Law and Society Commons^™

Policing And "Bluelining", Aya Gruber

Publications

In this Commentary written for the Frankel Lecture symposium on police killings of Black Americans, I explore the increasingly popular claim that racialized brutality is not a malfunction of policing but its function. Or, as Paul Butler counsels, “Don’t get it twisted—the criminal justice system ain’t broke. It’s working just the way it’s supposed to.” This claim contradicts the conventional narrative, which remains largely accepted, that the police exist to vindicate the community’s interest in solving, reducing, and preventing crime. A perusal of the history of organized policing in the United States, however, reveals that it was never mainly about …

Pandemic Emotions: The Good, The Bad, And The Unconscious —Implications For Public Health, Financial Economics, Law, And Leadership, Peter H. Huang

Publications

Pandemics lead to emotions that can be good, bad, and unconscious. This Article offers an interdisciplinary analysis of how emotions during pandemics affect people’s responses to pandemics, public health, financial economics, law, and leadership. Pandemics are heart-breaking health crises. Crises produce emotions that impact decision-making. This Article analyzes how fear and anger over COVID-19 fueled anti-Asian and anti-Asian American hatred and racism. COVID-19 caused massive tragic economic, emotional, mental, physical, and psychological suffering. These difficulties are interconnected and lead to vicious cycles. Fear distorts people’s decision readiness, deliberation, information acquisition, risk perception, and thinking. Distortions affect people’s financial, health, and …

Environmental Law, Disrupted By Covid-19, Rebecca Bratspies, Vanessa Casado Peréz, Robin Kundis Craig, Lissa Griffin, Sarah Krakoff, Keith Hirokawa, Katrina Kuh, Jessica Owley, Melissa Powers, Shannon Roesler, Jonathan Rosenbloom, J. B. Ruhl, Erin Ryan, David Takacs

Publications

For over a year, the COVID-19 pandemic and concerns about systemic racial injustice have highlighted the conflicts and opportunities currently faced by environmental law. Scientists uniformly predict that environmental degradation, notably climate change, will cause a rise in diseases, disproportionate suffering among communities already facing discrimination, and significant economic losses. In this Article, members of the Environmental Law Collaborative examine the legal system’s responses to these crises, with the goal of framing opportunities to reimagine environmental law. The Article is excerpted from their book Environmental Law, Disrupted, to be published by ELI Press later this year.

When We Breathe: Re-Envisioning Safety And Justice In A Post-Floyd Era, Aya Gruber

Publications

10th Annual David H. Bodiker Lecture on Criminal Justice delivered on Wed., Oct. 21, 2020 at Ohio State University Moritz College of Law.

It's About Bloody Time And Space, Lolita Buckner Inniss

Publications

Time frames relationships of power, especially in the context of law. One of the clearest ways in which time is implicated in both law and society is via discourses about women’s biological functions. This Article is an introduction to a larger project that analyzes legal discourses regarding a crucial aspect of women’s calendrically-associated biological functions: women’s menstrual periods. Over the course of the project, I explore legal discourses about menstruation through the notion of what literary theorist Mikhail Bakhtin calls “chronotopes”—a connectedness of temporal and spatial relationships. Temporality, Bakhtin argues, is closely associated with certain paradigmatic spaces, and the combination …

Playing At The Crossroads Of Religion And Law: Historical Milieu, Context And Curriculum Hooks In Lost & Found, Owen Gottlieb

Articles

This chapter presents the use of Lost & Found – a purpose-built tabletop to mobile game series – to teach medieval religious legal systems. The series aims to broaden the discourse around religious legal systems and to counter popular depiction of these systems which often promote prejudice and misnomers. A central element is the importance of contextualizing religion in period and locale. The Lost & Found series uses period accurate depictions of material culture to set the stage for play around relevant topics – specifically how the law promoted collaboration and sustainable governance practices in Fustat (Old Cairo) in twelfth-century …

Reevaluating Legal Theory, Jeffrey A. Pojanowski

Journal Articles

Must a good general theory of law incorporate what is good for persons in general? This question has been at the center of methodological debates in general jurisprudence for decades. Answering “no,” Julie Dickson’s book Evaluation and Legal Theory offered both a clear and concise conspectus of positivist methodology, as well as a response to the longstanding objection that such an approach has to evaluate the data it studies rather than simply describe facts about legal systems. She agreed that legal positivism must evaluate. At the same time, she argued, it is possible to offer an evaluative theory of the …

