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Category: Print Volume 108

Note

How to Get Away with Murder: The Norwegian Approach

Elena Smalline

J.D., Cornell Law School, 2023; B.S. (Business Management and Psychological Sciences), Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, 2020.

What does it mean for one to be insane enough to not be held responsible for a criminal act one committed? The answer to this question varies across differing eras, cultures, countries, and laws. If one were to ask English legal-scholar Sir Matthew Hale, he would assert that to be insane enough to not be…

Nov 2023

Note

Googling, Profiling, and Drafting a “Fantasy Team” of Jurors: Contextualizing Online Investigations into Jurors and Venirepersons Within Centurues of Analog Litigation Practices

Alison Draikiwicz

J.D., Cornell Law School, 2023; B.A., Wellesley College, 2018.

In recent years, judges and commentators have sounded the alarm on litigators’ increasingly extensive research into jurors’ and venirepersons’ online presences. Despite critics’ ethical and practical concerns, the age of “voir google” continues to thrive and evolve. In this Note, I seek to contextualize the era of online investigations within the broader era of American…

Nov 2023

Article

The Unique Appearance of Corruption in Personal Loan Repayments

John J. Martin

Research Assistant Professor of Law, University of Virginia School of Law.

Under U.S. campaign finance jurisprudence, electoral candidates have the right to self-fund their campaigns without limitation. The majority of self-funded candidates do so by issuing personal loans—i.e., personal money given to their campaign with the expectation of having it paid back. Many such candidates rely on outside contributions to help repay these personal loans, leaving…

Nov 2023

Article

The Constitutional Limits of Criminal Supervision

Eric S. Fish

Acting Professor of Law, University of California at Davis.

Nearly four million people are under criminal supervision in the United States. Most are on probation or parole. They can be sent to prison if a judge concludes that they violated the terms of their supervision. When that happens, there is no right to a jury trial. The violation only needs to be proven to…

Nov 2023

Article

The Independent Agency Myth

Neal Devins & David E. Lewis

Sandra Day O’Connor Professor of Law and Professor of Government, College of William and Mary & Rebecca Webb Wilson University Distinguished Professor, Vanderbilt University.

Republicans and Democrats are fighting the wrong fight over independent agencies. Republicans are wrong to see independent agencies as anathema to hierarchical presidential control of the administrative state. Democrats are likewise wrong to reflexively defend independent agency expertise and influence. Supreme Court Justices also need to break free from this trap; the ongoing struggle over…

Nov 2023

Article

Where is Statutory Law?

Jesse M. Cross

Associate Professor, University of South Carolina School of Law.

Textualism has become the ascendant method of statutory interpretation on the Court, and it is rapidly reshaping the entire judiciary. Yet we still do not understand the “text” in textualism. This is part of a broader failure in legislative studies: we lack a basic understanding of the texts that comprise our statutory law. As this…

Sep 2023

Article

Building Better Species: Assisted Evolution, Genetic Engineering, and the Endangered Species Act

John A. Erwin

Assistant Professor at Florida International University College of Law.

On December 10, 2020, Elizabeth Ann, a black-footed ferret, was born. This was a momentous occasion, as it was the first time a native species listed under the Endangered Species Act (“ESA”) had been cloned. This is the first major attempt to use biotechnology to aid in the conservation of an endangered species, but it…

Sep 2023

Article

Vigilante Federalism

Jon D. Michaels & David L. Noll

Professor of Law, UCLA School of law & Associate Dean for Faculty Research and Development and Professor of Law, Rutgers Law School.

In battles over abortion, religion, sexuality, gender, and race, state legislatures are mass producing a new weapon. From Texas’s S.B. 8 to book bans and a flurry of bills empowering parents to sue schools that acknowledge LGBTQ+ identities or implement anti-racist curricula, state legislatures are enacting laws that call on private parties—and sometimes only private…

Sep 2023

Note

A Site to Save a Life: The Case for Lobbying Congress to Restrict the Department of Justice from Targeting Supervised Drug Consumption Sites

Trevor Thompson

J.D., Cornell Law School 2022; B.A. Columbia University, 2018.

This Note will begin with an overview of fentanyl’s role in exacerbating the opioid crisis that has now claimed over a million American lives. It will then offer a partial explanation for why the crisis has gotten worse over the past few years: the Food and Drug Administration’s (“FDA”) refusal to initiate a prescription to…

Sep 2023

Note

Tripping on Patent Hurdles: Exploring the Legal and Policy Implications of Psilocybin Patents

Jennifer S. Seidman

J.D., Cornell Law School, 2023; B.S. in Public Health, B.A. in Chemistry, University at Buffalo, 2020.

Ask any hippie and they will tell you about the euphoric and therapeutic properties of psychedelic “magic” mushrooms (psilocybin). While the therapeutic effects of psilocybin have been long known among indigenous and underground practices, the medicalization of psilocybin therapy is a new phenomenon. Psilocybin poses a unique and promising solution for the growing mental illness…

Jul 2023