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Full-Text Articles in Law
Crisis? Whose Crisis?, Jack M. Beermann
Crisis? Whose Crisis?, Jack M. Beermann
Faculty Scholarship
Every moment in human history can be characterized by someone as “socially and politically charged.” For a large portion of the population of the United States, nearly the entire history of the country has been socially and politically charged, first because they were enslaved and then because they were subjected to discriminatory laws and unequal treatment under what became known as “Jim Crow.” The history of the United States has also been a period of social and political upheaval for American Indians, the people who occupied the territory that became the United States before European settlement. Although both African-Americans and …
Eagle Feathers And Equality: Lessons On Religious Exceptions From The Native American Experience, Kevin J. Worthen
Eagle Feathers And Equality: Lessons On Religious Exceptions From The Native American Experience, Kevin J. Worthen
Faculty Scholarship
The legality and propriety of exempting religiously motivated conduct from otherwise applicable legal norms is the subject of ongoing scholarly, judicial, and legislative debate. The issue is particularly thorny when it arises in a legal system deeply committed to the concept of equality. The Eagle Protection Act, which exempts Native Americans religious practitioners who are members of federally recognized tribes from its general prohibition on the taking and use of bald and golden eagle feathers, provides an interesting context in which to examine that debate. Not only does the Act exempt religiously motivated conduct from the otherwise applicable norms, it …