Open Access. Powered by Scholars. Published by Universities.®
- Institution
- Publication
- Publication Type
- File Type
Articles 1 - 10 of 10
Full-Text Articles in Entire DC Network
Snyder V. Louisiana: Continuing The Historical Trend Towards Increased Scrutiny Of Peremptory Challenges, John P. Bringewatt
Snyder V. Louisiana: Continuing The Historical Trend Towards Increased Scrutiny Of Peremptory Challenges, John P. Bringewatt
Michigan Law Review
In March 2008, the Supreme Court decided Snyder v. Louisiana, the latest in the line of progeny of Batson v. Kentucky. This Note demonstrates that Snyder is part of a historical pattern of Supreme Court decisions concerning the use of peremptory challenges in which the Court has moved away from permitting the unfettered use of the peremptory challenge in favor of stronger Equal Protection considerations. Snyder alters the requirements for trial judges in deciding Batson challenges by requiring them to provide some explanation of their reasons for accepting a prosecutor's justification of a peremptory challenge. Snyder is the …
Moving Beyond The Immutability Debate In The Fight For Equality After Proposition 8., M.K.B. Darmer, Tiffany Chang
Moving Beyond The Immutability Debate In The Fight For Equality After Proposition 8., M.K.B. Darmer, Tiffany Chang
The Scholar: St. Mary's Law Review on Race and Social Justice
On May 15, 2008, the California Supreme Court issued its historic decision regarding marriage rights for same-sex couples. In the course of its opinion, the court found that classifications based upon sexual orientation are subject to the protections of “strict scrutiny” for purposes of the state’s equal protection clause. The court also found that marriage is a fundamental right that extends to same-sex couples. On November 4, 2008, 52% of California voters voted for Proposition 8, which purported to “amend” the state constitution by adding fourteen words in a new clause following the equal protection clause: “only marriage between a …
Theorizing And Litigating The Rights Of Sexual Minorities, Nancy Levit
Theorizing And Litigating The Rights Of Sexual Minorities, Nancy Levit
Nancy Levit
One of the best measures of a society is how it treats its vulnerable groups. A central idea in Professor Martha Nussbaum's writings is that all humans "are of equal dignity and worth, no matter where they are situated in society." The strategic challenge in lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgendered (LGBT) rights litigation is how to get courts to see sexual minorities as people worthy of equal dignity and respect. This article focuses on the roles of a positive emotion - love - and a procedural method of proof - science - in the shaping of laws defining the rights …
The State Marriage Cases: Implications For Hawaii's Marriage Equality Debate In The Post-Romer And Lawrence Era, Kristin D. Shotwell
The State Marriage Cases: Implications For Hawaii's Marriage Equality Debate In The Post-Romer And Lawrence Era, Kristin D. Shotwell
Kristin D Shotwell
No abstract provided.
The Constitutional Future Of Race-Neutral Efforts To Promote Diversity And Avoid Racial Isolation In Our Elementary And Secondary Schools, Kimberly J. Robinson
The Constitutional Future Of Race-Neutral Efforts To Promote Diversity And Avoid Racial Isolation In Our Elementary And Secondary Schools, Kimberly J. Robinson
Law Faculty Publications
In 2007, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in Parents Involved in Community Schools v. Seattle School District No. 1 that the racial classifications used by school districts in Seattle and Louisville to create diverse schools were unconstitutional. Justice Kennedy provided the deciding vote but also noted that school districts could pursue diversity and avoid racial isolation through race-neutral alternatives. He asserted that it was unlikely that race-neutral alternatives would be subject to strict scrutiny but articulated no rationale for this assertion. This Article argues that, after Parents Involved, school districts will focus on race-neutral efforts to create diverse schools …
Civil Rights Litigation From The October 2007 Term, Martin A. Schwartz
Civil Rights Litigation From The October 2007 Term, Martin A. Schwartz
Touro Law Review
No abstract provided.
Abolishing The Time Tax On Voting, Elora Mukherjee
Abolishing The Time Tax On Voting, Elora Mukherjee
Faculty Scholarship
A “time tax” is a government policy or practice that forces one citizen to pay more in time to vote compared with her fellow citizens. While few have noticed the scope of the problem, data indicate that, due primarily to long lines, hundreds of thousands if not millions of voters are routinely unable to vote in national elections as a result of the time tax, and that the problem disproportionately affects minority voters and voters in the South. This Article documents the problem and offers a roadmap for legal and political strategies for solving it. The Article uses as a …
The Short, Puzzling(?) Life Of The Civil Union, John G. Culhane
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
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 …
The Usual Suspect Classifications: Criminals, Aliens And The Future Of Same-Sex Marriage, Michael A. Helfand
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 …