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Articles 1 - 14 of 14

Full-Text Articles in Law

Barriers To The Ballot Box: Implicit Bias And Voting Rights In The 21st Century, Arusha Gordon, Ezra D. Rosenberg Oct 2015

Barriers To The Ballot Box: Implicit Bias And Voting Rights In The 21st Century, Arusha Gordon, Ezra D. Rosenberg

Michigan Journal of Race and Law

While much has been written regarding unconscious or “implicit bias” in other areas of law, there is a scarcity of scholarship examining how implicit bias impacts voting rights and how advocates can move courts to recognize evidence of implicit bias within the context of a voting rights claim. This Article aims to address that scarcity. After reviewing research on implicit bias, this Article examines how implicit bias might impact different stages of the electoral process. It then argues that “results test” claims under Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act (VRA) present an opportunity for plaintiffs to introduce evidence regarding …


Disparaging Trademarks: Who Matters, Jasmine Abdel-Khalik Sep 2015

Disparaging Trademarks: Who Matters, Jasmine Abdel-Khalik

Michigan Journal of Race and Law

For more than a century, non-majority groups have protested the use of trademarks comprised of or containing terms referencing the group—albeit for various reasons. Under the 1946 Lanham Act, Congress added a prohibition against registering disparaging trademarks, which could offer protection to non-majority groups targeted by the use of trademarks offensive to members of the group. The prohibition remained relatively unclear, however, and rarely applied in that context until a group of Native Americans petitioned to cancel the Washington NFL team’s trademarks as either scandalous, offensive to the general population, or disparaging, offensive to the referenced group. In clarifying the …


There Are No Racists Here: The Rise Of Racial Extremism, When No One Is Racist, Jeannine Bell Sep 2015

There Are No Racists Here: The Rise Of Racial Extremism, When No One Is Racist, Jeannine Bell

Michigan Journal of Race and Law

At first glance hate murders appear wholly anachronistic in post-racial America. This Article suggests otherwise. The Article begins by analyzing the periodic expansions of the Supreme Court’s interpretation of the protection for racist expression in First Amendment doctrine. The Article then contextualizes the case law by providing evidence of how the First Amendment works on the ground in two separate areas —the enforcement of hate crime law and on university campuses that enact speech codes. In these areas, those using racist expression receive full protection for their beliefs. Part III describes social spaces—social media and employment where slurs and epithets …


Functionally Suspect: Reconceptualizing "Race" As A Suspect Classification, Lauren Sudeall Lucas Sep 2015

Functionally Suspect: Reconceptualizing "Race" As A Suspect Classification, Lauren Sudeall Lucas

Michigan Journal of Race and Law

In the context of equal protection doctrine, race has become untethered from the criteria underlying its demarcation as a classification warranting heightened scrutiny. As a result, it is no longer an effective vehicle for challenging the existing social and political order; instead, its primary purpose under current doctrine is to signal the presence of an impermissible basis for differential treatment. This Symposium Article suggests that, to more effectively serve its underlying normative goals, equal protection should prohibit not discrimination based on race per se, but government actions that implicate the concerns leading to race’s designation as a suspect classification. For …


The 2014 Farm Bill: Farm Subsidies And Food Oppression, Andrea Freeman Jun 2015

The 2014 Farm Bill: Farm Subsidies And Food Oppression, Andrea Freeman

Seattle University Law Review

The 2014 Farm Bill ushered in some significant and surprising changes. One of these was that it rendered the identity of all the recipients of farm subsidies secret. Representative Larry Combest, who is now a lobbyist for agribusiness, first introduced a secrecy provision into the bill in 2000. The provision, however, only applied to subsidies made in the form of crop insurance. Until 2014, the majority of subsidies were direct payments and the identity of the people who received them was public information. In fact, the Environmental Working Group’s release of the list of recipients led to a series of …


Backsliding: The United States Supreme Court, Shelby County V. Holder And The Dismantling Of Voting Rights Act Of 1965, Bridgette Baldwin Apr 2015

Backsliding: The United States Supreme Court, Shelby County V. Holder And The Dismantling Of Voting Rights Act Of 1965, Bridgette Baldwin

Journal of Race, Gender, and Ethnicity

No abstract provided.


