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Government Goes Goop This Article argues that the appointment of prominent wellness and antivaccine figures to senior federal health positions marks the culmination of a long-running evolution in American health fraud—from nineteenth-century traveling medicine shows to the institutional capture of government health agencies. Drawing a direct lineage from patent medicine marketing to contemporary wellness conspiracism, this Article demonstrates how tactics perfected by early medicine show entrepreneurs—emotional manipulation, conspiratorial framing, anti-establishment positioning, and the exploitation of information asymmetries—have persisted across regulatory and technological shifts, ultimately achieving unprecedented political legitimacy. This Article traces this evolution through the deregulated supplement marketplace created by the Dietary Supplement Health and Education Act of 1994, the amplification of health misinformation by social media platforms, and the COVID-19 pandemic’s destabilization of public trust in scientific authority. It then examines how these dynamics enabled the elevation of wellness-aligned figures to leadership roles at the Department of Health and Human Services, the National Institutes of Health, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, and the Food and Drug Administration. The resulting transformation of federal health agencies—from evidence-based institutions into platforms for wellness ideology—has produced immediate public health consequences, including mass resignations of career officials, preventable disease outbreaks, and erosion of America’s scientific credibility. By situating contemporary wellness governance within a longer history of health fraud and regulatory arbitrage, this Article contends that the phenomenon of “government gone Goop” represents a broader crisis of democratic governance: whether institutions tasked with protecting the public can maintain epistemic integrity in information environments that reward confusion, distrust, and commercially profitable misinformation.

Check out the article here: scholarlycommons.law.emory.edu/elj-online/55/

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Professor Oliva considers the effect of wellness figures on federal health industries in “Government Goes Goop,” recently published in Volume 75 of the Emory Law Journal Online.

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Although federal health agencies are known as evidence-based institutions designed to protect public health and prevent misinformation, what effect did the introduction of wellness figures to senior health positions have on federal health agencies and the overall health industry?

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Issue 3, Volume 75 is now live! It features two Articles, one by Professor Ira Robbins and one by Professor Jason Jarvis. It also includes two Comments by Charlotte Ramirez and Kayla Winters. Check out the issue here: scholarlycommons.law.emory.edu/elj/

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Remedying Labor Violations of the United States–Mexico–Canada Agreement on Both Sides of the Border The labor provisions of the United States’ Free Trade Agreements contain language that allows labor violations to seep through unpenalized. Parties to the United States–Mexico–Canada Agreement (USMCA)...

Check out the article here: scholarlycommons.law.emory.edu/elj/vol75/is...

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Congratulations to Lourdes A. Perez! Her Comment, “Remedying Labor Violations of the United States–Mexico–Canada Agreement on Both Sides of the Border,” was recently published in Volume 75 of the Emory Law Journal.

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Silver Lining in a Soap Opera: A Boon for Hospital Debtors in the Midst of In re Steward's Madness Lost in the technical jargon of the Medicare Statute and Bankruptcy Code are the powers to shape the posterity of hospitals that serve the American public. Distressed health care providers are increas...

Check out the article here: scholarlycommons.law.emory.edu/elj/vol75/is...

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Congratulations to Mackie S. Garwood! His Comment, “Silver Lining in a Soap Opera: A Boon for Hospital Debtors in the Midst of In re Steward’s Madness,” was recently published in Volume 75 of the Emory Law Journal.

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Ambiguity's Final Auer: Insisting on Consistency After Loper Bright Enterprises Can one lose something they still have? Apart from this potential brainteaser, a common sense understanding of loss requires an item to actually be removed from its owner. Nevertheless, under the Unit...

Check out the article here: scholarlycommons.law.emory.edu/elj/vol75/is...

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Congratulations to Shannon Pickrell! Her Comment, “Ambiguity's Final Auer: Insisting on Consistency After Loper Bright Enterprises,” was recently published in Volume 75 of the Emory Law Journal.

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Prevention Beyond Deterrence This Article reconceptualizes preventive justice—the public safety paradigm that seeks to prevent harm before it occurs. Scholars have long documented how cities have advanced this paradigm through la...

Check out the article here: scholarlycommons.law.emory.edu/elj/vol75/is...

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Professor Benjamin A. Barsky (of the University of California, College of the Law, San Francisco, formerly UC Hastings) considers this in “Trial by Character,” recently published in Volume 75 of the Emory Law Journal.

