Law Commons^™

Keynote Address: Alaskan Election Law In 2020, Erwin Chemerinsky

Alaska Law Review

No abstract provided.

How Should Alaskans Choose?: The Debate Over Ranked Choice Voting, Angela Sbano

Alaska Law Review

In November 2020, Alaskan voters will decide whether or not they will adopt a Ranked Choice Voting system for elections within their state. While the move would be an unprecedented one for the state, the state of Maine and cities across the country have already adopted Ranked Choice Voting in recent years. The electoral system of Ranked Choice Voting in the United States has seen city-wide adoption, mass repeal, and renewed interest and support over the last century. Proponents hail its ability to improve representation and campaign civility, while opponents point out its complexity and potential to decrease voter turnout. …

Unlocking The Ballot: The Past, Present, And Future Of Alaska Native Voting Rights, Zachary R. Kaplan

Alaska Law Review

Racial oppression in American democracy is older than America itself. While most existing scholarship focuses on the historical disenfranchisement of Black and Latinx voters, this Note tells the story of the voting rights of a smaller, but still noteworthy marginalized American community: Alaska Natives. By contextualizing the history of Alaska Native disenfranchisement within the broader national landscape, this Note seeks to illuminate the ways in which the Alaska Native experience is similar to, and unique from, the experiences of other marginalized American communities. Although this history and present are rife with troubling discrimination, inequity, and non-compliance, this Note is ultimately …

Goodbye Yellow Brick Road: Enfranchisement Among Native American Voters And Nick V. Bethel, Kristen M. Renberg

Alaska Law Review

This Comment documents the limited impact of Nick v. Bethel and proposes legislative and electoral reforms to increase enfranchisement among Alaska Natives. The Voting Rights Act (VRA) of 1965 made significant progress in protecting minority voting rights. In 2007, a federal district court interpreted the “historically unwritten” exemption in Section 203 of the VRA for the first time in Nick. While the court found Yup’ik to be historically unwritten, the court also reasoned that written translations of election materials should be prepared in order to ensure that oral translations were effective in accommodating voters. The state responded through various actions …

Environmental Protection, The Military, And Preserving The Balance: “Why It Matters, In War And Peace”, Kurt Smith

Seattle Journal of Technology, Environmental, & Innovation Law

International military operations around the world are major actors on the world stage of global pollution. The United States military remains subject to federal, state, and local environmental laws. However, many exemptions exist to assist the military despite its status as a global polluter. Many environmental policies have incrementally developed over the last one-hundred years largely as a reaction to the most extreme circumstances. Scientific knowledge continues to increase our awareness of the lasting impacts of policy decisions relating to the environment, giving rise to the precautionary principle, that notion that we should do no lasting harm, in our care …

Regaining Control Over The Climate Change Narrative: How To Stop Right-Wing Populism From Eroding Rule Of Law In The Climate Struggle In India, Binit Agrawal

Fordham Environmental Law Review

No abstract provided.

Innovative Regulatory And Financial Parameters For Advancing Carbon Capture And Storage Technologies, Zen Makuch, Slavina Georgieva & Behdeen Oraee-Mirzamani

Fordham Environmental Law Review

No abstract provided.

Textiles As A Source Of Microfiber Pollution And Potential Solutions, Lea M. Elston

Fordham Environmental Law Review

No abstract provided.

Law School Exams During A Pandemic: One Law School’S Experience, Beth Parker

Seattle Journal of Technology, Environmental, & Innovation Law

In 2020, toward the end of the spring semester, the COVID-19 pandemic disrupted life across the globe. Institutions, including law schools, felt the widespread effects of this public health crisis. Law schools were forced to move entire curriculums online in record time and consider how they were going to administer final exams. There is no precedent or manual for how to do this successfully. Law school exams are inherently stressful events in a law student’s career because their performance on the exam inordinately influences their grades and class rankings. Typically, law students are already on edge during final exams without …

Lending Innovations, Xuan-Thao Nguyen

Brooklyn Law Review

This article is about innovations. Startups and their founders in the innovation intensive sectors cannot reach their dreams without financing. They cannot turn to banks for loans. Banks, from community to commercial banks, shun startups due to antiquated banking law, business model and high risks associated with tech lending. But there are outlier banks who disrupt the banking business model with lending innovation, fueling startups with loans that allow tech innovations to occur from Silicon Valley to Route 128 of the northeast corridor, and from Shanghai, China to Herzliya, Israel. With qualitative and quantitative patent data, this article demonstrates how …

