Administrative Law Commons^™

Keynote Address: Community Over Constitution, Riddhi Mukhopadhyay

Seattle University Law Review

In this keynote address, Riddhi Mukhopadhyay challenges the veneration of the U.S. Constitution by highlighting its origins in exclusion and its continued failure to protect marginalized communities. Drawing from her experience in civil legal aid and gender justice, she argues that the Constitution was drafted to consolidate power among white, wealthy men and continues to reflect that legacy through racial, gender, and class-based inequities. While acknowledging the significance of constitutional amendments and landmark cases, Mukhopadhyay emphasizes that meaningful change has always come from community-led action, not top-down reform. Additionally, Mukhopadhyay calls on lawyers and legal advocates to center community, practice …

The Lost Child: A Critique On Transracial Adoption Rhetoric, Hallie Conyers-Tucker

Seattle University Law Review

Transracial adoption in the United States reflects a deeply rooted history of colonialism, cultural assimilation, and racial hierarchy, masked by rhetoric focused on the “best interest of the child.” The author critiques that rhetoric and traces how adoption practices and policies, both domestic and international, have evolved to reinforce systemic inequities. Through historical analysis of the forced adoption of Native American, Black, and Asian children, it reveals how the best interest standard has been wielded not to protect children but to uphold political and racial ideologies. The author argues that the prevailing adoption framework relies on child-saving and color-blind narratives …

A Global Reconstruction: Black Internationalism And The Human Rights Regime, Britta Redwood

Seattle University Law Review

Black American advocates for civil, political, and economic rights have long taken an internationalist approach and fostered connections with international organizations and transnational movements. This engagement has also been a generative force and played role in shaping international law. Beginning in the early years of the twentieth century, Black intellectuals and leaders, spearheaded by the NAACP and the UNIA, focused on human rights as a means for addressing and repairing the harms wrought by slavery, Jim Crow, and racism. From the Paris Peace Conference of 1919 through the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the Genocide Convention, and the drafting of …

The Gap: Addressing The Missing Piece In HawaiʻI’S Anti-Discrimination Laws On Credit And Lending, Wendy Mun

Seattle University Law Review

This author addresses the significant gap in Hawaiʻi’s anti-discrimination laws, specifically the lack of explicit protections for LGBTQ+ individuals against credit and lending discrimination. Although federal laws like the Equal Credit Opportunity Act (ECOA) and recent interpretations by the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) extend some protections, they remain vulnerable to shifting federal priorities and interpretations. The author explores how other states, particularly California and Washington, have enacted robust statutory protections that clearly prohibit credit discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity. They argue that Hawaiʻi, despite its large LGBTQ+ population, must amend its credit protection laws to reflect …

The U.S. Drug Policy Hamster Wheel: A Critical Discourse Analysis Of Seattle’S New Drug Ordinance, Hallie Conyers-Tucker

Seattle University Law Review

The author critically examines Seattle’s new drug ordinance using Critical Discourse Analysis (CDA) to reveal how legislative language influences the policy's actual effect. Although the ordinance claims to prioritize diversion and community health, the use of permissive language such as “may” and “shall” grants broad discretionary power to law enforcement and undermines the stated intent. The author situates the ordinance within a broader historical context, highlighting how drug policy in the United States has consistently been shaped by racialized and stigmatizing narratives. Additionally, the author argues that meaningful reform requires reframing the discourse around substance use to support public health …

Something Concrete: How Labor Advocates Can Best Respond To The Ambiguity Of Glacier Northwest, Ateş Serifsoy

Seattle University Law Review

The Supreme Court’s much-anticipated decision in Glacier North-west, Inc. v. International Brotherhood of Teamsters Local No. 174 (Glacier) marked a critical moment for workers’ rights under the National Labor Relations Act (NLRA) and the longstanding practice of Garmon preemption. Yet, initial fears of a significant rollback of workers’ rights, driven by sensational headlines, were met with an unexpectedly narrow Court opinion. This Comment examines Glacier’s implications for Gar-mon preemption and the right to strike. It offers the historical background of the doctrine of labor law preemption before Glacier; presents a detailed analysis of Glacier itself, including its …

A New Exclusionary Rule To Protect Bodily Integrity And Discourage Pretext Stops, Josephine Ross

