Jurisdiction Commons^™

Applying The Indian Commerce Clause To Indian Commerce, Adam Crepelle

Northwestern University Law Review

Indian country commerce generates tens of billions of dollars annually and is a constant source of litigation. These disputes typically revolve around jurisdictional conflicts: whether states, tribes, or both possess regulatory authority over the business operating in Indian country, particularly those involving non-Indians. Despite numerous court cases, no clear legal framework has emerged, creating pervasive uncertainty regarding fundamental issues, such as state taxation of tribal transactions and the proper forum for resolving Indian country contract disputes. Interestingly, these commercial cases overlook the Indian Commerce Clause—the constitutional provision designed to address such matters.

This Article argues the Indian Commerce Clause prohibits …

From Pirates To Corporations: The Evolving Battleground Of The Alien Tort Statute, Marin Larkin

Notre Dame Journal of International & Comparative Law

No abstract provided.

From Dred Scott To Barbara: Birthright Citizenship, Racial Exclusion, And The Enduring Promise Of The Fourteenth Amendment, Jenna A. Milbrodt

CMC Senior Theses

The Fourteenth Amendment’s Citizenship Clause has guaranteed birthright citizenship to all children born in the United States for hundreds of years. Yet, President Trump’s January 20, 2025, executive order threatens to strip that right from children born to parents unlawfully in the country and temporary visitors. This order, if permitted to stand, would change the definition of US citizenship and render countless children stateless persons without citizenship rights. This paper examines whether birthright citizenship in the US, properly understood, extends to children of unlawful immigrants and temporary visitors. To answer this question, three time periods of change in citizenship rights …

Beyond Borders: Transnational Repression As A System Of Authoritarian Control In Russia, Kazakhstan, And Kyrgyzstan, Jasmine D. Cameron

Human Rights Brief

This Article examines transnational repression, state-sponsored persecution of citizens, human rights defenders, journalists, members of diaspora, and critical voices located outside physical borders, as a systemic tool of political control employed by Russia, Kazakhstan, and Kyrgyzstan. Based on analysis of legislation, published reports, UN Special Rapporteur findings, and case files, this Article provides three case studies that demonstrate different stages of an escalating trend towards transnational repression systems. From Kyrgyzstan, where the government has started to develop and implement harmful practices to persecute its citizens abroad, to a more established system in Kazakhstan, where numerous incidents of transnational repression showed …

The Justice For Victims Of War Crimes Act: A Dangerous Expansion Of Universal Jurisdiction To Non-International Armed Conflicts, Yuyan (Nicole) Zhang

Michigan Journal of International Law

Universal jurisdiction over war crimes committed in noninternational armed conflict (“NIACs”) has yet to develop a firm legal foundation under international law. The Justice for the Victims of War Crimes Act of 2023, however, amended the War Crimes Statute (18 U.S.C. § 2441) and extended universal jurisdiction to NIACs. This overreach risks infringing on the sovereignty of NIAC-affected states and destabilizing their ongoing peace processes. Many such states prioritize reconciliation through mechanisms like truth commissions over retributive justice through criminal trials. The prosecution of their nationals under U.S. law could undermine their sovereign decisions and unravel delicate efforts toward peace. …

Citators In The Ai Age: Preserving The Human Component Through Court-Created Citators, Cody B. James

Faculty Law Review Articles

Citators have long worked behind the scenes, shaping case law and influencing how judges and lawyers view precedent. Yet their creation has been the sole realm of private publishers. As artificial intelligence (AI) is further integrated into citators’ creation, the human role is at risk of being automated. This article examines citators’ influence over substantive law, the human-in-the-loop justifications for preserving human involvement in citators’ creation, and the argument for courts to produce their own citators. By reclaiming this function, the courts can help enhance their legitimacy and preserve the human role in creating structures of legal information in the …

How To Apply Hertz Corp. V. Friend In The Age Of Remote Work, John Andrikos

Catholic University Journal of Law and Technology

The widespread adoption of remote work in the United States has strained the workability of the nerve center test of Hertz Corp. v. Friend. This comment analyzes how federal courts have applied the nerve center test to fact patterns involving partially or fully remote corporations. Further, it proposes a novel solution to this jurisdictional problem: the Key Person Test.

