Law and Politics Commons^™

United States V. Donziger: How The Mere Appearance Of Judicial Impropriety Harms Us All, Jackie Kushner

Journal of Law and Policy

In 2011, environmentalist lawyer Steven Donziger was sued in a retaliatory lawsuit by the oil company Chevron, following his securement of a multibillion-dollar award against the company for its environmental harms in Ecuador. In a case rife with judicial impropriety, Donziger was ultimately charged with criminal contempt of court and his charges were prosecuted by a private attorney. These suits exemplify the growing problem of powerful corporations using legal tactics to retaliate against activists and undermine the legitimacy of the legal system. Federal judges contribute to the problem by misusing the extensive power they hold in distinguishing criminal from civil …

Slaying The Serpents: Why Alternative Intervention Is Necessary To Protect Those In Mental Health Crisis From The State-Created Danger “Snake Pit”, Kathleen Giunta

Journal of Law and Policy

The Black Lives Matter protests in 2020 and ongoing reports of police brutality around the United States sparked extensive debate over qualified immunity and the legal protections that prevent police accountability. Individuals experiencing mental health crises are especially vulnerable to police violence, since police officers lack the requisite skills and knowledge to provide effective crisis support during mental health emergencies. Although the state-created danger doctrine was created by the courts as an exception to qualified immunity, it is so rarely applied that individuals harmed or even killed by police are left without legal remedy. This Note explores qualified immunity and …

Lumpy Social Goods In Energy Decarbonization: Why We Need More Than Just Markets For The Clean Energy Transition, Daniel E. Walters

Faculty Scholarship

To avoid the worst consequences of global climate change, the United States must achieve daunting targets for decarbonizing its electric power sector on a very short timescale. Policy experts largely agree that achieving these goals will require massive investment in new infrastructure to facilitate the deep integration of renewable fuels into the electric grid, including a new national high-voltage electric transmission network and grid-scale electricity storage, such as batteries. However, spurring investment in these needed infrastructures has proven to be challenging, despite numerous attempts by regulators and policymakers to clear a path for market-driven investment. Unchecked, this problem threatens to …

The “End” Of Neutrality: Tumultuous Times Require A Deeper Value, Carol Pauli

Faculty Scholarship

This essay has observed that, when times are tumultuous, third parties who intend to be neutral may need some mooring beyond the norms that are shifting. It argues that neutrality is an unsatisfying value in such times and suggests that neutrals look to the deeper values of their field. It proposes human dignity as a good place to begin, and it invites others to explore whether an initial commitment to the inherent worth of every person would make a helpful difference in practice.

Should Data Drive Private Law?, Christoph Busch, Catalina Goanta, Katarzyna Kryla-Cudna, Monika Leszczynska, Vanessa Mak

Faculty Scholarship

This special issue tackles the question of whether and how data shapes private law. The development of new technologies enabled the generation, collection and processing of both personal and non-personal data on an unprecedented scale. The implications

of this phenomenon for private law are threefold. One, how does data affect our understanding of technology regulation in private law relationships? Two, how does data affect the way in which private law is applied? Three, what is the role of data in the design of law from a public policy perspective that transcends doctrinal considerations relating to private law?

Taking Courthouse Discrimination Seriously: The Role Of Judges As Ethical Leaders, Susan Saab Fortney

Faculty Scholarship

Sexual misconduct allegations against Alex Kozinski, a once powerful judge in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 9^th Circuit, spotlighted concerns related to sexual harassment in the judiciary. Following news reports related to the alleged misconduct, Chief Justice John G. Roberts, Jr. charged a working group with examining safeguards to deal with inappropriate conduct in the judicial workplace. Based on recommendations made in the Report of the Federal Judiciary Workplace Conduct Working Group, the Judicial Conference approved a number of reforms and improvements related to workplace conduct in the federal judiciary. The reforms included revising the Code of …

Mekanisme Penetapan Ambang Batas (Threshold) Terhadap Stabilitas Sistem Presidensial Dan Sistem Multipartai Sederhana Di Indonesia, Songga Aurora Abadi, Fitra Arsil

