Michael C. Dorf discusses the extensive national news coverage to the University of Michigan’s decision to adopt a pass/fail grading policy for first-semester undergraduates. Professor Dorf argues that this routine administrative change became a national story because conservative culture-war narratives and the Trump administration weaponize such decisions to portray higher education as anti-meritocratic and overly permissive.

Cornell professor Joseph Margulies examines the recent mass stabbing in Michigan by Bradford James Gille and explores the deeper systemic and personal factors behind seemingly random acts of violence. Professor Margulies argues that before society can decide what justice or punishment looks like in such cases, we must first understand the humanity and complex stories behind individuals like Gille, rejecting questions that strip away their personhood.

Marci A. Hamilton, a professor and resident senior fellow in the Fox Leadership Program at the University of Pennsylvania, describes what three states are doing to improve child sex abuse victims' access to justice. Hamilton explains how Georgia, Michigan, and New York are finally changing their restrictive statutes of limitations to start to give victims access to the court system they so deserve.

George Washington law professor and economist Neil H. Buchanan discusses a set of issues raised by an op-ed on the public health emergency in Flint, Michigan, written by one of former president George W. Bush’s speechwriters. Buchanan argues that one of the takeaway lessons is that the government—and particularly the federal government—plays an essential role in responding adequately when disaster strikes.