CategoryDiscourse

Discourse publishes shorter articles that are timely, interdisciplinary, and novel. Discourse strives to serve as a platform for scholars, ideas, and discussions that have often been overlooked in traditional law review settings. Because we seek to publish pieces that are accessible to legal and non-legal audiences alike, Discourse articles are generally between 3,000 and 10,000 words. Like our print journal, Discourse articles are published on Westlaw, Lexis, and in other legal databases, as well as our own website. Beginning with Volume 68, Discourse began publishing special issues of Law Meets World.

Injustice Ex Machina: Predictive Algorithms in Criminal Sentencing

This piece argues that the use of predictive algorithms in criminal sentencing poses a threat to due process and equal treatment under the law. By exploring studies regarding algorithmic bias, as well as flaws in human decisionmaking, the Article examines how judicial reliance on predictive algorithms may serve to exacerbate societal discrimination and erode constitutional rights.

Destination Unknown: The Perilous Future of Blockchain and Artificial Intelligence Technologies Under the California Consumer Privacy Act of 2018

This piece elucidates how the California Consumer Privacy Act of 2018 may serve to stifle widespread commercial applications of technologies utilizing Blockchain and artificial intelligence. Though the requirements under the Act are designed to protect consumer privacy, they threaten the ability of companies using these technologies to innovate—or even operate—if they have any contact with...

An Incomplete Masterpiece

The recent wave of commentary on Masterpiece Cakeshop sounded a common theme: disappointment, even frustration. This article contends that Masterpiece is a flawed decision because of its fundamental incompleteness. Despite being held out as an opinion on religious liberty, Kennedy’s decision omits any discussion of whether the state interest might outweigh the baker’s religious freedom.

W(h)ither Environmental Justice?

This article considers Gitanjali Nain Gill’s recent book Environmental Justice in India, the first comprehensive look at India’s National Green Tribunal. In addition to assessing issues concerning the best ways to integrate science into judicial decisionmaking and highlighting India’s failure to maintain good environmental data, it argues that the Tribunal’s record reveals several crucial...

Sexual Violence, Disability, and Empowerment: The Attorney’s Role

This piece highlights the issues at the intersection of disability and sexual violence. It provides a case study of a woman with a disability who interacts with the criminal justice system after reporting a sexual assault and explains the associated legal issues. The piece then concludes with a call to action for the legal profession to empower survivors with disabilities.

Mental Disability, Exceptional Abortion, and the Pain-Capable Unborn Child Protection Act

This piece argues that the underlying logics of the Pain-Capable Unborn Child Protection Act, which recently gained traction in Congress but failed to be passed, raise serious concerns that have been largely overlooked, and calls for a more thoughtful consideration of mental health and disability in contemporary gender and reproductive discourse and politics.

A Critical Race and Disability Legal Studies Approach to Immigration Law and Policy

This piece argues that the progressive immigration reform must take into account the ways in which racism and ableism permeate the immigration system, and calls for a more intersectional approach to immigration law and policy scholarship and practice. It highlights one organization’s recent efforts to put this intersectional approach into research and practice.

Protecting Mobile Homes as Affordable Housing

The article argues that rent control, despite its shortcomings, may be an essential tool to protect mobile homes market against the effects of real estate interest.

Living Poor in the Affluent City

Focusing on gentrification as a force for displacement, the author reflects on themes of the essays in this series, organizing them under the topics of causes, consequences, and solutions.