Agriculture Law Commons^™

Caution: Potholes In E-Scooter Data Collection, Dakota Rakestraw

Seattle University Law Review

Lime scooters keep ending up in major waterways in Washington state metro areas, a testament to the ubiquity of e-scooters in the metropolitan landscape. How they get there is unclear. Why they get there is even murkier. Perhaps the answer lies in the implications of modern geolocation data collection through e-scooters and gaps in current data collection regulation curbing individual liberties.

Since September 2020, electric scooters have run Seattle’s streets and have dramatically overtaken ridesharing bike trips. For example, from September 2020 to September 2021, there were about 1.4 million scooter and bike trips with September 2021 seeing 300,000 scooter …

Machinists Preemption In The New Administrative Law, Andrew J. Ziaja

Seattle University Law Review

This Article assesses Machinists preemption—a labor-specific form of implied field preemption—while freshly considering implications both for and of new developments in administrative law. The radical transformation of administrative law in the Supreme Court, particularly its newfound emphasis on clear-statement rules, provides opportunities to reconsider the Machinists rationale. Aligning with scholars who have called to question the doctrine’s “ossifying” influence on labor and employment policy, it argues that the modern-day version of Machinists preemption clashes with the Supreme Court’s newly constrained view of delegated power and its differing conceptions of the major questions doctrine.

On the other hand, Machinists preemption might …

Inovasi Kolaboratif Dalam Pembentukan Peraturan Perundang-Undangan: Optimalisasi Teknologi Untuk Meningkatkan Partisipasi Publik Dalam Legislasi, Hermawan Prasojo

Jurnal Hukum & Pembangunan

Meaningful public participation in the legislative process in Indonesia is a fundamental element in fostering an inclusive and transparent democracy. Despite the legal mandate for public involvement, as outlined in Law No. 13 of 2022 and Constitutional Court Decision No. 82/PUU-XXI/2023, such participation often remains formalistic and limited in practice. This article highlights the potential of digital technology, particularly the concept of CrowdLaw, as an alternative approach to enhancing public engagement. Case studies from Estonia, Iceland, and Brazil demonstrate that digital participation can effectively increase public involvement and improve the quality of legislative outcomes. With sufficient infrastructure and improved …

Competition: Legal Landscape For Agri-Food Data, Anthony D. Rosborough

Reports & Public Policy Documents

This guidebook provides an overview of legal principles associated with competition law and dives deeper into a case study looking at the right to repair (R2R). Although the right to repair is a multifaceted issue, it can serve as a way to understand the application of competition law to digital agriculture technology. The first section of the guidebook provides an overview of the rationale and scope of Canadian competition law. This is followed by an exploration of the relationship between digital agricultural technology, farm data and competition. Finally, before looking at the right to repair, we will study a selection …

Population: The Who Of Biodiversity Law, Andrew W. Torrance, Bill Tomlinson

Texas A&M Journal of Property Law

This Article investigates the impacts of human population, including distribution and growth, on biodiversity at every level—the biosphere, ecosystems, communities, populations, and individual organisms. It assesses how legal frameworks around the world address the pressures of human population on biodiversity. This Article explores how factors such as population size and migration contribute to biodiversity loss, with a focus on diverse regions around the globe. This Article offers a comparative overview of population-related laws in regions including North and South America, Europe, Oceania, Asia, and Africa. Key legislation, like the U.S. National Environmental Policy Act, the UK’s Environment Act 2021, …

Overharvesting: The Why Of Biodiversity Loss, Andrew W. Torrance, Bill Tomlinson

Texas A&M Journal of Property Law

This Article examines the consequences of overharvesting biodiversity, focusing on its detrimental effects on biodiversity—on the biosphere, ecosystems, communities, populations, and individual organisms. It evaluates legal mechanisms designed to protect biodiversity from overharvesting and also considers legal mechanisms that lead to overharvesting to the detriment of biodiversity. The Article compares regulations and laws from multiple jurisdictions, including Europe, Oceania, Asia, Africa, and the Americas, and analyzes how these regulations and laws seek to curb overharvesting. Examples include the United States’s Endangered Species Act, Canada’s Wild Animal and Plant Protection Act, and the European Union’s Marine Strategy Framework Directive. International conventions …