New England Prop. Servs. Grp., Llc V. Vt. Mut. Ins. Co., 331 A.3d 730 (R.I. 2025)., Kayla Badstubner

Roger Williams University Law Review

No abstract provided.

Dokdo/Takeshima And Maritime Delimitation Between The Republic Of Korea And Japan: A Comment On Icj Dispute Resolution, Katherine Angell

Celebrating WCL Student Authors

The Republic of Korea (Korea) should agree to submit the issue of sovereignty over Dokdo/Takeshima and the issue of maritime delimitation in the East Sea/Sea of Japan to the International Court of Justice (ICJ) because the ICJ is likely to decide that Dokdo/Takeshima is Korean territory and the tensions in the East Sea/Sea of Japan can be resolved to allow further cooperation between the two nations. The ICJ is the primary avenue for peacefully resolving territorial and maritime delimitation disputes between nations, and the ICJ has developed a substantial body of case law analyzing these issues. The ICJ considers various …

A Direct Path Should Be Easy To Follow: Reframing The “Direct Effect” Test For Jurisdictional Immunity Under The Foreign Sovereign Immunities Act, Greggory Cashmark

Vanderbilt Law Review

As sovereign nations become more involved in international commercial dealings, it becomes more important to establish a reliable and stable framework for resolving disputes with foreign sovereigns. The FSIA is the result of a long historical trend towards establishing that framework. While the FSIA is a step in the right direction, there are a number of interpretive questions regarding where it places the boundaries of a court's jurisdiction over foreign sovereign activity. While these questions remain open and while courts continue to find reasons to keep them open, they undermine the principal purpose of the FSIA: predictability. There is no …

Law Library Blog (January 2026): Legal Beagle's Blog Archive, Roger Williams University School Of Law

Law Library Newsletters/Blog

No abstract provided.

Much Ado About Misjoinder: An Alternative To Fraudulent Misjoinder To Preserve Defendants’ Right To Removal In Pharmaceutical And Medical Device Products Liability Cases, Alexander Flaum

Cardozo Law Review

Unresolved questions surrounding the contours of the fraudulent misjoinder doctrine have understandably led to reluctance by courts to adopt it, despite its utility in protecting defendants’ access to federal court. This is particularly troubling in the context of pharmaceutical and medical device products liability cases. It is common in these actions for plaintiffs, whose only connection is having consumed a particular pharmaceutical product at different points in time and for different durations, to strategically join in one action to defeat complete diversity and prevent removal to federal court. However, federal courts are not powerless to prevent such procedural gamesmanship. By …

When The Internet Attacks, Craig Cowie

Cardozo Law Review

Courts have struggled with applying personal jurisdiction in cases involving intentional torts where the defendants act outside the forum, and the problem is particularly apparent and acute when the defendants use the internet to commit the tort. For example, is there jurisdiction when a defendant doxxes someone and calls for violence? What if they leave a bad Yelp review? Or tweet a defamatory statement? Courts have used many tests for determining whether personal jurisdiction is appropriate in these situations, but there has been relatively little recent scholarship on whether these tests are appropriate for analyzing personal jurisdiction in these contexts. …

This Land Is Our Land: Creating Abortion Safe-Havens In Federal Enclaves Using The Nondelegation Doctrine, Callie Fucarino

American University Journal of Gender, Social Policy & the Law

In a post-Dobbs world, the legal status of abortion care is in the hands of the states. Healthcare providers and people seeking abortion care must either take legal risks or betray their morals and oath to care for their patients to follow the law in certain restrictive states. What remains in flux is the status of abortion rights on federal lands. There is currently no federal law that criminalizes abortion, but many states prohibit it. Within some states that have restricted abortion, there lie federal enclaves—certain specified land that the United States government owns, where federal law controls. At first …