The Regulatory Production Of Vaccine Hesitancy, Eugene Mccarthy

Brooklyn Law Review

This article argues that U.S. vaccine law produces the “anti-vax” movement. The anti-vax movement is a growing problem, as more than half of American parents have concerns about vaccinating their children. Remarkably, these “vaccine-hesitant” individuals tend to be highly educated, wealthy, and experienced parents. Three legal structures cause vaccine hesitancy: strict immunization mandates, lax regulatory oversight, and blanket limited liability for vaccine manufacturers. The United States stands alone with regard to its vaccine mandates—no other developed democracy requires its citizens to receive such a large number of childhood vaccines. Meanwhile, the law permits financial conflicts of interest in vaccine approval …

The Use Of Force To Prevent Recurrence Of Conflict: Where Are The Limits Of Self-Defense?, Laurie R. Blank

Brooklyn Law Review

The prohibition on the use of force is the central pillar of the international system of peace and security, and yet contemporary conflicts continue to stretch and pressure this foundational rule. This article examines how international law applies to the use of force in the territory of another state for the purpose of preventing a resurgence of violence after a conflict has ended. In the absence of consent or U.N. Security Council authorization, can self-defense be a justification for a state to use force to prevent the resurgence of conflict? In January 2018, the United States announced an intended policy …

Going Gunless, Dru Stevenson

Brooklyn Law Review

Firearm policy in the United States is subject to longstanding political gridlock. Up to now, most of the legal academic literature has focused on the constitutionality of various—or any—regulations regarding firearm possession, sales, or usage. This article inverts the problem and proposes a system for voluntary registration and certification of nonowners, those who want to waive or renounce their Second Amendment rights as a matter of personal conviction. The proposed system is analogous to both the registration of conscientious objectors during wartime conscriptions, and the newer suicide prevention laws whereby individuals can add their names to a do-not-sell list for …

Not All Violence In Relationships Is "Domestic Violence", Tamara Kuennen

Brooklyn Law Review

This article argues that not all violence in intimate relationships is “domestic violence.” Domestic violence is a pattern of acts perpetrated with a motive: power and control over another. National anti-domestic violence organizations, activists and advocates, and a number of academics agree on this construct of domestic violence. Law, on the other hand, requires neither a pattern nor a motive; it defines domestic violence to include any single act of violence in a relationship, regardless of the perpetrator’s intent. Because legal intervention is the primary intervention for domestic violence today, feminist legal scholars have sought to reform the law to …

It’S 1919 Somewhere: What Tennessee Wine & Spirits Retailers Association V. Thomas Means For The National Hangover Of The Twenty-First Amendment, The Dormant Commerce Clause, And Federal Legalization Of Intoxicating Substances., Evan W. Saunders

Brooklyn Law Review

The United States has a drinking problem; or rather, an alcohol problem. In the aftermath of Prohibition and the passage of the Twenty-First Amendment, the Supreme Court has struggled to settle upon an overarching regulatory system for alcohol that is amenable to both the federal government and the states. Most recently, in Tennessee Wine and Spirits Retailers Association v. Thomas, the Court further asserted that alcohol should be treated just like any other good under the Dormant Commerce Clause. This note examines the Court’s Twenty-First Amendment jurisprudence leading up to Tennessee Wine, and suggests an alternate interpretation of the amendment …

Lessons From Renewable Energy Diffusion For Carbon Dioxide Removal Development, Anthony E. Chavez

Fordham Environmental Law Review

No abstract provided.

The Rise Of Self-Interests: How Shifting Political Goals Changed The Effectiveness Of Dutch Official Development Aid To Bangladesh From 2005 Until 2016, Thomas L. Oomen

Global: Jurnal Politik Internasional

Aid effectiveness has been situated in the central debate of development studies and, particularly, among foreign aid policy making community. As the Netherlands was one of the unique countries which focused extensively on the needs of its recipient, it is important to investigate the Netherlands’ recent practice of its development aid, particularly to Bangladesh and the associated goal ambiguity. This article attempts to answer the question, “to what extent does goal ambiguity in Dutch development aid affect the effectiveness of Dutch development aid given to Bangladesh?” This analysis is based on independent assessments of Dutch official development aid (ODA) to …

2019-2020 Annual Report, Caroline L. Osborne

Law Library Annual Reports and Assessments

No abstract provided.

How Supreme Court Precedent Sheds Light On Corporate Bill Of Attainder Claims, Alina Veneziano

Seattle Journal for Social Justice

No abstract provided.