Seattle University Law Review

The author proposes a novel state-level exclusionary rule to reduce racial profiling and protect bodily autonomy during police encounters. The current Fourth Amendment jurisprudence fails to deter pretextual stops and frisks because the exclusionary rule often turns on officer fault and "good faith," allowing racially motivated practices to go unchecked. As federal rollbacks on diversity and data collection hinder efforts to track racial bias, the author argues for a statutory evidentiary rule that automatically excludes drug evidence found during (1) traffic stops, (2) pat-downs for weapons, and (3) consent searches, regardless of an officer’s intent or the legality of the …

Navahine V. HawaiʻI Dept. Of Transportation: The Keiki Will Lead Us, Catherine Smith

Seattle University Law Review

The author analyzes the landmark case Navahine v. Hawaiʻi Department of Transportation, which culminated in the world’s first constitutional climate settlement. Catherine Smith, serving as an expert for the youth plaintiffs, situates the case within Hawaiʻi’s legal tradition of prioritizing children’s rights and intergenerational equity. She explores the evolution of children’s constitutional protections, contrasting Hawaiʻi’s progressive jurisprudence with the dominant adult-centric legal framework on the mainland. She critiques four recurring analytical missteps in U.S. courts that marginalize children’s interests and highlights Hawaiʻi’s public trust doctrine and cultural values, such as the Aloha Spirit, as models for addressing climate-related harms. …

Constitutional Futurism As Pedagogy, Jeremiah Chin

Seattle University Law Review

Constitutional Law has transformed from a course on history to a discussion of current events. Cases like Students for Fair Admissions v. Harvard College, Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization, and Loper Bright Enterprises v. Raimondo reveal that the study of constitutional law is not a static, or even linear, discussion of constitutional text and history. Law is a shifting, changing enterprise that reflects social constructions of power, authority, and identity. How do we teach, learn, and understand constitutional law that is so laden with history, riddled with theories of consistency and adherence to precedent, but ultimately subject …

Editors And Staff Members

Public Land & Resources Law Review

No abstract provided.

Table Of Contents

Public Land & Resources Law Review

No abstract provided.

Letter From The Editors

Public Land & Resources Law Review

No abstract provided.

Property Clause Power Play: The Blm's Conservation Rule And Loper Bright, Meridian S. Wappett, Sandra B. Zellmer

Public Land & Resources Law Review

This article examines the implications of Loper Bright on public land management through rulemaking. Part II provides a comprehensive overview of the case, its holding, and its potential ramifications. Part III delves into the history of the Administrative Procedure Act (“APA”), to illuminate the evolution and underlying rationale for agency deference. Part IV analyzes the constitutional framework underpinning the BLM’s statutory authority, rooted primarily in the Property Clause, which delegates the task of making “needful” rules governing public lands to Congress and to federal land management agencies. Finally, Part V argues that the Rule is valid, whether a reviewing court …

A Most Essential Power: The Case For Restoring Comprehensive Land Use Authority In Indian Country, Michelle Bryan

Public Land & Resources Law Review

Part I of this article provides a brief overview of allotment and its lingering jurisdictional quagmire on impacted reservations. Stepping outside of Indian Country, Part II then outlines the U.S. Supreme Court’s longstanding recognition of sweeping, area-wide government land use authority—authority it considers among the “most essential” and “least limitable.” The Court has never applied this established law when determining tribal sovereignty over land use. That application is long overdue.

Part III details how we arrived at this state of affairs—how tribes, despite starting with sovereign control over land use throughout their territories, experienced losses in that authority over time …

Water Knows No Boundaries: Tribal Jurisdiction Over Non-Indians' Off-Reservation Conduct That Threatens On-Reservation Tribal Water Resources, Wesley J. Furlong, Lori E. Blumenthal

Public Land & Resources Law Review

This Article begins by discussing Manoomin and Sauk-Suiattle, orienting the reader to how these complicated jurisdictional issues have been addressed by Tribal courts. Next, this Article sets forth the current framework under Montana and Merrion for determining the extent of Tribal civil jurisdiction over non-Indians. Next, this Article examines the caselaw establishing Tribal Nations’ inherent sovereign authority to exercise civil jurisdiction over non-Indian activities and conduct occurring on-reservation that threaten or affect Tribal water resources and rights. Finally, this Article examines the caselaw that lays the groundwork for extending Tribal Nations’ civil jurisdiction over non-Indian activities and conduct occurring off-reservation …

