Human Rights Law Commons^™

Keynote Address: The Movement To Protect Kids From Addictive Technologies, Gaia Bernstein

Seattle University Law Review

In this keynote address, I describe my personal journey starting with a school outreach program I created in 2017 to address technology overuse among kids. While I initially advocated for self-help methods, I grew to recognize that the tech industry bore responsibility. This realization led me to write Unwired: Gaining Control over Addictive Technologies, which focused on collective action to pressure the tech industry to redesign its addictive products.

I then describe the movement to control addictive technologies and protect kids, which has gained momentum since the end of the pandemic. This movement combines grassroots parent activism with legal-political action. …

Moral Panic Or Public Health Crisis? Lessons From Drugs And Gambling For “Addictive” Design, Matthew B. Lawrence, Haomin (Kevin) Yan

Seattle University Law Review

Alcohol, automobiles, guns, lottery, loot boxes, meat, music, opioid painkillers, processed foods, prop bets, slot machines, television, tobacco, violent video games. Over the last century each of these has been subject to concerns—some might even say “moral panics”—from parents and policymakers about avoidable harms to kids and adults. In some cases we look back with the benefit of hindsight and dismiss those concerns as naïve or moralistic. In others we look back at them as justified or as having come too late to check an expanding industry before it did unfathomable harm while growing so powerful that it became all …

Responding To Digital Addiction, Ned Snow

Seattle University Law Review

In Unwired: Gaining Control over Addictive Technologies, Professor Gaia Bernstein calls our attention to the growing problem of digital addiction. Digital addiction may sound like something out of a science-fiction novel or something that does not raise the same sort of real-life practical concerns as are present in a physical health crisis or an economic decline. But as Bernstein presents the evidence, we learn that the consequences of digital addiction can be just as harmful as a serious disease or a financial depression. Cognitive development disorders, anxiety, emotional depression, social isolation, and other mental health ills can be debilitating—as much …

The Ai Doppelgänger Dilemma: Cloned Voices In The Music Industry, Elizabeth Shields

Seattle University Law Review

With the rise of generative artificial intelligence (AI), there has been an influx of “voice clones”—deep-learning algorithms that create synthetic speech to realistically mimic human voices. Celebrities and, in particular, music artists, have been subjected to the proliferation of AI voice clones on social media platforms like TikTok and streaming platforms such as Spotify. Despite music utilizing AI voice clones having amassed much popularity, this technology can be harmful and highly invasive to musicians whose livelihoods often depend on their distinct voices. While legal scholars have attempted to articulate various rights that could protect a person’s voice, individuals are largely …

Let The Sunshine In: Crafting Constitutional Transparency Regulations For Content Moderation, Caitlin Ring Carlson

Seattle University Law Review

In response to public concern about the impact of social media, legislators in some U.S. states have developed laws to regulate the process of content moderation. Many include mandatory transparency and disclosure requirements, some of which courts have already deemed an unconstitutional infringement on social media platforms’ right to free expression. This article explores the parameters for crafting constitutional social media transparency regulations using existing U.S. media policy and insights from recent legal challenges. The resulting analysis identifies content neutral transparency requirements that mandate the disclosure of purely factual, non-controversial information as those most likely to withstand judicial scrutiny. Specifically, …

This Is Not A Game: The Addictive Allure Of Digital Companions, Nizan Geslevich Packin, Karni Chagal-Feferkorn

Seattle University Law Review

Artificial Intelligence (AI) agents have become an inescapable part of modern childhood, reshaping education, leisure activities, entertainment, and social interaction. From AI-powered tutors that adapt to individual learning styles to emotionally responsive chatbots that simulate human companionship, these systems promise unprecedented personalization, cognitive stimulation, and social support. However, these benefits mask significant risks that remain unregulated and inadequately addressed.

