What Is Copyrightable in Software?
Charles Duan 94 Geo. Wash. L. Rev. 638 For five decades, copyright law has been internally inconsistent. Computer code receives copyright protection—the statute says so. But the statute also excludes methods of operation from copyright. Given that computer code is a method of operating a computer, these two blackletter doctrines contradict each other. To avoid... Read More
Immigration Detention as Continuing Seizure
Amelia Wilson 94 Geo. Wash. L. Rev. 580 The jurisprudence on challenges to immigration confinement has oscillated wildly over the past four decades. Immigration detention has no true custodial analog in purpose, duration, or justification. It is civil in name but manifestly criminal in form and function. Federal courts have traditionally understood that the Fifth... Read More
Confrontation at Sentencing
Josiah Rutledge 94 Geo. Wash. L. Rev. 515 In modern criminal prosecutions, the determination of guilt is often little more than a formality. It sets the stage for the main event: sentencing. Sentencing, in turn, is driven by facts about both the offense and the offender. Years of imprisonment (or even life and death) may... Read More
Case Note: Supreme Court Holds Schools Likely Required to Inform Parents of Students’ Gender Identity
June 8, 2026 Mirabelli v. Bonta, 607 U.S. ___ (2026) (per curiam) Case Note by Aidan Keaveney Geo. Wash. L. Rev. On the Docket (Oct. Term 2025) Slip Opinion | SCOTUSblog Supreme Court Holds Schools Likely Required to Inform Parents of Students’ Gender Identity The Supreme Court has weighed in on a fraught controversy over the rights... Read More
Bruen Leads to Ruin: Taking Aim at Second Amendment Confusion Through a Principle–Driven Lens
Elya Nassaj 94 Geo. Wash. L. Rev. Arguendo 81 This Note analyzes the Supreme Court’s decisions in New York State Rifle & Pistol Ass’n v. Bruen and United States v. Rahimi, highlighting its problematic reliance on historical analogues to assess firearm regulations under the Second Amendment. Under the Bruen framework, firearm regulations are constitutional only... Read More
The Feeder Frenzy
Tracey E. George, Mitu Gulati, & Albert H. Yoon 94 Geo. Wash. L. Rev. Arguendo 61 A Supreme Court clerkship is the legal profession’s most valuable credential, yet access is increasingly controlled by a microscopic subset of the federal judiciary. This Essay presents an analysis of the “feeder judge” phenomenon, revealing a system defined by... Read More
Getting Online Copyright Right: Cox Communications v. Sony Music Entertainment
May 13, 2026 Cox Communications, Inc. v. Sony Music Entertainment, 607 U.S. ____ (2026) (Thomas, J.) Response by Christopher A. Cotropia & James Gibson Geo. Wash. L. Rev. On the Docket (Oct. Term 2025) Slip Opinion | SCOTUSblog Getting Online Copyright Right: Cox Communications v. Sony Music Entertainment The Supreme Court’s decision in Cox Communications,... Read More
Airbnb to AirDND: The Dormant Commerce Clause as a “Do Not Disturb” Sign Against Regulatory Intrusions on the Short-Term Rental Market
Sara E. Kim 94 Geo. Wash. L. Rev. 487 Banning or significantly restricting short-term rental properties (“STRs”) has become a common strategy in addressing the housing crisis for local law-makers around the United States. As Airbnb rapidly grew throughout the 2010s, STRs became a global phenomenon. They soon began to monopolize the real estate market,... Read More
Cleaning Up Digital Pollution: Applying Environmental Law to Jurisdictional Issues in Internet Data Extraction Cases
Emma M. Bjeldanes 94 Geo. Wash. L. Rev. 451 The current approach used by district and circuit courts to test personal jurisdiction in internet data extraction cases has made it increasingly difficult—and sometimes impossible—for plaintiffs to sue companies that collect and exploit their personal data without their knowledge. Lower courts’ interpretations of the Supreme Court’s... Read More
Demystifying Third-Party Litigation Funding
J. Jonas Anderson 94 Geo. Wash. L. Rev. 392 Third-party litigation funding (“TPLF”) is having a moment. The TPLF industry is exploding, with upwards of seventeen billion dollars flowing into the industry; the Supreme Court recently asked litigants how many of the Court’s cases are third-party funded; and Congress is considering numerous bills on TPLF... Read More