The Mischief Rule, Samuel L. Bray

Journal Articles

The mischief rule tells an interpreter to read a statute in light of the “mischief” or “evil”—the problem that prompted the statute. The mischief rule has been associated with Blackstone’s appeal to a statute’s “reason and spirit” and with Hart-and-Sacks-style purposivism. Justice Scalia rejected the mischief rule. But the rule is widely misunderstood, both by those inclined to love it and those inclined to hate it. This Article reconsiders the mischief rule. It shows that the rule has two enduringly useful functions: guiding an interpreter to a stopping point for statutory language that can be given a broader or narrower …

Human Dignity Has No Borders: Respecting The Rights Of "People On The Move" And The Rights And Religious Freedom Of Those Who Aid Them, Christine M. Venter

Journal Articles

This Article argues that states must desist from and be held accountable for the ongoing practices of denying refugees due process and denying humanitarian groups the rights to freely associate and freely exercise their religion in assisting refugees.

Wolastoqiyik And Mi’Kmaq Grandmothers - Land/Water Defenders Sharing And Learning Circle: Generating Knowledge For Action, Sherry Pictou, Janet Conway, Angela Day

Reports & Public Policy Documents

This report is a summary of the Grandmothers/Defenders’ stories and are interwoven with corresponding news articles, press releases, and other public documents. This is followed by an overview of some of the critical common issues and importantly, strategies for moving forward proposed by the Grandmothers/Defenders.

The Grandmother’s Report is a collection of stories told by Wolastoqiyik Grandmother/Defenders against the Sisson Mine in New Brunswick and Mi’kmaq Grandmothers against the Alton Gas project in Nova Scotia at the event, Indigenous Grandmothers Sharing and Learning Circle: Generating Knowledge for Action, held at the Tatamagouche Centre in Nova Scotia, January 26 to 27, …

Time To Panic! The Need For State Laws Mandating Panic Buttons And Anti-Sexual Harassment Policies To Protect Vulnerable Employees In The Hotel Industry, Kristy D'Angelo-Corker

Seattle University Law Review

One only has to turn on the television or read the newspaper to see news story after news story reporting instances of women facing harassment, discrimination, or assault while at work. The “Me Too” and “Time’s Up” campaigns have brought many of these issues to the forefront and have shown that women are fighting to be respected and demanding equal treatment. Although this fight for equal protection is ongoing, many women, such as those in lower-paying service industries, are still unable to protect themselves from sexual harassment, discrimination, and assault, as they do not have the support or power to …

School “Safety” Measures Jump Constitutional Guardrails, Maryam Ahranjani

Seattle University Law Review

In the wake of George Floyd’s murder and efforts to achieve racial justice through systemic reform, this Article argues that widespread “security” measures in public schools, including embedded law enforcement officers, jump constitutional guardrails. These measures must be rethought in light of their negative impact on all children and in favor of more effective—and constitutionally compliant—alternatives to promote school safety. The Black Lives Matter, #DefundthePolice, #abolishthepolice, and #DefundSchoolPolice movements shine a timely and bright spotlight on how the prisonization of public schools leads to the mistreatment of children, particularly children with disabilities, boys, Black and brown children, and low-income children. …

The Small-Er Screen: Youtube Vlogging And The Unequipped Child Entertainment Labor Laws, Amanda G. Riggio

Seattle University Law Review

Family vloggers are among the millions of content creators on YouTube. In general, vloggers frequently upload recorded videos of their daily lives. Family vloggers are unique because they focus their content around their familial relationships and the lives of their children. One set of family vloggers, the Ace Family, has recorded their children’s lives from the day they were born and continue to upload videos of each milestone, including “Elle Cries on Her First Rollercoaster Ride” and “Elle and Alaïa Get Caught Doing What!! **Hidden Camera**.” Another vlogging couple, Cole and Savannah LaBrant, post similar content, including videos titled “Baby …

Why Do The Poor Not Have A Constitutional Right To File Civil Claims In Court Under Their First Amendment Right To Petition The Government For A Redress Of Grievances?, Henry Rose

Seattle University Law Review

Since 1963, the United States Supreme Court has recognized a constitutional right for American groups, organizations, and persons to pursue civil litigation under the First Amendment right to petition the government for redress of grievances. However, in three cases involving poor plaintiffs decided by the Supreme Court in the early 1970s—Boddie v. Connecticut,2 United States v. Kras,3 and Ortwein v. Schwab4—the Supreme Court rejected arguments that all persons have a constitutional right to access courts to pursue their civil legal claims.5 In the latter two cases, Kras and Ortwein, the Supreme Court concluded that poor persons were properly barred from …

“Ooh It Makes Me Wonder”: Do The Courts Finally Understand The Problems With Copyright Infringement And Pop Music?, Kate Camarata

Seattle University Law Review

The interaction between music and law is unique to copyright litigation. Music is “commonly regarded as a rule-free zone,” whereas the law is structured and, in essence, the “origin for rules.” This Note explores the inherent weaknesses with the substantial similarity test for copyright infringement as it relates to popular music through the lens of the recent Ninth Circuit case, Skidmore v. Led Zeppelin.

