Volume 3, Issue 2, Fall 2024
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The Independence of State Constitutional Interpretation and The New Jersey Courts’ Reliance on Federal Doctrines of Liberty
By David Chau — Under the American Federalism system, 51 constitutions coexist. They often overlap and come into conflict with each other over a plethora of issues from governance to individual liberties. As state constitutional law continues to rise in political prominence—specifically after major federal cases like Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization (2022), which…
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The Glyphosate Debate: Challenging Federal Preemption of State Failure-to-Warn Claims
By Daniel Zayas — Over the past decade, thousands of cases have reached federal courts to gain redress for injuries that plaintiffs have sustained while using Roundup, a popular pesticide manufactured by American agrochemical corporation Monsanto to kill weeds and insects in farming and landscaping. The flood of lawsuits comes in the wake of a…
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“Best Interest” vs. Strict Scrutiny: The Battle for the Freedom of Speech in Child Custody and CPS Cases
By Kaylee Kasper — As it stands, the US legal system promotes a largely hands-off approach to regulating the internal affairs of families. Parents have the liberty to determine how they intend to raise their children, dictating their day-to-day activities and often aligning their children under their own preferred religious beliefs, cultures, and value systems.…
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The Puzzle of Federal Indian Law: The Doctrine of Preemption in Oklahoma v. Castro-Huerta
By Carolina Pardo — In his concurring opinion in United States v. Lara (2004), Justice Thomas writes, “Federal Indian policy is, to say the least, schizophrenic.” Justice Thomas aptly characterized Federal Indian law as contradictory and inconsistent. Since Christopher Columbus stepped on the sands of the Bahamas in 1492, the relationship between Indigenous people and…
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The Delta Between Burden of Proof of Fear and Likelihood for Asylum Seekers
By Sanjana Kumar — This article explores the disparity between the evidentiary standards imposed on asylum seekers under the Refugee Act of 1980 and the international framework in the 1967 United Nations Protocol Relating to the Status of Refugees it was intended to emulate. It examines how statutory and judicial interpretations of the act have…
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Hypocrisy vs. Sovereignty: Accounting for the Colonial Vestiges of Public Law 83-280 in Alaska
By Dane Lester — Over the past three hundred years, the United States has expanded from a series of British royalist colonies on America’s East Coast to a fully-fledged democratic nation taking up the third-largest land area of any country in the world. As a result of its conquest, the U.S. claimed jurisdiction over the…
RECENT FORUM ARTICLES
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What Constitutes a Human life?: Religious Language in Alabama’s Abortion Ruling
By Rida Mian — On February 16, 2024, the Supreme Court of Alabama released the controversial ruling that an extrauterine embryo is considered a person in the context of the law. The ruling came from an appeals case in which…
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Let the Bidding Begin: Tennessee v. NCAA and the Future of NIL Recruitment Bargaining
By Danielle Williams — The prohibition of pay-for-play in college athletics has long been a key component in preserving amateurism in college sports, an arena that generates millions of dollars in revenue for many institutions. Prior to 2021, the National…
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Protecting the First Amendment in Stopping Cop City: Unconstitutional Overbreadth in Georgia’s RICO Laws
By James Swinehart — In March 2021, then-Atlanta Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms alongside the Atlanta Police Foundation announced plans to build the Atlanta Public Safety Training Center—a massive $90 million police training facility boasting shooting ranges, explosives testing grounds, and…
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“What about Me?”: How Upholding Non-Refoulement Principles Amidst Turbulent Pakistani-Afghani Relations Paves the Way for a More Peaceful Future
By Ila Prabhuram — The rights of Afghani refugees in Pakistan are being infringed upon and violated, exacerbating tensions and ongoing ethnic conflicts in the country. On October 3, 2023, Pakistan’s government announced a significant enforcement effort targeting individuals residing…
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Sahelian Storms: Evaluating Host State Mali’s Reacquisition of French Bases- Examining Mali-France Defense Treaties, ECOWAS Court Decisions, and the AfCFTA Perspective
By Ibrahim Ati — Echoing from the blue Tuareg, inhabitants of the Sahara and its deserts for centuries, comes a timeless proverb: ‘Ihanay amghar awar ihiniy alyad ibdadane.’ In translation, it reveals: ‘Seated, an elder sees farther than a youth…
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Sweet Home Alabama: Navigating Home Rule Status Through State Federalism
By Justin Murdock — In the intricate mosaic of Alabama’s municipal governance, the echoes of the 1901 Constitution, etched in the tumultuous Jim Crow era, still reverberate through the corridors of legal power. This article navigates the complexities of the…
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AI as Legal Inventors?
By Ollie Braden — Thaler v. Hirshfeld, decided by the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia on September 2, 2021, ruled that artificial intelligence (AI) systems could not be listed as inventors on patent applications. The court…
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The First Amendment and the Abortion Rights Debate
By Sofia Cipriano — Following Dobbs v. Jackson’s (2022) reversal of Roe v. Wade (1973) — and the subsequent revocation of federal abortion protection — activists and scholars have begun to reconsider how to best ground abortion rights in the…
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Smoke Without a Fire: Gainer’s Overextension of Pennsylvania Gun Law
By Anna Ferris — Commonwealth v. Gainer (2010) came before the Superior Court of Pennsylvania to determine how gun operability ought to factor into judgments for defendants accused of unlawfully possessing a firearm. Tarvus Gainer was found guilty of owning…
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More Than Money: The Costs of Caretaking for People with Disabilities
By Jeannie Kim — Many states have instituted governmental programs that provide support for people with disabilities that also assist those who are low-income. One major federal provision that often intersects with these disability rights programs is the U.S. Housing…
About the Princeton Legal Journal
Founded in 2021, the Princeton Legal Journal is Princeton University’s premier student-run law review. The PLJ strives to provide both Princeton University and the wider academic community with impactful and thoughtful contributions to legal discourse. The Journal recruits new students for its Review and Forum ever semester by application. Although the majority of the Journal‘s articles are written by Princeton students, outside submissions are occasionally considered.