Notes Category
Restore, Revert, Repeat: Examining the Decompensation Cycle and the Due Process Limitations on the Treatment of Incompetent Defendants
Jan. 18, 2018—Restore, Revert, Repeat ABSTRACT Though correctional facilities are one of the largest providers of mental health care in the country, the treatment provided often fails to address the needs of many mentally ill inmates. Indeed, after receiving treatment at a state mental health facility, many pretrial detainees who have been recently restored to competency revert...
Going Postal: Analyzing the Abuse of Mail Covers Under the Fourth Amendment
Oct. 7, 2017—Going Postal ABSTRACT Since at least the late 1800s, the United States government has regularly tracked the mail of many of its citizens. In 2014 alone, for example, the government recorded all data on the outside of the mail parcels of over 50,000 individuals via a surveillance initiative known as the mail covers program. In...
Do Your Job: Judicial Review of Occupational Licensing in the Face of Economic Protectionism
Oct. 7, 2017—Do Your Job ABSTRACT Despite efforts to challenge certain occupational licensing schemes as impermissibly driven by naked economic protectionism, federal appellate courts disagree on the legitimacy owed to the protectionist motivations that commonly prompt these regulations. To eliminate the current confusion, this Note advocates for the application of rational-basis-with-judicial-engagement review. The Supreme Court has demonstrated...
For What It’s Worth: The Role of Race- and Gender-Based Data in Civil Damages Awards
May. 10, 2017—For What It’s Worth: The Role of Race- and Gender-Based Data in Civil Damages Awards AUTHOR J.D. Candidate, 2017, Vanderbilt University Law School; B.S. & B.A., 2014, University of Florida.
Police Violence Against People with Mental Disabilities: The Immutable Duty Under the ADA to Reasonably Accommodate During Arrest
May. 10, 2017—Police Violence Against People with Mental Disabilities: The Immutable Duty Under the ADA to Reasonably Accommodate During Arrest AUTHOR J.D. Candidate, 2017, Vanderbilt University Law School; B.A., 2012, University of Florida.
Substantial Guidance Without Substantive Guides: Resolving the Requirements of Moore v. Texas and Hall v. Florida
Apr. 20, 2017—Substantial Guidance Without Substantive Guides: Resolving the Requirements of Moore v. Texas and Hall v. Florida ABSTRACT When the Supreme Court banned the execution of the intellectually disabled in Atkins v. Virginia, it partially left the criteria for identifying members of that group to the states. Since then, the decisions in Hall v. Florida and...
A Distinction Without a Difference: Convergence in Claim Construction Standards
Apr. 20, 2017—A Distinction Without a Difference: Convergence in Claim Construction Standards ABSTRACT The current patent regime applies different standards to interpret patents based on the forum interpreting the patent—the PTO applies the broadest reasonable interpretation standard to construe patent claims, while district courts apply the Phillips standard. The recent spike in inter partes review proceedings at...
Reading Remedially: What Does King v. Burwell Teach Us About Modern Statutory Interpretation, and Can It Help Solve the Problems of CERCLA § 113(h)?
Apr. 20, 2017—Reading Remedially: What Does King v. Burwell Teach Us About Modern Statutory Interpretation, and Can It Help Solve the Problems of CERCLA § 113(h)? ABSTRACT How far should judges go in trying to effectuate the goals of a statute, especially in a world where Congress is increasingly partisan and unproductive? In King v. Burwell, the...
Unambiguous Deterrence: Ambiguity Attitudes in the Juvenile Justice System and the Case for a Right to Counsel During Intake Proceedings
Mar. 21, 2017—Unambiguous Deterrence Ambiguity Attitudes in the Juvenile Justice System and the Case for a Right to Counsel During Intake Proceedings ABSTRACT This Note is the first to apply behavioral insights about ambiguity attitudes to deterrence models within the juvenile justice system. Drawing on insights from behavioral economics and psychology literature, this Note argues that juveniles...
No VIP Treatment: ACOs Should Not Get Waiver Protection from the Prohibition on Beneficiary Inducement
Mar. 21, 2017—No VIP Treatment ACOs Should Not Get Waiver Protection from the Prohibition on Beneficiary Inducement ABSTRACT Accountable Care Organizations (“ACOs”) require flexibility from the existing healthcare fraud and abuse framework. This flexibility includes a waiver from the prohibition on beneficiary inducement, affording ACOs significant freedoms to employ inducements in ways that other healthcare delivery models...
The Securities Black Market: Dark Pool Trading and the Need for a More Expansive Regulation ATS-N
Jan. 27, 2017—The Securities Black Market: Dark Pool Trading and the Need for a More Expansive Regulation ATS-N ABSTRACT This Note analyzes the effect certain Alternative Trading Systems known as “dark pools” have on the market, as well as how the current regulatory scheme falls short in protecting trade and execution quality. A number of regulatory loopholes have...
The Chancery Bank of Delaware: Appraisal Arbitrageurs Expose Need to Further Reform Defective Appraisal Statute
Jan. 27, 2017—The Chancery Bank of Delaware: Appraisal Arbitrageurs Expose Need to Further Reform Defective Appraisal Statute ABSTRACT Appraisal arbitrageurs—hedge funds who purchase target stock after the announcement of a merger solely to pursue appraisal—test the bounds of aim of appraisal rights to protect dissenting shareholders from majority expropriation. The backlash against appraisal arbitrage has uncovered a...
An Ocean Between Us: The Implications of Inconsistencies Between the Navigational Laws of Coastal Arctic Council Nations and the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea for Arctic Navigation
Jan. 27, 2017—An Ocean Between Us: The Implications of Inconsistencies Between the Navigational Laws of Coastal Arctic Council Nations and the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea for Arctic Navigation ABSTRACT Who determines the “rules of the road” for once inaccessible Arctic shipping routes? This Note examines the implications for navigation and protection of...
The Customer Is Not Always Right: Balancing Worker and Customer Welfare in Antitrust Law
Oct. 17, 2016—The Customer Is Not Always Right Balancing Worker and Customer Welfare in Antitrust Law ABSTRACT A natural consequence of employer restraints of trade that decrease wages is lower prices. Under antitrust law, courts evaluate most such restraints of trade under the rule of reason. This Note argues that the rule of reason’s focus on consumer...
I See Dead People: Examining the Admissibility of Living-Victim Photographs in Murder Trials
Oct. 17, 2016—I See Dead People Examining the Admissibility of Living-Victim Photographs in Murder Trials ABSTRACT This Note examines the problems with the rising yet underexplored trend in state evidence law of “Living-Victim Photo Statutes.” Photographs of a victim while alive would be—and often have been—excluded from evidence during a trial as lacking relevance or being unfairly...
How to Assert State Sovereign Immunity Under the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure
Apr. 19, 2016—How to Assert State Sovereign Immunity Under the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure ABSTRACT For the past twenty years, the Supreme Court has charted a broader course for its state sovereign immunity doctrine, which immunizes states and their officers from suit. But while the Court has broadened the doctrine’s substantive elements, it has neglected how...