Part I of this Note reviews the history and purpose of copyright protection as well as explains the current tests utilized by courts in copyright infringement cases. Additionally, it will also show the difficulties of …

For Richer Or Poorer: Incentivizing Meaningful Investments In Qualified Opportunity Zones, Monica L. Keo

Seattle University Law Review

The wealth disparity in the United States is nothing new. Many have proposed wealth taxes and higher tax rates for large corporations to address income inequality; however, these proposals have been criticized as tax programs that are difficult to administer. Congress passed the Tax Cut and Jobs Act (TCJA) in 2017 and created a new investment vehicle known as the Qualified Opportunity Zone (QOZ). The QOZ program incentivizes private investors to invest their capital gains in exchange for a reduction in capital gains tax. The underlying idea of the QOZ program is to utilize a new tool designed to spur …

Do It Yourself Legal Services? Domestic Violence Victims May Depend On It, Sabrina Marquez

Seattle University Law Review

This Note will address how encouraging nonlawyer Internet programs to engage in limited areas frequently considered the “practice of law” will increase the ability of vulnerable groups, especially victims of domestic violence, to receive crucial—and potentially lifesaving—legal assistance.

Part I will outline the rise of Internet legal service providers (ILSPs), who have innovated software programs that help clients fill out and file a wide assortment of legal documents, as well as the negative response these services have received from state bar associations and the wider legal community. Part II will discuss why a different method of providing legal assistance is …

Shareholder Meetings And Freedom Rides: The Story Of Peck V. Greyhound, Harwell Wells

Seattle University Law Review

In 1947, civil rights pioneers James Peck and Bayard Rustin, members of the radical religious group, the Fellowship of Reconciliation, and its offshoot, the Congress of Racial Equality (CORE), prepared to embark on the Journey of Reconciliation, an interracial protest against segregated busing in the American South. But first, they did something else radical: they bought shares in a corporation. A year later, after their travels in the South had led to terror, death threats, beatings, and in Rustin’s case, a term on a chain gang, they brought their civil rights activism to a new site of protest—the shareholder meeting …

Taxing Parents: Welfarist Theories, Shannon Mccormack

Articles

The Internal Revenue Code (the "Code") taxes parents inequitably. Couples with a sole earner are undertaxed compared to couples with dual earners and to single parents. Legal tax scholarship (including my own) has identified the many inequities that result from this sole-earner bias and have called for its elimination. But while these arguments have been sufficient for some, they do remain susceptible to the criticism that they are theoretically incomplete.

That critique might proceed as follows. Simply establishing that an inequity exists does not create a full argument for legal reform. After all, it might be argued, the Code plays …

Attitudes Towards Ip Present Among Seattle Craft Breweries, Zahr K. Said

Articles

No abstract provided.

Rwu Law Equity Scorecard February 2021, Roger Williams University School Of Law

Life of the Law School (1993- )

No abstract provided.

Deciphering Property Insurers’ Indemnification Obligations After Disasters, Pandemics And Business Interruption Losses: An Analysis Of State Supreme Courts And Federal Circuits’ Declaratory Judgments, Willy E. Rice

Journal of Business & Technology Law

No abstract provided.

"We Can't Breathe." Like George Floyd, Black Families In New York City Have A Knee On Their Necks, Shanée Brown

Scholarly Works

While watching the murder of George Floyd, one thing should have remained imprinted in everyone's mind: he was a father. This racist officer permanently separated a father from his children when he recklessly, yet intentionally placed his knee on Mr. Floyd's neck for eight minutes and forty-six seconds. When the Administration for Children's Services ("ACS") removes Black children from their homes for unjust reasons, it places its knee on the necks of Black families.

Breathing as a family involves parents and children inhaling and exhaling the love shown to each other. To separate a family means to obstruct that family's …

Covid-19 And Corporate Social Responsibility: Business Responses To The Pandemic In The Inland Northwest, Jacob H. Rooksby

Law Faculty Publications

The novel coronavirus upended the world beginning in early spring of 2020. As travel ground to a halt, and governments issued stay-at-home orders, the impact on commerce was immediate and has proven to be lasting. Employees accustomed to working in offices and job sites were told to stay home. Certain industries received permission to have so-called “essential” personnel continue their labor in person, but for many employers the reality they faced was not so simple: learn to adapt to the new environment or succumb to the new environment. ...

