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Achieving Gender Equality in Venture Capital: The Case for Federal Regulatory Intervention
Get PDFGender inequality is a pervasive issue in venture capital financing, with studies consistently revealing the severe disadvantage female entrepreneurs face when raising private funds for their companies. Research has shown that female founders receive only a fraction of the total venture capital dollars invested each year, despite launching companies that outperform those founded by men. Gender bias among investors, a lack of diversity in decision-making teams, and regulatory inaction are major contributors to this inequality. The consequences of gender inequality in venture capital financing extend beyond the financial impact; such inequalities perpetuate systemic gender stereotypes and impede the full realization of female-founded startups. Federal regulatory action is required to resolve such inequities because federal agencies have the congressional authority, should enjoy judicial deference, and bring the subject matter expertise to enact relevant measures
If Black Lives Really Matter, We Must End Traffic Stops!
Get PDFThis Article will argue that African Americans will continue to be fatally shot and killed by police disproportionately and in many cases unjustifiably as long as police are allowed to stop motorists for minor non-violent traffic infractions. These stops do little to combat crime and are not worth the lives they upend and the continued unconstitutional racial discrimination that motivates many of these stops. Although the standards for police use of force need to be reformed and police culture has to be changed, the other reform that is imperative in order to significantly reduce the disproportionate fatal police shootings of African Americans is to minimize interaction between police and African Americans and the best way to accomplish this is by eliminating non-violent traffic stops. Police should only be able to stop civilians for violations that truly pose a danger to public safety. However, this Article is not advocating that traffic infractions be ignored. Rather, this Article will argue that there are safer and more efficient means of enforcing traffic rules without police-initiated traffic stops.
This abstract has been adapted from the author\u27s introduction
Making Justice
No full textBuilding a court system is difficult under any circumstances. There’s a lot to decide. In communities that have suffered intense violent conflicts–like Cambodia under the Khmer Rouge, or Kosovo after the war of the 1990s–creating a court system is both essential and particularly fraught. Christie Warren (William & Mary) has worked all over the world as a facilitator helping post-conflict zones design legal and justice systems
Federalism, Rebellion, and the Rule of Law in Northern Syria and Western Kurdistan: Constitutions Against the Nation-State
Get PDFThis Note will be examining the way in which this social contract, the “Social Contract of the Democratic Federation of Northern Syria,” and the social order it proposes, “Democratic Confederalism,” represents a significant departure from the constitutional order of ethnic nation-states that arose in the postcolonial, and particularly the post-Ottoman, Middle East.
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This Note then contrasts the “Social Contract of the Democratic Federation of Northern Syria” with the Syrian constitutions, first the 1973 Constitution that had been in effect until the outbreak of the Syrian Civil War, followed by a brief look at the changes represented by the 2012 revision. It also examines differences in treatment of nationality in those documents, with a focus on how the Democratic Confederalist Social Contracts differ. This Note then addresses a brief survey of criticisms of this post-nationalist social order in North and East Syria, and the ways in which the lived reality of the folks living in this region do not match with the rhetoric of these founding documents.
This abstract has been taken from the author\u27s introduction
Standpoint Epistemology, the First Amendment, and University Affirmative Action
Get PDFEgalitarian legal scholars understandably might have been troubled by the end of June 2023, when, on two successive days, the Supreme Court appeared to put an end to public as well as to private university affirmative action on a theory of race discrimination in Students for Fair Admissions v. Harvard, then appeared to put an end to the application of anti-discrimination law to any private enterprise that could be characterized as “expressive” in 303 Creative LLC v. Elenis. Yet the June 30 case, I shall contend, has the potential to undermine the negative impact of the June 29 case, at least as applied to private universities—for teaching and research is undoubtedly expressive. Thus, this Essay sketches the outline of a case for First Amendment protection of private university race-based affirmative action.
This abstract has been taken from the author\u27s introduction
Historical Fire and Forest Structure in Western Dry Forests: Alternative Models, Controversies, and Management Plan Revision
Get PDFManagement plan revision is currently underway for national forests in the Sierra Nevada Mountains of California, the Pacific Northwest, and other regions of the country under the U.S. Forest Service’s 2012 Planning Rule. With respect to dry ponderosa pine and mixed-conifer forests in the Sierra Nevada and Pacific Northwest, agency scientists and others claim that these forests were historically open and parklike, with primarily large, well-distributed trees, few smaller trees, and sparse underlying vegetation, leaf litter, and woody debris. Large, high-severity fire was rare. Fire exclusion since the early 1900s has led to the “densification” of these forests and unnatural accumulations of flammable materials (“fuels”). Currently, the frequency and spatial extent of high-severity fire greatly exceed the “natural range of variation” (the historical range) for these forests. Agency scientists and others conclude that there is a need to restore these forests, bringing them closer to their historical structure and fire regime by means that include forest thinning (logging).
On the other hand, some scientists argue that, historically, western dry ponderosa pine and mixed-conifer forests burned with mixed severities. High-severity fire was infrequent, but not rare or exceptional, and occasionally burned over extensive areas. Historically, these forests were not uniformly open and parklike. They were generally dense, with many small trees and abundant underlying shrubs and other vegetation. These scientists claim that, currently, high-severity fires are not outside the natural range of variation for frequency and spatial extent for western dry forests. According to these authors, western dry forests have always been dangerous places for housing and other development.
This is an ongoing controversy in the scientific literature. With respect to western dry ponderosa pine and mixed-conifer forests, which model of historical fire and forest structure is accurate, and what should we conclude concerning current fire and forest structure in relation to historical conditions? Much depends on how this debate is resolved. If the mixed-severity model is accurate for western dry forests, and in these forests high-severity fires are currently no more frequent and extensive than they were historically, Forest Service proposals to “restore” these forests by means of thinning, with a goal of reducing tree densities to low levels over extensive areas, is misguided.
This Article will discuss this controversy. This Article will also discuss the faulty use of science in plan revision documents and cited sources. It will be argued that the 2012 Planning Rule and National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) regulations compel the Forest Service to adopt a more genuinely scientific approach to management plan revision and forest management
Naming, Expressive Interests, and the Law: The Implications of Governmental Form Design
No full textThe design of governmental forms can result in restrictions on the ability of individuals to submit truthful personal naming choices, such as when a form field has character limitations or does not accept diacritics. In some instances, form design operationalizes government policy. But in other instances, form design can itself create law by limiting the ability to submit accurate names on the front end. Awareness of the legal implications of form design is critically important. A more inclusive and accurate approach toward the legal documentation of naming choices means that forms should adapt to people, not the other way around