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: Hailie Goldsmith Sophomore in the College of Arts and Sciences; majoring in Philosophy, Politics and Economics and minoring in Hispanic Studies. As citizens nationwide continue to cast their votes early in anticipation of Election Day on November 3rd, the novel coronavirus presents a unique and pressing challenge for all registered voters. While some will choose to vote in-person on Election Day, many voters applied for mail-in-ballots to reduce the risk of exposing themselves to the coronavirus. While COVID-19 hinders ease and accessibility with regards to voting, the pandemic especially affects older individuals, particularly residents of convalescent care centers with cognitive impairments. In fact, more than 23 million adults in the United States experience some variation of a limiting mental disorder, ranging from dementia to a learning disability [1].
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 By Hailie Goldsmith
Hailie Goldsmith is a freshman in the College of Arts and Sciences at the University of Pennsylvania. As the novel coronavirus sweeps across the world, essential medical resources like N95 respirators, surgical masks, and ventilators are in incredibly high demand—and in dwindling supply—in the United States. With the federal government and state governments scrambling to determine ways to mass-produce the necessary materials to manage the pandemic, some public health and policy experts have pointed to the Defense Production Act (DPA) as a solution to spur the production of masks and ventilators and address the urgent needs of the U.S. population.  By Hailie Goldsmith Hailie Goldsmith is a freshman in the College of Arts and Sciences at the University of Pennsylvania. With a presidential election on the horizon in November, each state’s current voting laws and what those laws mean for who can vote become increasingly important.
As of 2016, 6.1 million people could not vote due to a felony conviction and accompanying voting restrictions on released felons; however advocacy groups such as the Sentencing Project hope to reduce this number. Voting restrictions on released felons disproportionately impact black voters, since systemic injustices within the prison system contribute to a higher likelihood of black Americans facing incarceration and felony convictions [1].  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 Hailie Goldsmith
Hailie Goldsmith is a freshman in the College of Arts and Sciences at the University of Pennsylvania With an estimated count of 130,000 homeless individuals, the extent of the homeless population is severe and ever-growing in California [1]. After a September visit to San Francisco and Los Angeles, the major sites of California’s homeless population, President Trump solely focused on the potential environmental implications of the homelessness crisis. He criticized the used syringes entering the Pacific Ocean as well as open defecation and its potential to violate federal water-quality standards by spreading dangerous pathogens and contaminants [1]. |
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