Law Commons^™

Echoes From The Segregationist Past At Oral Argument, Mary Ellen Maatman

Mary Ellen Maatman

The Anticanonical Lesson Of Huckleberry Finn, Sharon E. Rush

Sharon E. Rush

Some books included in the canon of American literature no longer belong there, because they presently lack normative approval. Adapting concepts found in constitutional law, an anticanon of American literature functions the way the anticanon of constitutional law would operate and explicitly removes books from the canon. In law, the anticanon identifies outdated interpretations of the constitution. In education, it is time to consider removing from the canon and placing in an anticanon books that are inconsistent with multicultural education. One such book is Mark Twain's Huckleberry Finn, which is part of the canon of American literature and viewed as …

The Anticanonical Lesson Of Huckleberry Finn, Sharon E. Rush

Sharon E. Rush

Some books included in the canon of American literature no longer belong there, because they presently lack normative approval. Adapting concepts found in constitutional law, an anticanon of American literature functions the way the anticanon of constitutional law would operate and explicitly removes books from the canon. In law, the anticanon identifies outdated interpretations of the constitution. In education, it is time to consider removing from the canon and placing in an anticanon books that are inconsistent with multicultural education. One such book is Mark Twain's Huckleberry Finn, which is part of the canon of American literature and viewed as …

Traffic Stop Practices Of The Louisville Police Department: January 15 - December 31, 2001, Terry D. Edwards, Elizabeth L. Grossi, Gennaro F. Vito, Angela D. Crews

Angela Crews

This report summarizes the findings of a study conducted using data collected by the Louisville Division of Police between January 15, 2001 and December 31, 2001. These data resulted from 48,586 interactions between law enforcement officers and citizens during traffic-related contacts. Information was collected about the driver, the officer, and the stop event. Driver demographics included race, sex, age, residency, license number, and vehicle registration. The only information collected about the officer was officer badge number. Finally, data collected about the stop event include the date, time of day, reason for stop, activities during the stop, number of passengers, and …

Traffic Stop Practices Of The Louisville Police Department: January 15 - December 31, 2001, Terry D. Edwards, Elizabeth L. Grossi, Gennaro F. Vito, Angela D. Crews

Angela Crews

This report summarizes the findings of a study conducted using data collected by the Louisville Division of Police between January 15, 2001 and December 31, 2001. These data resulted from 48,586 interactions between law enforcement officers and citizens during traffic-related contacts. Information was collected about the driver, the officer, and the stop event. Driver demographics included race, sex, age, residency, license number, and vehicle registration. The only information collected about the officer was officer badge number. Finally, data collected about the stop event include the date, time of day, reason for stop, activities during the stop, number of passengers, and …

A Dream Deferred, Ruth-Arlene W Howe

Ruth-Arlene W. Howe

Presentation at the MLK Annual Unity Breakfast, Boston College, January 19, 2005.

“It’S A Kākou Thing”: The Dadt Repeal And A New Vocabulary Of Anti-Subordination, Kim D. Chanbonpin

Kim D. Chanbonpin

No abstract provided.

“It’S A Kākou Thing”: The Dadt Repeal And A New Vocabulary Of Anti-Subordination, Kim D. Chanbonpin

Kim D. Chanbonpin

No abstract provided.

Administering Section 2 Of The Voting Rights Act After Shelby County, Christopher Elmendorf, Douglas Spencer

Douglas M. Spencer

Until the Supreme Court put an end to it in Shelby County v. Holder, Section 5 of the Voting Rights Act was widely regarded as an effective, low cost tool for blocking potentially discriminatory changes to election laws and administrative practices. The provision the Supreme Court left standing, Section 2, is generally seen as expensive, cumbersome and almost wholly ineffective at blocking changes before they take effect. This paper argues that the courts, in partnership with the Department of Justice, could reform Section 2 so that it fills much of the gap left by the Supreme Court’s evisceration of Section …

Praise Defenders, Not Just Prosecutors, Stephen E. Henderson

Stephen E Henderson

Class Actions Under The Age Discrimination In Employment Act: The Question Is Why Not?, Anne S. Emanuel

Anne S. Emanuel

No abstract provided.

The Tuttle Trilogy: Habeas Corpus And Human Rights, Anne S. Emanuel

Anne S. Emanuel

No abstract provided.