Pollution: The What Of Biodiversity Loss, Andrew W. Torrance, Bill Tomlinson

Texas A&M Journal of Property Law

This Article examines the damage to biodiversity caused by anthropogenic pollution at all levels—to the biosphere, to ecosystems, to communities, to populations, and to individual organisms. It also analyzes pollution control laws across the globe and their efficacy in mitigating or preventing harm to biodiversity. The analysis covers all forms of pollution—air, water, and land—that threaten biodiversity, noting both improvements and ongoing challenges in different regions. The Article provides a comparative study of diverse jurisdictions, including North America, Europe, Oceania, and Asia. It scrutinizes pivotal legislation such as the United States’ Clean Air Act, the UK’s Environment Act, and the …

If You Can’T Beat Hemp, Join Hemp: A Policy Argument For A Federal Regulatory Framework Encompassing Intoxicating Hemp Derivatives And Marijuana And Why Re-Scheduling Marijuana Isn’T The Answer, Frances Alaina Rodriguez

University of Miami Business Law Review

The Agriculture Improvement Act of 2018 (2018 Farm Bill) legalized industrial hemp and its downstream uses by removing hemp from the definition of marijuana under the Controlled Substances Act (CSA). Its enactment led to the explosion of a multi-billion dollar intoxicating hemp derivatives (IHD) market. This boom, combined with growing state–level marijuana legalization, presents a unique opportunity for comprehensive federal cannabis reform.

This Note argues that the traditional pathways for marijuana legalization—rescheduling through the Controlled Substances Act or state-by-state legislation—are inadequate given the emergence of a federally legal but largely unregulated IHD industry. Instead, this Note proposes a unified federal …

Cultivating Legal Protection: Replacing Wine Labeling Regulations With Regional Certification Marks, David Corasaniti

Washington and Lee Law Review Online

While wine labeling in the United States is currently governed by a complex regulatory framework administered by the Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau (“TTB”), intellectual property (“IP”) rights for wine producing regions could serve this core function of protecting consumers better and more efficiently. Regulating wine labeling through IP would more closely mirror the system used by the European Union, which recognizes Geographical Indications, such as Champagne, Rioja, and Bordeaux, as a unique form of IP. By deregulating American wine labeling, and encouraging wine producing regions to assert their IP rights in the form of collectively held certification …

Orientasi Rigid Dan Moderat Dalam Penafsiran Original Intent Dan Praktiknya Di Indonesia, Muhammad Alwi Khoiri Ramdani, Susi Dwi Harijanto, Lailani Sungkar

Jurnal Hukum & Pembangunan

Metode original intent lazimnya menghasilkan penafsiran yang bersifat rigid sesuai niat perumusnya. Selama konstitusi tidak diubah, maka tafsiran original intent pun tidak berubah. Namun penggunaan metode penafsiran original intent di Indonesia dapat menghasilkan pemaknaan yang berbeda/berubah meskipun ketentuan konstitusi dan perumusnya tidak berganti. Hal ini terjadi karena terdapat perkembangan pemikiran dalam penerapan metode penafsiran original intent. Penelitian ini membahas mengenai perkembangan pemikiran tersebut dan menganalisa pola penerapan metode original intent dalam penafsiran konstitusi yang dilakukan oleh Mahkamah Konstitusi di Indonesia. Ini merupakan penelitian doktriner dengan pendekatan konsep dan kasus. Hasil penelitian menunjukkan bahwa terdapat perkembangan pemikiran dalam penerapan metode penafsiran …

Quo Vadis Hak Atas Kesehatan Reproduksi: Analisis Rekonstruksi Pengaturan Aborsi Di Indonesia (Perbandingan Hukum Indonesia Dengan Perancis), Dian Kencana Putri, Erna Dyah Kusumawati

