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Lessons From The Past And Strategies For The Future: Using Domestic, International And Comparative Law To Overturn Sodomy Laws, Charlene Smith, James Wilets
Lessons From The Past And Strategies For The Future: Using Domestic, International And Comparative Law To Overturn Sodomy Laws, Charlene Smith, James Wilets
Seattle University Law Review
This Article will first discuss the legal importance of challenging sodomy laws, even though those laws are rarely enforced. It will then discuss the importance of incorporating international and comparative law in formulating these challenges. In Section II, Professor Charlene Smith will discuss past and future strategies, focusing on the topics of equal protection, morality, and the difference (or lack thereof) between acts and status. In Section III, Professor Jim Wilets will explore incorporating international and comparative law into domestic challenges to U.S. sodomy laws. This Article will demonstrate that there is binding Supreme Court authority requiring all U.S. courts …
Cracking The Code: "De-Coding" Colorblind Slurs During The Congressional Crack Cocaine Debates, Richard Dvorak
Cracking The Code: "De-Coding" Colorblind Slurs During The Congressional Crack Cocaine Debates, Richard Dvorak
Michigan Journal of Race and Law
This article proposes "de-coding" as a method for unveiling the racist purpose behind the enactment of race-neutral legislation. Through the use of "code words," defined as “phrases and symbols which refer indirectly to racial themes, but do not directly challenge popular democratic or egalitarian ideals,” legislators can appeal to racist sentiments without appearing racist. More importantly, they can do so without leaving evidence that can be traced back as an intent to discriminate. This article proposes to use "de-coding" as a method to unmask the racist purpose behind the enactment of the 100:1 crack versus powder cocaine ratio for mandatory …
Gang Loitering And Race, Lawrence Rosenthal
Gang Loitering And Race, Lawrence Rosenthal
Lawrence Rosenthal
The decision of the United States Supreme Court in City of Chicago v. Morales, which invalidating Chicago's gang-loitering ordinance, provides a road map for future public order laws that can address inner-city crime. This article makes the argument for public order laws as an anti-gang initiative that stops short of an approach dependent on massive incarceration, and defends such laws against an attack on grounds of racial fairness. Relying on the work of leading urban sociologists, the article argues that gang crime powerfully attracts inner city (and disproportionately minority) youth, and that any strategy for crime reduction in the inner …