Public Interest

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Labor of Love: Student Reflections on the Life and Legacy of Karl Klare

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By Annemarie Guare, Julian Montijo, and Meg Foster

On April 8, 2022, Northeastern University School of Law (NUSL) celebrated the legacy of Karl Klare, George J. and Kathleen Waters Matthews Distinguished Professor of Law, with a day-long conference organized and attended by the peers, mentors, students, and friends who have shaped and been shaped by Karl. As three of those students, the Northeastern University Law Review asked that we write an article in conjunction with the Labor of Love conference. We readily agreed, honored to provide a testimonial, if not also allured by the prospect of probing someone who has walked the halls of this curious institution for forty odd years . . .

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Clemency Hearing Raises the Question of Whether Massachusetts’ Courts Are Ready to Extend the Prohibition on LWOP Sentences Beyond Eighteen

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By Stevie Leahy

In 1997, William Allen was convicted of armed robbery and felony murder and is currently serving a sentence of life without parole (“LWOP”). At the time of these crimes, Mr. Allen was twenty years old. For individuals like Mr. Allen, the executive clemency process is currently the only avenue to correct the missteps of the legal system, specifically as to sentencing under since-changed laws. The urgent need for clemency in his case raises the broader question of whether LWOP sentences for late adolescents are even constitutional under the Massachusetts Declaration of Rights. Increased use of clemency as well as judicial action to extend the age limit are two measures that would also work toward mitigating disproportionate rates of incarceration for Black and Brown individuals within the state . . .

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Connecticut’s Budding Business

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By Alexander McGrath

On June 22, 2021, with one momentous signature, Governor Lemont welcomed Connecticut into the age of cannabis legalization. With the passage of Senate Bill 1201, Connecticut became the 19th state to legalize the recreational use of cannabis after years of failed attempts to gain bipartisan support. This was the third time Connecticut pushed for a cannabis bill, as the latest proposal was vetoed by the Governor for not containing sufficient social equity measures. Governor Lemont was adamant that this Bill include provisions mandating special access to the communities most severely impacted by the war on drugs . . .

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No More Hyde and Seek: Biden’s Removal of the Hyde Amendment from the Proposed Budget is a Win for Abortion Access

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By Mackenzie Darling

President Biden’s proposed budget does not include provisions barring federal funding for abortion procedures. The lack of this policy is a significant win for protecting abortion rights, because banning federal funding for abortion care has been commonplace since shortly after Roe v. Wade. Best known as the Hyde Amendment, the ban on the use of federal funding for elective abortion procedures has been in place since the late 1970’s and has drastically limited a pregnant person’s ability to access abortion care . . .

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Asserting the Religious Freedom of Your Customers: Free “Exercise” and the Curious Case of CHRO v. Edge Fitness

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By Richard Luedeman

Pending at the Connecticut Supreme Court is a dispute between Connecticut’s Commission on Human Rights and Opportunities (“CHRO”) and the fitness club chains Edge Fitness, LLC, and Club Camel, Inc. (“the Gyms”), that raises issues of national significance regarding public accommodations, sex and gender discrimination, and religious freedom. In a brief filed in CHRO v. Edge Fitness, LLC, several religious organizations have defended the lower court’s remarkable religious freedom theory for upholding the Gyms’ practice of offering women-only exercise spaces. They contend that Connecticut’s Act Concerning Religious Freedom (“CACRF”)—the analogue of the federal Religious Freedom Restoration Act (“RFRA”)—compels an exception to Connecticut’s antidiscrimination statute to allow businesses like the Gyms to segregate customers by sex in order to accommodate a subset of customers whose religious beliefs favor the segregation of persons by sex under the banner of “modesty.” . . .

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The Wall that COVID-19 Built: Barriers to Immigrant Justice during the COVID-19 Pandemic

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Forum Editor: Why did you decide to get involved with the Immigrant Justice Clinic?

Sam Chang: I decided to apply for the Immigrant Justice Clinic (IJC) because my ultimate goal is to use my law degree to advocate for policies that will benefit marginalized communities. I am passionate about issues at the intersection of reproductive justice and immigrant justice and hope to work on these issues during my career. Immigrants, in particular, have difficulties accessing necessary resources due to their status (or lack thereof). The narrative surrounding immigrants, especially Latinx immigrants, not only affects how individuals treat them but how existing systems treat them as well. My interest in serving immigrants derives from this disparate treatment. I also believe that direct client experience is necessary in order to develop effective policy because policy should always be grounded in the experiences of the people it will affect . . .

