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Articles 1 - 30 of 39
Full-Text Articles in Law
The Visible Spectrum, Nancy E. Anderson, Ph.D
The Visible Spectrum, Nancy E. Anderson, Ph.D
Fordham Urban Law Journal
Today, the national environmental movement is entering a new phase, led by new players, just as the still young environmental protection movement is becoming more politically influential at the local level. The political power of the environmental justice and equity movement and its links with racial and social justice organizations makes its potential impact reach far beyond “NIMBY” (not-in-my-backyard) protests. NIMBY was the first wave of quasi-organized local environmental protests, usually rooted in a single issue. Environmental justice is the next wave, drawing in a broader range of concerns. The focus of this analysis is on how environmental issues are …
Planning, Power And Politics: A Case Study Of The Land Use And Siting History Of The North River Water Pollution Control Plant, Vernice D. Miller
Planning, Power And Politics: A Case Study Of The Land Use And Siting History Of The North River Water Pollution Control Plant, Vernice D. Miller
Fordham Urban Law Journal
This Essay discusses one example of environmental racism in New York City – the planning and construction of the North River Water Pollution Control Plant in West Harlem. This case study of the West Harlem community depicts how race-based land use planning and environmental policy-making transformed West Harlem, one of this city’s most beautiful communities, into a giant dumping ground. Since 1968, the North River Water Pollution Control Plant has irritated the residents of West Harlem. Initially, countless public hearings and community meetings were held to address why this facility was being built in this community. After the Plant was …
The Question Of Risk: Incorporating Community Perceptions Into Environmental Risk Assessments, James S. Freeman, Rachel D. Godsil
The Question Of Risk: Incorporating Community Perceptions Into Environmental Risk Assessments, James S. Freeman, Rachel D. Godsil
Fordham Urban Law Journal
The environmental justice movement has seen some successes. After years of neglect, the federal government and several states are directing legislative and executive efforts towards reforming siting processes and remedying discriminatory enforcement of environmental regulations. Community opposition in general has proved to be quite powerful in some instances. Since the passage of the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act in 1976, there has been only one new siting of a hazardous waste landfill and few new sitings of hazardous waste incinerators. To a lesser extent, municipal solid waste and medical waste incinerators have also been successfully blocked or delayed. However, certain …
Communities Of Color And Hazardous Waste Cleanup: Expanding Public Participation In The Federal Superfund Program, Deeohn Ferri
Communities Of Color And Hazardous Waste Cleanup: Expanding Public Participation In The Federal Superfund Program, Deeohn Ferri
Fordham Urban Law Journal
Superfund is the nation's program to clean up the most dangerous hazardous waste sites. The Superfund law mandates that parties responsible for hazardous waste sites (i.e., waste generators, site owners, site operators, and waste transporters) shall be financially liable for cleaning them. If responsible parties cannot be located, are unable to perform cleanups, or refuse to do so, EPA can conduct the cleanup action and seek recovery of associated costs from these delinquent parties. As the Superfund reauthorization effort ensues, it is clear that few unequivocally applaud past Superfund performance. Collectively, communities, industry, and government are critical about whether the …
Politics And The Death Penalty: Can Rational Discourse And Due Process Survive The Perceived Political Pressure?, Norman Redlich
Politics And The Death Penalty: Can Rational Discourse And Due Process Survive The Perceived Political Pressure?, Norman Redlich
Fordham Urban Law Journal
This article is a transcript from a program sponsored by the American Bar Association Section of Individual Rights and Responsibilities entitled, “Politics and the Death Penalty: Can Rational Discourse and Due Process Survive the Perceived Political Pressure?” In it, Norman Redlich, former Dean of New York University Law School, James Coleman, Shabata Sundiata Waglini, Attorney General Ernest Preate, Jr., Bryan Stevenson, Executive Director of the Alabama Capital Representation Resource Center, journalist Nat Hentoff, New York State Assemblywoman Susan John, and Chief Justice Exum of the North Carolina Supreme Court discuss the issue of the death penalty in America. Redlich discusses …
