Amicus Brief - Eggers v. Evnen, No. 22-2268, 8th Circuit, August 2, 2022

Because Nebraska’s constitutional provision for direct democracy involves voting and the exercise of the People’s legislative authority, it is subject to the principles of Reynolds v. Sims and the Fourteenth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution. This understanding of the People’s power of initiative and referendum as legislative is supported by Nebraska history, as is the severability of the two-fifths, county-distribution requirement from Article III, § 2 of the Nebraska Constitution. The county-distribution requirement fails the one-person-one-vote constraint placed upon States by the federal constitution. As a matter of statistical analysis, that requirement gives more power to voters in counties with fewer registered voters to influence initiatives than to voters in counties with more registered voters, measured by a well-known index of voting power. Analysis of alternatives to the “two-fifths of counties” rule using units of rough population equality shows States could achieve any asserted interested interest in geographic assent without burdening the voting power of those in higher population counties. Also of concern is the disparate and dramatic impact the county-distribution requirement places upon the voting power of people of color

Grassland Governance and Common-Interest Communities

In the United States, today’s ranches are engaging in small-scale nature-based endeavors to diversify their income base. But the geographic boundary of the land they own creates a relatively small area within which to operate, and fragmented ownership diminishes the ability of any single landowner to produce nature-based income. Collective action among nearby landowners can produce a set of resources from which all members of the group can profit. Such action can enhance the economic, social, and environmental sustainability of grasslands and the populations that use them. This article shows that common-interest communities can be used to provide and allocate wildlife and other resources on ranchlands, enabling individual landowners to generate more income from selling nature-based experiences to customers. Common-interest communities are familiar in urban settings but they have not yet been used in this setting. Thus, the article proposes a new approach to ranchland management based upon a familiar set of largely private legal arrangements. More broadly, the article illustrates the relevance of private law and private property to sustainable development by explaining how property owners can use private law to engage in environmentally beneficial and economically profitable enterprises on the vast privately owned landscape of the U.S. Great Plains

Defining Sustainability in Nebraska’s Republican River Basin: The LB 1057 Task Force

This symposium presents an opportunity to discuss agricultural sustainability. But we have little practical understanding of what agricultural sustainability really means. This is a common problem with sustainability efforts. This Article provides one example of this problem. But it also provides a story of how an effort at defining sustainability served as a catalyst for a group of stakeholders that wanted to make improvements in water management. Understood in this way, sustainability discussions can serve to overcome historic barriers to progress that so often arise with resource management problems, especially in the agricultural sector

Public School Restrictions on Offensive Student Speech in \u3ci\u3eBoroff v. Van Wert City Board of Education\u3c/i\u3e, 220 F.3d 465 (6th Cir. 2000): Has \u3ci\u3eFraser\u3c/i\u3e\u27s Exception Swallowed \u3ci\u3eTinker\u3c/i\u3e\u27s Rule?

This Note\u27s purpose is to explore the Sixth Circuit Court\u27s flawed understanding of a trilogy of cases (Tinker v. Des Moines Independent Community School District, Bethel School District No. 403 v. Fraser, and Hazelwood School District v. Kuhlmeier) in its evaluation of a school\u27s restriction of student speech in Boroff v. City of Van Wert Board of Education. The court had found no justification for the school\u27s actions in the form of substantial interference or control of its curriculum but rather found the school\u27s actions proper simply because the student\u27s speech was offensive. The court\u27s use of offensiveness as a justification, however, is plainly out of sorts with a reasoned understanding of the case law. If indeed the uninhibited ability of the school to sanction a student for offensive speech does exist, the court\u27s use of such an exception in Boroff swallows the generally applicable rules. To fully appreciate the flaws in the Boroff opinion, one needs to closely analyze each of the three cases handed down by the Supreme Court in this area. Part II of this Note, therefore, provides a detailed account of this trilogy. Part III then outlines the Boroff court\u27s opinion. With this background, Part IV evaluates the reasoning of Boroff in light of the Supreme Court\u27s trilogy of cases, identifying two key flaws in the Boroff opinion: section IV.A addresses the court\u27s failure to engage in an evaluation of whether substantial interference or curricular control justified the school\u27s actions, and section IV.B discusses the court\u27s unprincipled application of its offensive rationale to Boroffs speech. Part V concludes with a brief summary of Part IV and this author\u27s views as to why the First Amendment should flourish in public schools

Direct Democracy: From Theory to Practice Symposium Direct Democracy: From Theory to Practice Symposium: Introduction

On November 13, 2021, the University of Nebraska College of Law convened four panels of experts to discuss direct democracy in Nebraska. The articles appearing in this issue of the Nebraska Law Review are a result of that symposium. These articles are one part of the larger project. A video recording of the symposium is available on You-Tube \u3c https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A0CPaTiZ1Ng \u3e, and subsequent work will be connected to the project’s website. This brief introduction situates the articles appearing here within the larger project in three parts. Part II describes the events that necessitated the symposium, focusing on uncertainty attending the single-subject rule for Nebraska constitutional amendments proposed through the initiative process. Part III recounts the panels and associated works. Part IV addresses the work yet to be done

