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 Emma Davies Emma Davies is a sophomore in the College of Arts and Sciences at the University of Pennsylvania, majoring in Philosophy. On February 24, 2020, the Supreme Court added Fulton v. City of Philadelphia to its docket. This case, which was brought by Catholic Social Services (CSS), challenges the City Of Philadelphia’s decision to stop referring foster children to CSS for placement on the grounds that the agency does not certify same-sex couples as foster parents. The agency had lost in lower courts, but appealed their case to the Supreme Court. The ruling of this case may lay out further explanation to the types of religious discrimination claims that warrant legal remedy, alter the decision in Employment Division v. Smith, and address whether the government violates the First Amendment by making participation in the foster-care system contingent on whether an agency conducts themselves in a way that goes against their religious beliefs [1].
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 By Rachel Gu Rachel Gu is a sophomore in the School of Engineering and Applied Sciences at the University of Pennsylvania studying Bioengineering. On March 11th, the World Health Organization (WHO) declared COVID-19 a global pandemic. Since then, the number of confirmed cases has risen tenfold from 118,000 cases to over 1.8 million cases worldwide [1]. Of these, the U.S. houses over half a million cases with over 20,000 deaths and counting [2]. However, these numbers only showcase the beginning. Experts predict deaths will increase over threefold to about 70,000 by August when the projected infection curve finally begins to flatten [3]. Not to mention, experts predict a second wave of mass infection as society gradually returns to normalcy [4]. As a result, vaccine development is paramount in combating this global pandemic. However, due to the pressure of rising fatalities and plummeting economies, typical rules and regulations are being bypassed by researchers and regulators. In this race to develop vaccines, safety, liability and patent contention must be considered.
 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 (PPE) and minoring in American Sign Language and Deaf Studies. In 2019, 567,715 Americans experienced homelessness on a single night, an increase of 14,885 people from the previous year [1]. Between the same two years, the estimated number of people experiencing chronic homelessness increased by 8.5% [1]. There are notable racial disparities in this population. African Americans make up only 12.5% of Americans, but represent over 40% of the homeless population [2]. Other populations that account for a disproportionately large amount of the homeless population include military veterans, survivors of domestic violence, and the LGBTQ community [2]. If you visit any city or urban center, it is evident that homelessness is an American crisis. To make this crisis worse, many cities within the United States have criminalized homelessness.  By Alya Abbassian
Alya Abbassian is a sophomore at Penn’s College of Arts and Sciences studying Philosophy, Politics, and Economics. On March 23rd, the attorney general of Texas, Ken Paxton, issued a directive banning “any type of abortion that is not medically necessary to preserve the life or health of the mother” [1]. Paxton followed the lead of the Ohio attorney general, who ordered state abortion clinics to halt surgical abortions. Ohio and Texas explained that this is a response to the COVID-19 pandemic in order to ensure that the maximum number of hospital beds and personal protective equipment are available and not being used for “elective” and “nonessential” procedures [1]. Paxton also stated that anyone in violation of this order would be met “with the full force of the law” with the possibility of potential criminal prosecution and jail time [2].  By Kaitlyn Rentala Kaitlyn Rentala is a sophomore in the College of Arts and Sciences at the University of Pennsylvania studying Philosophy, Politics and Economics (PPE). On March 24, 2020, the Supreme Court was scheduled to hear Google LLC v. Oracle America, Inc., a pivotal copyright infringement case that could alter the way in which software companies intrinsically operate. However, due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the Supreme Court announced that the March argument session and its 11 cases would be postponed until an undetermined time. In Google LLC v. Oracle America, Inc., the Supreme Court will finally decide if Google will have to pay Oracle billions of dollars for the copyright that runs hundreds of millions of phones around the world, and their decision will mark the end of almost eight years of numerous federal court cases and appeals launched from both sides.
Potential Universal Do-Not-Resuscitate Policy Is As Legally Unprecedented As It Is Horrifying4/7/2020  By Lyndsey Reeve Lyndsey Reeve is a freshman in the College of Arts and Sciences at the University of Pennsylvania studying International Relations. The COVID-19 pandemic is an undeniable threat to the public, especially medically vulnerable individuals including elderly patients, the immune compromised, and individuals with preexisting respiratory conditions such as asthma. This disaster has sparked a host of shadow crises, from the economic burden on local businesses and individuals unable to perform their jobs remotely due to educational closures and travel restrictions that cripple global interaction. This pandemic is more than a mere inconvenience—it is an international health emergency that will take, at a minimum, months to recover from.
 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.
 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].
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