Although adults are also susceptible to forming deep emotional bonds with AI companions—often trusting them as if they possessed genuine understanding and empathy—children are particularly vulnerable. Their misplaced trust can more severely distort social development, weaken critical thinking, and foster unhealthy …

Mapping State Reactions To The Icc Arrest Warrants For Netanyahu And Gallant, Rebecca Ingber

Online Publications

On Thursday, the International Criminal Court (ICC) announced it had issued arrest warrants for Benjamin Netanyahu, the Prime Minister of Israel, and Yoav Gallant, the former defense minister, in connection with alleged crimes committed in the ongoing armed conflict between Israel and Hamas. In doing so, the Court rejected as premature Israel’s challenge to the Court’s jurisdiction. The Court’s decision to issue a warrant for the sitting Prime Minister of a state, which is notably not a party to the Rome Statute, also demonstrates the Court’s embrace of its prior controversial decision on immunity, namely that customary international law does …

Seeking The Cayuse Five: Imagining Reparations And Reconciliation In Oregon, Kukin Program For Conflict Resolution, Cardozo Law Institute In Holocaust And Human Rights (Clihhr), Michael Moffitt, Roberta Conner

2025 Event Invitations

In the mid-1840s, American settlers flocked westward on the Oregon Trail, unknowingly bringing with them measles and other foreign diseases to which the Cayuse peoples along the trail had no immunity. Hundreds of Cayuse children were brought to Narcissa and Marcus Whitman at the Whitman Mission for treatment, but ultimately these children could not be saved. In 1847, members of the Cayuse Tribe, acting under Cayuse law to dispose of false doctors (medicine men, or tewat), participated in an attack on the Presbyterian Whitman Mission in Walla Walla Washington, killing the Whitmans and eleven others. After a two-year pursuit, the …

From Deliberate Indifference To Civil Negligence: Protecting Male Prisoners From Sexual Violence In United States Prisons, Olivia Martini

Immigration and Human Rights Law Review

Sexual violence in United States prisons is a pervasive issue that disproportionately impacts male inmates, revealing systemic failures in the current legal framework designed to protect incarcerated individuals. The deliberate indifference standard, established by the United States Supreme Court, imposes an excessively high burden of proof on survivors, requiring evidence of prison officials’ subjective awareness of specific, substantial risks.

This article critiques the shortcomings of the deliberate indifference standard and proposes a civil negligence framework as a promising alternative. Grounded in an objective duty of care, a civil negligence approach emphasizes proactive measures that institutions must take to avoid liability. …

Post-Conviction Relief In Immigration Law: A Valid Solution Or Merely Perpetuating The Problem?, Will Gronefeld

Immigration and Human Rights Law Review

Immigration courts are underfunded and overwhelmed. Many noncitizens face challenges navigating the complex jurisprudence of immigration law, let alone successfully arguing their claims in court. As a result, the role of counsel takes on an even greater importance for noncitizens. However, no right to counsel exists for noncitizens. Many noncitizens who have built lives in America are deported due to difficulty navigating the complex field of immigration law on their own, not the merits of their claim. Post-conviction relief provides a legal avenue for noncitizens to challenge these decisions. This article explains the role of post-conviction relief, specifically claims of …

Children And Family Unity: The Unintended Effects Of The Unlawful Presence Bars, Shannon Conroy

Immigration and Human Rights Law Review

This Article examines the adverse consequences of the unlawful presence bars (ULP bars) on the fundamental right to family unity, with a particular focus on children as collateral victims. While the ULP bars intended to curb entering without inspection, they have had unintended and disproportionate effects on immigrant families, especially children. This Article argues that the ULP bars violate children’s right to family unity, highlighting the legal and social challenges that the bars impose on families. Further, this Article explores the severe challenges faced by families, including the effects on children’s well-being and the disproportionate impact on low-income and immigrant …

Environmental Injustice At Toxic Appalachian Prisons, Molly Baker

Immigration and Human Rights Law Review

In the United States, both federal and state governments continue to build prisons at toxic locations despite the serious health and safety hazards for prisoners. This Article discusses how the convergence of destructive and toxic mining operations with the rural prison boom in the Appalachian Mountain region has resulted in grave human rights violations at the hands of government actors. “Toxic prison siting,” the practice of constructing new prisons at toxic former mining sites, in Appalachia continues to violate the right to the highest attainable standard of physical and mental health as laid out in the International Covenant on Economic, …

The Human Right To Health And Medicine: What Does This Look Like For Taliban-Controlled Afghanistan?, Avery Anderson

