The Legal Eagle Lowdown

by Maria Wood Commercial DNA testing kits from such companies as 23andMe and AncestryDNA have helped millions of Americans uncover their genetic heritage and find long-lost relatives. In some cases, adoptees have even discovered their birth parents through DNA...

by Jodi L. Miller It’s 2020, an election year, so once again the nation’s attention turns to the way Americans vote and electoral reforms to make that vote count. One electoral reform that is usually front and center is the use of ranked choice voting (RCV), sometimes...

by Michael Barbella The debate on how the President of the United States should be elected is almost as old as the country itself. Contrary to popular belief, voters do not elect the president and vice president directly; instead, they choose electors to form an...

by Maria Wood Since our nation’s founding, who has the right to vote has changed dramatically. In the beginning, the franchise was limited to white, land-owning males. Today, the right can’t be denied to any citizen 18 years of age or older, regardless of gender or...

by Phyllis Raybin Emert Gerrymandering on a partisan basis is not new to politics. The term gerrymander dates back to the 1800s when it was used to mock Massachusetts Governor Elbridge Gerry, who manipulated congressional lines in the state until the map of one...

by Hanna Krueger Free speech is one of the most sacred rights guaranteed by the U.S. Constitution and nowhere has it been more revered than on college campuses, with sit-ins and student activists arrested fighting for the right to free speech and political action on...

by Maria Wood For more than a century, U.S. presidents have declared national monuments, which preserve land that protect endangered species, ecosystems or historical artifacts. Now, lawsuits waiting to be heard in Washington, DC federal court may ultimately decide...

by Michael Barbella There is a saying that “seeing is believing” and another that says the “camera doesn’t lie.” New technology is challenging both notions. In April 2019, former President Barack Obama issued a public warning about phony digital content and reality...

In the fall 2014 edition of The Legal Eagle, we published a story (E-Cigarettes—To Regulate or Not to Regulate) on the relatively new e-cigarette industry and its appropriateness for kids. Since that article was published, there have been several studies regarding the...

In today’s fast-paced world consumers expect a speedy Internet service. The days of waiting endlessly for a website to load are a thing of the past. Or, are they? In the spring 2015 edition of The Legal Eagle, we published a story (Keeping the Internet Neutral) on...