Courts Commons^™

The Guilty Plea Discount: An Elaboration On Singapore’S Guidelines, Genieve Zhi Yi Wu

Singapore Law Journal (Lexicon)

Over the past two decades, a defining feature of Singapore’s sentencing regime has been the creation of structured sentencing methodology, with the aim of ensuring broad consistency and fairness across offenders. The exercise of judicial discretion in sentencing has largely been guided by statutory frameworks and guideline judgments. However, beyond the legislature and judiciary, an inter-agency body named the Sentencing Advisory Panel has also been formed to issue persuasive but non-binding guidelines. This article focuses on the first set of guidelines issued by the Sentencing Advisory Panel in 2023, concerning the sentencing of accused persons who plead guilty. It explains …

Representation In The Age Of Repression: America’S Real Immigration Crisis Is The Lack Of Representation In Immigration Court, Paul Wickham Schmidt

University of Arkansas at Little Rock Law Review

No abstract provided.

Joinder, Not Jurisdiction: Toward A New Theory Of Standing, Adam N. Steinman

Faculty Scholarship

This Article builds on an important development in the Supreme Court’s standing jurisprudence to propose a novel theory that would allow more meaningful access to federal courts while vindicating legitimate separation-of-powers concerns. In its recent decision in TransUnion LLC v. Ramirez, the Supreme Court endorsed a theory of standing based on Article II, writing that litigation between private parties—even when explicitly authorized by Congress—can run afoul of the executive branch’s interest in “how to prioritize and how aggressively to pursue legal actions against defendants who violate the law.” This Article II move has been justifiably criticized. But it is …

Existing Together From The Beginning: Freedom To Contract And Black Mutual Aid, Cara Mcclellan

Northwestern University Law Review

In a new wave of litigation, conservative legal organizations are attempting to rely on Reconstruction-era civil rights legislation to prevent nonprofits, charities, foundations, and other privately organized groups from engaging in race-conscious work. Unlike the Supreme Court’s recent rollback of affirmative action, which dealt with universities’ ability to consider race in admissions as state actors and as recipients of federal funding, a series of lawsuits now challenge the ability of private organizations to consider race in how they invest money and resources to create social impact. Adding fuel to the fire, on January 21, 2025, President Trump issued an Executive …

Not Colorblind, Kimberly West-Faulcon

Northwestern University Law Review

This Essay criticizes the use of the term “colorblind” in reference to attacks on racial diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) policies. It argues it is inapt and unconscionably obtuse to use colorblindness terminology to selectively target inclusion-motivated race consciousness for automatic illegality. The Essay’s central project is to examine claims underlying attacks on racial inclusion policies such as the Students for Fair Admissions, Inc. v. President and Fellows of Harvard College lawsuit to expose the legal endgame that anti-DEI forces seek to make a centerpiece of America’s future. In so doing, it surfaces the differential scrutiny of race consciousness …

Standing On Stare Decisis After Students For Fair Admissions, Areeb Asif, Lindsey Roloff

Northwestern University Law Review

The Supreme Court recognized nearly half a century ago in Regents of the University of California v. Bakke that “the ‘nation’s future depends upon leaders trained through wide exposure’ to the ideas and mores of students as diverse as this Nation of many peoples.” Nevertheless, the Court seriously undercut efforts to bring such a future to life by striking down race-conscious admissions programs in Students for Fair Admissions, Inc. v. President and Fellows of Harvard College and Students for Fair Admissions, Inc. v. University of North Carolina (collectively SFFA). Though SFFA’s binding effect is limited to educational institutions, …

Crisis Convergence, Sarah Medina Camiscoli

Northwestern University Law Review

Progressive jurists and legal scholars have called the Supreme Court’s doctrine of colorblind constitutionalism that dismantled affirmative action in Students for Fair Admissions, Inc. v. President and Fellows of Harvard (SFFA) a crisis for constitutional democracy. However, scholars have not yet tended to students, particularly students mobilized for racial justice, to understand their interpretation of this race-evasive ideology and what insights those mobilized students might offer in this pivotal moment. Given the fact that a small coalition of dissenting conservative jurists, scholars, and mobilized students—the Federalist Society—spent decades crafting the doctrine, scholarship, and resources that drive colorblind constitutionalism …

Toward A Perpetual Practice Of Affirmative Action, Sheldon Bernard Lyke

Northwestern University Law Review

Despite perceptions that affirmative action is “dead” following the Supreme Court ruling in Students for Fair Admissions, Inc. v. President and Fellows of Harvard College (SFFA), this Essay argues that affirmative action remains crucial for addressing racial bias in admissions processes. This Essay examines the strict scrutiny standard, which requires that any use of race must serve a compelling government interest and be narrowly tailored to achieve that interest. Courts have interpreted the narrowly tailored prong of this standard to include a logical end point requirement, which mandates that race-conscious measures must have a clear and limited …

Constitutional Futurisms, Jeremiah Chin

Northwestern University Law Review

How do we reckon with the past? The Supreme Court’s recent embrace of originalism as a mode of constitutional analysis relies almost exclusively on a view of history and tradition that would bind us to an understanding of principles and ideals that legitimized the exclusion of minority voices. Cases such as New York State Pistol and Rifle Ass'n v. Bruen use flavors of originalism as a framework to define rights and governmental powers through their historical antecedents, but this broad standard of interpretation is notably absent in the Court’s recent discussions of histories and traditions of racism in the United …

