizenship of children of transient aliens, their remaining “survey of history range[s] from the constitutionally irrelevant” …

The Abortion Case The Supreme Court Has Been Waiting For?, Rachel Landis

Cardozo Journal of Equal Rights and Social Justice (ERSJ) Blog

This past week, Louisiana’s Attorney General filed a lawsuit, Markezich v. FDA, challenging the distribution of medication abortion to patients without an in-person doctor’s appointment. When the Supreme Court rejected a challenge to the Food and Drug Administration’s (“FDA’s”) approval of mifepristone in 2024, it was considered a setback for the anti-abortion movement.  Markezich confronts the FDA’s approval of telehealth, and the Supreme Court could rule differently this time because of key differences in standing.

This post was originally published on the Cardozo Journal of Equal Rights and Social Justice website on February 26, 2026. The original post can be …

Our Nev. Judges, Inc. V. Dist. Ct., 142 Nev. Adv. Op. 16 (Feb. 26, 2026), Michael Martinelli

Nevada Supreme Court Summaries

A Writ of Mandamus cannot join claims from separate and distinct cases except in rare circumstances.

Violent And Property Crime In The Mountain West, 2024-2025, Sydney Mitchell, Kian Parikh, Kristian Thymianos, Olivia K. Cheche, William E. Brown Jr.

Criminal Justice

This fact sheet presents 2024-2025 violent and property crime data for the Mountain West states of Arizona, Colorado, Nevada, New Mexico, and Utah. Crime data are sourced from the Real-Time Crime Index (RTCI) created by AH Datalytics. The RTCI table, “Reported UCR Part One Crimes Year to Date” compares violent and property crime rates during the time frames of January-October 2024 and January-October 2025 for states across the U.S. This fact sheet highlights the violent and property crime rates in each Mountain West state and considers how these data have changed between January-October 2024 and January-October 2025.

Comments On The Draft Environmental Impact Statement On Post-2026 Operational Guidelines And Strategies For Lake Powell And Lake Mead, Anne Castle, John Fleck, Eric Kuhn, Jack Schmidt, Katherine Tara, Kathryn Sorensen

The Traveling Wilburys of the Colorado River

Thank you for the opportunity to submit comments on the Draft Environmental Impact Statement on Post-2026 Operational Guidelines and Strategies for Lake Powell and Lake Mead (DEIS). The undersigned colleagues with experience in Colorado River matters commend the Bureau of Reclamation and its consultants for the tremendous effort involved in preparing this environmental impact analysis. We are especially impressed by Reclamation’s effort to analyze policy alternatives within the context of the deep uncertainty about what future hydrology might be. Your work is novel in its effort to provide the public with a sense of what the performance, robustness, and vulnerability …

Egger Enter., Llc V. State Engineer, 142 Nev. Adv. Op. 18 (Feb. 26, 2026), Hunter Patterson

Nevada Supreme Court Summaries

The State Engineer needs only to address the relevant NRS 534.090(3) factors in a forfeiture proceeding, and retaining unused water rights while seeking new uses does not constitute good-faith diligence.

Austin V. State [State Of Nevada], 142 Nev., Adv. Op. 12 (Feb. 26, 2026, Erika Loveland

Nevada Supreme Court Summaries

An attached garage is part of a "dwelling" under NRS 205.067. Thus, forcibly entering an attached garage without permission constitutes a home invasion.

Aubry (Malcolm) V. State 142 Nev. Adv. Op. 14 (Feb. 26, 2026), Francesca Manz

Nevada Supreme Court Summaries

Nevada Supreme Court holds that NRS 174.035 permits juries to consider voluntary intoxication with a disease or defect of the mind in evaluating insanity, so long as intoxication is not the sole cause; conflicting jury instruction required reversal and remand.

Silvanus V. State Of Nevada, 142 Nev. Adv. Op. 15 (Feb. 26, 2026), Rocco Marino

Nevada Supreme Court Summaries

In cases with split ‘guilty but mentally ill’ and ‘not guilty by reason of insanity’ verdicts, district courts retain discretion in sequencing civil commitment and incarceration under NRS 175.539 and NRS 175.533.

Stuckey Vs. Apex Materials, Llc, 142 Nev. Adv. Op. 17 (Feb. 26, 2026), William Mcadorey

Nevada Supreme Court Summaries

Employees pursuing prevailing-wage or overtime claims under NRS Chapter 338 must utilize the administrative remedies provided therein.

City Of Reno V. Dist. Ct. (Conrad) (Civil) [State Of Nevada], 142 Nev. Adv. Op. 13 (Feb. 26, 2026), Nathan Mackay

Nevada Supreme Court Summaries

Before issuing an ex parte writ of mandamus, a district court must address why regular inter partes procedure is inadequate. A district court that does not consider whether ex parte practice is appropriate abuses its discretion in issuing the writ.

Meeting The Challenge Of Civic Education In Hyperpolarized Times, Linda C. Mcclain

Faculty Scholarship

What role can civic education play in polarized times? That is the pressing question posed by Civic Education in Polarized Times, edited by Elizabeth Beaumont and Eric Beerbohm.1 As Beaumont’s introduction explains, “as political polarization has intensified across the world, civic education seems more urgent, but it has also become more challenging.” (P. 1.) The volume brings together an eminent group of education scholars, legal scholars, political theorists, and philosophers to consider challenging questions about how to carry out civic education “in a polarized era” and “for a polarized era.” (P. 2.)

Law School News: Expanding Access And Equity: Rwu Law's Cle Series Supports Rhode Island Attorneys 2-25-2026, Jane Govednik

Life of the Law School (1993- )

No abstract provided.

Law School News: Ahmir Kenyatta L'27: Defining His Own Path As A 2l Transfer 2-25-2026, Jane Govednik

Life of the Law School (1993- )

No abstract provided.

Law School News: Rwu Law Opens Coastal Resilience Clinic To Visiting Students For Summer 2026 2-25-2026, Helga Melgar

Life of the Law School (1993- )

No abstract provided.

Weaponizing The First Amendment: Captive Audience Laws Recast From Shield To Sword, Seth Freeman

Seattle University Law Review Online

This Comment examines the evolution and misuse of captive audience laws in the United States, particularly as they have shifted from narrow exceptions in First Amendment jurisprudence to expansive tools for ideological suppression. Originally designed to protect individuals from unavoidable and coercive speech, especially in private spaces like the home, captive audience laws have increasingly been utilized in regulating workplace speech, with a recent focus on suppressing conversations around diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI). Through an analysis of foundational Supreme Court cases and an exploration of recent legislative trends, this Comment reveals how state legislatures have weaponized captive audience doctrine …

Cle Program: Putting People At The Center Of Representation 2-24-2026, Roger Williams University School Of Law

School of Law Conferences, Lectures & Events

No abstract provided.

Mmu: 02/23/26-03/01/26, Student Bar Association

Monday Morning Update

This Week @ NDLS

Mass Times

Commons Daily Menu

Saint of the Week

General Announcements

Vol. 70, No. 7 (February 23, 2026)

Indiana Law Annotated

No abstract provided.

P*Law Week 2026: Student-Led Expert Panels Focusing On Public Service Law, Benjamin N. Cardozo School Of Law

Cardozo Law News Archive

Cardozo School of Law's annual Public Law Advocacy Week (P*LAW), hosted by the Center for Public Service Law, featured student-led panels on disability rights, labor law, LGBTQ+ rights, immigration law, environmental law, and international accountability. The event brought together students, alumni, faculty, and practitioners to discuss pressing public interest issues and careers in public service law.