Jurnal Konstitusi & Demokrasi

This journal discusses the Threshold Mechanism for the Stability of the Presidential System and the Simple Multiparty System in Indonesia, with the aim of knowing concretely the essential conditions for the realization of an effective presidential government, through the substance of the policy setting limits in force in Indonesia, and the implications of setting thresholds on the stability of Indonesia's presidential and multiparty systems. This research was conducted using normative legal research methods, through library research, with prescriptive research typologies that are conducting intensive, in-depth and detailed and comprehensive approaches to explore deeply about research issues. The results showed that …

Lighting A Spark, Playing With Fire: Feminism, Emotions, And The Legal Imagination Of Campus Sexual Violence, Daniel Del Gobbo

Dalhousie Law Journal

Feminist law and policymakers have been inspired by collectively generated experiences of emotion that help to shape what counts as justice and injustice in campus sexual violence cases. Focusing on events surrounding the Dalhousie University Faculty of Dentistry in 2014–2015, this article explains how emotional incitements in the case contributed to an infrastructure that supported formal and specifically carceral responses to campus sexual violence. Correspondingly, this article explains why alternative modes of legal and political formation that challenged the premises of the formal law, including restorative justice, were misread by some commentators as a form of “weak justice” and therefore …

The ‘Burbs And The Bees: Race, Class, And Rpbb Policy In Minnesota, Julia Brokaw, Hudson B. Kingston, Jordan Hughes

Minnesota Journal of Law, Science & Technology

No abstract provided.

"I'M Concerned About This Post": Combatting Fake News On Social Media, Jake Latimer

Seattle Journal of Technology, Environmental, & Innovation Law

The public concern over the spread of “fake news” on social media has increased over the last decade. Large social networking platforms like Facebook and Twitter have attempted to address fake news by flagging it as misleading. Even former President Trump has seemingly exhibited a sense of paranoia over its spread. While the term “fake news” is often used as a political weapon to discredit unfavorable information and opinions, fake news refers to factually false or grossly misleading content likely designed to sway or entrench one’s opinion on a particular topic. The pervasiveness of this type of fake news on …

Disposable Immigrants: The Reality Of Sexual Assault In Immigration Detention Centers, Valerie Gisel Zarate

St. Mary's Law Journal

Abstract forthcoming.

A Pandemic Of Separation Of Powers Violations In Texas: The Interrelationship Of The Texas Disaster Act And Texas Gov’T Code Section 22.0035, Ron Beal

St. Mary's Law Journal

This Article is on the interrelationship of the Texas Disaster Act and Texas Government Code Section 22.0035. The author demonstrates that the Governor of Texas and the Texas Supreme Court have grossly violated the separation of powers on a continuing basis since March 29, 2020 by Governor Abbott issuing Executive Order 13, which prohibits the granting of bail to anyone awaiting trial, and the Texas Supreme Court’s unwillingness to invalidate that order administratively or judicially. Finally, the Article addresses the nearly one thousand district and county court judges who are constantly violating the separations of powers by failing to invalidate …

Debating When Clarence Thomas Should Recuse Himself Is The Wrong Argument, Bruce Ledewitz

Newspaper Columns

Collected biweekly contributions to the Pennsylvania Capital-Star, a nonpartisan, nonprofit news site.

America: The World’S Police—How The Defund The Police Movement Frames An Analysis For Defunding The Military, Anya Kreider

The Scholar: St. Mary's Law Review on Race and Social Justice

In this article, the author examines the tenets of the Defund the Police movement and applies them to the American military to make the argument that not only should the police be defunded, but so should the American military. The purpose of this piece is to push the conversation regarding policing beyond American borders to examine American influence internationally. The article incorporates various Critical Race Theories to explore the intersection of policing and the military. The Defund the Police Movement also provides a framework for critiquing the American military because the American police and military are inextricably connected. Part I …

A Leak? The Supreme Court Tipped Its Hand On Abortion Long Ago, Bruce Ledewitz

Newspaper Columns

Collected biweekly contributions to the Pennsylvania Capital-Star, a nonpartisan, nonprofit news site.

