Recent Articles in Volume 78 (2025)
How Criminal Offenders Offend Society’s Equality Expectations
The public’s concern over safety and rising crime rates dominated opinion polls and played a significant role in the 2024 presidential election. This article argues that, although much has been written on the offender’s state of mind and the concrete harms offenders impose, what is missing is a more victim-centric understanding of the full scope of crime’s consequences. [...]
What’s in a Name? Policing, Juliet.
“Child welfare” and “child protection” are misnomers. These terms do not accurately depict the investigatory nature of the system purported to help families, or at the very least, save endangered children. Contrary to public opinion, the “child welfare system” comprises of state actors who police parents and children. It is the naming of this system that convinces the public that these agencies are excised from the category of law enforcement, persuading many that the agencies engage in social work and not police work. Calling the system what it really is—family policing—is a step toward achieving justice for families adversely impacted by the system. [...]
By Ronald Beal – In 2019, the Texas Legislature granted the Governor new powers to review the rulemaking process for certain state agencies. Since then, the Governor has apparently extended this authority of review over the rulemaking process to more agencies than he was authorized to. Some journalists and scholars, including this Author, have attempted to access the proposals and comments submitted to the rulemaking process by the Governor’s Office—and yet the records are withheld by the Texas Attorney General under claimed exceptions to the Texas Public Information Act. Despite the Attorney General’s claims, this Author and others maintain that any records of these submissions to agencies’ rulemaking processes by the Governor should be publicly available as a matter of law. This Article lays out the recent history of the Governor’s “Secret Rulemaking Division,” and ultimately explains why, under the Texas Administrative Procedure Act, any and all comments, suggestions, or changes made by the Governor to state agencies’ rulemaking processes must be released as public information. [...]
Dissecting the Frog: How a Meme Explains the Westlaw/Lexis and Generational Divide
By Sam Williams – One of the most controversial elements of the 2024 Olympic Games in Paris was a drag show during the opening ceremony that allegedly parodied Christianity by recreating Leonardo da Vinci’s The Last Supper. A legal meme emerged showing both images side by side, labeling da Vinci’s painting “Westlaw” and the drag show “Lexis.” In this article, I explain why this meme is funny by showing how the differences between Westlaw and Lexis+, and legal minds’ attitudes towards those differences, offer fascinating parallels to this controversy. [...]
By Jeffrey A. Parness – This Article advocates law review reforms that would enhance the impact of the ideas within various journals’ published works. Opportunities, yet not often seized, chiefly arise from the new technologically based mechanisms for delivering information. Impact enhancement can be achieved with major, yet low effort, reforms to the solicitation, editing, and distribution stages of journal publication. [...]