Law and Society Commons^™

Whose Truth Commission, Lehlohonolo January

Notre Dame Journal of International & Comparative Law

It is often said that the victor always dictates the narrative and thus dictates how history is represented. The end of Apartheid in South Africa wasn’t a result of an outright victorious defeat of the Apartheid State together with its institutions of coercion but rather came about as a result of a culmination of a series of events. If this adage holds true, then why is it that the narrative seems to paint a picture of a victor’s perspective? This assertion is not made lightly but is no less reflective of how the facts seem to portray themselves in that …

Why Medicaid Is Addressing Homelessness With Section 1115 Waivers: A Critical Examination Of The United States' Federalist Mental Health System, Joshua Haas

Washington Law Review

Housing and health care are deeply interconnected, and their systemic relationship profoundly affects individual and societal well-being. Inadequate funding has undermined the American mental health system for decades, leading to gaps in care that have caused lasting harm to vulnerable individuals and society as a whole. This Comment examines the historical connections between homelessness and the American mental health system. It explores the benefits and criticisms of the United States’ federalist approach to health care, particularly focusing on Medicaid and its “section 1115 waivers,” which grant states flexibility to develop innovative, state-specific Medicaid programs. Recently, states began to utilize section …

The Equal Rights Amendment: The 28th Amendment To The U.S. Constitution, Twiss Butler, Patrick Butler

Dignity: A Journal of Analysis of Exploitation and Violence

This article reviews how Supreme Court interpretations of the 14^th Amendment have allowed laws to discriminate against women. It aims to show that the Equal Rights Amendment, ratified as the 28^th Amendment in 2020, offers a constitutional basis for eliminating all forms of legal sex discrimination against women. These forms include discrimination based on pregnancy and abortion, commodifying women’s bodies, and allowing men to intrude into women’s protected spaces. The review starts with the denial of protection for women by America’s Declaration of Independence in 1776, denounces the Supreme Court’s precedent-setting 1974 Geduldig decision, which ruled—quite illogically—that discrimination …

The Future Is In Their Care: Justice And The Washington Constitution, Steven González

Washington Law Review

No abstract provided.

Holding Up A Mirror To Hostile Gender Legislation: The Impact Of Drag Bans On The Theater Industry, Claire B. Epstein

Pace Law Review

States, particularly infringing upon the rights of the LGBTQIA+ community. Certain states have sought to introduce “drag ban” laws under the guise of protecting children from viewing obscene content. These laws, in effect, are harmful to people, children especially, and have a chilling effect on expression, leaving critical harm in their wake. Laws such as these cast a wide net of regulation, opening up otherwise innocent citizens to criminal and civil liability. The theater industry is particularly affected by these regulations, even if lawmakers do not acknowledge this potential harm. This article will focus on three laws seeking to regulate …

Shaping A More Equitable Election System: A Canadian Approach To Solving The Voting Rights Crisis In America, Michelle Gutowski

Journal of Law and Policy

In 1965, the Voting Rights Act was passed, ushering in a new era of voting freedom. The Act brought an end to many of the overtly discriminatory practices that had persisted for nearly two centuries. Over time, however, states began to introduce more subtle and complex voting regulations that gradually undermined the gains achieved through the civil rights movement. In 2021, the Supreme Court dismantled an essential safeguard for voters, significantly weakening the protections the Act once guaranteed. This erosion of protections is largely attributable to a single doctrinal standard within the Act, known as the totality of the circumstances …

A View From Inside: The Federal Government's Pivotal Role In Securing And Advancing Access To Justice, Kalpana Kotagal

University of Cincinnati Law Review

No abstract provided.

Transgender Equality: An Inflection Point For Equal Protection?, Katie Eyer

University of Cincinnati Law Review

No abstract provided.

Law School News: Charting A New Course: From Navy Officer To Legal Advocate 4-22-2025, Jane Govednik

Life of the Law School (1993- )

No abstract provided.

Law School News: Rwu Law Ranked #11 Nationally For Most Graduates In Public Interest Law Careers 4-15-2025, Helga Melgar

Life of the Law School (1993- )

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 …

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, …

Modern Day Colonialism Through HawaiʻI’S Quiet Title And Partition Laws, Cheyann Fujii

Seattle University Law Review

This Note will attempt to highlight important aspects of Hawaiian history to provide readers with a clear picture on how Native Hawaiians are still impacted by colonialism, specifically when plaintiffs bring a quiet title or partition action against Native Hawaiian owners of kuleana lands. Before colonization, the concept of private land ownership did not exist in Hawai‘i, and Native Hawaiians adopted a feudal system by dividing land into geographical areas. Missionaries and businessmen brought Western ideas to Hawai‘i and influenced legislation such as the Great Māhele and the Kuleana Land Act of 1850, which solidified the concept of private property. …

Data Advantage And Merger Review: Can Entrenchment Theory Reform Antitrust Enforcement?, Shin-Ru Cheng

