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Citizens For Strong Schools, Inc., Et Al. V. Florida State Board Of Education, Et Al.: How The Florida Supreme Court Decision Will Have Distressing Effects On Public Education For Vulnerable Children
Get PDFFree public-school education is fundamental aspect to many citizens life, liberty, and pursuit of happiness in the United States. As states add constitutional provisions guaranteeing a public education, there are still great disproportionalities in the adequacy pf education provided to underrepresented students. Such are the issues at the heart of the recent Florida Supreme Court case, Citizens for Strong Schools, Inc., et al. v. Florida State Board of Education, et al. Citizens for Strong Schools throws its hat into the contentious debate over equitable educational standards. However, despite other state supreme courts’ rulings that similar provisions in the state constitutions are justiciable, thereby giving the injured parties a way to force legislative change, the Florida Supreme Court refused to get involved, declaring the provision a nonjusticiable political issue that does not allow for judicial intervention to remedy the inequitable policies
Confrontation During COVID: A Fundamental Right, Virtually Guaranteed
Get PDFThe novel threats posed to our criminal justice system by the COVID-19 pandemic and attendant shutdowns of courts beg the question of whether our must fundamental pillars of law can withstand the ultimate test of time. And inherent in the ultimate test of time is the ultimate test of technology—this is, will there come a time that technology outgrows the confines of our legal landscape? Consider this: The United States Constitution guarantees every criminal defendant the right to confront their accuser in court; yet, for a substantial period of time in 2020, court, as we knew it, was nothing more than a live, two-way, video-telecommunications stream. Is confrontation via live, two-way video-telecommunication sufficient to comport with the fundamental rights guaranteed to criminal defendants under the Constitution? Fortunately, the era of the Coronavirus Court has largely come to an end with courts re-opening and the mass-dissemination of vaccines and booster shots worldwide; however, the question remains whether we, as a society, are prepared to recognize that the legal landscape of the criminal justice system is changing. And moreover, whether the law, as it is understood and applied today, contemplates this idea that traditional notions of fair play and substantial justice are ever-developing in light of technological and societal advancements
Can COVID-19 Teach Us How to End Mass Incarceration?
Get PDFIn this essay, the author argues that federal, state and local government response to the COVID-19 epidemic in prisons and jails was largely incompetent, inhumane, and contrary to sound public health policy, resulting in preventable death and suffering for both incarcerated people and corrections staff. However, the lessons learned from these failures provide a roadmap for policy priorities and legal reform in our ongoing need to decarcerate and end the era of mass incarceration, including: (1) rolling back extreme sentences, recalibrating sentences generally and providing for “second look” mechanisms to those currently serving sentences beyond 10 years; (2) ensuring that decarceration efforts center racial justice as a goal both prospectively and retrospectively; and (3) promoting voting rights for all incarcerated people and those living in the community with a felony conviction
Closing the Gates To Racial Parity: Venture Philanthropy’s Perpetuation of Racial Disparities in the Educational Sphere
Get PDFIn the decades-long rise of neoliberalism, venture philanthropy has emerged as a respected solution towards addressing reforms to public education. Private foundations such as the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation have led the charge for education development in the United States. However, the infusion of private donations and adoption of business models to a public good have not improved educational outcomes. This article addresses the role of venture philanthropy in reinforcing racial and economic disparities in educational resources and attainment through the lens of Gates Foundation initiatives. Specifically, the article dissects the role of neoliberalism in crafting education policies through private funding and discusses how the Foundation’s failed ventures—such as the small school initiative, charter school expansion, and teacher evaluations based on student performance on standardized testing—have served to reinforce a status quo of “winners and losers.” The article concludes with suggested democratic solutions to achieve equitable educational reform
Taking Responsibility under International Law: Human Trafficking and Colombia’s Venezuelan Migration Crisis
Get PDFFor more than six million Venezuelans, crossing international borders has become imperative to ensuring security and a livelihood that their country has failed to assure. These migrants and refugees, particularly young women and children, are vulnerable to many depredations, criminal acts, and the risk of becoming trafficking victims for forced labor and sexual slavery. This article focuses on State responsibility for migrant populations and analyzes conditions in Venezuela that caused a massive migration, the conditions in Colombia as a host State, the uncertain status of Venezuelan migrants in Colombia, and human trafficking and its impact on the migrant population
If the Government Says So, It Must Be Right: An Analysis on the Impact of Government Issued Force Majeure Certificates
Get PDFIn March 2020, the world came to a halt with the beginning of the Covid–19 pandemic. The pandemic’s worldwide im-pact resulted in endless business transactions becoming im-possible or impracticable to perform. The China Council for the Promotion of International Trade issued force majeure certificates for its national business parties to excuse their performance under cross–border transactions. This note explores how the excuses for the performance of a contract work under Common Law and Civil Law systems and how each system would react to the parties invoking force majeure under a force majeure certificate issued by a government agency
#Fintok and Financial Regulation
Get PDFSocial media platforms are becoming an increasingly important site for consumer finance. This phenomenon is referred to as FinTok, a reference to the #fintok hashtag that often identifies financial content on TikTok, a popular social media platform. This Essay examines the new methodological possibilities for consumer financial regulation due to FinTok. It argues that FinTok content offers a novel and valuable source of data for identifying emerging fintech trends and associated consumer risks. As such, financial regulators should use FinTok content analysis and social media content analysis more broadly as an additional method for the supervision and regulation of consumer financial markets. This Essay test-drives this method using audiovisual content from TikTok in which consumers discuss their experience with buy now, pay later, a rapidly growing and less regulated form of fast, digital credit. It reveals tentative evidence of payment difficulties and strategic default in the buy now, pay later credit market, with attendant consumer protection risks. These insights provide a point of entry for the further study and regulation of the buy now, pay later credit market