ARE WE LOSING OUR DEMOCRACY? Countries that slide from democracy toward autocracy tend to follow similar patterns. To measure what is happening in the United States, the N.Y. Times editorial board has compiled a …
Month: October 2025
Romania among the states in democratic regression: interference in the judiciary among the concerns
According to the World Justice Project’s 2025 Rule of Law Index, Romania has dropped three places to 44th globally, reflecting a continued decline in democratic standards and institutional integrity. The report highlights weakening checks on …
Alex (2025). “Fuzzy Boundaries: A Mechanism for Group Accumulation of Advantage”
Alex, H. (2025). Fuzzy Boundaries: A Mechanism for Group Accumulation of Advantage. Sociological Theory, 0(0). https://doi.org/10.1177/07352751251378516 This article describes a strategic mechanism, fuzzy boundaries, that groups use to accumulate advantage. In contrast to the dominant …
Legal Ethics Roundup: Judges Critique Lawyer Lies, CA Won’t Expunge Discipline, AG Attacks On ESG As Ethics Violations, AI Keeps Hallucinating Legal Opinions & More
This week’s Legal Ethics Roundup highlights pressing issues at the intersection of law, ethics, and democracy. Former federal judges warn that DOJ lawyers under the Trump administration have misled courts, raising new questions about government …
What If the Big Law Firms Hadn’t Caved to Trump?
This New Yorker article examines how major U.S. law firms responded to Donald Trump’s efforts to overturn the 2020 election and the broader implications for the legal profession. It argues that many elite firms, once …
Trump’s Attempt to Roll Back Key Civil Rights-Enforcement Tool
The ACLU is leading the fight to protect civil rights and challenge systemic inequality in housing, employment, education, and beyond. Recent actions by the Trump administration threaten decades of progress by rolling back disparate impact …
Chad: Constitutional Change Threatens Rule of Law and Democracy
Chad’s recent constitutional amendment abolishing presidential term limits marks a major setback for democracy and the rule of law. The reform, fast-tracked through parliament and signed by President Mahamat Idriss Déby, allows him to remain …
Defending Our Ideals in the Face of Adversity
In a powerful reflection, Suren Avanesyan shares his encounter with two leading Russian human rights lawyers, Vadim Prokhorov and Karina Moskalenko, who continue to defend political prisoners from exile. Their work before the European Court …
Satterthwaite, Sydow & Polk (2023). “Unchecking Power and Capturing Courts: How Autocratization Erodes Independent Judicial Systems”.
Satterthwaite, M. L., Sydow, K., & Polk, B. (2023). Unchecking Power and Capturing Courts: How Autocratization Erodes Independent Judicial Systems. Rutgers UL Rev., 76, 1147. The paper argues that courts have increasingly taken on legislative …
Mather & Levin (2022). “When and Why Do Lawyer Organizations Seek to Influence Law?”
Mather, Lynn and Levin, Leslie C., When and Why Do Lawyer Organizations Seek to Influence Law? (2022). Lawyers in 21st Century Societies: Volume 2 (2022), University at Buffalo School of Law Legal Studies Research Paper …