Integrating Faith & Law

Monday, February 19, 2024 | 12:30 PM | Eck Hall of Law, Room 3130 What does everyday life look like for a big-law partner and a federal judge? How do they make career decisions while juggling their marriage, careers, and kids? What advice do they have for students who want to follow their paths? Join an open conversation with Judge Holly and Derek Teeter. Chipotle bowls will be served. Co-sponsors: St. Thoma More Society Christian Legal Society Married Law Students Organization Education Law Forumhttps://scholarship.law.nd.edu/ndls_posters/1804/thumbnail.jp

The ESA at 50

December 2023 marked 50 years since the Endangered Species Act (ESA) was signed into law. The ESA has proven resilient to numerous legal challenges and saved many species from extinction. But its overall success has been debated, as the list of endangered and threatened species continues to grow, and only 54 species have been taken off of the list completely. On October 26, 2023, the Environmental Law Institute hosted a panel of experts who explored the successes and shortcomings of the statute and discussed what might happen next as climate change increases the risk of extinction. Below, we present a transcript of that discussion, which has been edited for style, clarity, and space considerations

STRATEGIES FOR SUCCESSFUL NEGOTIATION OF INTERNATIONAL DISPUTES: POSITIONAL BARGAINING VS. PRINCIPLED NEGOTIATION IN THE INDUS WATER TREATY NEGOTIATIONS

Water is the root of all civilization. Great empires of the past arose around lakes and river systems, from the Yangtze to the Nile to the Tiber. While water resources bolstered the power of world leaders, water mismanagement had the potential to lead to their downfall. Even in modern times, water availability is a significant constraint on development – the magnitude of this constraint is particularly felt in arid and semi-arid regions especially as climate change takes effect. This importance has made water supply a great source of conflict. Though it has been a cause of conflict for centuries, transboundary water management techniques permeate history. Different reports have noted that there are more than one hundred international river water basins that are shared by more than two sovereign countries, including, notably, the Nile, Mekong, Niger, Congo-Chambeshi, Amazon, Brahmaputra, and Indus Rivers

Terms of Service and Fourth Amendment Rights

Almost everything you do on the Internet is governed by Terms of Service. The language in Terms of Service typically gives Internet providers broad rights to address potential account misuse. But do these Terms alter Fourth Amendment rights, either diminishing or even eliminating constitutional rights in Internet accounts? In the last five years, many courts have ruled that they do. These courts treat Terms of Service like a rights contract: by agreeing to use an Internet account subject to broad Terms of Service, you give up your Fourth Amendment rights. This Article argues that the courts are wrong. Terms of Service have little or no effect on Fourth Amendment rights. Fourth Amendment rights are rights against the government, not private parties. Terms of Service can define relationships between private parties, but private contracts cannot define Fourth Amendment rights. This is true across the range of Fourth Amendment doctrines, including the “reasonable expectation of privacy” test, consent, abandonment, third-party consent, and the private search doctrine. Courts that have linked Terms of Service and Fourth Amendment rights are mistaken, and their reasoning should be rejected

Arbitrating Corruption

One of the most controversial issues in international investment law is how arbitral panels should deal with investments tainted by corruption at their inception. The current practice of investment arbitrators is to refuse to hear investors’ claims when bribery allegations are substantiated. A recent wave of scholarship has attacked this “corruption defense,” arguing that the practice unfairly harms investors and encourages governments to maintain corrupt practices. This Essay responds to that scholarship, arguing that the current approach is the best policy choice on balance. The Essay analyzes three core policy questions at the heart of the debate: Would eliminating the corruption defense lead governments to adopt meaningful anti-corruption reform? Does corrupt foreign investment improve economic and political conditions in the host states to a sufficient degree to warrant investment protection? Do the governments establishing investment treaties that set the contractual terms between states want investment protections for corrupt investment? In answering all three questions in the negative and placing the issue within the broader context of transnational anti-corruption law, this Essay provides the theoretical foundation necessary for supporting the current practice

Generative AI and Finding the Law

Legal information science requires, among other things, principles and theories. The article states six principles or considerations that any discussion of generative AI large language models and their role in finding the law must include. The article concludes that law librarianship will increasingly become legal information science and require new paradigms. In addition to the six principles, the article applies ecological holistic media theory to understand the relationship of the legal community’s cognitive authority, institutions, techné (technology, medium and method), geopolitical factors, and the past and future to understand the changes in this information milieu. The article also explains generative AI, and finally, presents some examples of generative AI responses to various legal research problems and the issues that present themselves in such circumstances

Defending Tomorrow\u27s Democracy: The Future of Elections in the Era of Advanced Technology

As the 2024 election comes into view, advanced technology is anticipated to have an unprecedented influence on voters before, during, and after they cast their ballots. While the risks of voter suppression, election manipulation, and misinformation predate advanced technology, a new capacity for instant generation, automation, and deception now gives a small number of bad actors the opportunity to undermine our democracy like never before. But as many states, federal agencies, and Congress begin to regulate, the First Amendment may stop lawmakers in their tracks. Given the nascent stage of these technologies, the boundaries of freedom of expression in this context remains relatively unexplored. This symposium will reveal the who, what, when, where, and why regarding advanced technology, election law, and the First Amendment. And as advanced technology continues to invade the 2024 election, what can we learn, who can be held responsible, and among other takeaways, how can we prepare for its inevitable use in the future. Speaker Biographies CLE Reading Material