The NextGen Bar Exam Meets The NextGen Law Student: A Revised Approach To Legal Analysis

BOLCKOW, Mo. — A 73-year-old man from Braddyville, Iowa, was injured Thursday afternoon when a tractor-trailer overturned on Highway 71, about three miles southwest of Bolckow. The Missouri State Highway Patrol reported that the crash happened when the front driver’s side tire on a southbound 2001 Freightliner failed. The driver lost control of the vehicle, which veered off the east side of the highway, hit an embankment, and overturned. The truck came to rest on its driver’s side in the median. The driver sustained moderate injuries and was transported by Andrew County Ambulance to Mosaic Life Care in St. Joseph. Tires that explode need to be examined for defects Truck drivers are the backbone of America. They spend weeks at a time away from their families and sacrifice the comfort of their homes to deliver the everyday goods we need. These dedicated drivers deserve to be safe when they are in their home away from home— their trucks. Yet, over and over…

GAFFNEY, S.C. — A crash involving an Amazon delivery truck and a passenger vehicle left one person dead and two others hospitalized on Monday afternoon in Cherokee County. According to the South Carolina Highway Patrol, the collision occurred on Pacolet Highway when an Amazon delivery truck attempted to turn left into a driveway in the 1000 block of Pacolet Highway. The truck entered the path of a westbound 2008 Lexus, resulting in a serious crash. Emergency responders transported the driver and front seat passenger of the Lexus to a nearby hospital for treatment. A backseat passenger was pronounced dead at the scene. The Cherokee County Coroner’s Office identified the deceased as 61-year-old Bobby Peak. Those affected by this crash deserve answers and accountability from those at fault The rules of the road are in place for a reason. They exist to ensure the safety of everyone traveling on our highways. When these rules are broken, the consequences can be…

XENIA, Ohio — A crash involving a semi-truck and a disabled pickup left three people hospitalized Wednesday evening on U.S. Highway 35. Preliminary reports indicate a pickup truck towing a trailer had run out of fuel and came to a stop partially in the right lane of the highway. As one person attempted to refuel the vehicle, a semi-truck traveling around a curve failed to reduce speed and collided with the pickup and trailer. The individual who was outside the vehicle at the time of the crash was thrown over a guardrail by the force of the impact and was transported to Miami Valley Hospital. The extent of their injuries was not immediately known. An occupant of the pickup truck was also taken to the hospital for treatment. Semi-trucks have a responsibility to maintain a safe distance and anticipate traffic changes Tragic incidents like this one are the reason why semi-trucks should always keep a safe distance from moving traffic ahead and travel at a safe speed to ensure…

A DWI charge, or Driving While Intoxicated, means you are accused of operating a vehicle while under the influence of alcohol or drugs. It is a serious criminal offense that can lead to harsh penalties like fines, license suspension, and even jail time upon conviction. It can also result in various collateral consequences that affect certain aspects of your life. If you face a DWI charge, hiring a lawyer is one of the most important steps you can take. A skilled lawyer experienced in DWI cases understands the legal process, knows how to challenge the evidence against you, and can protect your rights at every stage of your case. They can negotiate for reduced charges, fight to keep your license, or even get the case dismissed. With so much at risk, having an experienced lawyer on your side can make a big difference in the outcome of your case. Get A Free Consultation What is a DWI Charge? A DWI charge, which stands for “Driving While Intoxicated,” is a serious…

CANTON, Ohio — A 37-year-old man has died following a workplace accident at a local manufacturing site, according to the Stark County Coroner’s Office. The incident occurred on Monday at Canton Drop Forge, a facility located in Canton. The worker, identified as Daniel Chavez, sustained fatal injuries during the incident and was transported to the Cleveland Clinic Mercy Hospital, where he was later pronounced dead. The cause of death was stated as blunt force trauma. The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) has been notified. Surviving families of workplace accidents deserve answers Families notified that their loved ones have died in a work accident are always left with questions. After the initial shock and grief sink in, what I most hear from my clients is: How could this have happened? Many times, grieving families are not provided with the full picture of what went wrong. Most workplace accidents are entirely preventable and usually caused by a…

INTRODUCTION. Émilie du Châtelet (1706–1749) was a pioneering scientist, philosopher, and translator whose intellect shone brightly in the Age of Enlightenment. Best known for her French translation and commentary on Newton’s Principia Mathematica, still the standard version today, she brought clarity and depth to Newtonian physics while offering original insights into energy and motion. Living and working alongside Voltaire at Cirey, she helped shape the intellectual life of her time, challenging assumptions in science, philosophy, ethics, and society. Although Émilie du Châtelet wasn’t a legal scholar or actively involved in the legal profession, her writings and critiques demonstrate awareness of the role of laws and social structures in shaping individuals’ lives, particularly for women, and highlight her philosophical arguments for justice, equality, and the importance of intellectual freedom for all.  Continue reading