Seattle University Law Review

A merger involving giant digital companies is likely to dampen competition, as it allows those companies to combine and control data access, enabling them to entrench their dominant positions in relevant markets and extend those positions into related markets. While competition law in many jurisdictions aims to prohibit mergers that may substantially lessen competition or create a monopoly, arguably the review of digital mergers is failing because antitrust agencies lack an effective approach to identify data-generated anticompetitive harms. This Article demonstrates that entrenchment theory, recently reintroduced in the 2023 U.S. Merger Guidelines, would help reform the process of antitrust enforcement. …

Table Of Contents, Seattle University Law Review

Seattle University Law Review

Table of Contents

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 …

Volume 48 Masthead, Seattle University Law Review

Seattle University Law Review

Volume 48 Masthead

Defining Deference: Impacts Of Abandoning Chevron On Emerging Technology Governance And Administrative Law, R. Aubrey Davis Iii

Seattle University Law Review

Emerging technologies, particularly Artificial Intelligence (AI), often lead to unforeseen legal outcomes. Notable abuses in areas such as facial recognition, employment bias, and housing discrimination are well known. However, legislative responses to these issues either have been largely reactive or there has been no legislative response at all. In lieu of legislation, agencies have sought to fill the gap. For example, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) recently proposed a rule mandating voter notification for all AI-generated political phone calls citing the Telephone Consumer Protection Act (TCPA) of 1991 as authority. However, the TCPA was originally passed to curtail telemarketing, not …

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 …

A New Parlor Is Open: Microfeminisms Are Needed In Law School To Combat Gender Bias, Stephanie J. Thompson

Faculty Scholarship

A recent viral trend on TikTok has spotlighted women attorneys who are leveraging microfeminisms to uplift other women and challenge entrenched gender norms within the workplace. The hashtag #microfeminism has garnered over a billion views, underscoring a growing interest in this nuanced form of advocacy. Microfeminism encompasses the subtle, everyday actions individuals—regardless of gender—take to promote gender equity and disrupt traditional expectations, both personally and professionally. In contrast to broader feminist movements that often seek systemic reform, microfeminism focuses on the interpersonal and individual level, recognizing the transformative potential of seemingly small gestures. This Article aims to initiate a critical …

Filarsky’S Dilemma: Qualified Immunity For Private Actors And Its Potentially Negative Impact On Policing, Timothy Joseph Mondloch

University of Miami Race & Social Justice Law Review

No abstract provided.

Sentencing Roulette: The Absurdity And Unconstitutionality Of The Crime Of Violence Enhancements, Noam Kozlov

University of Miami Race & Social Justice Law Review

The law needs to be clear. This dictum is true especially with respect to criminal law. Defendants need to be made aware of the statutory and judicial rules surrounding their trial, and sentencing outcome should be foreseeable, even if not predictable. But we have failed. We have failed in granting defendants this sought-after clarity, exposing them to grossly disproportional and disparate sentences. One such failure is found in the Crime of Violence enhancement rules. COV enhancements add years or even decades to sentences of defendants whose previous convictions are classified as 'violent'. Despite this detrimental impact of the COV rules, …

Hoodwinked By Rucho: The Illusion Of Protection For Racial Gerrymandering In Federal Courts, Krystell Fienco

University of Miami Race & Social Justice Law Review

"lt is emphatically the province and duty of the judicial department to say what the law is. Those who apply the rule to particular cases, must of necessity expound and interpret that rule." - Marbury v. Madison, 5 U.S. 137 (1803).

"[W]e must never forget, that it is a constitution we are expounding." - McCulloch v. Maryland, 17 U.S. 316 (1819).

A New Equal Protection And Due Process Clause: Pushing Back On The Eleventh Circuit’S Error In Corbitt, Alberto Bufalino

University of Miami Race & Social Justice Law Review

No abstract provided.

Changemakers: Susannah Johnson : L'25 : Charting A New Course : From Navy Officer To Legal Advocate, Jane Govednik

Life of the Law School (1993- )

No abstract provided.

Challenging Race-Based Health Care Discrimination: A New Private Right Of Action, Aaron Pinkett

Northwestern University Law Review

The Hippocratic Oath calls on doctors to “do no harm.” Yet we know from extensive public health research that clinicians repeatedly cause harm to Black patients by dismissing their medical concerns, misdiagnosing them, and undertreating their pain. These practices of differential treatment for Black patients have led to steadily increasing racial disparities in health care outcomes throughout the United States. Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 prohibits this type of disparate impact, but modern Supreme Court jurisprudence forecloses opportunities for affected parties to seek legal relief—despite the clearly established legislative intent of Title VI. However, another legal …

Hindsight Is 20/20: Epilepsy Is Not One-Size-Fits-All, Raika Kim

Northwestern University Law Review

For many, epilepsy is one of the first conditions that come to mind when thinking of a disability, and for good reason: over 50 million people in the world live with epilepsy. Yet misunderstandings about epilepsy have perpetuated social stigma surrounding the disability for centuries. Ableist beliefs led to the passage of laws in the 1900s condoning—and in some cases, requiring—sterilization of individuals with epilepsy and restriction of their right to marry. Even today, state driving laws, justified as promoting public safety, categorically prevent anyone diagnosed with epilepsy from driving unless they are seizure free for an arbitrary, nonuniform period …