Law Commons^™

Collegiate Nil Collectives: Context, Structure, And Future, Matthew T. Bodie, Esdras D. Camacho

Articles

Since its inception, the NCAA has championed the principle of amateurism in college sports-the idea that collegiate athletes may not receive monetary compensation for their athletic performance. In its 2021 decision in National Collegiate Athletic Association v. Alston, however, the Supreme Court found the NCAA had violated antitrust law with its restrictions on certain benefits provided to athletes. With the possibility of much greater liability to follow, the NCAA soon thereafter enacted a radical departure from past practice, enabling athletes to profit from their names, images, and likenesses ("NIL") while maintaining their amateur status. There were important limitations on this …

Free Speech And Incorporation: A Reassessment, Ilan Wurman

Articles

Many of the Supreme Court’s most controversial free speech decisions involve state laws. In Gitlow v. New York, the Court assumed that the First Amendment’s guarantee of freedom of speech applied directly against the states via the Fourteenth Amendment, a doctrine today referred to as incorporation. Yet there is reason to doubt incorporation is correct as a matter of the original meaning of the Fourteenth Amendment. Indeed, much of the historical evidence involves debates over the freedom of speech, but none of the historical actors seemed to think the First Amendment applied against the states. This short essay evaluates the …

Reclaiming The Genius Of A Free State, Tennessee's Forgotten Anti-Monopolies Clause, Braden H. Boucek

Belmont Law Review

This article argues that Tennessee’s Anti-Monopolies Clause—enshrined in Article I, Section 22 of the Tennessee Constitution since 1796—has been systematically underenforced and misconstrued by Tennessee courts. Although the constitutional text unequivocally provides that “monopolies are contrary to the genius of a free State and shall not be allowed,” judicial interpretation has diluted this categorical prohibition by importing deferential federal rational basis review and engaging in “lockstepping” with federal substantive due process doctrine. The author contends that this approach is doctrinally unsound because the U.S. Constitution contains no analogous anti-monopoly provision, rendering federal precedent inapposite. Through historical analysis grounded in originalist …

Regulating Artificial Elections, Courtney A. Barclay

Belmont Law Review

This Article examines the growing role of artificial intelligence in shaping modern election discourse and the resulting tensions with First Amendment doctrine. Focusing on generative AI, deepfakes, chatbots, and synthetic media, the Article evaluates whether existing campaign finance laws—particularly disclosure and disclaimer requirements—adequately address AI-driven distortions in the electoral marketplace of ideas. Surveying the Federal Election Commission’s 2024 interpretive rule on fraudulent misrepresentation, emerging state legislation regulating synthetic media, and proposed federal reforms, the Article argues that current legal frameworks are both constitutionally constrained and practically insufficient. Drawing on the AdChoices model from data privacy regulation, it proposes a hybrid …

Pure Imagination: A World Of Agentive Ai And Anti-Adhesion Contracting, Jeff Lingwall, Steven Hyde

Belmont Law Review

Jeff Lingwall and Steven J. Hyde’s Pure Imagination: A World of Agentive AI and Anti-Adhesion Contracting examines the transformative—and destabilizing—effects of large language models (LLMs) on contract law. The Article situates LLM-mediated contracting within the historical evolution of contractual formalities, arguing that agentive AI introduces a new phase in which negotiation, offer, acceptance, performance, and even litigation may be conducted without meaningful human mediation. The authors develop a model of legal risk that increases as LLMs shift from human-reviewed drafting tools to autonomous agents purporting to negotiate or bind parties. They then explore the possibility of “anti-adhesive” mass-bespoke contracts, in …

Harvesting Humans, Joanmarie Ilaria Davoli

Belmont Law Review

This Article examines allegations of systematic forced organ harvesting by the People’s Republic of China and argues that existing U.S. federal criminal law provides an underutilized mechanism to deter American participation in that industry. Tracing the historical development of China’s transplant system—from the use of executed prisoners to the alleged targeting of prisoners of conscience, including Falun Gong practitioners and Uyghurs—the Article situates organ procurement practices within broader human rights and genocide concerns. It contends that despite congressional hearings, resolutions, and proposed sanctions, meaningful deterrence has been limited. The Article advances a novel enforcement theory: prosecution of U.S. persons under …

But-For Or Not But-For, The Question Is Answered, Samuel Rawlings Barnett Jr.

