Law Commons^™

The Impossibility Of Agnostic Discrimination Law, Deborah M. Weiss

Deborah M. Weiss

In recent years, evidence of the societal rate of discrimination has been introduced in a small set of employment discrimination cases. Most cases using this so-called social framework analysis are class actions that challenge the use of subjective employment practices, including the ongoing Dukes v. Wal-Mart, the largest class action in U.S. history. Social framework evidence has been challenged as irrelevant, since unconnected to the facts of a particular dispute, and as more prejudicial than probative for holding individual defendants responsible for the wrongs of society as a whole. In this Article I argue that the societal rate of discrimination …

A Defense Attorney’S Guide To Confrontation After Michigan V. Bryant, Kathryn K. Polonsky

Kathryn K Polonsky

In 1603, the Crown charged Sir Walter Raleigh with high treason in part for plotting to murder King James I. In preparing for trial, Lord Cobham, Raleigh’s alleged co-conspirator, was interrogated and signed a sworn confession. During trial, the King used the Crown-procured ex parte testimony of Cobham against Raleigh. Raleigh demanded Cobham be brought before the court so Raleigh might interrogate him “face to face.” Raleigh was sure Cobham would prove his innocence. After all, Cobham had written a letter stating his charges against Raleigh contained no truth.

The Judges refused to allow Raleigh the use of Cobham’s exonerating …