By: Amanda Sklar Published On: February 1, 2024 With extensive Shein hauls being in vogue, it is not terribly surprising that the fashion industry is one of the largest polluters.  Producing 10% of humanity’s carbon emissions, drying up water sources, and resulting in 85% of textiles ending up in landfills each year[1], the fashion industry’s consumption levels are “seam”ingly endless.  What’s more is that washing synthetic fabrics can cause microplastics to end up in the water[2], and the longevity of some types of synthetic clothes pales in comparison to natural fibers, such as lea ..read more

By: Sam Disario Published On: January 25, 2024 Transgender Americans, in their fight for equality, have faced an onslaught of attacks. In 2023 alone, 576 anti-transgender bills have been brought in 49 states. Of these 576 bills, 83 have passed.[1]  These anti-transgender bills cover various areas, including healthcare, legal recognition, and education.[2]  One of the many avenues of attacks on transgender people takes place in bathrooms.  Specifically, multiple states have passed laws banning transgender people from using the bathroom that corresponds with their gender identity ..read more

By: Charlie Chung Published on: January 25, 2024 In 2017, quoting then-President Donald Trump, the White House criticized how the expansion of the liberal economic system has failed to liberalize the economic and political practices of those countries that refuse to recognize the economic and political values of global institutions.[1]  The crux of this criticism is that the United States liberalized its own economic trading system for the past seven decades while hoping in vain that the United States’ adversaries would also liberalize their economic and political systems.[2]  Reflec ..read more

By: Sienna Roberts Published on: January 25, 2024 Many 1L students across the country learned about the case State v. Norman.  What they didn’t learn are the horrors Judy Norman faced throughout her twenty-five-year marriage to John Thomas Norman.[1]  On June 12, 1985, feeling as though the horrors would never end, Judy Norman shot and killed her abusive husband, John Thomas Norman.[2]  Following those events, Judy Norman unsuccessfully tried to claim self-defense as an affirmative defense at trial.[3] The issue with the self-defense claim for Judy Norman, and for other survivor ..read more

By: Jordan Sciascia Published On: November 20, 2023 Rent stabilization policies are in place across many states and localities.[1]  These laws cap the rent of a particular unit under the terms of a lease and place other restrictions on landlords.[2]  The rent stabilization laws (“RSL”) in New York requires both that landlords adhere to a legal limit on how much they can increase the rent, and that tenants be allowed to renew their lease.  In some circumstances, it requires that a tenant’s family members be able to take over their lease and keep the same rent controlled prices.[3 ..read more

By: Danielle Sumner Published On: November 17, 2023 Section 505 of the Bankruptcy Code is a broad provision granting bankruptcy courts discretionary authority to determine tax liabilities of debtors, a power traditionally reserved for Tax Courts.[1] Meanwhile, Section 6015(e)(1)(A) of the Internal Revenue Code permits individual taxpayers requesting innocent spouse relief to, “in addition to any other remedy provided by law . . . petition the Tax Court to determine the appropriate relief available to the individual.”[2] Innocent spouse relief is a type of equitable relief that releases innocen ..read more

By: Alexis Boyd Posted on: October 18, 2023 The Incarcerated Workers Organizing Committee (IWOC) is a labor union specifically devoted to organizing incarcerated people across United States and parts of the United Kingdom.[1] IWOC’s main goals are the repeal of the Thirteenth Amendment’s exception to slavery, the closing of all state, federal, and private jails and prisons, and the release of all political prisoners.[2] Many prison rights advocates support the repeal of the Thirteenth Amendment because it excludes incarcerated individuals from protections against slavery or involuntary servitu ..read more

By: Esther Davila Published On: June 10, 2023 During his 1992 presidential campaign, Bill Clinton told his supporters, “‘Welfare should be a second chance, not a way of life . . . . [W]e’re going to put an end to welfare as we know it.’”[1] Four years later, his campaign promise became a reality when Congress passed the Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act of 1996 (PRWORA). PRWORA’s primary goal was to promote welfare recipients’ self-sufficiency through work by shifting the federal government’s control of public benefit programs to the states;[2] however, the Act al ..read more

By: Matison Miller Published on: May 4, 2023 Gender biases are deeply ingrained in American society, limiting women’s career options.[1] Educational institutions, employment opportunities, and familial structures reinforce gender stereotypes and impose reductionist assumptions about the characteristics and roles of men and women.[2] Despite decades of work to close the employment gap between men and women, forty percent of individuals surveyed by the United Nations feel that men make better business executives and have more of a right to jobs than women when jobs are scarce.[3] As employers de ..read more

By: Michaela Kretzner  Published on: May 3, 2023 Many anti-abortion advocates seek to codify fetal personhood — the idea that life begins at conception — in order to protect embryos.[1] Such laws, among other reproductive restrictions and abortion bans, are likely to become more common in state legislatures since the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade last year.[2] However, fetal personhood bills put in vitro fertilization (“IVF”), a popular form of assisted reproductive technology, at risk.[3] Although direct limitations on IVF are unlikely to be passe d, fetal personhood laws could cr ..read more