Category: State and Local Government
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A New Hydraulic Fracturing Proposal Fuels Questions About the Environment and Public Health in California
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Hydraulic fracturing (“fracking”) is a method used to extract natural gas or oil from underground. A drill is used to inject a mixture of water, sand, and chemicals into shale, causing it to crack and release gas and oil. Environmentalists have raised concerns that the chemicals involved in fracking contaminate drinking water and that fracking…
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NIL In College Sports: The SCORE and SAFE Acts Go Head-To-Head
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In the summer of 2021, the world of college sports shifted dramatically when the United States Supreme Court held in National Collegiate Athletic Association v. Alston that the National Collegiate Athletic Association’s (“NCAA”) limits on student-athlete compensation violated Section 1 of the Sherman Act.[1] In response to the decision, the NCAA initiated an interim policy…
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Juveniles in the Adult World of Crime
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The United States dominates the world of incarceration, jailing more individuals than any other country.[1] At any given time, there are approximately two million people suffering behind bars and struggling to endure the many harms associated with the legal system.[2] Laws surrounding the criminal justice system greatly impact how people are treated, charged, and prosecuted.[3]…
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With Liberty and Justice for All, and Paid Parental Leave for Some: Spain Expands Access to Paid Parental Leave as the U.S. Continues to Fall Behind
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A recent regional court decision in Murcia, Spain entitles single parents to the full amount of paid parental leave previously permitted only to married couples.[1] The regional court decision emerged from a Spanish constitutional court decision in November 2024, which prohibited discrimination against single parents’ children.[2] In 2022, Silvia Pardo Moreno became a single mother,[3]…
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No Dice: North Carolina Courts Hold Popular Electronic Sweepstakes Games Illegal
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N.C. Gen. Stat. § 14-306.4 bans the operation of electronic machines to “[c]onduct a sweepstakes through the use of an entertaining display, including the entry process or the reveal of a prize.”[i] The statute defines “sweepstakes” as “any game, advertising scheme or plan, or other promotion, which, with or without payment of any consideration, a…
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Cruel and Unusual Camping: How the U.S. Supreme Court Reopened the Door to Status Crimes
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On June 28, 2024, the United States Supreme Court took a wrecking ball to a Ninth Circuit holding and stopped just shy of overturning one of the Court’s most famous opinions: Robinson v. California. Robinson held the government cannot criminalize the status of drug addiction because “status crimes” constituted cruel and unusual punishment under the…
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Eastern Band Of Cherokee’s Historic Referendum Poses New Challenges (And Opportunities) For North Carolina
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The Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians sit cradled in the mountains of Western North Carolina. This land, called the Qualla Boundary by the Eastern Cherokee, has belonged to the tribe since the 1800s. During this time, members purchased 57,000 acres of land and, soon after, sealed their status as an autonomous sovereign nation.[1] The Eastern…