Law Commons^™

08.11.2025 Ored Connect, Liz Williamson

ORED Newsletter

F and A rates

ORED Research Reception

NSF Audit Final Resolution and Compliance Updates

Ndls Communicator: Week Of 08.11.25, Notre Dame Law School

NDLS Communicator

The Latest News

• Notre Dame Law School's Exoneration Justice Clinic: Where legal education meets justice reform

Faculty Briefs

• Lloyd Mayer
• Francisco Urbina
• Jimmy Gurulé
• Derek Muller
• Rick Garnett
• Mary Ellen O'Connell
• Emily Bremer
• Carter Snead
• Judge Kenneth Ripple
• Nell Newton
• Vincent Phillip Muñoz

Notre Dame in the News

• Notre Dame Law School was highlighted on Above the Law's list of Law Schools with the Best Professors and Law Schools that are the Best for Federal Clerkships.
• The Exoneration Justice Clinic's Petition for Post-Conviction Relief was highlighted in a FOX59 article.

Agricultural Biotechnology In The Courts: Judicial Opinions And Commentary, Drew L. Kershen

Faculty Articles

Seven jurisdictions from around the world have issued judicial opinions that address fundamental issues about the governance and regulatory systems of agricultural biotechnology. This article summarizes these legal proceedings and describes their impact upon agricultural biotechnology. The article then provides a commentary and critique of the legal proceedings and resulting judicial opinions.

Out Of Sight, Out Of Mind: Nearby Branch Closures And Small Business Growth, Benjamin Ranish, Andrea Stella, Jeffery Y. Zhang

Law & Economics Working Papers

Since 2010, the total number of commercial bank branches in the United States has decreased by about 20%. Do branch closures meaningfully affect economic activity? We investigate the impact of branch closures on small businesses, whose access to credit may be facilitated through local relationships with banks. Using exogenous variation in closures related to mergers and acquisitions, we show that the closure of nearby bank branches leads to decreased small business employment growth and entry while increasing business exit. Our results are robust to variations in our measure of employment, proximity, and construction of the instrument. We use subsample analyses …

Ubi Jus Ibi Remedium: Self-Determination, Devolution, And The Scottish Right To Independence, Soares, Kyra

Santa Clara Journal of International Law

No abstract provided.

Watching The Clock: Time-Tracking And The Erosion Of Privacy And Dignity At Work, Tammy Katsabian

Comparative Labor Law & Policy Journal

This article examines the rise of time-tracking technologies as a dominant form of digital workplace surveillance and their implications for workers’ privacy and dignity. Often framed as neutral tools for enhancing productivity, these systems embed continuous algorithmic oversight into daily work routines, intensifying managerial control and reshaping the employment relationship. Drawing on legal, philosophical, and socio-technical scholarship, the article argues that privacy and dignity are mutually reinforcing values, both of which are undermined by pervasive surveillance practices. Privacy is not treated here as a waivable entitlement grounded in individual consent, but rather as a structural safeguard that protects autonomy and …

Immigrant Surveillance In San Diego During A Fascist Era, Jennifer L. Torres Leon

McNair Summer Research Program

The following qualitative study examines a new increase of technological surveillance used on immigrants by San Diego’s local law enforcement. Drawing from in-depth interviews of the San Diego Privacy Advisory Board and Trust SD, insights of technological related violations are sanctioned by the San Diego Police Department. This is done through ambiguous language regarding “criminal investigations” and lack of definitive use policy, despite several memorandums and recommendations by the SD Privacy Advisory Board. Present findings reveal a duality of immigrant surveillance instigating hyper-visible tracking and broadcasting an image of their criminality. This study contributes to scholarship or crimmigration and urban …

Enhancing Client Intake Efficiency In The Removal Defense Program: A Nursing-Led Quality Improvement Initiative, Johnny Linares, Julia Tran Ngo, Daniel Orea, Atheana Yadira Lopez

Master's Projects and Capstones

This quality improvement project focuses on optimizing the intake process for the Removal Defense Program at a nonprofit immigration legal office serving asylum-seeking clients. The existing intake relied on unstructured, phone-call-based intake interviews that gathered incomplete information, leading to inconsistent documentation, reduced efficiency, and significant client processing delays. A structured, multilingual, and multiplatform new-client admission protocol coupled with the implementation of a client-facing resource guide for waitlist clients were co-developed and implemented using the Lippitt Change Theory framework. Utilizing a mixed methods approach, the study involved staff interviews and observational assessments with staff members from the program. Baseline intake process …

