American consumers are becoming increasingly aware farmed animals suffer greatly during farming processes that aim to provide meat at the lowest possible price. It has become standard practice on industrial farms for animals to be crowded into spaces so small they cannot move freely; deprived of sunlight and outdoor access; denied basic social interaction; artificially inseminated or restrained for forced insemination; painfully dehorned, debeaked, detailed, and castrated; and forced to endure unsanitary conditions, promoting diseases that lead to antibiotic resistance from frequent treatment.
Continue reading “The Lawyer’s Role in Improving “Humane” Meat Labeling”Month: March 2022
Voting Rights for People with Diminished Mental Capacity
Implementing a capacity metric for those with diminished mental capacity comes with inherent risks. Ideally, states should amend their constitutions and statutes to remove voting restrictions based on mental incapacity. Realistically, for states that wish to continue implementing voting restrictions based on mental incapacity, they should implement the ABA’s recommendation absent the third criterion. This method would serve to create uniform standards implemented by the judiciary and deter informal gatekeeping. Mobilization and advocacy through education and non-legislative initiatives should occur to promote enfranchisement and encourage those with diminished mental capacity to vote, thereby cementing their inclusion in society and dismantling the continuation of stigma.
Continue reading “Voting Rights for People with Diminished Mental Capacity”Should the Call for Systemic Change Start with Police Grievance Arbitration?
Police discipline grievance arbitrations are not going away because they are statutorily required. A key issue with the police discipline grievance arbitration is the number of police officers reinstated after termination. The reinstatement of a police officer after termination makes a chief of police’s job more difficult because they cannot manage the culture of their department. However, because of the statutory nature of these grievance procedures, the changes need to come from the legislature or adjusting the language in the governing collective bargaining agreements. Minnesota’s PAA’s reform of police discipline grievance arbitrations was an attempt address this issue.
Continue reading “Should the Call for Systemic Change Start with Police Grievance Arbitration?”Hyperpartisanship, Impeachment, and the Unchecked Executive Branch
While no president has been impeached and convicted in our country’s history, impeachment has been used in the past to temper presidential power. As our country has become more polarized, the usefulness of impeachment as both a deterrent and as a check on executive authority has been put into question. This is, in large part, due to the failure of Congress to unite around impeachment. Because Congress is our most democratic institution, issues within Congress generally speak more broadly to issues within our country. Currently, our country is too polarized to reach a political consensus, even after an armed insurrection. Moreover, impeachment has been weakened by its continued exploitation by both parties in Congress. Without an effective impeachment tool, Congress will have to rethink its checks on the executive branch.
Continue reading “Hyperpartisanship, Impeachment, and the Unchecked Executive Branch”The Enforceability of Step-Down Provisions in Automobile Insurance Policies
Courts across the country struggle with the enforceability of step-down provisions. Many courts reject step-down provisions as unfair, against public policy, or as ambiguous terms that upon examination do not warrant enforcement. Other court decisions focus on the freedom to contract, and many approve the provisions based on specific language of state insurance statutes.
This Article presents a brief history of these provisions, then surveys various judicial decisions attempting to put the different rulings in context with one another. Concluding, the authors suggest decisions like the South Carolina Supreme Court’s decision in Sharmin’s case are correct because sound public policy and the reasonable expectations of an insured are not served by allowing the provisions to limit coverage.
Continue reading “The Enforceability of Step-Down Provisions in Automobile Insurance Policies”The Other Bar Hurdle: An Examination of the Character and Fitness Requirement for Bar Admission
To become a licensed attorney, law school graduates must pass the dreaded bar exam, a two or three-day, grueling exam that has been characterized as a brutal and hellish experience. Many attorneys describe the exam as “among the most painful experiences of their lives.” But, there is a lesser known yet equally as important hurdle that bar applicants also must overcome—the character and fitness inquiry. Applicants have the burden to show that they are morally fit to practice law. They must reveal a plethora of personal information, dating back years or even decades, depending on the age of the applicant. They must reveal arrests, convictions, speeding tickets, bankruptcies, court judgments, employment discharges, and much more. For some applicants, this may prove to be the most challenging part of the admission process.
Continue reading “The Other Bar Hurdle: An Examination of the Character and Fitness Requirement for Bar Admission”Apparent Authority: Minnesota Finally Rejects Categorical Exemption for Independent Contractors in Hospital Emergency Rooms and Signifies Potential for Nondelegable Duty Doctrine- Popovich v. Allina Health Sys., 946 N.W.2D 885 (MINN. 2020).
The gradual transformation of hospitals in the United States is a testament to the commitment to caring for patients regardless of ability to pay in unison with advancing medical technology and related costs. The modernization of hospitals into large corporations led to diminished forbearance from pursuit of legal remedies by patients injured by physician negligence. As hospitals developed, their immunity dissolved, and courts applied vicarious liability theories against hospitals for physician negligence. Beginning with respondeat superior, courts later included agency theories of agency by estoppel, apparent agency, and eventually, nondelegable duty. Minnesota courts followed this general trajectory but were slower to apply apparent authority than many other states.
Continue reading “Apparent Authority: Minnesota Finally Rejects Categorical Exemption for Independent Contractors in Hospital Emergency Rooms and Signifies Potential for Nondelegable Duty Doctrine- Popovich v. Allina Health Sys., 946 N.W.2D 885 (MINN. 2020).”Free Speech, Social Media, and Public Universities: How the First Amendment Limits University Sanctions for Online Expression and Empowers Students, Staff, and Faculty
All told, outside of a small number of narrowly defined exceptions, speech by students, staff, and faculty is protected against reprisal by public universities. In each of the examples above, the speech was at least partially—if not fully—protected by the First Amendment (although some of the speech uttered by students might not have been protected if it had been said by faculty or staff). Public universities can achieve essential societal values of equality, diversity, and inclusivity and promote civility in discourse while also respecting the dictates of the First Amendment. Universities have tremendous institutional academic freedom to set curricula, build programming, engage in out-of-class educational opportunities, and determine whom they will hire and admit. Public universities need to promote essential societal values in ways that guarantee they are not engaging in viewpoint discrimination or compelling expression of ideological beliefs, ensuring these institutions are held accountable constitutionally and do not impose punishments that fall disproportionately on groups that have been traditionally, and continue to be, marginalized.
Continue reading “Free Speech, Social Media, and Public Universities: How the First Amendment Limits University Sanctions for Online Expression and Empowers Students, Staff, and Faculty”