Running Out of Beds: How COVID-19 Demonstrates the Need to Repeal State Certificate of Need Laws

(Source) During the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic in the United States, states struggled in part because the disease caused demand for hospital beds to outstrip supply. Around one month into the pandemic, in New York City, for example, only about 300 intensive care unit (“ICU”) beds remained available. States reacted by creating more medical

Shallow Measures: International Regulation of Noise Pollution in Our Oceans

(Source) Recently, several researchers and scientists from all over the world released a survey in the journal Science consisting of over 500 studies done on the far-reaching effects of an everyday phenomenon: noise, specifically noise as a pollutant of marine ecosystems. According to the survey, the soundscape of our oceans is dramatically changing. Climate change

President Biden’s Self-Defeating Environmental Dyad

(Source) Appeasing environmentalists and Democrats, President Joe Biden recently signed an executive order halting progress on the Keystone XL Pipeline, a perennial project to construct an underground pipeline that would distribute 830,000 barrels of crude oil every day from Calgary, Canada to the Gulf of Mexico. The executive order fulfilled one of President Biden’s campaign

Immunity Passports: A Silver Bullet or a Security Blanket?

(Source) As COVID-19 infection rates remain high, many wonder when and how life will return to normal. The policies currently in place to limit the number of new infections have primarily focused on restricting movement and access to public spaces. While this has helped limit the spread of the virus, it has also resulted in

Rethinking Originalism

 (Source) Introduction With Amy Coney Barrett’s confirmation, the Supreme Court now has a firm supermajority of Republican-nominated justices for the first time in over a decade. Although this almost certainly will affect how the Court will now decide on a host of crucial policy issues moving forward, from allegations of electoral fraud, to abortion, to

Rep. Haaland’s Historic Nomination: Diving into the “Department of Everything Else”

(Source) The recent weeks have brought fear and speculation to a largely anonymous and indistinct Department. President Biden nominated Representative Deb Haaland of New Mexico as his pick for Secretary of the Department of Interior. If appointed by the Senate, Haaland would become the first Native American to ever hold this position – an event

The Price Is Not Right: Solving Student Debt Starts with Stopping Soaring Tuition Cost

(Source) On August 8, 2020, the former Secretary of Education renewed the suspension of student loans, stopped collections, and waived federal loan interest until the end of the year. The action taken by the federal government acknowledges that there is a problem but addresses only the immediate threat by providing temporary relief. In September, some

Evictions Are Coming: An In-Depth Look at the COVID-19 Eviction Crisis

(Source) In the United States, nearly 1.4 million people per year spend time in a shelter, and there are more homeless people than the population of some rural states. For those living in city centers, it is an unignorable issue. A home is a foundation on which people build their lives—losing the place you call

Forced Sterilizations — A Discriminatory Reality, Not a Relic of the Past

(Source) Content warning: Rape, sexual assault. It has only been six months since a shocking whistleblower allegation regarding forced hysterectomies and medical neglect at an Immigration and Customs Enforcement (“ICE”) detention center in Georgia. Dawn Wooten, a licensed nurse who previously worked at the ICE detention center — the privately-operated Irwin County Detention Center —