The Roundtable
Welcome to the Roundtable, a forum for incisive commentary and analysis
on cases and developments in law and the legal system.
on cases and developments in law and the legal system.
By: Dhilan Lavu
Dhilan Lavu is a freshman (C’25) in the College of Arts and Sciences from Bryn Mawr, Pennsylvania. He plans to major in Politics, Philosophy, and Economics with minors in History and Data Analytics. While Democrats may have unified control of government, the ability of Republicans to filibuster legislation in the Senate means that most of the sweeping reforms Joe Biden promised on the campaign trail will have to be achieved through reconciliation. This is a process through which a simple Senate majority can bypass the filibuster and agree to laws which will affect either government revenues or spending. Since almost all legislation affects the government’s budget in some way, the 1985 Byrd Rule constrains the use of reconciliation by stipulating that the law’s fiscal impact must be significant and cannot be “incidental [1].”
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By Hailie Goldsmith
Hailie is a junior in the College of Arts and Sciences at the University of Pennsylvania majoring in Philosophy, Politics, and Economics with a minor in Hispanic Studies More than 400. In the last five years, more than 400 unarmed motorists have been killed by police officers after being pulled over for a traffic violation [1]. The types of traffic violations range from broken taillights to the illegal installation of tinted windows [2]. In these 400 instances, how many of the officers were convicted? Five. Just five officers have been convicted in the aftermath of these killings. The imbalance in justice can be attributed to the more than $125 million paid by local governments to close and excuse 40 wrongful-death lawsuits [1]. All 400 people lost their lives as a result of a traffic stop gone horribly wrong. Police body cam footage and headlines announcing fatalities resulting from traffic stops dominate the news and media. Traffic stops that begin with a seemingly mundane purpose and spiral into a violent and deadly clash between civilian and police officer incite a strong reaction among viewers, consuming the media. These sickening incidents have fueled nationwide outrage in response to the overextended power of policing and its dangerous, deeply intertwined relationship with racism in the United States [2]. In Newburgh Heights, Ohio Black residents comprise just 22% of the town’s population, yet 76% of traffic citations and 63% of speeding cases belong to Black motorists [2]. While deeply embedded racism explains why traffic stops have the potential to become dangerous and life-threatening for many BIPOC individuals, the reason for so many ticketed traffic violations in the first place can be attributed to financial and legal systems that award authoritative traffic enforcement powers to police officers and spur a high volume of traffic stops. |
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