MJIL Blog

Thomas Plunkett The Bolivarian Republic has always had the ire of Washington. Amidst renewed saber-rattling—extrajudicial drone strikes on “narcos,”[1] amphibious landing drills in Puerto Rico,[2] and carrier group deployments in the Caribbean[3]—Washington’s jus ad bellum: electoral illegitimacy and narco-corruption,[4] are symptoms. The deeper issue is alignment. Venezuela exited the American sphere-of-influence twenty-six years ago and […]

Alexander Anthony In March 2014, satellite imagery showed a Chinese vessel dredging up sand near Cuarteron Reef—a submerged coral reef in the Spratly Islands.[1] Less than a year later, part of the reef had risen above sea level, and was littered with construction equipment.[2] Seven years after that, the island was fully settled, containing vegetation,

Keaton Zeimet On President Trump’s first day in office, his administration ordered billions of dollars in international aid frozen,[1] which would result in a cascading domino effect with several trips to the Supreme Court and a seldom-used executive tool. In an executive order, the Trump Administration froze billions of dollars in international aid to determine

Jiakang Yu Generative artificial intelligence now produces expressive works—images, music, code, even legal analysis—that resemble human creativity with increasing sophistication. Yet copyright systems around the world still assume that authorship is exclusively human. As states scramble to update their intellectual property regimes, the question of whether AI-generated works deserve legal protection has become one of

Brendan Lugoperez The ubiquity of semiconductors places the industry at the intersection of trade politics and national security strategies.[1] Currently, the United States has two key mechanisms to navigate the economic confrontation with China over the industry: export controls and outbound investment screening to navigate through the ongoing trade war.[2] China has responded with the

Caroline Schaeffer History has marched forward with women gaining more rights, like the ability to vote and contract from picket lines and slogans.[1] However, this has not been an equal march, and in many countries, women still face debilitating gender discrimination.[2] This victimization of half the population poses a significant obstacle in asylum claims. U.S.

Ishan Singh “Make that move right now, baby. You only go out once in a lifetime.”[1] Make That Move was one of many hit songs by Shalamar before the group broke up. Shalamar was made up of Howard Hewett, Jody Watley, and Jeffrey Daniel.[2] Shalamar’s origins trace back to Soul Train and eventually operated under

Luca Costin In recent years, Minnesota small talk has shifted from snow to haze. Smoke emanating from wildfires in Canada has traveled south across the border, darkening our skies. The past three years have been some of Canada’s worst years for wildfires on record.[1] In July, four Minnesota lawmakers sent a letter to the Canadian

Jazz Ward Mass media holds a vast level of power over people. It controls not just our schedules, our communications, and our serotonin, but also how and why we think about current events. Critical thinking may be encouraged when reading academic papers or encountering divisive online rhetoric, but how has mass media shaped our thoughts

Teagan L. Danilowicz In 2020, President Donald J. Trump signed the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2020, establishing the United States Space Force as a branch of the Air Force.[1] According to §9091 of the Act, the functions of the Space Force include “providing freedom of operations in… the space domain for the