Law Commons^™

Greening Monetary Policy: To Expand Or Restrain? The Legal And Normative Implications Of The Federal Reserve Combating Climate Change, Jason D. D'Andrea

Buffalo Environmental Law Journal

The U.S. Federal Reserve is increasingly at the center of political and scholarly debates concerning how to address climate change. This new pressure comes as other central banks have recently considered an array of regulatory, supervisory, and monetary policy tools to mitigate climate change. Yet, in contrast to some of its global counterparts, the Federal Reserve has been more tailored in its response.

The desire to proactively combat climate change with central bank tools has generated a spectrum of policy designs and legal wrangling. Focusing on the Federal Reserve’s monetary policy mandate, this Article undertakes a comprehensive analysis of the …

Federal Common Law Stare Decisis And The Doctrine Of Equitable Apportionment, Eric P. Leis

Buffalo Environmental Law Journal

United States Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas erred in his concurrence to Gamble v. United States when he derived his “demonstrably erroneous” standard of stare decisis because he overlooked a significant portion of federal law: federal common law. In Gamble, Justice Thomas argued for a weak standard of stare decisis under which the Supreme Court would overrule any “demonstrably erroneous” precedent that is contrary to our written laws, regulations, and Constitution. This standard may be functional when applying positive law, but it simply cannot be maintained when confronted with matters of federal common law. Were Justice Thomas’ “demonstrably erroneous” standard …

Pesticide-Coated Seeds: How The Treated Articles Exemption Circumvents Regulation And Harms The Environment, Scott Hudson

Buffalo Environmental Law Journal

Pesticide-coated seeds dominate the seed market for a wide range of crops, making them the primary means of delivering pesticides to many agricultural plants. Scientific research has revealed increasingly adverse effects from pesticide-coated seeds, including contamination of native plants, surface waters and groundwater, as well as causing the death of non-targeted insects and birds. Evidence also shows that pesticides from the seeds migrates to drinking water supplies and potentially imperils human health. Yet pesticide-coated seeds are not regulated by the United States Environmental Protection Agency due to a little-known exemption called the Treated Articles Exemption. This Article argues that EPA’s …

Sovereign Immunity & Punitive Fines Under The Clean Air Act: Common-Sense Statutory Interpretation & Clean Policy, Emily C. Thompson

Buffalo Environmental Law Journal

No abstract provided.

Brnovich: Extratextual Textualism, Maureen A. Edobor

Scholarly Articles

This Article provides a comprehensive analysis of Brnovich v. Democratic National Convention, which purports to create a new standard for Section 2 claims under the Voting Rights Act, by situating the critique in the ratifying-era history and original intentions of the VRA’s constitutional counterpart, the Fifteenth Amendment. Brnovich is necessarily examined through a historical and political framework, identifying throughlines from the Reconstruction Era original intentions for the Fifteenth Amendment, distilled from Congressional debates, the VRA’s initially expansive Supreme Court interpretation in South Carolina v. Katzenbach, and Congress’ Section 2 amendments in 1982, rebuking the Court’s attempts to erode the legal …

Book Review, Her Honor: Stories Of Challenge And Triumph From Women Judges By Lauren S. Rikleen (2024), Ashley Evans

Library Scholarship

In an inspiring collection of stories, Her Honor: Stories of Challenge and Triumph from Women Judges takes readers on a journey into the lives and experiences of 25 female judges. These distinguished women are all recipients of the American Bar Association’s Margaret Brent Award, an honor bestowed upon women who achieve professional excellence and serve as inspirations in the legal field. The collection of narratives in this book shines a light on the exceptional lives, hardships, and accomplishments of these exceptional women, leaving readers feeling empowered and motivated.

