The Dalai Lama said that “a lack of transparency results in distrust and a deep sense of insecurity.” If that’s right, Black people should have immense distrust in our jury system and should feel insecure in the notion that it can deliver justice. Transparency is a necessary cornerstone of a well-functioning democracy. In the words…

As of December 2020, almost 1.9 million California tenants were behind on their rent, owing upwards of $1.67 billion to their landlords. Eviction cases in the state are projected to double over the next year. The individuals and families who are most at risk of mass displacement and crushing debt come from low-income, Black and…

Block grants can provide states with flexibility over SNAP requirements. However, keeping SNAP as an entitlement program will better provide benefits to individuals in need. Instead of reviving politically contentious debates each time Congress discusses SNAP block grants’ budget, Congress should maintain SNAP’s current entitlement program to better to prioritize anti-hunger goals…

The impact of slipping into poverty is all-encompassing; I mean that in the way that poverty will impact every step and crevice of your financial health, physical health, and mental health for the rest of your life. So why aren’t there more legal protections for poor Americans? As it stands, socioeconomic status is not a protected class under anti-discrimination laws. But it should be—and here’s why…

But, in 2020, lawyers cannot afford to buy the myth that trauma is an aberration in the profession of otherwise Teflon-coated lawyering machines. Negotiating trauma is perhaps as old as the profession, even though we may have never given that emotional labor nomenclature or visibility, to our detriment…

Courts around the country have adapted to the reality of socially distanced litigation, allowing virtual hearings and even trials to take place over the Internet. This infrastructure will outlast COVID-19 and will minimize the burden of traveling for litigation. In the face of these changes, the JPML should accordingly limit the importance of geographic centrality when choosing a forum for multidistrict litigation…

Proposition 16 would undo Proposition 209. Its passage would not create racial quota systems, which the Supreme Court, in University of California v. Bakke, deemed unconstitutional, but would make it possible for state offices to consider applicants’ identities when making decisions about where resources are allocated and access is granted…

Social justice movements must abandon their longstanding reliance on the Supreme Court to stave off the worst threats to the rights of members of marginalized and vulnerable groups. The fight for rights in the United States may well start to more closely resemble, for perhaps the first time since the civil rights movement, that in many places abroad…

To achieve adequate representation, House elections should strive to achieve as few distortions of the popular will as possible, while maintaining identifiable, local representation. Most U.S. elections are first-past-the-post, also known as single-member district plurality systems (SMDP). SMDP produces identifiable local representatives but fails to accurately reflect voter sentiment. Instead, House elections should implement a single-transferable vote system (STV) within multimember districts…

No state agents have been impressed into service. But the anti-commandeering doctrine is based on a theory of political accountability, which is undermined by these unmarked federal agents. Thus, while there is no formal commandeering happening, the federal government’s use of unmarked agents creates exactly the kind of confusion in the lines of political accountability that the anti-commandeering doctrine is designed to prevent…

The controversies over social media center on some fundamental ideas—namely, free speech and its societal value. Historians debate why the Framers chose to add the protection of free speech to the First Amendment. But depending on one’s legal philosophy, the Framers’ intentions should not be the only issue on this matter. Like with most normative questions, the value of free speech splits into two camps of thought: the utilitarian and the deontology…

The bar exam must be abolished in order for the legal profession to better achieve full and equal participation in the justice system, and a competent, ethical, and diverse legal profession…

When it comes to global health, the World Health Organization (WHO) is the most widely acknowledged international authority and the major coordinator of international efforts to contain communicable diseases. However, the organization is now under close scrutiny as the media and governments of some Member States have accused the WHO of responding to the unprecedented crisis in a disappointing way…

The dirty little secret of the juvenile delinquency system—or what its apologists insist on calling the juvenile “justice” system—is not actually particularly secret. In study after study, independent researchers arrive at the same, discomfiting conclusion: the delinquency system fails at its core function of preventing youth who have committed crimes from doing it again. This sobering conclusion is one that bears repeating—the very system tasked with rehabilitating our youth is actually doing exactly the opposite…

Recently, White women have placed their bodies between riot officers and Blacks Lives Matter protesters, capitalizing on their privileged position with police. But once the protests end, it is likely fearful women will continue to reflexively call the cops, and police departments will continue to tout their role as women’s protectors. The time to end the feminist-police alliance is now…

The COVID-specific resentencing found under compassionate release offers a unique opportunity for humanizing a defendant. It is important to recognize, however, that humanizing defendants in a dehumanizing system will never solve pervasive structural problems like anti-Black racism, mandatory minimums, society’s refusal to examine prisons, or the global pandemic…

As law professors and legal professionals, we felt compelled to respond to the current moment by bringing our collective experience in labor and civil rights law to bear on urgently needed reforms in policing. We formed a study group to consider possible changes to law enforcement labor relations with the goal of proposing politically feasible reforms that could be quickly implemented and would meaningfully address some of the grave problems in policing…

“Where do we come from? What are we? Where are we going?” This is the title of artist Paul Gauguin’s final painting, done in 1897. As a former student of art history turned lawyer, the title of this piece has been circling in my head recently. These questions are particularly important for attorneys, since we are in many…

Gurupreet Kaur, a six-year-old Sikh girl, died while attempting to cross the southern border into the United States in June 2019. She had traveled from India with her mother and had hoped to reunite with her father, who was already seeking asylum in New York. Gurupreet and her mother were in their final stretch of walking from Mexico to Arizona, but their journey together ended in the Arizona desert when they separated while trying to find water to survive the unbearable heat. Many immigrants have perished in that same strip of desert while attempting to enter the United States.

This blog post will describe how law schools are pipelines for government positions in America, while also being institutions that have engaged in discriminatory practices. I conclude by providing seven actions that law schools can take to work towards remedying a history of discrimination and ensuring that the legal profession reflects the diversity of our society…