The Opioid Crisis Response Act: Looking Ahead, Ignoring the Present
On September 17, 2018, the U.S. Senate voted overwhelmingly (99-1) in support of the Opioid Crisis Response Act (OCRA) of 2018. OCRA proposes a series of measures addressing the devastating, long-term impacts of opioid addiction and abuse nationally. Building on efforts previously authorized in 2016 via the Comprehensive Addiction and Recovery Act (CARA) and the [...]
The House We Built: How the United States Walked Away from Decades of Accountability
As the world turns inward, nationalistic perspectives are on the rise. It feels like 1930, where the international order laid out in the Versailles Treaty, was about to be turned upside down. Today, something terrible is lurking around the corner, sitting in the shadows of anarchy and fascism. The rule of law tentatively steps forward [...]
Statutory Caps and Recent Judicial Intervention May Bring Sky High Verdicts Back to the Ground
In some personal injury cases, juries award considerable sums for compensation. This often occurs when the plaintiff suffers serious and painful injuries, and the jury decides to award a significant amount of non-economic injuries. If the defendant’s actions are deemed egregious or malicious, the jury may also award a large amount of punitive damages. Yet [...]
Regulation of Virtual Currencies and Initial Coin Offerings in the Philippines
A recent Philippine Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”) Advisory reiterated its message to those conducting Initial Coin Offerings (“ICO”) of security tokens within the country: register your security tokens or be prepared to face penalties. Just this month, the SEC declared that the Ploutos Coin is a kind of security which must be registered first [...]
Judge Kavanaugh and the Public’s Health: Existing & Emerging Challenges
President Donald Trump’s recent nomination of Judge Brett M. Kavanaugh as Associate Justice to the U.S. Supreme Court from a list of potential candidates has ignited immediate support and criticism from conservatives and liberals respectively. An undergrad and law alum at Yale University, Judge Kavanaugh clerked for the departing Justice Anthony Kennedy, practiced law privately [...]
To separate kids from their parents is an act that is so deplorable and so inhumane, it speaks to a complete corruption in morality of this administration. . . – Jagmeet Singh, Canada’s New Democratic Party Leader The US is violating its own human-rights obligations through some of its recent immigration-related actions, most shockingly its [...]
Our phones are constantly searching for the greatest connection, updating our location, and often connect to multiple cell towers on any given day, divulging our whereabouts to service providers with relative ease. In recent years, the accuracy of this method to pinpoint a person’s current and past location has increased significantly. And given that there [...]
Despite the fact congress seems uncomfortable with funding President Trump’s wall on the southern border, the administration has constructed a legal wall against asylum seekers. First, there was the announcement of the ‘Zero Tolerance’ policy of criminalizing any individuals who comes to America in ways not considered correct. While it is intended to apply only [...]
The retirement of Justice Anthony Kennedy this week represents the end of an era and the beginning of the entrenchment of a more conservative Supreme Court, probably for years to come. That much seems clear. But there are actually many more sides to Justice Kennedy’s retirement than that simple statement implies. Justice Kennedy was nominated [...]
Justice Anthony Kennedy’s retirement announcement yesterday rightfully set off shock waves across the country. For the past three decades, Justice Kennedy has gone from one of the more moderate justices who could sometimes swing an important vote, to the lone decider on monumental issues from gay marriage (siding with the liberals) to campaign finance and [...]