Belmont Law Review

In But-For or Not But-For, the Question Is Answered, Samuel Rawlings Barnett Jr. examines the ongoing federal circuit split regarding the appropriate causation standard for retaliation claims under the Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA). While some circuits apply a “motivating factor” standard, others require plaintiffs to prove “but-for” causation. The Note situates this division within the Supreme Court’s broader shift in employment discrimination jurisprudence from the mixed-motive framework of Price Waterhouse v. Hopkins to the stricter “but-for” standard articulated in Gross, Nassar, and Comcast. Through close statutory analysis of 29 U.S.C. § 2615(a)(1) and § …

Coerced Into Confession: Prosecutorial Pressure And The Misuse Of Plea Bargaining, Molly Mceachern

Belmont Law Review

This Note examines the coercive dynamics embedded in modern plea bargaining and argues that prosecutors’ reliance on conviction rates as a primary measure of success distorts the administration of justice. Tracing the historical evolution of plea bargaining from early English common law skepticism to its constitutional legitimization in Brady v. United States, the article demonstrates how plea bargaining has shifted from a pragmatic case-management tool to a dominant and often coercive mechanism of criminal adjudication,

The First Thing We Do Is Kill All The Lawsuits, Kenneth S. Klein

Faculty Scholarship

As insurance premiums spike across the Nation, insurers are (yet again) pointing the finger at lawyers and lawsuits as an explanation. This Article offers new and important data on whether, in fact, currently there is a crisis of litigation in the United States. Neither the assertion of a litigation crisis, nor legislatures adopting systemic reform in response to the perception of one, is anything new. For almost two hundred years, there have been recurring cycles of complaints about lawyers, lawsuits, and their impact on society. Yet each time independent researchers have looked at the assertion, they have found the data …

Volume 49 (2025), Canada-United States Law Journal

Canada-United States Law Journal

No abstract provided.

Conference Speakers, Canada-United States Law Journal

Canada-United States Law Journal

Proceedings…48th CUSLI annual conferrence

Closing Remarks, Chios Carmody

Canada-United States Law Journal

No abstract provided.

Welcome And Opening Remarks, Amb. Mark Green, Stephen Petras

Canada-United States Law Journal

No abstract provided.

Panel I: Intellectual Property, Copyright, And Ai, Stephen D. Burns, Jamie Simpson, Heather West, Stephen Paille

Canada-United States Law Journal

No abstract provided.

Panel Ii: Disinformation, Deepfakes, And The Law, Rachel Freedman Lyngaas, Michael Cass-Antony

Canada-United States Law Journal

No abstract provided.

Medicare Mandates For Shared Decision Making With Patient Decision Aids: Linking Payment To Preference, Thaddeus Pope

Faculty Scholarship

Since 2015, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) has increasingly required shared decision making with evidence-based patient decision aids as an essential Medicare condition for payment. CMS is doing this because it recognizes that most healthcare is preference sensitive and value laden. So, whether treatment is “right” or “beneficial” for a patient is not only a matter of clinical expertise. It equally depends on the patient’s values, preferences, and goals. So, CMS wants to ensure that patients understand the risks, benefits, and alternatives to the healthcare that they receive and for which CMS pays. In short, under its …

The New Inquiry Notice: Lessons From E-Commerce, Richard F. Storrow

Oklahoma Law Review

No abstract provided.

Fined And Frustrated: Unpacking Title Iv And Clery Act Compliance, Douglas-Ann Smith

Oklahoma Law Review

No abstract provided.

Exposed! Students’ Personal Reproductive Healthcare Information, Janet Koven Levit

Oklahoma Law Review

No abstract provided.

2025 Shepard Broad College Of Law Admissions Viewbook, Nova Southeastern University

Shepard Broad College of Law Viewbook

No abstract provided.

Donor Standing To Enforce Charitable Gifts In The 21st Century, Nancy Mclaughlin

Utah Law Faculty Scholarship

This Article outlines the current state of the law regarding donor standing, which illustrates two realities. First, there is an increasing lack of coherence in the law, which has negative consequences, including that the same charitable gift may now be subject to different donor-standing rules depending on completely arbitrary factors. Second, the trend is in favor of granting donors and certain others standing, although this trend is occurring in a haphazard way. This Article also discusses the various factors that led the law of donor standing down this path. Among other things, there has been a gradual normalization of the …

The Supreme Court’S 2024–2025 Term: Eroding Public Health, Health Equity, And Access To Justice, Daniel G. Aaron, Wendy E. Parmet

Utah Law Faculty Scholarship

In this moment, the public health community can no longer afford the luxury of staying outside the arenas of politics and law. They must research empirically the impact of judicial decisions on health, treating the court’s decrees as a social determinant of health. They must also educate lawmakers on the impact of court decisions on people and patients, partner with policy and legal experts to inform the public about the important role that courts play in determining the health of individuals and communities, and attempt to combat the misinformation that muddles popular understandings of public health. Should we remain silent, …