Writing Like A Lawyer, John D. Feerick
Writing Like A Lawyer, John D. Feerick
Fordham Urban Law Journal
There is a problem of bad legal writing – one that is far more serious than we recognize or are willing to admit. The causes include insufficient education in good writing, carelessness, faulty thinking and reasoning, a failure to appreciate the potential and impact of legal language, an unwillingness to risk new language, and an inability or failure to make the time commitment required for good legal writing. First, at the law school level, legal writing must be given greater emphasis. If our programs are not able to deal with poor command of language, grammar, and syntax, perhaps we must …
Balancing The Scales: Limiting The Prejudicial Effect Of Evidence Rule 404(B) Through Stipulation, Daniel J. Buzzetta
Balancing The Scales: Limiting The Prejudicial Effect Of Evidence Rule 404(B) Through Stipulation, Daniel J. Buzzetta
Fordham Urban Law Journal
This Note argues that, in a prosecution for a violation of a specific intent criminal statute, the government must accept a defendant’s clear and unambiguous stipulation to possessing the requisite intent for the crime charged. The trial court must ensure that the proffered stipulation is voluntarily given, unambiguous, and comprehensive, so as not to deprive the prosecution from presenting forceful, significant, and probative evidence. Once a defendant offers such an acceptable stipulation, however, the government’s introduction of prior bad acts to prove intent becomes extremely prejudicial, while any probative value the evidence may have is dissipated entirely. Part II of …
Foreword, Bruce A. Green
Foreword, Bruce A. Green
Fordham Urban Law Journal
The "Urban Environmental Justice" symposium took place at Fordham University School of Law, and explored how low-income communities and communities of color in our nation’s cities may have been disproportionately burdened by various environmental harms. It considered what should be done about this problem, from the perspectives of civic and citizens’ groups, the government at the federal, state, and city levels, public interest lawyers, corporations, and others. The participants in the March 3rd program represented a variety of backgrounds and experiences. The keynote speaker, Gerald Torres, Counsel to the United States Attorney General, had only weeks earlier been designated to …
Environmental Burdens And Democratic Justice, Gerald Torres
Environmental Burdens And Democratic Justice, Gerald Torres
Fordham Urban Law Journal
To date, however, there has been relatively little academic discussion about how EPA and other federal agencies can achieve environmental justice. In addition, most legal academic literature has focused either on simply identifying the legal issues associated with race and environmental law or on developing a litigation strategy for remedying “environmental racism.” None of the legal academic literature has focused on the benefits of using an administrative framework to define or develop sustainable solutions to the distributional inequities of environmental laws. The purpose of this Article is to explain the benefits of pursuing an administrative model for change. Unlike other …
Balancing The Scales Of Environmental Justice, Charles J. Mcdermott
Balancing The Scales Of Environmental Justice, Charles J. Mcdermott
Fordham Urban Law Journal
This Essay discusses various ways to weave principles of justice and equity into solving the problem of environmental racism. This Essay also demonstrates the enormous potential of the waste management industry to act as an agent for environmental equity. Part I identifies problems that have led to accusations of environmental racism and conditions that have contributed to the definition of environmental racism. Part II discusses issues of the actual and perceived risks posed by waste treatment facilities, and the need for an understanding of these risks. The Essay next considers the issues raised in siting facilities, and the importance of …
Pushing The Law To Encompass The Reality Of Our Families: Protecting Lesbian And Gay Families From Eviction From Their Homes -- Braschi's Functional Definition Of "Family" And Beyond, Paris R. Baldacci
Fordham Urban Law Journal
No abstract provided.
Beyond Uncompromising Positions: Hate Crimes Legislation And The Common Ground Between Conservative Republicans And Gay Rights Advocates, David Chang
Fordham Urban Law Journal
No abstract provided.
