Vol. 117

Growing demands for privacy and increases in the quantity and variety of consumer data have engendered various business offerings to allow companies, and in some instances consumers, to capitalize on these developments. One such example is the emerging “personal data economy” (PDE) in which companies, such as Datacoup, purchase data directly from individuals. At the opposite end of the spectrum, the “pay-for-privacy” (PFP) model requires...

In the past decade, robo-advisors—online platforms providing investment advice driven by algorithms—have emerged as a low-cost alternative to traditional, human investment advisers. This presents a regulatory wrinkle for the Investment Advisers Act, the primary federal statute governing investment advice. Enacted in 1940, the Advisers Act was devised with human behavior in mind. Regulators now must determine how an automated...

Since the Supreme Court’s invalidation of anti-gay marriage laws, scholars and advocates have been debating the LGBT movement’s near-term strategies and priorities. This Article joins that conversation by developing the framework for a national campaign to repeal or invalidate anti-gay curriculum laws—statutes that prohibit or restrict the discussion of homosexuality in public schools. Anti-gay curriculum laws expose LGBT students to...

Introduction The best laid plans of mice and men go oft astray. For many years, John and Mary have carefully used birth control in order to pursue their joint careers as rising academics, and at the same time, realize (in summertime getaways) their major passions for explor­ing ancient civilizations and sites of Renaissance art and […]

Introduction Professor Dov Fox’s comprehensive, deeply meditated essay, Reproductive Negligence, argues convincingly that the laws of tort, contract, and property severally and jointly fail to govern the promises and perils of modern reproductive technologies in an acceptable way. Our “legal system . . . treats heedlessly switched sperm, lost embryos, and misdiag­nosed fetuses not as misconduct that it […]

Introduction Hanoch Dagan and Avihay Dorfman believe that theoretical work on private law has become too polarized. Ranged on one side, there are those who “conceptualize private law as a set of regulatory strategies with no . . . unique moral significance.” On the other side are those who associate private law with “values that dissociate it entirely […]

RULEMAKING EX MACHINA

Melissa Mortazavi*

Introduction Emerging technologies promise to expedite administrative rulemaking by analyzing public input through computerized natural lan­guage rather than clunky, old human brains. Moving far beyond software that keyword searches and deduplicates content, natural language pro­cessing (as a type of predictive coding) employs artificial intelligence that adapts and modulates depending on inputs, rendering it fluid and […]

Introduction Professors Hanoch Dagan and Avihay Dorfman’s article Just Relationships is a fundamental reinterpretation of the moral ideals of large swaths of private law. Its significance, however, may go beyond even that broad ambition. In this Response, I suggest that Just Relationships is also an exemplar—perhaps par excellence—of an emergent form of critical discourse, which […]

INTRODUCTION

James B. Comey*

  For the past few years, our nation has been engaged in a broad and passionate discussion about crime and policing. It is a dialogue that is as important as it is difficult. It is also one that defies simple answers, as tempting as those might be. We need better, more informed conversations about this […]

What a difference a decade makes. In 2006, 45% of Americans were worried a great deal about crime. By 2016, the number had jumped to 53%, the highest level since 9/11, which was the last time a majority of Americans had expressed that view. This increase in the level of fear buoyed Donald Trump to […]