Can Congress order a state legislature to pass a law?
New York v. United States and Murphy v. NCAA bar Congress from ordering state legislatures to act. Here is the rule and what it still allows.
Constitutional Law
At a glance
Full experience- Legal experienceMassachusetts Attorney General's OfficeLegal intern, Non-Profit Organizations / Public Charities Division, summer 2026
- Law schoolRoger Williams University School of LawJ.D. candidate, May 2028. Dean’s List. LEAD Fellow. Lexis Ambassador. Selected for the Judicial Clinical Externship Program, spring 2027.
- Before lawInside the businessManaged a $100 million Hong Kong group’s first North American office, with working visits to three of its factories in China. Founded Green Initiatives, an environmental nonprofit in Shanghai.
- AlsoM.P.H., LEED AP, Mandarin, FrenchMaster of Public Health; LEED Accredited Professional; about six years in China; co-founded 668 KTV (more than 150,000 subscribers)
Selected writing
All selected writing
Energy lawWho’s Actually Deciding Your Electric Bill? Inside a PURA Rate CaseThe utility asks; PURA decides. How a Connecticut rate case tests the evidence, and who can intervene.
Health lawWhat Are the Social Determinants of Health, and Where Do Lawyers Come In?What U.S. county data show, and where lawyers come in, from housing codes to medical-legal partnerships.
Public interestWhat Legal Aid Funding Sources Cost an OrganizationHow LSC, IOLTA, state money, and philanthropy fund civil legal aid, and the limits each source puts on the work.
Nonprofit lawCy Pres: What Happens to a Charitable Gift When Its Purpose DiesWhen a gift’s purpose becomes impossible, illegal, or impracticable, how courts can redirect it rather than let it fail.
Constitutional lawWhy is the most famous part of Youngstown not what decided it?Everyone quotes Justice Jackson’s zone of twilight. Truman’s seizure failed in the third zone, where Congress had already said no.
InternationalDoing Business in China: Five Legal Basics US Founders Get WrongCompany chops, contracts, NNN agreements, entity choice, and IP, from someone who worked there.
Writing sampleMemorandum opposing a motion to suppress an identification (PDF) 1L legal writing, persuasive memo
Latest writing
Health Law
HIPAA vs. FERPA: Two Different Privacy Regimes for Health Information
A student’s health records are not always covered by HIPAA. A law student with a public health background sorts out which privacy law applies when.
Constitutional Law
Why is the most famous part of Youngstown not what decided it?
Everyone quotes Jackson’s “zone of twilight” from Youngstown v. Sawyer, but that is not what decided the case. A 2L breaks down the real reasoning.
Health Law, Public Interest
What Are the Social Determinants of Health, and Where Do Lawyers Come In?
What the social determinants of health are, what U.S. county data show, and where lawyers come in, from housing codes to medical-legal partnerships.
Public Interest
What Counts as “Income” When the Government Is Deciding Your Rent?
A law student’s look at 24 CFR 5.609, the federal rule defining “income” for HUD housing assistance, and what changed under a 2025 rule update.
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