Slavery, Jim Crow, and Mass Incarceration: Could the Thirteenth Amendment Hold the Key to Racial Equity in Criminal Justice?
S. Thomas Perry · December 2020 88 Geo. Wash. L. Rev. Arguendo 225 The United States incarcerates people at a higher rate than any other country on Earth. Within the U.S., Black people—particularly at the state level—are incarcerated at disproportionately high rates relative to the total population, the rate at which white people are incarcerated,... Read More
Preview of the December 2020 Supreme Court Arguments
November 30 Trump v. New York No. 20-366, S.D.N.Y. Preview by Emma Eisendrath, Member Members of the U.S. House of Representatives are apportioned based on population counts conducted every ten years. This case is about whether apportionment calculations may exclude undocumented immigrants. On July 21, 2020, President Trump issued a memorandum ordering the Secretary of... Read More
Funding Indigent Defense: A Judicial Solution to a Legislative Failure
Abigail Hollinger · November 2020 88 Geo. Wash. L. Rev. Arguendo 195 Every defendant in the United States is entitled to effective legal representation when facing a crime punishable by imprisonment. When a defendant cannot afford an attorney, the government is required to provide one. At least, that is what the Supreme Court has said.... Read More
Preview of the November 2020 Supreme Court Arguments
November 2 U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service v. Sierra Club, Inc. No. 19-547, 9th Cir. Preview by Nick Contarino, Online Editor The Environmental Protection Agency (“EPA”) submitted a regulation to the Fish and Wildlife Service and National Marine Fisheries Service (“Services”) for the Services’ review under the Endangered Species Act (“ESA”). Brief for Respondent at... Read More
Preview of the October 2020 Supreme Court Arguments
October 5 Carney v. Adams No. 19-309, 3d Cir. Preview by Austin Martin, Senior Online Editor Delaware’s Constitution requires that the judiciary be politically balanced. The “bare majority provision” restricts Delaware’s three business courts—the Supreme Court, Superior Court, and Court of Chancery—from individually or collectively having more than a single-judge majority from any political party.... Read More
Administrative Law’s Shadow
Jacob E. Gersen 88 Geo. Wash. L. Rev. 1071 This Essay explores the shadow of administrative law. A good deal of government authority that is administrative for all intents and purposes is wielded by organizations and institutions that are not legally classified as administrative agencies. Some of these entities are private firms; some are hybrid... Read More
The “Ambiguity” Fallacy
Ryan D. Doerfler 88 Geo. Wash. L. Rev. 1110 This Essay considers a popular, deceptively simple argument against the lawfulness of Chevron. As it explains, the argument appears to trade on an ambiguity in the term “ambiguity”—and does so in a way that reveals a mismatch between Chevron criticism and the larger jurisprudence of Chevron... Read More
The Power to Vacate a Rule
Mila Sohoni 88 Geo. Wash. L. Rev. 1121 A vigorous debate has emerged concerning the legality and desirability of the “universal” or “nationwide” injunction. A key part of this debate implicates the meaning of the landmark statute that governs judicial review of agency action, the Administrative Procedure Act (“APA”). Many recent suits seeking nationwide injunctions... Read More
Time Is Not the Enemy
John M. Hindley 88 Geo. Wash. L. Rev. 1193 The conservative members of the Supreme Court desire to radically reshape the status quo of administrative law. To achieve this goal, conservative justices have focused on time preclusion statutes which provide for judicial review of agency action pre-enforcement but close off review once the time period... Read More
Interfering with the Watchman: OLC Disruption of the Statutory Whistleblower Process
Christine L. Coogle 88 Geo. Wash. L. Rev. 1221 In September 2019, the Department of Justice Office of Legal Counsel (“OLC”) issued an opinion concluding that the Director of National Intelligence had the authority to withhold from Congress an intelligence-community whistleblower complaint that alleged an abuse of power by the President and misconduct on the... Read More