Admiralty Commons^™

High Stakes On The High Seas: Sailing Through Mdlea Jursidictional Waters, Sean Kim

Ocean and Coastal Law Journal

In Spring, Texas, there is a house that has flooded twenty times due to heavy rain and flooding, resulting in National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP) payouts totaling over $912,000 to cover the repairs. This house’s current value is $42,000, so the payouts have dwarfed its value by over nineteen times. The story of this home is indicative of an ongoing crisis regarding the NFIP, but also a larger crisis of how we manage the risks of flooding in the United States. Flooding causes more damage in the United States than any other severe weather-related event, costing an average of $5 …

"Tac-Ing" On Coherence: Achieving Sustainable Baltic Sea Fisheries Management By Hooking Precautionary Science And Greater Transparency In Eu Total Catch Negotiations, Patrick Seroogy

Ocean and Coastal Law Journal

This article argues that what makes the difference in success between these two regimes is how strictly the scientific advice underlying catch limits the advice is adhered to, and the influences allowed unto decisionmakers in the catch limit negotiation process. Whereas the United States uses the scientific advice about the MSY as a strict upper limit in determining annual catch limits, the EU does not. This allows stakeholders in the EU’s CFP governance, in particular fishing industry actors, to influence regulators to raise TACs above adequately precautionary levels in the name of “balancing” sustainable fishing with short-term economic interests. The …

Rape And Sexual Assault On The High Seas: A Case Of Murky Jurisdiction, Linny Kit Tong Ng

Ocean and Coastal Law Journal

Rape and sexual assault on the high seas present a complex, dual-faceted challenge encompassing both legal and socio-cultural dimensions. The high seas are marked by jurisdictional ambiguity. International law assigns jurisdiction to the flag State of the vessel. However, many vessels are registered to States lacking adequate legal frameworks or the capacity to address such crimes effectively. While international law does allow for intervention by other States under certain principles of jurisdiction, the lack of legal clarity and political will often results in hesitation from non-flag States, except for the United States. This hesitance leaves victims without recourse. This Article …

Table Of Contents

Seattle University Law Review

Table of Contents

How The Dod Discourages Military Families From Seeking Mental Health Counseling, Christina Welch

Seattle University Law Review

The Department of Defense’s (DoD) administration of the Exceptional Family Member Program (EFMP) presents significant barriers to mental health care access for military spouses and children. This paper explores how the EFMP, though designed to support military families with special needs, inadvertently creates barriers to mental health treatment. Military family members often do not seek mental health treatment to avoid the program's mandatory enrollment requirements. Military family members often view enrollment in the program undesirable because enrollment can restrict the pool of potential future duty assignment locations that are available to service members.

The lack of comprehensive data collection by …

Volume 49 Masthead

Seattle University Law Review

Volume 49 Masthead

2025, Richard Delgado

Seattle University Law Review

"In a cutting and provocative social critique in one of the more extended Rodrigo Chronicles, Richard Delgado in 2025 employs skillful narrative—one of CRT’s many contributions to legal scholarship —to tell a gripping story of just how far the nation has descended into darkness with President Trump’s re-election. In Delgado’s vision, law professors—along with other political opponents of the President: immigrants, people of color, LGBTQ+ people, women, the underserved—have targets on their backs."

-excerpt from Kevin Johnson's review of 2025

Veiled Justice: Secularism And The Hijab Across Democracies, Mohamed ‘Arafa

Seattle University Law Review

For much of 2022, Iran was gripped by widespread protests led by women who openly challenged the regime’s authority, particularly its compulsory veiling laws, following the death of Mahsa Amini in police custody. Women around the globe came around and showed solidarity with the women in Iran. However, in non-Islamic countries and societies, one can still make out many prejudices and stereotyping connected to the question of whether and to what extent veiling is mandatory for women according to Shārīe’ā law. Is wearing the hijab a choice, or rather, an essential religious practice that religious Muslim women need to obey? …

Rewriting The Playbook: The X’S And O’S Of The House Settlement And The Future Of Student-Athletes’ Voice In Their Compensation, Matthew K.V. Glazer

Seattle University Law Review

Since the formation of the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) in the 1900s, collegiate athletes (student-athletes) have been prohibited from using their own name, image and likeness (NIL) for profit. But on July 1, 2021, the NCAA changed course and began allowing student-athletes to profit from their own NIL. In the past few years, U.S. college athletics have undergone significant changes, most notably introducing monetary compensation for student-athletes’ NIL. While these changes were long overdue and ultimately beneficial, they have significantly disrupted the landscape of college sports, giving rise to numerous challenges that some experts have compared to the “Wild …

Mr. Trump Goes To Washington Part Ii: A Review Of Richard Delgado's 2025, Kevin Johnson

Seattle University Law Review

Richard Delgado’s The Rodrigo Chronicles have captivated a generation of law students and legal scholars.  Mapping the terrain of race, racism, and Critical Race Theory (CRT), the skillful, and long-running narrative series stands as a testament to Delgado’s dedication to justice for all.

The Rodrigo Chronicles are simply one of Delgado’s many intellectual contributions and part of an unparalleled scholarly legacy.  As one of the founders of CRT, he produced a landmark body of scholarship –authoring the field's primary text,  making the argument for the regulation of hate speech,  forcefully challenging the Black/white binary of civil rights that long dominated …

The Preventative Care Gap: Completing The Aca’S Vision For Health, Abby Nagaich

Seattle University Law Review

This Note examines the preventive care mandate under the Affordable Care Act (ACA) and the legal, political, and practical challenges that threaten its effectiveness. While the ACA significantly expanded access to no-cost preventive services, gaps remain—particularly in behavioral health, obesity management, and equitable service delivery. Ongoing litigation, potential administrative rollbacks, and shifting political leadership further destabilize this critical component of public health policy.

