The Messy History of Michigan’s “Purity Clause”

So it’s worth asking: What does the Purity Clause actually mean? Can contemporary courts properly invoke it to justify restrictions purportedly aimed at controlling “voter fraud”? Should they? Part I diagnoses the problem: Recently, Michigan courts have invoked the Purity Clause to legitimize voting rights restrictions without applying their usual tools of constitutional interpretation or scrutinizing the Clause’s complex history. As a result, voting restrictions have been justified by reference to a badly underexamined constitutional provision. Part II examines the Clause with the tools that Michigan courts use to interpret the state constitution. This Part argues that neither the original public meaning nor the framers’ intent justifies a narrow reading of the Clause as entirely about laws restricting “voter fraud” in the contemporary, politicized sense of the term. In fact, the Clause seems to have been intended to bar voting not by facially unqualified people but by otherwise qualified voters who were ostensibly infected by the “wrong” motives—and it was likely originally understood as a racial restriction. Part III looks at the Clause’s evolution since 1850—in its 1908 and 1963 reenactments and as applied by the courts—and argues that, to the extent the Clause is still relevant, it demands a broader understanding than recent court decisions have allowed. I conclude that the Purity Clause should no longer be applied to counterbalance or outweigh the federal and state constitutions’ guarantee of the right to vote

ESTIMATING WILDLIFE BIODIVERSITY OF PINE PLANTATION EDGES OF CONTRASTING ROTATIONAL STAGES: A CASE STUDY

ESTIMATING WILDLIFE BIODIVERSITY OF PINE PLANTATION EDGES OF CONTRASTING ROTATIONAL STAGES: A CASE STUDY By: Joshua Harris, Dr. Daniel Scognamillo, Dr. Gary Kronrad, and Dr. Jeremy Stovall Abstract Wildlife biodiversity was estimated amongst three loblolly pine (Pinus taeda) intra-plantation edge types of contrasting rotational phases in a two-year case study. Three structurally varied rotational phases that occur throughout plantation rotations combine to make three different edges: A= pre-thinned - post-thinned, B= pre-thinned - pre-clearcut, and C= post-thinned - pre-clearcut. For two summer seasons (May-August 2015-2016), invertebrates, birds, medium mammals, and small mammals were sampled in each edge type. Richness, extrapolated richness, two indices for diversity, two measures of species evenness, and two measures of community dominance were estimated. Richness and abundance variation of vertebrate species among edge types was not great enough to separate one from the others. Invertebrate families were disproportionately found more so in edge type B, however sample sizes were too small to discern a significant difference. Each edge type contributed to diversity and abundance of certain wildlife groups and so we conclude that managing for landscape heterogeneity of plantation rotational phases spatially and temporally would benefit wildlife more-so than a disproportionate ratio of one edge type

Biblical Biopolitics: Judicial Process, Religious Rhetoric, Terri Schiavo and Beyond

While a recent flurry of academic and popular attention has been focused on the saga of Terri Schiavo, this Article begins by presenting the legal doctrine and established bioethical consensus regarding autonomy and guardianship law in the context of end-of-life/PVS disputes. Next, this Article provides a comprehensive examination of the judicial proceedings in Mrs. Schiavo’s case, as well as an analysis of the Religious Right activism that brought this case international attention and unprecedented involvement by all three branches of government at both the federal and state level. In response to widespread confusion, even among the legal community, and outright hostility by some towards the judiciary, this Article concludes that the law did not fail Terri Schiavo, and on the contrary, the judicial process in this instance worked remarkably well. This Article, however, moves beyond the immediacy of the Schiavo case to examine the larger culture war context, including empirical analysis of the irresponsible and inappropriate use of abortion-politics rhetoric and misguided post-Schiavo legislative agenda that forms what this Article labels Biblical BioPolitics. Normatively, this Article ultimately concludes that the actions of certain politicized religious organizations portend destructive, long-term implications for both civil public discourse in our pluralistic society and in the area of end-of-life/PVS public policy. A clear understanding of the current legal regime vis-à-vis end-of-life/PVS situations and an analysis of the Biblical BioPolitics that threaten this regime is, therefore, particularly crucial for members of the legal and health care professions and all of us who may one day find ourselves patients

For Patients and Profits: Ethical Astuteness and the Business of Dialysis

The view of ethical astuteness introduced and outlined in this paper aims to add value for a firm in the healthcare business – with a particular application to a for-profit organization providing dialysis services – by addressing two chief concerns: A.) The competing priorities between the patient’s interest in the healthcare encounter and the investor’s interest in generating a return on profits; and B.) The vulnerabilities of a financially-conflicted, for-profit healthcare provider to an allegation of medical malpractice

A Missed Opportunity: Health Care Reform, Rhetoric, Ethics and Economics at the End of Life

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The People\u27s NIH? Ethical and Legal Concerns in Crowdfunded Biomedical Research

Over the last decade, online crowdfunding has become a mainstream source of capital formation for a range of artistic and entrepreneurial endeavors. Low-barrier websites such as Kickstarter and IndieGoGo that fund production of a movie or recording of an album, in addition to charity conduits such as Kiva that facilitate the dissemination of microloans in the developing world, are trusted fundraising mechanisms that offer alternatives to traditional financing through banks and venture capitalists. Moreover, these models predicated on the solicitation of relatively modest amounts of money create a more egalitarian investment environment wherein donors can join the effort—and often receive some token reward— in exchange for a sense of personal engagement and affiliation with the underlying project being financed. Crowdvesting is a kind of crowdfunding designed to raise capital a la traditional stock offerings and the sale of ` securities. Unlike charitable donations, such investment opportunities trigger analysis under existing securities laws and regulations, some of which date to post-Great Depression concerns, i.e., the 1933 and 1934 Securities Acts and others flowing from the more recent Great Recession milieu, i.e, the JOBS Act of 2012 and related state analogues. Given the decreasing availability of federal research funding, biomedical researchers have begun to explore the potential for crowdfunding models of financing. This paper explores the ethical and legal issues triggered by the specific case of the physician-researcher, active both in the clinic and at the bench, who seeks to raise funding via crowdfunding channels. Should physician-researchers solicit research funding from their patients? What are the implications for the patient’s sense of trust and the patient’s relationship with the physician? And what about those donating who are not patients or related stakeholders, but rather interested and sympathetic donors who wish to help the cause? This paper maps the landscape of these questions and concerns, and lays the groundwork for future empirical and theoretical explorations, as well as policy and practice guidelines