Former Columbia University graduate student Mahmoud Khalil filed a complaint against the US government on Friday, four months after he was detained by ICE agents for leading campus protests in support of Palestine. Khalil alleged several claims in his complaint, including false imprisonment, malicious prosecution, and abuse of process. The Center for Constitutional Rights filed the complaint on Khalil’s behalf under the Federal Tort Claims Act (FTCA). The center stated that Khalil is seeking $20 million in damages but would accept, instead, “an official apology” and an end to the administration’s “unconstitutional” use of the Immigration and Naturalization Act (INA) (1952). Secretary of State Marco Rubio authorized Khalil’s detention under Section (3)(C)(i) of the INA, which says that “[a]n alien whose entry or proposed activities in the United States the Secretary of State has reasonable ground to believe would have potentially…

Stay informed of the week’s notable events and shared resources with this curated list of Nonprofit Resources of the Week. Notable Nonprofit Posts, Articles, & Other Resources: Justice Jackson Says ‘the State of Our Democracy’ Keeps Her Up at Night (Abbie VanSickle, NY Times) Opinion: How the Tax Bill Could Change Giving and Donor Behavior (Daniel Hungerman, Chronicle of Philanthropy) I.R.S. Says Churches Can Endorse Candidates From the Pulpit (David A. Fahrenthold, NY Times) Voices That Matter: How Nonprofits and Foundations Engage With the Communities They Support (CEP) Takeaways from a Europe-Based Panel on the “Promises and Pitfalls of Philanthropy” (Mike Scutari, Inside Philanthropy) Survey: NPO Cash On Hand At Dangerous Levels (Nonprofit Times) Head Start will be cut off for immigrants without legal status, Trump administration says (Annie Ma, AP) How Can the Nonprofit Field Better Support Volunteerism? (Jan…

For the Balkinization Symposium on Richard Primus, The Oldest Constitutional Question: Enumeration and Federal Power (Harvard University Press, 2025).William Ewald The most striking thing about the bundle of ideas Richard Primus calls “Enumerationism” is how distinctively American it is. (It will be helpful to capitalize the word to distinguish the theory from the simple enumeration of federal powers.) All constitutions apportion governmental powers, but the near-universal American understanding that Article I, §8 is meant to limit Congressional power (and related ideas, like his “internal limits canon,” which says that the enumerated powers must add up to less than the powers of a government of general jurisdiction) is not found in any other constitutional system with which I am familiar; not, at any rate, in the same way. Why is that? What lies behind this American exception? Is Enumerationism the reflection of deep…

For purposes of this article, the mesothelioma victim in this case will be referred to as J.P. In a significant ruling from Boston, a jury in Massachusetts awarded $8 million in compensation to an 84-year-old woman who developed pleural mesothelioma after years of using Johnson & Johnson’s talcum baby powder. The jury determined that the company’s famous baby powder contained asbestos, a dangerous substance that causes mesothelioma and several other illnesses, that J&J was aware of the dangers its product posed, and that the asbestos exposure ultimately led to J.P.’s mesothelioma diagnosis. J.P. received her mesothelioma diagnosis in 2021, one year after the giant pharmaceutical company stopped selling its talc-based baby powder in North America and a year before it terminated global sales. The plaintiff’s legal representatives argued that she had used the product throughout her life, not only on herself, but also on her children while caring for…

The Legal Theory Bookworm recommends Marital Privilege: Marriage, Inequality, and the Transformation of American Law by Serena Mayeri. Here is a description: How the privileged legal status of marriage survived decades of constitutional struggle and social change The United States is unusual among wealthy western nations in the degree to which the law channels public benefits and private economic resources through marriage. This remains so despite seismic changes in American family life in the last several decades of the twentieth century. During this period, marriage rates declined while divorce and nonmarital childbearing soared. Social movements—for racial and economic justice, women’s and gay rights and liberation, civil liberties, and reproductive freedom—transformed the legal landscape. In Marital Privilege, Serena Mayeri tells the stories of parents and partners, activists and lawyers who challenged the legal primacy of…

The Download of the Week is Personhood as Participation by James Toomey. Here is the abstract: “Legal personhood” is thought to be a concept of foundational and systemic importance to the legal system, encompassing all living human beings, born alive, and certain collectivities called corporations. The problem is that the more one tries to square these uncontroversial intuitions with one another, the less the concept hangs together. Many things that we do not call “legal persons” are treated in legally identical ways to entities that we do call “legal persons”—and entities within the class of “legal persons” are treated in radically different ways among themselves. To be sure, we can call anything we want “legal persons”—but not without trivializing the concept. This Chapter makes two claims. First, I argue that the concept of legal personhood, as currently understood, is not doing the work…

