The CFPB Needs an Effective Whistleblower Program to Oversee Payday Lending
Regulators need to know what happens out in the world to understand and to oversee the industries under their supervision. Information flow may be a particular challenge for overseeing payday lending. At present, most states do not have database systems to track payday lending operations. Even when states do have database systems, federal regulators may [...]
Last week, the Supreme Court issued its hotly anticipated decision in Bostock v. Clayton County, Georgia. Writing for the 6-3 majority, Justice Neil Gorsuch held that Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 protects LGBT persons from sex discrimination in employment. Pundits on the Left and Right have near-universally expressed shock that Justice [...]
An Open Letter Regarding the Oregon Bar Exam and Diploma Privilege
This statement is in response to the article titled “Oregon’s Law Schools Ask Supreme Court to Waive Bar Exam Due to COVID-19. The Bar Is Not Pleased.” As a 2020 law graduate and someone intending to sit for the July bar, the article seriously lacks key information as to why students, professors, and licensed attorneys [...]
The Georgia legislature is poised to pass a “fetal heartbeat” law similar to those recently passed in Kentucky and several other states. The bill, which narrowly cleared the House, would prohibit abortions after a fetal heartbeat can be detected—generally at 6 to 7 weeks into pregnancy. Because pregnancy is generally dated from the last menstrual [...]
EPA Takes a Toxic Turn by Backing Away from Mercury Regulation
Mercury is one of the most toxic substances on earth. When inhaled or ingested by humans, mercury can cause severe neurological damage, cardiovascular harm, endocrine disruption, kidney damage and muscle coordination issues. When pregnant women are exposed, their babies can suffer IQ and motor skills impairments that will last their lifetime. Through rain, snow or [...]
Consumers rely on listed prices being accurate. Imagine walking into your favorite store, bringing your desired item to the counter, and being told that the price you had to pay had little relation to the listed price. Remarkable as it is, this is commonplace in the pharmaceutical industry. Minnesota Attorney General Lori Swanson recently filed [...]
Will Congress’s Omnibus Opioids Bill Turn the Tide on America’s Drug Epidemic?
Earlier this month, Congress sent a sweeping legislative package aimed at curbing the opioid epidemic to President Trump’s desk for signature, and the President has said he intends to sign it. Despite the increasing rancor that has poisoned so much our political discourse, the Substance Use Disorder Prevention that Promotes Opioid Recovery and Treatment (SUPPORT) [...]
Our phones are constantly searching for the greatest connection, updating our location, and often connect to multiple cell towers on any given day, divulging our whereabouts to service providers with relative ease. In recent years, the accuracy of this method to pinpoint a person’s current and past location has increased significantly. And given that there [...]
The retirement of Justice Anthony Kennedy this week represents the end of an era and the beginning of the entrenchment of a more conservative Supreme Court, probably for years to come. That much seems clear. But there are actually many more sides to Justice Kennedy’s retirement than that simple statement implies. Justice Kennedy was nominated [...]
Justice Anthony Kennedy’s retirement announcement yesterday rightfully set off shock waves across the country. For the past three decades, Justice Kennedy has gone from one of the more moderate justices who could sometimes swing an important vote, to the lone decider on monumental issues from gay marriage (siding with the liberals) to campaign finance and [...]
