Ibrahim, et al., 11 Wake Forest L. Rev. Online 147 (2021)
Read More
Ryan Clements, 11 Wake Forest L. Rev. Online 131 (2021)
Read MoreBUILT TO FAIL: THE INHERENT FRAGILITY OF ALGORITHMIC STABLECOINS
By: Tanner Henson In 1970, Congress enacted the Occupational Safety and Health Act (“OSH Act” or “the Act”), a sweeping piece of legislation, aimed at “assur[ing] so far as possible every working man and woman in the Nation safe and healthful working conditions[.]”[1] To enforce the new legislation, Congress created a new government agency, the […]
By Morgan Kleinhandler There is no doubt that the advance of modern technology has allowed for an increase in the interconnected nature of American society.[1] Specifically, the popularity of smartphones has allowed for a new level of immediate interconnectedness that was previously impossible. [2] With this rise in technology has come a new form of […]
By: Nick Christopherson Travis Scott’s recent Astroworld music festival drew an estimated 50,000 fans to NRG Park in Houston on Friday, November 5.[1] Beginning in 2018, with the release of Scott’s new album, Astroworld, the annual music festival was an immediate hit and solidified Scott as an A-list celebrity for years to come.[2] The concert […]
By Kyle Brantley It’s that time of day. Your child is positioning the antenna just right in order to catch their favorite broadcast TV show. No, that doesn’t sound quite right. They are actually dialing up the old FM radio for their favorite weekly jamboree! No, that’s definitely not happening. Instead, kids today consume their […]
By: Mathias A. Young Small family farms are in dire straits. The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Economic Research Service found that in 2019, between sixty-two and eighty-one percent of small family farms were operating at a “high risk level.”[1] This problem is worse for farmers of color, who for decades have faced discrimination in applying […]
By Laura Merriman Over the twenty-year war in Afghanistan, tens of thousands of Afghan nationals risked their lives to assist the US.[1] In exchange, the US offered them a humanitarian visa known as a Special Immigrant Visa (“SIV”), to safely resettle in the US as lawful permanent residents.[2] However, as the US began withdrawing from […]
By: Joshua Plummer On September 22, 2021, the Senate Armed Services Committee introduced S. 2792, the “National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2022” (“2022 NDAA”), to the first session of the 117th Congress.[1] Buried in the 998 pages of the extensive $768 billion bill, which includes everything from the acquisition of combat aircraft to […]
By Hanna Diamond I. Introduction Nona Gaprindashvili, “a pioneer of women’s chess,” is making the first move and suing Netflix over a false statement made in the Netflix series, The Queen’s Gambit (the “Series”). [1] The Series was based on a fictional novel, The Queen’s Gambit (the “Novel”),[2] about an “American chess prodigy Beth Harmon,” […]
By: Maryclaire M. Farrington Credit or copyright? That is the question. On September 25, 2019, fourteen-year-old Jalaiah Harmon created a short, twenty-second dance, dubbed “the Renegade,” and posted it on Instagram.[1] In the weeks after, the video racked up about 13,000 views, inspiring other Instagrammers to recreate the dance and post it themselves.[2] By October, […]
By Madison Boyer Since 2017, Google has racked up over $8 billion in fines from the European Union (“EU”) for antitrust violations.[1] The heftiest is a $5 billion (€4.34 billion) fine—the largest fine ever imposed by the European Commission (“EC”) for an antitrust violation.[2] The EC is the primary enforcer of EU competition laws.[3] In […]
By: Christian Schweitzer The runaway freight train that is the American student debt crisis continues to accelerate, as borrowers now owe a collective $1.73 trillion in debt.[1] As President Biden and Congress press forward with retroactive reforms to cancel debt for certain limited classes of borrowers,[2] it seems worthwhile to return to conversations about forward-looking […]
By Daniel Cundiff College athletics has undergone a seismic shift. For decades, athletes participating in Division I college athletics were unable to receive compensation for the use of their name, image, and likeness (“NIL”), and they risked becoming ineligible to participate in their sport for doing so.[1] Today, National Collegiate Athletic Association (“NCAA”) guidelines allow […]
By: Joseph C. Johnson On May 5, 2019, Dillon Webb was pulled over by a sheriff’s deputy in Columbia County, Florida, for a sticker that read “I EAT A*S” on the rear window of his truck.[1] Webb was arrested under a Florida obscenity statute after refusing to alter the sticker, and the officers that made […]
