Legislation Commons^™

Selected Artificial Intelligence Provisions In U.S. Fiscal Year 2025 National Defense Authorization Act, Bert Chapman

Libraries Faculty and Staff Presentations

The 2025 Fiscal Year National Defense Authorization Act contains multiple provisions relating to artificial intelligence (AI). These congressionally mandated provisions direct various sections of the Department of Defense (DOD) and individual U.S. armed service branches to execute congressional intent for AI policymaking. Examples of such intent include identifying and planning DOD's AI workforce, demonstrating AI biotechnology applications for national security, improving the human usability of AI systems, and establishing an AI security center. This presentation will note that reports on these initiatives must be prepared for relevant congressional oversight committees, and, in many cases, are in many cases, publicly released …

New York City Misses The Exit To Traffic Safety, Joseph Caffrey

Capstones

New York City Misses the Exit to Traffic Safety investigates New York City’s mounting traffic violence crisis through the lens of a devastating crash that killed a Brooklyn mother and her two daughters. It examines the city’s inconsistent enforcement of reckless driving and the failure of the Dangerous Vehicle Abatement Program (DVAP), which aimed to reform recidivist speeders. The piece investigates the imperfections of Vision Zero, public backlash to automated enforcement, and the broader failure to prevent recidivist speeding. It also explores policy alternatives like Intelligent Speed Assistance (ISA), highlighting legislative efforts to revive accountability and save lives, while advocating …

Redefining The Scope Of Anti-Discrimination Law: Illuminating Colorism As A Basis For Discrimination Claims By Black Entertainers, Tolulope F. Odunsi-Nelson

Brooklyn Law Review

This Article critically examines the pervasive issue of colorism within the entertainment industry and its profound impact on dark-skinned Black entertainers. Anti-Black colorism is discrimination against Black people with darker skin tones and Afrocentric features (i.e. darker eye color, kinkier hair, broader nose, fuller lips). Tracing the historical roots of colorism from the colonial era to contemporary times, the Article emphasizes how societal preferences for Eurocentric features and anti-Black racism have created and perpetuated a hierarchy that disadvantages darker-skinned individuals. It analyzes the underrepresentation and pay disparities faced by dark-skinned Black actors and actresses. It details the industry’s preference for …

Blueprints For The Gilded Age Of Borrowing: Theorizing Mutually Beneficial Policies For The Golden Age Of Private Credit, Sam Friedman

Brooklyn Law Review

Through financial ingenuity, lending practices often generate an indirect yet significant impact on the average person’s finances. Relatedly, the 2007–2008 Financial Crisis revealed the profound and far-reaching consequences attributable to risky lending. Congress sought to curb lenders’ risk appetite by passing the Dodd-Frank Act, legislation which commissioned new, industry-specific oversight bodies. However, this legislative antidote had a side effect: it engendered a new class of borrowers—those precluded, based on a variety of risk diagnostics, from obtaining capital from the most popular lenders. But when the conventional borrowing doors closed, private lending markets opened in earnest. Since the Covid-19 pandemic, growth …

A Yellow Light For New York’S Red Flag Law In Criminal Prosecutions: Contextualizing The Fruits Of New York Extreme Risk Protection Orders, Isabella Glassman

Brooklyn Law Review

Public concern over gun violence grabs the news headlines, highlighting mass shootings at schools and suicide rates, amongst other gun-related problems. Twenty-three states in the United States turned to red flag laws to proactively address these gun violence issues. New York is one such state. The crux of New York’s Red Flag Law is the extreme risk protection order (ERPO), which is a civil court order that prevents respondents to ERPO proceedings from possessing or attempting to possess a firearm, rifle, or shotgun for up to one year. This civil court order, however, could slip into the realm of criminal …

America’S Rampant Gun Epidemic: How 3d Printers Are Only Adding Fuel To The Fire, Haley Lustbader

