Most Recent Print Issue

Volume 75, Issue 6


Article

Femtechnodystopia

by  Leah R. Fowler & Michael R. Ulrich

Reproductive rights, as we have long understood them, are dead. But while history seems to be moving backward, technology moves relentlessly forward. “Femtech” products, a category of consumer technology addressing an array of “female” health needs, seem poised to fill gaps created by states and stakeholders eager to limit birth control and abortion access and…

Article

The Private Life of Education

by  Fanna Gamal

Every one of the nearly 50 million students enrolled in the U.S. public school system has a permanent record. These records contain private information about academic performance, residency, physical and psychological health, and disciplinary history. Federal information privacy law governs these records and protects student privacy by ensuring that educational records are not disclosed to…

Article

Open Prosecution

by  Brandon L. Garrett, William E. Crozier, Kevin Dahaghi, Elizabeth J. Gifford, Catherine Grodensky, Adele Quigley-McBride & Jennifer Teitcher

Where the vast majority of criminal cases are resolved without a trial, the criminal system in the United States is a system of pleas, not trials. While a plea, its terms, and the resulting sentence entered in court are all public, how the outcome was negotiated remains almost entirely nonpublic. Prosecutors may resolve cases for…

Article

What Even Is a Criminal Attitude?

And Other Problems with Attitude and Associational Factors in Criminal Risk Assessment
by  Beth Karp

Several widely used criminal risk assessment instruments factor a defendant’s abstract beliefs, peer associations, and family relationships into their risk scores. The inclusion of those factors is empirically unsound and raises profound ethical and constitutional questions. This Article is the first instance of legal scholarship on criminal risk assessment to (a) conduct an in-depth review…

Note

An Overlooked Consequence

How Shinn v. Ramirez Paves the Way for New State Collateral Proceedings
by  Sergio Filipe Zanutta Valente

The Supreme Court’s recent decision in Shinn v. Ramirez, 142 S. Ct. 1718 (2022), diminished the role of federal courts in protecting defendants’ Sixth Amendment right to effective assistance of counsel by limiting when a defendant can raise an ineffective-assistance-of-counsel (IAC) claim in federal court. Defendants in states like Arizona and Texas—which bar raising IAC…

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Recent Online Essays

Long-Term Immunity: Protecting Drug Developers from Liability for Late–Occurring Serious Reactions to Emergency Vaccines

In this Essay, Aliya Sternstein of Georgetown University Law Center argues that an international body must set a standard, five-year window, after an emergency vaccine is administered and when the recipient can seek compensation for an injury. Sternstein further argues that emergency vaccine developers should receive immunity against liabilities except for willful misconduct.

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A Congressional Incapacity Amendment to the United States Constitution

In this Essay, Prof. John J. Martin of the University of Virginia School of Law argues for a Congressional Incapacity Amendment to the Constitution, modeled on the Twenty-Fifth Amendment's provisions for Presidential incapacity.

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On Sordid Sources in Second Amendment Litigation

In this Essay, Prof. Jacob D. Charles of Pepperdine University Caruso School of Law considers the use of history and tradition in firearm regulation following the Supreme Court's Bruen decision. He argues that courts should use an "Abstraction Approach" in considering historical analogues to modern regulations.

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The Role of Non-Adjudicative Facts in Judicial Decisionmaking

In this Essay, Judge Timothy B. Dyk of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit considers appellate courts' use of information from outside the factual record, i.e. "non-adjudicative facts," when making decisions. Although this practice is commonplace and often harmless, the Essay notes the greater potential for incorrect conclusions when relying on facts outside the record. It urges judges to use non-adjudicative facts with caution, and carefully verify them to avoid serious error.

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The Class Action Megaphone

Empowering Class Members with an Empirical Voice

Class actions are plagued by poor communication between class counsel and the masses of unnamed class members. In this Essay, Professors Alissa del Riego and Joseph Avery propose that these barriers be overcome by using the new technical capabilities of artificial intelligence, and by adding an express duty to communicate to the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure.

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