Jurnal Hukum & Pembangunan

Pembatasan akses aborsi di Indonesia menyebabkan banyak perempuan dengan kehamilan tidak diinginkan terpaksa berhadapan dengan hukum. Pembatasan aborsi yang mengakibatkan kriminalisasi ini dapat menyebabkan dilema moral bagi banyak perempuan yang mengalami kehamilan tidak diinginkan. Padahal aborsi berpotensi terjadi pada setiap perempuan berusia produktif di Indonesia. Aborsi di Indonesia merupakan tindakan ilegal dan aborsi hanya dapat dilakukan dalam dua kondisi saja, yakni kedaruratan medis dan kehamilan yang disebabkan perkosaan. Artikel ini menganalisa bagaimana sebenarnya substansi aborsi dapat dimasukkan pada kategori hak kesehatan reproduksi perempuan dan mengapa negara Indonesia perlu mengubah kebijakan dan hukum mengenai aborsi. Untuk melihat seberapa pentingnya negara harus …

Konstitusionalitas Model Putusan Bawaslu Dalam Penyelesaian Pelanggaran Administratif Pemilu, Muhammad Rifai Yusuf, Syarif Hidayat

Jurnal Hukum & Pembangunan

As one of the institutions that carries out quasi-judicial functions in the field of general elections, Bawaslu could issue a decision through an adjudication process. In 2017, Bawaslu was criticized for its several decisions in the Sipol case held by the KPU for the registration of participants in the 2019 general elections, mainly because it was considered that Bawaslu equated its position with the Supreme Court by assessing that Sipol in the KPU Regulation was not in line with the Election Law. In 2024, decisions on election administrative violations appear to be softer or seem to avoid the same potential …

Quo Vadis Desain Pengamanan Hakim Dari Perbuatan Merendahkan Kehormatan Dan Keluhuran Martabat Hakim (Pmkh) Di Indonesia, Zainatul Ilmiyah

Jurnal Hukum & Pembangunan

Judges, as the main judicial actors in law enforcement, have an independent nature, both in terms of institutions and in terms of determining their decisions. However, in exercising their authority, judges are often faced with the risk of injury, both physical and psychological, by the public, who are not satisfied with the decisions made by the judges. With an empirical legal research method and using a conceptual approach, statute approach, and comparative approach, this study aims to find the best form in the design of an institutional model for judge and court security units. In this study, it was found …

Table Of Contents, Seattle University Law Review

Seattle University Law Review

Table of Contents

Re-Imagining Tomorrow: A Technology, Innovation Law, And Ethics Symposium On Addictive Technology And Children, Margaret Chon

Seattle University Law Review

In this Foreword, Professor Margaret Chon introduces Seattle University's Technology, Innovation Law, and Ethics (TILE) program, the 2024 TILE Symposium, and Dr. Gaia Bernstein’s Unwired: Gaining Control Over Addictive Technologies.

Keynote Address: The Movement To Protect Kids From Addictive Technologies, Gaia Bernstein

Seattle University Law Review

In this keynote address, I describe my personal journey starting with a school outreach program I created in 2017 to address technology overuse among kids. While I initially advocated for self-help methods, I grew to recognize that the tech industry bore responsibility. This realization led me to write Unwired: Gaining Control over Addictive Technologies, which focused on collective action to pressure the tech industry to redesign its addictive products.

I then describe the movement to control addictive technologies and protect kids, which has gained momentum since the end of the pandemic. This movement combines grassroots parent activism with legal-political action. …

Moral Panic Or Public Health Crisis? Lessons From Drugs And Gambling For “Addictive” Design, Matthew B. Lawrence, Haomin (Kevin) Yan

Seattle University Law Review

Alcohol, automobiles, guns, lottery, loot boxes, meat, music, opioid painkillers, processed foods, prop bets, slot machines, television, tobacco, violent video games. Over the last century each of these has been subject to concerns—some might even say “moral panics”—from parents and policymakers about avoidable harms to kids and adults. In some cases we look back with the benefit of hindsight and dismiss those concerns as naïve or moralistic. In others we look back at them as justified or as having come too late to check an expanding industry before it did unfathomable harm while growing so powerful that it became all …