Treaty Justice: Charles Wilkinson's Homage To The Boldt Decision, Michael C. Blumm

Public Land & Resources Law Review

Charles Wilkinson, a beloved teacher, author, and advisor, gave his readers perhaps his most personal gift in Treaty Justice: The Northwest Tribes, the Boldt Decision, and the Recognition of Fishing Rights (U. Washington Press, 2024). Wilkinson finished the manuscript just a week before his unexpected death, at age 81, in 2023. The book is a blend of personal memoirs of countless encounters of people involved in the seminal Boldt decision–which revolutionized treaty fishing rights– and its aftermath, and part of legal history by an analyst who was acutely sensitive to the vagaries of both law and history. We are fortunate …

Abandoning The Iron Horse: Railroad Rights-Of-Way And The Implied Doctrine Of Reverter On Indian Reservations, Arthur B. Macomber

Public Land & Resources Law Review

Land title issues on Indian Reservations are notoriously but unnecessarily complex. Unsettled land titles and the resulting fragile land ownership status on Indian Reservations are well-known factors impeding productive land uses, the cure of environmental degradation, and Indian sovereignty, ownership, and control over sustainable land uses. Some lawsuits even question the existence of a Reservation itself. Land titles to many parcels on Indian Reservations have been split into thousands of owners. Using existing law and principles of equity, abandoned Reservation rights-of-way of many types do not have to sit unused and economically unproductive. Future lawsuits and other wasteful societal friction …

Powering Progress: How Ferc Order 2023'S Cluster Study Process Aims To Revolutionize Grid Interconnection, Lowell J. Chandler

Public Land & Resources Law Review

This Article analyzes Order 2023’s cornerstone reform: the replacement of the traditional first-come, first-served serial queue process with a more sophisticated first-ready, first-served cluster study approach. The Article also provides a basic introduction to utility regulation in the United States. While Order 2023’s change promises to revolutionize grid interconnection, the Article also considers whether additional reforms may be necessary to fully realize FERC’s vision of an efficient, equitable interconnection process.

Protect The Clearwater V. Montana Department Of Environmental Quality, Gillian Ellison

Public Land & Resources Law Review

In Protect the Clearwater v. Montana Department of Environmental Quality, the Montana Supreme Court reinforced that injunctive relief provisions in the Montana Environmental Protection Act are the exclusive avenue for injunctive relief once a claim has been filed under MEPA. The Court clarified that parties may not separately seek preliminary injunctions under Montana’s general injunction statute when a MEPA action contesting the same permit is already pending.

Montana Trout Unlimited V. Montana Department Of Natural Resources, Kelly Brady

Public Land & Resources Law Review

A proposed copper mine located near tributaries of the highly protected Smith River in central Montana set off a series of lawsuits over the use of water in the state. After a number of administrative hearings and subsequent trials, the only substantial question left was the status of “mine dewatering.” The Montana Supreme Court decided whether 1,500,000 gallons of water removed annually from the inner workings of a mine should require a water use permit as a beneficial use or if it exists outside of the regulatory jurisdiction of the Montana Department of Natural Resources under the Montana Water Use …

Montana Environmental Information Center. V. Montana Department Of Public Service Regulation, Sadie Giles

Public Land & Resources Law Review

Montana Environmental Information Center v. Montana Department of Public Service Regulation provides insight into the discretion of the Public Service Commission and its impact on renewable energy development in Montana, especially in the wake of the repeal of the Renewable Power Production and Rural Economic Development Act. This case evaluates the Commission’s decisions to grant waivers to NorthWestern Energy for its 2015 and 2016 renewable energy purchase obligations under the Act. The Court found the Commission’s decisions were arbitrary and unsupported by substantial evidence and appropriate reasoning. Montana’s renewable portfolio standards had proven effective in promoting renewable energy and economic …

Tribal Sovereignty And The Limits Of Federal Evidence: Authenticating Indian Status In United States V. Harper, Anthony J. Shirey

Public Land & Resources Law Review

In United States v. Harper, the Tenth Circuit reversed a conviction for violent crimes committed in Indian Country because the government failed to provide admissible evidence proving that the defendant was an “Indian” under federal law. At first glance, the ruling appears to turn on a technical evidentiary issue concerning the exclusion of a tribal membership verification letter under the business records exception. Yet the case reveals something deeper: a jurisdictional framework that conditions the recognition of tribal identity on federal evidentiary norms, and in doing so, limits the functional sovereignty of tribal governments in federal courts. This Note seeks …

