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Article

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

Re-Introducing “Stop and Frisk” or Revisiting It?

January 23, 2017

RE-INTRODUCING “STOP AND FRISK” OR REVISITING IT? By: Anabel Cassady, Volume 101 Staff Member On the evening of August 20, 2008, Leroy Downs was stopped by two plainclothes officers outside his home while making a phone call to a friend.[1] Downs was a black male in his mid-thirties living in Staten Island and working as…

DACA on the Docket

January 19, 2017

DACA ON THE DOCKET By: Nicholas R. Bednar, Volume 100 Lead Articles Editor [1] On December 9, 2016, Senators Lindsey Graham and Dick Durbin introduced the Bridge Act, which would provide temporary protection for undocumented children and young adults who have received immigration benefits under President Obama’s 2012 directive, Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA).[2] Under…

Frozen Embryo Forum Shopping

January 18, 2017

FROZEN EMBRYO FORUM SHOPPING: HOW CONFLICTS OF LAW INHIBIT THE LAWSUIT AGAINST SOFIA VERGARA By: Joseph T. Janochoski, Volume 101 Staff Member In December 2016, actress Sofía Vergara[1] was named as the sole defendant in a Louisiana lawsuit filed by her own frozen embryos.[2] The embryos “Emma” and “Isabella” sought to “remedy the prevention of…

Inclusive Communities and the Question of Impact

December 8, 2016

INCLUSIVE COMMUNITIES AND THE QUESTION OF IMPACT: PRO-PLAINTIFF? By: Lauren Clatch, Volume 101 Staff Member In the summer of 2015, the Supreme Court ruled in Texas Dep’t of Housing & Community Affairs v. Inclusive Communities Project, Inc. regarding the viability of disparate impact claims under the Fair Housing Act (FHA).[1] Many have heralded the Court’s…

Phasing Out Private Prisons Is an Important Symbolic Gesture

December 6, 2016

PHASING OUT PRIVATE PRISONS IS AN IMPORTANT SYMBOLIC GESTURE By: Claire Williams, Volume 101 Staff Member On August 18th, the Department of Justice (DOJ) announced that it would begin to phase out its use of private prisons, “either declin[ing] to renew that contract or substantially reduc[ing] its scope in a manner consistent with law and…