Lynching And The Law In Georgia Circa 1931: A Chapter In The Legal Career Of Judge Elbert Tuttle, Anne S. Emanuel

Anne S. Emanuel

Elbert Parr Tuttle joined the federal bench in 1954, shortly after the Supreme Court decided Brown v. Board of Education. In 1960, he became the Chief Judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit, the court with jurisdiction over most of the deep south. As Chief Judge, he forged a jurisprudence that proved effective in overcoming the intransigence and outright rebellion of those who had long denied fundamental constitutional rights to African Americans. This Essay traces an episode that occurred in 1931, when Tuttle spearheaded an effort to obtain a fair trial for John Downer, a …

Magna Carta Then And Now: A Symbol Of Freedom And Equal Rights For All, Eugene K B Tan, Jack Tsen-Ta Lee

Jack Tsen-Ta LEE

Magna Carta became applicable to Singapore in 1826 when a court system administering English law was established in the Straits Settlements. This remained the case through Singapore’s evolution from Crown colony to independent republic. The Great Charter only ceased to apply in 1993, when Parliament enacted the Application of English Law Act to clarify which colonial laws were still part of Singapore law. Nonetheless, Magna Carta’s legacy in Singapore continues in a number of ways. Principles such as due process of law and the supremacy of law are cornerstones of the rule of law, vital to the success, stability and …

Deadly Waiting Game: An Environmental Justice Framework For Examining Natural And Man-Made Disasters Beyond Hurricane Katrina [Abstract], Robert D. Bullard

Robert D Bullard

Presenter: Robert D. Bullard, Ph.D., Professor of Sociology, Clark Atlanta University 1 page.

Religious Accommodations And – And Among – Civil Rights: Separation, Toleration, And Accommodation, Richard W. Garnett

Richard W Garnett

This paper expands on a presentation at a recent conference, held at Harvard Law School, on the topic of “Religious Accommodations in the Age of Civil Rights.” In it, I emphasize that the right to religious freedom is a basic civil right, the increased appreciation of which is said to characterize our “age.” Accordingly, I push back against scholars’ and commentators’ increasing tendency to regard and present religious accommodations and exemptions as obstacles to the civil-rights enterprise and ask instead if our religious-accommodation practices are all that they should be. Are accommodations and exemptions being extended prudently but generously, in …

Integrate And Reactivate The 1968 Fair Housing Mandate, Courtney L. Anderson

Courtney L Anderson

No abstract provided.

Integrate And Reactivate The 1968 Fair Housing Mandate, Courtney L. Anderson

Courtney L Anderson

No abstract provided.

Tales Of Color And Colonialism: Racial Realism And Settler Colonial Theory, Natsu T. Saito

Natsu Taylor Saito

More than a half-century after the Civil Rights Era, people of color remain disproportionately impoverished and incarcerated, excluded and vulnerable. Legal remedies rooted in the Constitution’s guarantee of equal protection remain elusive. This article argues that the “racial realism” advocated by the late Professor Derrick Bell compels us to look critically at the purposes served by racial hierarchy. By stepping outside the master narrative’s depiction of the United States as a “nation of immigrants” with opportunity for all, we can recognize it as a settler state, much like Canada, Australia, and New Zealand. It could not exist without the occupation …

Amicus Brief In "Obergefell V. Hodges", Tanya M. Washington, Catherine Smith, Lauren Fontana, Susannah Pollvogt

Tanya Monique Washington

Supreme Court precedent establishes that the government may not punish children for matters beyond their control. Same-sex marriage bans and non-recognition laws (“marriage bans”) do precisely this. The states argue that marriage is good for children, yet marriage bans categorically exclude an entire class of children – children of same-sex couples – from the legal, economic and social benefits of marriage.

This amicus brief recounts a powerful body of equal protection jurisprudence that prohibits punishing children to reflect moral disapproval of parental conduct or to incentivize adult behavior. We then explain that marriage bans punish children of same-sex couples because …

Freedom For Ramsey Muniz, Chicano Political Prisoner, Ruben B. Botello Jd

Ruben B Botello JD

SUBJECT: Ramsey Muniz, Prisoner #40288-115 Mr. President: We pray you and your loved ones are doing well. The 1994 Three Strikes law used, to sentence Mr. Ramsey Muniz (Federal Prisoner #40288-115) should never have been applied to his case according to U.S. Assistant Attorney General Jo Ann Harris. (see her below 1995 Memo to all U.S. lawyers) Furthermore, this federal Three Strikes law now held unconstitutional by the U.S. Supreme Court, in Johnson vs. United States, June 26, 2015 (see http://www.supremecourt.gov/opinions/14pdf/13-7120_p86b.pdf). It was enacted, to put serious violent felons behind bars for life, not defendants like Mr. Muniz who was …

Doctrines Of Delusion: How The History Of The G.I. Bill And Other Inconvenient Truths Undermine The Supreme Court’S Affirmative Action Jurisprudence, Juan F. Perea

Juan F. Perea

No abstract provided.