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Why “Fixing” Section 230 Will Not Save Anyone

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By Leila Selchaif

A cabal of Satanic Democratic leaders are operating a child sex trafficking ring. Most people recognize this as the basic plot of the Q-Anon conspiracy theory. Sports fans coming out for Super Bowl Sunday encourage increased sex trafficking. Fewer people recognize this to be just as much of a myth. Public panic about human trafficking creates higher police budgets for raids, which end up traumatizing, incarcerating, and harming sex workers. Not all sex workers are victims of sex trafficking. Many sex workers do not want to be treated as victims. Indeed, when the criminal justice system treats sex workers as victims, it often further harms them. Public messaging around the dangers of trafficking has also led to the introduction and passage of bills aiming to curtail the sinister power of the internet to facilitate sex trafficking. A method favored by these bills is to amend Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act (CDA), which provides immunity to internet platforms from the speech and actions of users who post on their platforms. Just as much as on the streets, policing of the internet has caused great harm to those it claims to protect . . .

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Massachusetts Highest Court Mandates Parole Reform in Dinkins v. Massachusetts Parole Board

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By Lauren Watford

A major parole reform is now underway in Massachusetts after a win in Dinkins & Ivey v. Massachusetts Parole Board. Prisoners serving parole-eligible life sentences with consecutive sentences could be released years, possibly decades sooner, and will receive new parole hearings. Importantly, the Court held the Parole Board accountable for its injustices. . .

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“Restructuring” Takes on a Whole New Meaning for the Community Business Clinic: The Debut of the Virtual Legal Help Desk

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By Jenna Agatep

This past summer, in light of the COVID-19 pandemic, the Community Business Clinic adapted its established model to the ever-changing and novel issues plaguing small businesses. Instead of the traditional system where students work on conventional, longer-term projects, including contract drafting and entity formation, the Clinic prioritized and operated a virtual help desk. In partnership with the cities of Boston and Lynn, the Clinic made itself available to small businesses through virtual appointments, offering brief advice sessions for COVID-19 related issues. While the shift to working remotely presented many challenges to both the Clinic and the clients it serves, the impact the Clinic has had on the community has been powerful and continues on . . .

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(In)effective Assistance of Counsel in the Age of Zoom

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By Emma Coreno

I have wanted to be a litigation lawyer for as long as I can remember. I had imagined for years who my first client would be and what my first hearing or trial would look like. Was I going to feel at home in the courtroom, or would I be terrified? Would the judge and opposing counsel take me seriously? Would the client feel comfortable having a young and inexperienced student attorney represent them? I was excited for the day that I would finally have the answers to all these questions: the day that I would stand in a courtroom with my client seated next to me. At that time, little did I know that my first hearing would be entirely different than anything I had ever imagined. I already knew attorney-client relationships contained fraught power dynamics due to systemic and institutional flaws, but I was not prepared to see these relationships deteriorate so much in this new age of Zoom, to the point where I am no longer certain if there is such thing as effective assistance of counsel in a COVID world . . .

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From the Border to the Courtroom: Litigation as a Response to the Disastrous Mishandling of COVID-19 in Immigrant Detention Centers

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By Aly Madan

In February of 2020, I went to Dilley, a small town in Texas, to help women and children detained at the border. The trip was made possible through Northeastern University School of Law’s clinics. I, alongside a handful of my peers and our professor, went to volunteer with Proyecto Dilley, an Immigration Justice Campaign project that serves individuals seeking asylum. Their staff and volunteers work out of a cramped room in the “South Texas Family Residential Center,” which is a fancy name for what is, in actuality, a jail. Proyecto Dilley helps those seeking asylum prepare for one of the first steps of the asylum process: the credible fear interview. The organization also helps in the resulting court hearing and provides “know your rights” trainings about the asylum process to those who are detained . . .

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Enby®: Can Identity Be Owned?

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By Leeja Miller

In November, one adult toy company sued another adult toy company alleging infringement of their trademark rights in the term “ENBY.” The case has caused an uproar within the nonbinary and sexual wellness communities and has incited newfound interest in trademark law. It begs the question: can a company own a term like enby? . . .

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Trademark Law Can’t Save Rudy

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By Leeja Miller

Former President Trump’s personal attorney Rudy Giuliani has had a rough couple of months. First, he was caught allegedly undoing his pants in the new Borat movie. Then he publicly sweat through his hair dye. Then he audibly farted during a Michigan election hearing. And finally, on December 6, it was announced that Rudy tested positive for Covid-19, not shocking for a man who was crisscrossing the country, mask-free, while attempting to justify his election fraud claims. One of Giuliani’s (somehow) more laughable snafus over the past few months offers a teachable moment in trademark law. On Saturday, November 7, the day the election was called for Biden, Rudy Giuliani held a press conference to refute the results of the election . . .

