The Undergraduate Law Review at UC San Diego

UCSD Undergraduate Law Review, Volume 1, Spring 2022

28 U.S.C. § 1350, dubbed the “Alien Tort Statute” (ATS), was part of the Judiciary Act of 1789 and grants United States federal courts original jurisdiction over tort cases committed by aliens against other aliens. An alien in this instance is an individual who is not a citizen or national of the United States. For almost 200 years, the law was rarely used, until 1976 when Filartiga v. Pena-Irala created a precedent which turned the ATS into a tool for global human rights. In the coming three decades, the ATS was used by aliens who were victims of human rights violations to bring a charge or seek compensation from their perpetrators. This precedent ended with Kiobel v. Royal Dutch Petroleum (2013) which placed a presumption against extraterritoriality, thereby barring the use of ATS for human rights violations committed abroad. This article argues that Congress should add the “Filartiga Amendment'' to the ATS in order to explicitly encode the Filartiga precedent. The amendment would grant federal district courts with original jurisdiction of any civil action by an alien for a tort only, committed in violation of the law of nations or a treaty of the United States, regardless of whether or not the tort was committed in the territory of the United States. This empowers the ATS to be used as a tool for global human rights accountability and is in line with the United States’ stated mission of being a global leader in human rights.

Although people have become increasingly reliant on social media for information, misinformation, especially medical misinformation, runs rampant. Companies like Facebook and Twitter have been given discretion on how they maintain their platforms, but the effect is less than desirable. Under their structures, engagement-driven information takes priority over factuality, contributing to a pandemic of misinformation. Despite this influence, social media platforms face no penalties for how users are affected. This is because Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act (CDA) protects interactive computer services like social media platforms from liability for misinformation created by users. During the COVID-19 pandemic, these issues were highlighted when false social media information hurt coordination between government and citizens and increased personal health risks. To protect general health, Section 230 needs to be amended to exempt no-liability protection from user-generated health misinformation, without precautions or user consent. Compliance with this law would require interactive computer services to label health related information for users and review information directly contradicting scientific consensus as compiled by governmental agencies. By exempting no-liability in medical misinformation, social media platforms and other interactive computer services would face incentives to limit the impact of cognitive biases and the spread of misinformation that harms.

The United States government was built to protect against a tyrannical government in which the wishes of the minority elite are prioritized ahead of the wishes of the majority. The fear of such minority influence in government is now grounded in the rise of wealthy corporations. With the rise of corporations, the United States has become increasingly economically dependent on major companies. Corporations are uniquely positioned economically to bargain for political advantage, and political campaigns are especially vulnerable to this relationship due to their heavy reliance on donors. Consequently, campaign finance laws have been established with the goal of curtailing corporate political influence. Campaign finance laws have undergone several interpretations by the highest court in the United States to address evolving public concerns surrounding corruption. Most notable is the 1975 Buckley v. Valeo case, where the Supreme Court ruled that the wealthy minority not be given free rein to deposit funds toward their favorite candidates, citing corruption and the appearance of corruption as justification. From this, one can derive the appearance of corruption to mean any outcome by which public trust in the American democratic system is justly diminished. However, dissenters opined that despite governmental interest against corruption, the Court’s remedy was overinclusive and thus violated First Amendment protections to political speech. The twenty-first century rulings of Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission and McCutcheon v. Federal Election Commission overturned precedent and opened a floodgate of money that can now participate in politics, birthing an over 3.5 billion dollar lobbying industry by which a direct line of communication between large companies and legislative leaders was granted. Such a connection between the two powers has constructed a dangerous relationship between Big Money and political mobility. The goal of this paper is to understand how the rulings in Citizens United and McCutcheon changed the extent to which ordinary persons can access and shape government. This paper understands the shaping of government to mean any means by which an individual or group of individuals influence policymakers; unequal access to the shaping of government then refers to any circumstance under which a minority possesses a disproportionate influence over a policymaker’s attention compared to ordinary persons. To accomplish its goal, this paper will study the relevant facts of the two cases, assess the arguments through which the Court’s decisions were made, and gauge the possible outcomes of the Court’s decisions.

