Law Commons^™

Can The Ada Protect Persons With Disabilities In Their Ability To Get To Work?, Jack Gatcliffe

ERSJ Blog

James Kimmons worked at a Charter Communications call center. He suffered cataracts in both eyes, which made it difficult to drive in the dark. Kimmons requested a modification to his work schedule, seeking permission to work earlier hours so he could commute home in the daylight. Notably, the work-schedule accommodation Kimmons sought is one that many other Americans may need, as 22.8% of all working age adults are considered accommodation-sensitive and 47% to 58% “of those who would actually benefit from a workplace accommodation do not receive one.” His employer granted his request for a short period of time but …

A Band-Aid Solution: New York's Proposal To Address The Maternal Health Crisis, Emily Glazier

ERSJ Blog

A pregnancy-related death is a death “that occur[s] within one year of pregnancy.” In the United States, approximately 700 women die each year as a result of pregnancy or pregnancy-related complications. Notably, pregnancy-related mortality rates are significantly higher for Black and American Indian and Alaska Native (AIAN) women. Even in the face of high income levels, Black women in America face a disproportionately higher risk of pregnancy-related death. In New York, such disparities are even more prominent: Black women are “over four times more likely to die from childbirth-related complications.” In New York City, Black women are “nine times more …

The Irs Audits An Easy Target — The Poor, George Galan

ERSJ Blog

In 2018, Natassia Smick and her husband filed their income tax return showing earnings of about $33,000. They expected a refund, $2,000 of which is attributed to the Earned Income Tax Credit. The Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC) is a tax credit “for working people with low and moderate incomes. It boosts the incomes of workers paid low wages while offsetting federal payroll and income taxes.” The EITC aims to reduce poverty, and in 2018, the credit “lifted about 5.6 million people above the poverty line.” Smick, like many other families, relied on her tax refund to help pay her …

How Summary Eviction Proceedings Fail Individuals Facing Housing Discrimination, Katherine Alonzo

ERSJ Blog

Every year, over three million American households are threatened with eviction from their homes. The consequences of eviction are “dire” and affect “every facet of life” that go beyond someone’s physical safety and livelihood. For instance, evictions may leave people unhoused, “[fracture] the integrity of their families, [crush] their livelihoods, [damage] their mental and physical health and their safety, [deprive] them of their place in community and, ultimately, [tear] apart the fabric of their communities.” While Americans of all backgrounds face evictions, there are often large racial, ethnic, and gender disparities among those who face eviction with Black Americans, women, …

My Body, My Data: California's Attempt To Protect Reproductive And Fertility Data, Yeniliz Peguero

ERSJ Blog

Following the Supreme Court’s decision in Dobbs that there is no constitutional right to an abortion, many became concerned about data collected by fertility and menstrual cycle apps. Specifically, users, privacy experts, and even legislators feared that data collected by these apps “could provide a deep well of evidence for states seeking to track and potentially arrest anyone seeking or receiving an abortion. Katharine Kemp’s analysis of twelve popular fertility apps within the United States and abroad revealed the unsafe data practices of some of these apps. These apps allow users to log information including when they had sex, if …

A Broken System: How New York City Is Failing Transgender Inmates, Skylar Corby

ERSJ Blog

In June 2019, Layleen Polanco, a transgender woman awaiting trial at Rikers Island because she could not afford $500 bail, was found dead in her solitary confinement cell. After an investigation that took an extensive period of time and external pressure to complete, New York City’s Board of Correction found that Polanco died from an epileptic seizure, which corrections officers entirely missed due to their neglect and lack of properly timed monitoring checks. This prompted public outrage and a wave of protests surrounding not only Polanco’s death, but also the extreme levels of violence faced by trans women, especially those …

The Urgent Issue Of Suicide In Nyc Jails, Kathleen Leuty

ERSJ Blog

Half of the people currently detained in New York City jails have a mental health diagnosis. Since 2020, the number of incarcerated people with a serious mental illness in New York City jails has nearly doubled—from 672 to 1,207 people. The medical support offered to those in jail suffering from mental illness, however, has not seen corresponding growth. The number of medical appointments missed by those incarcerated in New York City is staggering: “the monthly number of missed medical visits has spiked by 21%, from 9,259 in August 2022 to 11,176 in June 2023, outpacing growth in the jail population.” …

The Roe Repeal Behind Bars: Prison Pregnancies In A Post-Dobbs World, Hani Fish-Bieler

ERSJ Blog

165,000 women are estimated to be incarcerated in the United States. These are disproportionately women of color, as Black women are incarcerated at a rate two times higher than that of white women. Around 58,000 pregnant individuals are processed into jails, prisons, and other detention facilities in the United States every year. Approximately 6 to 10 percent of women are pregnant when they enter prison or jail, and about 1400 newborns are born to women in custody. This population has been and will continue to face the challenging effects of the Supreme Court’s 2022 repeal of Roe v. Wade in …

Does Speaker Johnson's Election Forewarn Federal Anti-Lgbt Legislation?, Gerald Dryden

ERSJ Blog

On October 25, 2023, fourth-term Representative of Louisiana Mike Johnson was elected Speaker of the House. Within three weeks, he laid the groundwork to avoid the feared projected partial government shut down. So why does Johnson consistently score a zero on the Human Rights Campaign’s Congressional Scorecard? The answer has long caused controversy: Speaker Johnson is ardently anti-LGBTQ+.

This post was originally published on the Cardozo Journal of Equal Rights and Social Justice website on November 17, 2023. The original post can be accessed via the Archived Link button above.