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 felony murder predicted on robbery or kidnapping, that tribal consent should also have been required before the United States sought the death penalty in a carjacking case. The interpretation by the Ninth Circuit and the decision by the Executive to proceed with the execution undermine tribal sovereignty and are contrary to both congressional intent and statutory interpretation.

Many localities are facing unprecedented challenges — such as a dramatic rise in homelessness and insufficient transportation infrastructure — that have reached crisis levels. These localities are in a precarious position. If they do not solve these problems quickly, or if they impose overbearing and poorly designed taxes, there will be dire economic and social repercussions.

In response to these challenges, several localities recently enacted or proposed taxes targeted directly at large businesses, with revenues allocated explicitly for a designated purpose. Localities are gravitating toward targeted taxes for several reasons. Some assert that the success of large employers within the locality contributed to, or even directly created, these challenges. Perhaps most importantly, targeted tax laws serve a clear expressive function. Depending on the locality’s primary objective, targeted taxes may be problematic and counterproductive.

This Article begins by examining the recent local targeted tax provisions, which have crucial distinctions in motivations and mechanics. The Article then undertakes a tax policy and constitutional analysis of these targeted taxes, and considers whether they are properly characterized as a tax or a fee. The Article concludes with several proposed alternatives that will generate the requisite revenue — and may serve an expressive function — more effectively than targeted taxes.

Transborder labor trafficking and forced servitude in the global commercial agriculture sector are serious problems that adversely impact farming communities and labor migration patterns. They also constitute violations of basic human rights with regards to personal liberty, freedom of movement, and the right to work for fair wages. Yet, the farm labor cost savings are a powerful incentive for growers and agribusinesses to engage directly or indirectly through corrupt labor recruiters and brokers in the domestic and transborder trafficking of farm workers. This article addresses farm labor trafficking in the United States and abroad, including a discussion of labor trafficking and forced servitude in the rapidly growing marijuana cultivation industry.