Digital Commons Network^™

The Short, Puzzling(?) Life Of The Civil Union, John G. Culhane

John G. Culhane

In the battle for marriage equality, equal protection has proven to be a more successful strategy than fundamental rights. This outcome is perhaps surprising, given that civil unions arguably afford at least "formal" equality to same-sex couples. Yet the supreme courts of Connecticut and California have emphasized the denial of equality that the difference in names connotes - civil unions or domestic partnerships v. marriage - and therefore have moved dramatically towards real equality. These two courts were the first to declare that sexual orientation is a suspect (California) or quasi-suspect (Connecticut) classification, thereby radically changing the debate and the …

The Irrational Woman: Informed Consent And Abortion Decision-Making, Maya Manian

Maya Manian

In Gonzales v. Carhart, the Supreme Court upheld a federal ban on a type of second-trimester abortion that many physicians believe is safer for their patients. Carhart presented a watershed moment in abortion law, because it marks the Supreme Court’s first use of the anti-abortion movement’s “woman-protective” rationale to uphold a ban on abortion and the first time since Roe v. Wade that the Court denied women a health exception to an abortion restriction. The woman-protective rationale asserts that banning abortion promotes women’s mental health. According to Carhart, the State should make the final decisions about pregnant women’s healthcare, because …

"Athleticated" Versus Educated: A Qualitative Investigation Of Campus Perceptions, Recruiting And African American Male Student-Athletes, Keith Harrison

Dr. C. Keith Harrison

The purpose of this study was to conduct a qualitative investigation of student narratives (N= 167) about the contemporary issue of recruiting high-profile African American male student-athletes. Participants were asked to view a scene on recruiting from the film, The Program (1994). Participants were then presented with questions regarding a recruiting trip by an African American football player to a traditionally white campus. Findings indicate that both Black and White students perceived the African American male student-athletes in the film scene to be more "athleticated" than educated. They were also perceived as stereotypical sex-objects. "When athletes (especially male) show up …

Inside Guantanamo, Peter J. Honigsberg

Peter J Honigsberg

In May 2007 I visited Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. What I saw and experienced then are fading away and will soon disappear, now that two-thirds of the nearly 800 detainees have been released and President Obama will close the detention centers within the year. Consequently, this essay provides a historical account of one person's media visit to Guantanamo, when it was a fully-operational prison violating human rights, due process and international law.

The essay describes not only the visit but also the application process -- a bizarre experience. The military's application concluded with two quotes from the New Testament and included …

A Day In The Life Of A Male College Athlete: A Public Perception And Qualitative Campus Investigation, Keith Harrison

Dr. C. Keith Harrison

Perceptual confirmation paradigm (PCP) rooted in social psychology, can be implemented to frame sport science research questions (Stone, Perry, & Darley, 1997). Public perception of college athletes’ lives has been scarcely investigated in the sport sciences (Keels, 2005) using the PCP to prime stereotypes. The purpose of this study was to prime stereotypes about a day in the life of a college athlete by using qualitative inquiry to assess college students’ (N = 87) perceptions. Participants provided written responses about a day in the life of a college athlete. Two different college athlete targets were used “Tyrone Walker” (n = …

Loneliness And The Law: Solitude Action And Power In Law And Literature, Marc L. Roark

Marc L. Roark

How do our thoughts and attitudes impact the law? Is there a correlation between the way the law is decided and the way we as lawyers and scholars approach law? These questions are the ultimate indicators of the direction of law. Traditionally, we assume that law develops artificially--that is, without direct correlation to any particular individual's contribution thereto--with few exceptions. We attribute broader forces to the development of legal movements; social movements and historical moments that ascend to the law. [FN1] In such scenarios, the individual is lost to the broader panoply of thought, rendered as little more than a …

Lgbt Elder Law: Toward Equity In Aging, Nancy J. Knauer

Nancy J. Knauer

At a time when LGBT individuals enjoy an unprecedented degree of social acceptance and legal protection, many LGBT elders face the daily challenges of aging isolated from family, detached from the larger LGBT community, and ignored by mainstream aging initiatives. The corrosive legacy of the pre-Stonewall views of homosexuality makes many LGBT elders reluctant to declare themselves and demand equal treatment from policy makers and health care providers. As a result, they are denied the basic dignity of being able to share their memories of a life well lived without fear of rejection and reprisal. The concerns of LGBT elders …

