State and Local Government Law Commons^™

Who Decides The Dead? Interpreting Washington’S Disposition Of Remains Statute, Wyatt Young

Seattle University Law Review

Washington’s disposition-of-remains statute, RCW 68.50.160, is designed to honor a decedent’s expressed wishes regarding the control and disposition of their body after death. Yet recent litigation reveals a critical gap between the statute’s intent-centered design and its practical enforceability. In Larotonda v. Blackburn, a trial court acknowledged that irreparable harm would occur if a decedent’s burial wishes were ignored but nonetheless denied relief on the grounds that the individual designated to carry out those wishes lacked standing. The result was a legal paradox: a statute that recognizes decedent autonomy in theory but withholds any meaningful mechanism for its enforcement …

Legal Malpractice In Washington: Use Of The Rules Of Professional Conduct, Angelo Tadrous

Seattle University Law Review

Legal malpractice claims are difficult to prove. They are difficult to prove because many jurisdictions require that a plaintiff prove that, but for the lawyer’s misconduct, the client would have fared better. Thus, in a malpractice suit, a plaintiff must try a case within a case. Despite this difficulty, many jurisdictions prohibit the use of the Rules of Professional Conduct when litigating a malpractice case. Washington State is one of these jurisdictions. The Washington Supreme Court held in Hizey v. Carpenter that the Rules of Professional Conduct may not be referred to during trial. This Note argues that this prohibition …

Converting Buildings Is Hard: Why Seattle’S Municipal Government Should Streamline Commercial-To-Residential Conversions, Tyler M. King

Seattle University Law Review

The conversion of commercial buildings into housing is a promising solution to the growing housing crisis in many urban areas. However, despite its potential benefits, the process of repurposing commercial spaces is often stymied by complex zoning codes, high conversion costs, and bureaucratic hurdles. This Article argues that the local and state governments in Seattle should adopt more streamlined policies and offer greater incentives to developers to facilitate these conversions. By reforming zoning regulations and providing targeted financial support, municipalities can reduce the barriers to conversion and unlock the potential of underutilized commercial properties. This article examines the legal and …

Legislature Of The State Of Nevada V. Elko County, 142 Nev. Adv. Op. 57 (Aug. 20, 2026), Lillian Fitzpatrick

Nevada Supreme Court Summaries

In Legislature of the State of Nevada v. Elko County, the Nevada Supreme Court struck down a school-funding tax mandate whose population range fit exactly one county—holding that a statute need not name Elko County to target it.

State Legislatures: Guardians Of The Federal Balance, Practical Strategies For Monitoring, Strengthening, And Sustaining American Federalism (Remarks), Christian G. Fritz

Faculty Scholarship

My remarks today are drawn from my book, Monitoring American Federalism: The History of State Legislative Resistance, and from an essay I wrote this year for the Center for the Study of Federalism about the responsibility of state legislators to sound the alarm when the federal government overreaches its constitutional authority.

Appeal No.1077: Chief Capital (O&G) Ii, Llc. V. Division Of Oil & Gas Resources Management And Ascent Resources - Utica, Llc, Ohio Oil & Gas Commission

Ohio Oil & Gas Commission Decisions

Review of Chief's Order 2026-203

Appeal No.1076: Chief Capital (O7g) Ii, Llc, Et Al. V. Division Of Oil & Gas Resources Management And Ascent Resources - Utica, Llc, Ohio Oil & Gas Commission

Ohio Oil & Gas Commission Decisions

Review of Chief's Orders 2026-185, 2026-194, and 2026-200

Appeal No.1066: Lucky Land Management, Llc V. Division Of Oil & Gas Resources Management And Eog Resources, Inc., Ohio Oil & Gas Commission

Ohio Oil & Gas Commission Decisions

Review of Chief's Orders 2025-405 , and 2025-416

Appeal No.1065: Lucky Land Management, Llc V. Division Of Oil & Gas Resources Management And Eog Resources, Inc., Ohio Oil & Gas Commission

