Sanam Mehta

In 2012, one of the world’s largest banks, HSBC, allowed hundreds of millions of dollars to be laundered through drug cartels and countless transactions to occur in sanctioned jurisdictions like Iran. Instead of facing criminal prosecution, HSBC paid about $1.9 billion in fines and agreed to compliance reforms under a Deferred Prosecution Agreement. None of the senior executives were charged and the DOJ formally dropped all charges against the corporation in 2017. As corporations grow larger...

Access to menstrual products in prisons is alarmingly underprovided, with thousands of incarcerated women forced to ration supplies, improvise with unsafe alternatives, or trade favors to meet basic needs. Such deprivation constitutes a violation of the Eighth Amendment’s prohibition against cruel and unusual punishment, as well as a sex-based disparity in punishment, raising concerns about Equal Protection, guaranteed by the XIV Amendment. Incarceration is not gender-neutral in practice...

The American welfare system is built on the principle of moral desert rather than human need, meaning that access to aid depends on whether individuals are perceived as “deserving” according to moral standards established by the government. Laws such as the Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act of 1996 and court decisions such as Dandridge v. Williams emphasize how welfare eligibility reflects moral judgment by rewarding behaviors such as marriage and employment. ...