Dignifying Queerness

In recent years, courts that have affirmed the right of lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) people to engage in same-sex activity have often invoked the value of dignity. They have done so in spite of the fact that same-sex activity, and many other kinds of sex, have historically been deemed undignified and subject to criminal prohibition. This Article examines a rapidly growing body of comparative jurisprudence to examine how dignity has become an unlikely cornerstone of efforts to decriminalize… Read More

A Missed Opportunity: Clarifying Presidential Power Under the Procurement Act

In late 2021, President Biden relied on the Procurement Act to sign an Executive Order effectively requiring every employee of any private company that contracts with the federal government to be fully vaccinated for COVID-19. While the mandate was ultimately rescinded less than two years later, it produced four inconsistent federal circuit court opinions that together expose the problems with existing judicial frameworks for analyzing executive authority under the Procurement Act. This Note explores the growth of the federal procurement… Read More

Privacy Law’s Role in an Information Economy

What do we lose when we lose our privacy? A slew of recently enacted state laws suggest that the loss of privacy is merely a loss of individual choice in the market exchange of services for personal information. This Article argues that a loss of privacy risks something greater: the collapse of complex and fluid social identity. Without privacy, individuals cannot nurture their own senses of self because they are no longer free to try on different social roles across… Read More

Anyone You Are Related to Can Be Used Against You: Criminal Discovery Statutes and Investigative Genetic Genealogy

The use of investigative genetic genealogy (“IGG”) as a basis for arresting suspects in complex and dormant investigations is raising serious concerns about whether the due process rights of criminal defendants in these cases are being violated. This Note provides a comprehensive look at the role of this groundbreaking, yet little-understood technology in criminal prosecutions. Technological advances have historically necessitated that courts expand and reinterpret legal principles. As a novel derivative of traditional DNA testing, this Note argues IGG should… Read More

The Forever Family’s Legal Loophole: A 50-State Survey on Adoption Dissolution

Introduction Adoption is said to be “forever”—longing parents fulfill their dream of parenthood and children get a “forever family.” While the legal system intends for adoptive parent-child relationships to be permanent, a happily-ever-after ending is elusive when adoptions are enabled to fail. In the United States, each state can set its own standard for when courts may grant a request to dissolve an adoption, as well as time limits within which a parent may ask the court to vacate the… Read More

Women on Death Row in the United States

Introduction This Article presents a comprehensive study of forty-eight persons sentenced to death between 1990 and 2022 who were legally recognized as women at the time of their trials. Our research is the first of its kind to conduct a holistic and intersectional analysis of the factors driving women’s death sentences. It reveals commonalities across women’s cases, delving into their experiences of motherhood, gender-based violence (“GBV”), and prior involvement with the criminal legal system. We also explore the nature of… Read More

The Chronic Growing Problem: Environmental and Social Justice Concerns with Indoor Cannabis Grows

Introduction The rapid legalization of recreational marijuana across states has created environmental and social justice issues, particularly with indoor cultivation. Despite its federal illegality, twenty-four states and various territories have legalized marijuana, igniting a surge in indoor cultivation that bears significant environmental and social consequences. Indoor cultivation facilities require massive energy inputs, resulting in grid strain, pollution, and an increase in greenhouse gas emissions. Moreover, the placement of these facilities often occurs in historically marginalized low-income communities, furthering environmental injustice… Read More

Is Grammar Religious Exercise? Addressing Transgender Students and the Limits of the Complicity Doctrine

Introduction May teachers reject transgender students’ names and pronouns on religious grounds? Across the United States, many schools and universities have adopted policies calling on staff to use all students’ designated first names and gender-congruent pronouns. A number of conservative Christian teachers have claimed that they cannot address transgender students in this way without violating their religious beliefs. In several cases, after unsuccessful attempts by administrators to accommodate these objections, teachers who were subject to employment consequences have brought lawsuits… Read More

Pluralist Justice and Liberal Constitutionalism: A Reply to Critics

Introduction An author is privileged to have his work seriously considered and evaluated by a group of preeminent scholars from different disciplines and parts of the world. This is even much more the case with respect to my book, A Pluralist Theory of Constitutional Justice: Assessing Liberal Democracy in Times of Rising Populism and Illiberalism, which was written in times of self-isolation due to the COVID-19 pandemic, thus lacking the input of the customary testing of ideas in conversations with… Read More

The U Visa: A Remedy for Vulnerable Immigrants Scammed by Unscrupulous Attorneys

Introduction As of 2018, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) estimates that there are eleven million unauthorized immigrants† living in the United States. Due to limited resources, DHS has taken the position that it “cannot respond to all immigration violations or remove all persons unlawfully [residing] in the United States.” Congress has failed to enact comprehensive immigration reform, despite numerous attempts, since the Reagan administration. This leaves the unauthorized population in a limbo often characterized as “living in the shadows”—relegated… Read More