By Emily Wilmink While the COVID-19 pandemic has consumed the field of public health since its onset in 2020, substance use disorder and the opioid crisis have continually plagued the United States for many years. Substance use disorder is a disease that “leads to an inability to control the use of a legal or illegal […]
By: Inyoung Park Many companies, large or start-up, are recognizing the potential of quantum technology.[1] Quantum technology is based on quantum mechanics that study the movements of subatomic particles.[2] Unlike other particles that follow Newtonian physics, the quantum system differs in that the particles can be in superposition and exhibit entanglement, for example.[3] Superposition means […]
By Jacob Winton On July 20, 2021, Senators Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), Chris Murphy (D-Conn.), and Mike Lee (R-Utah) introduced the National Security Powers Act of 2021[1] (“NSPA”), a bipartisan bid to reign in the war powers of the Executive Branch. The bill, which would impose substantial limitations on presidential power,[2] would allow “Congress [] to […]
By Grace Koppenheffer When systems work as expected, people generally are content to let such systems work in the background—the shadows—without needing to know the details. When those same systems start producing different and unexpected results, however, people want to shine a light into the shadows to understand, diagnose, and if needed, fix the system. […]
By: Nick Christopherson On August 30, 2019, twenty-three year old Elijah McClain died[1] from injuries sustained during a police welfare check.[2] On the night of the encounter, police responded to a report of a man (McClain) who “look[ed] sketchy,” and after perceiving McClain to be resisting arrest, the officers quickly initiated a takedown.[3] An independent […]
By Michael J. Riedl Shaquille O’Neal. Patrick Mahomes. Serena Williams. Alex Rodriguez. No, this is not a reading of the guest list at the 2021 ESPY Awards,[1] but rather a list of athletes on the management or advisory boards of various Special Purpose Acquisition Companies (“SPACs”).[2] SPACs, far from a novel financial vehicle,[3] grew […]
Oren Gross* 11 Wake Forest L. Rev. Online 54 I. Introduction The debate between H.L.A. Hart and Lon Fuller, waged in 1958 over eighty pages of the Harvard Law Review, is one of the best known and most important jurisprudential debates of our time[1] Pitting the leading proponent of legal positivism against one of the […]
By: Ashley Oldfield (Wake Forest School of Law alumnus) In Niz-Chavez v. Garland,[1] the Supreme Court of the United States addressed, for the second time, what constitutes a notice to appear under 8 U.S.C. § 1229(a)(1).[2] In doing so, the Court may have also resurrected challenges to an immigration court’s jurisdiction which first arose following […]
By: Charlie Ellis Forgiveness seems to be an obsolete virtue in modern American society. With the rise of cancel-culture on social media[1] and a country with polarization metrics higher than any point in the last twenty years,[2] “forgiveness” and “civility” are merely buzzwords for two sides who only wish to point out flaws in their […]
By Belén Wilson The United States southeastern coast is known for its beautiful barrier islands and unique marshlands. Though some of these islands have been preserved, many are now home to luxury resorts, hotels, and even modern retirement communities.[1] While boom in development brings tourism to the islands, it comes at a painful cost to […]
Doron M. Kalir* 11 Wake Forest L. Rev. Online 42 In the short time since its release, Bostock v. Clayton County[1] has well-earned its self-praise as “simple and momentous.”[2] The opinion, which holds that Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 applies to homosexuals and transgender persons in the workplace, instructs employers nationwide […]
By: Carson Easterling The developing nature of the modern fashion industry, including the recent emphasis on sustainable fashion, has created a need for new legal issues to be addressed. As awareness of the waste and environmental harm caused by the fashion industry has come under fire in recent years, many consumers have turned to purchasing […]
By Megan E. Cobb After six years, Sofia Vergara has been granted a permanent injunction preventing her ex-partner, Nick Loeb, from using the frozen embryos they created together without her explicit written permission.[1] This decision is just one step in a long court battle between the two which dates back to 2014, when Loeb filed […]