What Does It Mean To Be An Ethical Lawyer? The Importance Of Context, Lynn Mather, Leslie C. Levin

Bibliography of Research Using UMLS Alumni Survey Data

Although the entire legal profession shares a single ethical code, lawyers’ understanding of what it means to be “ethical” shows considerable variation. This article discusses the factors that shape lawyers’ ethical conduct in practice. We review the role of legal education, bar associations, the workplace, and hard and soft regulators in the construction of lawyers’ ethical values. We then explore the important role that practice contexts play in shaping lawyers’ understanding of appropriate ethical conduct. Some of the key explanatory factors for differences among lawyers include type of client, office size, specialty and specialization, regulators, and the extent to which …

Spilling The Beans On Trade Dress: Whether Trade Dress Protection Gives Rise To Liability Under A Section 32 Claim On Trademark Infringement, Dahna S. Kazemyan

UIC Review of Intellectual Property Law

No abstract provided.

The Cost Of Compensation: A Novel Licensing Platform For Digital Content Poses Unique Compromise For Artists And Generative Ai Developers, Liberty R. Smith

UIC Review of Intellectual Property Law

No abstract provided.

The Future Of Law In An Era Of Artificial Intelligence Symposium Theme

St. Thomas Law Review

On February 9, 2024, the St. Thomas Law Review held its Symposium "The Future of Law in an Era of Artificial Intelligence" at the St. Thomas University Gus Machado Auditorium. The Symposium committee consisted of Daniel Borges (Articles Solicitation Editor), Lorena Gonzalez (Alumni Relations and Events Editor), and Melissa Betancourt (Editor-in-Chief). The event had a collective attendance of over 150 students and professionals. This Symposium stood as a testament to our Law Review's commitment to staying at the forefront of legal scholarship and engaging in conversations that shape the future of our professions. The intersection of artificial intelligence and the …

A Federal Right Of Publicity To Navigate The Wild West Of Generative Ai Content, Sara Asher

St. Thomas Law Review

This Comment analyzes how generative Al content must be limited by the right of publicity and how such a right should be federally protected." Part II, Section A, discusses the history of federal copyright law in relation to state publicity laws. Part II, Section B, discusses the current circuit split regarding copyright preemption and advocates against preemption to allow for a federal right of publicity. Part UI, Section A, discusses the advantages of using generative Al as a tool. Part m, Section B, discusses the current legal implications of generative Al content. Part m, Section C, discusses First Amendment considerations …

Brain-Computer Interfaces And Bioethical Implications On Society: Friend Or Foe?, Blake Landis

St. Thomas Law Review

As a child in the 1990s, I was captivated by the rapid evolution of technology. I recall the days of recording my favorite TV show on a VCR and inserting a cassette into my Walkman to enjoy music. Today, recording a favorite show is as simple as clicking a button on a DVR or using remote voice control. Similarly, I can listen to any song with a few taps on my smartphone. This technological progress brings to mind the story of Frankenstein, in which a young scientist, Victor Frankenstein, becomes obsessed with creating life. He succeeds in creating a humanoid …

Front Matter

St. Thomas Law Review

Front Matter includes Masthead, advisors, and Table of Contents for St. Thomas Law Review Volume 37, Issue 1, Fall 2024.

Crafting New Boundaries: Model Legislation To Address The New-Real Threat Of Virtual Child Pornography Without Running Afoul Of Ashcroft V. Free Speech Coalition, Abbey Marzen

St. Thomas Law Review

In 2002, the United States Supreme Court held in Ashcroft v. Speech Coalition that virtual child pornography is protected speech under the First Amendment. While the threat of virtual child pornography may not have been pressing when this case was decided, we are now feeling the far-reaching effects of the Court's decision in Ashcroft, especially in the era of generative artificial intelligence ("Gen Al"). Gen Al has created a portal for child predators to easily create virtual child pornography. Despite several attempts to pass legislation prohibiting the possession and creation of virtual child pornography, many state courts have struck down …

The Role Of Intuitive Reasoning In Lawyering And Legal Education, N. E. Millar

St. Thomas Law Review

Intuition-a process of "rapid cognition" that offers foresight and helps with creative problem-solving-is a powerful tool that lawyers can use to inform strategic decisions, avoid ethical pitfalls, enhance communication, and increase career satisfaction. However, many law students come to law school after decades of being taught to trust only external sources-such as data and authority figures-and out of touch with their internal, intuitive resources. Law schools exacerbate this disconnect by prioritizing grades, awards, rankings, prestigious jobs, and other external sources of satisfaction and meaning. Indeed, the study of law is primarily the study of external sources of guidance, such as …

