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Category: Professor contribution

The Right to Education in the Midst of a Pandemic

The Right to Education in the Midst of a Pandemic

COVID-19 exposes the necessity of accessible education for all students and begs us to reconsider education as a fundamental right under substantive due process. In light of this current health crisis, now is the time to consider the many inequities in access to education that have existed for centuries. As schools across the nation consider their modality of instruction for the school year, equitable education for students should be a primary concern for government, policy makers, and school systems. This…

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Protecting Disabled and Aged Patients From Discriminatory Triage Protocols

Protecting Disabled and Aged Patients From Discriminatory Triage Protocols

With COVID-19 cases surging across the country, many hospitals will soon face the unthinkable—having too few resources to treat all patients in need. Already overrun, some hospitals have had to make the choice to ration Intensive Care Unit (ICU) beds, ventilators, and other lifesaving care. Anticipating increased demand, many states have issued Crisis Standards of Care (CSC) that include guiding principles and criteria for allocating scarce resources. Patient advocates have challenged the triage protocols incorporated into some state CSC guidelines…

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Joe Biden, Donald Trump, and Lower Court Appointments

Joe Biden, Donald Trump, and Lower Court Appointments

President Donald Trump seized the public’s attention when he capitalized on the passing of Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg by promptly nominating her successor, Amy Coney Barrett, and duly cementing a powerful conservative majority on the Supreme Court before Americans could even appropriately celebrate the life of the pathbreaking jurist. This accelerated Senate confirmation one week before the presidential and senatorial elections illuminates the extreme hypocrisy of President Trump and Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell (KY), who refused to…

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The Disregarded Canary: On the Plight of Black Women Voters

The Disregarded Canary: On the Plight of Black Women Voters

“De nigger woman is de mule uh de world so fur as Ah can see.” – Zora Neale Hurston, Their Eyes Were Watching God In American politics the Black woman voter is both mule and canary. Black women vote at higher rates than most demographics, and overwhelmingly and consistently vote for  Democratic candidates—not because there is anything to gain but because doing so is necessary for the survival of the republic. Yet, two years after commentators declared 2018 to be…

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Remote Witnesses and Wills

Remote Witnesses and Wills

The COVID-19 pandemic has caused a surge in the number of Americans using online services to make wills. If people are subject to shelter-in-place orders, however, the witnessing condition required by statutory law is not readily satisfied—the testator and two witnesses cannot occupy the same physical place at the same time. While some states have temporarily allowed remote witnessing, such relief has not been uniformly implemented across the country. Thus, an instrument prepared online may fail to fulfill a decedent’s…

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Abuse of Contract and the July 2020 Bar Exam

Abuse of Contract and the July 2020 Bar Exam

This summer, the Kansas Board of Law Examiners (KBE) is demanding that all examinees sign a statement that they have “voluntarily” assumed COVID-related risks before they sit for the July 2020 bar examination. According to the July 2020 Kansas Bar Examination Examinee Code of Conduct Agreement (KS Code of Conduct Agreement) recently distributed by the KBE, if an examinee fails to sign and return the KS Code of Conduct Agreement by July 15, “the examinee will not be allowed to…

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Access to Public Lands During the COVID-19 Pandemic

Access to Public Lands During the COVID-19 Pandemic

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In an effort to reduce the risk of transmission of COVID-19, federal, state, and local governments have acted to limit or entirely close off access to public outdoor spaces, such as local playgrounds and state and national parks. As the country begins to reopen, governments have sought to balance the need for public access to these outdoor spaces with the risks posed by such access. Where the risks are too high—whether because of the challenge of ensuring compliance with social…

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Do Prisoners Have a Right to Soap?

Do Prisoners Have a Right to Soap?

In the ongoing litigation regarding prison conditions during the COVID-19 pandemic, one request of the litigants stands out: they want more soap. And sometimes—especially at the district court level—prisoners have been able to get that soap. In a Texas case, Valentine v. Collier, the district court ordered the prison to “[p]rovide [p]laintiffs and the class members with unrestricted access to hand soap and disposable hand towels to facilitate handwashing.” Similarly, in Swain v. Junior, a Florida district court required that…

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Your Right to Sue, Goodnight!

Your Right to Sue, Goodnight!

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Oh, the sun shines bright on my old Kentucky home‘Tis summer, the old folks are gayWhere the corn top’s ripe and the meadow’s in the bloomWhile the birds make music all the day Weep no more, my ladyOh, weep no more todayWe’ll sing one songFor my old Kentucky homeFor my old Kentucky home, far away Well the young folks roll all around the cabin floorThey’re merry, all happy and brightBy-and-by hard times will come a-knocking at my doorThen my old…

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Remember the Past: What Can a Governor Do When the Second COVID-19 Surge Comes?

Remember the Past: What Can a Governor Do When the Second COVID-19 Surge Comes?

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Back on January 1st we thought that 2020 would bring clarity of vision and foresight. Since then the world has turned upside down; however, long-standing legal precedent of what states can do in times of epidemics and pandemics has not. Many are claiming that it is unlawful for any governmental entity or official, in an effort to reduce COVID-19 infections and deaths, to impose restrictions upon travel, either across state borders or in large crowds within a state. I disagree….

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