Social determinants play into who gets to die prematurely while others get to have healthy productive lives—these are loosely called health disparities. Health disparities are typically understood socially, economically, and politically, but rarely analyzed within the legal system. The Social Security Administration (SSA)—the federal program for providing Americans with disabilities benefits and resources—recorded that in […]
Kicked Out, Kicked Again: The Discharge Review Boards’ Illiberal Application of Liberal Consideration for Veterans with Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder
Rather than continue this pattern of punishing veterans for having mental health conditions—commander kicks them out and the discharge review board kicks them again—veterans deserve the opportunity for true relief in recognition of their service and the mental health condition they developed due to that service. […]
Diversity to Deradicalize
In articulating a new explanation of Powell’s motives in Bakke, this Article not only calls into question the prevailing understanding that Powell was motivated by his commitment to racial justice, it also complicates a more critical view of the diversity rationale that locates the Court’s endorsement of “the educational benefits of diversity” in a recognition that exposure to racial minorities confers benefits onto Whites. Under this theory, Powell’s endorsement of diversity stemmed from an awareness that White college students needed exposure to the views of students of color to be effective leaders in an increasingly multiracial society. […]
Police Sexual Violence: Police Brutality, #MeToo, and Masculinities
The epidemic of PSV [police sexual violence], both in scale and in concept, is startlingly underanalyzed. Sexual assaults committed by police against members of the public operate at the intersection of two vital national conversations about police brutality and sexual violence and harassment. […]
States of Inequality: Fiscal Federalism, Unequal States, and Unequal People
Two potential solutions that have been proposed for addressing the fiscal disparity among states are (1) following the lead of other federal nations and adopting a system of interstate fiscal equalization or (2) ending federalism and fully nationalizing key programs. As I will discuss, neither of these polar solutions is feasible or desirable. Instead, drawing on contemporary federalism scholarship and on scholarship in the area of fiscal federalism, I will argue that the federal government should address fiscal disparities by engaging in calibrated matching grants across an array of programs. […]
Looking to Hybrid Species for the Future of Coral Reefs
Although corals can hybridize and adapt to the threat of climate change, the existing legal framework in the United States is insufficient to ensure their protection. This regulatory gap leaves hybrid corals exposed to local and regional stressors. But legal protections, like the corals themselves, can adapt and evolve. If we value coral reefs, we should modify the legal framework that protects corals and related marine ecosystems to encompass naturally occurring resiliency tools such as hybrid corals. […]
Making the Grade: Rethinking the U.S. Food Retail Inspection and Rating Regulatory System
The FDA’s oversight of food retail has not kept pace with modern legislation’s move toward standardized guidelines across the food industry. Instead, the FDA’s feeble attempt at a command-and-control model has crumbled into a system that is de facto deregulated and lacks uniformity. […]
M&A After Eagle Force: An Economic Analysis of Sandbagging Default Rules
Unlike the debate on the ethics of sandbagging, the economic consequence of a default rule is an empirical question with a right and wrong answer. This Note argues that the only other scholarly article on the issue got it wrong. […]
John Robinson Wilkins and the Resources of the Law: Testing the Limits of Race, Law and Development, and the American Legal Profession
In the fall of 1964, my uncle John Robinson Wilkins joined the Berkeley Law School faculty. He was the first black professor in the school’s illustrious history and only the second in the entire UC Berkeley system. Tragically, my uncle’s time on the Berkeley faculty would be short. In 1970, he was diagnosed with an […]
Shadow Governance
Corporations have something to say about some of the most important social and economic issues of our time—and one way they say it is through shadow governance. This Article spotlights a group of influential corporate policies comprising what we call “shadow governance.” These non-charter, non-bylaw governance documents express a corporation’s commitment to and process on […]