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.

May 10, 2021

Insurgent Knowledge: Battling CDCR From Inside the System. The Story of the Essential Collaboration Between Jailhouse Lawyers and Appointed Counsel & Lessons for Resentencing Today

By Stephen Liebb & Gina Cassar
In Discourse, Law Meets World, Special Issue: Jailhouse Lawyering
May 10, 2021
38 Min read
10May

Abstract Jailhouse lawyering enables incarcerated persons throughout our nation to access the court system as pro se litigants, but self-represented litigants face detrimental barriers to obtaining justice.  A partnership between prisoners filing pro se and appointed attorneys is essential to bridge the gap between the vast resources of the State and those of prisoners, equipped with...

May 10, 2021

Bound by Law, Freed by Solidarity: Navigating California Prisons and Universities as a Jailhouse Lawyer

By Michael Saavedra
In Discourse, Law Meets World, Special Issue: Jailhouse Lawyering
May 10, 2021
17 Min read

Abstract For jailhouse lawyers, winning a lawsuit seems like a victory, but there are multiple barriers to practicing law post-incarceration. Building on personal experiences, this Essay focuses on the deterrents to legal education in prison and post-incarceration for jailhouse lawyers. Through an examination of structural obstacles that keep formerly incarcerated people out of the legal...

May 10, 2021

Challenging Gladiator Fights in the CDCR

By Kevin McCarthy
In Discourse, Law Meets World, Special Issue: Jailhouse Lawyering
May 10, 2021
24 Min read

Abstract The California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation (CDCR) has a long history of placing people in long-term isolation in response to suspected or confirmed gang membership or affiliation.  Despite being forced to stop the practice of  indefinite solitary confinement, CDCR continued other arguably unconstitutional practices in response to gang activity.  At Pleasant Valley State...

May 10, 2021

To Act Like a Democracy

By Juan Moreno Haines
In Discourse, Law Meets World, Special Issue: Jailhouse Lawyering
May 10, 2021
13 Min read

Abstract Today, 5.2 million Americans are kept from voting because of felony disenfranchisement laws.  African Americans are disproportionately affected by these laws.  There has been a wave of reforms in recent years, restoring the right to vote to formerly disenfranchised persons.  This Essay discusses the reasons the franchise should be expanded, both because it leads to lower recidivism rates...

May 10, 2021

Jailhouse Lawyering From the Beginning

By Kevin D. Sawyer
In Discourse, Law Meets World, Special Issue: Jailhouse Lawyering
May 10, 2021
59 Min read

Abstract Jailhouse lawyering is a form of resistance against the prison industrial complex that seeks to silence and disappear prisoners.  This Essay describes the author’s acts of resistance, or growth as a jailhouse lawyer, from arrest to imprisonment using critical race theory and abolition theory.  While it tells one person’s stories, it is both shaped by those who taught him and the...

May 10, 2021

Making Bricks Without Straw: Legal Training for Female Jailhouse Lawyers in the Louisiana Penal System

By Robin Bunley
In Discourse, Law Meets World, Special Issue: Jailhouse Lawyering
May 10, 2021
28 Min read

Abstract Overt gender discrimination, and the combined failure of Louisiana’s Department of Public Safety and Corrections (DPSC) and Louisiana Correctional Institute for Women (LCIW) prison officials to provide offender counsel substitutes in prisons for women (OCS-W) the same quality legal education and training as provided for those incarcerated in prisons for men, are violations of the...

May 10, 2021

An Old Lawyer Learns New Tricks: A Memoir

By James C. Bottomley
In Discourse, Law Meets World, Special Issue: Jailhouse Lawyering
May 10, 2021
16 Min read

Abstract In this reflection, James Bottomley shares his experience as a formerly barred attorney who is now incarcerated in a California state prison.  Bottomley has practiced as a jailhouse lawyer for himself and other incarcerated people in recent years but is now retired from the practice of law. Introduction When I was in jail, depressed that my next destination was the California state...

May 8, 2021

The Soft-Shoe and Shuffle of Law School Hiring Committee Practices

By Carliss N. Chatman & Najarian R. Peters
In Discourse
May 8, 2021
34 Min read
08May

“The way to right wrongs is to turn the light of truth upon them.”[1] –Ida B. Wells Abstract It is in the spirit of Ida B. Wells that we seek to turn the light upon the systemic racism of hiring practices.[2]  We believe these practices are indicators of the systemic failures on campuses and in workplaces that prevent them from being antiracist.  We seek to use this Essay as a “tool for exposing...

January 13, 2021

Abandoning Presidential Administration: A Civic Governance Agenda to Promote Democratic Equality and Guard Against Creeping Authoritarianism

By Blake Emerson & Jon D. Michaels
In Discourse
January 13, 2021
59 Min read
13January

Abstract Upon assuming the presidency, Joe Biden is likely to enjoy limited congressional support for his legislative agenda.  Democrats believe they have a good playbook for this situation: “presidential administration.”  Coined by now–Justice Kagan, presidential administration endorses the use of unilateral executive action to advance the president’s policy priorities.  We argue that...

December 2, 2020

The Wrongful Death of an Indian: A Tribe’s Right to Object to the Death Penalty

By Grant Christensen
In Discourse
December 2, 2020
25 Min read
02December

Abstract This Essay responds to the execution of Lezmond Mitchell, the only American Indian on federal death row.  The execution was carried out on August 26, 2020 over the objection of both members of the victims’ family and the Navajo Nation.  This Essay takes the clear position that because the Federal Death Penalty Act of 1994 requires tribal consent to seek the death penalty for murder, or...

November 22, 2020

#SoWhiteMale: Federal Procedural Rulemaking Committees

By Brooke D. Coleman
In Discourse
November 22, 2020
50 Min read
22November

Abstract Of the 630 members of a specialized set of committees responsible for drafting the federal rules for civil and criminal litigation, 591 of them have been white.  That is 94 percent of the committee membership.  Of that same group, 513—or 81 percent—have been white men.  Decisionmaking bodies do better work when their members are diverse; these rulemaking committees are no exception.  The...

November 4, 2020

Judicial Racism And Judicial Antiracism: Retelling The Dred Scott Story

By DeVaughn Jones
In Discourse
November 4, 2020
67 Min read
04November

Abstract This Essay retells the Dred Scott story as a set of intersecting stories about judicial racism and judicial antiracism.  Part I defines racism and antiracism, then discusses how racist and antiracist ideas are realized through government power.  Next, this Essay visits one of the most prominent moments of judicial racial history: the story of Dred Scott.  Part II walks through the...

October 30, 2020

Forgiven, Forgotten? Rethinking Victim Impact Statements for an Era of Decarceration

By Hugh M. Mundy
In Discourse
October 30, 2020
68 Min read
30October

Abstract Laws enacting victim impact statements flourished in the 1980s and 90s, a period defined by draconian crime control measures and mass incarceration.  During an emerging era of decarceration, the effect of victim impact statements on excessive prison sentences has been largely overlooked.  Reshaping retributive laws governing victim impact statements is essential to comprehensive...