Law Commons^™

Fax: The White House Office Of The Press Secretary, May 17, 1996, The White House

Saffy Collection - All Textual Materials

A fax sent regarding Megan’s Law requiring every state in the country to tell communities when a dangerous sexual predator moves into the area and the Presidents mission to make schools safer by strengthening the Safe and Drug-Free Schools Act.

Free Speech Faces Hostile Environment: An Aggressive Hunt For Sex Harassment Leaves Plenty Of Wreckage, Kenneth Lasson

All Faculty Scholarship

Take the case of James Maas, who has been teaching at Cornell University for more than 30 years and whose Psychology 101 is perhaps the largest undergraduate course in the country (attracting about 1,000 students every semester). He was won numerous teaching awards. In 1994, Mr. Maas was called before Cornell's "Professional Ethics Committee" to defend himself against charges of sexual harassment. The allegations centered around his "overly friendly and affectionate behavior" - which, it turns out, were hugs and occasional social kisses, most often in front of class or family.

The most notable example of a professor who stood …

Running The Gauntlet No More - Using Title Ix To End Student-To-Student Sexual Harassment, Verna L. Williams

Faculty Articles and Other Publications

Reports on the decision of the United States Supreme Court in Davis v. Monroe Board of Education which dealt with student-on-student sexual harassment.

When A Kiss Isn't Just A Kiss: Title Ix And Student-To-Student Harassment, Verna L. Williams

Faculty Articles and Other Publications

This article discusses peer hostile environment sexual harassment. It examines the circuit court caselaw on the issue and the legislative history of Title IX, provides an overview of the Supreme Court precedent interpreting Title IX, outlines the Department of Education’s interpretation of Title IX’s requirements concerning peer hostile environment sexual harassment, and discusses analogous legal principles underlying the analysis of student-to-student hostile environment sexual harassment.

The Limits Of Legal Discourse: Learning From The Civil Rights Movement In The Quest For Gay And Lesbian Civil Rights, Odeana R. Neal

All Faculty Scholarship

The African-American struggle for civil rights has been a long one, one that began with the importation of the first black person into the country as a slave, and continues today. Through radical political struggle coupled with legal precedent, de jure segregation became a part of the past of the United States. Meticulous legal strategizing by the NAACP Legal Defense Fund culminated with the Supreme Court's decision in Brown v. Board of Education, which declared unconstitutional the governmental practice of segregating on the basis of race. Careful legislative lobbying—as well as the threats posed by radical black political groups who …

Romer V. Evans And The Constitutionality Of Higher Lawmaking, Anthony M. Dillof

Law Faculty Research Publications

No abstract provided.

Geographically Sexual?: Advancing Lesbian And Gay Interests Through Proportional Representation, Darren Rosenblum

Elisabeth Haub School of Law Faculty Publications

Part I of this Article explores lesbian and gay interests and representational characteristics. Part II highlights the inadequacies of a single-member districting system in representing the interests of lesbian and gay communities. It concludes with an examination of the New York City Council's 1991 redistricting, where the mobilization of strong lesbian and gay communities in a receptive environment nonetheless failed to lead to effective representation of lesbian and gay interests in the City Council. Part III describes proportional representation systems and reveals how such systems would better serve lesbian and gay communities. Part IV acknowledges the political and legal obstacles …

The Deliberate Contruction Of Families Without Fathers: Is It An Option For Lesbian And Heterosexual Mothers, Nancy Polikoff

Articles in Law Reviews & Other Academic Journals

No abstract provided.

The Law And The Stability Of Marriage: The Family As A Social Institution, Carl E. Schneider

Book Chapters

Samuel Johnson once wrote, "It is so far from being natural for a man and woman to live in a state of marriage that we find all the motives which they have for remaining in that connection, and the restraints which civilized society imposes to prevent separation, are hardly sufficient to keep them together." In this chapter I shall pursue Dr. Johnson's provocative suggestion by asking what restraints (if any) society might impose through law on couples to join them in marriage in the first place and to keep them in it after they have married.

