Shield Laws Are the Fault Line in the Battle Over Abortion Access NY governor Kathy Hochul has refused to honor extradition requests for Dr. Mary Carpenter, charged with violating abortion bans in Louisiana and Texas, citing New York’s shield law. Dean Rebouché explains how such laws depart from democratic norms and why they have become necessary.

  Pennsylvania Law Schools Are Seeing Double-Digit Boosts in 2025 Applications Temple Law is one of three PA law schools experiencing more than a 50% increase in applications over last year.While leaders cited a variety of factors from changes on the LSAT to political issues, they agreed that admissions would be more competitive across the board. “It’s definitely going to be more competitive,” said Asst. Dean for Admissions and Financial Aid Johanne Johnston.”Applicants know … there are more applicants to law schools, so they in turn are submitting more applications to try to hedge their bets.”

Texas legislators have filed bills that would make abortion pills controlled substances, which would introduce recordkeeping and storage requirements that could make pharmacists reluctant to dispense the drugs. Dean Rebouche tells Politico “There’s potential for this to create a kind of fishing expedition for miscarriage management.” Read More

As the power of a US passport falls, dual citizenship provides political risk insurance. Prof. Peter Spiro says “This time around, the stakes are higher. During the first Trump administration, legacy political guardrails were still in place. Now, many are gone. There is a sense that what Trump wants, Trump will be able to get.” Read More

Anti-abortion activists are proposing legislation to curtail speech about the availability of abortion services. Dean Rachel Rebouche tells the Guardian that “controlling what people can find out about services that are not legal in their state but are legal somewhere else is part of this larger conversation post-Dobbs.” Read More

Bankruptcy has become a popular path for companies facing mass tort liabilities, Prof. Jonathan Lipson tells NPR. It “can give the company significant advantages through the bankruptcy process that they never have in ordinary litigation, including halting those other litigations, halting the discovery process, halting determinations of liability on the merits, and many other things that can be quite valuable to the company but might be costly to victims.” Read More

Governments around the world are raising concerns about the investor-state dispute settlement system, which bypasses courts and puts matters before an international arbitration panel. Prof. Ben Heath says the real winners are neither investors nor states, but the lawyers who profit off the cases. “Who is winning?” Heath said. “The house always wins.” Read More

Dean Rebouche notes twin concerns over the collection of abortion data, particularly for providers in ban states where the care falls within an exception. “The tension we find ourselves in is patient privacy,” she said, “but also the looming allegation that exceptions are being misused.” Read More

Is Philadelphia a sanctuary city? Yes, but what that means requires some nuance. Prof. Jennifer Lee explains for The Conversation. Read More

Professor Kim Mutcherson, visiting Temple as the Beck Chair in Law, sat down with Soledad O’Brien to discuss the future of abortion law in America. Read More