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Rescinding Rights

By Joseph Landau | July 18, 2022

By Joseph Landau. Full text. In the wake of the Trump Administration’s three Supreme Court appointments, many commentators are bracing for a rightward shift in jurisprudence that could undermine a litany of civil rights and equality protections—including reproductive rights, LGBTQ rights, race-and ethnicity-centered protections, voting rights, and more. Yet the Court’s apparent disinclination for advancing…

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Article

Renewable Energy Federalism

By Danielle Stokes | July 18, 2022

By Danielle Stokes. Full text. No one seriously questions that an improved and decarbonized energy supply system is a key component of climate change mitigation, but the United States’ system of federalism complicates the siting of utility-scale renewable energy facilities. The Biden Administration presents the United States with an opportunity to reimagine how this country…

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Article

The Costs of the Punishment Clause

By Cortney E. Lollar | July 18, 2022

By Cortney E. Lollar. Full Text. In recent years, scholars and advocates have drawn attention to the problematic use of fines and fees to keep those convicted of crimes enmeshed in the criminal legal system. A visible thread connects the imposition of modern criminal court debts to the costs inflicted on formerly enslaved individuals convicted…

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Article

Antitrust, Attention, and the Mental Health Crisis

By Gregory Day | July 18, 2022

By Gregory Day. Full Text. Competition for attention is causing a mental health crisis. At issue is that platforms, devices, and applications (“apps”) strive to maximize attention by, as examples, presenting users with curated streams of extremist content. The purpose of doing so is economic: a platform or app’s value is typically derived from the…

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Article

Inheriting Privilege

By Allison Anna Tait | July 18, 2022

By Allison Anna Tait. Full text. All families may be created equal, so to speak. But differences between families in terms of economic wealth, resource networks, and access to cultural capital are both severe and stark. A large part of what shapes this scenery of economic possibility is the legal framework of wealth transfer. Wealth…

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Note

Designer Minor: Creating a Better Legal Regime for Pediatric Cosmetic Procedures

By Hannah Oliason | July 18, 2022

By Hannah Oliason. Full Text. Each year, thousands of minors in the United States undergo elective cosmetic surgeries to “enhance” their appearances. In the case of young children, these surgeries are most often arranged by parents or guardians with little to no state oversight, despite the physical and psychological risks of such procedures. This Note…

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Note

Too Hot to Handle?: Native Advertising and the Firestone Dilemma

By Eliezer Joseph Silberberg | July 18, 2022

By Eliezer Joseph Silberberg. Full Text. Native advertisements are advertisements that mimic the format and content of unpaid-for content that surrounds them. Instead of interrupting the content being consumed, native advertisements become part of that content, and because of this unique format, consumers often want to engage with native advertisements. This reformulation of advertising has…

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Tribute

Remembrance of and Tribute to Walter F. Mondale

By Amy Klobuchar | July 21, 2022

By Amy Klobuchar. Full Text. This volume of Minnesota Law Review is dedicated to the memory of the Honorable Walter F. Mondale, former Vice President of the United States of America. A 1956 graduate of the University of Minnesota Law School and an editor of Minnesota Law Review Volume 39, Mondale was the 42nd Vice…

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Current Issue

Volume 106 - Issue 4

Articles, Essays, & Tributes

Rescinding Rights

Joseph Landau
By Joseph Landau. Full text. In the wake of the Trump Administration’s three Supreme Court appointments, many commentators are bracing for a rightward shift in jurisprudence that could undermine a litany of civil rights and equality protections—including reproductive rights, LGBTQ rights, race-and ethnicity-centered protections, voting rights, and more. Yet the Court’s apparent disinclination for advancing

Renewable Energy Federalism

Danielle Stokes
By Danielle Stokes. Full text. No one seriously questions that an improved and decarbonized energy supply system is a key component of climate change mitigation, but the United States’ system of federalism complicates the siting of utility-scale renewable energy facilities. The Biden Administration presents the United States with an opportunity to reimagine how this country

The Costs of the Punishment Clause

Cortney E. Lollar
By Cortney E. Lollar. Full Text. In recent years, scholars and advocates have drawn attention to the problematic use of fines and fees to keep those convicted of crimes enmeshed in the criminal legal system. A visible thread connects the imposition of modern criminal court debts to the costs inflicted on formerly enslaved individuals convicted

Antitrust, Attention, and the Mental Health Crisis

Gregory Day
By Gregory Day. Full Text. Competition for attention is causing a mental health crisis. At issue is that platforms, devices, and applications (“apps”) strive to maximize attention by, as examples, presenting users with curated streams of extremist content. The purpose of doing so is economic: a platform or app’s value is typically derived from the

Inheriting Privilege

Allison Anna Tait
By Allison Anna Tait. Full text. All families may be created equal, so to speak. But differences between families in terms of economic wealth, resource networks, and access to cultural capital are both severe and stark. A large part of what shapes this scenery of economic possibility is the legal framework of wealth transfer. Wealth

Remembrance of and Tribute to Walter F. Mondale

Amy Klobuchar
By Amy Klobuchar. Full Text. This volume of Minnesota Law Review is dedicated to the memory of the Honorable Walter F. Mondale, former Vice President of the United States of America. A 1956 graduate of the University of Minnesota Law School and an editor of Minnesota Law Review Volume 39, Mondale was the 42nd Vice

Notes

Too Hot to Handle?: Native Advertising and the Firestone Dilemma

Eliezer Joseph Silberberg
By Eliezer Joseph Silberberg. Full Text. Native advertisements are advertisements that mimic the format and content of unpaid-for content that surrounds them. Instead of interrupting the content being consumed, native advertisements become part of that content, and because of this unique format, consumers often want to engage with native advertisements. This reformulation of advertising has

