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University of Michigan Law School

Law and Gender

Sex discrimination

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Nevada Department Of Human Resources V. Hibbs: Universalism And Reproductive Justice, Samuel Bagenstos Apr 2019

Nevada Department Of Human Resources V. Hibbs: Universalism And Reproductive Justice, Samuel Bagenstos

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The Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) was the first bill signed into law by President Bill Clinton—just two weeks after he took office. Enactment of the statute was a longstanding goal of the Democratic Party. It also represented a legislative victory for what I will call feminist universalism—the notion that sex equality is best served by rules and policies that reject differentiation between women and men. Ten years after Congress enacted the FMLA, the Supreme Court upheld the statute against a constitutional challenge in Nevada Department of Human Resources v. Hibbs. The Hibbs Court, in a surprising opinion by …


Sex Discrimination (Update 1), Christina B. Whitman Jan 1992

Sex Discrimination (Update 1), Christina B. Whitman

Book Chapters

During the 1980s and early 1990s intense disagreement has arisen over the appropriate strategy for eliminating sex discrimination. Some courts and commentators argue for gender-neutral rules that define categories in purely functional terms. Others, who point out that gender-neutral rules promise equality only for women who can meet a ‘‘male standard,’’ think that legal distinctions between the sexes are not only appropriate but necessary, at least in cases involving perceived biological differences. Still others refuse to think in terms of sameness and difference. They analyze each issue by asking whether the disputed rule furthers the domination of men and the …