Respecting An Establishment Of Religion: A Look At The Establishment Clause And The Accommodation Approach, Kendal Zylstra

St. Thomas Law Review

An often-litigated portion ofthe First Amendment, conversations surrounding the Establishment Clause remain as vibrant as they were centuries ago. The Establishment Clause restricts the government from establishing a state-sponsored religion, but it goes much further than that. But how far does it go? Some argue that the American people should be free from religion, while others argue the government should neutralize the playing field when it comes to religion in the public sphere. Still others advocate for a more "accommodating" approach that acknowledges that one cannot leave their religion at the door, advocates for the free exercise of religion, and …

The Guided Sequence For Formation Of Professional Identity, David I. C. Thomson

Sturm College of Law: Faculty Scholarship

When the ABA approved a requirement that law schools offer opportunities for the formation of professional identity, there were already several courses on the topic that had been developed in numerous law schools. But those are limited to the students who take them, and do not - even taken together - fulfill the ABA rule. Instead of trying to teach a course on professional identity—as if that were teachable in the didactic sense—we should instead create exercises (or modules if you prefer) in which students may practice making these decisions. We must do that in virtually every course a student …

Comparative Study Of Bystander Liability In The U.S. & The Iranian Legal Systems, Abbas Mirshekari, Zahra Takhshid, Mona Abdi

Sturm College of Law: Faculty Scholarship

Imagine that A has witnessed an incident in which B injures or kills C. It is undoubtedly painful to witness, but does it also follow that one can recover damages for suffering emotional distress as the result of witnessing the accident? The recognition of the tort of negligent infliction of emotional harm, also known as NIED, has been one of the ways that tort law has attempted to provide a remedy for the emotionally injured. Nevertheless, the relatively new tort has raised many questions. In the U.S. legal system, different criteria have been proposed over the years to allow for …

Good Work: Developing A Flourishing-Based Account, Paul Blaschko, Claire Murphy

Notre Dame Journal of Law, Ethics & Public Policy

No abstract provided.

Dobbs V. Employee Benefits: Major Questions Left After The Landmark Decision, Brendan Mohan

Akron Law Student Publications

The Supreme Court’s decision in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization overturned nearly fifty years of precedent established in Roe v. Wade, shifting the power to regulate abortion laws from the federal government to individual states. This seismic legal shift has raised significant questions about the intersection of state abortion laws and employee benefits, particularly for companies that offer abortion-related benefits through employer-sponsored health plans. The Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974 (ERISA) contains express and implied preemption provisions that have historically shielded employee benefit plans from conflicting state regulations. However, the extent to which ERISA can be used …

Critical Minerals -- Securing A Reliable Supply, Mario Limoges, Christopher Sands, Jeff Labonte, Russell Singer, Jocylen Douheret

Canada-United States Law Journal

No abstract provided.

Second Amendment Immigration Exceptionalism, Pratheepan Gulasekaram

Vanderbilt Law Review En Banc

No abstract provided.

Gendered Peace Through International Law, Louise Arimatsu, Christine M. Chinkin

Books

Two leading feminist lawyers reflect on gender in international law to set out what a gendered peace might look like and its impact on international law in this open access book.

In order to challenge orthodoxies, the book takes an unconventional approach, merging personal reflections, expert essays, and interviews. It throws the disciplinary net wide, drawing on international law, gender studies, international relations and history. The authors, undisputed global leaders in the field, challenge the reader to unlearn international law, in order to relearn it in a way that makes it more fit for purpose in the contemporary world. This …

The Theories Of Corporate Pershonhood And Their Three False Choices: Developing A Framework For Corporate Rights, Katharine Jackson

Faculty Articles and Other Publications

Scholars often use the theories of corporate personhood—aggregation theory, concession theory, and real entity theory—to justify corporate rights through analogy. That is, theories of corporate personhood attempt to explain what rights corporations ought to have based on what kind of person the corporation is like. If corporations are like individual human beings, then corporations should enjoy all the same rights that human beings do. If corporations are like states, then corporations should owe the same obligations that a state owes its citizens. Of course, many scholars have addressed the weaknesses of this kind of analogical reasoning. As Dewey argued long …