Responding To Digital Addiction, Ned Snow

Seattle University Law Review

In Unwired: Gaining Control over Addictive Technologies, Professor Gaia Bernstein calls our attention to the growing problem of digital addiction. Digital addiction may sound like something out of a science-fiction novel or something that does not raise the same sort of real-life practical concerns as are present in a physical health crisis or an economic decline. But as Bernstein presents the evidence, we learn that the consequences of digital addiction can be just as harmful as a serious disease or a financial depression. Cognitive development disorders, anxiety, emotional depression, social isolation, and other mental health ills can be debilitating—as much …

The Ai Doppelgänger Dilemma: Cloned Voices In The Music Industry, Elizabeth Shields

Seattle University Law Review

With the rise of generative artificial intelligence (AI), there has been an influx of “voice clones”—deep-learning algorithms that create synthetic speech to realistically mimic human voices. Celebrities and, in particular, music artists, have been subjected to the proliferation of AI voice clones on social media platforms like TikTok and streaming platforms such as Spotify. Despite music utilizing AI voice clones having amassed much popularity, this technology can be harmful and highly invasive to musicians whose livelihoods often depend on their distinct voices. While legal scholars have attempted to articulate various rights that could protect a person’s voice, individuals are largely …

Let The Sunshine In: Crafting Constitutional Transparency Regulations For Content Moderation, Caitlin Ring Carlson

Seattle University Law Review

In response to public concern about the impact of social media, legislators in some U.S. states have developed laws to regulate the process of content moderation. Many include mandatory transparency and disclosure requirements, some of which courts have already deemed an unconstitutional infringement on social media platforms’ right to free expression. This article explores the parameters for crafting constitutional social media transparency regulations using existing U.S. media policy and insights from recent legal challenges. The resulting analysis identifies content neutral transparency requirements that mandate the disclosure of purely factual, non-controversial information as those most likely to withstand judicial scrutiny. Specifically, …

This Is Not A Game: The Addictive Allure Of Digital Companions, Nizan Geslevich Packin, Karni Chagal-Feferkorn

Seattle University Law Review

Artificial Intelligence (AI) agents have become an inescapable part of modern childhood, reshaping education, leisure activities, entertainment, and social interaction. From AI-powered tutors that adapt to individual learning styles to emotionally responsive chatbots that simulate human companionship, these systems promise unprecedented personalization, cognitive stimulation, and social support. However, these benefits mask significant risks that remain unregulated and inadequately addressed.

Although adults are also susceptible to forming deep emotional bonds with AI companions—often trusting them as if they possessed genuine understanding and empathy—children are particularly vulnerable. Their misplaced trust can more severely distort social development, weaken critical thinking, and foster unhealthy …

Standing To Enforce The Future: Citizen Suits And Climate Change, Jordan Budd, Margaret Sova Mccabe

Law Faculty Scholarship

This Article takes as its starting point the premise that Congress, facing an existential climate catastrophe, might choose to impose direct and significant restrictions on greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. Were it to do so, federal policy would require powerful enforcement mechanisms to reach the myriad emission sources fueling the nation’s vast contribution to global warming.

Among the most potent and far-reaching enforcement tools available to Congress are citizen suits—actions brought by private litigants to enforce federal regulations and to hold agencies accountable for related inaction. Private enforcement in the context of climate change, however, faces a nearly insurmountable barrier—Article III …

Taking Back Control: Using The Takings Clause To Hold Animal Agriculture Responsible For Its Waste Problem, Rowan Aragon

Northwestern University Law Review

Between the mid-twentieth century and modern day, the animal-agriculture model has shifted from small farms to industrial operations. During that evolution, the negative externalities of animal-farming practices have intensified. One of those externalities—animal waste—has become particularly problematic. Because of the sheer number of animals raised in the United States for slaughter and dairy production, the magnitude of animal waste produced is overwhelming. To deal with this problem, animal farmers often liquefy the animal waste and then spray it onto open fields. In that spraying process, liquefied animal waste carries through the air and reaches nearby homes, coating those properties with …

First In Time Since Time Immemorial: Tribal Instream Rights Undercut Water Taking Claims, Paul Stanton Kibel, L. Victoria Wang

