Law Commons^™

When “Close Enough” Is Not Enough: Accommodating The Religiously Devout, Dallan F. Flake

BYU Law Review

Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 requires employers to “reasonably accommodate” employees’ religious practices that conflict with work requirements unless doing so would cause undue hardship to their business operations. Can an accommodation be reasonable if it only partially removes the conflict between an employee’s job and their religious beliefs? For instance, if a Christian employee requests Sundays off because he believes working on his Sabbath is a sin, and his employer responds by giving him Sunday mornings off to attend church services but requires him to work in the afternoon, has the employer provided a reasonable …

Dignity, Deference, And Discrimination: An Analysis Of Religious Freedom In America’S Prisons, Elyse Slabaugh

BYU Law Review

The free exercise of religion often presents a complex reality in prison. Over the years, the standard of scrutiny for free exercise claims has not only been easily alterable but also unclear and inconsistent in its application. Recent legislation, such as RLUIPA and RFRA, has significantly improved the state of religious freedom in prisons. However, two U.S. Supreme Court decisions on RLUIPA—Cutter v. Wilkinson and Holt v. Hobbs—have led to some confusion among lower courts regarding the level of deference that should be afforded to prison officials. Although Holt demonstrated a hard look approach to strict scrutiny, it did nothing …

Don’T Say Gay Or God: How Federal Law Threatens Student Religious Rights And Fails To Protect Lgbtq Students, Stephen Mcloughlin

BYU Law Review

Federal law requires schools to protect students from discrimination based on their sexual orientation and gender identity. This protection is based on the principle that students must be free to explore their self-identity within the school environment as part of their intellectual development. Thus, schools must eliminate speech that threatens LGBTQ students based on their gender identity or sexual orientation. However, schools must also protect free speech and religious rights. Indeed, the expression of religious beliefs is also crucial to intellectual growth. Thus, schools must develop student speech policies that protect LGBTQ students from harmful speech while protecting controversial religious …

The Trouble With Time Served, Kimberly Kessler Ferzan

BYU Law Review

Every jurisdiction in the United States gives criminal defendants "credit" against their sentence for the time they spend detained pretrial. In a world of mass incarceration and overcriminalization that disproportionately impacts people of color, this practice appears to be a welcome mechanism for mercy and justice. In fact, how ever, crediting detainees for time served is perverse. It harms the innocent. A defendant who is found not guilty, or whose case is dismissed, gets nothing. Crediting time served also allows the state to avoid internalizing the full costs of pretrial detention, thereby making overinclusive detention standards less expensive. Finally, crediting …

Discrimination Because Of Sex[Ual Orientation And Gender Identity]: The Necessity Of The Equality Act In The Wake Of Bostock V. Clayton County, Rachel Eric Johnson

BYU Law Review

No abstract provided.

Admitting A Wrong: Apology For The Historical Injustice Of The Dred Scott Case, Laura Kyte

BYU Law Review

No abstract provided.

Linguistic Estoppel: A Custodial Interrogation Subject’S Reliance On Traditional Language Customs When Facing Unknown Expectations For Legally Efficacious Speech, Taylor J. Smith

BYU Law Review

For various reasons, speakers often communicate indirectly, hiding their words’ true meaning beneath an apparent surface meaning. For example, a woman trying to brush off her co-worker’s date invitation might respond, “I have to prepare for a presentation tomorrow.” While the words’ surface meaning doesn’t relate to the date invitation, the hearer usually understands the underlying message—that is to say, the words’ function differs from their form. However, because the law’s language ideology requires directness and surface-level meaning, lay-speaking interrogation subjects often have difficulty effectively invoking their Miranda rights. Because the legal system’s search for determinacy often results in reliance …

Country Club Sports: The Disparate Impact Of Athlete Admissions At Elite Universities, William B. Morrison

BYU Law Review

While conservative advocacy groups criticize affirmative action as anti-meritocratic, many universities give similar admissions preferences based on ostensibly race-neutral characteristics that highly correlate with wealth and whiteness. Using data made public through the recent legal challenge to Harvard’s affirmative action policies, statisticians have shown that the greatest boost to an applicant’s admission chances at elite universities is not minority status or high test scores, but rather appearing on a coach’s list of potential recruits. At Harvard, where 70% of athletes are white, these athletic recruitment lists are often for “country club sports” that require expensive tutoring and are rarely played …

Disparate Impact Claims And Punitive Damages: Justified Abrogation Of State Sovereign Immunity, Brad Stewart

BYU Law Review

No abstract provided.

