Stetson Law Review Spotlights

Protection or Indifference: Why the Arizona v. Navajo Nation Decision Doesn’t Hold WaterMarch 7, 2025
By Jessica Faucher* Arizona v. Navajo Nation where a 5-4 majority ruled that the U.S. government has no affirmative duty to secure water for the Navajo Tribe under its 1868 treaty with the United States. The majority’s decision in Navajo Nation mischaracterizes the Navajo’s claims, applies an unsuitable legal framework, and undermines the trust obligations… Read more: Protection or Indifference: Why the Arizona v. Navajo Nation Decision Doesn’t Hold Water
Teaching on Territorial Scope in Constitutional Law: The Case of the Kingdom of the NetherlandsMarch 7, 2025
By Flora Goudappel* Like the United States, the Kingdom of the Netherlands consists of a main part of the state and several parts with different levels of autonomy in other regions of the world. The organization of the cooperation between the four countries within the Kingdom is laid down in the Statute of the Kingdom.… Read more: Teaching on Territorial Scope in Constitutional Law: The Case of the Kingdom of the Netherlands
Checks and Balances: A Fallacy in U.S. Territorial GovernanceMarch 7, 2025
By Sígrid Vendrell-Polanco* This Article delves into the intricacies of the checks and balances system meticulously crafted by the founders of the United States. This framework aims at ensuring a balanced distribution of power among the federal government’s branches. By dissecting historical documents and constitutional debates, this Article explores the checks and balances structure envisioned… Read more: Checks and Balances: A Fallacy in U.S. Territorial Governance
Betting in Far Away Places: Using Gambling Law to Teach U.S. Territorial Law (and Vice-Versa)March 7, 2025
By Robert M. Jarvis* Most law students know little, if anything, about the U.S. territories. Law professors can help increase their students’ knowledge by including references about the territories in their courses. In this Article, the Author explains how he does so in his gambling law course.
How to Keep an Empire: A Legal Analysis of the Maintenance of Uneven Power Relations in the Insular CasesMarch 7, 2025
By Dolace McLean* The Insular Cases continue to attract intellectual attention that excoriates their obvious racism, and rightly so. These cases stubbornly persist as part of constitutional law jurisprudence although they embrace concepts that make the territories separate and unequal under the Constitution—strongly reminiscent of the reasoning in Plessy v. Ferguson. Indeed, the author of… Read more: How to Keep an Empire: A Legal Analysis of the Maintenance of Uneven Power Relations in the Insular Cases