Since the 1960s, when legal and social initiatives of the LGBTQ+ rights movement first rose to prominence, issues surrounding the LGBTQ+ community have inspired some of the most prevalent political and social discussions today. Despite significant advancements having been made in the interests of promoting justice, LGBTQ+ communities still face considerable political, legal, and social inequalities. In March of 2022, the Florida State legislature passed House Bill 1557 (HB 1577), which imposes legal restrictions on educational practices relating to sexual orientation and gender identity in kindergarten through grade three statewide. Infamously characterized by many prominent media outlets as the “Don’t Say Gay” bill, HB 1557 has garnered insurmountable headlines and public attention in the past months, ultimately becoming one of the most controversial pieces of recent state legislation by receiving criticism and discussion at a national level. This article reviews the constitutional basis and legality of HB 1557, finding that the focal point of this bill—the prohibition on the scope of teacher’s instruction in the classroom—should be considered unconstitutional. Given that HB 1557 also reveals critical implications about the remaining legal challenges the LGBTQ+ community faces, this article recommends several courses of action for legislators to further remove the legal barriers from equality maintained by LGBTQ+ communities and individuals. In concluding remarks, this article demonstrates the significance of this issue and the need for rigorous change to be made for the future of the United States society.

For the past decade, cyclist deaths have steadily increased because of a general lack of awareness and enforcement of vehicle code. Additionally, there is no current legislation pertaining to the mechanics of operating a bicycle. This causes three issues. Firstly, new road hazards are created for motor operators. Secondly, otherwise avoidable crashes involving motor vehicles and cyclists occur. Lastly, there is pushback from both the cyclist community and the motor vehicle community where cyclists increasingly demand more freedoms on the road while the motor vehicle community increasingly demands more restrictions on cyclists and other non-motor vehicles. Despite varying opinions on vehicle restrictions, the official statistics provided by the US Department of Transportation Fatality Analysis Reporting System (FARS) are indisputable: 843 cyclist deaths have occurred across the nation in 2019 with California as the lead contributor with 20% of these deaths, which is how it has been for the past decade. This is no longer an issue of fault between cyclists and motor vehicles but now an issue of enforcement and outdated legislation. This paper will analyze how the lack of enforcement of California Vehicle Code 21200 and 21202 from law enforcement and legislative powers to combat on-road negligence such as riding antiparallel to traffic and disobeying traffic signals negatively impacts the current state of driving on the highway for both motor vehicles and cyclists. The article aims to propose new legislation, namely requiring cyclists to have a license or permit to ride a bicycle to mitigate future deaths and improve the level of safety on-road.

Software advances allow for durable goods producers to extract money from consumers after purchase. Traditionally, durable goods are a one-time large purchase. By attempting to expand durable goods transactions into the aftermarket, sellers are making potentially drastic changes to consumer costs for these goods, and expect hefty profits from the move. Sellers create aftermarket transactions in two ways: subscriptions and repairs, and this article argues that these areas should be regulated in new ways given advances in software. First, subscriptions on software-enabled durable goods should be regulated along the lines of the Restore Online Shoppers Confidence Act with special prohibitions for explicit removals of service (instances where companies use software to paywall functionality). Right to repair (RTR) is an issue in the area of durable goods transactions where sellers use software to monopolize their control over aftermarket sales. This article recommends it should be regulated along the proposals of RTR groups, which aim to increase competition between independent repair shops and licensed/seller associated repair. By regulating these areas, the FTC can reduce costs for consumers, both by increasing seller competition and by prohibiting unfair charges.

This essay will discuss Article III standing in regard to data breaches and expectations of privacy. The topic of standing is introduced in context with precedent court cases Clapper v. Amnesty International and Spokeo, Inc v. Robins, which highlight the limits of legitimacy of injury. These cases are then compared and contrasted to other decisions in recent circuit splits, showing that there is a lot of gray area on the type of injury sustained in a data breach. This article then looks at the current state of privacy domestically, coming to the conclusion that the U.S. needs a stronger national policy for privacy regulation to protect the consumer. Finally, such legislation is discussed, along with proposed solutions that consider the pros and cons of these discussions.

Written texts are able to qualify for copyright protections that help serve as legal protections and ownerships for the author. However, oftentimes these written texts can become an inspiration for another text derivative. These text derivatives are considered copyright infringement if they are interpreted as so by judicial courts under four factors. The precedent of these four factors are that they are treated differently by different courts as seen through court cases such as Dr. Seuss Enterprises, L.P. v. Penguin Books USA, Inc. and Warner Bros. Entertainment, Inc. and J.K Rowling v. RDR Books where courts show compelling and yet different interpretations of the four factors. This article highlights how there should be a better understanding and a multi-tiered methodology for interpreting the four factors. Ultimately, derivative texts should be deemed transformative enough in nature regardless of whether it satisfies any of the other three factors and should be able to satisfy one of the remaining three factors. This helps protect the author(s) of the original copyrighted work while also allowing for creativity and profound benefits to society.

V.1, Spring '22 Editor Biographies