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Interracial Coalition Building: A Filipino Lawyer in a Black-White Community
No full textThe United States is in the midst of a political and cultural war around race and demography that goes to the heart of America’s self-definition as a nation of immigrants. Heeding Eric Yamamoto’s four-part prescription for interracial cooperation via the conceptual, the performative, the material, and the reflexive, this Essay draws from the author’s own experience as an Asian- American volunteer attempting to serve and lead a traditionally African-American civil rights organization in a predominantly white, rural town in Pennsylvania. Three lessons emerge from this experience. When volunteering, it is important to answer the call to serve even when in doubt; lead by serving and listening to others; and respect the coalition and trust the process
NEUTRALITY, ACCOMMODATION, OR COMPROMISE: COMPARING THE EFFECTIVENESS OF THREE APPROACHES TOWARDS PROTECTING RELIGIOUS FREEDOM
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Connective Technology in Today\u27s Automated Society: Leaving Individuals with Intellectual Disabilities Harmfully Disconnected
No full textHarrisburg\u27s Objection to OCC\u27s Motion for Standing
No full textHarrisburg\u27s objection to OCC s motion for standing, filed January 11, 2022
The AB5 Experiment - Should States Adopt California’s Worker Classification Law?
No full textA worker\u27s classification as either independent contractor or employee drives whether a worker is entitled to minimum wage, overtime, worker\u27s compensation, unemployment compensation, anti-discrimination protection, National Labor Relations Act protections, and many other safety-net protections. During the COVID-19 pandemic, unemployment protections were extended to independent contractors, but this is not the norm and is not slated to continue post-pandemic. Classifying certain workers, particularly those who work in the app-based economy, is challenging, so states are looking for an answer - either through their own innovation or through that of other states. California\u27s answer was AB5.
AB5 \u27s goals were to correct misclassification issues for app-based drivers and other workers. A plethora of workers including court reporters, freelance writers and photographers, coaches, truckers, performing artists (mimes, magicians, comedians, etc.), and musicians rebuked AB5. AB5 is well known beyond California\u27s borders as it received, and continues to receive, nationwide attention predominantly because it reclassified app-based drivers (such as Uber, Lyft, DoorDash, etc.) as employees.
As Justice Brandeis said, one of the benefits of federalism is that states can act as laboratories of democracy. Experimental federalism can provide for collective learning across the states if they are all experimenting, but often states look to one another for innovative solutions so that they can free-ride instead of experiment. Some states that are looking for an improved worker classification law seek to learn from, and potentially free-ride on, California\u27s AB5 experiment. In considering whether to adopt AB5 or a similar statute, states should consider, at a minimum, three factors: relevancy of the law to their state, ease in obtaining information about the law, and the costs to adopt, implement, and enforce the law. This Article assists policymakers and interest groups by providing a detailed look at the AB5 experiment. It applies the aforementioned three factors and determines that California\u27s law, while well-intentioned is likely not valuable for, or adoptable by, other states or the federal government partly because it contains 109 exemptions.
Ultimately, this Article concludes that to maximize the benefits of experimental federalism, a group of states, both homogenous and heterogenous to California, should experiment with more novel approaches to reach an optimal solution to worker (mis)classification. Adopting California\u27s worker classification law will result in states following a sub-optimal law and in premature convergence delaying states from reaching a better solution. Workers need protections, but California\u27s worker classification law does not sufficiently satisfy this need. Further experimentation is required
AI in the Hands of Imperfect Users
No full textAs the use of artificial intelligence and machine learning (AI/ML) continues to expand in healthcare, much attention has been given to mitigating bias in algorithms to ensure they are employed fairly and transparently. Less attention has fallen to addressing potential bias among AI/ML’s human users or factors that influence user reliance. We argue for a systematic approach to identifying the existence and impacts of user biases while using AI/ML tools and call for the development of embedded interface design features, drawing on insights from decision science and behavioral economics, to nudge users towards more critical and reflective decision making using AI/ML
The (Unnoticed) Revitalization of the Doctrine of Equivalents
No full textOver the past century, few patent issues have been considered so often by the Supreme Court of the United States as the doctrine of equivalents (“DOE”). This judge-made rule deals with a question that lies at the heart of patent policy—what is the best way to define property rights in an invention? The doctrine gives patentees an opportunity to ensnare an accused device that does not literally infringe a patent claim if the accused device is substantially similar to each claim limitation. Patentees enjoy this advantage, but it comes at a cost to the public, who must face the uncertainty of whether claims actually mean what they say. This tension chafed the Justices and split the Court almost down the middle in two early cases. From those controversial beginnings to the present day, judges, practitioners, and academics continue to debate the doctrine’s proper scope and continued vitality