Law Commons^™

Sexual Orientation At The Crossroads, Johan D. Van Der Vyver

Marquette Benefits and Social Welfare Law Review

The decision of the U.S. Supreme Court in the case of Bostock v. Clayton County that sexual orientation is included in the concept of “sex” in the non-discrimination provisions of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 is historically indefensible. The Civil Rights Act was initiated by President John F. Kennedy to combat racial discrimination in the workplace and the word “sex” was included in the Act by a “claque of Southern Congressmen” as part of a filibuster attempt to prevent its enactment. It was accepted by proponents of the Act on the instructions of President Johnson merely to avoid the …

Rights And Remedies: Rental Housing For Low-Income Households In The United States, David Ray Papke, Mary Elise Papke

Marquette Benefits and Social Welfare Law Review

The state of rental housing for low-income households in the United States is deplorable. Unaffordable, unsanitary, and insecure, this housing violates the internationally recognized right of housing. While the United States has never formally recognized that right, the right guarantees not only a roof overhead but also affordability, habitability, and security of tenure. Policies and programs seeking to remedy the problems in rental housing might consciously address these aspects of rental housing. Policies and programs of this sort will not be enough to eliminate all problems, but they would alleviate a matter of great embarrassment, namely, the most affluent country …

The War On Drugs Or The War On Drug Users? Supervised Consumption Site In The United States As A Harm Reduction Strategy To Fight The Opioid Epidemic, Mary Crevello

Marquette Benefits and Social Welfare Law Review

Exploring the U.S. response to the opioid crisis, this study critically examines supervised consumption sites (SCSs) as a pragmatic approach. The historical framework of the "war on drugs" is scrutinized, highlighting its limitations and the necessity to shift from punitive measures towards more effective harm reduction strategies. Due to escalating opioid-related fatalities and inadequate harm reduction methods, the potential of SCSs is evaluated for short-term intervention. The Department of Justice's (DOJ) role in facilitating temporary measures to enable SCS operations is assessed, underscoring the urgency for a stable legislative framework to comprehensively address the crisis.

This research advocates for embracing …

All Dogs Are Emotional Support Animals: The Timely Need To Reconsider The Rights Of Renters To Have Dogs Under The Fair Housing Act, Leigh Cummings

Marquette Benefits and Social Welfare Law Review

The lack of pet-friendly housing options in the United States and the current web of property-owner-imposed restrictions unfairly prevents renters and lower-income individuals and families from benefitting from dog companionship. The recent confusion and stigma around the term “emotional support animal” has led to misinterpretation of the requirements of a reasonable accommodation request under the Fair Housing Act. Interpreting “assistance animal” under the Fair Housing Act as a blanket classification that applies to all dogs would reverse this current bias. Restrictions should promote responsible pet caretaking, not limit dog ownership. Considering recent heightened protections for dogs in other areas of …

Inviting The People Into People's Court: Embracing Non-Attorney Representation In Eviction Proceedings, Gregory Zlotnick

Marquette Benefits and Social Welfare Law Review

Evictions often hide in plain sight—and so does one of the most effective responses. Studies uniformly confirm that represented tenants avoid evictions, and with it associated downstream effects, at appreciably higher rates than unrepresented tenants. Tenant representation is one of the most cost-effective anti-poverty interventions available in our housing system. Lawyers should support its expansion, even if and when it a non-lawyer serves as that intervenor in eviction court.

This paper argues that the legal profession should embrace and expand existing pathways for training eligible and interested individuals, regardless of whether they are licensed attorneys, to assist tenants facing eviction. …

Racial Discrimination In Jury Selection: The Urgent Need For Sixth Amendment Protections For Black Capital Defendants, Claire Austin

Marquette Benefits and Social Welfare Law Review

In the U.S., death row is made up of a disproportionate number of black persons. In capital trials, black defendants often face all white juries. The deep-rooted racial discrimination in the justice system impacts jury selection because prosecutors use peremptory strikes to remove black jurors from the jury panel. As the law stands today, the Sixth Amendment guarantee of an impartial jury made up of a fair representation of the jury applies only to the pool of jurors called in for jury service, not those who are actually selected to hear the case.

