Should Facebook be Accessible to Sex Offenders? A First Amendment Analysis

The First Amendment of the U.S. Constitution states that “Congress shall make no law...abridging the freedom of speech.”[1] The Supreme Court has typically interpreted the term “speech” to incorporate a broad range of expressions, including the use of Internet.[2] However, the increasing use of the Internet and social media sites has led to debate as to what constitutes free speech in the digital age and if digital platforms should be made accessible to the entire public. Currently, Facebook’s accessibility to the public has been contested in relation to the right of sex offenders to use the site, as limiting their access conflicts with freedom of speech protected under the First Amendment. 

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Military Trials: Demanding Institutional Change to Unchecked Hazing of Minorities

Private Danny Chen was only 19 when he committed suicide nine months after joining the Army. From the beginning of his training, Chen experienced hazing as the only Chinese-American in his unit. He was forced to do excessive physical punishment, called “chink,” “dragon lady,” and other racial slurs, physically abused, and ordered to shout commands in Chinese. Days before his death, Sergeant Adam Holcomb dragged Chen out of bed and across the outpost, an instance of maltreatment that left Chen contemplating suicide.

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Korematsu and the Muslim Ban: The Legal Consequences of Unchecked Executive Power

 In 1942, Fred Korematsu was arrested on a street corner in California. His crime was refusing to evacuate to an internment camp and comply with President Roosevelt’s Executive Order 9066. Under the executive order, over 120,000 men, women, and children of Japanese descent were forced to relocate from their homes on the coasts to remote camps inland; they had been deemed a “national security threat” after the attack on Pearl Harbor in 1941. [1] Korematsu was the first man to legally challenge the order in Korematsu v. United States.

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How to (Constitutionally) Form a New U.S. State

The New California coalition does not feel represented by the “liberal elite” of San Francisco and L.A. that make up most of California’s population but just a small portion of its geography. This isn’t the first time a new state has been proposed using California’s territory. Since 1941, “Jeffersonians” have been attempting to form the state of Jefferson from the northernmost counties of California and the southernmost counties of Oregon. Largely attributed to “rural discontent,” the proposed State of Jefferson has been gaining momentum since the election of President Donald Trump.

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CDA 230: The Burden of Balancing Protection and Privacy Online

Companies in Silicon Valley are concerned with maintaining the legitimacy of the CDA 230 because otherwise, they will be unable to maintain their apps and websites. People opposed to CDA 230 worry that illicit and harmful activity will continue online with no resources to stop them. Though third parties supply false and harmful information on certain websites, some argue that those host websites should not be held liable for third party decisions, as monitoring each post will not stop illegal activity and discourages the existence of social media.

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Sanam Jalinous
Public Figure vs. Private Citizen: Does One Deserve More Privacy?

Thiel’s successful vendetta against Gawker Media demonstrates, at best, that wealthy public figures can legally sanction journalists when they uncover damaging information. At the worst, it sets a precedent that may be used to intimidate investigative journalists from releasing any sensitive information to the public, should it not be in a wealthy public figure’s interest.

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Katherine Bogomolova
The Dangers of DTCPA: A Legal Analysis

Though some of this spending can be attributed to the large number of drugs on the market, there is a hidden reason here as well: the rise of direct-to-consumer pharmaceutical advertising (DTCPA). Defined as efforts made by companies to promote prescription drugs directly to consumers through popular media, DTCPA has proved to be an exponentially profitable business, costing insurance companies and taxpayers ever more money and, more significantly, potentially endangering patients’ health. Though some may argue that there exists evidence in its favor, DTCPA, significantly adding to taxpayers’ expenses, should be banned.

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Ella Epstein
The Issues Behind Remittance Regulation: Missing the Mark with Hawala Legislation

While the law currently bans hawalas, as they are remittance businesses functioning without a license, new legislation has been proposed to crack down on these underground businesses. This year, a bipartisan team of senators introduced the Combating Money Laundering, Terrorist Financing, and Counterfeiting Act of 2017 – otherwise known as S. 1241 – which aims to address the issue of hawalas and terror financing, but instead conflicts with existing precedents and impacts only hawaladors with honest intentions, as those engaged in terror financing are unlikely to be swayed by threats of increased government fines.

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Jae DeGuerrera
Loi N°2016-1321 pour une République Numérique: Regulatory Differences in French and EU Law

Both of these regulations, the French Loi pour une République numérique and the GDPR, ostensibly intend to work in tandem to protect the rights of individuals with regard to their presence online and the data collected about them. But, whereas many EU countries judge the GDPR to be sufficient regulation for the protection of their citizens, France has deemed the GDPR to be too lenient and lacking in prescriptive power. This creates a problem, however, as businesses must now navigate both EU and French civil law.

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Zach Giesler