Tunick, Mark

Prostitution is a controversial service which went through periods of legalization and criminalization in American history. The main problem is a social taboo which considers prostitution to be morally wrongful and a social nuisance. After the Progressive Era, Congress outlawed sexual acts it deemed immoral using Commerce Clause powers. Since the sexual revolution of the 1960s, legislation regulating sex devolved to the states. Currently, prostitution is banned in forty-nine states. I argue that prostitution should not be abolished because it is not inherently harmful, it is not an immoral act, and it has liberty interests found within the United States Constitution. The federal government should define prostitution as a legal activity between consenting adults, and the states should regulate the practice as it does other legitimate professions.

Drunk driving is a serious offense, but often goes unnoticed because no harm is often caused by the person committing such a selfish act. Where there is an accident, fatal or minor, the individual is punished for driving while intoxicated. While many theorists believe that it is inappropriate to punish one who has a blood alcohol concentration (BAC) over the legal limit of .08%, I propose that regardless of the individual harming or not harming another, the person who is driving while intoxicated should face punishment. It should not matter if the driver did not show any signs of impairment or if they hurt anyone else while driving. Any person that goes behind the wheel impaired is at greater risk for hurting themselves or someone else at that time.

In this thesis, I assess the debate over whether inmates should have privileges as a means of rehabilitation within United States prison populations. I focus on the example of Carl Bowles, a convicted murderer residing in Leavenworth Prison, who was given a garden to tend, only to have it taken away by a new regime. My argument is twofold: I will first discuss the normative question of whether an inmate like Carl Bowles ought to be given his garden in the first place. I will then address the empirical question of whether giving him the garden is beneficial to him and society. I unfold my argument by first discussing some central theories of punishment and then applying these theories to the distinct questions concerning treatment of inmates.

Because of the nature of their jobs and lifestyles, public figures are more likely to suffer intrusive invasions into their private lives and cannot generally expect to receive privacy in public places. However, the right to respect for a person’s privacy and the right to freedom of expression are both vitally important rights. Drawing on a balancing test similar to that used by the European Court of Human Rights that attempts to give due weight to each right, I argue that, with matters that are considered to be private like medical issues, a right to free speech should not trump a celebrity’s right to privacy.

I argue that when an individual enters into a relationship, they should be able to share private or embarrassing facts with their partner without fear of waiving their right to privacy: members of an intimate relationship have a moral obligation not to publish, whether orally or in writing, intimate information about one another to third parties. This moral obligation further extends to photographs or videos, and I focus on the case of revenge porn. I also argue that a legal obligation is necessary to protect an individual’s privacy interests. Currently, an individual’s privacy rights are protected by four privacy torts, including the publication of private facts tort. However, in many cases one’s First Amendment right to free speech outweighs one’s right to privacy and so I propose that individuals who enter into an intimate relationship should have an additional legal form of protection.

In the 1954 Supreme Court Case Brown v. Board of Education, the U.S. Supreme Court issued a unanimous ruling declaring that separate schools for white and black students was inherently unequal. This thesis will evaluate the goals of desegregation based on the Court’s writings, and the opinion of academic scholars. It will then look at the history of desegregation in Gainesville Florida, and specifically, Eastside High School. With this history in mind, I will determine whether or not the goals of desegregation expressed by the court and these academic scholars have been met at Eastside. I will conclude that while the goal of desegregation (simply the removal codified segregation) has been met, the goal of integration (an active state intervention to remedy the effects of segregation) has not.

Samuel Huntington has argued that the Islamic and Western worlds are at odds due to
irreconcilable differences in culture and religion, and as a result both will form broad
civilizations that will inevitably lead to conflict. Samuel Huntington's thesis in the "Clash of
Civilizations" is incorrect because the United States is not at war with Islamic world; rather the
conflicts involving the United States in the Middle East are driven by realist national and
strategic interests of security, oil, and domestic policy. The unprecedented recent wave of Arab
revolutions in 2011 have made it more vital than ever to understand the true reasons for the
United State's conflicts in the Middle East so that prudent future foreign policy decisions can be
made.

This paper examines how technological developments in widely used recording devices and social networking sites have impacted scrutiny of police action. ―Police brutality‖ videos are becoming a popular trend on the internet, but various anti-wiretapping statutes have been interpreted to make such recordings illegal. Several case studies will be used, with a focus on Anthony Graber. Twelve states have strict anti-wiretapping statutes, three of which (Massachusetts, Illinois, and Oregon) are notably strict. This paper evaluates the constitutionality of these laws by looking to existing case law, as well as the First and Fourth Amendments of the U.S. Constitution. In light of First Amendment free speech protections, the anti-wiretapping statutes of the three states in question should be illegal; however, this paper will also explore the specific problems presented by video-sharing websites like YouTube to determine when and why police officers do have privacy rights that outweigh constitutional guarantees to free speech.

Full-body scanners are now being used as primary search mechanisms in airports, and this is causing much controversy, with groups such as the Electronic Privacy Information Center (EPIC) alleging that the scanners are unconstitutional. I address whether full-body airport scanners violate the Fourth Amendment when used as primary search mechanisms. Drawing on legal commentary and court cases, involving airport security and administrative searches, and exceptions to general warrant requirements, I argue that when full-body scanners are used as primary search mechanisms, no Fourth Amendment rights are violated, but only if it is established that the scanners are effective and safe.

In Boumediene v. Bush, the Supreme Court held that individuals detained as enemy combatants at U.S. Naval Base Guantánamo Bay (GTMO) during the War on Terror are constitutionally entitled to the writ of habeas corpus. In so finding, the Court failed to thoroughly investigate the nature of the United States‟ relationship with Cuba – an investigation that would have indicated that procedural due process also ought to be extended to those detained at the base. In this thesis, I review the legal battle over enemy combatants, evaluate the writ of habeas corpus as a remedy for unlawful detention, examine the extension of the Constitution beyond its territorial limits, conduct a detailed review of U.S.-Cuban relations, and conclude that GTMO detainees are also constitutionally entitled to all the protections of procedural due process.