Law Commons^™

Keeping Cases From Black Juries: An Empirical Analysis Of How Race, Income Inequality, And Regional History Affect Tort Law, Donald G. Gifford, Brian Jones

Faculty Scholarship

This Article presents an empirical analysis of how race, income inequality, the regional history of the South, and state politics affect the development of tort law. Beginning in the mid-1960s, most state appellate courts rejected doctrines such as contributory negligence that traditionally prevented plaintiffs’ cases from reaching the jury. We examine why some, mostly Southern states did not join this trend.

To enable cross-state comparisons, we design an innovative Jury Access Denial Index (JADI) that quantifies the extent to which each state’s tort doctrines enable judges to dismiss cases before they reach the jury. We then conduct a multivariate analysis …

The Unfinished Journey - Education, Equality And Martin Luther King, Jr., Revisited, Taunya Lovell Banks

Faculty Scholarship

An educated society is important to the survival of a democracy, a sentiment echoed by the Supreme Court in Brown v. Board of Education. Today most commentators concede that the implementation of Brown was a failure and that over the years there has been retrenchment. Although America’s schools are no longer racially segregated by law, a substantial percentage of school children are consigned to racially isolated schools. While commentators continue to argue for racially integrated schools, this article argues that racial integration alone is insufficient--schools must receive adequate financial resources and be even more diverse socio-economically to adequately prepare America’s …

Has The Roberts Court Plurality's Colorblind Rhetoric Finally Broken Brown's Promise?, Phoebe A. Haddon

Faculty Scholarship

This Essay examines the continuing significance of the Keyes decision to the judicial vision of equality and racial isolation in public education. By comparing efforts to promote educational equality from the Keyes era through today, this Essay asserts that the judiciary has wrongly embraced a colorblind interpretation of the Equal Protection Clause. In so doing, courts have impeded the progress of children in Denver and around the country, ignored highly instructive social science studies on the benefits of desegregation, and broken the constitutional promise of equal citizenship. For future policy makers and lawyers to address these persistent problems, legal educators …

Book Review: What Comes Naturally: Miscegenation Law And The Making Of Race In America, Taunya L. Banks

Faculty Scholarship

No abstract provided.

To Kill A Mockingbird Perspectives, Sherrilyn A. Ifill

Faculty Scholarship

"To Kill a Mockingbird" is one of the most influential and widely acclaimed legal novels in American history. It tells the story of a small-town white lawyer who is appointed to defend a black man accused of raping a white woman in 1930s Alabama. The lawyer, Atticus Finch, is one of the great legal heroes of American fiction. The story, told from the perspective of Atticus' daughter Scout, explores race, class, gender, family and law. Most of all it is a both critical and loving account of the white South. This article is a personal story about the influence of …

Exploring White Resistance To Racial Reconciliation In The United States, Taunya Lovell Banks

Faculty Scholarship

No abstract provided.

Race Talk: Patricia J. Williams' Seeing A Color-Blind Future: The Paradox Of Race, Taunya Lovell Banks

Faculty Scholarship

No abstract provided.