The Role Of Non-Governmental Organizations (Ngos) In Improving Human Rights In Iraq, Naser A. Yahya

Department of Political Science: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

Iraq has had a long history of human rights violations since its inception as a modern state in 1921. This is true especially under the personalistic dictatorship of Saddam Hussein. Under his regime, the Iraqi people suffered a consistent pattern of gross violations of internationally recognized human rights, including political imprisonment, torture, and summary and arbitrary executions. This regime used a variety of mechanisms to squelch political dissent, including house-to-house searches; arbitrary arrests, often in large numbers; surveillance; harassment and questioning of family members; detention of targeted individuals, such as those returning to Iraq pursuant to amnesties, at unknown locations; …

A Cleave Within The Piney Woods: Nacogdoches, Stephen F. Austin State University And How Racial Integration Divided The Town And Gown, Caitlin Hornback

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Stephen F. Austin State University was once the pride and joy of the city of Nacogdoches, Texas. When the Texas State Legislature began to look for a location for their new state normal school, the people of the East Texas town fought to have it built there and the Stephen F. Austin Teacher’s College opened its doors in September 1923 to a proud community. Through the trials and tribulations of early twentieth century events, the school managed to stay afloat and grow in numbers. Dr. Ralph W. Steen became the president of the college in 1958 and he oversaw a …

Chapter One Foundation Limited And 2 Others V The Attorney General 2020/Ccz/0013 [2021], Florence Chumpuka, Mbaka Wadham

SAIPAR Case Review

If Zambia is to achieve gender parity and the representation of youth and persons with disabilities in politics, the Constitutional Court must be committed to: a) interpreting the Constitution in a manner which aligns with the principles and values set out in the Constitution, and b) Constitutional Court needs to offer extensive well-reasoned analysis of the Constitution within context of the laws’ purpose.

Walking Back The System Trope: Reimagining Incarceration And The State Through A Spatial Theory Approach, Cody Hunter

All Dissertations

This dissertation critiques the systems theory approach to incarceration policy, practice, and research and proposes a rhetorically informed spatial theory approach as an alternative. Offering a non-hierarchical complexity theory as a bridge between systems and space, I then integrate rhetorical listening as a strategy for navigating and operationalizing our proposed spatial theory approach. I then apply our proposed methodology to archival research, focusing on the South Carolina Penitentiary as a case study, and offer two heuretic experiments to explore the range of this methodology for archival research. I also explore potential applications of this rhetorically informed spatial theory approach in …

Addressing The Next State Fiscal Crisis: Toward An Ex Ante Scheme Of Federal Assistance To States In Fiscal Distress, Omer Kimhi

BYU Law Review

Every several years, usually after a national recession, and also as a result of the C OVID 19 pandemic, states enter financial difficulties. These difficulties spur a debate, both in the political arena and in the academic literature, concerning the appropriate federal response. Some advocate for federal bailouts to rescue the distressed states, while others argue that the states need to deal with their troubles independently or with the help of state bankruptcy legislation. The Article explores the proper federal response to states’ fiscal fiscal crises.

The Article argues that the current (suggested) responses – state bankruptcy and ex-post discretionary …

Diversity’S Distractions Revisited: The Case Of Latinx In Higher Education, Rachel F. Moran

Faculty Scholarship

As the United States Supreme Court considers the future of affirmative action in higher education, this Article reflects on a 2003 essay by Professor Derrick Bell, which provocatively argued that diversity is a distraction from other pressing problems of access to a bachelor’s degree. The Article evaluates his claims with a focus on Latinx students, a rapidly growing segment of the college-going population. Bell believed that diversity is a less compelling justification for the use of race in admissions than corrective justice is. As a result, he predicted persistent litigation over the constitutionality of affirmative action programs. That prediction certainly …

Good For The Goose But Not For The Gander: Biden’S Promise To Appoint A Black Female To The Supreme Court And Title Vii Principles, Michael Conklin

Texas A&M Law Review

The 2022 retirement of Justice Stephen Breyer and President Joe Biden’s promise to exclude all non-Black females from consideration for his replacement has sparked controversy. Some have praised the decision as essential to ensuring diversity on the Court and point out that there are more than enough qualified Black women to select from. And some believe the decision will result in corporate leaders making similar calls for equity in their own companies. Others have criticized the decision, expressing a belief that discriminating on the basis of race and gender is “not a great start in selecting someone sworn to provide …

The Restorative Prison: Essays On Inmate Peer Ministry & Prosocial Corrections, Michael A. Hallett

Showcase of Faculty Scholarly & Creative Activity

Drawing on work from inside some of America’s largest and toughest prisons, this book documents an alternative model of "restorative corrections" utilizing the lived experience of successful inmates, fast disrupting traditional models of correctional programming. While research documents a strong desire among those serving time in prison to redeem themselves, inmates often confront a profound lack of opportunity for achieving redemption. In a system that has become obsessively and dysfunctionally punitive, often fewer than 10% of prisoners receive any programming. Incarcerated citizens emerge from prisons in the United States to reoffend at profoundly high rates, with the majority of released …

How A Shuttered Bathroom At A Pgh Grocery Store Explains Structural Racism, Bruce Ledewitz

Newspaper Columns

Collected biweekly contributions to the Pennsylvania Capital-Star, a nonpartisan, nonprofit news site.

