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 Nicholas Williams Nicholas Williams is a freshman in the College of Arts and Sciences planning on majoring in Political Science. The current federal court system was created by the Judiciary Act of 1789. The law created three levels of federal courts: district courts, circuit (or appellate) courts, and the Supreme Court [1]. Today, there are 94 district courts, 13 circuit courts, and one Supreme Court [2], all with the power to issue injunctions - an order that stops a party from continuing a certain action, or, sometimes in the case of the federal government, enforcing a certain policy.
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 By Jessica "Lulu" Lipman
Jessica “Lulu” Lipman is a sophomore at the University of Pennsylvania studying English. Fraternities, a word which originates from the Latin frater, meaning brother, have always been organizations exclusively for men. However, in our evolving world, and with the prevalence of sexual assault that has occurred at fraternities, many have argued that the organizations should be more inclusive and allow women and gender nonconforming individuals to join. In 2019, three women filed a lawsuit against the nine fraternities at Yale University, asserting that they should “gender-integrate.” The women argued that it was gender discrimination to only offer men membership to fraternities. Additionally, the lawsuit also claimed that harassment and sexual abuse had occurred at various fraternity events, and the school had failed to address these concerns. [1]  By Lyndsey Reeve
Lyndsey Reeve is a freshman in the College of Arts and Sciences at the University of Pennsylvania studying International Relations. In March 2019, the FBI operation “Varsity Blues” uncovered 35 parents involved in what would become one of the most notorious and publicized college admissions scandals. Parents were accused of bribing sports coaches to grant their students special admission as athletic recruits on the pretense of falsified test scores. Actresses Laurie Lauchlin and Felicity Huffman were two of the accused, paying William Singer to help their children masquerade as athletic recruits and fabricate exam scores[1].  By Shiven Sharma Shiven Sharma is a senior at the University of Pennsylvania studying Biology with a minor in French Studies. The National Collegiate Athletic Association is an organization founded during two White House conferences in the early 20th century in response to repeated football injuries and deaths. Now, it oversees intercollegiate competition for 24 different sports, most notably including basketball and track. With an enormous viewership for its popular sports, the NCAA has generated a great deal of revenue. For instance, the popular NCAA Basketball March Madness tournament generated upwards of $1 billion last year and the championship game itself raked in $114 million in ad revenue alone [1]. However, despite the lucrative nature of college sports in the U.S., college athletes, up until now, have not received a single penny of compensation for their efforts. For instance, due to former Division I Basketball phenom Zion Williamson’s stint as a Duke Blue Devil, jersey sales more than doubled, yet Williamson did not profit from his name [2].
 By Suprateek Neogi
Suprateek Neogi is a fourth-year student at Rajiv Gandhi National University of Law, Punjab studying Law and specializing in Business Laws. The law in India relating to sexual acts with minors has been specialized in recent years with the Protection of Children against Sexual Offences, 2012 (“POCSO”). Earlier, the Indian Penal Code, 1860 (“IPC”), which deals with general substantive criminal law, was used for persecuting the accused for committing crimes against children. Unfortunately, sexual abuse of children has only recently been publicly acknowledged as a problem in India, which is why POCSO has been a welcome development in India. Despite being well-intentioned and detailed, POCSO has one lacuna. It does not differentiate between sexual acts between consensual minors and sexual acts between minors and adults. [1]  By Emma Davies
Emma Davies is a sophomore in the College of Arts and Sciences at the University of Pennsylvania majoring in Philosophy. In 2015, 21 plaintiffs all under the age of 23 sued the US government in the US District Court for the District Court for the District of Oregon in a case titled Juliana v. US. The plaintiffs, supported by the advocacy group Our Children’s Trust claimed that the US government had recklessly promoted fossil fuel use, which jeopardizes the stability and health of the climate. They argued that the US government’s actions violated people’s constitutional rights to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness, on the basis that a stable climate is a necessary condition to exercise these rights.  By Sophie Lovering Sophie Lovering is a sophomore in the College of Arts and Sciences at the University of Pennsylvania majoring in Philosophy, Politics, and Economics and minoring in American Sign Language and Deaf Studies. “[The United States] raises smoking age to 21! BIG!” Trump wrote on December 20, 2019, referencing a measure included in a sweeping spending bill signed into law in late 2019 [1]. According to the American Lung Association (ALA), increasing the age of sale for tobacco products by just three years will save approximately 50,000 lives [2]. Drs. Steinberg and Delnevo write that most addicted smokers begin their smoking habit before the age of 18, and that marketing is often targeted at young adults, making them an at-risk age group [3]. These researchers argue that an increase in smoking age to 21 will not only make it more difficult for young adults to access tobacco products, but also disrupt the natural trajectory “from experimentation to regular use” [3]
 By Filzah Belal
Filzah Belal is a final year undergraduate law student at National Law University and Judicial Academy, Assam. For decades now, the illegal immigration of Bangladeshis into India’s North-Eastern State of Assam has been a cause of conflict. This high rate of influx led to an exponential growth of immigrants into Assam. What led to the Assam Agitation was the Assamese belief that such an influx posed a threat to their cultural identity.  By Hailie Goldsmith
Hailie Goldsmith is a student in the College of Arts & Sciences, University of Pennsylvania. Substantial research has already been conducted on climate change, showing that the impending consequences span from rising sea levels to high-intensity storms. These effects, already devastating for environmental and ecological reasons, will also create a heavy financial burden for many regions of the world, especially for cities located on coasts. At this point in time, the prices of climate-change-causing-pollutants like carbon dioxide, methane, and nitrous oxide currently do not match the financial costs of the damage they cause [1]. This is because large fossil-fuel-burning-corporations do not factor in the impacts of carbon emissions, which are more technically called “external costs” [2]. A carbon tax would collect revenue to pay for these “external costs.”  By Anika Prakash Anika Prakash is a freshman in the College of Arts and Sciences who plans on studying English and Philosophy, Politics, and Economics. Time and time again, the lives of undocumented children have been wrestled around at the hands of the federal government, often through proxies such as zoning law. Earlier this year, VisionQuest, a private Arizona-based youth agency, received a $5.3 million contract from the Trump administration allowing them to house sixty migrant boys between the ages of 12 and 17 at their North Philadelphia shelter; however, this is not the first time they have received such a contract. VisionQuest previously housed children at the same location and was shut down towards the end of 2017 due to numerous reports of abuse (both physical and emotional) and neglect. A staff member shoved a child’s head through the wall and another child was choked and slapped, among other horrific acts. Additionally, the facility was not cleaned and several staff members were completely untrained [1]. Furthermore, when children were housed in this facility, they were confined to its walls and not allowed to attend local schools or become a part of the surrounding community [2].
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