Unenumerated Rights And The Limits Of Analogy: A Critque Of The Right To Medical Self-Defense, O. Carter Snead

O. Carter Snead

Volokh’s project stands or falls with the claim that the entitlement he proposes is of constitutional dimension. If there is no fundamental right to medical self-defense, the individual must, for better or worse, yield to the regulation of this domain in the name of the values agreed to by the political branches of government. Indeed, the government routinely restricts the instrumentalities of self-help (including self-defense) in the name of avoiding what it takes to be more significant harms. This same rationale accounts for current governmental limitations on access to unapproved drugs and the current ban on organ sales. The FDA …

Wrongful Death Actions Under Section 1983, Martin A. Schwartz, Steven Steinglass, Richard Emery, Ilann Margalit Maazel

Martin A. Schwartz

No abstract provided.

Section 1983 Cases In The October 2004 Term, Martin A. Schwartz

Martin A. Schwartz

No abstract provided.

Agency, Equality, And Antidiscrimination Law, Tracy E. Higgins, Laura A. Rosenbury

Laura A. Rosenbury

Some commentators, perhaps a minority, have argued that the Equal Protection Clause should be read to require the use of race-conscious policies when necessary to eradicate or remedy the most serious consequences of racial inequality. Others have argued that such policies, though not required, should be permitted when duly adopted by the majority of the populace to promote the interests of an historically oppressed minority. Still others, including now a majority of the Supreme Court, take the view that the Constitution forbids virtually all explicit uses of race by the state. In this Essay, we do not enter this debate …

Sex In And Out Of Intimacy, Laura A. Rosenbury, Jennifer E. Rothman

Laura A. Rosenbury

The state has long attempted to regulate sexual activity by channeling sex into various forms of state-supported intimacy. Although commentators and legal scholars of diverse political perspectives generally believe such regulation is declining, the freedom to engage in diverse sexual activities has not been established as a matter of law. Instead, courts have extended legal protection to consensual sexual acts only to the extent such acts support other state interests, most often marriage and procreation. Although Lawrence v. Texas altered some aspects of that vision, it reinscribed others by suggesting that sexual activity should be protected from state interference only …

Gender Injustice: System-Level Juvenile Justice Reforms For Girls, Francine Sherman, Annie Balck

Francine T. Sherman

Despite decades of attention, the proportion of girls in the juvenile justice system has increased and their challenges have remained remarkably consistent, resulting in deeply rooted systemic gender injustice. The literature is clear that girls in the justice system have experienced abuse, violence, adversity, and deprivation across many of the domains of their lives—family, peers, intimate partners, and community. There is also increasing understanding of the sorts of programs helpful to these girls. What is missing is a focus on how systems—and particularly juvenile justice systems—can be redesigned to protect public safety and support the healing and healthy development of …

Bisexuals Need Not Apply: A Comparative Appraisal Of Refugee Law And Policy In Canada, The United States, And Australia, Sean Rehaag

Sean Rehaag

This paper offers an analysis of refugee claims on grounds of bisexuality. After discussing the grounds on which sexual minorities may qualify for refugee status under international refugee law, the paper empirically assesses the success rates of bisexual refugee claimants in three major host states: Canada, the United States, and Australia. It concludes that bisexuals are significantly less successful than other sexual minority groups in obtaining refugee status in those countries. Through an examination of selected published decisions involving bisexual refugee claimants, the author identifies two main areas for concern that may partly account for the difficulties that bisexual refugee …

Feminism And Legal Method: The Difference It Makes, Mary Jane Mossman

Mary Jane Mossman

Prompted by questions raised in A Feminist Perspective in the Academy: The Difference It Makes, Mossman questions whether or not feminist theory, namely as it concerns equality and the impact of women as key actors, could impact the structure of legal inquiry.