Law Commons^™

Climate Prosecution As Climate Regulation, Cindy J. Cho

Articles by Maurer Faculty

Last term, the Supreme Court weakened the federal government’s ability to regulate. Three new decisions—and one landmark case from the previous term—will affect everything from drug approvals to overtime pay to national security. One issue stands out as a political flashpoint that will prove particularly difficult to address via regulation in the wake of this term: climate change. Given the unlikelihood of congressional climate action any time soon, those concerned about the risks of a warming planet will no doubt be looking for alternatives to regulation. Private and state civil lawsuits against polluters reflect an important legal tradition that must …

Reconstituting Corporate Power & Accountability, Cindy J. Cho, Donald Braman, Theresa Gabaldon

Articles by Maurer Faculty

Modern society faces a growing crisis of corporate impunity. While corporations generate immense value, they increasingly inflict harm at scales that dwarf those of traditional street crime. Decades of deregulation, unchecked corporate lobbying, and a judiciary actively dismantling the administrative state have created a dangerous accountability vacuum. And just as federal oversight is collapsing, the Supreme Court's expanding preemption doctrine is handcuffing state regulators. This Article proposes a paradigm shift: the revitalization of state criminal authority, a power largely shielded from federal interference. Upon securing a conviction or deferred prosecution agreement, states should mandate that the offending corporation conduct all …

Three Essays On The Economics Of Crime And Education, Joy Kanengiser

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

The first chapter investigates the labor market impacts of the Clean Slate Law, a policy designed to reduce barriers to entry by automating the sealing of criminal records. Using IPUMS CPS data from six states, I employ a difference-in-differences framework with individual fixed effects and an event study design to identify changes in employment outcomes. I find that the Clean Slate policy increases employment by 0.33 percentage points and weekly hours worked by 0.44 hours (approximately 24 minutes). Full-time employment rises, while self-employment declines by 0.12 percentage points, suggesting a shift from informal to more stable, formal jobs. These employment …

The Position Of The United States Of America Vis-A-Vis The Question Of Western Sahara: Assessing The Role Of Think Tanks In The Conflict, Hamid Baadeche

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

ABSTRACT

The Position of the United States of America Vis-à-vis the Question of Western Sahara: Assessing the Role of Think Tanks in the Conflict

Hamid Baadeche

Think tank organizations, particularly in the United States, have become a prominent feature of the political landscape. They act as advocates for specific policies that they consider beneficial for the country or a particular societal group. They function as a primary source of information, which they then aim to transform into well-informed policies and sound decisions. They are referred to as "the revolving doors," "idea brokers," and "idea factory." As such, their foremost objective …

Table Of Contents

Georgia Law Review

No abstract provided.

Public Constitutional Ai, Gilad Abiri

Georgia Law Review

We are increasingly subjected to the power of AI authorities. Machine learning models now underpin algorithmic markets, determine whose speech is amplified or restricted, shape government decisions ranging from resource allocation to predictive policing, and influence our access to information on critical issues such as voting and public health. As AI decisions become inescapable, entering domains such as healthcare, education, and law, we must confront a vital question: How can we ensure that AI systems, which increasingly regulate our lives and make decisions that shape our societies, have the authority and legitimacy necessary for effective governance?

To secure AI legitimacy, …

Surveillance As Retaliation, Daiquiri J. Steele

Georgia Law Review

Employers have a myriad of technologies at their disposal to help them surveil their employees, and they deploy these technologies for several reasons. Some of these reasons—e.g., monitoring time and attendance, ensuring compliance with occupational safety standards, protecting against certain data disclosure, etc.—are legitimate. Others are not. Chief among the illegitimate reasons is monitoring employees in retaliation for reporting alleged employer misconduct internally or externally. Just as terminating, demoting, or transferring an employee constitutes an adverse action for retaliation claims, subjecting an employee to surveillance because the employee has engaged in protected activity is also an adverse action. Courts and …