Designer Minor: Creating a Better Legal Regime for Pediatric Cosmetic Procedures

Hannah Oliason
By Hannah Oliason. Full Text. Each year, thousands of minors in the United States undergo elective cosmetic surgeries to “enhance” their appearances. In the case of young children, these surgeries are most often arranged by parents or guardians with little to no state oversight, despite the physical and psychological risks of such procedures. This Note

Headnotes

Volume 106: Spring Issue

Racial Bias in Algorithmic IP

Dan L. Burk
By Dan L. Burk. Full Text. Machine learning systems, a form of artificial intelligence (AI), are increasingly being deployed both for the creation of innovative works and the administration of intellectual property (IP) rights associated with those works. At the same time, evidence of racial bias in IP systems is manifest and growing. Legal scholars

Introduction to The Bremer-Kovacs Collection: Historic Documents Related to the Administrative Procedure Act of 1946 (HeinOnline 2021)

Emily S. Bremer & Kathryn E. Kovacs
By Emily S. Bremer & Kathryn E. Kovacs. Full Text. Few statutes have a legislative history as rich, varied, and sprawling as the Administrative Procedure Act of 1946 (APA). In recent years, courts and scholars have shown increased interest in understanding this history. This is no mean feat. The APA’s history spans nearly two decades,

Sprinting a Marathon: Next Steps for Gender Equity in Criminal Law Employment

Maryam Ahranjani
By Maryam Ahranjani. Full Text. In an era when women’s hard-fought and hard-earned participation in the workforce is in peril, the ABA Criminal Justice Section’s Women in Criminal Justice Task Force (TF) continues its groundbreaking work of documenting challenges in hiring, retention, and promotion of women criminal lawyers. Sprinting a Marathon follows up on the

Fighting Orthodoxy: Challenging Critical Race Theory Bans and Supporting Critical Thinking in Schools

Joshua Gutzmann
By Joshua Gutzmann. Full Text. Fox News mentioned critical race theory (CRT) more than 1,900 times from April to mid-July of 2021, marking CRT as a new focus of Republicans and conservative donors and sparking a movement to ban teaching of the theory in schools. Nine states have already passed legislation intended to ban the

Me, Myself, and My Digital Double: Extending Sara Greene’s Stealing (Identity) From the Poor to the Challenges of Identity Verification

Michele Estrin Gilman
By Michele Estrin Gilman. Full Text. Identity is an essential part of the human condition. When one's identity is stolen or when a state rejects a citizen's identity, the consequences can be devastating to one's notion of selfhood as well as undermine their economic security. In Stealing (Identity) from the Poor, Sara Greene explores the

K Is for Contract―Why Is It, Though? A K’s Study on the Origins, Persistence and Propagation of Legal Konventions

Hanjo Hamann
By Hanjo Hamann. Full Text. Just like Supreme Court Justices, law school students in the United States almost universally abbreviate the word “contract” using the capital letter “K.” Despite this consensus, no one ever sought to explain why a word that starts with “C” should get shortened to “K” instead. This Essay investigates this question.

Chilling Effects and Unequal Subjects: A Response to Jonathon Penney’s Understanding Chilling Effects

Karen Levy
By Karen Levy. Full Text. The mark of a strong theoretical argument is that it opens our minds to new empirical questions. In his generative article Understanding Chilling Effects, Jonathon Penney provides a persuasive and nuanced argument for interpreting chilling effects through the lens of social conformity, rather than self-censorship of lawful conduct. Penney’s own

De Novo Blog

Superbowl Dreams Crushed: But a Lawsuit Is Not the Answer

April 23, 2019

During the Saints-Rams NFC championship game in early 2019 the referees missed a pass interference call that many experts agree cost the Saints the game. Even the National Football League (NFL) acknowledges that its referees missed the penalty call. With that call, the Saints very likely would have won the game and earned a spot in Superbowl LIII because the penalty would have given the team a first down, which would have allowed them to run out the clock before attempting their game winning field goal.

Loot Box Lottery: How the Backlash Against Video Game Loot Boxes Is Affecting Game Developers, Retailers, and Consumers in the Legal Sphere

April 23, 2019

Confetti! Bright colors! Candy! Little Billy’s eyes are fixed on the screen. He just broke open a Llama Piñata in his favorite video game, Fortnite, with hopes of receiving a rare in-game item he has long desired. Alas, he sees the results and sighs in disappointment. Nothing. Just some useless items he won the day before.

Nielsen v. Preap and How the Way That We Interpret Language Can Change Lives and What Else We Should Consider During Statutory Interpretation

April 23, 2019

In 1893, Edward Bulwer-Lytton wrote that “[t]he pen is mightier than the sword.” That may be so, but more power lies with he who interprets the words than he who writes them. By using ordinary tools of statutory construction, the Supreme Court interpreted the Apprehension and Detention of Aliens Act and sealed the fate of countless aliens in the United States.

No More Surprises: Patients fight back against Surprise Medical Bills

April 22, 2019

Before his 2013 surgery for herniated disks, Peter Drier checked off all the boxes a diligent patient could: he made sure the facility was in-network, the surgeon was in-network, and he even ensured the anesthesiologist would be in-network. Nonetheless, during the surgery an out-of-network assistant surgeon—whom Drier had never met—stepped in to help.

Amateurs by the Hour

April 7, 2019

AMATEURS BY THE HOUR: EXPERIMENTAL AIRCRAFT COMPLETION CENTERS AND TORT LIABILITY By: Mitchell Williams, Volume 103 Staff Member In the wake of the recent air disasters involving Boeing 737 MAX airplanes,[1] much media attention has been directed to the Federal Aviation Administration (“FAA”) for inadequacies in its certification process.[2] While stories like this are sensational to the…