Immigration and Human Rights Law Review

The human rights to health and medicine are fundamental components of international human rights law, guaranteed under a framework of international treaties which Afghanistan is bound to uphold. Despite Afghanistan’s ratification of key international agreements, the Taliban’s governance has severely restricted access to healthcare, particularly for women and girls. The situation in Taliban-controlled Afghanistan presents a complex and challenging context as the Taliban's actions contravene the right to the highest attainable standard of health, including access to essential medicines, as guaranteed under these treaties. This article assesses the international legal frameworks that protect these rights and highlights the challenges faced …

Gimme Shelter: The Right To Adequate Housing And Grants Pass V. Johnson, Meredith Mast

Immigration and Human Rights Law Review

In City of Grants Pass v. Johnson, the U.S. Supreme Court considered whether anti-camping ordinances—laws traditionally utilized to address homeless individuals taking up residence in public spaces—violated the Eighth Amendment’s prohibition on cruel and unusual punishment. The Court’s ruling that such laws are, in fact, constitutional calls into question previous commitments to homelessness elimination and prevention made by the United States at the international level. This Article seeks to explore that question by providing an overview of the right to adequate housing and the state of homelessness in the United States, analyzing the Court’s decision, and arguing that Grants …

Bringing Together The United Nations Convention On The Rights Of Persons With Disabilities And The Declaration On The Rights Of Indigenous Peoples In Canada, Constance Macintosh

Dalhousie Law Journal

This article explores the relationship between the United Nations Convention on the Rights of People with Disabilities (CRPD) and the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (UNDRIP) with regards to the situation of Indigenous persons with disabilities living in Canada. In particular, it considers how the obligations and responsibilities identified under the UNDRIP and the CRPD can be interpreted and realized in a manner that is complementary and may amplify the likelihood of the goals of each instrument being realized. An explicit goal is avoiding the exclusions and erasures which arise when single identity politics dominate, which …

Policing’S Free-Speech Problem, G. Alex Sinha

Utah Law Review

The central claim of this Article is that a significant share of typical policing activity is wildly and egregiously unconstitutional. More precisely, police regularly, predictably, and systematically violate the hardest, most settled core of free-speech law under the First Amendment. We have grown to tolerate these violations—we have not even noticed them!—because they are difficult to litigate. But they are inescapable. Having seen them, we cannot abide these violations without entirely overturning the modern understanding of free-speech rights under the First Amendment.

It is well-settled that, under the First Amendment, the government generally may not discriminate against (or in favor …

The Solidarity Spectrum: De-Solidarity, Anti-Solidarity, And Resistance, Obiora C. Okafor, Gabriella Sanchez, Sarah Soto

Articles & Book Chapters

In this essay, we examine legal and political challenges to solidarity with and among migrants. We begin by describing the disturbing and powerful turn toward de-solidarity, particularly in some Global North countries, that threatens to undermine the global refugee and migration law regime. Politicians seek to capitalize upon racial fears of migrants from the Global South to reject solidarity (with the latter group) as a concept and pursue anti-immigrant laws and policies. We next examine anti-solidarity, as shown by the criminalization of humanitarian assistance as migrant smuggling. Both de-solidarity and anti-solidarity operate through law and race to constrain human mobility …

Indigenous Communities Suffer Multi-Generational Trauma (“Susto”) From The Trafficking And Slavery Of Native Women And Children, Bill Piatt, Karagan Carson, Meghan Monahan, Makayla Perez

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

No abstract provided.

La Jurisdicción De La Corte Interamericana Para Revisar Judicialmente La Invalidez De La Denuncia A La Convención Americana Sobre Derechos Humanos Efectuada Por Venezuela En 2012 Bajo Los Estándares De La Convención De Viena Y La Opinión Consultiva Oc-26/20, Claudio Grossman, Carlos Ayala Corao, Juan Mendez, Claudia Martin, Robert Goldman, Gabriel J. Ortiz Crespo

Amicus Briefs & Court Filings

No abstract provided.

Town Hall On The Sustainable Development Goals And Racial Justice In Miami–Dade County, Tamar Ezer, Denisse Córdova Montes, Abigail L. Fleming, Lily Arslanian, Kristina Bergman, Jordan Brooks, Alexis Burns, Cassandra Hacker, Zoe Henderson, Estefania Hernandez, Alyssa Huffman, Photini Kamvisseli Suarez, Brianna Sanchez, Lakshmi Sanmuganathan, Gabrielle Thomas, Abigail Wettstein

University of Miami Race & Social Justice Law Review

No abstract provided.