Blood, Sweat, Tears: A Muslim Woman Law Professor\u27s View on Degenerative Racism, Misogyny, and (Internal) Islamophobia from Preeclampsia and Presumed Incompetent to Pandemic Tenure

From classical literature, popular press, law, everyday conversations, and social media rampages, society scrutinizes visible Muslim women even though they are a part of a vast global population. From E.M. Forrester’s A Passage to India—the Orientalist summer reading I endured in high school—to the incessant online attacks on U.S. Congresswoman Ilhan Omar, the hatred has no end and no bounds. Visible Muslim women are accustomed to erasure and censure for simply existing. In France, legislators sought to expel visible Muslim women under the age of eighteen from the public space. Women’s rights have been used as a pretext to invade Muslim-majority nations. This paper examines the perspective for deep thought and the impetus for change that the pandemic parenting experience offered me. Being around my children and at their beck and call 24/7 allowed me to see the world more through their eyes. The subtle bigotry and insensitivities that I experienced pre-pandemic intensified because not only did I want to survive, I wanted my children to grow up in a world free from hate. Sitting around and ignoring the slights would be impossible. Free from daily microaggressions, constant commuting, and code-switching, but saddled with intensive childcare, cooking, cleaning, and sanitizing responsibilities, I developed a keener awareness for the degenerative biases I faced in the periphery of my pre-pandemic life. Being a pandemic academic parent empowered me to confront systemic racism, misogyny, and (internal) Islamophobia. My only goal was to stay alive, be authentic, and stop self-censuring. If it all went to hell in a handbasket, so be it. I survived 2020. Over 1.81 million people did not survive the coronavirus in 2020. This is my journey from a shy little girl in Central Florida to motherhood and the faculty tenure vote put into perspective by the pandemic

Missouri Oil and Gas Update

The State of Missouri has untapped potential for the development of oil and natural gas resources. While the Missouri courts were quiet this past year on interpreting oil and gas rules and regulations, the legislature was active in amending laws governing storage tanks. The state has experienced a tremendous upsurge in oil and gas production in the past two fiscal years. Missouri is poised to ramp up its conventional oil and gas production in the coming years, so increased legisla- tive actions and court activity will likely occur in the near future. Missouri\u27s energy resources include coal bed methane, oil sand, and oil shale. Despite the limited supplies of traditional hydrocarbons, considerably large deposits of heavy oil exist, which are of interest to energy producers. According to the Missouri Department of Natural Resources, improving technologies along with efficient, environmentally responsible oil production, will result in increased economic benefit to the state in the form of jobs and revenue

Re-Reading Anita Bernstein\u27s \u3cem\u3eThe Common Law Inside the Female Body\u3c/em\u3e from the Bottom of the Well: Analysis of the Central Park Five, Border Drownings, the Kavanaugh Confirmation, and the Coronavirus

This Article provides a critique of the common law based on its impact on “the legal other” or what the late Professor Derrick Bell viewed as the faces from the bottom of the well. Professor Anita Bernstein notes common law’s liberatory capacity. While this interpretation of the common law is true to a certain extent, this reading can lead to an underestimation of the common law’s limitations. In looking at the case involving the Central Park Five, I argue that feminist jurisprudence can have an unintended disparate impact on vulnerable populations. Examples of migrant detention facilities and precarious border crossings also illustrate how inhumane conditions emerge in response to the desire to protect white female spaces. In other words, the law functions to protect white women as an extension of white male property and privilege. This Article argues that law enforcement arms and the judicial system operate in hegemonic unison to protect the interests of elite institutions and those in power by using all tools at their disposal, including the common law inside the female body. Meanwhile, even white women are disempowered when their interests do not align with the goals of white male heteropatriachy as evidenced by the confirmation hearings of Justice Kavanaugh. The coronavirus pandemic accentuates these disparities in the feminist jurisprudence

Energy for Metropolis

Throughout the past decade, municipal governments have steadily increased climate change adaptation measures, natural resource conservation programs, and clean energy initiatives. Through energy efficiency measures and renewable energy mandates, cities are poised to make significant impacts in the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions and the mitigation of climate risks in the clean energy transition. This Article addresses municipal directives of advanced biofuels as an integral part of the clean energy transition. Existing laws and policies have critical design flaws. Specifically, the Renewable Fuel Standard (“RFS”) has proven to be burdensome and complex, producing more unintended consequences than desired outcomes. Problems with the implementation of the RFS indicate that Congress overestimated the capacity of the biofuel industry to produce energy and the ability of the retail gasoline market to accommodate ethanol. Consumer resistance to ethanol use and market pressures create problems for biofuel use. This Article is the third in a series related to the law and policy of advanced biofuels. Previously, I examined international dimensions in Blood Biofuels (Duke Environmental Law & Policy Forum) and federal efforts in Resiliency and Responsive Regulation for Advanced Biofuels (Virginia Environmental Law Journal)