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Who Calls the Shots?: Parents Versus the Parens Patriae Power of the States to Mandate Vaccines for Children in New York
Get PDFVaccines are one of the top ten public health interventions of the twentieth century, lengthening lifespans and drastically reducing the burden of infectious disease in many nations. Childhood immunizations in particular have significantly impacted rates of infant and child mortality and morbidity, and nearly eliminated the presence of diseases like measles in the United States. Unfortunately, parents are increasingly seeking “religious” exemptions for mandatory childhood immunizations, which threatens to lead to a resurgence in these diseases, impacting children and schools.
This Note discusses New York’s repeal of the religious exemption from its public health code in 2019. Passed in response to one of the largest measles outbreaks in decades, this measure reignited tension between those seeking personal and religious liberty, and those seeking safe and healthy school environments. This Note examines this law throughout its history and in relation to similar measures seen in other states and concludes that public health law has the authority to challenge personal liberty when health and safety are at stake
Invoking Criminal Equity’s Roots
No full textEquitable remedies have begun to play a critical role in addressing some of the systemic issues in criminal cases. Invoked when other solutions are inadequate to the fair and just resolution of the case, equitable remedies, such as injunctions and specific performance, operate as an unappreciated and underutilized safety valve that protects against the procedural strictures and dehumanization that are hallmarks of our criminal legal system. Less familiar equitable-like legal remedies, such as writs of mandamus, writs of coram nobis, and writs of audita querela, likewise serve to alleviate fundamental errors in the criminal process. Several barriers contribute to the limited use and efficacy of these longstanding remedies. Despite the vast numbers of people caught up in the criminal system, society\u27s aversion to recognizing errors in the system or to acknowledging the humanity of those charged prohibits greater invocation of these remedies. When taken in conjunction with the historically-based fear of judicial arbitrariness and unchecked discretion associated with equity courts, these barriers can seem insurmountable. This Article highlights the pervasiveness of equitable remedies in the criminal system and advocates for an expanded use of equitable and equitable-like legal remedies in criminal cases. In an era with the odds so overwhelmingly stacked against criminal defendants, equity provides a much-needed check on our criminal system, allowing for the exercise of mercy and justice, not just punitiveness and retribution
The Supreme Court Decision in Dobbs v. Jackson Women\u27s Health Organization: What Is Says and What It Means
No full textThe U.S. Supreme Court’s decision in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization overturned Roe v. Wade and Planned Parenthood v. Casey, removing federal protection of abortion rights and allowing states to regulate. About half of states are expected to limit access to abortions, with some states banning the procedure entirely. Acknowledging that there are impassioned voices on both sides of the issue, this panel will describe the legal trajectory of women’s reproductive rights, including the history that led to Dobbs, discuss the impact of the case on states, including Georgia, and analyze the far-reaching implications for constitutional and other areas of the la
The Fallacy of Contract in Sexual Slavery: A Response to Ramseyer\u27s Contracting for Sex in the Pacific War
No full textOver seven decades have passed since the end of the Second World War, but the trauma from the cruelest war in human history continues today, perpetuated by denial of responsibility for the war crimes committed and unjust attempts to rewrite history at the expense of dignity, life, and justice for the victims of the most serious human rights violations. The latest such attempt is a troubling recharacterization of the sexual slavery enforced by Japan during the Second World War as a legitimate contractual arrangement. A recent paper authored by J. Mark Ramseyer, entitled “Contracting for Sex in the Pacific War,” mischaracterizes forced sexual slavery as a contractual process by which the victims freely participated in prostitution in return for a substantial reward, denying the responsibility of the Japanese government and its military for the atrocious human rights violations committed. The argument of that paper is flawed and disregards a breath of evidence, including numerous testimonies of survivors, and the findings of scholars, NGOs, and intergovernmental organizations, including the United Nations Human Rights Commission, that the victims were coerced, deceived, or otherwise manipulated into sexual servitude with the direct or indirect involvement of the Japanese government or the military, as admitted by Japan in the 1993 Kono Statement. This article discusses the critical flaws in the arguments advanced by the paper, the traumatic impact of such arguments on survivors of these war crimes, and the broader implications of these (and other similar) justifications for sexual exploitation
Genetic Paparazzi: Beyond Genetic Privacy
No full textThe domain of accessible information about celebrities, political leaders, and other public figures is expanding as technology evolves, placing new stresses on already uneasy legal boundaries around their privacy. The availability of cheap, fast, and informative genetic sequencing technologies, combined with growing public interest in genetic information, make it likely that we will soon witness paparazzi carrying swabs and sterile tubes in search for genetic materials connected in some way to the public figures they pursue. In a world in which genetic paparazzi are not only a possibility, but a probability, courts will inevitably be asked to determine the legal status of genetic materials and information obtained from public figures without consent. The genetics of public figures serves as a useful test case of the legal framework governing genetics and privacy because public figures are at the same time beneficiaries of more rights than most of us — in the form of rights of publicity — and fewer rights — in the form of diminished expectations of privacy.When disputes involving genetic paparazzi ultimately reach the courtroom, judges will have to confront scenarios that touch on fundamental questions regarding the nature of genetics and its relationship to concepts of personhood and identity, property, health and disease, intellectual property, and reproductive rights. While the question of what courts will decide is intriguing, this Article moves beyond such predictions to focus on how resulting court decisions in seemingly narrow cases may have broad and potentially harmful impact. Despite the complexity of the legal issues that such suits will implicate, the constraints of existing law make it likely that courts will address such disputes largely through the lens of traditional privacy and publicity rights. In this Article we argue that pursuing genetic paparazzi cases through the narrow lens of existing privacy and publicity law would ignore the multidimensional nature of genetic materials and information, leading to unintended and problematic consequences for how the law approaches genetics. We go on to highlight additional aspects of genetic materials and information that policymakers, courts, and lawyers ought to consider when responding to media excursions into the genetics of public figures so as not to impede other genetic interests that might be implicated
In \u3ci\u3e Fulton\u3c/i\u3e, Children\u27s Interests Fall in High Court\u27s Blindspot
No full textState Public Option Plans - Too Modest to Improve Affordability?
No full textFacing daunting political, legal, and fiscal challenges, the public option health plans recently enacted by Washington State, Nevada, and Colorado have been narrowed to such an extent that they may fail to meet their affordability and coverage goals