Psychology and the Law: Jury Compilation

by Emily Kabalin Law and Psychology are largely intertwined. The purpose of law is to control behavior, and the purpose of psychology is to observe, explain, and predict behavior. Therefore, psychology can help to evaluate the assumptions that law makes about human behavior. Psychologists study laws by focusing on the individual, and how the individual is responsible for his or her own actions. Psychology examines the thoughts and behavior of individuals, which provide reasons for the laws to be established. […]

Fixing the Fourth Amendment: Software, Surveillance, and Satire

by Samuel Blackington If the old adage that “knowledge is power” is true, then one’s personal information is a priceless commodity in the highly-digital age we currently live in. To clarify what I mean by personal information, this includes data such as an individual’s fingerprint and even a person’s own face that can all be collected through smart devices that utilize either fingerprint or facial recognition software. Although it is an issue that seems shallow at face value, it encompasses […]

A Slippery Slope: Redefining Cruel and Unusual Punishment in Madison v. Alabama

by Sierra Stockley Introduction Madison v. Alabama is a case pending a decision from the United States Supreme Court. The case was argued before the Court on Tuesday, October 2, 2018 with Bryan A. Stevenson, Esq., representing the petitioner, Vernon Madison, and Alabama’s Deputy Attorney General, Thomas R. Govan, Jr., acting on behalf of the respondent. Regarding the issue raised in the case, the Court must decide two crucial points: whether or not a state may execute a prisoner who […]

Female Pioneers in the Legal Profession

by Anna Katherine Sherman The American Bar Association reports that until the late-1960s, less than 5% of students admitted into law schools were female and there was no legislation in place that required employers to hire women. In the mid-1970’s, the number of female law school students increased dramatically, but women were still not being hired after graduation. Today, the law school student body is about equal between men and women, but the gender disparity is still apparent in the […]

Towards a New Theory of International Law

by James Niiler Since the conclusion of the Peace of Westphalia in 1648, the West – and now by extension the rest of the world – have supposedly relied on the concept of national sovereignty as the guiding principle of international law. However, the true principle of international law is not actually national egalitarianism, but liberalism, the ideological backbone of Western foreign policy. Liberalism is the belief in the so-called ‘open society.’ It posits the natural state of humanity is […]

An Inquiry into the Value of Foreign-Born Workers in the Agricultural Sector

by Tanner D’Ortenzio How much do you spend on a pound of strawberries? Or a gallon of whole milk? Most Americans spend on average $0.99 for a pound of conventional strawberries and $3.27 for a gallon of conventional whole milk. Now, imagine for a moment that our government decided to pass large scale agricultural labor reform focused solely on illegal immigration. This would cause our food prices to raise “over five years by an additional 5 percent to 6 percent […]

Another Deal to be Made: Trump’s Strategy in East Asia

by Bowen Gissendaner Inside the Art of the Deal When attempting to analyze any actions taken by President Trump, one would be remiss not to consider the field in which he has been most successful, business. Before all else, Trump is a businessman, whose shrewd tactics allowed him to become one of the richest men in New York. Thus, when looking at his political endeavors in East Asia one must do so not with the mind of a politician, but […]

Russian Dominance and the Weakening of International Law

by Ethan Roberson On November 25, 2018 Russian ships opened fire on three Ukrainian ships (two warships and one tugboat) in a narrow, but strategic sea passage, the Kerch Strait, which separates Crimea and mainland Russia. This confrontation resulted in the injuries of at least six Ukrainian sailors, the capture of more than twenty Ukrainian sailors, and, ultimately, the blockade of the entrance to the Kerch Strait by Russia. Russia’s recent antagonism of Ukraine, blatantly and actively breaches international law […]

Legislative Note: Ocasio-Cortez’s Green New Deal

by Anna Katherine Sherman Last November, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez became the youngest woman ever to be elected to Congress in the record-breaking midterm elections of 2018. She represents New York’s 14th Congressional District, which includes the Bronx, Queens, and Rikers Island. Since her election, Ocasio-Cortez’s presence in the White House has been somewhat controversial, with some news outlets even calling her “ignorant of everything”. Nevertheless, her support is substantial, as she won her election over the incumbent of 20 years, Joseph […]

Walking the Line: An Inquiry into Our Current Immigration Policies

by Tanner D’Ortenzio On May 19th, 1921, Congress passed the Emergency Quota Act establishing numerical limits on the total amount of immigrants and the use of a quota system for establishing limits on said immigrants. This landmark piece of legislation was passed due to a large amount of Jewish immigrants leaving Eastern Europe. Fleeing from religious anti-semitism in the forms of violent, targeted riots called pogroms and accusatory blood libels. Based off of the 1910 U.S. Census, this act restricted […]