The Blinding Color Of Race: Elections And Democracy In The Post-Shelby County Era, Sahar F. Aziz Apr 2015

The Blinding Color Of Race: Elections And Democracy In The Post-Shelby County Era, Sahar F. Aziz

Journal of Race, Gender, and Ethnicity

No abstract provided.


The Past As Prologue: Shelby County V. Holder And The Risks Ahead, J. Corey Harris Apr 2015

The Past As Prologue: Shelby County V. Holder And The Risks Ahead, J. Corey Harris

Journal of Race, Gender, and Ethnicity

No abstract provided.


Democracy And The Other: The Inverse Relationship Between Majority Rule And A Heterogeneous Citizenry, Franciska A. Coleman Apr 2015

Democracy And The Other: The Inverse Relationship Between Majority Rule And A Heterogeneous Citizenry, Franciska A. Coleman

West Virginia Law Review

No abstract provided.


The Surprising Resilience Of State Opposition To Abortion: The Supreme Court, Federalism, And The Role Of Intense Minorities In The U.S. Politics System, Gerald N. Rosenberg Jan 2015

The Surprising Resilience Of State Opposition To Abortion: The Supreme Court, Federalism, And The Role Of Intense Minorities In The U.S. Politics System, Gerald N. Rosenberg

Saint Louis University Public Law Review

No abstract provided.


The Politics Of The Bail System: What's The Price For Freedom., Lydia D. Johnson Jan 2015

The Politics Of The Bail System: What's The Price For Freedom., Lydia D. Johnson

The Scholar: St. Mary's Law Review on Race and Social Justice

The only factor determining the release of a defendant from custody before his trial date is money. The government should eliminate the current bail system and replace it with mandated pre-trial release unless the state can prove the defendant to be a flight risk or a danger to society. This bail system has an adverse economic impact on minorities and on poor communities. Some states have used their constitutions to implement pre-trial release. Texas has four constitutional provisions which would permit similar implementations. However, clashing political ideologies and institutional alliances continue to prevent the construction of a workable solution. Dismantling …


Corporate Boardroom Diversity: Why Are We Still Talking About This?., Lawrence J. Trautman Jan 2015

Corporate Boardroom Diversity: Why Are We Still Talking About This?., Lawrence J. Trautman

The Scholar: St. Mary's Law Review on Race and Social Justice

What exactly is board diversity and why does it matter? How does diversity fit in an attempt to build the best board for any organization? What attributes and skills are required by law and what mix of experiences and talents provide the best corporate governance? Even though most companies say they are looking for diversity, why has there been such little progress? Are required director attributes, which are a must for all boards, consistent with future diversity gains and aligned with achieving high performance and optimal board composition? How might women and people of color best cultivate these skills necessary …


Hands-Tied Hiring: How The Eeoc’S Individualized Assessment Is Taking Discretion Away From Employers’ Use Of Criminal Background Checks, Carrie Valdez Jan 2015

Hands-Tied Hiring: How The Eeoc’S Individualized Assessment Is Taking Discretion Away From Employers’ Use Of Criminal Background Checks, Carrie Valdez

Cleveland State Law Review

This article argues that the 2012 EEOC Guidance should not be given deference by the courts. Specifically, the Guidance’s individualized assessment, which imposes a heightened requirement on employers to justify their background check policies, is problematic in three important ways. First, the individualized assessment places an impractical burden by what it requires and whom it requires to conduct such an assessment. Second, employer liability for negligent hiring may actually increase if employers perform individualized assessments. Finally, the practical effect of the individualized assessment may be decreased employer reliance on criminal background checks, and the result will likely not be a …


Decreasing Disproportionality Through Kinship Care., Aimee Corbin Jan 2015

Decreasing Disproportionality Through Kinship Care., Aimee Corbin

The Scholar: St. Mary's Law Review on Race and Social Justice

Expanding financial assistance to kinship placements can reduce disproportionality between racial minorities in Child Protective Services (CPS) custody. Statistics show that nationally, CPS removes a disproportionate number of minority children compared to non-minorities. CPS typically places a child in substitute care when that child is removed from their home, including kinship placement. Kinship placement is defined as the process by which children are placed in the care of relatives or close family friends. The government provides a significantly larger budget for foster care than for kinship placement. Kinship advocates, however, argue that foster placement—the placement in the care of a …