Category Archives: Blog

Ghost Guns Are Fueling the Gun Violence Epidemic. After Bruen, Can Our Laws Keep Up?

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Photo credit: Adam Schultz Creative Commons/Flickr

Nick Leiber

As we are reminded by headlines such as “A School Bus Crosses U.S., Linking Families of Mass Shooting Victims” and “Teens buying ‘ghost guns’ online, with deadly consequences,” our gun violence nightmare doesn’t seem to be ending. More Americans died of gun-related injuries in 2021 than in any other year on record, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Perhaps most disturbingly, firearms are now the number one cause of death for children in the U.S., surpassing motor vehicle deaths and those caused by any type of injuries or illness.
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Trans Youth Athletes Are Under Attack. It’s Time to Push Back

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Hirsha Venkataraman 

It’s 2023, and here in the United States, we–or at least some of us–still can’t decide whether or not we want to be on the right side of history. The Supreme Court has gutted abortion rights that existed for decades and allowed a business owner to discriminate against a homosexual couple due to “free exercise of religion.” Will the Court soon be allowing far-right religious zealots to dictate how we treat some of our most vulnerable and marginalized? I am talking about the proliferation of anti-trans legislation sweeping our nation, particularly against transgender athletes and, even more specifically, youth transgender female athletes.

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The First Amendment’s True Threats Doctrine Needs Updating. Counterman Ain’t It

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Annie Seifullah and Jillian Bowen

The First Amendment of the United States Constitution protects freedom of speech, but this protection is not absolute. True threats, which our courts have identified as statements that frighten or intimidate someone into believing that they will be harmed, are an example of speech that is not constitutionally protected. Because social media, tech platforms, and smart devices are so embedded in the ways humans communicate and connect, what actually constitutes a true threat has become not only a more prevalent inquiry in our courts–but also a more difficult question to answer. 

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Free Speech, Bullying, and a CUNY Law Grad Who Dared to Criticize Power

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Nick Leiber

On May 12, CUNY Law School graduate Fatima Mohammed gave a roughly 13-minute commencement speech to her graduating class as a student-selected speaker at CUNY Law’s graduation ceremony. In it, she shared reflections, offered gratitude, and criticized Israel, the New York Police Department, and the legal system itself. Despite her words clearly meeting First Amendment speech protections, a bullying campaign led to a torrent of negative coverage in right-wing media characterizing her words as antisemitic, calls for depriving CUNY Law of public funding, and public concerns for her safety.

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CUNY Law Review Statement on Last Week’s Supreme Court Rulings

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Last week, the United States Supreme Court released a series of critical decisions on ending affirmative action in higher education programs—other than military academies—, blocked student loan forgiveness, and expanded a business owner’s right to refuse services to same-sex couples. Continue reading →

Learn More About Joining CUNY Law Review

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Fellow CUNY Law students,

We encourage you to pause from studying for finals to scream into the wind and learn more about joining us this fall as staff editors working together on social justice scholarship.

You can stop by our tabling sessions on the second floor of the law school from May 1 through May 10 or join us on Zoom by clicking https://bit.ly/LRSEF23. Staffing permitting, we will be at the tabling sessions and on Zoom from 12:30-1:30 pm and 5:45-6:45 pm.

Applications are due by June 1. We look forward to chatting!

Reconceptualizing Bodily Autonomy: Forging Radical Politics of Life and Livelihood

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Chaumtoli Huq

Miki Jourdan CC/Flickr

“There is no such thing as a single-issue struggle because we do not live single-issue lives. Our struggles are particular, but we are not alone.”

Audre Lorde 

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Constructing Immorality: Abortion and Family Policing

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Jasmine Wali

When Roe v. Wade was overturned, advocates across the political spectrum declared that the foster care system would be overwhelmed by an influx of “unwanted” children. Adoption became a central talking point. Anti-abortion proponents stated that adoption was a solution for these families, and that foster and adoption systems needed to be strengthened. Supporters of reproductive choice pointed out the seeming hypocrisy of the “pro-life” movement by highlighting all the children awaiting adoption in foster care.

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Roe Is Gone. What Happens for Trans Men?

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Elias Fox Bova Schmidt

When the Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization decision was leaked on May 2, 2022, I was sitting at my desk, studying for my final exam in my last semester of law school. I had just accepted a fellowship at a reproductive justice organization but I knew that, as a trans man, I was somewhat out of place. I had already felt the hesitancy from many within the reproductive rights landscape to acknowledge that, like cisgender women, trans men require safe and legal access to abortion. As soon as I got the Twitter notification about the leak, I knew that trans men would be among some of the first communities to be further erased in the reactions to the decision. 

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Enough With the Insular Cases! The Tragedy of Vaello Madero

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Lía Fiol-Matta

Earlier this year, the Supreme Court delivered a strong blow to Puerto Rico by ruling that its neediest residents are not eligible for Supplemental Security Insurance (SSI). U.S. v. Vaello Madero challenged the exclusion of otherwise eligible residents of Puerto Rico from receiving SSI, a national benefit for needy aged, blind, and disabled individuals. Jose Luis Vaello Madero, a disabled U.S. citizen, received SSI while living in New York and continued getting payments after relocating to Puerto Rico in 2013. 

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