Because American families’ finances are unlikely to recover as soon as the crisis ends, debt collection brought by the COVID-19 crisis also will not dissipate anytime soon. Even after the crisis ends, the need to implement comprehensive, longer-lasting solutions will remain. As we detail below, these solutions largely fall on the shoulders of the federal government, though state attorneys general have the necessary power to help people effectively. If the government continues on its present course, a debt collection pandemic will follow the coronavirus pandemic. […]
Releasing the 1040, Not so EZ: Constitutional Uncertainties from Presidential Tax Return Release Laws
On multiple fronts, Americans are pursuing President Trump’s tax returns: a senator through legislation, a district attorney and congressional committees through investigation, and voters through protest and persuasion. None have succeeded. […]
#MeToo Effects on Juror Decision Making
The modern #MeToo movement started in late 2017 and immediately had an impact on many aspects of society, bringing down over 200 powerful men in the first year and sparking swift legal change regarding the use of nondisclosure agreements to silence victims. But no research has been conducted into how the #MeToo movement has affected juror decision making in sexual assault cases. […]
Legal Theories to Compel Vote-by-Mail in Federal Court
To provide a roadmap for federal vote-by-mail lawsuits related to COVID-19, this Article outlines many of the possible claims that advocates can bring in federal court to challenge states’ failure to provide mail ballots to voters. Where clear tests and guidelines for necessary evidence are absent from the case law, we propose our own. […]
Jurisdictional Transparency and Native American Women
While lawmakers have long known that Native American women experience gender-based violence at higher rates than any other population, lawmakers historically have addressed these harms by implementing jurisdictional changes: removing tribal jurisdiction entirely, limiting tribal jurisdiction, or returning jurisdiction to tribes in a piecemeal fashion. The result is a “jurisdictional maze” that law enforcement officers, prosecutors, and courts are unable to successfully administer to bring perpetrators to justice. […]
How Mobile Homes Correlate With Per Capita Income
Do lower-income parts of the U.S. have more mobile homes than higher-income ones? One might think so, based on a 2013 report from BBC News. This report found that “comparing the top 10 mobile home states with the 10 most deprived states suggests a loose correlation,” although it does not provide a way of substantiating such a claim at the sub-state level. […]
Filling The California Federal District Court Vacancies
President Donald Trump frequently argues that confirming federal appellate judges constitutes his quintessential success. The President and the Republican Senate majority have dramatically eclipsed appeals court records by appointing fifty-one conservative, young, and capable appellate court nominees, which leaves merely one vacancy across the country. Nonetheless, these approvals have imposed costs, especially among the plentiful district courts that address seventy-four openings in 677 judicial positions. […]
What the Supreme Court Could Have Heard in R.G. & G.R. Harris Funeral Homes v. EEOC and Aimee Stephens
Affirming that a transgender woman is a woman legitimizes her identity, signals she is worthy of equal dignity, and helps the court better grasp her vulnerability to and experience of discrimination as a woman. […]
A Few Predictions for Justice Gorsuch’s Bankruptcy Jurisprudence
With Neil Gorsuch recently confirmed to the Supreme Court, this is a good opportunity to make some predictions about how Justice Gorsuch is likely to impact bankruptcy law. Why should we care about bankruptcy law in particular? First, as I explain in a forthcoming law review article, bankruptcy law is one of
Virtue Analysis: A Replay to Professor Sunstein
Virtue analysis is still in its infancy. Despite Sunstein’s contributions, several issues must be resolved before virtue analysis can become a stable, legitimizing feature of agency decision making. […]