Fourteenth Amendment Commons^™

How The Antidiscrimination Law Of Commercial Transactions Really Works, Helen Norton

Seattle University Law Review

A variety of businesses now cite 303 Creative when seeking First Amendment protection for their refusal to serve certain customers based on those customers’ protected class status. How this litigation will play out remains to be seen. But future courts need not, and should not, repeat the 303 Creative Court’s misunderstanding of how the antidiscrimination law of commercial transactions actually works.

Part I of this Essay explains the Court’s longstanding understanding of the antidiscrimination law of commercial transactions, and then describes the Court’s failure to engage with this precedent in 303 Creative. Part II then identifies the 303 Creative decision’s …

The Right To Truth, Maureen Edobor

Scholarly Articles

This Article argues that today’s anti-CRT statutes, book bans, and “divisive concepts” laws are not isolated culture-war skirmishes but the latest chapter in a long campaign—dating back to the Lost Cause and the United Daughters of the Confederacy—to legislate white innocence as national identity. By sanitizing slavery, suppressing discussions of systemic racism, and threatening educators with punitive ambiguity, these laws flatten historical truth and convert classrooms into zones of anticipatory obedience. The result is a state-engineered amnesia that undermines the core First and Fourteenth Amendment protections the Supreme Court has recognized for more than a century, from Meyer and Barnette …

Volume 48 Masthead, Seattle University Law Review

Seattle University Law Review

Volume 48 Masthead

Voting Matters: Materiality Considerations And The Shareholder Vote, Renee M. Jones

Seattle University Law Review

For the shareholder franchise to have meaning, shareholders must have access to relevant information to inform their voting decisions. The securities laws’ disclosure requirements play an essential role in informing the shareholder vote.

This Essay focuses on the question of the materiality of information in the context of shareholder voting. It addresses the question of whether ESG-related information is material, positioning the materiality inquiry within the context of shareholders’ voting decisions. It explores the definition of materiality with a focus on the “reasonable investor” concept embedded within the definition. The Essay argues that the implicit expectations of many commentators that …

Volume 48 Masthead, Seattle University Law Review

Seattle University Law Review

Volume 48 Masthead

Understanding The Big Three’S Wavering Support Of Environmental And Social Shareholder Proposals, Jeff Schwartz, Jefferson Jensen

Seattle University Law Review

Because of their substantial equity portfolios, BlackRock, Vanguard, and State Street (the Big 3) are central players in corporate governance. It is, therefore, critical to understand how they vote. One puzzle is that their support for shareholder proposals on environmental and social matters appears to waiver. In 2020, for instance, BlackRock supported 11.1% of environmental proposals at S&P 500 firms. In 2021, it seemingly reversed course, supporting 55.2%. It then flipped again, supporting 32.1% in 2022. Such statistics suggest that the Big 3 are constantly changing their views on these topics. This Article seeks to better understand whether this is …

Volume 48 Masthead, Seattle University Law Review

Seattle University Law Review

Volume 48 Masthead

A Last Full Measure: Defining Insurrection In The Fourteenth Amendment, Caleb Wootan

Mitchell Hamline Law Journal of Public Policy and Practice

No abstract provided.

Guilty Until Proven Innocent: An Analysis Of Racial Disparities In Civil Asset Forfeiture Seizures, Kelsey O'Callaghan

Mitchell Hamline Law Journal of Public Policy and Practice

No abstract provided.

An Analysis Of Florida's Dual Enrollment Laws: How Florida's Model Is Uniquely Protected By The Fourteenth Amendment, William H. Hamman

Honors Undergraduate Theses

Florida’s dual enrollment program is an offering within the state’s basic education package, allowing secondary students to participate in postsecondary courses while simultaneously earning secondary and postsecondary credit. In Florida, around 80,000 students participate annually, and 1.5 million students are within the grade range eligible for participation in the program. This thesis analyzes how the program, and subsequently eligible students, are granted constitutional protections under the Fourteenth Amendment. The author conducted this research to highlight the expansive nature of constitutional law and demonstrate how Florida’s model is unique among state-mandated dual/concurrent enrollment programs. To conduct the necessary research, the author …

Green Dividends: A Case Study In Green Dividends And The Conditions For Private Ordering Solutions, Anne M. Tucker

Seattle University Law Review

This Essay introduces a novel private ordering solution to facilitate corporate investments in pro-social and environmental initiatives: Green dividends. Green dividends are an optional increase in shareholder dividends that are returned to the company to be reinvested in environmental initiatives or kept by a shareholder.

Green dividends pose an alternative to the current gridlocked debate that corporations can’t, won’t, shouldn’t, and shouldn’t even try to act in pro-social or environmental ways. Turning the common refrains on their head converts each narrative into an element for a successful private ordering solution: authority, accountability, shareholder buy-in, and government- backed enforcement. With Green …

Does Climate Disclosure Work To Reduce Greenhouse Gas Emissions? Emerging Evidence Suggests Cautious Optimism, Cynthia A. Williams

Seattle University Law Review

Significant regulatory resources have been spent developing global, voluntary climate and sustainability disclosure standards, such as the TCFD, TNRD, and ISSB’s Sustainability and Climate Disclosure standards, or domestically required disclosures, such as in the EU and in the U.S. Thus, it is important to evaluate whether this disclosure, particularly voluntary, qualitative disclosure, will have the power to shift the allocation of capital, will have a significant effect on the management of climate risk within firms, and ultimately will reduce climate change risk and biodiversity loss.

