Dangerous or Neglected
Amanda Landaverde
This Article calls on California’s courts to revisit Donaldson and reexamine the purpose of the parens patriae power. Both the rationale in Donaldson and the purpose of the state’s parens patriae power require a finding of lack of capacity to civilly commit “gravely disabled” individuals. Accordingly, when the state relies upon a person’s unsheltered status to evidence that they are “gravely disabled,” the state must establish that the individual’s unsheltered status is due to a lack of capacity to acquire and maintain appropriate shelter, rather than a lack of opportunity. This standard will ensure that the state is properly using its parens patriae power to help those incapable of helping themselves instead of abusing the civil commitment system to address homelessness.
Pearl's Perfect Last Will - Crushed by Infantilism Bias
Edward F. Fogarty
This Article calls mentally impaired elders, and their advocates, to battle the law and its infantilism bias. The mentally impaired elder can make a will. Guardians, conservators, trustees, courts, and relatives cannot stop will-making or even participate in it except as the will-maker allows; lawyers and clients decide on capacitynot psychiatrists; majority heirs cannot cut out minority heirs; and probate courts need not allow the courts to be casinos for gambling heir.
Home of the Brave, Land of the Free: The Star-Spangled Banner's Contested History
Michael H. Hoffheimer
This Article reviews the history of the composition, revision, and reception of The Star-Spangled Banner, It documents how generations of Americans have contested multiple aspects of the song that would become the national anthem from its musical sources to its title, meaning, and standards of performance. Controversies over the song’s symbolic value peaked during the struggle to abolish slavery, the movement for civil rights, and protests by athletes taking the knee in response to continuing repression and abuse of African Americans. Drawing on abolitionist literature, the autobiography of Frederick Douglass, songs by Lead Belly, and speeches of Martin Luther King, Jr., the Essay shows that the phrase “land of the free” provoked emotional reactions that veered from dismissing the words as hypocritical to embracing them as aspirational.
The Call to Action, and My Reluctant Answer
Audrey R. Svane
Facing eviction without legal representation leaves tenants with a heightened risk of losing their homes. Unlike other civil cases, eviction court proceedings happen in hyper-speed, depriving unrepresented tenants of meaningful due process. Most tenants do not have the resources to hire an attorney, and unlike criminal proceedings, there is no constitutional right to counsel in civil cases. In 2020, a call from the Volunteer Lawyers Project with the Nebraska State Bar Association presented Audrey Svane, a civil attorney, with the opportunity to assist unrepresented tenants facing eviction. This call to action and Audrey’s reluctant answer resulted in meaningful outcomes for the tenants she represented over the last five years. After reflecting on her time volunteering with the Tenant Assistance Project, Audrey calls other lawyers and community stakeholders into action to volunteer and advocate for the expansion of right-to-counsel programs nationwide—particularly in eviction proceedings.
Lost and Found
Katherine M. Houlden
Volume 3 of this Journal will be the first volume not edited by any of the founding members. In the inaugural issue of the NEBRASKA JOURNAL OF ADVANCING JUSTICE (NJAJ), then-Student Editor-in-Chief Brooklyn Terrill noted the fight to advance justice would persist well into the future. As the new Editorial Board tries to fill the shoes of those who came before us, we must ask if advancing justice means the same thing to us as it did to the founding Editorial Board. How do our own experiences and biases shape our definition of that lofty goal?
