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The Interpretation of Environmental Statutory Ambiguity: A Comparative Analysis Between Ecuador and the United States
Get PDFThis Article examines through a comparative analysis the judicial interpretation of ambiguity in environmental statutes between the jurisdictions of the Republic of Ecuador and the United States of America. By analyzing the fundamental principles and doctrines guiding the interpretation of environmental laws in cases of ambiguity and vagueness in both nations, this Article draws out their inherent merits, drawbacks, and criticisms. A review of jurisprudential precedents provides a nuanced understanding of their practical applications.
In the Ecuadorian context, particular attention is given to the principles of environmental favorability, and in dubio pro natura, all of which are recognized in its constitution. On the other hand, within the United States, emphasis is on doctrines developed by the U.S. Supreme Court in cases such as Skidmore, Chevron, and the recent Loper Bright decision.
In addition, as part of the academic discourse, a proposal will be presented for consideration by the U.S. Congress. This proposal advocates the formulation and enactment of a new statute that integrates civil law principles similar to those included in the Ecuadorian legislation, into environmental law cases and controversies occurring before the courts of the United States. The proposal envisions a synthesis of diverse legal approaches, with the goal of fostering major protection for the environment within the U.S. legal system
Gendered Capital Punishment
No full textThis Article, for the first time, grapples with the influence of gender on decision makers in women’s capital trials. Part I provides a brief overview of scholarship examining the experiences of women offenders in the criminal legal system. Part II explains how gender inflects the prosecutions of women charged with capital crimes, drawing on scholarly research as well as a data set comprised of the trial transcripts of every woman currently on death row in the United States. Part III explores how the gender of key decision makers could affect the quality of justice received by women capital defendants. I conclude that there is good reason to believe that the overwhelming “maleness” of capital murder prosecutions affects the quality of justice that women receive.
This abstract has been taken from the author\u27s introduction
Narratives Unbound: The Role of Queer Transformative Works in Shaping Legal and Cultural Landscapes
No full textQueer transformative works promote social justice in marginalized queer communities by offering much-needed representation and visibility. These works fill an essential gap in a societal storytelling canon historically bereft of such material. Notwithstanding this societal benefit, these works pose complex legal and ethical challenges at the crossroads of copyright protections and creative expression. This Note examines the cultural significance and social benefits of queer transformative works in combination with an analysis of the legal landscape and ethical considerations that such works must navigate to maintain a harmonious existence with the original works that inspired them. A more nuanced understanding of the role these works play in queer self-actualization shows that even a transformation of the source material as small as interpreting two characters in a queer romantic pairing has far-reaching benefits on its readers that the original material could not quite touch on its own
Tibetan Legal Association in Dharamsala, India
No full textTessa Wild [1L] will contribute to TLA’s mission to increase legal awareness and education among Tibetans in exile. The Association was founded upon the recommendation of His Holiness the Dalai Lama for the purpose of providing pro bono assistance to Tibetans in need of legal aid
United States Institute of Peace in Washington, D.C.
No full textEmily Bekele [1L] will serve on a team working to prevent atrocities in the context of conflict and supporting accountability for war crimes. As a federal institution, USIP assists governments and civil society organizations operating in conflict zones by contributing policy recommendations, educational resources and training programs
Infinite Queerness and American Settler Colonialism
No full textWhat the LGBTQ rights movement needs, especially with regard to legal challenges, is a lasting philosophical shift toward the idea that justice and equality are an infinite game rather than a finite and pragmatic one. This work here will explore why this posture is favorable at this moment—and generally in civil rights work. Beyond connecting queer sacrifice in recent Supreme Court cases to the functioning and maintenance of the American settler colonial project, this Article will posit why a strategy shift toward infinite thinking is increasingly necessary for more resolute work that results in the autonomy and equality of LGBTQ individuals and initiates a different form of settler decolonization than the one that is always expected. First, Part I will locate modern LGBTQ rights litigation as part of the American settler colonial project. Then Part II will observe the limits and finiteness of LGBTQ rights progress after marriage equality as a moment of queer sacrifice and what that means. And lastly, Part III will propose that prescriptively, to accomplish lasting, decolonizing work in the American settler state, the idea of infinite thinking must be adopted. Adopting an infinite game strategy would help obtain a decolonizing process that allows queerness and sexual pluralism to flourish.
This abstract has been taken from the author\u27s introduction
2023 State-of-the-States Survey of Jury Improvement Efforts
No full textIn 2007, the National Center for State Courts (NCSC) published findings from the State-of-the-States Survey of Jury Improvement Efforts (SOS Survey), the first comprehensive snapshot of jury operations and jury trial practices in the United States. The 2007 SOS Survey featured three discrete components: a statewide survey documenting legal infrastructure for juries and jury trials in each state; a local court survey, which documented jury operations at the county-level in state courts; and a judge & lawyer survey, which asked respondents to describe the characteristics and procedures employed in their most recent jury trial.
By the mid-2010s, NCSC began receiving regular inquiries about when it would publish updated statistics about jury operations and trial procedures, especially from media outlets who were unaware of the cost and time required to undertake the study. Despite several attempts, NCSC was unable to secure external funding to replicate the 2007 SOS Study. So, beginning in 2018, it used internal funds to collect data from a rolling sample of states with the intent to update the SOS Study findings completely within five years. In addition, the new surveys added questions for several areas of interest that had been overlooked in the 2007 SOS Study, including qualification yields for courts with two-step jury operations, use of technology solutions for jury operations, trial length and outcomes, the frequency of legal challenges to the jury system, and judges’ and lawyers’ opinions about the importance and legitimacy of juries and jury trials in the American justice system.
This abstract has been taken from the authors\u27 project overview