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.
Abstract According to the conventional wisdom, money is a scarce private commodity that needs to be rationed. Both households and businesses need enough income to cover their obligations, such as food, rent, payroll, and principal and interest payments on debt. Insufficient income can mean bankruptcy, insolvency, and, for an individual or family, homelessness. Monetary scarcity has pernicious...
Abstract In 2020 and 2022, multiple Republican county canvassers refused to perform their ministerial duty to approve election returns, obstructing the official certification of the results. The canvassers latched onto false claims of fraud and other conspiracies advanced by election deniers. They eventually relented because of court orders and public pressure. The elections produced official...
I am delighted to introduce this Symposium issue. It celebrates the 2021 publication of the first Restatement of the Law, Charitable Nonprofit Organizations. Five prominent scholars of nonprofit law first presented these Essays at the Symposium Conference on the Restatement of the Law, Charitable Nonprofit at UCLA on September 30 and October 1, 2022. The Conference was co-sponsored by the UCLA...
Abstract This Essay addresses a gap in law and the Restatement of the Law Charitable Nonprofit Organizations regarding the relationship between a charitable nonprofit’s donors and its purpose. I argue that charitable nonprofits can align their purposes with the personal or professional identities of their donors, and it may be in the best interest of some charities to do so. Charities whose...
Abstract Garry W. Jenkins is president and professor of politics at Bates College in Lewiston, Maine. Previously, he was dean and William S. Pattee Professor of Law at the University of Minnesota Law School. Thank you to Professor Jon J. Lee (University of Oklahoma School of Law), Professor Jill Horwitz (UCLA School of Law), Scott Dewey (University of Minnesota Law School Law Library), and the...
Abstract
This Essay summarizes parts of the argument found in Jill R. Horwitz, “The Endowment Is Not For You: Endowment Restrictions And Crises” (unpublished manuscript on file with author).
Abstract Over the last two decades we have seen marked changes in the laws governing donor-imposed restrictions on charitable gifts. These changes have occurred primarily as a result of the adoption in many states of the Uniform Trust Code (the UTC) and the Uniform Prudent Management of Institutional Funds Act (UPMIFA). This Essay explains that codification in the UTC and UPMIFA of liberalized...
Abstract This Essay considers the allocation of state authority to enforce the legal obligations particular to charities and their leaders among state officials, including attorneys general, judges, and legislators, and private parties. It first describes the existing allocation. It then reviews the most common criticisms of this allocation, which primarily focus on two concerns: politicization...
Introduction This Essay critically analyzes the wartime framing that both Presidents Donald Trump and Joe Biden relied upon in fighting a “War on COVID-19.” According to this militarized framing, they sought to, in Trump’s words, “fight that invisible enemy,” the coronavirus.[2] The conundrum this Essay explores is: Even as Biden has announced plans to let the coronavirus health emergency...
Abstract The United States has failed to eliminate racial discrimination in the decades since ratifying the international human rights treaty that prohibits it. To its credit, the Biden administration (Administration) has attempted to center the fight for racial equity in the work of the executive branch. But President Biden’s executive orders and agency action plans on racial justice omit any...
Introduction On October 6, 2022, President Biden issued a proclamation pardoning most federal and Washington D.C. (D.C.) offenders—including lawful permanent residents—who have committed the offense of simple marijuana possession as defined by the federal Controlled Substance Act.[1] The impact of this proclamation is likely modest in light of the relatively small number of past federal and D.C...
Introduction In 2021, it was reported that there were only eight Black students enrolled in a class of 749 ninth graders at New York City’s most selective public high school, Stuyvesant.[1] In the same year, a group of public school students brought a lawsuit challenging admissions programs at selective New York City public schools, arguing that these schools are racially segregated as a result...
Abstract Regardless of what the Supreme Court decides on the fate of affirmative action, this Essay highlights a need to address the unappreciated extent of advantage that the intercollegiate athletics system provides to affluent white students. Drawing on public data sets, we test for the presence of affluent white advantage via race-neutral preferences conferred through athletics at elite...
Introduction This Essay charts a new course for the health justice model for health law scholarship, advocacy, and reform I have developed in a series of prior publications[1] and in conversation with other health law scholars.[2] The health justice model emphasizes collective problem-solving to secure distinctively public interests in access to health care and healthy living conditions. This...