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Wisconsin\u27s Citation Rule: Unpublished Should Not Mean Uncitable
Get PDFWisconsin’s citation rule stands tall, yet unsupported. It injures Wisconsin practitioners, their clients, and judges in all three levels of Wisconsin’s judicial branch. With little tolerance, Wisconsin Statutes section 809.23(3) precludes the citation of (1) unpublished opinions issued before July 1, 2009, and (2) unauthored, unpublished opinions thereafter. You may be surprised to learn that that means approximately half of Wisconsin Court of Appeals opinions issued each year are uncitable—so, too, are significantly more than half of the opinions it issued before July 1, 2009. Without change, the Wisconsin Court of Appeals will continue to miscategorize its opinions; Wisconsin’s case law will remain deplete of important, citable opinions; practitioners will fail to adequately represent their clients or will compromise their ethics in doing so; and judges may encounter moral dilemmas when practitioners present them with uncitable opinions—posing challenges in cases where analyses could be straightforward through logical or legal reasoning. That’s a problem. To date, four petitions to the Wisconsin Supreme Court have sought to address these problems. The first three proved unsuccessful. The fourth, in 2008, persuaded the Wisconsin Supreme Court to lift its general prohibition on citing unpublished opinions, creating Wisconsin’s citation rule as it stands today. Timing was everything. The Wisconsin Supreme Court found comfort in adhering to the recently adopted federal citation rule. Policy supporting the federal rule, however, was largely inapplicable to Wisconsin—if even applicable to the federal circuits. Considering that, and the trends with citation of other questionable sources, the Wisconsin Supreme Court should reconsider its problematic citation rule. The most recent amendment lifted the corner of the Band-Aid—it’s time to rip it off. The wounds are healed. The concern for infection is gone. Indeed, the Band-Aid may have been applied prematurely, protecting what now purports to have been an illusion. But regardless, it has been left on all too long
Boden Lecture: The Past’s Lessons for Today: Can Common-Carrier Principles Make for a Better Internet?
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Eighteen Million Over : The National Hockey League\u27s Long Term Injured Reserve Parity Challenge
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Racial Discrimination in Jury Selection: The Urgent Need for Sixth Amendment Protections for Black Capital Defendants
Get PDFIn the U.S., death row is made up of a disproportionate number of black persons. In capital trials, black defendants often face all white juries. The deep-rooted racial discrimination in the justice system impacts jury selection because prosecutors use peremptory strikes to remove black jurors from the jury panel. As the law stands today, the Sixth Amendment guarantee of an impartial jury made up of a fair representation of the jury applies only to the pool of jurors called in for jury service, not those who are actually selected to hear the case.
This comment analyzes the Supreme Court decision, Holland v. Illinois 493 U.S. 474 (1990), which held that the Sixth Amendment does not prevent prosecutors from striking potential jurors based on their race. In doing so, the Court missed an opportunity to provide meaningful relief to black capital defendants who faced all-white juries. This comment argues for the reversal of Holland, extension of Sixth Amendment protections, and a change in the framework for questioning the use of peremptory challenges to remove black jurors
All Dogs are Emotional Support Animals: The Timely Need to Reconsider the Rights of Renters to Have Dogs Under the Fair Housing Act
Get PDFThe lack of pet-friendly housing options in the United States and the current web of property-owner-imposed restrictions unfairly prevents renters and lower-income individuals and families from benefitting from dog companionship. The recent confusion and stigma around the term “emotional support animal” has led to misinterpretation of the requirements of a reasonable accommodation request under the Fair Housing Act. Interpreting “assistance animal” under the Fair Housing Act as a blanket classification that applies to all dogs would reverse this current bias. Restrictions should promote responsible pet caretaking, not limit dog ownership. Considering recent heightened protections for dogs in other areas of the law, the proven positive impact of dogs on mental health, and the current critical capacity of animal shelters across the United States, now is the perfect time to acknowledge that all people should have the right to have a dog in their home
The First Offense Is Just a Ticket? How Culture and Lobbying Shaped Wisconsin\u27s Drunk Driving Law, and What to Do About It
Get PDFWisconsin is known for, and proud of, its heavy drinking culture. The Badger State also acts as a safe haven for drunk drivers, of which there are many. Most notably, Wisconsin is the only member of the fifty states which does not criminally punish first-time drunk driving offenders. If the Wisconsin legislature has any interest in the public safety of its constituents, then new drunk driving prevention measures must be implemented
Without a Will, There is Still a Way: A Statutory Solution to Increase the Value of a Small Estate and Aid in Reducing the Racial Equity Gap in Wisconsin
Get PDFFor generations, communities of color have struggled to increase their generational wealth. Lack of access to estate planning tools leaves minority groups and low-income families compromised and more likely to die intestate. While the current probate system creates a safety net for those that die intestate, this comment aims to address the need for a statutory solution to aid in combatting Wisconsin\u27s racial equity gap. More specifically, this Comment suggests how increasing and indexing Wisconsin\u27s summary settlement and summary assignment small estate values to include estates of $100,000 or less will allow for more minority and low-income families to qualify as small estates. Further, this Comment also suggests that increasing the value of the small estate under Wis. Stat. 876.01 will aid in reducing the estate-planning racial equity gap