Protecting “Learned Hands”: Table Saw Injuries, The Sawstop Saga, And How Our Design Defect Doctrine Is Disincentivizing Safety, Tanner P. Samples

Georgia Law Review

The American judicial system has been grappling with the grisly realities of industrial carnage for over one hundred years. From Justice Cardozo’s storied expansion of manufacturer liability to the regulatory explosion of the 1960s, our nation has struggled to balance the personal freedom of consumers with the dangers of modern machinery. The winding morass of products liability law has afforded plaintiffs some degree of protection from the wily manufacturer, but most would agree that advancements in safety technology have prevented more consumer harm than any tort claim or cause of action.

Despite the unquestionable utility of safety advancements, analysis of …

On Parentage, Genetics, And Surrogacy, Jessica Tueller

Georgia Law Review

Bans in some jurisdictions, combined with relative affordability in others, have turned surrogacy into an increasingly cross-border phenomenon. Meanwhile, the complex and varied approaches to legal parentage and surrogacy that exist in domestic jurisdictions, along with a lack of international oversight, have at times left children of surrogacy parentless or stateless. The decision of the Hague Conference on Private International Law to begin regulating legal parentage in international surrogacy arrangements is thus an important and welcome development. However, the Hague Conference is considering imposing new genetic requirements that could result in violations of the rights to equality and non-discrimination of …

Jones V. Mississippi: Sweeping Away The Due Process Protections Of Juvenile Offenders, Tiffani N. Darden

Georgia Law Review

The U.S. Supreme Court’s pronouncement in Jones v. Mississippi raises questions about whether states will adequately adhere to the fundamental fairness principles of constitutional due process. The current juvenile sentencing procedures center on Miller v. Alabama, in which the Court struck down mandatory life-without-parole statutes applicable to juveniles. But in the post-Miller era, state legislatures and courts have struggled with how to apply the Miller Court’s holding. Ultimately, the Jones Court eliminated procedural due process rights for the criminal system’s most vulnerable class. But while procedural due process in the criminal sentencing context is not well defined as …

The New Game Theory, Cortelyou C. Kenney

Georgia Law Review

Game theory and the legal system it models are deeply indebted to the idea of efficiency and efficient outcomes. A great many scholars use game theory to rationalize approaches based on efficiency not only to commercial transactions but also to the legal system writ large, including the tort law system and the criminal justice system.

Efficiency and efficient outcomes have a storied history dating back to Vilfredo Pareto, Ronald Coase, and even before that to Adam Smith. But the person who truly popularized the idea of efficiency was John Nash, who won the Nobel Prize for his work on noncooperative …

Penneast Pipeline And The Policy Implications Of The Private Use Of Eminent Domain, Emily C. Wood

Georgia Law Review

This Note considers the modern implications of the takings power in light of PennEast Pipeline Co. v. New Jersey, a 2021 U.S. Supreme Court decision holding that states do not have the right to exercise state sovereign immunity against private parties holding congressionally delegated authority. Against current environmental conditions and recent takings power history, this Note then examines the delegation power of Congress and the public policy implications of the present administrative scheme—as compared to the typical exercise of the federal eminent domain power. Finally, this Note argues that the current administrative scheme ultimately removes important decisions impacting local …

Balancing Comity And Sovereignty: The Diplomatic Dance Of Antisuit Injunctions Against Foreign Sovereigns, Sean W. O'Halloran

Georgia Law Review

With the advent of globalization, sovereign nations both facilitate and participate in international transactions with public and private entities. As disputes inevitably arise, foreign sovereigns have increasingly found themselves as parties in U.S. courts, and in so doing, have raised fundamental questions as to the extent of a U.S. court’s power over a foreign sovereign.

