Law Commons^™

Take Two Tablets And Do Not Call For Judicial Review Until Our Heads Clear: The Supreme Court Prepares To Demolish The 'Wall Of Separation' Between Church And State, Terence Lau, William Wines

Terence Lau

In this article, we examine the issues that bring First Amendment jurisprudence to the grant of certiorari in Pleasant Grove v. Summum, scheduled for oral argument in the Supreme Court of the United States in November. We examine the historical basis for America’s religious heritage, the historical judicial treatment of the religious clauses, and the erosion of the wall of separation between church and state. We examine the Ten Commandments, finding inherent discrimination present in modern-day attempts to advance a particular version of the Ten Commandments as secular. By drawing upon Rousseau’s civic religion, we suggest alternative routes for the …

Public Actors In Private Markets: Toward A Developmental Finance State, Robert Hockett, Saule Omarova

Saule T. Omarova

The recent financial crisis brought into sharp relief fundamental questions about the social function and purpose of the financial system, including its relation to the “real” economy. This Article argues that, to answer these questions, we must recapture a distinctively American view of the proper relations among state, financial market, and development. This programmatic vision – captured in what we call a “developmental finance state” – is based on three key propositions: (1) that economic and social development is not an “end-state” but a continuing national policy priority; (2) that the modalities of finance are the most potent means of …

Gender And Global Lawyering: Where Are The Women?, Steven Boutcher, Carole Silver

Carole Silver

The dual processes of diversity and globalization are responsible for significant growth among U.S. law firms: female lawyers account for much of the increase in headcount in large law firms over the last several decades, and lawyers educated and licensed in jurisdictions outside of the U.S. have helped U.S.-based law firms expand internationally. This article draws on data gathered from lawyer biographies to examine the relationship between gender diversity and globalization, and considers whether career strategies that involve the international movement of lawyers are equally powerful for women and men. Our research suggests that gender inequality is not erased by …

Women's Legal History Symposium Introduction: Making History, Felice J. Batlan

Felice J Batlan

This essay introduces the Chicago-Kent Symposium on Women's Legal History: A Global Perspective. It seeks to situate the field of women's legal history and to explore what it means to begin writing a transnational women's history which transcends and at times disrupts the nation state. In doing so, it sets forth some of the fundamental premises of women's legal history and points to new ways of writing such histories.

Gay And Lesbian Elders: History, Law, And Identity Politics In The United States, Nancy J. Knauer

Nancy J. Knauer

The approximately two million gay and lesbian elders in the United States are an underserved and understudied population. At a time when gay men and lesbians enjoy an unprecedented degree of social acceptance and legal protection, many elders face the daily challenges of aging isolated from family, detached from the larger gay and lesbian community, and ignored by mainstream aging initiatives. Drawing on materials from law, history, and social theory, this book integrates practical proposals for reform with larger issues of sexuality and identity. Beginning with a summary of existing demographic data and offering a historical overview of pre-Stonewall views …

Behavioral Economic Issues In American & Islamic Marriage & Divorce Law, Ryan M. Riegg

Ryan M. Riegg

Sorry, But It's The Law: The Westernization Of Islam, Gwendolyn Yvonne Alexis

Gwendolyn Yvonne Alexis

The last quartile of the 20th Century vastly changed the religio-cultural landscape of the West. Previously the stronghold of Christianity, the West has entered into a period of deep diversity as a result of the unprecedented level of migration of non-Western, non-Christian peoples to western destinations. These new immigrants, with their foreign cultures and unfamiliar religions, came westward with the full expectation that they--like the diverse array of Christian emigrants who migrated westward decades before--would fully enjoy religious liberty in nations long heralded for their commitment to democratic principles and respect for civil rights. How are these immigrants faring on …

Legislative Terrorism: A Primer For The Non-Islamic State; Secularism And Different Believers, Gwendolyn Yvonne Alexis

Gwendolyn Yvonne Alexis

In industrial societies where civil law and state institutions have become well-established secular vehicles for governing the populace, it is widely assumed that the state no longer has an interest in fortifying the religious sector as a complementary source of social control. Thus, a distinction is drawn between the Islamic state that is ruled by religious law and the secular state of Western industrial societies in which religion is deemed to have lost its influence in the public sphere. This dissertation argues that civil law is not religiously neutral and thus challenges a central premise of secularization theory. Introducing a …