Tragedy Of The Energy Commons: How Government Regulation Can Help Mitigate The Environmental And Public Health Consequences Of Cryptocurrency Mining, Jeff Thomson

Seattle Journal of Technology, Environmental, & Innovation Law

The use of cryptocurrencies in daily life has continued to rise over the last decade and shows no signs of slowing down. Although cryptocurrencies, such as Bitcoin, provide numerous tangible benefits to society, the process of mining these cryptocurrencies is extremely energy intensive. Accordingly, a tragedy of the energy commons has resulted whereby the monetary incentive to mine cryptocurrencies has distorted our collective ability to care for our shared energy resources. The current system allows for industrious individuals to set up cryptocurrency mines in regions that have access to plentiful and cheap energy sources, utilize this energy to power their …

The New Decade Of Construction Contracts: Technological And Climate Considerations For Owners, Designers, And Builders, Geoffrey F. Palachuk

Seattle Journal of Technology, Environmental, & Innovation Law

In the next decade, the construction industry faces two intertwined risks: implementation of new technologies and the impacts of climate change. Those overlapping risks will present both practical and legal issues for design professionals, developers, builders, legislators, and the public at large. Although the average participant in the construction industry may not think twice about the emergence or adoption of new technologies, or the effect of climate change on the completed project, those issues present nuanced legal implications. Construction projects and their contracts must adapt. While companies seek to implement new technologies, provide sustainable products, optimize project systems, and maximize …

Utilizing Tort Law To Deter Misconduct In The Public Sector, Boaz Segal

Seattle Journal for Social Justice

No abstract provided.

Toward A More Democratic America, Thomas Kleven

Seattle Journal for Social Justice

No abstract provided.

Kelly Laws, An Individual, Petitioner Below And Appellant And Cross Appellee On Appeal, Vs. Willie Grayeyes, An Individual, Respondent Below And Appellee And Cross-Appellant On Appeal. : Reply Brief Of Appellee/Cross-Appellant, Willie Grayeyes, Utah Supreme Court

Utah Supreme Court Briefs (2000–2020)

On appeal from the Seventh Judicial District CourtThe Honorable Don M. TorgersonNo. 180700016

Holly Rebecca Rosser, Petitioner, V. Ronald Lee Rosser, Respondent. : Petitioner's Reply Brief, Utah Supreme Court

Utah Supreme Court Briefs (2000–2020)

ON WRIT OF CERTIORARI TO THEUTAH COURT OF APPEALSNo. 20170736-CA

Appeal from a Final Judgment of the Sixth Judicial District Court in and for Garfield County, Panguitch Department The Honorable Paul D. Lyman PresidingNo. 154600013

State Of Utah, Plaintiff And Appellee, V. Keith Scott Brown, Defendant/Appellant. : Reply Brief Of Appellant, Utah Supreme Court

Utah Supreme Court Briefs (2000–2020)

Reply Brief of Appellant

Appeal from Order Denying Motion to Reinstate Defendant’s Right to
Appeal with Commensurate Right to Effective Assistance of Counsel
Fourth Judicial District, Provo Division,
the Honorable Christine Johnson presiding

Oral Argument Requested

Defendant is Currently Incarcerated

Jacob M. Scott, Plaintiff/ Appellant, V. Wingate Wilderness Therapy, Llc, Defendant/ Appellee. : Brief Of Appellant, Utah Supreme Court

Utah Supreme Court Briefs (2000–2020)

Review of a Certified Question from theUnited States Tenth Circuit Court of Appeals, Case No. 19-4052

Jacob M. Scott, Plaintiff/ Appellant, V. Wingate Wilderness Therapy, Llc, Defendant/ Appellee. : Response Brief Of Appellee, Utah Supreme Court

Utah Supreme Court Briefs (2000–2020)

Review of Question of Law Certified by theUnited States Court of Appeals, Tenth CircuitCase No. 19-4052

RESPONSE BRIEF OF APPELLEORAL ARGUMENT REQUESTED

Of Sex Crimes And Fencelines: How Recognition Of Environmental Justice Communities As Crime Victims Under State And Federal Law Can Help Secure Environmental Justice, Joshua Ozymy, Melissa L. Jarrell

Pace Environmental Law Review

Environmental justice communities throughout the United States continue to face disproportionate health burdens from living near industrial sources of pollution. Such burdens were caused by historically racist public policies and continue to be perpetuated by inadequate regulatory responses at the federal and state level. State and federal law has increasingly recognized an emerging set of rights afforded to victims of crime in court proceedings. We argue that members of environmental justice communities should be viewed as crime victims and have the same rights applied as other victims of violent crime. Using case examples under the federal Crime Victims’ Rights Act …

Unveiling The “Trojan Horses” Of Gentrification: Studies Of Legal Strategies To Combat Environmental Gentrification In Washington, D.C. And New York, N.Y., Sarena Malsin

Pace Environmental Law Review

No abstract provided.