By: Andrew Abreu The National Labor Relations Board (“NLRB”) recently announced it will withdraw a near-final rule that was intended to prevent student assistants[1] from forming unions at private universities.[2] In announcing its withdrawal of the rule, the NLRB stated it decided to “withdraw this rulemaking proceeding based on its judgment respecting the most effective […]
By Wiley Hughes Earlier this year, from February 10 to February 20, a series of devastating winter storms ran their devastating course through the state of Texas.[1] The storms brought record low temperatures and an unprecedented amount of snow and ice to the state’s largest cities.[2] This overwhelmed the state’s power grid which triggered rolling […]
By: Jaclyn Bragano In an area of law that had been unchanged for nearly fifty years, a 2017 federal memorandum[1] rocked the migratory bird boat, prompting years of contradictory opinions and controversial rulemaking. The last few years have brought inconsistency and confusion in the context of migratory bird protections as opposing administrations batted back and […]
By Lauren E. Douglas The year 2021 marks the forty-eighth anniversary of the mobile phone[1] and the eighty-third anniversary of the programmable computer.[2] It is no secret that mobile devices are significantly more powerful than their inventors could have ever predicted.[3] What started as clunky, cumbersome machinery has transformed into the backbone of society as […]
By: Meghan Falk In sharp contrast to Jerry Seinfeld’s fictional trip to the courthouse, where he ended up in prison for “criminal indifference” in the series finale of Seinfeld, a judge ruled on February 26, 2021 that Seinfeld be reimbursed for legal fees after arguing against an “opportunistic” copyright lawsuit.[1] In early 2018, Seinfeld’s one-time […]
11 Wake Forest L. Rev. Online 21 (Opens PDF in New Tab) I. Introduction President John F. Kennedy signed the Equal Pay Act into law on June 10, 1963, remarking that such legislation constituted a “significant leap forward.”[1] Advocates of the bill heralded the legislation as “a matter of simple justice” ensuring that “there is […]
By Catherine A. Sims Pop icon Britney Spears, now 39 years old, has been under a legal conservatorship for 13 years.[1] The singer, known for hits such as “Toxic,” “Womanizer,” “Oops!…I Did It Again,” and “…Baby One More Time,”[2] lost all control over her personal finances, career, and estate in 2008, when a California state […]
By: Natalie Galdos College football is coming back to EA Sports.[1] Daryl Holt, EA Sports vice president and general manager, announced Feb. 2, 2021 that EA Sports will revive its college football video game series.[2] While Holt declined to share any timeline for the arrival of the next installment of the college football series, fans […]
By Sutton Travis In a decision that expanded religious liberties for prisoners on the verge of execution, the Supreme Court held in the late evening hours of Feb. 11 that Alabama prisoner Willie Smith could not be executed unless Alabama permitted Smith’s chaplain to accompany him into the execution chamber.[1] Smith filed a complaint in […]
By Elizabeth A. Napps The end of January 2021 brought a few trending headlines. We all expected to see stories of President Joe Biden’s inauguration, if not breakout star poet Amanda Gorman. The unexpected story, however, came the following week when Americans were reminded of the existence of GameStop and learned all about “stonks.” To […]
By Sarah Keller Antitrust laws ensure that companies are not artificially impacting or controlling demand for products.[1] Higher education institutions are uniquely situated multibillion-dollar businesses whose product is not simply degrees—but also scholarship, athletics, and the arts.[2] Although these institutions have qualities that differentiate them from traditional businesses, they remain subject to the Sherman Act’s […]
By Mary Catherine Young Last month, an Azerbaijani journalist was forced to deactivate her social media accounts after receiving sexually explicit and violent threats in response to a piece she wrote about Azerbaijan’s cease-fire with Armenia.[1] Some online users called for the Azerbaijan government to revoke columnist Arzu Geybulla’s citizenship—others called for her death.[2] Days […]
By Alexandra N. Meyer A new American Bar Association program aims to better prepare immigrants navigating one of America’s most time-consuming and expensive government systems. Unlike most government agencies, the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, (“USCIS”), is fee-funded and relies almost exclusively on fees to operate.[1] In fact, service fees account for approximately 97 percent […]