The Crucial Role Of Grassroots Social Organizations In Advancing Immigrant Legal Protections And Reshaping Immigration Policy, Isabella Reynolds

McNair Summer Research Program

This research project examines how grassroots social organizations contribute to the advancement of immigrant legal protections and shape immigration policy, with a particular focus on formerly incarcerated migrants in California. I focus on case studies and the personal experiences of organizers from Homies Unidos, Border Angels, and other organizations that operate near the San Diego–Tijuana border region. The study illustrates how these groups provide essential services, mental health support, and community-based initiatives for vulnerable and formerly incarcerated immigrants. By conducting oral histories and ethnography as methods for preserving emotional labor and shared memory, this research challenges prevailing narratives that criminalize …

Transactional And Autocratic Leadership In Practice: The Case Of Trump’S Attempt To Redefine Birthright Citizenship, Ruolan Huang, Liwei Fang, Jingzhe Zhang, Anna Zaldivar

The Scholarship Without Borders Journal

This case study investigates how President Donald Trump's autocratic and transactional leadership style influenced the conception, implementation, and social impact of the 2025 executive order seeking to revoke birthright citizenship for children of undocumented immigrants. This study employs the case study approach and applies thematic analysis of public documents, legal texts, and media reports. The study identifies five major themes, including autocratic leadership and executive overreach, racialized policy implementation, media manipulation, legal resistance, and a broader crisis of democratic legitimacy. The findings suggest that while the executive order aims at framing a legal structure, it disproportionately affects marginalized immigrant communities, …

The Legal System For Influencers On Social Media Platforms: A Comparative Study, Ahmad Ibrahim Ballal, Najem Riyad Al-Rabadi, Ma’Moun Rashed Al-Huneiti

Middle East Journal of Communication Studies

This study explores the legal regulation of social media influencers through a comparative analysis between French and Jordanian legislation. The research problem lies in the absence of a clear and comprehensive legal framework regulating influencers' growing role in shaping public opinion. Using the comparative analytical method, the study examines relevant legal texts and regulatory approaches in both jurisdictions. The findings highlight significant differences, with France enacting a specific law to govern influencer activities, while Jordan still relies on general legal provisions. The study recommends drafting a dedicated Jordanian law that outlines influencers' legal responsibilities and balances freedom of expression with …

Representations Of The Other In Hamas's Media Discourse During The "Al-Aqsa Flood" Operation: A Rhetorical Analytical Study, Enad Mamdouh Al-Zaben, Sabah Al Harahsheh

Middle East Journal of Communication Studies

This study aimed to determine how the Hamas movement represented the "other" in its media discourse during the "Al-Aqsa Flood" operation. To achieve this goal, the study relied on the qualitative analytical approach, specifically rhetorical discourse analysis. The study sample included all Hamas's media spokesman speeches, between October 7, 2023, and January 1, 2024, numbering 11 speeches. The study results showed that Hamas's media discourse focused on portraying two main groups: "us" and "them." The "us" group included the Palestinian people in all their spectra. They were referred to using terms with positive connotations such as: "the steadfast," "the one …

American Plastics, Llc, V. Home Depot Product Authority, Llc, Order On Motion To Compel Discovery, Kelly L. Ellerbe

Superior Court of Fulton County: Metro Atlanta Business Case Division Opinions

No abstract provided.

Retrofitting Fair Use: Art & Generative Ai After Warhol, Lin, Patrick K.

Santa Clara Law Review

The fair use doctrine has been technology companies’ most valuable legal justification for systematically extracting and scraping content from the internet to train their generative artificial intelligence tools. Although fair use has historically protected the public from the monopolization of creative expression and intellectual property, in its current state, the doctrine enables powerful technology companies and movie studios alike to hoard copyrighted content while disenfranchising individual artists and creators. In May 2023, the United States Supreme Court ruled on Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts, Inc. v. Goldsmith, a dispute about whether Andy Warhol’s use of Lynn Goldsmith’s original …

More Than A Ramp: Rethinking School Design For Sensory And Cognitive Inclusion, Andrew Ho

University Honors Theses

This thesis advocates for the integration of the ASPECTSS framework, developed by Magda Mostafa, into legislative standards that would govern the design of educational environments that accommodate students with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD). Drawing on evidence from a case study demonstrating significant improvements in student behavior and overall satisfaction through ASPECTSS-based interventions, the thesis highlights the urgent need for these principles to move beyond voluntary adoption and rather, toward enforceable design mandates.