But why might society …

Custody And Conduct: How The Law Fails Lesbian And Gay Parents And Their Children, Julie Shapiro

Faculty Articles

When parents dispute child custody, courts determine their rights by using a "best interests of the child" analysis. In this context, courts consider a host of factors, including parental sexuality. When considering the suitability of custody for a lesbian or gay parents, most courts employ a nexus test - one that requires a showing of a nexus between parental sexuality and the well-being of the child. A smaller number continue to use a harsher test that disqualifies lesbian and gay parents under a per se rule. This article argues that closer examination reveals that even the apparently more liberal nexus …

Social Contract Theory, Welfare Reform, Race, And The Male Sex-Right, April L. Cherry

Law Faculty Articles and Essays

In this article, Cherry argues that the Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act of 1996 (PRWORA) is ultimately a politically undesirable and thinly veiled attack on the reproductive and sexual activities of poor women. In Part I, Cherry examines the development of social contract theory and analyzes social contract theory as a justification for material inequality. Part II examines social contract theory as a justification for the subordination of women. With this theoretical background established, in Part III, Cherry evaluates the current welfare reform proposals as social contract. This section examines the social contractarian language found in the current …

Anita Hill Meets Godzilla: Confessions Of A Horror Movie Fan, Wendy B. Scott

Journal Articles

The cases and events discussed in this Essay involve African- American women who have confronted oppression in the civil and criminal courts, and other arenas, in both celebrated and unsung victories: victories not only for Black women, but for women and men of all hues who seek social justice. I will use these cases and events to illustrate the relationship between stereotypes and myths, born during the antebellum and Jim Crow era, and contemporary manifestations of sexual harassment and other forms of sex-based exploitation. I will go on to discuss the means used by women, in the workplace of chattel …

Whose Justice? Which Victims?, Lynne Henderson

Scholarly Works

No abstract provided.

Comment: Between Women/Between Men: The Significance For Lesbianism Of Historical Understandings Of Same-(Male)Sex Sexual Activities, Mary I. Coombs

Articles

No abstract provided.

Sexual Orientation And Human Rights: Toward A U.S. And Transnational Jurisprudence, Laurence R. Helfer, Alice M. Miller

Faculty Scholarship

No abstract provided.

What If? The Legal Consequences Of Marriage And The Legal Needs Of Lesbian And Gay Male Couples, David L. Chambers

Articles

Laws that treat married persons in a different manner than they treat single persons permeate nearly every field of social regulation in this country - taxation, torts, evidence, social welfare, inheritance, adoption, and on and on. In this article I inquire into the patterns these laws form and the central benefits and obligations that marriage entails, a task few scholars have undertaken in recent years. I have done so because same-sex couples, a large group not previously eligible to marry under the laws of any American jurisdiction, may be on the brink of securing the opportunity to do so in …

Race And The New Reproduction, Dorothy E. Roberts

All Faculty Scholarship

No abstract provided.

Principled Silence, Tobias Barrington Wolff

All Faculty Scholarship

No abstract provided.

Self-Defense As A Rational Excuse, Claire Oakes Finkelstein

All Faculty Scholarship

No abstract provided.

Sex As A Suspect Class: An Argument For Applying Strict Scrutiny To Gender Discrimination, Deborah Brake

Articles

In United States v. Commonwealth of Virginia' ("VMI"), the Supreme Court has a landmark opportunity to revisit the legal standard courts should use to review classifications which treat men and women differently. The VMI case involves an equal protection challenge to the state's exclusion of women from VMI and its establishment of an alternative, sex-stereotyped women's leadership program as a remedy to that exclusion. The United States, which brought the case against VMI, has asked the Supreme Court to rule that sex-based classifications, like classifications based on race, must be subjected to the highest level of constitutional scrutiny, or "strict …

Book Review. Sexual Abuse By Professionals: A Legal Guide By Steven B. Bisbing, Et.Al., Juliet Casper Smith

Articles by Maurer Faculty

No abstract provided.