By Steven P. Bradford Following crashes of Lion Air Flight 610 and Ethiopian Airlines Flight 302, the Federal Aviation Administration (“FAA”) issued an Emergency Order grounding Boeing 737-8 and -9 (“Boeing MAX”) aircraft.[1] The order was rescinded on November 18, 2020, allowing Boeing MAX aircraft to resume flight operations once airlines complete prescribed corrective actions […]
By Rachel L. Golden To mitigate the spread of COVID-19, millions of students have been forced to move from in-person to distance learning. The success of distance learning hinges on a student’s ability to access the virtual classroom.[1] For two girls in East Salinas, California, distance learning meant having to sit in a Taco Bell […]
By Sarah E. Page Pop culture is filled with references to hidden Nazi treasure. Monuments Men tells the story of the real hunt for stolen Nazi art[1] Television channels are rife with shows focusing on the search for hidden Nazi gold around the world.[2] However, one hoard is hidden in plain sight, and is now […]
By Blake Witty This Sunday, nearly one in three Americans[1] will turn to their televisions to watch Patrick Mahomes and the Kansas City Chiefs take on Tom Brady and the Tampa Buccaneers in Super Bowl LV.[2] The Super Bowl has become a mainstay in American culture and is arguably the most followed and prestigious event […]
Jess Harrell In recent years, there has been a rise in emotional support animals (“ESAs”) throughout the United States.[1] Unlike service animals, which are trained to perform specific tasks for disabled individuals,[2] ESAs provide companionship, relieve loneliness, and help with mental disabilities such as depression, anxiety, and phobias.[3] However, they are not individually trained to […]
11 Wake Forest L. Rev. Online 1 (Opens PDF in new tab) Andrea A. Anderson* I. Introduction Kenneth was a coal miner.[1] One day, while cooling a welding area, a hose burst and severely injured his neck and face.[2] Despite sustaining major injuries that would prevent him from working in the future, Kenneth had limited […]
Jordan Peterson It is no secret that federal policymakers usually propose a bill with no expectation that it will pass into law. In some cases, they do this because they want to start a conversation about an important topic.[1] One such topic that has been at the forefront of the American political thought for some […]
Emily Solley On December 27, 2020, President Donald J. Trump signed a $900 billion pandemic relief bill into law.[1] The bill resulted from eight months of tense negotiations, earlier failures at passage, and, most recently, an intense debate over the bill’s proposed $600 direct payment to Americans.[2] President Trump called the payments a “disgrace” and […]
Makenzie Taylor Each year, 66,000 H-2B visa guest workers enter the United States to perform nonagricultural temporary and seasonal jobs[1] in industries such as forestry, landscaping, hospitality, seafood processing, and construction.[2] The workers typically perform “relatively low-skilled” jobs and often work in “geographic areas where the number of available U.S. workers is limited.”[3] They comprise […]
Kristin J. Rempe The Active Cyber Defense Certainty Act—colloquially known as the “Hack Back” bill— was first introduced in 2017[1] and reintroduced in 2019.[2] The bipartisan bill seeks to amend the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act (“CFAA”).[3] Under the CFAA, it is illegal to knowingly or intentionally access another computer without authorization or to exceed […]
Blake Davis The COVID-19 pandemic has upended the way Americans engage in their weekly religious practices.[1] As with every other area of American life, religious organizations have become accustomed to providing socially distanced services and complying with both federal and state guidelines for safe worship experiences.[2] As churches, synagogues, and mosques have transitioned to servicing […]
On November 25, the United States Supreme Court issued a five to four opinion enjoining New York Governor, Andrew Cuomo, from implementing a COVID-19 restriction which would limit religious services to gatherings of no more than ten people.[1] The deciding vote? Newly appointed Justice Amy Coney Barrett.[2] Joining Justice Barrett in the unsigned opinion were […]
Shannon Porterfield Due to the recent outbreak of SARS-CoV-2 (“COVID-19”), colleges and universities across the United States (“U.S.”) are requiring students to get vaccinated against the flu and submit documentation of such immunization to return to campus for the coming spring semester.[1] As the rates of flu immunizations among Americans are typically low without mandates, […]