The ASPECTSS framework includes the seven following criterias; Acoustics, Spatial Sequencing, Escape Spaces, Compartmentalization, Transitions, Sensory Zoning, and Safety. This model provides a comprehensive and actionable approach to …

Proportionality: Can’T Live With It But Can’T Live Without It, Geoffrey S. Corn

International Law Studies

Perhaps no other word in the international humanitarian law lexicon evokes more interest and emotion than proportionality. How States implement the rule of proportionality is perhaps the most hotly debated aspect of international humanitarian law. The indeterminate nature of the rule allows for its meaning to conform to whatever its reader wants it to mean. This is a consequence of the variables related to key provisions of the rule: How do we assess military advantage? What makes an anticipated military advantage “concrete and direct”? And most problematic of all, what is the meaning of the term “excessive”? All of these …

The Emergence Of An Object Of Regulatory Concern: The European Union’S Artificial Intelligence Act, Galán, Alexis, Schmidt, Rebecca

Santa Clara Journal of International Law

No abstract provided.

Analisis Dampak Putusan Etik Terhadap Keabsahan Putusan Lembaga Peradilan: Perbandingan Putusan Mahkamah Konstitusi Dan Putusan Badan Peradilan Dalam Lingkup Mahkamah Agung, Muhamad Sidiq

Jurnal Konstitusi & Demokrasi

Constitutionalism places the constitution as the supreme law that binds all state administrators, with the Constitutional Court (MK) as the guardian of the constitution through final and binding judicial review decisions. However, serious challenges have emerged regarding ethical violations by constitutional judges, such as in Decision No. 90/PUU-XXI/2023, which raises questions about the legitimacy and validity of the decision. This study employs a normative legal method with a doctrinal approach to analyze the applicability and impact of ethical rulings on MK decisions and compares them with ethical oversight and decision correction practices within the Supreme Court (MA). The findings indicate …

Book Review: Jonathan Gienapp, Against Constitutional Originalism: A Historical Critique, Timothy Smith

ConLawNOW

This essay reviews the new book, Against Constitutional Originalism by Professor Jonathan Gienapp. It shows how this important book complicates the legal theory of originalism and its understanding of the Constitution. Gienapp convincingly shows that Founding-era Americans had a very different understanding of the nature of constitutions—what they are and how they worked. The conception of the Constitution that feels natural to modern Americans actually developed gradually in the decades and centuries after the Founding and was not the original meaning. Gienapp contends that this creates foundational problems for the originalist approach to Constitutional interpretation. It exposes the fundamental misunderstanding …

Police Officer Use Of Force And Officer-Created Jeopardy After Barnes V. Felix: The Supreme Court's Important (Albeit Incomplete) Step In The Right Direction, Cynthia Lee

ConLawNOW

This essay analyzes the Supreme Court’s 2025 unanimous decision in Barnes v. Felix rejecting the moment of threat doctrine that limited courts assessing the reasonableness of a law enforcement officer’s use of force. Under this narrow time-framing approach, courts were limited to considering only those facts and circumstances known to the officer at the moment of the threat, and acts occurring before the officer seized the individual that may have contributed to the dangerous situation could not be considered. Rejecting this narrow approach, the Court reaffirmed its longstanding rule that in assessing the reasonableness of an officer’s use of force …

Personal Jurisdiction And The Fifth Amendment, Scott Dodson

ConLawNOW

The Supreme Court has avoided clarifying the relationship between federal-court personal jurisdiction, congressional statutes, and the Fifth Amendment. Until now, that is. In June 2025, the Court decided two important cases involving constraints on a federal court’s exercise of personal jurisdiction outside of Rule 4(k)(1)(A), which typically ties federal-court personal jurisdiction to state-court personal jurisdiction. This brief essay explains and analyzes those cases, situating them in the Court’s larger agenda for personal jurisdiction. It also discusses some open questions raised by the decisions and the role that personal jurisdiction in the United States may now play on the global stage.

