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The Inherent Monetary Incentive of Intellectual Property Rights and the Failure of Intellectual Property Waivers to Recognize This Motive
Full text linkChildbearing Under Unbearable Circumstances: The Importance of Abortion Ban Exceptions for Victims of Sexual Violence and the Current Bias Against Sex Trafficking Victims
No full textThe Independent Existence: A Look at Florida\u27s Wrongful Death Statute in the Wake of Dobbs and Changing State Abortion Laws.
Full text linkFollowing the Supreme Court’s overturning of the federally mandated fundamental right to abortion founded in Roe1 and Casey,2 the decision of whether a woman may terminate a pregnancy has returned to the states with the current Court’s implementation of Dobbs v. Jackson Woman’s Health.3 In Florida, the state government decided to reduce the gestational age for termination to fifteen weeks in July 2022, and further reduced the gestational age to six weeks in April 2023 provided that the Florida Supreme Court upholds the fifteen week ban.4 This note operates under the fifteen week standard as the six week ban is not yet effective. While the executive and legislative branches have decided to reduce the gestational age of termination to fifteen weeks, the state still refuses to allow for a parent’s recovery for the wrongful death of a fetus, holding that a fetus is not a person within the scope of the wrongful death act.5 This creates a congruity issue in the law surrounding fetuses and fetal rights in the states.
This note argues that Florida should resolve the issue of legal inconsistency created through the fetal laws of abortion, feticide, and fetal wrongful death by abrogating the Born Alive Rule where a parent could not recover for the death of a fetus unless the fetus was born alive.6 Now that states can once again determine the issue of abortion, Florida should allow for the recovery for the tortious death of a fetus. If Florida allows for the wrongful death of a fetus, this will not give legal personhood rights to the fetus, but rather would allow for a greater understanding of parental rights for their fetus under the theory of subjective fetal personhood. The state has shown that it wishes to protect the interests of the potential future life and allowing for the recovery for the wrongful death of a fetus would further promote this interest
Reversing Quiet Destruction: Florida\u27s Attempt to Regulate PFAS Known As Forever Chemicals
Full text linkIntroduced by manufacturing companies in the 1940s, Per-and polyfluorinated substances (“PFAS”) which consist of a group of over 6,000 chemicals, have insidiously made their way into the bloodstream of humans and into the environment. These nearly indestructible, “forever chemicals” that were once thought to be safe for use in firefighting foams, cosmetics, food packaging, non-stick cookware, and water-resistant clothing, are now found to be toxic. PFAS have been found in animals, aquatic life, and natural resources, and are associated with illnesses in humans: PFAS have been linked to various cancers, reproductive issues in women, and birth defects in children. As research increases, additional long-term effects of exposure to PFAS may be revealed. Like many researchers, these concerns are shared by the Environmental Protection Agency (“EPA”): the EPA has determined that Perfluorooctanoic acid (“PFOA”) and Perfluorooctanesulfonic acid (“PFOS”), chemicals in the PFAS group, are a risk to public health and to the environment and has proposed that these chemicals be placed on the National Priorities List (“NPL”) as hazardous substances. Notwithstanding this proposal, EPA standards for PFAS uses have not been finalized. Even so, these federal guidelines do not prevent the states from placing restrictions on PFAS. Because PFAS have been found in most water sources, Florida is severely exposed to PFAS due to its coastal population and seafood production. To address the PFAS problem in Florida, on June 20, 2022, Florida it enacted a Statewide Cleanup of Perfluoroalkyl and polyfluoroalkyl Substances, Section 376.91 of Florida Statutes. This note first addresses the risk of using PFAS for people and the effects of PFAS on the economy and the environment of Florida. This note will then address the current state of regulations surrounding PFAS in Florida and in other states. Finally, this note will critique the Statewide Cleanup of Perfluoroalkyl and Polyfluoroalkyl Substances, Section 376.91 of Florida Statutes, and analyze it in comparison to other states’ statutes for its feasibility in preventing damages caused by PFAS
Free, Prior Informed Consent and Extractive Industry: Indigenous Action is the Past, Present, and Future of Global Environmental Justice
Full text linkFree, Prior Informed Consent ( FPIC ) from the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples has been central to global Indigenous action against extractive industries’ harmful practices. Yet, it is often not fully recognized as a sovereign right, which hinders Indigenous peoples’ ability to use it to its full potential. Historically, FPIC has been deemed a consultation right, not a right to “veto” industry action on Indigenous land. Countries that have interpreted FPIC as a mere consultation right have allowed further exploitation of Indigenous peoples, usually leading to environmental and humanitarian disasters. However, when courts have respected the right to consent, rather than consultation, incredible environmental and Indigenous justice has followed. Case studies of South Africa and Ecuador show how communities have protected the environment by asserting their right to FPIC, and thus the right to block environmentally degrading development. FPIC can be an effective way for Indigenous people to achieve environmental justice, yet the delay of universal acceptance has proven harmful to both the environment and Indigenous rights. Therefore, finding additional avenues to achieve this goal is paramount. One such avenue to redress environmental and Indigenous justice is the movement to return Indigenous lands to their ancestral occupants. Globally, governments and private organizations have returned stewardship, and in some cases, ownership to Indigenous peoples. Not only is the movement justified for ethical and humanitarian reasons, but also to protect habitats, wildlife, and biodiversity, as shown by the recent successes of Gayini (New South Wales) and the Bison Range (United States)
Florida Gun Laws Weaken: Another Setback for the Mass Shooting Generation
Full text linkWhile gun control has been a topic of controversy in the United States for decades, one area that has seemed undebatable is the protection of children from gun violence in our Nation’s schools. The methods of achieving this end goal vary from state to state. Some states have continued the longstanding tradition of designating schools as “gun-free zones,” while others have employed armed security guards. Florida has chosen the latter option for its public and charter schools. However, the Florida Legislature has taken a dramatic deviation from this path that will negatively affect students attending private religious schools: it passed a law that allows religious institutions that are attached to a school to decide to allow concealed carry permit holders to bring weapons on their grounds.
