Category: Print Volume 109

Article

Altered Stakes: Reimagining the Amount-in-Controversy Requirement

Steven Gensler & Roger Michalski

Gene and Elaine Edwards Family Chair in Law, Professor of Law, University of Oklahoma College of Law, Professor of Law, University of Oklahoma College of Law.

Which state-law cases should Congress allow into federal court? Congress’s answer has always been “only the big ones.” This article revisits the choice to limit diversity jurisdiction to higher-value cases and critically examines how Congress has approached setting the amount threshold. It surveys alternate ways Congress could use case value to sort which cases make…

Sep 2024

Article

Defense Lawyering in the Progressive Prosecution Era

Jenny Roberts

Dean and Professor of Law, Maurice A. Deane School of Law, Hofstra University.

The movement to elect so-called “progressive prosecutors” is relatively new, but there is a robust literature analyzing it from a number of angles. Scholars consider how to define “progressive prosecution,” look at the movement through a racial justice lens, and examine it in the context of rural spaces, deportation, and the pandemic. One essay even…

Sep 2024

Article

Taxing Luxury Emissions

Clinton G. Wallace & Shelley Welton

Associate Professor of Law, University of South Carolina School of Law, Presidential Distinguished Professor of Law & Energy Policy, University of Pennsylvania Carey Law School and Kleinman Center for Energy Policy.

Recent economic and sociological studies have documented the rising challenge of carbon inequality—that is, extreme class disparities in carbon emissions both within the United States and globally. These studies show an alarming divide, with the top 10% of emitters producing half of all emissions and the top 1% alone producing 17% of emissions. Meanwhile, the…

Sep 2024

Note

Takings and Homeowners’ Expectations in Times of Rapid Climate Change

Gijs de Bra

J.D. Candidate, Cornell Law School 2025; M.S., University of Amsterdam 2019.

This Note argues that courts should give more weight to climate change when assessing the reasonable investment-backed expectations that define the owner’s property interest. First, the owner’s expectations should be viewed dynamically, evolving over time, because government regulations—climate and disaster controls in particular—must also respond to changing circumstances. Currently, expectations are fixed at the time…

Sep 2024

Note

The Case For a Uniform Invention Assignment Agreement Act (UIAAA) 

Amanda Shoemaker

J.D., Cornell Law School, 2024; B.S., Marketing and Media Arts, Bentley University, 2021.

An invention is broadly defined as “anything that is created or devised.” As the Supreme Court once remarked, “the word cannot be defined in such manner as to afford any substantial aid in determining whether a particular device involves an exercise of the inventive faculty or not.” Today, most “inventors” are employees of a corporate enterprise…

Sep 2024

Article

Arousal by Algorithm

Amy Adler

Emily Kempin Professor of Law, NYU School of Law. 

The problem of Big Tech has consumed recent legal scholarship and popular discourse. We are reckoning daily with the threats that digital speech platforms like Facebook, X (formerly known as Twitter), TikTok, and YouTube pose to our personal and political lives. Yet while this conversation is raging in discussions about the impact of technology on…

Aug 2024

Article

Article II and the Federal Reserve

Aditya Bamzai & Aaron L. Nielson

Martha Lubin Karsh and Bruce A. Karsh Bicentennial Professor of Law, University of Virginia School of Law, Professor of Law, J. Reuben Clark Law School, Brigham Young University. 

The Supreme Court has twice held since 2020 that statutory restrictions on the President’s removal power violate Article II of the U.S. Constitution. Because such removal restrictions create a measure of policy independence from the President, these cases have prompted discussion about the future of independent agencies generally, with special attention to the Federal Reserve…

Aug 2024

Article

Antitrust for Immigrants

Gregory Day

Associate Professor, University of Georgia Terry College of Business; Courtesy Appointment University of Georgia School of Law; Affliated Fellow, Yale Law School Information Society Project. 

Immigrants and undocumented people have often encountered discrimination because they compete against “native” businesses and workers, resulting in protests, boycotts, and even violence intended to exclude immigrants from markets. Key to this story is government’s ability to discriminate as well: it is indeed common for state and federal actors to enact protectionist laws and regulations…

Aug 2024

Note

How the Mitigation Doctrine Produces Protections Against Workplace Discrimination

Richard A Gagliardi, III

J.D. Candidate, Cornell Law School, 2024; Ph.D. in Politics, Princeton University, 2021; A.B. in Economics and Political Science, Brown University, 2015; Online Editor, Cornell Law Review Vol. 109. 

Employment discrimination weakens the American economy, contributes to inequality, and deprives individuals of career opportunities. Estimates place the annual cost of employment discrimination at over sixty-four billion dollars. Economic research further documents earnings differentials of more than thirty percent between members of different racial groups or genders. To combat employment discrimination, Congress enacted a series…

Aug 2024

Note

Neurosearches

Josh A. Roth

J.D. Candidate, Cornell Law School, 2024; Articles Editor, Cornell Law Review Vol. 109.

Neurotechnology is advancing exponentially, and the laws of data privacy and security cannot keep pace. Soon, governments will exploit this technology in criminal investigations with what this Note calls “neurosearches.” Scholars have argued against the compelled gathering of neurological evidence as a violation of the Fifth Amendment, likening it to testimony and thus barred as…

Aug 2024