Authors

By Dessie Otachliska, J.D.

The COVID-19 pandemic has upended nearly every aspect of American life, but one facet of federal policy that may appear largely unchanged is the imposition of restrictions on immigration and international travel. Although many of the policies ostensibly adopted to mitigate the threat caused by the novel coronavirus seem to parallel the discriminatory anti-immigrant initiatives and rhetoric espoused by the Trump administration, many of them have arguably been undertaken with the intent to protect American public health and economic recovery.

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By Dessie Otachliska, J.D.

On August 11, 2020, Travis County, Texas made history by holding the nation’s first virtual criminal jury trial. While the case itself — a misdemeanor charge for speeding in a construction zone — was largely unremarkable, the way it was conducted was anything but. At 8:30 a.m. local time that Tuesday, Justice of the Peace Nicholas Chu convened the virtual courtroom using the Zoom videoconferencing platform, while simultaneously broadcasting the trial live to the public via YouTube. Judge Chu asked jurors to give their full attention to the trial at all times and to avoid succumbing to distractions such as email, TV, or social media. In a regular trial, this would have been a given—with all jurors seated together in the courtroom and required to surrender their cell phones, it would have been easy to notice whether a jury member had gotten distracted or was looking at outside materials related to the case. But in the era of teleconferencing, ensuring compliance is not so simple.

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By Bailey Kennedy, J.D.

The combined effects of the coronavirus and government-imposed shutdowns have cost the US economy an enormous amount of money — perhaps trillions of dollars — and we still aren’t out of the woods yet. But a year into the virus, there still isn’t a clear answer to a very basic question: who is going to pay for all of this? While the government has provided some aid to business owners, numerous businesses around the country have still suffered due to forced closures as well as the effect of people voluntarily remaining at home. In an effort to stay afloat, many business owners have turned to making claims with their insurance companies for the damages they have suffered over the past year.

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By Bailey Kennedy, J.D.

What does it mean for an individual to have a meaningful right to a speedy trial when the whole world seems to be on hold? How long can we ask someone to wait for justice in a situation when everyone is asked to be patient? As the United States approaches two years of life in a holding pattern, it is time to focus on how we can best serve those caught up in the justice system, even at times of emergency.

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By Bailey Kennedy, J.D.

It’s now been more than a year since most students across the United States started a wild experiment with remote learning. Students abruptly found themselves saying goodbye to their friends and professors, heading home to explore the limits of technology, and discovering just how many hours they could spend in front of their computers every day. More than a year into the pandemic, many students remain trapped in an online learning environment. While the switch to remote learning may well have been necessitated by public health, it’s fair to say that students didn’t exactly have the learning experience they were bargaining for. While K-12 students at public schools don’t have to pay to access their education, students at institutions of higher education often pay thousands of dollars per semester. In the spring of 2020, they continued to pay, but the educational experience dramatically changed.

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