State and Local Government Law Commons^™

Survey Of Recent Mandamus Decisions Of The Texas Supreme Court, Douglas S. Lang

SMU Annual Texas Survey

No abstract provided.

Real Property, J. Richard White, Amanda R. Grainger

SMU Annual Texas Survey

No abstract provided.

Power Struggle: The Disproportionate Burden State Surrogacy Requirements Impose Upon Women, Courtney Harper Turkington

William & Mary Journal of Race, Gender, and Social Justice

The use of gestational surrogacy as a means to grow a family is increasing each year as fertility rates decline and single individuals and same-sex couples seek to have children who are genetically related to them. The United States does not have a uniform law governing surrogacy, leaving states to enact their own. While twenty-four states in this country have passed legislation permitting surrogacy and twenty-four others allow surrogacy in practice, the vast majority of states impose laws or practices that unduly burden women. In particular, Louisiana has the most restrictive surrogacy regime in the country. The state’s gestational carrier …

"'Let's Not Go To Camelot, 'Tis Illegal'": History And Tradition In Discriminatory Charter School Policy Justifications: The Chivalry Edition, J.M. Long

William & Mary Journal of Race, Gender, and Social Justice

This Article will begin in Part I with an overview of charter schools in the United States and a brief history of charter school growth in the United States. Part II then turns to focus upon charter schools and their growth in the state of North Carolina, emphasizing their legal uniqueness in relation to the North Carolina Constitution.

Second, CDS’s [Charter Day School, Inc.] dress code included a restriction for girls only— girls were required to wear either a dress or skorts (a combination of shorts covered with a skirt). Girls were not permitted to wear pants or shorts. The …

The Reedy Creek Improvement District: A Comparative Analysis Underscoring The Problems In Hampering Special Districts, J. Patrick Moll

Dickinson Law Review (2017-Present)

In 2022, the Florida legislature passed a bill that removed the administration of the Reedy Creek Improvement District, the special district governing the Walt Disney World Resort. The bill replaced it with the Central Florida Tourism Oversight District. Governor Ron DeSantis hailed this legislation as a success in reigning in a corporation operating with unchecked and unprecedented levels of governmental authority. Since its inception, however, the replacement administration has contended with claims of ethical violations, inefficiency, and unconstitutional enactment. Before the repeal of the Walt Disney World special district, special districts themselves were not often present in the Nation’s everyday …

Booze, Bars, And Bias: Anti-Blackness In Liquor Licensing Enforcement, Angela E. Addae

Washington and Lee Law Review

This Article explores the disharmonious and disturbing influence of race in the enforcement of liquor licenses. Across the length and breadth of this nation, attentive Black revelers bear witness to an all-too-familiar trend signified by the disproportionately frequent closures of Black entertainment businesses. This Article argues that the punitive disposition toward Black entertainment businesses is not just a contemporary phenomenon; rather, it is a set of practices rooted in centuries of exclusion and regulatory abuse.

Over the past two centuries, state liquor licensing agencies have emerged as contentious battlegrounds where legal, social, and economic factors converge—often to the detriment of …

Recent Expansion Of Gubernatorial Emergency Powers To Address The Covid-19 Pandemic: Examining Applications For The Climate Crisis, Juliet Israel

William & Mary Environmental Law and Policy Review

With a particular focus on the states of California and Florida, this Note delves into the leadership roles assumed by governors when addressing the global COVID-19 pandemic, evaluates the applicability of this gubernatorial strategy to the climate crisis, and examines the criticisms and constitutional challenges to expanding gubernatorial emergency powers. Part I explores the core similarities and differences between the COVID-19 pandemic and climate change. Part II addresses the failure of federal and international policy responses to both the pandemic and climate change. Part III details the states’ use of gubernatorial emergency powers to respond to COVID-19. Part IV then …

State V. Brown, 314 A.3d 576 (R.I. 2024), Sarah Egan

Roger Williams University Law Review

No abstract provided.

Preserve At Boulder Hills, Llc V. Kenyon, 312 A.3d 475 (2024), Maximilian Schapfel

Roger Williams University Law Review

No abstract provided.

2024 Rhode Island Public Laws

Roger Williams University Law Review

No abstract provided.

State V. Ortiz, 317 A.3d 737 (R.I. 2024), Samantha Barnes

Roger Williams University Law Review

No abstract provided.

