Online Journal — Columbia Undergraduate Law Review

Discrimination Against Ideas and Discrimination Against Individuals in Lee v. Ashers

On October 10th, the United Kingdom Supreme Court released a decision that allowed a baker in Northern Ireland to refuse to make a cake with pro-LGBT+ messages on it. [1] This case is significant because it is set against a background of diminished LGBT+ rights in Northern Ireland. [2] The International Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Trans and Intersex Association (ILGA) rates Northern Ireland as the worst place in the United Kingdom for LGBT+ individuals. [3] This is because LGBT+ rights in Northern Ireland are limited and slowly gained compared to those in the rest of the United Kingdom.

Jake DunnJanuary 6, 2019LGBTQ, anti-discrimination, Lee v. Ashers, Bull v. Hall, Supreme Court, Northern Ireland, UK lawComment

Prison Labor: Modern-Day Slavery under the Thirteenth Amendment

As numerous wildfires tore across California, approximately 1,500 inmates worked alongside professional firefighting crews to quell the flames. Typically, professional firefighters earn around $74,000 a year, excluding benefits. Prisoners working as firefighters earn about $1.45 a day for their work, roughly thirteen percent of the hourly minimum wage in California. [1] The discrepancy between the pay of salaried and incarcerated firefighters reduces firefighting costs by $100 million dollars a year for the state, and incarcerated firefighters, who must volunteer to participate, are compensated with a two-day reduction of their sentence for every day of good behavior. [2]

Jake GrayJanuary 6, 2019Thirteenth Amendment, Constitutional law, prison, ACLU, firefighting, minimum wageComment

Child-Criminals: The Unclear Relationship between Children and the Justice System

It is estimated that in 2017, nearly 809,700 children under the age of 18 were arrested in the United States for crimes including burglary, arson, drug abuse, and homicide. [1] This statistic displays an intensifying debate in America: the treatment of children in the criminal justice system. While these youths were clearly convicted for violating the law, what remains unclear in the law is how these children should be distinguished from their adult criminal counterparts.

A Civil Responsibility for Representation

The advent of American justice, in criminal proceedings, is often tied to the constitutional guarantee of the attorney. Our 6th Amendment promises that “in all criminal prosecutions, the accused shall enjoy the right to… have the Assistance of Counsel for his defence.” [1] This is a powerful promise our Founders codified, aiming to level the playing field for criminal defendants thereafter. In many ways, this pledge continues to represent the emphasis on individual rights in the American social contract. But when we take a step backwards, we are reminded that criminal proceedings have an often-overlooked twin: civil law.

Mitigation, Time, and the Immorality of Death

The death penalty is a widely contested form of punishment plaguing legal theorists, juries, and society as a whole today. Current death penalty jurisprudence in the United States, which developed as a reaction to the brief abolition of the death penalty following Furman v. Georgia in 1972, has created an arbitrary and immoral system that relies upon a balance between aggravating and mitigating factors. An aggravating factor is “any fact or circumstance that increases the severity or culpability of a criminal act,” [1] and a mitigating factor is “any fact or circumstance that lessens the severity or culpability of a criminal act.”

Mandatory Million-Dollar Donations: Examining Cy Pres Settlements

In 2014, six institutions received approximately $5.3 million total for the purpose of educating the public on Internet privacy. [1] This was not spurred by a kind donation or an altruistic, astute public relations move; rather, the District Court for the Northern District of California ordered Google to do so as part of the settlement of a class action lawsuit in which these institutions had no part. This practice of distributing money from class action settlements to third-party non-profit organizations is known as cy pres (pronounced “sigh pray”), [2] and Rule 23(e) of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure states that these settlements must be “fair, reasonable, and adequate.”

Decoding Our DNA Regulations: An Analysis of Protective Genetic Privacy Legislation

23andMe. AncestryDNA. MyHeritage. With the fast-paced development of genetic technology on the rise, these services have taken the biotechnological industry by storm, reaching the everyday American faster and more easily. Private citizens are able to access their entire genetic history, ancestry, and the exact specifics of their DNA with just a click of a button or a quick visit to a specialist.

In Favor of Restorative Justice: A Look at Victim Impact Evidence

“I am here to face you Larry, so you can see I’ve regained my strength, that I’m no longer a victim, I am a survivor,” said Olympian Aly Raisman in the courtroom as she confronted her abuser, Larry Nassar, who sexually abused her throughout her gymnastics career.

Jake GrayDecember 4, 2018criminal justice, larry nassar, Supreme CourtComment

The Age of Cyber Federalism

Rebecca Buckwalter-Poza woke up one morning in 2017 to find she had been blocked by @realDonaldTrump on Twitter. Dani Bostick woke up to the same news later that year, as did Annie Rice, an author, William LeGate, a tech entrepreneur, and Caroline Orr, a researcher. Soon, a contingent of Twitter dissenters emerged who all had been banned from the president’s official Twitter page.[1]

Jaden SchneiderNovember 11, 2018Donald Trump, First Amendment, Knight First Amendment Institute, Constitutional law, technologyComment