For almost as long as the United States has been in existence, the doctrines of international comity and foreign sovereign immunity have served as guiding principles for U.S. foreign policy. Additionally, U.S. courts have long exercised their power to issue foreign antisuit injunctions—a vital tool …

Pluralism In State Constitutional Law, Michael L. Smith

Georgia Law Review

Debates over constitutional interpretation rage on—with most parties staking out preferred theories, their justifications, and assertions of their utility in predicting, explaining, and critiquing court opinions. The United States Constitution and the Supreme Court take center stage, despite a rich set of cases and constitutions at the state level. At the same time, state constitutional discussions tend to steer clear of federal interpretive theorizing.

This article seeks to bridge the gap between these literatures, arguing that state constitutional interpretation practices demonstrate a pluralist approach that may inform broader theoretical debates. State courts frequently employ different methods—sometimes explicitly, sometimes implicitly—both across …

Annual Report, Fiscal Year 2025, Tennessee. Department Of Correction

Annual Reports

This document is the annual report for the Tennessee Department of Correction during the fiscal year.

Poison! An Africana Legal Studies Investigation Into Enslaved Africans And Their Deadly Roots, Angi Porter

Scholarly Articles in Law Reviews & Journals

This article is a murder investigation.

And a strange one, as the victims might be the suspects, and the suspects might be the victims. Or, even stranger, who we are calling the victims might be the enforcers of an entirely different justice system we did not initially see.

This is a cold case: we are investigating African people enslaved in the Province of Maryland during the eighteenth century. It is really a collection of cases—all cases of poisoning. These enslaved Africans were poisoning their enslavers. The incidents are described in legal records and newspapers. But what do these poisonings really …

Forward Progress: The Rooney Rule And Its Post-Sffa Relevance, N. Jeremi Duru

Scholarly Articles in Law Reviews & Journals

In 2003, the National Football League (NFL), which had long struggled with racial inequity both on and off the field, implemented a policy known as the Rooney Rule, requiring that any league club searching for a head coach interview at least one person of color before making a hire. In the over two decades since, employers of all sorts seeking to increase opportunities for people of color and women have adopted a form of the Rule. Indeed, it has gained traction from coast to coast. Hundreds of American employers utilize the Rooney Rule or a policy derived therefrom. In the …

What Is Copywritable In Software?, Charles Duan

Scholarly Articles in Law Reviews & Journals

No abstract provided.

Criminalizing Ecocide: An Opportunity To Embed The Inseparability Of Humans From Nature Into The Law, Rebecca Hamilton

Scholarly Articles in Law Reviews & Journals

Amid widespread acknowledgment that we live on a planet in peril, the term “ecocide” packs a powerful rhetorical punch. Extant regulatory approaches to environmental protection feel insufficient in the face of the triple threat of climate change, pollution, and biodiversity loss. International criminal prosecution for ecocide, by contrast, promises to meet the moment, and a recent proposal to introduce ecocide into the canon of core international crimes is gaining traction. Assuming the push to criminalize ecocide continues to gain momentum, this Article argues that the primary (and perhaps, sole) benefit that international criminal law can offer in this context is …

Asian Pacific Investments In Latin America: A Corporate And Tax Perspective, Nicolás Muñiz

Penn State Journal of Law & International Affairs (2012 - Present)

No abstract provided.

Activist Directors: The Evolution Of Hedge Fund Activism In The S&P 500, Anna Christie

Connecticut Law Review

The prevailing rhetoric associated with hedge fund activism is almost universally negative. This Article provides new evidence of activist hedge fund behavior that contradicts this dominant narrative. The principal argument of the Article is that the conventional picture of hedge fund activism requires updating to account for the phenomenon of activist board representation.

This Article makes two general contributions to academic and policy debates on hedge fund activism. First, it analyzes original, hand-collected data on all activist hedge fund campaigns at S&P 500 companies from 2010 to 2019. Currently, there is continued reliance on empirical studies of hedge fund activism …

Un-Fathering The Constitution, Lorianne Updike Toler

Connecticut Law Review

Constitutional law turns on Madison’s vision. This because Madison is universally acclaimed by the Supreme Court and legal academe as the Constitution’s father. However, Madison’s constitutional parentage sounds more in lore than logic.

