It is a significant achievement to have a scholarly article published during a person’s three years as a law student. Not only has Regent 3L Leo Lestino published two articles during his tenure as a law student, but he also has won a nationwide writing contest in the process.
When asked about his recent writing success, Lestino said, “It’s been such a blessing and a great experience.”
One of Lestino’s articles titled, “A Mutated Standard of Review: the Not-So-Strict Deferential Scrutiny in Grutter v. Bollinger and Extending its Flawed Application to K-12 Schools,” won first place in the Pacific Legal Foundation’s 2008 Program for Judicial Awareness Writing Competition.
The article discusses the standard of review for race-based admissions that the Supreme Court used in deciding Grutter v. Bollinger and its extension to the K-12 context. Lestino addresses the error in the Grutter standard and why deferential scrutiny should not be allowed in university admissions or student assignment in the K-12 context.
The article will be published this fall in a Pacific Legal Foundation journal. For more information about the Pacific Legal Foundation and the competition please visit: http://www.pacificlegal.org/?mvcTask=pressReleases&id=831
Lestino’s second article, “Can Jiminy Cricket be Silenced? Congressional Federal Spending, Federalism, and the Federal Refusal Clause,” discusses the constitutionality of enacting a federal refusal (conscience) clause to be attached to health-related federal budget appropriations.
This legislation is aimed at preventing public health agencies that receive federal funding from discriminating against private health care entities that refuse to provide for abortion-related services. The legal issues surrounding refusal clauses are presented from a different perspective: the article addresses whether Congress has the constitutional authority under the spending clause to enact such restrictions and whether refusal clauses violate the general principles of federalism.
The article will be published this fall in the Thomas Goode Jones Law Review.
Lestino was born in Manila, Philippines, and then migrated to Ewa Beach, Hawaii. He received a degree in computer science from the University of Hawaii at Manoa. During his time at Regent, Lestino has competed in intramural and interscholastic trial advocacy competitions, and serves as vice-chair of Trial Advocacy Board, as well as notes and comments editor of Law Review. Following graduation Lestino plans to pursue a judicial clerkship.
Lestino will also be blogging for the law school during the 2007/08 year. You can hear more from Lestino and other students at www.regent.edu/lawblogs.
When asked about his recent writing success, Lestino said, “It’s been such a blessing and a great experience.”
One of Lestino’s articles titled, “A Mutated Standard of Review: the Not-So-Strict Deferential Scrutiny in Grutter v. Bollinger and Extending its Flawed Application to K-12 Schools,” won first place in the Pacific Legal Foundation’s 2008 Program for Judicial Awareness Writing Competition.
The article discusses the standard of review for race-based admissions that the Supreme Court used in deciding Grutter v. Bollinger and its extension to the K-12 context. Lestino addresses the error in the Grutter standard and why deferential scrutiny should not be allowed in university admissions or student assignment in the K-12 context.
The article will be published this fall in a Pacific Legal Foundation journal. For more information about the Pacific Legal Foundation and the competition please visit: http://www.pacificlegal.org/?mvcTask=pressReleases&id=831
Lestino’s second article, “Can Jiminy Cricket be Silenced? Congressional Federal Spending, Federalism, and the Federal Refusal Clause,” discusses the constitutionality of enacting a federal refusal (conscience) clause to be attached to health-related federal budget appropriations.
This legislation is aimed at preventing public health agencies that receive federal funding from discriminating against private health care entities that refuse to provide for abortion-related services. The legal issues surrounding refusal clauses are presented from a different perspective: the article addresses whether Congress has the constitutional authority under the spending clause to enact such restrictions and whether refusal clauses violate the general principles of federalism.
The article will be published this fall in the Thomas Goode Jones Law Review.
Lestino was born in Manila, Philippines, and then migrated to Ewa Beach, Hawaii. He received a degree in computer science from the University of Hawaii at Manoa. During his time at Regent, Lestino has competed in intramural and interscholastic trial advocacy competitions, and serves as vice-chair of Trial Advocacy Board, as well as notes and comments editor of Law Review. Following graduation Lestino plans to pursue a judicial clerkship.
Lestino will also be blogging for the law school during the 2007/08 year. You can hear more from Lestino and other students at www.regent.edu/lawblogs.