The passage of this law sparked traditional gun debate arguments. Gun rights activists voiced their opinions by saying that although this was a small step, it was a step in the right direction. Opponents of the law, including parents, preachers, and organizations, are unsettled by the new law and fear that the safety of the children attending these schools has been compromised. This article discusses the meaning of the new law and illustrates its shortcomings. It explains the implications of this law and argues why it should be repealed
DYING IN ISOLATION: PUBLIC HEALTH IMPLICATIONS OF TRANSPORTATION AND BURIAL OF HUMAN REMAINS DURING A PANDEMIC A FIFTY STATE SURVEY
Full text linkEchoes of the Zong Confronting Legal Realism in the Arguments for Reparations from the Atlantic Slave Trade and ModernDay Human Trafficking
Full text linkThis Article is based on the premise that modern day human trafficking, like the transatlantic slave trade, violates jus cogens norms, and thus the practice was and still is a violation of US laws under customary international law. The analysis will examine the laws that were applied to chattel slavery in England and her colonies through the lens of some seminal slavery cases to unearth the tyranny of interpretation in human trafficking reparations and liability claims under the current Supreme Court jurisprudence and the Alien Tort Statute (“ATS”). The featured cases will reveal that the same philosophies undergirding the jurisprudence of the slave trade still informs the US Supreme Court’s application of liability for human trafficking in the global supply chain
Age Before Fundamental Right? Resolving the Contradiction Presented by an Age Restriction on Running for Executive Offices in Montana\u27s Constitution
Full text linkThe Montana Constitution guarantees that “[t]he rights of persons under 18 years of age shall include, but not be limited to, all the fundamental rights of this Article unless specifically precluded by laws which enhance the protection of such persons.” Adults receive similarly strong protections. According to Article II, Section 15, of the Montana Constitution, “[a] person 18 years of age or older is an adult for all purposes,” except for legislated limits on the legal age to purchase alcohol.
It follows that all Montanans have a constitutional claim to the fundamental right that [a]ll elections shall be free and open, and no power . . . shall at any time interfere to prevent the free exercise of the right of suffrage. Yet, that same Constitution denies all Montanans under the age of 25 the full exercise of that fundamental right because the Constitution bars them from legally voting for themselves as candidates for various state offices. No person under the age of 25 at the time of their election may run for “the office of the governor, lieutenant governor, secretary of state, attorney general, superintendent of public instruction, or auditor.
This article argues that this contradiction cannot stand. The Montana Constitution cannot at once guarantee fundamental rights to all Montanans while also causing a significant percentage of the population an irreparable injury when it comes to exercising that right. It is far from unpredictable that a Montanan under the age of 25 will run for governor or one of the other executive offices with an age requirement. Given the likelihood of such a challenge, this article aims to provide the Montana Supreme Court with a rationale for eliminating the age requirement
It is Time for Family Courts to be More Aware of Parental Mental Illness and Substance Abuse
Full text linkSince the COVID-19 pandemic and previous years, the mental health and substance abuse crises in Florida are growing at an unprecedented rate.1 With substantive due process rights under the Fourteenth Amendment as a substantial roadblock, the Florida courts are reluctant to adequately address the mental health and substance abuse needs of individuals.2 This issue is especially difficult in cases involving the termination of parental rights, leaving children in damaging environments with unfit parents suffering from severe mental illness and substance abuse.3 To prevent children from growing up under negative conditions and developing mental health problems as well, the Florida courts ought to place heavier weight on mental illness and substance abuse factors when assessing parental capacity. The Commission on Mental Health and Substance Abuse seeks to push Florida’s mental health law reform, so individuals can have better access to mental health services.4 However, reform alone is not enough to ensure adequate mental health treatment since necessary extension of such treatment is determined by mental health courts.5
This Note advocates for a bright-line standard for Florida courts to evaluate mental illness and substance abuse factors in determining whether to terminate parental rights, while considering the severity of the mental condition. Accordingly, prioritizing a child’s best interests and relevant judicial knowledge over the subject matter become an important role in termination proceedings