Traffic stops on New Year’s Eve may be a good way of deterring drunk driving, but a pair of Georgia deputies got both less and much more than they expected when they pulled over one woman on New Year’s Eve 2016. The deputies initially claimed that ... [Read more...]
Columns & Commentary
The State(s) of Medicaid Expansion
In 2012, the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (“ACA”) made some sweeping changes to health insurance, but one of the broadest changes was its expansion of Medicaid coverage. Medicaid, a program involving coordination between the federal ... [Read more...]
State Bans on Conversion Therapy
Garrard Conley, the author of the memoir-turned-movie, Boy Erased, said of his experience with conversion therapy, “I came to therapy thinking that my sexuality didn’t matter, but it turned out that every part of my personality was intimately ... [Read more...]
An Overview of Birthright Citizenship
President Trump recently acknowledged that his administration has been looking into using an executive order to end birthright citizenship. This declaration prompted a flurry of reactions from confusion to outrage. Birthright citizenship seems to be ... [Read more...]
Toxic Torts and the TVA
A decade ago, Roane County, Tennessee, suffered the worst coal ash spill in American history. A barrier gave way at the Tennessee Valley Authority (“TVA”) Fossil Plant in Kingston, Tennessee, pouring over 5 million cubic yards of coal ash (the waste ... [Read more...]
Revisiting “Stand Your Ground”
Following the devastation of Hurricane Michael, a city commissioner in Lakeland, Florida, was caught on video shooting a man he suspected of looting his store. Lawyers for the commissioner, who was indicted for second-degree murder, said that they ... [Read more...]
What Does FERPA Cover?
Imagine for a moment that you are in a dispute with your child’s school over a disciplinary action. Or imagine that you are embroiled in a controversy that has attracted media attention. Now imagine that your child’s school decides to release her ... [Read more...]
#MeToo at 1: The Impact on Legislation
In October 2017, an explosive investigative report in The New Yorker revealed the breadth and severity of sexual assault charges against movie mogul Harvey Weinstein. While some readers expressed incredulity that such heinous behavior could have ... [Read more...]
A Video Game Law Primer
Chances are that at some point in the past year, you’ve played a video game. It might have been a massively multiplayer online game like the popular Fortnite or League of Legends, or maybe it was a game created for PlayStation or Xbox gaming ... [Read more...]
Do You Own the Rights to Any Oil or Gold in the Ground Beneath Your House?
You’ve probably heard the old saw that a man’s home is his castle, but it probably never crossed your mind that you may not have the right to determine what happens to the moat or the dungeons. Depending on where you live, you may enjoy only “surface ... [Read more...]