Nothing Less than a Miracle: The Unprecedented 2020 Election

By Abby Plummer

In his first inaugural address, Ronald Reagan remarked to the watching crowds, which included defeated President Jimmy Carter, “The orderly transfer of authority as called for in the Constitution routinely takes place, as it has for almost two centuries, and few of us stop to think how unique we really are.” Until this election, his words rang true . . .

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Indian Farmers Lead the Largest Protest in World History

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By Kiman Kaur

Tens of thousands of Indian farmers have marched to India’s capital, New Delhi, demanding that the government repeal three agricultural reforms: (1) the Farmers’ Produce Trade and Commerce Act; (2) the Farmers (Empower and Protection) Agreement on Price Assurance and Farm Services Act; and (3) the Essential Commodities Act. India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi introduced these three bills to the Parliament of India in September 2020 in efforts to push forward the right-wing Bharatiya Janata Party’s (“BJP”) deregulatory agenda. All three agricultural bills were passed by the lower house of parliament (“Lok Sabha”) and the upper house of parliament (“Rajya Sabha”) and then approved by President Ram Nath Kovind . . .

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Yes, On Our Campus: Why Police Divestment Efforts Must Include Universities

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By Christine Farolan and Chase Childress

The murders of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, Tony McDade, and Rayshard Brooks during the pandemic have forced a reckoning in America about racism and racial justice. The failure of police reforms to curb the rampant killing of unarmed Black people by police has led to widespread protests against police violence—protests that were met with startling displays of force by the police. As demonstrations continued through the end of the summer, activists of color brought nuance to our national conversations of policing. Persistent efforts on the part of community advocates have fundamentally shifted our conversations, locating the roots of American policing in the protection of property and maintenance of the slave economy and identifying its modern management function: a catch-all for social issues our government has failed to solve. Frustration, not just with the actions of individual officers but the institution of policing itself, has led to calls to abolish, disband, or #defund the police . . .

The Anti-Terrorism Act and its Effect on the Philippine Diaspora

The Asian Pacific American Law Students Association, Human Rights Caucus, and the author of the article (who opted to remain anonymous due to the ambiguity of the Anti-Terrorism Act) would like to note that their only intent is to raise awareness and spread information.

In light of momentous historic events and current issues that affect Filipino Americans, the Filipino American National Historical Society (FANHS) announced this year’s Filipino American History Month’s theme as “The History of Filipino American Activism.” FANHS chose this theme to highlight “the myriad ways Filipino Americans have participated in social justice movements.” While it is important to honor the past bravery and activism of Filipino Americans, it is imperative that this Filipino American History Month, we acknowledge the challenges of activism the Philippines and its diaspora are currently facing . . .

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Is the Public Interest Lawyer Antiracist?

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By Bavani Sridhar

Over the last century, public interest law has taken shape as advocating on behalf of “the people” over economic interests. In the present day, there still exists some ambiguity and controversy as to the definition of public interest law and all it encompasses. Who are the “people” that public interest lawyers advocate for? What is the “public interest” and who defines it? Lawyers have argued that “the people” who are the subject of public interest law are historically underrepresented and disadvantaged groups. These groups—while also ill defined—are often comprised of Black, Indigenous, and People of Color (BIPOC) minorities. On the other hand, organizations and legislative bodies, influenced by their political, moral, and religious beliefs, regularly determine what the public interest is . . .

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Open Letters to Prison Administrators: Do Black Lives Matter to the Department of Corrections?

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By Mac Hudson

Am I any less human because I happen to be Black and in prison? Are Massachusetts prisons the only place on Earth that racism does not exist? There isn’t anyone in America that hasn’t heard the name George Floyd and the many names of Black and Brown lives prematurely extinguished at the hands of police. It has created a difficult national conversation that has brought society full circle to confront one of America’s ugly realities of racial oppression and racial inequity. Our society has had to face a few hard truths that have given way to the idea that no citizen is privileged to sit idly by and permit such inhumane treatment without suffering a collective consequence to their own moral decadence. Booker T. Washington said, “one man cannot hold another down in the ditch without staying down in the ditch with him.” Morally speaking, racism has generationally kept all of us, people of all races, down. It has become so ingrained in society that it is as American as apple pie! So much so, that when someone attacks racism, some white people think you are attacking America herself or her ideals instead of challenging Americans to live up to her ideals . . .

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The Continued Crash of the Legal Industry

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By Antonio Coronado

“What was the holding of the case?” A harsh silence filled the space as students nervously waited for the cold call to end. They flipped between the 30-some assigned pages of their casebook in discomfort, desperate to pass the time. Only clicks of pens and the occasional cough dared cut the tense air. But the professor was unresponsive to the silence. Like the laws they represented, they remained steadfast and unflinching in repetition of their routine: “What was the holding of the case?” . . .