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Articles 1 - 4 of 4

Full-Text Articles in Law

The New American Caste System: The Supreme Court And Discrimination Among Civil Rights Plaintiffs, Melissa L. Koehn Oct 1998

The New American Caste System: The Supreme Court And Discrimination Among Civil Rights Plaintiffs, Melissa L. Koehn

University of Michigan Journal of Law Reform

Fifteen percent of the decisions issued by the Supreme Court during its 1996-97 Term centered around section 1983. Section 1983 provides civil rights plaintiffs with a procedural mechanism for vindicating their federally protected rights, including those enshrined in the Constitution. The Court's decisions from its 1996-97 Term reflect a continuation of the alarming trend that has permeated section 1983 for the last two decades-a movement to decrease the scope of section 1983, regardless of the impact on constitutional rights. The Supreme Court appears to be creating a hierarchy both of constitutional rights and of plaintiffs: free speech and takings claims …


A Proposal To The Hanodaganyas To Decolonize Federal Indian Control Law, Robert B. Porter Jun 1998

A Proposal To The Hanodaganyas To Decolonize Federal Indian Control Law, Robert B. Porter

University of Michigan Journal of Law Reform

In this Article, cast in the form of a letter to President William Jefferson Clinton, Professor Porter argues for the decolonization of federal Indian control law. After detailing the religious and colonialist roots of early Supreme Court decisions dealing with the Indian nations and giving an overview of the evolution of federal Indian policy, Professor Porter argues for the decolonization of federal Indian control law on several grounds: 1. the world community has rejected colonialism policies; 2. federal Indian control law denies basic human rights of self-determination; 3. colonization has partially succeeded in destroying the Indian nations; and 4. decolonization …


Chicana/Chicano Land Tenure In The Agrarian Domain: On The Edge Of A "Naked Knife", Guadalupe T. Lunda Jan 1998

Chicana/Chicano Land Tenure In The Agrarian Domain: On The Edge Of A "Naked Knife", Guadalupe T. Lunda

Michigan Journal of Race and Law

Neither sovereignty nor property rights could forestall American geopolitical expansion in the first half of the nineteenth century. The conflicts that resulted from this clash of doctrine with desire are perhaps most evident in the history of the Chicanas/Chicanos of Texas, California, and the Southwest, who sought to maintain their land and property, as guaranteed by the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo, in the aftermath of the U.S.- Mexico War. Integrating an exploration of case law with political and social histories of the period, the Author explores the sociolegal significance of Chicana/Chicano land dispossession; exposes the racial, economic, and political motivations …


Listen, Matthew L.M. Fletcher Jan 1998

Listen, Matthew L.M. Fletcher

Michigan Journal of Race and Law

In a traditional law school setting, experiences of students of color, especially Native Americans, are often buried by the discourse of the dominant culture. This piece, a non-traditional work using elements of prose, lyric, monologue, and poetry, weaves strands of legal discourse, commentary, and autobiography into a critical narrative of the experience of legal education from an outsider law student's perspective. The author, a member of the Grand Traverse Band of Ottawa and Chippewa Indians, recounts these vignettes in a voice infused with the history and traditions of Native American oral storytelling.