Homelessness And Substance Abuse: Is Mandatory Treatment The Solution?, Melanie B. Abbott
Homelessness And Substance Abuse: Is Mandatory Treatment The Solution?, Melanie B. Abbott
Fordham Urban Law Journal
For the government to be successful in addressing homelessness, it must focus on the link between homelessness and substance abuse. In New York City and elsewhere, advocates are reluctant to publicize the connection between substance abuse and homelessness. Federal laws and programs that attempt to deal with homelessness, such as welfare, Social Security, federal housing laws, and the McKinney Act and other various federal acts do not provide a comprehensive approach to treatment of those who are both homeless and substance abusers. Because the Supreme Court has held that the Constitution does not provide a right to shelter, advocates have …
Shooting Down The Phoenix: Shaw V. Reno And The Controversy Over Race-Conscious Districting, Elizabeth Bachman
Shooting Down The Phoenix: Shaw V. Reno And The Controversy Over Race-Conscious Districting, Elizabeth Bachman
Fordham Urban Law Journal
This Note analyzes the viability of race-conscious districting on two separate levels: first in terms of its efficacy as a means of empowering minority voters, and second, in light of Shaw v. Reno, which has restricted the ability of states and localities to create majority-minority districts. Part II critiques the assumptions underlying race-conscious districting and realistically evaluates the effects of such districting, concluding that despite its shortcomings, race-conscious districting has been very effective at empowering minority voters and furthering their political interests. Part III traces the history of the Voting Rights Act and how it influenced the Supreme Court's treatment …
Commentary, Ronald J. Tabak
Commentary, Ronald J. Tabak
Fordham Urban Law Journal
Ronald J. Tabak, Chair of the Committee on the Death Penalty for the American Bar Association's Section of Individual Rights and Responsibilities, discusses the Section's purpose in organizing Forhdam University School of Law's panel discussion on "Politics and the Death Penalty." The goal was to illuminate the variety of effects of a widespread perception that the belief of legislators, governors, prosecutors, judges, clemency boards, political candidates and others that the public is overwhelmingly in support of capital punishment. The Section aimed to bring together knowledgeable people from a variety of perspectives to discuss (a) how the capital punishment system and …
Fighting Municipal "Tag-Team": The Federal Fair Housing Amendments Act And Its Use In Obtaining Access To Housing For Persons With Disabilities, Robert L. Schonfeld, Seth P. Stein
Fighting Municipal "Tag-Team": The Federal Fair Housing Amendments Act And Its Use In Obtaining Access To Housing For Persons With Disabilities, Robert L. Schonfeld, Seth P. Stein
Fordham Urban Law Journal
This Article examines the impact of the Fair Housing Amendments Act (FHAA) on prohibiting housing discrimination against persons on the basis of their disabilities, and analyzes the court decisions interpreting the FHAA on questions of land use to determine whether they are consistent with the stated intentions of the drafters of the Amendments. Part I traces the legislative intent behind the FHAA and, specifically, the sections of the Amendments enjoining housing discrimination against persons with handicaps. Part I also analyzes the court decisions interpreting the Amendments’ requirements as to what facts must be demonstrated to prove discrimination. This Part of …
Peace, Wealth, Happiness, And Small Claim Courts: A Case Study, Arthur Bestf, Deborah Zalesne, Kathleen Bridges, Kathryn Chenoweth
Peace, Wealth, Happiness, And Small Claim Courts: A Case Study, Arthur Bestf, Deborah Zalesne, Kathleen Bridges, Kathryn Chenoweth
Fordham Urban Law Journal
This Article presents empirical data on the operation of the small claims court in the city of Denver. The study underlying this Article evaluated the court in terms of (1) users’ reactions, (2) the correctness of outcomes (recognizing that a determination of the underlying truth may be impossible), (3) the correctness of procedures (allowing for the informality that has been characterized as essential for their operation), and (4) the effective power of the court in terms of enforcement of results. The study shows that small claims courts may be paradigmatic of governmental responses to social problems. They do some good …
Book Review, Land Use Regulation And Legal Rhetoric: Broadening The Terms Of Debate, R. S. Radford
Book Review, Land Use Regulation And Legal Rhetoric: Broadening The Terms Of Debate, R. S. Radford
Fordham Urban Law Journal
Dennis Coyle’s new book, Property Rights and the Constitution, is an important addition to the ongoing debate over the constitutional status of private property. Coyle selectively reviews important land use cases decided by the United States Supreme Court and various states in the post-New Deal era. More importantly, Coyle provides an ideological framework that illuminates several key strands in the constitutional jurisprudence of property law. Coyle traces the ebb and flow of competing attitudes toward property rights and regulation in a way that makes sense of the sometimes chaotic body of case law in this field. In the process, he …