Reframing The Response: Girls In The Juvenile Justice System And Domestic Violence, Francine Sherman

Francine T. Sherman

This article provides an overview of the role gender plays in juvenile justice processing. It reviews national data on girls’ arrest patterns and links those patterns to girls’ underlying needs and trauma histories. The article then focuses on the increase in arrests of girls for domestic assaults and describes the experience of Washoe County, Nevada, where girls were detained disproportionately for domestic battery as a result of a mandatory detention law. The article goes on to describe Nevada’s successful effort to amend that law to increase discretion and mandate family services and the resulting improvements in services to girls experiencing …

The European Convention On Human Rights, Non-Discrimination And Social Security: Great Scope, Little Depth?, Mel Cousins

Mel Cousins

This article examines the non-discrimination provisions of the European Convention on Human Rights in relation to social security law. There is a now a broad power of review under the ECHR as most social security payments fall within the scope of the Convention. There is also a more flexible approach to the grounds upon which discrimination can be challenged under Article 14. However, it is suggested that the European courts may need to adopt a more nuanced (or proportionate) approach to equality review rather than a binary approach.

Desejo, Necessidade, Vontade: O Estado Como Garante Das Potencialidades Humans, Haradja L. Torrens

Haradja L Torrens

The author broaches the subject of the social state democratic promise in the scope of each citizen’s equalities and peculiarities. She outlines the conflict between constitutional rights and circumstantial limitations based on the analysis of economic, juridical and philosophical theories inspired in Ralws, Perelman, Härbele, Verdú and Dworkin. She points out its similiarity to the Brazilian Doctrine followed by Paulo Bonavides, stressing, at last, the post-positivist response to the legal principles for addressing political court trials through case law analysis.

Politeia And Arete. Archeology Of Senses And Hellenic Legacy, Paulo Ferreira Da Cunha

Paulo Ferreira da Cunha

The idea of the Republic and its value is again the order of the day, not only due to Neorepublican theorists, but also because of many current debates, such as multiculturalism, the laicity of states and societies, transparency and corruption, etc. Along with Republican constitutional rules, principles and values, some proclaimed during the French Revolution (such as Liberté, Égalité, Fraternité), the debate shows the importance of an even deeper question: the importance of virtues, and the Greek legacy of Republican virtues. In this paper, among other points, we remember Pericles’ funereal speech in Thucydides’ History of Peloponnesian War, and some …

Hermenêutica Constitucional Entre Savigny E O Neoconstitucionalismo, Paulo Ferreira Da Cunha

Paulo Ferreira da Cunha

Apontar para os novos rumos jurisfilóficos mas também práticos do Neoconstitucionalismo contrastando as suas aportações hermenêuticas com o legado de Savigny nesta matéria.

Neoconstitucionalismo: De Espectro A Realidade, Paulo Ferreira Da Cunha

Paulo Ferreira da Cunha

Prefácio da obra "Neoconstituionalismo", chamando a atenção para o papel desta nova perspectiva, novo paradigma da juridicidade, chamado a reforçar a centralidade do Direito Constitucional no mundo jurídico, e a desempenhar um papel de relevo no plano hermenêutico e da superação (?) de algumas querelas jurisfilosóficas.

The Usual Suspect Classifications: Criminals, Aliens And The Future Of Same-Sex Marriage, Michael A. Helfand

Michael A Helfand

In this Article, I argue for a new understanding of the immutability factor employed by courts in determining which classifications ought to receive suspect status under the Equal Protection Clause. Drawing on the process-based foundations of the Equal Protection Clause, this new understanding defines immutable traits not as traits that cannot be changed, but as traits that are in the words of the Supreme Court in Frontiero v. Richardson, mere "accident[s] of birth." In contrast, courts and scholars typically center the immutability inquiry on an individual’s technical ability to exit a particular class, which has led to inconsistencies in …

Debunking The Myth Of Civil Rights Liberalism: Visions Of Racial Justice In The Thought Of T. Thomas Fortune, 1880-1890 Symposium: The Lawyer's Role In A Contemporary Democracy: Promoting Social Change And Political Values, Susan D. Carle

Susan D. Carle