Ohio Oil & Gas Commission Decisions

Review of Chief's Orders 2025-405 , and 2025-416

Appeal No.1071: Desert Gold Oli & Gas, Llc, Et Al. V. Division Of Oil & Gas Resources Management And Ascent Resources - Utica, Llc, Ohio Oil & Gas Commission

Ohio Oil & Gas Commission Decisions

Review of Chief's Orders 2026-76 and 2026-85

Appeal No.1074: Chief Capital (O7g) Ii, Llc, Et Al. V. Division Of Oil & Gas Resources Management And Ascent Resources - Utica, Llc, Ohio Oil & Gas Commission

Ohio Oil & Gas Commission Decisions

Review of Chief's Orders 2026-185, 2026-194, and 2026-200

Appeal No.1075: Chief Capital (O7g) Ii, Llc, Et Al. V. Division Of Oil & Gas Resources Management And Ascent Resources - Utica, Llc, Ohio Oil & Gas Commission

Ohio Oil & Gas Commission Decisions

Review of Chief's Orders 2026-185, 2026-194, and 2026-200

Appeal No.1070: Desert Gold Oli & Gas, Llc, Et Al. V. Division Of Oil & Gas Resources Management And Ascent Resources - Utica, Llc, Ohio Oil & Gas Commission

Ohio Oil & Gas Commission Decisions

Review of Chief's Orders 2026-76 and 2026-85

The Separation Of Election Contest Powers, Casey Parker-Bell

Kentucky Law Journal

No abstract provided.

States Strip Local Governments Of Authority To Govern Causing Some Rural Communities To Suffer, Terence J. Centner

Kentucky Law Journal

No abstract provided.

Who Controls The Block? How States Can Regulate Tokenized Residential Real Estate, David J. Reiss, Joseph Bizub, Justin Peralta

Cornell Law Faculty Working Papers

In July 2025, the City of Detroit filed a major nuisance abatement action against RealT, a fintech that had sold blockchain-based fractional interests in more than four hundred Detroit rental properties to some 22,000 investors around the world. Within a year, a court had ordered the company’s rents into escrow, the company had conceded to its investors that its “model no longer works,” and it had announced the liquidation of its portfolio -- leaving tenants without basic services and token holders facing steep losses.

This article uses the rise and collapse of RealT, together with case studies of the other …

Acting Under Scrutiny: The Limits Of Federal-Officer Removal In Attorney General Of New Jersey V. Dow Chemical Company, Justin W. Berge

Villanova Environmental Law Journal (1991 - )

No abstract provided.

Drawing A Line In The Mud: The Fifth Circuit's Narrow Reading Of Louisiana's Infrastructure Trespass Statute In White Hat V. Murrill, Andrew J. Lloyd

Villanova Environmental Law Journal (1991 - )

No abstract provided.

Resiliency Planning And The Reorganization Of Legal Authority In Rural Maine, Nicholas F. Jacobs, Skylar Thielbar

Maine Law Review

Resiliency has become a dominant and largely unchallenged organizing principle of contemporary state-local governance in Maine, particularly as it affects rural towns and communities dependent on extractive industries. This Article argues that resiliency planning is not merely a policy orientation, but a distinct form of legal authority, which operates through an administrative structure that is closed off to normal channels of political accountability and judicial review. Focusing on Maine, the Article shows how statewide resiliency planning reallocates authority across state and local institutions, shaping fiscal access and territorial development without triggering the doctrinal safeguards of public law. Rural governance, where …

Betschart V. Oregon: A Seven-Day Standard For Maine, Henry Gates

Maine Law Review

Maine lacks a clear standard for ensuring the right to counsel for indigent defendants. The State’s public defense system is struggling to meet Maine’s constitutional mandate: To provide indigent defense services in rural areas and across the state. An aging bar with few new attorneys working in rural areas—where there are often higher relative prosecution rates and a corresponding increased need for legal services—is contributing to the problem. This has resulted in a legal system that negatively impacts rural communities and indigent defendants to the point that one court concluded the state is violating the Sixth Amendment. Following the Ninth …