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After the 2020 protests to replace police in nonviolent incidents, alternative emergency response programs were implemented in cities nationwide. But do alternative emergency response programs act independently from the police?

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Congratulations to the newly elected Executive Board of Volume 76 of the Emory Law Journal!

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Trial by Character In this Article, I argue that courts regularly deviate from Federal Rule of Evidence 404(b), which prohibits character evidence—evidence of a defendant’s past misdeeds offered to prove that the defend...

Professor Hillel J. Bavli (of SMU Dedman School of Law) considers this in “Trial by Character,” recently published in Volume 75 of the Emory Law Journal. Check out the article here: scholarlycommons.law.emory.edu/elj/vol75/is...

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Federal Rule of Evidence 404 was enacted to ensure that courts focus on charged conduct during a criminal trial rather than a defendant’s character or past behavior. But do courts follow the rule against character evidence?

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Issue 2, Volume 75 is now live! It features Articles by Professor Bavli and Professor Barsky. It also includes three Comments by Shannon Pickrell, Mackie Garwood, and Lourdes Perez. Check out the issue here: scholarlycommons.law.emory.edu/elj/

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The Symposium will take place at Emory University School of Law, and the event is open to the public. Attorneys attending all three panels and the keynote may receive 5.5 CLE credits.

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Hosted annually by ELJ since 1995, the Thrower Symposium honors the life and legacy of Randolph W. Thrower (1913–2014), a beloved attorney and veteran who left a lasting impact on Atlanta and beyond.

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The Emory Law Journal (ELJ) invites you to register for the 2026 Randolph W. Thrower Symposium on Thursday, February 5, 2026. Register here: bit.ly/2026Thrower

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2026 Randolph W. Thrower Symposium The Emory Law Journal (ELJ) invites you to the 2026 Randolph W. Thrower Symposium on Thursday, February 5, 2026. Hosted annually by ELJ since 1995, the Thrower Symposium honors the life and legacy of ...

Register here: bit.ly/2026Thrower

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The event is open to the public. Attorneys attending all three panels and the keynote may receive 5.5 CLE credits.

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Hosted annually by ELJ since 1995, the Thrower Symposium honors the life and legacy of Randolph W. Thrower (1913–2014), a beloved attorney and veteran who left a lasting impact on Atlanta and beyond. The Symposium will take place at Emory University School of Law.

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Ditching Deference: Redefining Particular Social Groups in the Wake of Loper Bright Thousands of individuals flee gang-related violence and seek asylum in the United States every year. Many of these asylum seekers claim they suffer persecution because of their membership in a “partic...

Check it out here: scholarlycommons.law.emory.edu/elj/vol75/is...

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Congratulations to Claire Pellegrin, the Editor-in-Chief of Emory Law Journal! Her Comment, “Ditching Deference: Redefining Particular Social Groups in the Wake of Loper Bright,” was recently published in Volume 75 of the Emory Law Journal.

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Congratulations to Lauren Weinsier! Her Comment, “Dancing Around the Double-Edged Sword: Understanding the Role of the Funding Agreement in Texas Two-Step Dismissals,” was recently published in Volume 75 of the Emory Law Journal.
Check it out here: scholarlycommons.law.emory.edu/elj/vol75/is...

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Congratulations to Hannah Behar! Her Comment, “A Haven for Polluters: Examining CERCLA Successor Liability Under State Law,” was recently published in Volume 75 of the Emory Law Journal.

Check it out here: scholarlycommons.law.emory.edu/elj/vol75/is...

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Playing Politics: Social Media, Censorship, and Speech Gamification Forty percent of Americans self-censor their speech online. While staggering, the hidden phenomenon beneath this figure reveals a more dystopic outlook for the future of free speech. The powerful pred...

Professor Khaled Beydoun considers this in “Playing Politics: Social Media, Censorship, and Speech Gamification,” recently published in Volume 75 of the Emory Law Journal.

Check it out here: scholarlycommons.law.emory.edu/elj/vol75/is...

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As modern speech rapidly shifts to online platforms, what effect do Big Tech intermediaries have on an individual’s right to free speech?

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Our Progressively Brutal Constitution: A Legal Expressivist Account of the Excessive Force Doctrine The Constitution forbids some forms of physical violence. However, the scope of its protection depends on the legal status of the person subjected to the violence. The Fourth Amendment protects a pers...

The article is available at: scholarlycommons.law.emory.edu/elj/vol75/is...

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