Journal of Law and Policy

The assassination of the United Healthcare CEO in December of 2024 captivated national attention, specifically over the killer’s use of a homemade three dimensional (“3D”) printed gun. The use of 3D printing poses a breadth of opportunity for useful and valuable innovation across a variety of fields, such as allowing advancements in medical technology. However, with technology expansion comes associated risk and, in this case, that risk is the potential for increased presence of illegal firearms. Anyone with access to a 3D printer can download the necessary files and print weapon parts to create their own unregistered, untraceable firearms, including …

Unveiling The Underbelly Of Artificial Intelligence: The Inadequacies Of The Legal System With Regard To Victims Of Nonconsensual Sexual Deepfakes, Zilana Lee

Journal of Law and Policy

Artificial intelligence-powered deepfake technology has ushered a new era of digital sexual abuse, allowing for the seamless fabrication of explicit images that violate bodily autonomy with alarming realism. With little more than a photograph scraped from social media, individuals can use AI tools to fabricate hyper-realistic nude images and pornographic videos of people without their consent. These nonconsensual sexual deepfakes are rapidly spreading online, often going viral before victims are even aware of their existence. The technology can affect anyone, but women and girls remain disproportionately targeted. Recent incidents involving minors highlight both the reach and severity of this harm. …

Shaping A More Equitable Election System: A Canadian Approach To Solving The Voting Rights Crisis In America, Michelle Gutowski

Journal of Law and Policy

In 1965, the Voting Rights Act was passed, ushering in a new era of voting freedom. The Act brought an end to many of the overtly discriminatory practices that had persisted for nearly two centuries. Over time, however, states began to introduce more subtle and complex voting regulations that gradually undermined the gains achieved through the civil rights movement. In 2021, the Supreme Court dismantled an essential safeguard for voters, significantly weakening the protections the Act once guaranteed. This erosion of protections is largely attributable to a single doctrinal standard within the Act, known as the totality of the circumstances …

Equal Pay, Unequal Opinions: Navigating The Ongoing Circuit Split On Prior Pay As An Affirmative Defense Under The Equal Pay Act, Emily G. Young

University of Cincinnati Law Review

No abstract provided.

Too Hot, Too Cold: The Search For Just-Right Platform Liability For Recommendation Algorithms, Hannah May

University of Cincinnati Law Review

No abstract provided.

Utilizing Equitable Remedies Via The Defend Trade Secrets Act's Extraterritorial Reach To Enforce Judgments Against Foreign Defendants, Marty Ishmael

University of Cincinnati Law Review

No abstract provided.

Ncaa Women Athletes And Nil Pay Disparities: Are They Students Under Title Ix, Employees Under Title Vii, Or Both?, Michael H. Leroy

University of Cincinnati Law Review

Title IX requires schools to eliminate gender disparities in financial benefits and publicity for athletes. This Article shows that men’s basketball players in major National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) conferences were paid an average of $171,272 in 2024, compared to $16,222 for women. Analysis of a prominent basketball program shows that it coordinates with its Name, Image, and Likeness (NIL) collective to monetize NIL donor access in favor of men.

This Article provides legal arguments to show that NIL pay disparities create Title IX liability for NCAA schools: (1) Congress intended Title IX to end sex discrimination against students, (2) …

Echoes Of Exclusion: The Underrepresentation Of Women In Congressional Testimony And Its Consequences For Judicial Decision-Making, Caroline L. Bruckner, Elizabeth Keith, Karen O'Connor, Collin A. Coil

ConLawNOW

Congressional hearing witnesses play a major role in the legislative process, providing information to committees to assist members and staff in crafting legislation. Recently, there has been increasing focus on the impact of congressional witnesses on legislative outcomes, executive implementation of federal statutes, and corresponding judicial decisions. This has raised questions as to the extent to which the underrepresentation of women and other marginalized groups as congressional witnesses can be measured and how their lack of representation translates to inequitable outcomes across all branches of government. This work explores the widespread use of congressional witness testimony in recent U.S. Supreme …

Imposing Restrictions On The First Step Act’S Retroactive Application To Vacated Sentences, Isabelle M. Carbajales, Lauren O’Neil Hamilton