In this Article, several interrelated questions will be discussed. First, what does the empirical evidence …

Winding Authority: Consent By Registration And The Legal Singularity, Christina Frohock

Articles

More than forty years ago, the Pennsylvania legislature enacted a uniquely broad and explicit statute directed at out-of-state corporations: registration as a foreign corporation constitutes consent to general personal jurisdiction in the Commonwealth. Pennsylvania's consent-by-registration statute has faced Fourteenth Amendment due process challenges in state and federal courts alike, rising all the way to both the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania and the U.S. Supreme Court. This Article first tracks the myriad challenges to the Pennsylvania statute, culminating in the U.S. Supreme Court's opinion in Mallory v. Norfolk Southern Railway Co. in 2023. The Article then argues that the statute's zigzagging …

From 1957 To 2023: How The Supreme Court Prevented Little Rock Schools From Achieving The Ideal Of Desegregation, Nyssa Kruse

Indiana Journal of Law and Social Equality

No abstract provided.

An Argument For A Right To Education For Undocumented Youth In Light Of Daca’S Uncertain Future, Minnie Blackman

Indiana Journal of Law and Social Equality

Undocumented youth are facing increasingly difficult circumstances in which to integrate into U.S. society both socially and economically. A primary reason for this phenomenon is the current antagonistic sentiments surrounding the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program. These sentiments have created a lack of trust in this program, with fewer undocumented youth applying for DACA status, which would allow many of them to apply to public colleges and universities at in-state tuition rates. Previous research has implied that state laws have the potential to create a property interest in education, and, as such, it must be protected from arbitrary …

Constitutional Law Application In The Sport Industry, Barbara Osborne

Marquette Sports Law Review

No abstract provided.

Seeking Safety And Losing The Self: Affirmative Action Bans And The Whitening Of Mexican American Identity, Bella Bennett

Indiana Journal of Law and Social Equality

No abstract provided.

Foreword, Patricia B. Barnett

Journal of Race, Gender, and Equality

No abstract provided.

Protect Transgender Kids: What Is “Protection” In Light Of Bans On Gender-Affirming Care?, Patricia B. Barnett

Journal of Race, Gender, and Equality

This Note examines the growing legal and constitutional conflict surrounding state laws that ban or restrict gender-affirming care for transgender minors. At the heart of the issue lies the clash between state authority and the constitutionally protected rights of parents under the Due Process Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment. Drawing on medical consensus that affirms the necessity and efficacy of gender-affirming care, the Note argues that these laws not only endanger the well-being of transgender youth but also infringe on parents' fundamental rights to direct their children’s medical treatment. The analysis highlights how some states mischaracterize gender-affirming care as a …

Book Banning: The Post-Pico Epidemic Upon Nationwide Academic Curricula, Brian Gomberg

Journal of Race, Gender, and Equality

This Note explores the growing wave of book bans across the United States, highlighting the increasing role of state legislators in advancing policies that restrict access to literature in public schools. While historically driven by private individuals or local challenges, contemporary bans are now often state-sanctioned, with states like Texas, Florida, Missouri, Utah, and South Carolina leading the movement. These actions not only suppress specific titles but also target entire genres, disproportionately affecting books dealing with race, gender, and LGBTQ+ identities. Drawing on sources such as the PEN America Index of School Book Bans, the Note analyzes the historical context …

Consensus And Conflict Over Context: Select Criminal Law And Procedure Cases From The Supreme Court's 2024-25 Term, Eve Brensike Primus, Elena Schultz

Articles

In its 2024-2025 Term, the Supreme Court emphasized the utility—and necessity—of context-based, fact-sensitive analyses throughout its criminal law and procedure cases. Though the Justices sparred over how to derive meaning from factual, structural, legal, and historical contexts, they tended to agree that courts should not be artificially restricted from considering the breadth of the record before them.

Healing Communities With Police Divestment: Seeking Abolition Through Transformative Reform And Community-Government Collaboration, Jessica E. Gillson

Undergraduate Honors Theses

Concerns about the efficacy and sustainability of the U.S. carceral system have persisted throughout the country’s history, recently fueling renewed activism and bipartisan calls for reform. However, proposed solutions remain divisive. This thesis first defines the current status of our prison systems, then explores collaborative alternatives to incarceration and policing that support communities and break cycles of incarceration.