Tim Maguire Water is imported, exported, bought and sold, and transported intrastate, interstate, and internationally.[1] It has powered the transportation industry and empowered manufacturing. Disagreements over its use and misuse have led to armed conflicts and even war.[2] With respect to its vitalness, it is equally as precious to other natural resources such as oil, […]
Rebecca Paulus “The management of Georgia elections has become an embarrassment for our state. Georgians are outraged, and rightly so.”[1] This scathing condemnation originates from a joint statement issued by Senators David Perdue and Kelly Loeffler, demanding that Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger resign because he “has failed to deliver honest and transparent elections.”[2] […]
10 Wake Forest L. Rev. Online 149 (Opens PDF in new tab) Ilhyung Lee* The COVID-19 pandemic drastically affected the operations and daily routines of the university and college town that have been my home for the past twenty-two years. In mid-March 2020, the University of Missouri (“MU”),[1] in Columbia, Missouri, suspended all in-person classes […]
10 Wake Forest L. Rev. Online 124 Betsy J. Grey* I. Introduction Business owners and politicians have raised the specter of a flood of civil lawsuits arising out of the pandemic.[1] Most of these suits will likely be commercial in nature, and very few personal injury lawsuits have been filed against businesses since the pandemic […]
By Alexander F. Magee The internet has long been championed as a marketplace of ideas that fosters unprecedented access to different viewpoints and mass amounts of information and media. At least in the eyes of some, Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act (“CDA”)[1] is largely responsible for the internet gaining that reputation, and the […]
By Adrian E. Simioni The continued closure of international borders in response to the COVID-19 pandemic has had devasting economic effects on trade, tourism, and service industries across the globe.[1] However, one overlooked, entirely human effect has been the profound impact of border closures on unmarried couples and families residing in different countries. Their designation […]
By Itané O. Coleman On November 21, 2006, Kathryn Johnston was ninety-two. Police entered her home. They shot her six times. Killing her.[1] On May 16, 2010, Aiyana Jones was seven. Police entered her grandmother’s home. They shot the child while sleeping. Killing her.[2] Though Black men are often the face of police violence for […]
By Kelsey E. Rector South African runner Caster Semenya is a two-time Olympic gold medalist and has dominated track events like the 800 meter and other mid-distance races over the last decade.[1] All her life, Semenya has been questioned about her sex, especially with respect to competing as an elite female track athlete.[2] Her performance […]
By Christopher R. Taylor On August 6th, President Trump issued Executive Order 13,942 (“TikTok Prohibition Order”) prohibiting transactions with ByteDance Ltd. (“ByteDance”), TikTok’s parent company, because of the company’s data collection practices regarding U.S. users and its close relationship with the Peoples Republic of China (“PRC”).[1] Eight days later President Trump issued a subsequent order […]
By Jonathan Carter The 2020–21 NCAA football season is shaping up to be much different than seasons past,[1] and a recent rule change recommended by the NCAA Division I Football Oversight Committee (“Oversight Committee”) could result in coaches with losing records benefiting from the disarray.[2] Due to COVID-19, currently only 112 of the 130 total […]
By Gabriel L. Marx Donald Trump is once again at the center of a legal dispute. The Forty-Fifth President of the United States has been no stranger to legal controversies during and before his presidency,[1] but the latest update in Knight First Amendment Institute at Columbia University v. Trump[2] has President Trump petitioning for a […]
By Ashley Willard As it stands, the Military Selective Service Act (“MSSA”) only impacts males.[1] The MSSA gives the President authority to issue a proclamation requiring all male citizens and most male noncitizen residents between the ages of eighteen and twenty-six to register with the Selective Service.[2] The current registration period began when President Carter […]
By Jacqueline K. Winters On Sept. 26, less than two months before the election, President Donald Trump announced Amy Coney Barrett as his nominee for the Supreme Court.[1] Considering Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell’s plans to swiftly move forward with the confirmation process and begin hearings on Oct. 12, it is likely that the Senate […]