Courts have tools—from noncustodial sanctions to judicial deputies—to enforce their orders. David L. Noll When the federal executive branch defies the courts, are the courts powerless to compel compliance? Many observers assume courts depend entirely on executive cooperation for enforcement, given that the U.S. Marshals Service is an executive branch agency. But, as I argue in this new Lawfare research report, this overlooks enforcement mechanisms that, as either a legal or practical matter, operate independently of the executive branch. Before ordering the arrest of executive branch officials, courts can make use of powerful non-custodial sanctions: stripping officials of immunity, imposing substantial personal fines, and levying professional sanctions. If those fail, courts’ arrest powers are stronger than commonly appreciated. Though located within the executive branch, the marshals operate under a statutory duty to enforce all lawful court…

Israel-Hamas War Our Duty to Explain Israel’s Operation to “Concentrate and Move Population” in Gaza is a Manifest War Crime by Eyal Benvenisti and Chaim Gans Manifestly Illegal: Israeli International Law Scholars on the Stated Plan to “Concentrate” the Palestinian Population in South Gaza by Eliav Lieblich and Tamar Megiddo Srebrenica Genocide Thirty Years After the Srebrenica Genocide: Remembrance and the Global Fight Against Denial by Sead Turčalo Afghanistan / Press Freedom The Taliban’s Slow Dismantling of Afghan Media by Olof Blomqvist International Justice Rethinking ICC Reform: Politics, Legitimacy, and the Perils of Expansion Without Consolidation by Nema Milaninia The Lost Archive: France’s Highest Court Should Follow WWII-Era Rejection of Head of State Immunity by Dan Plesch and Steve Kostas U.S. Diplomacy Trump Administration’s Proposed Cuts to Accountability for Mass Atrocities Undermine Its Own Strategic Goals…

In Indiana, the statute of limitations for a personal injury claim arising from a car accident is generally two years from the date of the crash. While that two-year deadline may seem straightforward, it is one of the most critical and complex aspects of your case, containing hidden exceptions and unforgiving consequences that can determine the entire course of your physical and financial recovery. Insurance companies are keenly aware of this deadline. They know that every day that passes can make your case harder to prove. They know that if you miss this window of opportunity, your right to seek justice can be extinguished forever. That’s why it’s so important, after an accident, to act quickly to ensure you don’t miss the statute of limitations for car accident claims in Indiana. An experienced Indianapolis car accident attorney can help you file on time, preserve evidence, and protect your rights every step of the way. GET A FREE CASE EVALUATION Why Do…

One of the topics we have discussed regularly on this blog is the right of social tenants to buy their homes—and the long-term problems this has caused. The most recent post being our June 2024 post on why the housing crisis cannot be solved without reforming Right to Buy. The Problem Councils/Local Authorities have had the ability to sell council houses to their tenants since 1936.  However, this was rare until Mrs Thatcher’s government passed the Housing Act 1980. This act gave council tenants the right to buy at a substantial discount. Subject to certain conditions, including a qualifying period of residence. This proved to be a very popular policy, and since that time, millions of council tenants have purchased their council homes. However, in the long term, it has been very bad for the country and our housing. The main problem is that councils were not able to use the proceeds of sale to build new homes. Which meant that the number of properties in council…

The Porter Law Group is pursuing a $3.1 million settlement in a significant medical malpractice case involving a radiologist's alleged failure to properly diagnose ovarian cancer, resulting in a nearly one-year delay in treatment and severely diminished survival prospects for the client. Was Your Ovarian Cancer Diagnosed Late? Connect with us for a non-obligatory free consultation. Contact Us The case centers on events that began in March 2018, when the client underwent a CT scan of her abdomen and pelvis at a diagnostic imaging facility after reporting abdominal pain. The radiologist identified a small ovarian cyst and what were described as "unusual appearing radiopaque densities" in the lower pelvis, which he concluded were "probably postoperative calcifications associated with scarring." Despite noting these…

As artificial intelligence (AI) technology advances, algorithmic pricing is transforming how firms interact and compete in the marketplace. The increased use of sophisticated algorithms to set prices in real time based on user data  raises important and urgent concerns about fairness, transparency, and market power. Many scholars warn that algorithmic pricing tools will facilitate unlawful cooperation between firms that may lead to unsustainably high prices, harming consumers. Since their passage over a century ago, the Sherman Act and the Clayton Act still offer the main statutory tools for addressing anti-competitive behavior in the United States. These laws are enforced by the U.S. Department of Justice and the Federal Trade Commission (FTC), which independently investigate and prosecute cases involving monopolization, price-fixing, and other forms of collusion. While the Justice Department, which has exclusive jurisdiction on certain industries, focuses on civil and…