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Public Trials and Plain Error
Full text linkCourts are divided on the question of how Sixth Amendment public trial violations should be evaluated on appeal when a criminal defendant fails to object at trial to a courtroom closure. Typically, failing to object triggers plain error review on appeal, which demands a higher threshold of harm to obtain reversal compared to when an objection has been made at trial. Should this type of review also apply in its usual form to public trial errors? The article concludes that it should, despite the fact that public trial violations are considered “structural,” and, when properly preserved, do not require a showing of harm arising from the violation
Copyright, Creativity, and Skill: Authorship and AI-Assisted Works
Full text linkGenerative artificial intelligence ( Al ) has increasingly become a focal point in legal discussions, raising complex issues across multiple domains, including algorithmic bias, defamation, intellectual property, and privacy. This Article specifically examines the implications of Al-assisted works, with a focus on text-to-image generators, such as Midjourney, that possess the ability to create detailed visual art from simple text prompts. The tools are not, however, limited to simple prompts. Users retain the ability to introduce greater complexity by specifying a host of variables that define the resulting image. Al-assisted art implicates significant legal rights and responsibilities. As to responsibilities: Can the image mislead, defame, or infringe on someone else\u27s rights? As to rights: What are the free speech or intellectual property ownership implications? This Article interrogates the implications of these developments through the lens of copyright law, with a particular focus on the question of authorship. By analyzing how tools like Midjourney create visual art from textual prompts, this Article explores whether and to what extent these Al-generated outputs can be protected under copyright law. It describes current copyright doctrine through a novel framework, demonstrating that copyright law \u27s requirement for creativity pertains to an author\u27s mental acts rather than the technical skill of fixation. The resulting requirement for conception-informed fixation is then applied to Al-assisted works, showing that an author can maintain sufficient creative control of an Al tool\u27s output to meet the mark
The Sexual Violence Epidemic vs. the Uniform Code of Military Justice & Feres Doctrine
Full text linkLess than 0.009% of reported assaults result in a conviction for a sex offense under the Uniform Code of Military Justice, raising serious concerns about the epidemic of sexual violence in the military. Despite this, more than 99% of allegations of sexual assault in the military are verified. The Uniform Code of Military Justice has been modified by recent congressional legislation but these modifications fall short of providing justice due to the prosecutorial discretion afforded to non-lawyer commanders. Moreover, service members are unable to bring claims of sexual violence to civilian courts when the military fails them due to the Supreme Court\u27s unwillingness to reverse the horror that has been caused by the Feres doctrine. This Article proposes that a combined approach must be utilized, removing sexual harassment from commanders\u27 discretion and amending the Federal Tort Claims Act to allow sexual violence claims to proceed on the merits without analysis under Feres