First Step Act Of 2018: How Its Statutory Interpretation Limits Criminal Justice Reform, Adriana E. Morquecho

American University Journal of Gender, Social Policy & the Law

Introduction

Today, the United States incarcerates more people than any other country in the world. Nearly half a million people are incarcerated in federal and state prisons for drug offenses, up from just 41,000 in 1980. Mass incarceration has disproportionately affected communities of color, with the American Civil Liberties Union noting that one out of every three Black boys and one out of every six Latino boys born today can expect to be imprisoned, compared to one out of every seventeen white boys. Notably, the 1980s marked the beginning of the War on Drugs, which led to a spike in …

To Shatter The Glass Ceiling, Clean The Sticky Floor And Thaw The Frozen Middle: How Discrimination And Bias In The Career Pipeline Perpetuates The Gender Pay Gap, Rachel Dibenedetto

American University Journal of Gender, Social Policy & the Law

I. INTRODUCTION

Women crack the glass ceiling, but rarely pierce the surface. When women do shatter the glass, they do so in small strides, achieving minor victories. This glass, an invisible discriminatory barrier, the cultural predispositions filled with gender bias, inhibits women from career advancement from reaching the ceiling. Many refused to recognize this often unspoken phenomenon until the United States Department of Labor called for action. In enacting anti-discrimination legislation and bridging the gender education gap, women made remarkable headways in overcoming hurdles, yet the roots of the challenge still remain. How can women shatter the glass ceiling if …

My Body Is Note My Choice Anymore? How Conscience Protections For Doctors Violate An Individual’S Right To Use Contraceptives And The Establishment Clause, Wanying Yang

American University Journal of Gender, Social Policy & the Law

Introduction

After a month of waiting, Evann finally met her gynecologist for a consultation on her first intrauterine device (IUD). However, before Evann told the gynecologist her request and symptoms, the gynecologist emphasized she was in a Catholic hospital and that they only prescribe oral contraceptives to patients with heavy cramping. The gynecologist then passed Evann an unofficial paper with an IUD provider’s number and expressed sorrow regarding Evann’s decision to use contraceptives. Evann walked out of the hospital without any information on the IUD, but instead with frustration and shame.

A Labor Of Love: Finding Justice For Victims Of Workplace Sexual Harassment Excluded From Title Vii, Abigail M. Whitmore

American University Journal of Gender, Social Policy & the Law

I. Introduction

“Sexual harassment perpetuates the interlocked structure by which women have been kept sexually in thrall to men and at the bottom of the labor market. Two forces of American society converge: men’s control over women’s sexuality and capital’s control over employees’ work lives.”

I first began working with children as a college student in a part-time daycare position and eventually moved into a full-time nanny position after graduating. Working as a nanny was the perfect option for me at the time, as I was seeking temporary work in between my undergraduate education and law school. The opportunity also …

Detention Of At-Risk Individuals During Covid-19: Humanitarian Parole And The Eighth Amendment, Kaylette Clark

American University Journal of Gender, Social Policy & the Law

I. Introduction

Manuel Amaya Portillo is a 23-year-old asylum seeker from Honduras who is detained at LaSalle Detention Center in Louisiana. Amaya Portillo has neurological issues, heart issues, and a physical deformity. While detained, Amaya Portillo has not received the accommodations he needs, such as a wheelchair and accessible housing. On January 8, 2020, the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) wrote a letter to Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) requesting that Amaya Portillo’s request for humanitarian parole be granted in light of his disabilities. Even with access to a wheelchair, Amaya Portillo will continue to face challenges while detained, including …

Queering Bostock, Jeremiah A. Ho

American University Journal of Gender, Social Policy & the Law

I. INTRODUCTION

Regarding queer identities, the enduring misconceptions about sexual and gender identities underscore precisely why queer lived experiences are critically salient for understanding and remedying instances of discrimination. Without substantively acknowledging the lived experiences of discrimination, one danger is that the dominant establishment more easily retains the posture of redressing discrimination as a means for preserving a discriminatory status quo. For instance, where anti-subordination approaches might better detect and address the inequalities of a marginalized groups lived experiences than anti-classification approaches, scholars have noted that the establishment’s choice to maintain anti-classification approaches allows the status quo to reify its …