By Davis LaBarre In the midst of a global pandemic, the one bright spot for many has been spending time outdoors. Increased travel restrictions and cancelled overseas trips have led to packing up the car to visit the beautiful parks our own country has to offer.[1] This summer, Congress passed the Great American Outdoors Act, […]
10 Wake Forest L. Rev. Online 107 James W. Sprague I. Introduction In the summer of 2002, a Union Pacific Railroad conductor, Arnulfo Flores, agreed to transport ten Mexican nationals across the Mexican-American border undetected.[1] When the nationals arrived on the railroad’s property, Flores ushered them into a large metal railway car and sealed them […]
By Zeliang Mike Liu On June 15, 2020, the Supreme Court issued a landmark 6-3 decision stating that Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 (“Title VII”) prohibits an employer from firing an individual for being homosexual or transgender.[1] The question came to the court through three different cases: Bostock v. Clayton County, […]
By Megan M. Neal As the public tracks the development of a viable SARS-CoV-2 (“COVID-19”) vaccine, there has been rampant proliferation of fake COVID-19 cures. Indeed, the Food and Drug Administration (“FDA”) has identified a host of products fraudulently marketed to diagnose, treat, or cure COVID-19.[1] Many of these products are faulty, but relatively harmless: […]
By Alex Lewis Working remotely has become the new normal, and it may stay that way after COVID-19.[1] Although many professionals enjoy the safety, freedom, and flexibility that comes with remote work, a potential tax nightmare may be around the corner for some in 2021. If employees did not switch over their withholding once […]
Since 1919, North Carolina had treated its sixteen- and seventeen-year-old offenders as adults. On December 1, 2019, after one-hundred years of this misguided system, North Carolina finally raised its age of juvenile jurisdiction to eighteen.
By Amanda Manzano The rapid spread of COVID-19 has disrupted business as usual across the globe and created a “new normal” for human social behavior; a normal that U.S. prisons and jails as we know them do not have the luxury, or ability, to implement. Physical distancing in public, self-isolation, and the use of face […]
By Alexander S. Boros So far, 2020 has felt like an eternity and yet we are just four months in. The spread of COVID-19 has turned the entire world upside down and has transformed the economy in a way we have never seen before. One of the more interesting twists of fate in the midst […]
By Chris Flurry President Donald Trump issued an Executive Order on Apr. 6, 2020, with potentially out-of-this-world implications.[1] The order encourages the U.S. and international communities – public and private – to support the exploration, recovery, and use of extraterrestrial resources.[2] While the order may seem to come at a surprising time,[3] it has reportedly […]
By Matthew Hooker For the duration of the COVID-19 emergency, North Carolina corporations may conduct shareholders’ meetings completely via remote communication technology, pursuant to an executive order by Governor Roy Cooper.[1] This order temporarily resolves an ambiguity in the North Carolina Business Corporation Act pertaining to remote participation in shareholders’ meetings, allowing North Carolina corporations […]
By Agustin Martinez Across the globe, the COVID-19 pandemic has devastated many lives,[1] including those of immigrants living in the United States.[2] U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (“USCIS”) recently announced that it “will neither consider testing, treatment, nor preventative care (including vaccines, if a vaccine becomes available) related to COVID-19 as part of a public […]
11 Wake Forest L. Rev. Online 147 Imad Antoine Ibrahim,* Sandrine Maljean-Dubois,**& Jessica Owley*** Without an international tribunal or tools like trade sanctions, there is little to coerce or encourage adherence with environmental treaties. The Paris Agreement, the governing global agreement to address climate change, relies on voluntary global cooperation. Countries determine their own commitments […]
11 Wake Forest L. Rev. Online 131 Dr. Ryan Clements* Algorithmic stablecoins are inherently fragile. These uncollateralized digital assets, which attempt to peg the price of a reference asset using financial engineering, algorithms, and market incentives, are not stable at all but exist in a state of perpetual vulnerability. Iterations to date have struggled to […]
