CategoryDiscourse

Discourse publishes shorter articles that are timely, interdisciplinary, and novel. Discourse strives to serve as a platform for scholars, ideas, and discussions that have often been overlooked in traditional law review settings. Because we seek to publish pieces that are accessible to legal and non-legal audiences alike, Discourse articles are generally between 3,000 and 10,000 words. Like our print journal, Discourse articles are published on Westlaw, Lexis, and in other legal databases, as well as our own website. Beginning with Volume 68, Discourse began publishing special issues of Law Meets World.

Applying for Compassionate Release as a Pro Se Litigant

Abstract This Essay describes the importance of exhaustion of administrative remedies to filing petitions for compassionate release as a pro se litigant.  The exhaustion requirement has traditionally functioned as a barrier to filing petitions in federal court.  It can often take months or over a year to fulfill the exhaustion requirement, which means that people seeking compassionate release are...

Insurgent Knowledge: Battling CDCR From Inside the System. The Story of the Essential Collaboration Between Jailhouse Lawyers and Appointed Counsel & Lessons for Resentencing Today

Abstract Jailhouse lawyering enables incarcerated persons throughout our nation to access the court system as pro se litigants, but self-represented litigants face detrimental barriers to obtaining justice.  A partnership between prisoners filing pro se and appointed attorneys is essential to bridge the gap between the vast resources of the State and those of prisoners, equipped with...

Bound by Law, Freed by Solidarity: Navigating California Prisons and Universities as a Jailhouse Lawyer

Abstract For jailhouse lawyers, winning a lawsuit seems like a victory, but there are multiple barriers to practicing law post-incarceration. Building on personal experiences, this Essay focuses on the deterrents to legal education in prison and post-incarceration for jailhouse lawyers. Through an examination of structural obstacles that keep formerly incarcerated people out of the legal...

Challenging Gladiator Fights in the CDCR

Abstract The California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation (CDCR) has a long history of placing people in long-term isolation in response to suspected or confirmed gang membership or affiliation.  Despite being forced to stop the practice of  indefinite solitary confinement, CDCR continued other arguably unconstitutional practices in response to gang activity.  At Pleasant Valley State...

To Act Like a Democracy

Abstract Today, 5.2 million Americans are kept from voting because of felony disenfranchisement laws.  African Americans are disproportionately affected by these laws.  There has been a wave of reforms in recent years, restoring the right to vote to formerly disenfranchised persons.  This Essay discusses the reasons the franchise should be expanded, both because it leads to lower recidivism rates...

Jailhouse Lawyering From the Beginning

Abstract Jailhouse lawyering is a form of resistance against the prison industrial complex that seeks to silence and disappear prisoners.  This Essay describes the author’s acts of resistance, or growth as a jailhouse lawyer, from arrest to imprisonment using critical race theory and abolition theory.  While it tells one person’s stories, it is both shaped by those who taught him and the...

Making Bricks Without Straw: Legal Training for Female Jailhouse Lawyers in the Louisiana Penal System

Abstract Overt gender discrimination, and the combined failure of Louisiana’s Department of Public Safety and Corrections (DPSC) and Louisiana Correctional Institute for Women (LCIW) prison officials to provide offender counsel substitutes in prisons for women (OCS-W) the same quality legal education and training as provided for those incarcerated in prisons for men, are violations of the...

An Old Lawyer Learns New Tricks: A Memoir

Abstract In this reflection, James Bottomley shares his experience as a formerly barred attorney who is now incarcerated in a California state prison.  Bottomley has practiced as a jailhouse lawyer for himself and other incarcerated people in recent years but is now retired from the practice of law. Introduction When I was in jail, depressed that my next destination was the California state...

The Soft-Shoe and Shuffle of Law School Hiring Committee Practices

“The way to right wrongs is to turn the light of truth upon them.”[1] –Ida B. Wells Abstract It is in the spirit of Ida B. Wells that we seek to turn the light upon the systemic racism of hiring practices.[2]  We believe these practices are indicators of the systemic failures on campuses and in workplaces that prevent them from being antiracist.  We seek to use this Essay as a “tool for exposing...

Abandoning Presidential Administration: A Civic Governance Agenda to Promote Democratic Equality and Guard Against Creeping Authoritarianism

Abstract Upon assuming the presidency, Joe Biden is likely to enjoy limited congressional support for his legislative agenda.  Democrats believe they have a good playbook for this situation: “presidential administration.”  Coined by now–Justice Kagan, presidential administration endorses the use of unilateral executive action to advance the president’s policy priorities.  We argue that...

The Wrongful Death of an Indian: A Tribe’s Right to Object to the Death Penalty

Abstract This Essay responds to the execution of Lezmond Mitchell, the only American Indian on federal death row.  The execution was carried out on August 26, 2020 over the objection of both members of the victims’ family and the Navajo Nation.  This Essay takes the clear position that because the Federal Death Penalty Act of 1994 requires tribal consent to seek the death penalty for murder, or...

#SoWhiteMale: Federal Procedural Rulemaking Committees

Abstract Of the 630 members of a specialized set of committees responsible for drafting the federal rules for civil and criminal litigation, 591 of them have been white.  That is 94 percent of the committee membership.  Of that same group, 513—or 81 percent—have been white men.  Decisionmaking bodies do better work when their members are diverse; these rulemaking committees are no exception.  The...

Judicial Racism And Judicial Antiracism: Retelling The Dred Scott Story

Abstract This Essay retells the Dred Scott story as a set of intersecting stories about judicial racism and judicial antiracism.  Part I defines racism and antiracism, then discusses how racist and antiracist ideas are realized through government power.  Next, this Essay visits one of the most prominent moments of judicial racial history: the story of Dred Scott.  Part II walks through the...