Solving the Housing Crisis Through “The T”: How to Ensure Compliance with the MBTA Communities Act

May 21, 2024 | 2023-2024, Blogs

Jackson Dowd PDF In 2021, the Massachusetts state legislature passed the MBTA Communities Act (MBTA Act) to increase multi-family residential zoning near MBTA access points.[1]  The MBTA Act designates 177 Massachusetts municipalities proximal to public transit as...

Hume Lake Christian Camps, Inc. v. Planning Board of Monterey: Creating a New Religious Exemption Test Under the Dover Amendment

Jan 30, 2024 | 2023-2024, Blogs

Jackson Dowd PDF “The [Dover] [A]mendment ‘seeks to strike a balance between preventing local discrimination against a religious use and honoring legitimate municipal concerns that typically find expression in local zoning laws.’”[1] When the Massachusetts Supreme...

Supporting Incarcerated Transgender Individuals’ Access to Gender Confirmation Surgery:  A Wholistic Approach to Change

Apr 15, 2023 | 2022-2023

Sally Langan PDF Angelina Resto is a fifty-nine-year-old transgender woman who spent twenty-eight years of her life in the U.S. prison system.[1]  After being released from prison in April of 2019, she now devotes her time to speaking about her experience and...

To Compete or to Noncompete:  FTC’s Proposed Rule Banning Noncompetes May Open Labor as We Know It

Mar 31, 2023 | 2022-2023

Ronnie M. Farr PDF Introduction In July of 2021, President Joe Biden issued Executive Order No. 14036 (the Executive Order) calling for a whole-government effort to promote the American economy.  One of the measures making the biggest waves is the Order’s directive...

How Governor DeSantis’s Political Ploy Shipping Migrants to Martha’s Vineyard Violates the Fourteenth Amendment of the U.S. Constitution

Mar 7, 2023 | 2022-2023

Bethany Gamble PDF On September 14, 2022, two privately charted planes, carrying approximately fifty migrants from Venezuela, touched down in Martha’s Vineyard, Massachusetts.[1]  The migrants fled Venezuela due to the severe humanitarian crisis caused by political...

Handing Over Data:  Amazon One’s Hand-Recognition Technology in a COVID-19 World

Feb 20, 2023 | 2022-2023

Ronnie M. Farr  PDF Technology using biometric identification methods has existed for centuries, but only more recently have it forced its way into political and legal arenas.  As companies push to implement biometric technology into their everyday business practices...