Our Online Journal features original pieces written and edited by our Online staff at Columbia. They are not representative of any views held by the Columbia Undergraduate Law Review Editorial Board.
A wide array of perspectives and commentators in news ensures a higher chance of a well-informed, politically balanced population. Though the U.S. Supreme Court has historically supported this sentiment by backing the FCC and its regulations, the FCC’s recent shift towards deregulation, its increasing alliance with large media conglomerates, and its continuing disregard for judicial instruction bode ill for consumers of American news media today.
Read MoreWhile the College Board’s intention is to contextualize an applicant’s relative performance on their SAT exam, the role that Landscape plays in admissions processes is left up to individual institutions. As a result, this new process raises new concerns regarding affirmative action, a set of policies aimed at decreasing discrimination in employment and education, something the Supreme Court has struggled to establish a clear framework for.
Read MoreAs the current president of Brazil, Bolsonaro maintains his rhetoric that allowing indigenous tribes to occupy territory— to which they hold exclusive rights—is tantamount to economic suicide. Under his administration, the Amazonian tribes are in danger of losing all of their ancestral lands and being forced to assimilate into Brazilian society, to line the pockets of gold and diamond mining companies.
Read MoreThe Dvash-Banks case illuminates how the State Department abuses bureaucratic policy to prefer children biologically related to both married parents and how the government manipulates citizenship law to enforce heteronormativity within the American nation state.
Read MoreThe U.S. Department of Justice’s failure to indict the police officer who killed Eric Garner has revived public calls to overhaul our criminal justice system. While these calls target racial profiling and brutality, the recently decided case of Flowers v. Mississippi spotlights a more obscure, but critical issue: how we define “a jury of one’s peers.”
Read MoreA crisis exists in the jurisprudence of the Establishment Clause—a key component of the First Amendment that outlines the separation of church and state. The clause states that the government cannot establish an official religion or make any laws that favor either a particular religion, religion over non-religion, or non-religion over religion. However, the religious influence in social and legal matters has been inescapable throughout American history, and this is something that the courts still must come to terms with today.
Read MoreEarlier this year in Hong Kong, a series of demonstrations against a government-proposed extradition bill has resurfaced questions of the region’s “high degree of autonomy” under the People’s Republic of China. The contested bill, the Fugitive Offenders and Mutual Legal Assistance in Criminal Matters Legislation (Amendment) Bill, would permit the transfer of criminal suspects in Hong Kong to other areas of China, including the region controlled by the People’s Republic of China (PRC). Despite these momentous protests, Carrie Lam, the Chief Executive of Hong Kong, has not formally withdrawn the bill and the threat of future protests continues to destabilize Hong Kong.
Read MoreIn the vast majority of the United States, sex work is prohibited and punishable by laws that marginalize sex workers. Decriminalization is recognized as the most effective method of protecting sex workers because it allows them to report misconduct to the police, access necessary social services, and create institutions to make their work less dangerous.
Read MoreIn March 2019, Purdue Pharma reached a $270 million settlement with the State of Oklahoma, amid claims that the pharmaceutical conglomerate knowingly exacerbated the opioid crisis by overinflating the number, magnitude, and duration of opiate prescriptions in pursuit of profit. With fifteen hundred open litigations against Purdue Pharma, including forty-five cases brought by state prosecutors, the case provided critical insight into the strategies adopted by both the state and Purdue.
Read More