International Law Duties Not To Recognize, Not To Assist, And To Cooperate Against Peremptory Norms (Jus Cogens) Violations,, Diane A. Desierto

Journal Articles

Peremptory norms (jus cogens) are the highest norms of international law. When these norms are violated, all States and international organizations have, at a minimum, three international legal duties to discharge while the violation is occurring: (1) the duty of non-recognition, where no State or international organization should recognize the situation caused by the violation; (2) the duty of non-assistance, where no State or international organization should render any aid or assistance to maintain this situation caused by the violation; and (3) the duty of cooperation, where all States and international organizations should cooperate to bring the violation to an …

The Inconvenience Doctrine, Alexi Pfeffer-Gillett

BYU Law Review

In a nation of stark inequalities, the Roberts Court is often portrayed as siding with the wealthy and powerful. Many scholars argue that the Court has abandoned legal principles altogether and instead simply chooses winners and losers based on the conservative majority’s political agenda. Meanwhile, scholarly examinations of the legal reasoning underlying the Court’s most impactful decisions are largely confined to specific subject areas. Such compartmentalized analyses, though, overlook broader patterns in the Court’s rulings that transcend substantive legal boundaries.

This Article bridges the gap in these parallel conversations by connecting the Roberts Court’s reasoning across many legal fields with …

Standing In The Dark, Sharon Brett

BYU Law Review

Demonstrating standing for injunctive relief in § 1983 police misconduct cases is undisputedly difficult for civil rights plaintiffs. Under City of Los Angeles v. Lyons, plaintiffs seeking injunctions must present more than evidence of past misconduct; they must show a significant ongoing risk that they will experience the same misconduct again. Scholarly attention to Lyons has focused primarily on doctrinal errors in the Court’s legal analysis, and for good reason. But the case raises another important yet overlooked question: Can civil rights plaintiffs realistically demonstrate risk of future harm given (a) the limited data kept by law enforcement about their …

Rules Of Decision, Judicial Power, And The Valid Rule Requirement, John Harrison

Catholic University Law Review

Some current Supreme Court debates that concern seemingly specialized issues raise fundamental questions about the role of the Constitution in the legal system and the role of the courts when they decide constitutional issues. In recent years, Justice Thomas has suggested that the doctrines of First Amendment overbreadth, so-called third-party standing in cases involving constitutional liberty, and statutory inseverability call on federal courts to exceed their role under Article III. Justice Thomas maintains that when courts apply those doctrines, the courts decide cases not before them. Building on the work of Professor Henry Monaghan, this article argues that those concerns …

Facial Challenges, Remedies, And The Judicial Power, Natalie R. Schmidt

Catholic University Law Review

The Supreme Court has long maligned facial, as opposed to as-applied, challenges to the constitutionality of statutes, warning that they are disfavored and difficult to win. But recently, in his separate opinion in Moody v. NetChoice, LLC, Justice Thomas has launched a stronger attack: facial challenges are improper exercises of the judicial power. Facial challenges, he asserted, require courts to go beyond the case or controversy before them, improperly distort standing doctrine, and thus violate Article III of the U.S. Constitution.

This Symposium Piece addresses Justice Thomas’s charge head on, arguing that facial challenges do not implicate the judicial …

Rethinking Judicial Power & Remedial Restraint, Caprice L. Roberts

Catholic University Law Review

This Article maintains that groundbreaking Supreme Court cases reshaping judicial power and restraint are frequently remedies centric. The much- anticipated ruling in Trump v. CASA illustrates this correlation. Interpreting traditional equity, the Supreme Court circumscribed federal judicial power to issue universal relief. The Court relied on Marbury v. Madison to bolster its reasoning on the limits of judicial power. Ironically, both cases denied any remedy while enhancing the potential for future judicial power. Whether via judicial review and supremacy power or the Court’s future ability to now be the only federal court able to issue universal remedies—the Court’s role in …