A careful review of recent historiography, Madison’s own writings, and new analytics tools available on the Quill Project reveal Madison as much less important to the Constitution than previously thought. He did not bring about the Convention, did not write the Virginia Plan, and was not that influential at the Constitutional Convention. Immediately after the Convention, Madison considered himself and the Constitution a failure, and disclaimed any …

Scènes À Faire: Cliché As Legislative Fact, Sarah Louise Bishop

Connecticut Law Review

In the last ten years, federal courts have quietly begun to apply copyright’s scènes à faire doctrine to dismiss infringement claims before party discovery has occurred. This move theoretically should not be possible, because applying the doctrine requires evidence of the conventions and tropes of the artistic genres at issue—something unlikely to be reflected in the parties’ pleadings.

This Article identifies this trend and explores the workarounds district courts use to achieve these dismissals without a factual record before them. The most common methods courts use are inconsistent with both the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure and Evidence and risk …

A Restorative Justice Alternative For Trafficking Survivors: The Need For A Collaborative Approach In Establishing A Pilot Program Addressing Survivor-Articulated Needs, Stephanie Richard, Suzanne S. La Pierre

Connecticut Law Review

Human trafficking survivors not only suffer physical and psychological harm during the commission of the crimes against them, but also are often further harmed through forced involvement in the criminal justice system. With the current focus on apprehending and punishing perpetrators as the primary tool promoted in the United States to prevent trafficking, survivors forced to be witnesses against their perpetrators lose their self-determination in ways replicating the abusive patterns of their traffickers. To aid investigation and prosecution of traffickers, they are required to provide testimony reliving their experiences. Forced testimony is also often the only option available for avoiding …

Generative Artificial Intelligence: Legal Ethics Issues, Kincaid Brown

Law Librarian Scholarship

Generative artificial intelligence (GenAI) is transforming nearly every sector of society including the practice of law. Legal professionals are increasingly using AI tools for research, drafting, contract review, and even predicting judicial outcomes with as many as one third of respondents to a survey using GenAI daily. But with this rapid adoption come questions that go beyond efficiency and instead point to the core of legal ethics including issues such as competence, confidentiality, and professional judgment.

Antitrust In The Health Care Sector, Doug Ross

Chapters in Books

This chapter is an opportunity for students to apply the concepts addressed elsewhere in the book, but at a deeper level and in the context of a sector that accounts for a very large share of antitrust activity on the part of government enforcers and private plaintiffs. The topics chosen illustrate some of the nuances in applying antitrust law in the real world and show how the application of antitrust principles has evolved over time. The chapter also raises important policy questions regarding how to apply antitrust to a sector that is rife with market failures, including what tools and …

The Tenth Anniversary Of Marriage Equality: How Traditional Marriage Law Led To Constitutional Protection For Same-Sex Marriage, Joanna L. Grossman

Faculty Journal Articles and Book Chapters

This essay explores how the history of interstate marriage recognition law was central to the Supreme Court’s recognition of constitutional protection for the right of same-sex couples to marry. Prior to the 1990s, there were essentially no laws on same-sex marriage in the United States. That changed in the 1990s, when the Hawaii Supreme Court issued a ruling in Baehr v. Lewin that made authorization of same-sex marriage seem inevitable in that state. The threat fueled the adoption first of the federal Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA) in 1996 and then mini-DOMAs in most states. Those laws were broad and …

Critical Curriculum Design: Teaching Law In An Age Of Rising Authoritarianism, Rachel López

Minnesota Law Review Headnotes, Vols. 107 onward (2022-present)

No abstract provided.

Commodification, Precarity, And Identity: A Review Of Professor Bridget Crawford’S Taxing Sugar Babies, Tessa Davis

Minnesota Law Review Headnotes, Vols. 107 onward (2022-present)

No abstract provided.

The Liminality Of Transactional Relationships, Victoria J. Haneman

Minnesota Law Review Headnotes, Vols. 107 onward (2022-present)

No abstract provided.