This comment analyzes the Supreme Court decision, …

Who Bears The Burden? A Collectivist Approach To Resolving Pandemic Relief Overpayments, Allison R. Mastrangelo

Marquette Benefits and Social Welfare Law Review

Unemployment rates soared when COVID-19 hit the U.S. While pandemic relief programs allowed millions to meet their basic needs, a new problem emerged: overpayments. Overpayments occur when state agencies give claimants benefits they were not entitled to. While most claimants were not at fault for these mistakes, millions are now expected to repay benefits they spent months ago. Thus far, the U.S. has prioritized fraud detection over this overpayment crisis. This misguided effort is representative of the destructive, individualistic American welfare culture at large. This note advocates for a solution rooted in collectivist European values: amending the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, …

Gender Confirmation Surgery And The Federal Prison System: Eighth Amendment Framework And Proposed Alternatives, Julie Barnett

Marquette Benefits and Social Welfare Law Review

As reform for individuals with gender dysphoria has developed, the prison system's accommodation of those individuals' needs has underperformed. There have been a number of cases in the past few years where inmates who are experiencing gender dysphoria have not received adequate care in the form of gender confirmation surgery. Four of the Federal Appellate Circuit Courts have decided that a physician's refusal to provide an inmate with gender confirmation surgery is not a violation of the 8th Amendment. One circuit ruled differently and held that denial of the surgery to an inmate experiencing gender dysphoria does violate the 8th …

Pathways To Justice: Positive Rights, State Constitutions, And Untapped Potential, Dustin Coffman

Marquette Benefits and Social Welfare Law Review

Positive rights, as a concept, are nothing new. Though they may not have always had such a deceptively unequivocal name, positive rights have existed in various forms and mediums throughout history. They've been utilized, underutilized, and, in some cases, outright ignored. At their core, positive rights are the imposition of an obligation upon the state to fulfill some declared right or benefit. One basis for this imposition is that because citizens give up certain rights by being parties to the "social contract," they should be entitled to certain positive protections guaranteed by the state created by way of said "contract." …

Without A Will, There Is Still A Way: A Statutory Solution To Increase The Value Of A Small Estate And Aid In Reducing The Racial Equity Gap In Wisconsin, Isabella V. Avila Perez

Marquette Benefits and Social Welfare Law Review

For generations, communities of color have struggled to increase their generational wealth. Lack of access to estate planning tools leaves minority groups and low-income families compromised and more likely to die intestate. While the current probate system creates a safety net for those that die intestate, this comment aims to address the need for a statutory solution to aid in combatting Wisconsin's racial equity gap. More specifically, this Comment suggests how increasing and indexing Wisconsin's summary settlement and summary assignment small estate values to include estates of $100,000 or less will allow for more minority and low-income families to qualify …

No Leave To Grieve: How Misfit Frameworks And America's "Grief Tsunami" Require Better Bereavement Policy, Katherine S. Hanson

Marquette Benefits and Social Welfare Law Review

The COVID-19 pandemic fueled America’s recent death surge: 2021 has become the deadliest year on record in the United States. Scholars and commentators claim that the American workplace re-mains unprepared for the impending “grief tsunami” in the wake of such pervasive loss. Likewise, American law is ill-equipped for workplace grief. Bereavement, while medically “normal,” lacks a substantial foothold in workplace benefits and in the law. Currently, organizations bear the burden of developing their own policies—and where available, these policies remain insufficient to accommodate the myriad logistical and emotional complexities associated with the loss of a loved one. In the event …

Equal Opportunity In Remote Learning, Teramie Hill

Marquette Benefits and Social Welfare Law Review

Students with disabilities have always been a marginalized group. During the Covid-19 pandemic, this group was even more vulnerable to discrimination because many students simply could not receive services required to ensure equal opportunity in education. While Congress passed the Americans with Disabilities Act, Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973, and the Individuals with Disabilities in Education Act in order to ensure students with disabilities are fairly treated in the educational system, remote learning has created complications and more complex issues. Making this issue even more complex, many parents are demanding the end of remote learning while others …

