This issue of the Santa Clara Law Review  brings together a diverse collection of scholarship at the intersection of private law, emerging technology, and evolving regulatory frameworks. Our contributors examine foundational contract doctrines, including remedies for breach of forum selection clauses, while also addressing modern challenges such as algorithmic liability and the integration of artificial intelligence into legal analysis. The issue further explores innovative a

Abstract: When a plaintiff sues in a court other than the one designated in a forum selection clause, the defendant’s remedial options are limited. It can ask the court to dismiss the case outright. Or it can ask the court to transfer the case to the designated forum. The defendant typically cannot, however, recover money damages—in the form of attorneys’ fees and related expenses—that it incurs in the course of persuading the court that transfer or dismissal is appropriate.

Abstract: The shift in the cause of machine-induced harm from mechanical failures to algorithmic decision- making is challenging the applicability of products liability. Because algorithms now operate machines analogously to humans, a doctrinally coherent response is to subject algorithmic torts to a negligence framework that evaluates the reasonableness of decisions rather than the content of algorithms. This approach offers a theoretically grounded, formally neutral, and n

Abstract : Foes of wealth inequality face a basic dilemma. Economic restraints make it impractical to tax income at the very high rates needed to address inequality, while constitutional restraints likely make it impossible to tax principal (wealth) directly. This problem can be solved by marrying the two approaches. The wealthiest taxpayers would be put to a choice: Pay very high income tax rates, or pay more typical income tax rates along with a wealth tax. Because the pr

Abstract : This Article details and advocates for a general methodology for creating a “microexpert” grounded in a user-defined set of legal sources and widely-accessible tools for integrating generative artificial intelligence (AI) into legal analysis. The study focuses particularly on background contract excuse doctrines of impossibility, impracticability, and frustration of purpose, which are collectively a methodologically challenging area of law to rationalize due to fa

Abstract : In June 2022, the Supreme Court articulated a new standard of judicial review for Second Amendment cases in New York State Rifle & Pistol Association, Inc. v. Bruen. Though the Court claimed that Bruen’s “history and tradition” standard was consistent with previous Second Amendment analyses, lower courts struggled to apply it. Two years later, the Court revisited Bruen for the first time in United States v. Rahimi. However, Rahimi came with a unique set of facts –

Abstract : In the last twenty years, social media has undergone a massive transformation. What began as a medium to connect with friends has evolved into a multi-billion-dollar industry where influencers reign supreme, profiting from their online personas. This opportunity is not limited to those old enough to operate their own accounts. The recent rise of child influencers, known as “kidfluencers,” enables parents to profit from sharing aspects of their children’s lives on

This issue is dedicated to our Spring 2025 Symposium on the Supreme Court case City of Grants Pass v. Johnson, a landmark case with ramifications on California's housing crisis. Our contributors explore the criminalization of homelessness, the evolving interpretation of the Eighth Amendment, and the broader implications of Grants Pass on constitutional law and public policy. The Irrationality of Punishing Homelessness–Julie A. Nice: The Supreme Court upheld the criminalizati

Abstract : The Supreme Court upheld the criminalization of public survival by unhoused people in City of Grants Pass v. Johnson in June 2024. This article examines that decision and considers why Grants Pass had not enforced its camping ban against unhoused people when the author visited the city one year later. One important reason is that Oregon had enacted legislation requiring that any camping bans in the state be objectively reasonable considering the totality of circums

Abstract : The brief and ambiguous wording of the Eighth Amendment has permitted courts to adopt a variety of interpretations. These interpretations have been applied inconsistently through different periods of the Amendment’s history, but the U.S. Supreme Court has never established a singular, definitive method for interpreting the Amendment. That is, until the 2024 decision in City of Grants Pass, Oregon v. Johnson, where the Court rejects any interpretation of the Eighth

Abstract : This article examines the intensifying criminalization of homelessness in the United States since the Supreme Court’s 2024 decision in Grants Pass v. Johnson , which removed the ability of people to challenge laws under the Eighth Amendment’s Cruel and Unusual Punishment Clause that prohibit survival behaviors in public places like sitting, sleeping, or lying down. The article explores the legal and practical challenges in documenting criminalization of homelessnes

Abstract: We are witnessing a sweeping transformation of administrative law. The Supreme Court has taken aim at what it believes is a constitutional error: the power of the administrative state. All parts of the so-called “fourth branch of government” are undergoing shifts in the legal doctrines governing their structure. For those in favor of a strong administrative state, most of the Court’s new approach to agency action may represent a sinister effort to prevent the making

Abstract: A robust and extensive body of empirical research, and a rich historical record, documents a recurring and pervasive influence of race in the application of California’s death penalty. This article reviews the legal and social science research to document multiple paths through which institutions and processes produce these racial disparities over many decisions in many cases across four decades. The article reviews relevant literature by decision, institution, or a

Abstract: This Article examines a paradox in contemporary constitutional law: While constitutional rights traditionally protect minorities against majority preferences, the Supreme Court has increasingly enabled certain private actors to override others’ constitutionally protected family formation choices through what this Article calls “private regulation.” The Court’s decisions allow individual private actors to impose traditional religious and moral views on others who do

Abstract: Medical device sterilization processes are a public health paradox. Sterility is necessary to assure product safety, yet emissions from the most common form of industrial sterilization, ethylene oxide (EtO), cause cancer. The connection between ethylene oxide and health risks has existed for decades, though recent litigation, state legislation, and advocacy efforts have illuminated the risks. This Article explores the large-scale EtO emissions in Willowbrook, Illino

Abstract: In order to evaluate claims arising under the California Racial Justice Act (RJA), judges and attorneys need to learn how to draw inferences about racial disparity from data—and, equally importantly, to learn how to avoid drawing inaccurate inferences from data. The key questions in many RJA claims are, first, how to determine what constitutes “defendant[s] who have engaged in similar conduct and are similarly situated” and, second, what might supply race-neutral re

Abstract: Under California’s Racial Justice Act (RJA)—codified in Penal Code section 745—the state may not seek or obtain a criminal conviction or sentence on the basis of race, ethnicity, or national origin. There are four pathways to establishing an RJA violation. Two of the pathways proscribe discriminatory or biased conduct or language inside or outside the courtroom by specified criminal legal system actors, including judges, attorneys, law enforcement officers, and expe

Abstract: Lawyers and academics frequently cooperate to shape public policy and outcomes in specific cases, including in the area of racial justice. However, too frequently, lawyers and academics operate in silos—working towards the same goal of racial justice, but in different arenas. Lawyers are bound to their clients, foremost, and to advocacy before the court—often so much so that they might lose sight of broader challenges, achievements, and theories in racial justice. B

Abstract: Racial disparities within the criminal justice system continue to be a pressing issue, especially after the recent passage of California’s Racial Justice Act, which allows for a broader set of legal challenges based on racially disparate treatment. In this article, we analyze data for almost four million stops by California’s fifteen largest law enforcement agencies in 2019, examining the extent to which people of color experience searches, enforcement, intrusivenes

Abstract: The California Racial Justice Act (RJA), which applies to all pretrial, trial, and post-conviction defendants, prohibits any state actor from relying upon racial bias to seek or obtain a conviction or sentence against a defendant. In a state where racial disparities in incarceration have been growing for decades, the law, which became retroactive in 2024, has the power to create a sea of change across California criminal institutions. Using the power of state consti