In Defense Of Immutability, Nicholas Serafin

BYU Law Review

Over the last forty years, the concept of immutability has been central to Equal Protection doctrine. According to current doctrine, a trait is immutable if it is beyond the power of an individual to change or if it is fundamental to personal identity. A trait that meets either of these criteria receives heightened legal protection under constitutional antidiscrimination law. Yet most legal scholars who have addressed the topic have called for the abandonment of the immutability criterion on the grounds that the immutability criterion is conceptually confused, morally indefensible, and bound to stigmatize subordinate groups.

A rejection of the immutability …

Anti-Gay Discrimination,“Conscience Exemptions,” And The Racism Analogy: A Reply To Professor Koppelman, Shannon Gilreath

BYU Law Review

No abstract provided.

In The Court Of Koppelman: Motion For Reconsideration, James M. Oleske Jr.

BYU Law Review

No abstract provided.

Gay Rights, Religious Liberty, And The Misleading Racism Analogy, Andrew Koppelman

BYU Law Review

No abstract provided.

Caught By The Cat’S Paw, Sandra F. Sperino

BYU Law Review

Federal employment discrimination law is enamored with court-created doctrines with catchy names. A fairly recent addition to the canon is the concept of the “cat’s paw,” formally recognized by the U.S. Supreme Court in Staub v. Proctor Hospital. With its name … drawn from a fable, the concept of cat’s paw has taken ground quickly, discussed in hundreds of cases.

The Supreme Court recognized the cat’s paw theory in a case where a hospital fired a worker. The person who made the ultimate decision did not have impermissible bias. However, her decision was influenced by information from two supervisors who …

Big Agriculture And Harm To Minority Communities: How Administrative Civil Rights Complaints Are The Solution, Morgan Drake

BYU Law Review

No abstract provided.

Bias, Employment Discrimination, And Black Women's Hair: Another Way Forward, Crystal Powell

BYU Law Review

No abstract provided.

No Good Deed Goes Unpunished: The Lack Of Protection For Volunteers Under Federal Anti-Discrimination Statutes, Lawrence D. Rosenthal

BYU Law Review

No abstract provided.

Tensions And Synergies In Religious Liberty: An Evaluation Of The Interrelation Of Freedom Of Belief With Other Human Rights; Parallel Equality And Anti-Discrimination Provisions; Enforcement In Competing European Courts; And Mediated Dispute Resolution, Mark Hill

BYU Law Review

No abstract provided.

Substantive Due Process: The Power To Grant Monopolies In The Federalist Marketplace Of State Experimentation, Curtis Thomas

BYU Law Review

Substantive due process is a controversial doctrine due to its lack of a limiting principle that prevents courts from creating or extending rights beyond the text of the Constitution. This Comment suggests that the effects of substantive due process should be evaluated from a perspective of their likely effect on the federalist marketplace of state experimentation. From this perspective, the application of substantive due process should be limited to natural rights, which are the equivalent of natural monopolies in economic marketplaces. The remaining rights should be allowed to develop through state experimentation.

Walking A Thin Blue Line: Balancing The Citizen's Right To Record Police Officers Against Officer Privacy, Rebecca G. Van Tassell

BYU Law Review

No abstract provided.

Nondiscrimination And Religious Affiliation: The Ninth Circuit Upholds The Denial Of Registered Status To A Christian Student Club In Alpha Delta Chi-Delta Chapter V. Reed, Devin Snow

BYU Law Review

No abstract provided.

Goldilocks And The Three-Judge Panel: Spencer V. World Vision, Inc. And The Religious Organization Exemption Of Title Vii, Brandon S. Boulter

BYU Law Review

No abstract provided.

Ricci's "Color-Blind" Standard In A Race Conscious Society: A Case Of Unintended Consequences?, Michael J. Zimmer

BYU Law Review

No abstract provided.

Defamation Of Religions: A Vague And Overbroad Theory That Threatens Basic Human Rights, Allison G. Belnap

BYU Law Review

No abstract provided.

Juror Testimony Of Racial Bias In Jury Deliberations: United States V. Benally And The Obstacle Of Federal Rule Of Evidence 606(B) , Brandon C. Pond

BYU Law Review

No abstract provided.

Diversity V. Colorblindness, Patrick S. Shin

BYU Law Review

No abstract provided.

Reproducing Gender On Law School Faculties, Ann C. Mcginley

BYU Law Review

No abstract provided.

The Coming Collision: Romer And State Defense Of Marriage Acts, Patrick J. Borchers

BYU Law Review

No abstract provided.

How The United States Government Sacrifices Athletes' Constitutional Rights In The Pursuit Of National Prestige, Dionne L. Koller

BYU Law Review

No abstract provided.

Shibboleths And Ceballos. Eroding Constitutional Rights Through Pseudocommunication, Susan Stuart

BYU Law Review

No abstract provided.