Infrastructure Equality, Deborah N. Archer, Yuvraj Joshi

Northwestern University Law Review

The United States’ racialized geographies have left communities of color with systematically inferior essential infrastructure that perpetuates their social and economic exclusion. From roads, public transportation, and sewage systems, to banks, high-speed internet, and high-quality public schools, people and communities of color have limited access to the fundamental infrastructure necessary to lead socially and economically vibrant lives. This Essay introduces “infrastructure equality” as a unifying framework to address the critical intersection of physical, social, and legal infrastructures that feed racial inequality. Drawing on multidisciplinary research, it argues that infrastructure—the interconnected and vital system of physical structures, networks, and social institutions—should …

Reforming The Indian Bar: The Limits Of Technological Solutions, Varsha Aithala, Karthik Suresh

Articles

A majority of Indians do not have effective access to legal services, despite the constitutional promise of access to justice. There are two intertwined reasons for this: the unavailability of a sufficient number of good quality lawyers, and the high costs of accessing legal services. The Indian legal profession is highly unequal, with ‘prestige’ being the currency of upward professional mobility. The professional regulator, the Bar Council of India, simply lacks the capacity to regulate quality. As a consequence, clients lack the information to access lawyers, and to understand the outcomes they desire from them, and the fees they have …

Law School News : Spotlight On Trial Advocacy With Jamie Gau, L'16 : Alum And Adjunct Professor Reflects On The Strengths Of Rwu Law's Trial Advocacy Program 08-25-2025, Helga Melgar

Life of the Law School (1993- )

No abstract provided.

In The Pursuance Of A Robust Legal Framework To Address Deepfake Harms: An Analysis Of The Indian Legal Discourse, Jyothsna Gurumurthy

Indian Journal of Law and Technology

A common issue we face in the field of law and technology is the constant game of catch-up that the law is required to play to keep up with advances in technology. Deepfake Technology (primarily based on generative adversarial networks, as explored in this article) exemplifies this game of catch-up and provides a fertile ground for academics and regulators/law makers to explore and understand what it means for a technology regulating law or rule to be robust and enforceable. By examining the judicial handling of deepfake claims within a publicity rights discourse in India, this article suggests the adoption of …

The Impact Of Mental Health Courts On Public Attitudes Held Toward Justice-Involved Individuals With Mental Illness, Maeve Porter

Student Theses

Prior research has established that mental health court programs play an important role in reducing recidivism and mental health symptoms of defendants. However, there is a lack of understanding of the stigma that justice-involved individuals may encounter upon release from mental health court into the community, and the extent to which the general public is aware of mental health court programs. The present study sought to address public perceptions regarding mental health courts, their efficacy, and their participants based on the awareness and availability of these specialized courts in two similar states (New York and New Jersey), one in which …

August 2025 Annual Report, Perlmutter Center For Legal Justice At Cardozo Law

Perlmutter Center Reports

The August 2025 Annual Report documents the Perlmutter Center for Legal Justice’s work at Cardozo Law during Spring and Summer 2025, highlighting major legal victories, partnerships, student clinical programs, policy advocacy, community outreach, and staff achievements. Prepared for The Laura and Isaac Perlmutter Foundation, it details the Center’s efforts to address wrongful convictions, challenge flawed forensic science, expand pro bono collaborations, and advance criminal justice reform, while also providing staff updates, financial information, and program impact summaries.

A Framework For Interpreting Emojis In Legal Contexts, Anne Merritt

Dalhousie Journal of Legal Studies

In the 2023 case of South West Terminal Ltd. v. Achter Land & Cattle Ltd., a Saskatchewan court found that a thumbs-up emoji, as a standalone item of communication, constituted the acceptance of a contract between a buyer and seller. The trial judge noted that such communication was “the new reality in Canadian society” for which courts should be prepared to interpret novel units of language arising in the digital age. However, an analysis of recent Canadian cases involving emojis shows that courts have not been prepared, with inconsistencies in how emojis are represented in evidence, how they are …

27th Annual Open Government Summit: Your Guide To The Access To Public Records Act & Open Meetings Act (Powerpoint Slides) 08-01-2025, Attorney General State Of Rhode Island

School of Law Conferences, Lectures & Events

No abstract provided.

Changemakers : Camille Capraro : Juris Doctorate : Working For The Ocean State's Future 08-2025, Roger Williams University School Of Law

Life of the Law School (1993- )

No abstract provided.

Ai In The Judiciary: The Singapore Case, Nydia Remolina Leon

Research Collection Yong Pung How School Of Law

This paper examines the integration of Artificial Intelligence (AI) within the judicial system of Singapore. Singapore's judiciary has embraced AI not as a tool for adjudication, but as an augmentative instrument for legal research, procedural efficiency, and access to justice. It provides a detailed account of AI use cases in the courts, including case summarization, evidence review, assistance for selfrepresented litigants, and tools like the Divorce Assets Informative Division Estimator. The discussion then turns to the legal profession, exploring how law firms in Singapore are adopting AI technologies. The paper also addresses how AI implementation in the judicial system is …

Cross-Talk, Alicia Bannon, John Q. Barrett, Tyler Rose Clemons, Wilfred U. Codrington Iii, Mark C. Niles

St. John's Law Review

(Excerpt)

John Q. Barrett (“JQB”)

We now enter the exciting segment of the program called cross-talk.

Tyler Rose Clemons (“TRC”)

One of the things that this conversation has brought up for me is whom is the Court overturning precedent on behalf of? What interest? Whose interest is it that the Court is acting to vindicate when it says we got it wrong before, and it is so important that we get it right that we are willing to take this supposedly drastic remedy of overturning our own precedent?

What I was thinking about immediately during Judge Livingston’s remarks was West …