Heirs Of An Administration: Unlawful Executive Actions, Jerome Perez

Catholic University Law Review

The Supreme Court of the United States in DHS v. Regents on June 18, 2020, decided to stall the Trump administration from rescinding the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) policy that the Obama administration created contrary to the Administrative Procedures Act (APA)––even though in 2016 the Supreme Court affirmed a preliminary injunction on the Deferred Action for Parents of Americans (DAPA) policy, which mirrors DACA. This blunder offhandedly sacrifices the Supreme Court’s reputation as nonpartisan by enlisting itself as the future arbiter of administrative issues with self-evident resolutions and deciding contrary to those resolutions to endorse a political agenda. …

Court Legitimacy & The Shadow Docket, Colton Tilley

Honors Capstones

No abstract provided.

Identity Documents For Transgender Texans: A Proposal For A Uniform System For Correcting Gender Markers In Texas, Lydia R. Harris

The Scholar: St. Mary's Law Review on Race and Social Justice

Texas’s lack of a codified gender correction process is unjust, illegal, and against public policy. This comment highlights the injustice faced by transgender Texans without gender concordant identity documents. These injustices include discrimination based on gender stereotypes, violation of the transgender individual’s right to privacy, and violations of public policy. This comment explores possible solutions to the injustices faced by transgender Texans due to the lack of a codified uniform way to correct gender markers in Texas modeled on other jurisdictions’ approaches to this problem.

First, this comment traces the history of the recognition of transgender people and transgender rights …

The Mother Of Exiles Is Abandoning Her Children: The Systemic Failure To Protect Unaccompanied Minors Arriving At Our Borders, Rosa M. Peterson

The Scholar: St. Mary's Law Review on Race and Social Justice

Unaccompanied minors arrive at the United States border every day. Many brought by the hope of finding a life lived without fear, a luxury many United States citizens take for granted. Their truths become the barriers and shackles which keep them in detention centers and unaccompanied minor facilities throughout the United States; children find their very words wielded as weapons against them in immigration court. Words often spoken to therapists in perceived confidence, during counseling sessions. This practice is a systemic failure to protect unaccompanied minors arriving at our borders who are seeking protection and help. The United States …

Protecting A Woman’S Right To Abortion During A Public Health Crisis, San Juanita Gonzalez

The Scholar: St. Mary's Law Review on Race and Social Justice

As COVID-19 infected our nation, states were quick to issue executive orders restricting various aspects of daily life under the pretense of public safety. It was clear at the outset that certain civil liberties were going to be tested. Among them, the constitutional right to an abortion.

This comment explores Texas’ response to the COVID-19 pandemic and the limitations it imposed on abortion access. It will attempt to address the legitimacy of the “public health concerns” listed in executive orders issued throughout numerous states and will discuss the pertinent legal framework and judicial scrutiny to apply.

According to the Fifth …

Groundwater Laws And Regulations: Survey Of Sixteen U.S. States, Abigail Adkins, Jack Beasley, Rebekah Bratcher, Justin Cias, Jackson Field, Ian Gaunt, Ashley Graves, Merrick Hayashi, Jenna Lusk, Matthew Maslanka, Erin Milliken, Connor Pabich, Margaret Reed, A. Wesley Remschel, Lauren Thomas, Ashley Wilde

EENRS Program Reports & Publications

This report is the second volume in a continuing project designed to explore and articulate the groundwater laws and regulations of all fifty U.S. states. This particular report presents surveys for sixteen states throughout the country. The first volume featured thirteen state surveys and can be found at: http://www.law.tamu.edu/usgroundwaterlaws.

The purpose of the project is to compile and present the groundwater laws and regulations of every state in the United States that could then be used in a series of comparisons of groundwater governance principles, strategies, issues, and challenges. Professor Gabriel Eckstein at Texas A&M University School of Law and …