City Versus Countryside: Environmental Equity In Context, A. Dan Tarlock
City Versus Countryside: Environmental Equity In Context, A. Dan Tarlock
Fordham Urban Law Journal
This Article takes an approach to the problem of environmental equity that is different from the remedies advocated by the leaders of the environmental equity movement. The plea that the benefits of environmental protection be extended to all groups in society is, of course, a legitimate one, but the movement is too narrowly focused and its aims are too modest. I dissent from the two central premises held by environmental equity advocates. First, the movement assumes that judicially recognized and enforced rights will lead to improved public health. Second, the movement asserts that disadvantaged communities should adopt a “Not in …
The Victims Of Nimby, Michael B. Gerrar
The Victims Of Nimby, Michael B. Gerrar
Fordham Urban Law Journal
Not In My Back Yard, or NIMBY, in its various forms, has three principal types of targets. The first is waste disposal facilities, primarily landfills and incinerators. The second is low-income housing. The third is social service facilities, group homes and shelters for individuals such as the mentally ill, AIDS patients, and the homeless. This Article addresses the issue of the victims of NIMBY, with special reference to the effects of project opposition on racial minorities. Because the effect of facility opposition varies widely with the type of project involved, Part II arrays the types of relevant projects and shows …
Environmental Justice Litigation: Another Stone In David’S Sling, Luke W. Cole
Environmental Justice Litigation: Another Stone In David’S Sling, Luke W. Cole
Fordham Urban Law Journal
This Article attempts to synthesize some of the lessons environmental justice lawyers have learned, in order to offer a practitioner’s perspective on environmental justice cases. The author’s ambition in setting out these lessons is to allow community groups and attorneys entering the struggle to learn from mistakes, emulate successes, and avoid re-inventing the wheel. Without addressing the strategic and tactical drawbacks of litigation, this Article assumes that a community group has decided to pursue litigation. This Article will only discuss siting cases, as siting disputes have been the primary context for environmental justice litigation thus far. The Article proposes a …
Race, Gender, Age, And Disproportionate Impact: What Can We Do About The Failure To Protect The Most Vulnerable?, Samara F. Swanston
Race, Gender, Age, And Disproportionate Impact: What Can We Do About The Failure To Protect The Most Vulnerable?, Samara F. Swanston
Fordham Urban Law Journal
Hard economic times and social conditions are driving a reordering of environmental protection priorities that threatens to sacrifice the most vulnerable groups. Environmental regulatory agencies acknowledge that vulnerable populations face the greatest risk of harm from environmental insult and that these groups are not adequately protected. Although a risk-based prioritization of resources benefits the greatest number of people, such allocation would disadvantage minority communities, which contain disproportionate numbers of sensitive subgroups. Our regulatory bodies must therefore develop new strategies to adequately protect sensitive subgroups identified in minority communities. Part II of this Article looks at some of the considerations that …
Achieving Environmental Justice: The Role Of Occupational Health, George Friedman-Jiménez, M.D.
Achieving Environmental Justice: The Role Of Occupational Health, George Friedman-Jiménez, M.D.
Fordham Urban Law Journal
The current rapidly growing interest in environmental justice is both timely and important. Occupational health is an integral part of assuring environmental justice. Concrete examples of environmental inequity leading directly to unequal health status can be found in occupational health literature and among the patients of occupational health clinics which serve populations that include low wage workers and workers of color. The toxic properties and health effects of many environmental contaminants were originally discovered in workplace settings where workers were repeatedly exposed to high doses of such contaminants. In the future, clinical occupational medicine, occupational epidemiology, occupational toxicology, and occupational …
Issues Of Classification In Environmental Equity: How We Manage Is How We Measure, Rae Zimmerman
Issues Of Classification In Environmental Equity: How We Manage Is How We Measure, Rae Zimmerman
Fordham Urban Law Journal
This Article addresses how concepts of race and ethnicity have been operationalized as a basis for defining and locating subpopulations (either explicitly or implicitly) for the purpose of analyzing environmental equity issues, and recommends some future directions. Part II focuses on how subpopulations are currently defined and on some problems encountered to date. The implications of these inconsistencies on the accuracy of health and environmental risk measures for a given subpopulation are addressed. Part III focuses on how spatial areas have been defined to aggregate these subpopulations within confined geographic boundaries.