Creating Broadband Equity In Rural Wisconsin, Brian T. Coe

Marquette Benefits and Social Welfare Law Review

Over 430,000 people throughout the state of Wisconsin cur-rently do not have access to the internet. This "digital divide" is even more prominent in rural communities where broadband is either too slow, too expensive, or simply not available. Wisconsin state law cur-rently restricts local governments from providing this vital utility to their residents. The purpose of this Comment is to help readers un-derstand the impact of Wisconsin law surrounding local government public broadband programs, and how they can be changed to offer a more equitable menu of internet access to rural communities. This Comment will discuss the restrictive statutes that …

Certified Fair Wage®: Utilizing Certification Marks In The Fight Against Wage Theft, Anne E. Parrish

Marquette Benefits and Social Welfare Law Review

This paper argues utilizing certification marks in the fight against wage theft is a powerful consumer-side approach to the wage theft crisis, building public attention, fostering a social norm against wage theft, bolstering current approaches to the crisis, and spurring meaningful political action. Current approaches to the wage theft cri-sis are floundering, and certification marks, a subset of trademarks “used to show . . . goods and[] services . . . meet certain standards,” offer a unique approach to the problem. By highlighting certification marks’ unique attributes, showcasing other labor movements’ suc-cessful adaptation of certification marks, and utilizing a hypothetical …

The Impact Of Social Security Of Dependents And Financing Of Post-Secondary Education Of Dependents On Support Obligations In Particularly California Divorces After The Tax Cuts And Jobs Act Of 2017, John R. Dorocak

Marquette Benefits and Social Welfare Law Review

The 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act made alimony in divorce decrees and separation agreements entered into after December 31, 2018, neither deductible by the payor nor income to the payee for federal income tax purposes. Likely, that change in the tax law will result in less income to payees in a divorce and higher taxes for payors. In California, support in divorces is basically calculated by the software program Dissomaster. With payors facing higher taxes, such payors may look for possible sources of additional income for paying support. Payors may receive a credit in California against the support obligation …

Your Liberty Is Not A Right To Jeopardize My Health: How A State Covid-19 Vaccine Mandate Promotes Health Justice, Rebecca L. Doloski

Marquette Benefits and Social Welfare Law Review

The COVID-19 pandemic has once again brought the vaccine debate into the national spotlight. Except this time, whether to be vaccinated or not has become widely politicized and the rapid spread of misinformation has led to a deadly game of those who refuse to be vaccinated not only allowing themselves to be susceptible to a deadly virus, but also putting others at risk. In addition to the misinformation and politicization of this issue, the question of constitutionality of such measures is back in the spotlight as potential state vaccine mandates appear to be on the horizon. This paper seeks to …

A Critical Jeffersonian Mind For A Community Reinvestment Bind, Chaz D. Brooks

Marquette Benefits and Social Welfare Law Review

The Community Reinvestment Act of 1977 ("CRA") primarily sought to remedy decades of government sanctioned disinvestment in so-called “redlined communities.” Through the Home Owners’ Loan Corporation and later the Federal Housing Administration, the United States of America created from whole cloth a structure that encouraged and subsidized the explosion of homeownership in white American households. Following decades of racialized wealth generation, the United States had a change of heart. Congress determined that financiers needed a gentle push to invest fairly. Additionally, Congress wanted one thing clear in the drafting of this remedy— it must not allocate credit. This essay considers …

Wisconsin's 2011 Act 108, Legislative Inaction, And Severe Racial Disparity: A Recipe For A Fair Housing Violation, Taylor N. Haefele

Marquette Benefits and Social Welfare Law Review

When individuals are released from prison, the biggest predictor of whether they will reoffend or successfully reenter society is whether the recently released individual has access to stable housing. Unfortunately, nearly every avenue to housing requires passing a criminal background check. Recognizing this as posing a nearly insurmountable barrier to accessing stable housing upon release from prison, Seattle, Washington; Minneapolis, Minnesota; and San Francisco, California have all enacted ordinances regulating the use of background checks to help ensure access to stable housing for formerly incarcerated individuals. Madison, Wisconsin, and other Wisconsin cities had similar ordinances that regulated the use of …

