Major Questions About the FTC’s Proposed Ban on Junk Fees Brian Hill If you have booked a hotel, purchased a concert ticket, or ordered from a restaurant online recently, you have probably noticed that the price on your checkout screen is higher than the price that was advertised to you when you decided to add… Continue reading Hill – Winter 2024
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Bretthauer – Winter 2024
Bunker Down: How Bunker Fuel Use Gets Counted (and Discounted) in International Emission Reporting Josh Bretthauer The Paris Climate Agreement was a landmark international agreement, signed onto by 196 countries agreeing to develop “Nationally Determined Contribution” (NDC) plans to keep global warming below 2ºC.[1] Nations’ “economy-wide absolute emission reduction targets,” where countries track, report, and… Continue reading Bretthauer – Winter 2024
Berg – Winter 2024
The Railway Safety Act of 2023: A Legislative Switchyard David Berg The East Palestine, Ohio train derailment on February 3rd, 2023, caught the attention of the national and international media. The tiny village of 5,000 people on the Pennsylvania border—20 miles from Youngstown, 40 miles from Pittsburgh—lies in Ohio’s Appalachian region. The Norfolk-Southern train hauled… Continue reading Berg – Winter 2024
Antonneau – Winter 2024
Municipalization: Is Ann Arbor Breaking Free from DTE? If Not, it Should Be. Libby Antonneau In the late 1990s, the town of Alma, Michigan, tried to break free from Consumers Energy Co. and start its own city electric utility, but the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) told the city they would owe the company millions… Continue reading Antonneau – Winter 2024
L. Pembroke- Winter 2024
Cementing Cemex: Solid Solutions to Employer Election Shenanigans Liam Pembroke Over the last few years, news about the administrative state has been generally disheartening for those who support strong administrative agencies. Cases like West Virginia v. EPA, Alabama Association of Realtors v. HHS, National Federation of Independent Business v. OSHA, and the imminent Loper Bright… Continue reading L. Pembroke- Winter 2024
L. Pembroke – Fall 2023
You’ve Got You Major Questions Mixed Up with My Traditional Judicial Decisionmaking! Or How the Court Learned to Prevent Loan Forgiveness and Further Handcuff the Administrative State Liam Pembroke When the Supreme Court held that the Secretary of Education did not have congressionally delegated authority to forgive individuals up to $20,000 of student debt from… Continue reading L. Pembroke – Fall 2023
Hill – Fall 2023
Can the FTC Help Lower Rents? Brian Hill INTRODUCTION In recent years, with every credit card tap or “buy now click,” rising prices have beleaguered consumers’ bank accounts during a time of high inflation[1] and low consumer satisfaction[2]. In the past year alone, high rents,[3] expensive airfare,[4] and costly trips to the grocery store[5] have… Continue reading Hill – Fall 2023
Honeycutt – Fall 2023
Incorporating Carbon Offsets into Agencies’ Sustainability Strategies Joseph Honeycutt In December 2021, President Biden signed Executive Order 14057, directing all federal agencies to adopt emissions reductions goals and measures “in order to achieve a carbon pollution-free electricity sector by 2035 and net-zero emissions economy-wide by no later than 2050.”[i] While ambitious, the order lacks any… Continue reading Honeycutt – Fall 2023
Lavoile – Fall 2023
The Rise of Greenwashing Litigation against Airlines and the Impact of Conscious Consumerism Giovanni Lavoile Recently, there has been a rise of conscious consumerism, a trend defined by buying practices that are “driven by a commitment to making purchasing decisions that have a positive, social, economic, and environmental impact.”[i] This rise had led to more… Continue reading Lavoile – Fall 2023
Lyon – Fall 2023
Whales, Monkeys, and a River – the Future of Environmental Standing? Nate Lyon A Palila is a small, finch-billed Hawaiian honeycreeper that successfully obtained injunctive relief against the state of Hawaii when it “wing[ed] its way into the federal court as a plaintiff in its own right” in 1988.[i] The Palila IV decision, which seemingly… Continue reading Lyon – Fall 2023