Issues Of Community Empowerment, Peggy M. Shepard
Issues Of Community Empowerment, Peggy M. Shepard
Fordham Urban Law Journal
The environmental policies and concerns of local, state, and federal governments have failed to protect their citizens. More particularly, the nation's environmental agenda neglects to account for the urban environmental problems of people of color. This Essay first considers how environmental injustice and racism has impacted the West Harlem community. It next considers some of the particular health implications, such as lead poisoning and asthma, in the Harlem community. The needs of all communities of color and poverty are considered. The response of West Harlem Environmental Action to these needs is examined. Finally, the Essay concludes by briefly examining some …
Notes From The Front Line, Nancy E. Anderson, Ph.D
Notes From The Front Line, Nancy E. Anderson, Ph.D
Fordham Urban Law Journal
In the last five years, local thinking about environmental protection started to take shape. It is indisputable that cities are not neutral or homogenous geographies in terms of distributing benefits and burdens by class and race. This fact is applicable to local environmental politics. Environmental justice and fair share advocates – and in some instances the courts – are finding that cities like New York are extremely heterogeneous in terms of environmental conditions and the impact of implementing environmental laws. This Essay describes the Environmental Benefits Program, which the New York City Department of Environmental Protection has undertaken in order …
Protecting Endangered Communities, Clarice E. Gaylord, Geraldine W. Twitty
Protecting Endangered Communities, Clarice E. Gaylord, Geraldine W. Twitty
Fordham Urban Law Journal
Nontraditional environmentalists are struggling to protect and preserve communities, both urban and rural, that have become threatened by constant, multiple exposures to toxic air, contaminated water, and pesticide-ridden and chemical-laden soils. Numerous reports, including a 1992 study by the United States Environmental Protection Agency, have suggested that people of color and low income communities have been, for decades, the unwilling recipients of numerous hazardous waste sites, incinerators, chemical factories, and sewage treatment plants. Historically, these communities often lacked the essential resources necessary to oppose sitings of potentially hazardous facilities: money, organization, and political voice. Land in these communities is usually …
Compensated Siting Proposals: Is It Time To Pay Attention?, Vicki Been
Compensated Siting Proposals: Is It Time To Pay Attention?, Vicki Been
Fordham Urban Law Journal
Many proposals to overcome the difficulty of siting locally undesirable land uses (“LULUs”) fairly and efficiently suggest that the problem could be resolved if victims of the siting were adequately compensated for the burdens the LULU imposes. This Article seeks to spur greater attention to the difficult moral and political issues compensation proposals raise by showing that compensation programs are widespread in actual siting practice. It argues that the success of compensation programs, while limited, has been sufficient to ensure that such proposals will continue to be a significant feature of siting programs. It urges those interested in environmental justice …
Environmental Justice And Sustainability: Is There A Critical Nexus In The Case Of Waste Disposal Or Treatment Facility Siting?, Kent E. Portney
Environmental Justice And Sustainability: Is There A Critical Nexus In The Case Of Waste Disposal Or Treatment Facility Siting?, Kent E. Portney
Fordham Urban Law Journal
Over the past ten years, two environmental "movements," have evolved and gained rapidly in both stature and import. One of these, the environmental justice or equity movement, has sensitized Americans to its contention that minority populations and people of lower socio-economic status have disproportionately borne the risks of environmentally impacting events. The other movement, advocating sustainability, focuses on fostering behavior and policies that contribute to economic growth in environmentally responsible ways. In actuality, as will be elaborated later, sustainability has several meaning, which can be categorized in at least three distinct and sometimes even contradictory ways. Any connection between the …
The Meaning Of Urban Environmental Justice, Michel Gelobter, Ph.D.
The Meaning Of Urban Environmental Justice, Michel Gelobter, Ph.D.
Fordham Urban Law Journal
Environmental justice is redress for the structures and situations arising from environmental discrimination and, particularly, environmental racism. Environmental discrimination is actions and practices, arising from both individual ideologies and social structures that preserve and reinforce domination of subordinate groups with respect to the environment, while such discrimination with respect to race is environmental racism. Part I of this Essay discusses how environmental injustice is a three-dimensional nexus of economic injustice, social injustice and an unjust incidence of environmental quality, all of which overwhelmingly assures the continued oppression of communities of color and low-income communities on environmental matters. Part II of …