Friends Of The Inyo V. United States Forest Service, Sarah J. Leopard

Public Land & Resources Law Review

Friends of the Inyo v. United States Forest Service provides necessary guidance for categorical exclusion analysis under the National Environmental Policy Act. The Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals held that the United States Forest Service wrongfully construed NEPA as permissive of applying different categorical exclusions to various components of the same mining project until the project was excluded in its entirety from further environmental review. The Court’s holding establishes two essential rules for evaluating mining proposals on public lands: (1) a categorical exclusion, when applied under § 220.6, must cover the entire scope of a proposed project; and (2) the …

Montana Environmental Information Center V. Montana Department Of Environmental Quality, Alexis Karbowicz

Public Land & Resources Law Review

No abstract provided.

No Lawyer, No Jail: A Critical Case Study Of Pragmatism And The Flaws Of “Purposeful” Decision Making In Argersinger V. Hamlin, Alisa Smith, Sarah K. Stice

Seattle University Law Review

By releasing conference notes and internal communications, Supreme Court Justices provide insight into the otherwise private decisionmaking process, shedding light on how case outcomes and legal reasoning are framed and negotiated. The watershed case of Argersinger v. Hamlin (1972) extended the constitutional right to counsel to some, but not all, misdemeanor defendants. The case was argued twice, and the Court relied on empirical and authoritative sources to answer complex and practical questions about requiring counsel. This case study employs critical discourse analysis to uncover what influenced the Justices’ decisions and how they framed, shaped, and constructed social realities to foreground …

Volume 48 Masthead, Seattle University Law Review

Seattle University Law Review

Volume 48 Masthead

The Race To Erase: Destruction Of Government Documents Undermines Freedom-Of-Information Laws, Frank D. Lomonte

Seattle University Law Review

In August 2019, reporters with Chattanooga’s daily newspaper, the Times Free Press, filed what seemed to be a routine request for access to emails and other public records held by their local county government. The seemingly unremarkable request set the newspaper’s staff on a months-long journey of unpleasant surprises. The first was a demand to pay the county $717 in advance before being allowed to inspect the documents. The second was that—during prolonged haggling over the fee assessment— the county attorney’s office simply destroyed almost all of the disputed records. Third, and most glaringly, the journalists discovered that Tennessee law …

When You’Re Arrested For A Felony In Seattle, You’Ll Meet Me., Austin Field

Seattle University Law Review

In this Essay, Austin Field, a practicing public defender, uses a first-person perspective to describe what it is like to meet a criminal defendant for the first time. He explains the process from start to finish, detailing everything from the way he introduces himself to how bail works.

"I’ll ask you for your name. Most of the time, you tell me. I check your name against my list. On any given day I’m supposed to interview between five and fifteen people. I have a lot of questions for you. We only have about ten minutes."

The Public Square In A Private-Property Obsessed Country: What New York City’S Pops Regulations Get Right And Why Other Cities Should (Mostly) Copy Them, Carson Mcgregor

Seattle University Law Review

When New York City (NYC) was first becoming the metropolitan monolith it is today, it had a problem: the city streets were chock full of skyscrapers, and sunlight, air, and usable open space were at a premium. In response, the City promulgated its first Privately Owned Public Spaces (POPS) regulations, which allowed developers to build skyward in exchange for providing public space on the street level. Unfortunately, in July of 2023, the New York Times (NYT) discovered that New Yorkers received only a fraction of what they were promised. Building owners received billions of dollars’ worth of added floor space, …

Intellectual Property Or Modern Folklore? The Problem With Open Gaming Licenses In Tabletop Gaming, Rosie Midget

Seattle University Law Review

This Note addresses how courts and legislatures should address “Open Gaming Licenses” commonly attached to tabletop roleplaying games (TTRPGs), which game publishers use to promote a false image of accessibility—misleading consumers and building goodwill from the misunderstanding. Part I discusses what TTRPGs are, including the defining features of the hobby and culture surrounding it, as well as the unique interplay between publishers and players. Part II explores the question of which elements in a TTRPG system may be subject to copyright protection. Part III examines these elements in practice using Wizards of the Coast’s Dungeons and Dragons TTRPG as a …