Focusing on partnerships among local governments, community organizations, justice-involved individuals, and law enforcement, this study examines holistic approaches to crime prevention, reentry, and reintegration. Using an interdisciplinary framework incorporating restorative justice, community resilience, and systems theory, it investigates how community-based strategies can …

Dobbs V. Brown, Benjamin H. Barton

Dickinson Law Review (2017-Present)

Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization1is the most important and impactful Supreme Court decision since at least Roe v. Wade, and potentially since Brown v. Board of Education. Past survey data show that most Americans can only name two Supreme Court opinions: Roe and Brown. Dobbs will surely join that list. This Article compares the history, drafting, and opinions of Dobbs and Brown to show what a missed opportunity Dobbs represents. Regardless of whether you agree or disagree with the opinion, it should be clear that Dobbs was one of those unique times (like that of Brown) where the Court …

Fourth Amendment Hydraulics And Programmatic Surveillance, David C. Gray

American University Law Review

There is a hydraulic relationship between Fourth Amendment rights and remedies. When rights expand, remedies shrink, and vice versa. That makes good sense. At its heart, the Fourth Amendment requires striking a reasonable balance between the competing interests of citizens and their government. Expanding rights by, say, adopting a more expansive definition of “searches,” or applying the Fourth Amendment to a new category of government conduct, compromises government interests. When this happens, courts can, and should, bring things back into balance by adjusting remedies.

Sometimes the Court is cognizant of this hydraulic relationship. When the Court expanded Fourth Amendment rights …

How Does The Modern Supreme Court Treat The Idea Of Retribution In The Context Of Capital Punishment?, Paige Forsberg

Honors Undergraduate Theses

This thesis explores the modern U.S. Supreme Court's treatment of retribution in the context of capital punishment, analyzing how justices have framed and justified the death penalty as a form of justice. Through the examination of key Supreme Court rulings and legal arguments, this study evaluates the evolving role of retribution in the Court’s decisions on death penalty cases, highlighting how judicial reasoning has shifted over time in response to legal, philosophical, and societal developments.

Retribution, long considered one of the primary justifications for capital punishment, is examined through a nuanced lens in this study. While historically viewed as a …

Confession And Confrontation, William Ortman

Scholarly Works

The constitutional law of confessions has a critical blind spot. In theory, the law serves two interests. First, it protects the autonomy of suspects by stipulating that they can be questioned while in custody only with their consent. Second, it restrains official misconduct by forbidding interrogation methods that overbear a suspect's will. Even if the law adequately safeguards those interests, something is missing: reliability. As false confessions emerge as a major source of wrongful convictions and as social scientists expose how standard interrogation tactics prompt innocent people to confess, the Supreme Court and conventional wisdom insist that the reliability of …

Equitable Incorporation: How History And Tradition Can Progressively Redefine The Fourteenth Amendment, Robert D'Alessandro

Cardozo Journal of Equal Rights & Social Justice

The Fourteenth Amendment, designed to ensure equality before the law, has been misinterpreted by the Supreme Court through its incorporation doctrine, leading to rulings that harm marginalized communities. The article advocates for "Equitable Incorporation," a doctrine requiring courts to consider the impact of their decisions on historically discriminated groups, ensuring the Amendment's purpose of equity and justice is upheld. This approach would necessitate the incorporation of unincorporated rights and reinterpret existing ones to reflect the Amendment's equitable intent.

The Right To Acquire Property, John G. Sprankling

American University Law Review

Can government prohibit the acquisition of all types of property? The intuitive answer to this question is “no.” But why? Is there a constitutional right to acquire property? And, if so, how does it apply if government merely prohibits acquisition of a certain type of property, such as contraceptives?

The Fourth, Fifth, and Fourteenth Amendments restrict when property may be “taken” or “seized” and when a person may be “deprived” of property. Thousands of law review articles and hundreds of books have analyzed the scope of these provisions. But almost no modern attention has been devoted to their logical counterpart—the …

Amending Rule 15.3 Of The Mississippi Rules Of Criminal Procedure To Fully Capture Boykin V. Alabama And Acknowledge Systemic Coercion Indigent Defendants Face In Mississippi, Sarina P. Larson

MC Law Review

The U.S. Constitution—not a state—is what governs questions of constitutionality. It follows that for a state court to make a constitutionally sufficient record of a defendant’s waiver at their plea, the complete interpretation as to sufficiency by the United States Supreme Court must be followed. This Comment stands for the proposition that when Rule 15.3 of the Mississippi Rule of Criminal Procedure was adopted in 2017, it misinterpreted the call of the United States Supreme Court in Boykin v. Alabama, 395 U.S. 238 (1969). Ultimately, this Comment suggests amendments to Rule 15.3 that would place it in compliance with Boykin, …

Free Movement Rights And The American City, Ryan Stoa

FIU Law Review

American cities are facing an inflection point. Widespread dissatisfaction with urban planning outcomes is making land use and transportation policies (such as congestion pricing) a mainstream topic of debate. Suburban sprawl and housing shortages are moving urban populations into the periphery, commuting times (and associated mental health problems) are increasing, and pedestrian and cyclist deaths caused by vehicles are at all-time highs. American cities that were largely planned and built in the twentieth century based on assumptions that we now know are flawed are not meeting the needs of their residents, and urban planners are making changes to reshape urban …