In the midst of a global pandemic, signs of hope have started to emerge from beneath the shadow of COVID-19. SARS-CoV-2 has killed millions and fundamentally changed the world, but there is cause for optimism with the development and implementation of life-saving vaccine technology. Faced with an unprecedented public health crisis, experts agree that the quickest way for the world to return to normal conditions involves vaccinating as many people as possible, establishing herd immunity, and decreasing the transmission of COVID-19.

Read More

Across the United States, states have taken steps to address homelessness, ranging from the enforcement of state supreme court decisions to the passage of sweeping legislation. At the same time, individual state legislatures have become battlegrounds for homelessness rights in states that attempt to reduce the visibility of homeless individuals rather than address the systemic issues behind the rise in homelessness. To this end, many states have resorted to indirect anti-homelessness legislation, including laws and ordinances that ban loitering and begging. This Roundtable addresses state laws on homelessness, the intersection of judicial activism and homelessness, the 19th century roots of UK law on homelessness, and the path toward decriminalizing homelessness.

Read More

Abortion is one of the most intimate and difficult choices many women make at least once in their lives. Indeed, almost one in four American women have an abortion by age 45. Opponents of abortion, however, claim that Americans have long opposed this medical practice and frame Roe v. Wade as an “anomaly.” However, the history of abortion in the United States reveals how common and necessary the procedure has been. This Roundtable explores abortion law prior to Roe v. Wade, the Roe v. Wade case itself, abortion law following Roe v. Wade, and the future of abortion law.

Read More

Diversity is an exalted concept for many reasons, ranging from its practical relevance to operational performance, to its broad promise of social inclusion. It is this latter appeal that has rendered diversity, in the eyes of many, a veritable democratic ideal. This Roundtable explores how affirmative action became such an explosive national debate, beginning with Bakke, continuing through Harvard College, and projecting into the future.

Read More

While platforms such as Google, Facebook, and Twitter have resisted being labeled as publishers, their decisions over what and what not to moderate increasingly mirror the domain of editorial organizations. Compounding the issue is these companies’ outsized influence as intermediaries, and even gatekeepers, for human expression. In general, legislators have exempted social platforms from responsibility for what their users publish. This Roundtable will explore the development of the law that cements this protection: Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act of 1996.

Read More