Online Edition
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The Controlled Substances Act: An International Private Delegation That Goes Too Far
Introduction Under current Supreme Court precedent, Congress can delegate regulatory authority to federal agencies so long as it supplies an intelligible principle to guide and restrict their actions. Congress may also permit private entities to assist agency decision-making so long as the agency retains ultimate authority to accept, reject, or modify the private actor’s recommendations…
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Registered for Life: Addressing the Removal Issue within Missouri’s Sex Offender Registration Act
Introduction Based on plain text, Missouri’s Sex Offender Registration Act (SORA) appears to permit sex offenders to petition for removal from the state’s sex offender registry.[2] But, in practice, the statute’s removal provision is useless for almost all Missouri offenders.[3] A 2018 amendment to Missouri’s SORA was intended to replace the statute’s lifetime registration requirement…
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The War Chest Problem: Why Transferring Unspent Campaign Funds Violates The First Amendment
In an ideal world, political candidates would raise the exact amount of funds they would need to mount a winning campaign in the current election and spend every penny. Campaign finance jurisprudence implicitly assumes that candidates will do just that. In reality, incumbents raise funds even when they have no serious opponents and no real…
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A Deficit of Deserts: The Case for a Pandemic Excess Profits Tax
The global COVID-19 pandemic caused, inter alia, the economic balance in the United States to tilt wildly. In earlier decades, such extreme social and economic upheaval led Congress to pass a special tax on those who benefitted from the crisis, known as an excess profits tax. This paper analyzes the relevant tax policy considerations of…
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Fair Housing, Unfair Housing
ABSTRACT The Affirmatively Furthering Fair Housing rule, promulgated under the Obama administration and swiftly repealed under the Trump administration, was the most significant fair housing effort in decades. But for all its ambitions, the rule had a fundamental weakness. It was (intentionally) focused on process and not able to support prescriptive, readily-enforceable mandates to improve…
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Plagiarism Pedagogy: Why Teaching Plagiarism Should be a Fundamental Part of Legal Education
As a practicing lawyer, if you aren’t plagiarizing, you’re committing malpractice. Litigators copy forms and arguments from winning briefs rather than bill their clients for reinventing the wheel. Transactional lawyers copy enforceable agreements to ensure their agreements are enforceable too. Partners routinely present documents prepared by associates (and sometimes even paralegals) as their own work….
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Edwards v. M’Connel: Hiding Behind Legal Principles
Edwards v. M’Connel[i] is cited by a Tennessee state law treatise on res judicata, the legal principle stating that a prior court’s decision is conclusive on another if it was “between the same parties or their privies.”[ii] Edwards’ importance to legal studies and slavery studies is far-reaching. Edwards is an example of how judges reinforced…
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A “Host” of Problems: Airbnbs in Cincinnati, Ohio
Use of condos for hosting Airbnbs has become increasingly popular, not only in places like the Bay Area and Southern California, but also in Midwestern cities like Cincinnati, Ohio. As of October 2017, the Cincinnati Business Journal estimates that there are at least 580 active Airbnb hosts in the metro area.[i] Several of the most…
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Say Goodbye to Shopping Malls: America’s Shift Towards Technology and Ease
Despite 94% of American consumers who say that they believe doing business within their local communities is important, 2017 ended with a staggering number of over 6,700 brick and mortar stores closing.[i] Famous brands such as Walgreens, Nike, and Footlocker have decided to eliminate physical locations and shift their sales to the online market. With…
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“Uber v. Drivers”: The Battle for Employee Classification
The peer-to-peer ridesharing industry has been booming since Uber first went live in San Francisco in 2010. Presently, Uber has spread to more than 700 cities worldwide,[i] and is estimated to have more than two million active drivers.[ii] The ease and popularity of Uber’s services have inspired a remarkable amount of competition: in the United…