No Remedy For Colonization, Sigrid Vendrell-Polanco

Faculty Articles

The United States purports to maintain a democratic relationship with its inhabited territories, yet the Supreme Court continues to uphold twentieth century laws that affirm rather than abrogate colonial policies. The gap between how the United States idealizes democracy and its real world application, especially in its five colonized territories (Puerto Rico, American Samoa, Guam, the Northern Mariana Islands, the United States Virgin Islands, and American Samoa), is not just growing—it is becoming a chasm. These colonies are currently referred to as United States territories. In 2023, the U.S. territory of Puerto Rico experienced a controversial sovereignty challenge surrounding the …

Checks And Balances: A Fallacy In U.S. Territorial Governance, Sigrid Vendrell-Polanco

Faculty Articles

By envisioning the checks and balances system, the drafters of the U.S. Constitution aimed to ensure a balanced distribution of power among the federal government's branches-an admirable undertaking by the early leaders of this nation's government. However, few have analyzed the application of the checks and balances system as applied to the colonies, which the United States has collectively held since the late 1800s. This Article offers a compelling exploration of the United States' foundational system of governance through the lens of its territories. At the heart of the American democratic experiment lies a complex architecture of checks and balances, …

A Seventh Amendment Remedy For Housing Instability, Gregory Zlotnick

Faculty Articles

After the 2023-2024 Supreme Court term, housing advocates despaired over the expected, yet still unwelcome, decision in City of Grants Pass v. Johnson. While focusing on this case is understandable, this Article suggests that scholars, policymakers, and advocates should train their focus on another, perhaps less expected case from the previous Supreme Court term: SEC v. Jarkesy.

In Jarkesy, the Court affirmed a defendant's constitutional right to a jury trial in an administrative proceeding that sought to enforce a right similar to one found at common law. The Court's capacious interpretation of the Seventh Amendment in Jarkesy has implications for …

Misaligned: An Update On Trends In Data Privacy Laws And Their Effect On Individuals, Jena Martin, Erin Kelley

Faculty Articles

In 2021, a data privacy white paper was published with the support of the Center of Consumer Law and Education-a joint initiative with West Virginia University and Marshall University. That paper provided a comprehensive overview of data privacy around the country (and indeed, a look around the world) and discussed various ways that consumers engage with data and data privacy issues-while focusing on West Virginia and the issues that the state's residents face. Specifically, the paper provided the results of a survey of West Virginians and a set of focus groups held to discern what consumers in the state consider …

Profiteers Of Death, Match Dawson

Faculty Articles

Brazenly operating within the illicit world of stranger-owned life insurance (“STOLI”), unscrupulous investors and colluding life insurance agents unapologetically engage in a calculated dance of fraud and deceit. With the skill of seasoned con artists, these “Profiteers of Death” prey upon the unsuspecting elderly community, strategically targeting senior assisted living facilities by dangling the golden carrot of easy money in exchange for unwittingly selling away their insurability for little more than copper pennies. Standing idle like salivating vultures, the Profiteers of Death make a mockery of legislative attempts to curb the illegitimate secondary market, perfectly exploiting regulatory deficiencies as they …

Foreword, Patricia B. Barnett

Journal of Race, Gender, and Ethnicity

No abstract provided.

How Climate Change And Environmental Policies Affect Impoverished Communities, Nicole Skala

Journal of Race, Gender, and Ethnicity

Climate change is a global problem that affects everyone, but not proportionately. Lower income communities face greater physical and economic impacts, and policies often fail to consider their needs. These communities struggle to adapt and recover from disasters due to limited resources, and they lack access to resilient housing. Major corporations like Exxon and Shell profit while their workers are underpaid for dangerous labor. Historically, regions like rural Appalachia have seen exploitation through industries like coal. People of Color (POC) communities experience environmental racism, suffering greater environmental harm due to systemic neglect. Increasing commodity costs can hurt lower income individuals, …

Looking Beyond The Blue: Exploring The Experiences Of Black Female Police Officers During Training, Stephanie M. Almodovar

West Chester University Doctoral Projects

This study employed a basic qualitative approach to explore the experiences of Black cisgender female police officers during the field-training segment of their police academy experience. Individual interviews were conducted using semi-structured questions to gain insight into how these officers interpreted and made sense of their experiences. The sample consisted of five Black female officers employed at accredited law enforcement agencies in the United States who had completed field training within the past decade. Data was collected through interviews and a demographic questionnaire. The interviews were transcribed and analyzed using both inductive and deductive coding. Four key themes emerged from …