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Coastal Resilience Tools for Local Governments
Get PDFVCPC and VIMS host a workshop sharing maps and tools designed to help local governments implement coastal resilience projects and programs, including new tools for nature-based solutions in AdaptVA, RAFT, MARISA Community Climate Outlooks, and a new locality Quick Guide to Resilience
Slow and Steady Saves the Whales: Preventing Vessel Strikes on Whales in the Santa Barbara Channel
Get PDF“While in the life the great whale’s body may have been a real terror to his foes, in his death his ghost becomes a powerless panic to a world.” In the past, whales and humans (in boats) fought on the high seas. The humans fought for precious whale oil while the whales fought for their rights not to be murdered and turned into oil. While those days are mostly long gone, whales still face a serious threat of harm from humans in the form of vessel strikes, which is when a whale is struck by a vessel. Vessel strikes are an issue of particular concern off the coast of Central and Southern California, in an area known as the Santa Barbara Channel.
The Santa Barbara Channel is a key natural corridor for commercial shipping and whale migration. Unfortunately, whales and commercial vessels come into contact too often and the results of these contacts are typically collisions resulting in the death of the whale. This Note will look at the background of vessel strikes in the Santa Barbara Channel, the current measures taken to prevent them, and how additional steps can be taken to protect whale populations in the area. Although action has recently been taken by the United States government to reduce the frequency of vessel strikes on whales in the Santa Barbara Channel, more action is necessary in order to protect whales. A new plan centered around a mandatory vessel speed restriction zone will help reduce the frequency of vessel strikes on whales in the Santa Barbara Channel.
This Note will begin in Part I with a discussion of the background of the Santa Barbara Channel and vessel strikes in the Channel. This section will address the geography of the Santa Barbara Channel and why it is a heavy traffic corridor for ships and marine life. Then, in Part II, this Note will discuss the North Atlantic right whales and what has been done to protect them from vessel strikes on the East Coast. The North Atlantic right whales face similar issues with vessel strikes and there has been a more concentrated effort to reduce the frequency of those vessel strikes than in other areas of the country. This Note will look at the efforts made to protect the North Atlantic right whales as a key corollary for protections that should be applied to the Santa Barbara Channel. Then, in Part III, this Note will discuss the methods currently in place in the Santa Barbara Channel and why those methods are insufficient to properly address the issue of vessel strikes. In Part IV, this Note will discuss a new plan for reducing the frequency of vessel strikes in the Channel. The heart of the proposed plan is a permanent, mandatory vessel speed restriction zone in the Santa Barbara Channel. As part of the discussion of the new plan, this Note will address jurisdiction over the Santa Barbra Channel, enforcement issues, and potential penalties
Mommy, Baby and Rapist Makes Three? Amid Abortion Bans, the Pressing Need for a Nationwide Lower Standard to Strip Parental Rights, Regardless of a Rape Conviction
Get PDFAmong the fundamental rights recognized in the Constitution are the rights of parents to raise their children. While never interpreted as an absolute legal privilege, courts have exercised wide discretion in preserving this right and historically ignored the reality that not all parents are deserving of this right. Even though the family law system has protections in place to terminate parental rights for atrocities like abuse, it largely neglects an uncomfortable area of parental origin: parental rights regarding children conceived by rape. This is not only to the detriment of children, but, as this Note argues, at the peril of some mothers.
This Note will argue that the renewed attempts to restrict abortion access—amidst the ongoing reliance on targeted restrictions on abortion providers (TRAP) laws—is an impetus for all states to finally adopt a clear and convincing standard in stripping the parental rights of a parent who conceives a child through sexual assault, regardless of a conviction
Not for Human Consumption : Prison Food\u27s Absent Regulatory Regime
Get PDFPrison food is poor quality. The regulations which govern prison food are subpar and unenforceable by prisoners, due in large part to Sandin v. Conner and the Prison Litigation Reform Act. This Article aims to draw attention to the dire food conditions in prisons, explain the lax federal administrative law that permits these conditions, highlight the role of Sandin v. Conner and the Prison Litigation Reform Act in curtailing prisoners’ rights, and criticize the role of the private entity American Correctional Association in enabling mass neglect of prison food. The authors recommend that the Prison Litigation Reform Act be repealed, that Sandin v. Conner be overturned, and that Food Service Manual standards be improved to provide prisoners with more calories, more options, and more variety. Prisoners will be better positioned to enforce food rights in the courts under the recommended regime
A Q&A with Homeschooling Reform Advocates Elizabeth Bartholet and James Dwyer
Get PDFElizabeth Bartholet, Morris Wasserstein Public Interest Professor and Faculty Director of the Child Advocacy Program (CAP), and James Dwyer, the Arthur B. Hanson Professor of Law at William & Mary Law School, were interviewed by Harvard Law Today about their virtual conference titled, Homeschool Summit: Problems, Politics, and Prospects for Reform. The June event was attended by leaders in education and child welfare policy, legislators and legislative staff, academics and policy advocates, medical professionals, homeschooling alumni, and others, to discuss children’s rights in connection with homeschooling in the United States
The Clerkship-Academia Continuum
Get PDFIn the spring 2021 edition of Judicature (Vol. 105 No. 1), Florida International University Law Professor Howard Wasserman published data analyzing the number of current law professors who have served in clerkships and for which judges those professors clerked. His study offered a compelling picture of “academic feeder judges,” or those on the bench whose clerks tended to matriculate professionally in large numbers within the halls of the academy.
We asked two law professors, Merritt McAlister at the University of Florida, and Katherine Mims Crocker of William & Mary Law School, to reflect on Wasserman’s findings and to offer a personal account of how their clerkships shaped their lives