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Criminal Procedure - Bonds and Recognizances
Full text linkThe Act primarily functions to expand the list of serious offenses for which bail or surety is required by adding thirty new offenses, including misdemeanors that have a mandatory cash bail. It also requires many repeat offenders to post bail or surety. In addition, the Act restricts organizations, charities, or individuals to bail out a maximum of three people per year or require them to register as a bonding agency
Puerto Rico\u27s Coast: Preservation through Positive Obligations on Property Owners and the State in the Context of Climate Change
Full text linkThe rise in sea level, the obvious rampant coastal erosion and the uncertain future due to climate change urge the need to rethink the coast, through property and administrative law. The security of life, property and the fair and orderly use of the ultra-valuable resources that is the coast depend on a new concept for properties in the coastal zone and its effective execution by a conscious and responsible State. Centered on the community of Ocean Park in San Juan, Puerto Rico, it’s no longer a question of whether coastal property rights can contribute to safeguarding the coast, but rather of determining how it should do so. This is achieved through the expansion of the social function of property and the State\u27s duty of due diligence for the imposition of coastal obligations to preserve the beach and the coastline. Guided by the principles of good administration -analyzed and expanded by European Courts- the State must reconceptualize its obligation via legal provisions that in the face of climate change have the necessary tools to preserve, maintain the beach and impose natural based mitigation strategies
A Legislative Foundation for Foundation Models
Full text linkArtificial Intelligence (AI) is not some futuristic technology—it exists in everyday products like your Uber app or the Siri voice on your nightstand. Its development is meteoric; foundation models are the latest AI advancement. These models are a type of AI that not only produces a range of products but is also integrated into other AI models. This AI Swiss army knife is proving to be an incredible asset for economic development and national security. But, like other world- altering technology, there is a pernicious side of foundation models. Their flexibility offers adversaries, such as state and non-state actors, the ability to level the global playing field and shift the global order in terms of defensive capabilities. As the conflict in Ukraine has shown, AI is not the future of war—it is the present. Hundred-dollar AI-fueled drones have been used to disable and, at times, destroy hundred- million-dollar war machines.
To address this Jekyll and Hyde potential of foundation models, former-President Joe Biden issued Executive Order (EO) 14110. But this EO is the starting gun, not the end of the race. In fact, EO 14110 even admits that more understanding and information are required for this nascent technology. To properly legislate foundation models, Congress will need to act. Legislation, however, must be measured and thoughtful with a burgeoning technology like foundation models. Otherwise, innovation will be stamped out, giving way to inflexible, misguided laws.
This Paper offers a path forward to balance the scale between innovation and legislation. This Paper first provides an outline of former-President Biden’s EO, with a focus on Section 4.6. It then turns the underlying technology of foundation models, explaining how labeling foundation models as “open” versus “closed” creates a false dichotomy. Next, the Paper compares proposed U.S. legislation to the European Union’s recent approach to legislating foundation models. National security implications of AI are then outlined, providing real- world examples of AI usage from the current conflict in Ukraine and across the globe. This Paper concludes with recommendations on how to legislate foundation models. By balancing legislation with innovation, this paper develops a novel approach to regulating foundation models—the “fastest-growing consumer technology in U.S. history.
Taxing Morality: How Tax Law Defines Wealth, Justice, and Fairness
Full text linkTax law is more than a fiscal framework; it is a moral compass that shapes society\u27s values, governing who bears the burden and who reaps the benefits. Hidden within the tax code are moral judgments on wealth, privilege, responsibility, and fairness, making taxation one of the most profound expressions of social ethics. This Article argues that the tax system is not just a mechanism for raising revenue but is, and should continue to be, a legal tool for enforcing collective moral decisions about justice and equity. As the wealth gap widens and public discourse intensifies around tax fairness, the question is no longer just about dollars and cents, but about morality itself.
The U.S. tax code subtly but powerfully dictates what behaviors are rewarded or penalized, how wealth is distributed, and who carries the heaviest load. From progressive tax brackets that implicitly assert the moral duty of the wealthy to contribute more, to regressive sales taxes that disproportionately burden the poor, every provision reflects an ethical stance. This Article explores how legal moralism is embedded in taxation, most obviously through sin taxes which legislate morality on vices like tobacco and alcohol, but also through capital gains taxes, loopholes, and estate taxes that quietly signal what we, the people, deem just.
Moreover, this Article takes a hard look at the growing divide between legal compliance and moral responsibility. As corporations and high-net-worth individuals legally minimize their taxes, should we consider tax avoidance immoral even if it remains within the bounds of the law? When wealthy individuals and corporations exploit loopholes and offshore havens, the system may still be legal, but is it just? These questions push us to rethink the role of the tax code in preserving or undermining social trust.
Regressive taxes present another moral challenge, as they place a heavier burden on lower-income individuals while wealth remains shielded. By penalizing the poor for basic consumption, such taxes reinforce existing inequalities, making the legal system complicit in perpetuating injustice. Should tax law embrace a deeper moral responsibility to right these wrongs? This Article proposes a vision of tax reform that moves beyond financial pragmatism and embraces taxation as a tool for moral and social justice.
In a world where inequality and social justice dominate the public agenda, this Article challenges future tax practitioners and policymakers to recognize the moral stakes of tax policy and invites them to reimagine tax law not merely as a technical exercise in revenue collection, but as a battleground for ethical principles and social fairness. The time has come for the tax code to serve as an engine for equality, a force for justice, and a reflection of our collective values
Green Dividends: A Case Study In Green Dividends and the Conditions for Private Ordering Solutions
No full textThis Essay introduces a novel private ordering solution to facilitate corporate investments in pro-social and environmental initiatives: Green dividends. Green dividends are an optional increase in shareholder dividends that are returned to the company to be reinvested in environmental initiatives or kept by a shareholder.
Green dividends pose an alternative to the current gridlocked debate that corporations can’t, won’t, shouldn’t, and shouldn’t even try to act in pro-social or environmental ways. Turning the common refrains on their head converts each narrative into an element for a successful private ordering solution: authority, accountability, shareholder buy-in, and government- backed enforcement. With Green dividends, shareholder voting establishes board authority to act and shareholder consent. Shareholder voting rules import securities laws’ mandate of complete and truthful information backed up by private rights of action.
This Essay maps Green dividends—first used in Germany—to U.S. corporate law and identifies Green dividends’ potential benefits and pitfalls. The Essay concludes with an extension of Green dividends but acknowledges that Green dividends will not facilitate all pro-social and environmental corporate investments. Green dividends are a tool in a growing toolkit that corporations can continue to expand with private ordering