Public And Private Fiduciaries: Representation In States, Corporations, Trusts And Agents, Katharine Jackson

Faculty Articles and Other Publications

Over the past decade, political and legal theorists began conscripting private fiduciary law to delimit and define the duties of public officials. While enlisting additional legal prophylactics against arbitrary government may have appeared especially appealing during a Trump administration characterized by corruption and racism, this Article argues that straightforwardly applying fiduciary doctrine to political office is risky business. While scholars rightly point out the long, cross-pollinated history of the law of public and private trust, and while they recognize that rules against self-dealing fiduciaries apply equally well to both public and private officials, they occlude an important conceptual difference between …

Dignity Deferred: Supriyo V. Union Of India And Lgbtq Rights, Ryan Thoreson

Faculty Articles and Other Publications

In Supriyo v. Union of India, a five-judge bench of the Supreme Court declined to find that same-sex couples have a right to marry under India’s Constitution. The various opinions in the case repeatedly recognised and affirmed the dignity of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer (LGBTQ) people, but ultimately found that exclusion from civil marriage did not run afoul of constitutional guarantees. In this Essay, I examine the limited understanding of dignity employed by the bench in Supriyo, juxtaposing this with both domestic and comparative LGBTQ rights decisions that embraced a more substantive understanding of dignity. I argue that …

Behind Bars: An Analysis Of The Incarceration Of Black Americans, Tommy A. Valente

Tenor of Our Times

In this study, I attempt to explain the disproportionate incarceration rates which exist in the United States. The black American are incarcerated at a significantly higher rate than any other ethnic group in the country. I hypothesize single parent households and poor public education systems will have significant influences on incarceration rates. For this study I run an OLS regression and use data from all fifty states between 2019-2020. I use seven independent variables in this study: ACGR score, GDP per capita, unemployment rate, percent of births to unmarried women, homicide rate, population, and political party affiliation of a state. …

Copyright For Imitations: Looking At The Registered Design Book Of William Stirling & Sons, Isabel Monseau

Textile Society of America: Symposium Proceedings

The design and production of printed cotton in the United Kingdom underwent great changes through the nineteenth century. However as the industry grew, many manufacturers became concerned about a perceived decline in the quality of textile design. An attempt made to regulate this industry, the Copyright of Design Act of 1842, proposed to improve the quality of British production by enabling designers and proprietors to register their textile designs and thus prohibit other firms from pirating those original designs.

Yet imitations were crucial to the development and success of Britain’s cotton printing industry. By the 1870s, up to 60% of …

It Takes A Thief…. And A Bank: Protecting Consumers From Fraud And Scams On P2p Payment Platforms, Cathy Lesser Mansfield

University of Michigan Journal of Law Reform

This Article proposes statutory and regulatory changes to the Electronic Fund Transfer Act; Regulation E; and the Bank Secrecy Act/Anti-Money Laundering regulations to protect consumers who use instant payment platforms in the United States (such as Zelle and Venmo) from scam artists and fraudsters. After discussing current fraud scams on these payment platforms, the Article discusses the history and context of the 1978 Electronic Fund Transfer Act and Regulation E, and the definition of unauthorized payments and payments made in error therein. The second part of this Article explores changes to the Bank Secrecy Act/Anti-Money Laundering regulations that might make …

Reimagining The Deduction For Employee Compensation, Daniel Schaffa

University of Michigan Journal of Law Reform

U.S. businesses pay trillions of dollars in employee compensation, a substantial fraction of which is deductible for tax purposes. This deduction reduces the taxable income of businesses, ultimately lowering business tax burdens by hundreds of billions of dollars. With a few exceptions, the tax code confers the same deduction to a business for every dollar of employee compensation, regardless of whether that compensation goes to an employee earning millions or an employee earning minimum wage. This is consistent with a pure Haig-Simons income tax, under which any business expense incurred ought to be deductible dollar-for-dollar. But many, if not most, …