Intersection of Trademark and Franchise Law
Posted on July 12, 2022 | Article
In this Article, Daniel Shulman and Joshua Grant discuss how trademark law and franchise law intersect—and how that intersection can lead to potential pitfalls for trademark licensors. While ordinary trademark-license law is neutral as between licensors and licensees, franchise law is intentionally pro-franchisee. In particular, the authors discuss how what is intended to be a trademark agreement can inadvertently become a franchise agreement …
Fundamental Fairness over Finality: People v. Reed and Freestanding Innocence Claims for Guilty-Plea Defendants in Illinois
Posted on April 26, 2022 | Note
In this Note, Clinton Small analyzes People v. Reed, in which the Illinois Supreme Court established a new form of relief for defendants who have pled guilty to a crime. Under Reed, Illinois defendants may raise freestanding claims of actual innocence if they produce new, material, and noncumulative evidence which clearly and convincingly demonstrates that a new trial would probably result in acquittal. Small explores how the law in Illinois developed …
Rectifying Broken Treaties: McGirt v. Oklahoma, a Step Toward Natural Resource Sovereignty
Posted on February 6, 2022 | Note
In this Note, Thomas Siwula analyzes the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision in McGirt v. Oklahoma, where the Court ruled that Congress had never divested the Muscogee Creek Nation’s reservation in eastern Oklahoma of its independent status. Siwula examines how the Court moved away from a historical analysis and toward a textual analysis of reservation divestment. Siwula argues that by focusing more on the treaties and statutes that …
How Undocumented Immigrants Became Physicians: History and Future Prospects
Posted on April 14, 2021 | Article
Cesar E. Montelongo Hernandez, Mark G. Kuczewski, and Greg Siskind review key legislative developments, case law, and institutional policy from the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965 to the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program that was created in 2012 to show their contribution to enabling the development of undocumented physicians. The authors argue that, despite a lack of comprehensive federal immigration reform …
Morally Wrong, Constitutionally Vague: The Improper Conviction of Michelle Carter
Posted on February 15, 2021 | Note
In this Note, Madison Heckel analyzes Michelle Carter’s conviction of involuntary manslaughter for encouraging and commanding her boyfriend to kill himself. Heckel argues that the Massachusetts Appellate Court ignored the full extent of the fair warning requirements and incorrectly determined that there was appropriate notice that Carter’s conduct could result in criminal prosecution. Heckel further …
Cause In Fact Problems in the Public Employee Speech Cases
Posted on September 14, 2020 | Essay
In this Essay, Professor R. George Wright considers Lett v. City of Chicago, a recent Seventh Circuit opinion penned by Supreme Court Justice Amy Coney Barrett. Lett focuses on a quintessential question of cause in fact in the realm of public employee speech cases. This Essay further refines that question of cause in fact, extending beyond the factual speaker-role investigation to consider normative justice and . . .
How Subsidizing Delayed Parenthood Will Let Children Lead the Way to a Fairer World
Posted on April 23, 2020 | Article
This Article proposes a new guaranteed minimum income (GMI) focused on women’s education, child welfare, and delayed childbearing, thereby creating environmentally and economically sustainable benefits which in turn allays concerns about the prohibitive costs of conventional GMI programs. The Article frames its GMI proposal from the perspective of the future child and explores what entitlements . . .
Posted on January 16, 2020 | Book Review
Michael Conklin is a Powell Endowed Professor of Business Law at Angelo State University. In this review, Conklin critiques Kevin M. Barry’s recent article, The Death Penalty and the Fundamental Right to Life, which lays out an often-overlooked argument against the death penalty. Barry posits that the death penalty is unconstitutional, not on Eighth Amendment cruel and unusual punishment grounds, but on a theory of . . .