Defining Sustainability in Nebraska’s Republican River Basin: The LB 1057 Task Force

This symposium presents an opportunity to discuss agricultural sustainability. But we have little practical understanding of what agricultural sustainability really means. This is a common problem with sustainability efforts. This Article provides one example of this problem. But it also provides a story of how an effort at defining sustainability served as a catalyst for a group of stakeholders that wanted to make improvements in water management. Understood in this way, sustainability discussions can serve to overcome historic barriers to progress that so often arise with resource management problems, especially in the agricultural sector

Polycentric governance in Nebraska, U.S., for ground and surface water

This chapter describes the locally driven, but centrally coordinated, water governance model in Nebraska, U.S. It offers a snapshot of water resources and the importance of agriculture, then moves to the relevant political institutions in the state, and federal controls related to water quantity. The focus of the chapter is on the Nebraska Department of Natural Resources’ (NeDNR) and Natural Resources Districts’ (NRDs) management of surface and groundwater, which has some distinct and some overlapping authority. The main area of overlap is in addressing the connection between ground and surface water, particularly in situations when either or both are over appropriated. Integrated management planning is a key tool for basins in crisis, where allocations are fully or over appropriated and there is increased demand or diminished supply. The chapter explains what integrated management planning entails and gives a closer look into instances where it has been implemented. The polycentric model allows for collaborative governance, pushing stakeholders (particularly the agricultural sector) to innovate based on changes in water availability. NRDs can (and do) exercise controls; they do so by using their authority to make institutional changes and sanction violators for over-abstraction. This authority is granted and legitimized by publicly elected boards, an ongoing leadership training network, and a history of locally driven rule-making. However, there are also shortcomings to the model: in particular, it is difficult to address cross-border issues or legal conflicts. Furthermore, there is scant research on its effectiveness in actually preventing groundwater decline. The Nebraska model and its local examples may offer lessons for other basins where water resources have historically been relatively plentiful but are now facing drought stresses and the growing demands of intensive irrigated agricultural production

Adjunctive interferon-γ immunotherapy for the treatment of HIV-associated cryptococcal meningitis: a randomized controlled trial.

BACKGROUND: Interferon-gamma (IFNγ) is of key importance in the immune response to Cryptococcus neoformans. Mortality related to cryptococcal meningitis remains high, and novel treatment strategies are needed. We performed a randomized controlled trial to determine whether addition of IFNγ to standard therapy increased the rate of clearance of cryptococcal infection in HIV-associated cryptococcal meningitis. METHODS: Patients were randomized to amphotericin B 1 mg/kg per day and 5FC 100 mg/kg per day for 2 weeks (standard therapy), standard therapy and IFNγ1b 100 μg days 1 and 3 (IFNγ two doses), or standard therapy and IFNγ1b 100 μg days 1, 3, 5, 8, 10 and 12 (IFNγ six doses). Primary outcome was rate of clearance of cryptococcus from the cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) (early fungicidal activity, EFA) calculated from serial quantitative cultures, previously shown to be independently associated with survival. RESULTS: Rate of fungal clearance was significantly faster in IFNγ containing groups than with standard treatment. Mean EFA [log colony forming unit (CFU)/ml per day] was -0.49 with standard treatment, -0.64 with IFNγ two doses, and -0.64 with IFNγ six doses. Difference in EFA was -0.15 [confidence interval (95% CI) -0.02 to -0.27, P=0.02] between standard treatment and IFNγ two doses, and -0.15 (95% CI -0.05 to -0.26, P=0.006) between standard treatment and IFNγ six doses. Mortality was 16% (14/88) at 2 weeks and 31% (27/87) at 10 weeks, with no significant difference between groups. All treatments were well tolerated. CONCLUSION: Addition of short-course IFNγ to standard treatment significantly increased the rate of clearance of cryptococcal infection from the CSF, and was not associated with any increase in adverse events. Two doses of IFNγ are as effective as six doses

Infrastructural Speculations: Tactics for Designing and Interrogating Lifeworlds

This paper introduces “infrastructural speculations,” an orientation toward speculative design that considers the complex and long-lived relationships of technologies with broader systems, beyond moments of immediate invention and design. As modes of speculation are increasingly used to interrogate questions of broad societal concern, it is pertinent to develop an orientation that foregrounds the “lifeworld” of artifacts—the social, perceptual, and political environment in which they exist. While speculative designs often imply a lifeworld, infrastructural speculations place lifeworlds at the center of design concern, calling attention to the cultural, regulatory, environmental, and repair conditions that enable and surround particular future visions. By articulating connections and affinities between speculative design and infrastructure studies research, we contribute a set of design tactics for producing infrastructural speculations. These tactics help design researchers interrogate the complex and ongoing entanglements among technologies, institutions, practices, and systems of power when gauging the stakes of alternate lifeworlds