University of Miami Law Review

The First Step Act has been called “the most significant criminal justice reform bill in a generation.” Until recently, the Eleventh Circuit had not weighed in on whether Section 403 of the First Step Act’s sentencing reforms applies to defendants whose initial sentences were vacated and who face resentencing after the Act’s enactment. On July 2, 2024, the Supreme Court agreed to squarely consider this issue, despite the Department of Justice siding with defendants yet calling the issue “shallow.” On July 8, 2024, the Eleventh Circuit held these defendants are not entitled to the benefits of the First Step Act …

Maine's Educational Television Network: Legal Difficulties, Charles L. Cragin Iii

Maine Law Review

Maine's educational television network (ETV) cannot pride itself in achieving broad goals and, in fact, cannot attempt to achieve them because of legislation of questionable legal validity which has become an anachronistic barrier to innovations consistent with a keener awareness of the utility of educational television. This note focuses on the state-controlled system servicing northern Maine and points out the conflicts between the system's enabling legislation and the manner in which the system currently operates, and between the enabling legislation and federal laws and regulations. Additionally, it recommends, in a statutory format, the manner in which the system should be …

The Farm Worker: His Need For Legislation, Susan Calkins

Maine Law Review

Of America's ignored and invisible people, the farm worker is one of the most ignored and least visible. He is hidden by the crops as he works his way down the endless rows. Far from the cities where the laws are made and the issues of the day are debated, his voice is not heard. He is vitally necessary to this well-fed nation, and yet his needs are seldom considered. The legislators have not ignored the industrial worker. They have provided him with laws insuring a minimum wage, workmen's compensation and other such benefits. The farm worker, however, is expressly …

Recent U.S. Government Policy Literature On Critical And Strategic Minerals, Bert Chapman

Libraries Faculty and Staff Scholarship and Research

Critical and strategic minerals have become increasingly important in U.S. government civilian and military policymaking in recent years. This is demonstrated by the heavy use of such minerals in many critical civilian and military infrastructures. This work will discuss how this subject has been addressed in laws, presidential documents, and works by government agencies along with congressional oversight committees and support agencies. It will stress how the United States is heavily dependent on strategic minerals from adversarial foreign countries such as China and will examine U.S. efforts to increase its ability to produce such materials in the United States by …

No Lawyer, No Jail: A Critical Case Study Of Pragmatism And The Flaws Of “Purposeful” Decision Making In Argersinger V. Hamlin, Alisa Smith, Sarah K. Stice

Seattle University Law Review

By releasing conference notes and internal communications, Supreme Court Justices provide insight into the otherwise private decisionmaking process, shedding light on how case outcomes and legal reasoning are framed and negotiated. The watershed case of Argersinger v. Hamlin (1972) extended the constitutional right to counsel to some, but not all, misdemeanor defendants. The case was argued twice, and the Court relied on empirical and authoritative sources to answer complex and practical questions about requiring counsel. This case study employs critical discourse analysis to uncover what influenced the Justices’ decisions and how they framed, shaped, and constructed social realities to foreground …

The Race To Erase: Destruction Of Government Documents Undermines Freedom-Of-Information Laws, Frank D. Lomonte

Seattle University Law Review

In August 2019, reporters with Chattanooga’s daily newspaper, the Times Free Press, filed what seemed to be a routine request for access to emails and other public records held by their local county government. The seemingly unremarkable request set the newspaper’s staff on a months-long journey of unpleasant surprises. The first was a demand to pay the county $717 in advance before being allowed to inspect the documents. The second was that—during prolonged haggling over the fee assessment— the county attorney’s office simply destroyed almost all of the disputed records. Third, and most glaringly, the journalists discovered that Tennessee law …

When You’Re Arrested For A Felony In Seattle, You’Ll Meet Me., Austin Field

Seattle University Law Review

In this Essay, Austin Field, a practicing public defender, uses a first-person perspective to describe what it is like to meet a criminal defendant for the first time. He explains the process from start to finish, detailing everything from the way he introduces himself to how bail works.

"I’ll ask you for your name. Most of the time, you tell me. I check your name against my list. On any given day I’m supposed to interview between five and fifteen people. I have a lot of questions for you. We only have about ten minutes."