Integrating Diversity, Inclusion, Equity, Social Justice and Law with Intention
In academia, summer is the time for researching, writing, and travel. It is also an ideal time of year for professors to audit classroom materials and teaching techniques. This summer is an ideal time to consider how bias, race, gender, social justice, and cultural competency issues are integrated into your readings, syllabus, classroom inclusion practices, [...]
The Supreme Court will overturn the law recognizing a woman’s fundamental right to choose an abortion. The only question is whether it will go even further and jeopardize women’s equality, reproductive rights, and family privacy rights for all. Pending in the Court is Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization and the question of the constitutionality [...]
Picture a swarm of drones entering a village programmed to fly without a human operator with instructions to shoot or immobilize anyone it deems to be holding a weapon. While this might sound like a scene from Lana Wachowski’s latest Matrix film, the technology to build these killer robots is already here. Unless states act [...]
US Supreme Court agrees to hear arguments in opioid prescription cases
The US Supreme Court agreed to hear arguments in Ruan v. United States and Kahn v. United States. Both cases concern appeals from doctors who were convicted of illegally distributing prescription drugs. The cases center around the question of whether doctors can defend themselves against these claims by arguing that they acted in good faith. In [...]
Preventing Nuclear War: Legal Obligations for an Imperiled Planet
“Scholars build the structure of peace in the world.” Babylonian Talmud; Order Zera’im, Tractate Berakoth, IX Background of the Problem Back in the late 1960s, at Yale Law School and Princeton University’s Department of Politics, a series of joint-programs was developed under the heading of World Order Studies. This advanced academic series focused upon the [...]
Austria Supreme Court refers Facebook data collection questions to ECJ
Austria’s Supreme Court of Justice referred four fundamental questions regarding the legality of Facebook’s collection and use of EU customers’ data to the Court of Justice of the European Union (ECJ) on Tuesday. The questions arose in a civil case filed by Maximilian Schrems, an Austrian lawyer and privacy activist, who alleges that Facebook deprives users [...]
Friday, June 7, 1776, was anything but quiet. Resolutions respecting American independence were introduced in the Continental Congress. One resolution came from Richard Henry Lee of Virginia. Mr. Lee’s resolution read: Resolved, that these United Colonies, are, and of right ought to be free, and independent States, that they are, absolved for all allegiance to [...]
Defend Democracy Before It’s Too Late: A One-Page Bill Would Do It
America faces unprecedented and existential threats to voting rights, free and fair elections, and the very future of our democracy. Congress must take urgent action now — well within its constitutional powers — to stop these threats in their tracks. All it would take is a simple one-page bill. I have proposed a draft here. [...]
Federal judge rejects proposed settlement plan in Roundup cancer class action
A US judge on Wednesday declined to grant preliminary approval for a settlement against Bayer over claims that their Roundup weedkiller causes cancer. Research first published by a cancer-focused working group formed by the World Health Organization (WHO) in 2015 claimed that glyophosate was “probably carcinogenic to humans.” Although conflicting studies have since been released, including [...]
The Biden administration on Thursday unveiled the first six measures it will take to address gun violence. The actions, which come in response on the heels of recent shootings in Atlanta and Colorado, are executive orders that President Joe Biden hopes will supplement upcoming legislation. The first measure asks the Department of Justice (DOJ) to [...]