American Indian Law Journal

Courts have held that American Indian tribal fishery rights can give rise to tribal instream flow rights. They have also held that the curtailment of rights of diversion to protect fisheries under the Federal Endangered Species Act may give rise to potential takings claims under the Fifth Amendment of the United States Constitution. In its 2019 decision in Baley v. United States the federal circuit court of appeals held that minimum instream flows under the ESA were needed to fulfill American Indian tribal fishery rights, and these rights carried a priority date of “time immemorial” that was senior to any …

The Big Cost Of Small Farms, Tammi S. Etheridge

Scholarly Articles

Americans love meat. We celebrate our independence with steaks on the grill, we enjoy our favorite pastime with hot dogs, and we give thanks with turkey. Our love of meat is so ingrained in our culture that, historically, small increases in meat prices have driven the populace to riot. Today, meat prices are rising. Simultaneously, the largest meat processors and packagers are seeing record profits. Consumers, in turn, are outraged. Their emotions are being fueled by politicians who blame rising profits on a pandemic of greed and collusion and then argue that rigid antitrust enforcement is the only solution.

This …

Annual Report: Fy 2025 Quality Of Kerosene And Motor Fuel In Tennessee, Tennessee. Department Of Agriculture

Annual Reports on Kerosene & Motor Fuel Quality

The annual report provides data on the effectiveness of the 1989 Kerosene and Motor Fuels Quality Inspection Act, consumer complaints, inspection data, and summary of enforcement.

Through A Glass Darkly: How Securities Disclosures Give A Distorted View Of The Economy, Gerald F. Davis

Seattle University Law Review

Our understanding of the American economy often relies on stylized facts derived from mandatory disclosures by listed corporations. Data vendors like Standard & Poor’s vacuum up 10Ks and proxy statements into databases, and scholars distill these into tentative maps. This may have been adequate for a postwar economy centered on asset-heavy manufacturers, but it is increasingly out of step with an information-based economy. Companies listed on the stock market are fewer in number and less representative than they were, light in tangible assets and people, and heavy on IP. Basic facts such as what industry they are in are increasingly …

Beyond Agency Authority: Regulating Sulfur Hexafluoride Under An Enhanced Title Ii Framework Of The Clean Air Act, Matthew Gawley

Fordham Environmental Law Review

This paper explores the critical need for robust Congressional action to regulate sulfur hexafluoride (SF6), a greenhouse gas with a global warming potential more than 20,000 times greater than carbon dioxide. Recent Supreme Court decisions––in West Virginia v. EPA and Loper Bright Enterprises v. Raimondo––to restrict EPA authority and end the Chevron doctrine have curtailed federal environmental agencies’ regulatory authority, shifting the responsibility for addressing major environmental challenges back to Congress. Despite being addressed under Title I of the Clean Air Act (CAA) through the 2022 Inflation Reduction Act (IRA), current SF6 regulations prove grossly inadequate. The utilities industry––the largest …

Abundance And Other Food Fixations, Margot J. Pollans

Elisabeth Haub School of Law Faculty Publications

Although most people in the United States no longer devote the majority of their time to food production, processing, and distribution, food remains a daily fixation. This Article explores three driving food fixations--abundance, thinness, and health--and situates each against an inverse fear--scarcity, fatness, and illness, respectively. Mapping these threats onto U.S. food policy, this Article examines, among other policy arenas, food waste policy, nutrition and health claim labeling law, and food additive regulations. Across food policy, these fixations feed what this Article calls the “politics of abundance.” This politics helps to insulate the food industry from deeper systemic reform aimed …

Article Iii Standing For Cercla Private Cost Recovery Actions: How The Test's Strained Logic Belies Its Authority, Jonathan M. Palacios

Fordham Environmental Law Review

This Note examines how Article III standing doctrine applies to

private plaintiffs’ cost recovery actions under § 107(a)(4)(B) of the

Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and

Liability Act. A review of judicial decisions reveals inconsistencies

in the analysis of injury in fact and traceability, and suggests that

current Article III standing doctrine is misaligned with its purported

objectives. In response, this Note proposes a structured framework

for assessing injury in fact and a refined approach to analyzing

traceability that distinguishes between different forms of causal

uncertainty. These doctrinal adjustments should better align case

outcomes with Article III standing doctrine’s constitutional and …