Law Commons^™

A Constitutional Analysis Of Parents Involved In Community Schools V. Seattle School District No. 1 And Voluntary School Integration Policies, Angelo N. Ancheta

Faculty Publications

On June 28, 2007, a sharply divided United States Supreme Court invalidated student assignment plans in Seattle, Washington and Louisville, Kentucky that were designed to promote racial diversity and to address racial isolation in K-12 education. By a 5-to-4 vote in Parents Involved in Community Schools v. Seattle School District No. I and McFarland v. Jefferson County Board of Education, the Court struck down voluntary integration plans under the "strict scrutiny" standard applied to race-conscious policies challenged under the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment, and ruled that the plans were not narrowly tailored to the interests asserted by …

Undercover Power: Examining The Role Of The Executive Branch In Determining The Meaning And Scope Of School Integration Jurisprudence, Lia Epperson

Faculty Publications

This paper focuses on the interaction of the federal judicial and executive branches of government in one key area of civil rights, determining the scope and direction of school integration. Specifically, this paper examines the extremely powerful role of the United States Department of Education's Office for Civil Rights ("OCR") in shaping the application of the Supreme Court's decisions with respect to racial inclusion in public education in the wake of two watershed rulings, Brown v. Board of Education and Grutter v. Bollinger. In addition, this paper discusses the possible consequences of executive and judicial interplay in the aftermath of …

Science And Constitutional Fact Finding In Equal Protection Analysis, Angelo N. Ancheta

Faculty Publications

This Article examines theories of fact finding and rules of evidence, as well as critiques of scientific citations in equal protection litigation, drawing on opinions starting with Brown v. Board of Education and its well-known citation of psychological and sociological studies documenting the harms of segregation-what the Brown Court labeled "modem authority." Second, this Article examines a range of equal protection cases and discusses how constitutional frameworks have shaped both core constitutional values and the gathering of relevant constitutional facts. Third, this Article examines in more detail the Parents Involved cases, as well as the underlying science and the citation …

Teaching Race/Teaching Whiteness: Transforming Colorblindness To Color Insight, Margalynne J. Armstrong, Stephanie Wildman

Faculty Publications

This Article argues that whiteness operates as the normative foundation of most discussions of race. Legal educators often overlook the role of whiteness in the law school setting and in law more generally. Identifying and understanding whiteness should be an essential component of legal education. This Article considers reasons why legal education rarely addresses this normative role played by whiteness. An incomplete understanding of the nature of white privilege and the modern move toward "colorblindness" conceal the raced nature of much law. To draw the harmful operation of colorblindness into relief, this Article proposes adopting "color insight, " which would …

Forty Years After Title Vii: Creating An Atmosphere Conducive To Diversity In The Corporate Boardroom, Donald J. Polden

Faculty Publications

This article analyzes affirmative action in employment: one of the most controversial government policies of the last decade, and one that continues to divide the passions and sensibilities of Americans. This article also addresses the effects of Title VII on employment opportunities for women. In particular, the article considers how successful the fundamental policies of Title VII have been in increasing diversity on corporate boards of directors, and investigates whether increased diversity will improve the performance of publicly traded companies.

Reopening The Emmett Till Case: Lessons And Challenges For Critical Race Practice, Margaret M. Russell

Faculty Publications

As part of the symposium panel on "Re- Trying Racial Injustices," I devote this Essay to an expansion of themes addressed in my earlier work on the reopening of civil rights era prosecutions. I draw upon this work, as well as upon the insights of my co-panelists Anthony Alfieri and Sherrilyn Ifill, to examine the reopening of the Emmett Till case and its critical race practice possibilities.

In this Essay, I consider other aspects of these "cleansing moments." Are they illusory? Do they provide a misleading sense of closure at the expense of the ongoing hard work of racial justice …

Privacy On The Open Road, Dorothy J. Glancy

Faculty Publications

The discussion begins by describing some of the surveillance techniques and technologies that can affect the privacy of travelers along public roadways. Then the article turns to examine some of the privacy interests of people on the open road. The next part considers some of the many types of legal rights that protect the privacy of people on public roads or highways. The article concludes by addressing the principle that people on the open road have important rights to freedom from intrusions and interferences with their on-the-road activities.

Reparations Litigation: What About Unjust Enrichment?, Margalynne J. Armstrong

Faculty Publications

This Article examines the role of unjust enrichment in substantive and remedial restitution as one option available to the movement that seeks to secure reparations for the descendants of the millions who were enslaved, transported from the African continent, and dispersed throughout the Americas and Europe. The reparations movement also seeks fitting remedies for the continuing depredations imposed upon people of African descent in the years that have followed the abolition of slavery. The substantive and remedial law of restitution, particularly the concepts of unjust enrichment and the remedy of constructive trust, provide particularly apt vehicles for reparations claims.

After …

Holding-Up More Than Half The Sky: Marketization And The Status Of Women In China, Anna M. Han

Faculty Publications

The purpose of this article is to examine generally how Chinese women fared under communism and more specifically, delve into how marketization has adversely impacted the status of women in China. It is this author's contention that despite the overall improvements in the standard of living, Chinese women are increasingly being marginalized economically. The long-term effects of subjugating the advancement of women for the immediate benefits of China's experimentation with a market economy hold vast implications for the future of the country. As China progresses economically, politically and socially, it cannot afford to leave half of its population behind as …