This Note argues that for the ACA to fulfill its original promise—and for any health framework to succeed—preventive care must be redefined as a comprehensive, early intervention approach grounded in both systemic access and patient education. It …

International Law’S Forgotten Refugees—Palestinian Refugees In Egypt

Seattle University Law Review

This Article examines the legal and humanitarian crisis facing Palestinian refugees who have fled to Egypt amidst the ongoing violence in Gaza. While escaping active conflict, these refugees face systemic barriers to employment and education, rendering their living conditions precarious and unsustainable. The unique legal status of Palestinian refugees stems from the fact that they have been excluded from the 1951 Refugee Convention and its 1967 Protocol, leaving them without any meaningful international protection. This exclusion is rooted in the political complexities of the Palestinian struggle for self-determination and reflects a fragmented legal framework that prioritizes limited humanitarian aid over …

Land Without Legacy: The Case For Market-Based Appraisals On Hawaiian Home Lands, Alexis C. Owens

Seattle University Law Review

The Hawaiian Homes Commission Act of 1920 (HHCA) was enacted to restore Native Hawaiians to ancestral lands and promote long term economic self-sufficiency. More than a century later, that promise remains unfulfilled. This Note argues that a central but overlooked barrier lies in the HHCA’s mandated use of the replacement cost appraisal method, which systematically undervalues homestead properties by excluding market forces. In one of the most expensive housing markets in the United States, this approach suppresses home equity, the primary means of intergenerational wealth building, and restricts beneficiaries’ access to credit and financial stability. By severing the connection between …

Reimagining Legal Education: The Transformative Power Of Small-Group Instruction, Michael I. Meyerson

Seattle University Law Review

Legal education is failing its students. Those entering their first year of law school have greater anxiety and less developed reading and writing skills than ever before. The traditional large Socratic class, which was never the most effective teaching method, has become increasingly counterproductive.

This Article contends that small-group instruction provides the opportunity for superior teaching, especially for first-year law students. Recent scholarship in active learning, educational psychology, and students’ mental health demonstrates the limitations of the traditional large Socratic class experience. Building on that theoretical foundation and informed by sustained classroom experience, this Article argues that small-group pedagogy more …

The Martha Wright-Reed Act: How The Fcc Took One Step Forward For Communication Equality For Deaf Individuals In Correctional Facilities And How It Could Be Expanded, Ashley Seebold

Seattle University Law Review

For decades, phone companies preyed on incarcerated individuals and their loved ones due to the lack of regulation of jail phone calls.2 In 2021, the average cost of a fifteen-minute jail phone call was about $3.3 In 2022, the average cost rose to $5.74, while some individuals faced an extreme charge of $24.82 for the same amount of time.4 In the early 2000s, consumer advocate and concerned grandmother Martha Wright-Reed called upon the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) to fix the imbalance so she could speak to her incarcerated grandson.5 Eventually, in 2023, the FCC answered her call to action and …

"The Appearance Of The Confederate Flag In These Seas:" The Css Sumter, Neutrality, And The International Dimensions Of The American Civil War, John Macisaac Coleman

History Undergraduate Senior Theses

No abstract provided.

The Search For Moby Dick: The Role Of State Law In Maritime Tort Cases, John E. Holloway

Washington and Lee Law Review Online

In 1917, the United States Supreme Court held in Southern Pacific v. Jensen that a state statute is invalid if it “interferes with the proper harmony and uniformity of [the general maritime law].” Over a century after Jensen, we still do not know the limits of this “uniformity principle.” Just two years ago, the United States Supreme Court found that this question—what is the role of state law in maritime cases?—remains “one of the most perplexing in the law.”

This Article tracks the Court’s struggle to make sense of the Uniformity principle. It surveys the Court’s inconsistent rulings and criticisms …

Pooling Responsibility: Incentivizing Cable Owners To Safeguard The Global Undersea Network, Kevin Frazier

The University of Cincinnati Intellectual Property and Computer Law Journal

No abstract provided.

Admiralty, John P. Kavanagh Jr.

Mercer Law Review

The cases discussed herein represent decisions from the United States Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit, as well as district courts within the circuit, issued in 2025. While not an all-inclusive list of maritime decisions during that timeframe, the Author identified and provided summaries of key rulings of interest to the maritime practitioner.

Reforming The Limitation Act: We’Ll Cross That Bridge When We Get There? Well, We’Re Here And That Bridge Has Already Fallen, Marianne E. Adams

University of Miami Law Review

When the M/V Dali, a Singaporean-flagged container ship, struck Baltimore’s Francis Scott Key Bridge in March 2024, the foreign vessel owners turned to a centuries-old American statute that allows shipowners to limit their liability to the post-accident value of a vessel. The Limitation of Liability Act of 1851 (the “Limitation Act” or “Act”) was originally designed to protect and promote a nascent American shipping industry from the unpredictable perils of nineteenth-century seas. Today, however, it operates in a vastly different maritime economy, where foreign-flagged vessel owners routinely rely on the Act to shield themselves from full financial responsibility. In …