Who Decides: The Role Of Parental Rights In Abortion And Gender-Affirming-Care Decisions For Minors, Joanna L. Grossman

Faculty Journal Articles and Book Chapters

The American legal system presumes that children’s interests are best protected by their parents and, secondarily, by the state’s parens patriae authority. Yet this structure falters when parental authority and state power are infused with political and ideological agendas. This Essay examines how these dynamics have distorted decision-making authority in two contexts—minors’ access to abortion and gender-affirming medical care—and allowed children’s welfare and autonomy to be sacrificed to partisan aims. The law is inconsistent on the role of parental rights—typically empowering parents to grant or withhold consent to a minor’s abortion but categorically stripping them of the power to consent …

The Impact Of Covid-19 Pandemic Demands On By-Law Officer Wellness And Work, Harveen Randhawa

Theses and Dissertations (Comprehensive)

This research sheds light on how the rapid demand to enforce transitioning pandemic-related (and reopening) mandates impacts the wellness of bylaw officers in the context of resource strain. Ontario bylaw officers are at the forefront of the province’s response, enforcing lockdown rules to ensure community safety. This research is imperative in understanding how bylaw officers maintain their roles in municipal enforcement, while enforcing rapidly shifting COVID-19 regulations and moving forward into a post-lockdown climate. The research focuses on identifying and understanding the demands and resources that currently typify bylaw officers working in Southern Ontario. It further examines how the COVID-19 …

Addressing Witness Coaching By Cross-Examination, Gregory C. Sisk

St. Mary's Journal on Legal Malpractice & Ethics

In preparing a witness, may a lawyer script the testimony by taking the witness through repeated rehearsals to fabricate a narrative in the form directed by the lawyer and to use words that the lawyer suggests are more favorable for the represented party? Suppose the lawyer believes a suggestion to the witness regarding the specific substance or word choice of testimony does not introduce a falsehood but rather produces a more favorable spin on the witness narrative. May the lawyer justify that shaping of testimonial content as legitimate zealous representation of a client?

Given that any such suggestion by the …

Our Ai, Ourselves: Illuminating The Human Fears Animating Early Regulatory Responses To The Use Of Generative Ai In The Practice Of Law, Margaret Raymond

St. Mary's Journal on Legal Malpractice & Ethics

Generative artificial intelligence is changing the way lawyers work, and with those changes have come questions and concerns about how it should be regulated. Those questions and concerns, particularly on the individual level, are driven by fears about the implications of the use of generative AI. This Article identifies and explores the fears that drive these regulatory responses: fear of exposing judicial fallibility, anxiety over AI replacing human lawyers, and concerns about missing out on AI’s potential benefits. Ultimately, effective regulation of the use of generative AI in legal practice needs to be attentive to the fears and hopes surrounding …

Trading Places: An Education For Legal Employers: A View From The Perspective Of A New Generation Of Legal Talent, Michele N. Struffolino

St. Mary's Journal on Legal Malpractice & Ethics

Most lawyers remember the stress associated with walking into their first job interview. The goal being to get the interviewer to “pick me.” Today, legal employers need to be prepared to be more of the interviewee than the interviewer in the hiring process. Over the past few decades, much focus has been on identifying the skills essential to success in the legal profession—mainly those skills and traits legal employers view as important when hiring new associates. These findings led to changes in legal education in order to prepare law students for entering the employment market and successfully securing a position. …

Artificial Intelligence In Texas: Navigating The Risks, Benefits, And Uncharged Boundaries Of An Emerging Technology, Jordanna Tobias

St. Mary's Journal on Legal Malpractice & Ethics

No abstract provided.

From Race-Conscious To Race-Neutral: The Next Generation Of Litigation Over Selective Admissions, Rachel F. Moran

Faculty Scholarship

In the wake of the United States Supreme Court’s decision in Students for Fair Admissions v. President and Fellows of Harvard College, there have been fierce debates over the meaning of colorblindness in the higher education admissions process. Setting the stage for these controversies are recent lawsuits challenging changes to admissions policies at selective public high schools. In these cases, the plaintiffs allege that although school officials relied on facially race-neutral criteria, their actions were motivated by a desire to improve the representation of Black and Latino students. According to the complaints, these revised policies are an impermissible form …

The Effectiveness Of The Minnesota Buffer Law And Its Impacts On People, Ellen P. Isakson

Journal of Earth and Life Science

In January 2015, the then-governor of Minnesota Mark Dayton announced new legislation that would require 50-foot vegetation buffers along all waterways in Minnesota; this legislation would come to be known as the Minnesota buffer law, exact requirements being “perennial vegetative buffers of up to 50 feet along lakes, rivers, and streams and buffers of 16.5 feet along ditches” (Albert, 2017; MN Board of Water and Soil Resources [MN BWSR] 4 ). A buffer in the context of vegetation and natural resource management is a strip of vegetation around a body of water “designed to intercept stormwater runoff and minimize soil …

Too Essential To Fail: Lessons From County Fiscal Crises, Michael A. Francus

Journal Articles

This Article draws out the lessons of counties for municipal finance. To do so, the Article begins by unpacking the municipal finance regulations that have provided counties with extraordinary fiscal safety. The Article then turns to case studies of the eleven counties that either filed for bankruptcy or had state fiscal interventions since the passage of the Bankruptcy Code in 1978. Those case studies show how counties' finances can (in rare cases) go wrong despite well-designed municipal finance regulations. The case studies also show how counties have successfully responded to those crises through bankruptcy and fiscal intervention.

Using that analysis, …