School-To-Prison Pipeline, Haley Walker

Marquette Benefits and Social Welfare Law Review

This article explores the intersect between mentally ill youth and the juvenile justice system. Mentally ill youth are disproportionately represented at every stage in the juvenile justice system due to their symptoms being mistaken for delinquent behavior. This stems from the legislators reforming the juvenile justice system from rehabilitative to punitive over the years in an attempt to hold delinquent youth accountable for their actions. Federal statutes have been enacted and federally funded programs have been implemented that seek to address the mental health crisis in today’s youth and keep mentally ill youth out of the juvenile justice system. This …

Effects On Employees' Compensation Under The Right To Disconnect, Tyler Jochman

Marquette Benefits and Social Welfare Law Review

No abstract provided.

Compassion: A Critical Skill For Law Students, Stephanie Smith Ledesma, Ma, Jd, Cwls

Marquette Benefits and Social Welfare Law Review

No abstract provided.

Table Of Contents

Marquette Benefits and Social Welfare Law Review

No abstract provided.

The Joys Of Mentoring, Michael A. Mogill, Jd, Llm

Marquette Benefits and Social Welfare Law Review

No abstract provided.

Wisconsin Law Reinforces White Supremacy Through Article Xiii, Section 3 Of The State Constitution, Felicia L. Owen, Jd

Marquette Benefits and Social Welfare Law Review

No abstract provided.

Protecting Our Protectors: Why Title Vii Should Apply To The Uniformed Military Following The Supreme Court's Decision In Bostock V. Clayton County, Jonathan A. D'Orazio, Jd Candidate, 2022

Marquette Benefits and Social Welfare Law Review

This Note argues that Title VII should apply to uniformed military members following the Supreme Court’s decision in Bostock v. Clayton County, 140 S. Ct. 1731 (2020). Foremost, the current intra‑military remedies uniformed military members may bring a discrimination claim pursuant fail to effectively combat discrimination in the United States military due to several critical deficiencies. This Note demonstrates that the defects within the current intra‑military remedies tacitly permit, rather than discourage, discriminatory conduct.

This Note then examines why the military has historically resisted civilian reform measures to the military justice system. During this examination, this Note argues that …

One For All? The Use Of Anencephalic Newborns As Organ Donors, Meaghan Mctigue

Marquette Benefits and Social Welfare Law Review

It is a late night in a Wisconsin hospital when a birthing team assembles in an operating room for the birth of a little girl. Unlike the events that surround most births, there was no baby shower, no painstaking assembly of a crib, nor a college fund set-up in preparation of the future. This newborn baby girl is an anencephalic newborn. Her entire life will be only minutes or hours long. However, her parents seek to make her impact last far longer than that with the donation of her organs and tissues. They seek to help those like a little …

Predictive Scheduling Is Trending: Is Milwaukee Next?, Kelly J. Lyden

Marquette Benefits and Social Welfare Law Review

No abstract provided.

The Perils Of Self-Directed Iras, Kathryn Kennedy

Marquette Benefits and Social Welfare Law Review

Individual retirement accounts were created in 1974 as tax-sheltered retirement savings for employees whose employer did not offer an employer-provided retirement vehicle. Since then, they have been used primarily as rollover vehicles, such that amounts accumulated under employer-provided retirement plans can be rolled over into an individual retirement account. This Article examines the perils involved with a rollover IRA owner decides to invest his IRA assets in non-traditional assets.

Protecting The Protectors: Preserving And Enhancing The Rights Of Legal Observers, Erica D. Lunderman

Marquette Benefits and Social Welfare Law Review

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How Twenty-First Century Technology Affects Inmates' Access To Prison Law Libraries In The United States Prison System, Kelsey Brown

Marquette Benefits and Social Welfare Law Review

In today’s generation America is open 24 hours, 7 days a week. Americans live in an open-all-night society, where with one click, one can buy groceries, watch a 3D movie, bowl a perfect game, and eat pizza all at two in the morning without ever leaving his or her living room. Therefore, is not a stretch to imagine a single digital device, such as a computer or phone, that could hold thousand, if not, millions of books with topics ranging from comedy, fiction, nonfiction, business, cooking, fitness, etc. But most importantly, and one of the focuses of this Comment, are …