Releasing the Steam: An Abolition Constitutionalist Approach to Revitalizing Clemency Proceedings

By Alexandra Wood

Prison abolition radically reimagines a world without criminal punishment or incarceration. While dismantling the prison-industrial complex is a long-term goal, abolition must include efforts to release individuals currently incarcerated. In this Note, I argue that clemency should be realized as an abolitionist mechanism for releasing incarcerated individuals. Employing the legal framework of abolition constitutionalism developed by Professor Dorothy E. Roberts, I argue for due process protections in clemency proceedings. I borrow from other post-conviction contexts to reason that the existence of state statutory and constitutional procedures creates a constitutionally recognized right to clemency. While due process protections may not immediately free all incarcerated individuals, these protections would encourage increased use of clemency, incrementally decreasing prison populations and realizing the goals of abolition…

The Prospect and Perils of Climate Preemption for Public Health

By Sarah Fox

Climate change is disrupting many communities in the United States and around the world. Climate events like heat waves, hurricanes, drought, fire, and flooding will become much more frequent, and with them will come the need for robust health care responses. Given the widespread and boundary-crossing nature of the problem, an ideal response would possibly originate at the federal or state level. As illustrated by the COVID-19 pandemic, however, there is little guarantee that such a response will be forthcoming. Recent foreclosures of federal options for handling climate change make such a response even less likely. Instead, it seems likely that local governments in many states will be left on their own to manage the necessary responses to the changing health needs and crises of their populations. Those local responses will be necessarily varied, challenging, and imperfect — even if local governments are allowed free rein in handling climate impacts…

Fishing with a Porpoise: Economic Incentives and Human Dimensions of Conservation Must Align with Regulatory Efforts to Save the Vaquita

By Marissa Christine Grenon

Fondly nicknamed the “panda of the sea” for its prominent eye markings, the vaquita is the world’s most critically endangered marine mammal. Fishing nets illegally placed in its habitat strangle and drown the small porpoise. For decades, the global community has been aware of the vaquita’s plight; yet, despite knowing precisely where vaquitas live and what is killing them, efforts to save the species have resoundingly failed. This Note explores what has gone wrong in legal, policy, and programmatic efforts to save the vaquita. After tracing key dynamics that contributed to the failure of previous efforts, the Note synthesizes lessons from deterrence theory, fisheries economics, and successful endangered species campaigns to suggest approaches and legal opportunities that could bring this vulnerable species back from the brink of extinction…

Protecting Tribal Health from Climate Change

By Heather Tanana

The COVID-19 pandemic brought national attention to challenges that tribal communities have been facing for decades, such as limited health services and a lack of water access. Although the end to the pandemic seems to be in sight, climate change will continue to threaten the public health and survival of tribal communities. Since time immemorial, Native Americans have recognized the sanctity of water. Water is life. However, climate change impacts are shifting the landscape across the country and many tribes lack the necessary infrastructure to protect their communities. For example, in the Southwest, approximately 30 to 40% of homes on the Navajo Nation lack plumbing and drinking water access. These households must haul water long distances from wells and other community point sources. Due to climate change, the region is experiencing prolonged droughts and groundwater supplies are drying up. As a result, residents increasingly compete for limited water resources to fulfill all the community’s needs—from agricultural to domestic…

Is Meta the Next Big Tobacco? How State Attorneys General Can Use Consumer Protection Litigation to Enforce Corporate Accountability

By Mia Lin

Outrage spread throughout Congress after Facebook whistleblower Frances Haugen revealed that the social media company—now controlled by a parent company, Meta, Inc. (“Meta”)—possessed internal studies showing the harm its platform, Instagram, poses to young users’ mental health. Despite this outrage, federal lawmakers failed to pass any legislation that would address the problem. On the other hand, a group of 10 bipartisan state attorneys general (“AGs”) quickly opened a joint investigation into the company, which could ultimately lead to the states bringing suit against Meta. It is unclear at this point what claims the state AGs may advance against Meta in court. They could, however, follow the examples of past state lawsuits against corporate defendants, which brought claims under state consumer protection laws….