Improving Anxiety Screening In Active-Duty Military: Policy Recommendation For Implementing Ham-A Alongside Gad-7, Alex Judkins

Student Scholarly Projects

Practice Problem: Military personnel appear to be at increased risk for mood and stress-related conditions, such as anxiety and depression. These are frequently associated with traumatic brain injury (TBI), yet existing policies and practices may not fully capture this symptom complexity.

PICOT: For healthcare policymakers and providers (P), how does a policy review and recommendation for implementing the HAM-A screening tool for anxiety (I), compared to continued reliance on GAD-7 (C), impact the early identification and policy alignment for somatic and psychic anxiety management among active-duty military personnel (O)?

Evidence: Investigating psychological illnesses and their physiological manifestations in isolation fails …

Open And Timely Public Access To Final, Citable U.S. Case Law: A Progress Report, Peter W. Martin

Cornell Law Faculty Publications

By the early 1990s, numerous advantages of disseminating legal information electronically instead of in print had become widely recognized. These included the potential for faster and wider access and increased competition. To maximize those gains, the American Association of Law Libraries and American Bar Association recommended that the nation’s court systems adopt public (non-proprietary) systems of case citation that could function readily regardless of medium. A few had already headed down that path. In the years since, others have followed.

This article traces the progress of that movement and describes a less conspicuous alternative more recently implemented in a number …

Law School News : Rwu Law Named A 'Best Law School' By The Princeton Review 08-04-2025, Jordan J. Phelan

Life of the Law School (1993- )

No abstract provided.

Rwu Law Named A 'Best Law School' By The Princeton Review 08-04-2025, Jordan J. Phelan

Life of the Law School (1993- )

No abstract provided.

Teaching Law Through Art: On Magic, Emotions, And Resistance, Hamsini Marada

Socio-Legal Review

This is an auto-ethnographic article in which the author reflects on her research in art and law, the legal academic culture, and the ways in which her art practice (painting and photography) informs her teaching pedagogy. The author uses theoretical works of scholars like Paulo Friere and bell hooks as foundational texts to address how an emotional and care-based approach to teaching can be developed through engagement with art in law classrooms. This theory is substantiated with anecdotes from the author's experience of teaching electives on art and law and core courses like Criminal Law and Intellectual Property Rights. By …

Ua21 What's New, Wku Institutional Equity

WKU Administration Documents

Newsletter created by and about the Office of Institutional Equity.

• Demir, Ena. A Message from the Executive Director
• Training Opportunities: Stay Informed & Engaged
• Understanding Title VI
• Student Accessibility Center Joins the Office of Institutional Equity
• Need Workplace Accommodations?
• Web Accessibility Regulations
• Relevant Information
• Stop Campus Hazing Act
• Meet the Team

Embracing The Bot: Japan’S Love Affair With Ai Learning, Dan Rosen

UC Law SF International Law Review

No abstract provided.

Copyright In Characters: A Proposal For Reform, Michael W. Carroll

Joint PIJIP/TLS Research Paper Series

The doctrine of character copyright is an eccentricity in copyright law that should either be abandoned or substantially reformed. Originally limited to literary characters, this doctrine decomposes a narrative work in order to recognize characters as works of authorship independent of the narrative works from which they are derived. Claimants generally seek independent protection for characters for three, sometimes overlapping, reasons: (1) to repackage what would otherwise be a weak claim of substantial similarity if comparison were to be made with the work(s) from which the character has sprung; (2) to overcome obstacles posed by prior licensing decisions that have …

Cardozo Law News Brief: August 1, 2025, Benjamin N. Cardozo School Of Law

Cardozo Law News Briefs

This Cardozo Law News Brief highlights the expansion of Cardozo’s Criminal Defense Clinic to address the lack of representation for those on death row, with Professor Kathryn Miller emphasizing the need for specialized counsel in capital cases. Faculty in the media include Professor Peter Markowitz in Gothamist on Trump’s efforts to end New York City’s sanctuary laws, Professor Rachel Landy in Variety urging state reform of the ticketing industry, Professor Wilfred Codrington III in The Hill on Republican efforts to weaken the Voting Rights Act, Professor Lindsay Nash in the Associated Press on ICE subpoenas, Professor Michael Pollack in Houston …