Law Review at Washington University in St. Louis

Breaking Down Status

Kaiponanea T. Matsumura

The law regulates some of society’s most significant relationships through status. Yet social and legal changes can diminish a status’s effectiveness and importance. The debates surrounding worker classification and nonmarital relationship recognition provide two pressing examples. By some estimates, over…

Economic Regulation and Rural America

Ann M. Eisenberg

Rural America today is at a crossroads. Widespread socioeconomic decline outside cities has fueled the idea that rural communities have been “left behind.” The question is whether these “left behind” localities should be allowed to dwindle out of existence, or…

Democratizing Rule Development

Michael Sant’Ambrogio and Glen Staszewski

Agencies make many of their most important decisions in rulemaking well before the publication of a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NPRM), when they set their regulatory agendas and develop proposals for public comment. Agencies’ need for information from outside parties…

Active Virtues

Michael D. Gilbert and Mauricio A. Guim

Constitutional theory has long been influenced by the idea that the Supreme Court exercises “passive virtues,” avoiding politically divisive cases that threaten its legitimacy. The Article inverts the logic. Supreme Court Justices (and other judges too) do more than avoid…

It’s Five O’Clock Everywhere: A Framework for the Modernization of Time

Ryan Deal

This Note discusses existing legal procedures by which the current system of time could be modified to adapt to contemporary social changes and reduce time switching. Part I describes how the current system of timekeeping evolved and explains why it…

How Content Moderation May Expose Social Media Companies to Greater Defamation Liability

Tanner Bone

This Note will explain the critical distinction between “publishers” and “platforms,” why social media entities are currently considered “platforms,” and why the legal system should reevaluate the liability of social media entities based on how they moderate and regulate content.…

Arbitrator Diversity: Can It Be Achieved?

Sarah Rudolph Cole

The 2018 lawsuit Jay-Z brought against the American Arbitration Association (AAA) because the list of twelve arbitrators AAA provided in a breach of contract dispute did not include a black arbitrator highlighted ongoing concerns about the lack of diversity in…