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Articles 1 - 9 of 9

Full-Text Articles in Law

Impropriety’S Invisible Hand: Judicial Race And Gender Biases Within State Supreme Courts, Robert K. Christensen, John Szmer, Anthony M. Kreis Mar 2014

Impropriety’S Invisible Hand: Judicial Race And Gender Biases Within State Supreme Courts, Robert K. Christensen, John Szmer, Anthony M. Kreis

Robert Christensen

No abstract provided.


Tell Us A Story, But Don't Make It A Good One: Resolving The Confusion Regarding Emotional Stories And Federal Rule Of Evidence 403, Cathren Page Feb 2014

Tell Us A Story, But Don't Make It A Good One: Resolving The Confusion Regarding Emotional Stories And Federal Rule Of Evidence 403, Cathren Page

Cathren Page

Abstract: Tell Us a Story, But Don’t Make It A Good One: Resolving the Confusion Regarding Emotional Stories and Federal Rule of Evidence 403 by Cathren Koehlert-Page Courts need to reword their opinions regarding Rule 403 to address the tension between the advice to tell an emotionally evocative story at trial and the notion that evidence can be excluded if it is too emotional. In the murder mystery Mystic River, Dave Boyle is kidnapped in the beginning. The audience feels empathy for Dave who as an adult becomes one of the main suspects in the murder of his friend Jimmy’s …


A Home With Dignity: Domestic Violence And Property Rights, Margaret Johnson Feb 2013

A Home With Dignity: Domestic Violence And Property Rights, Margaret Johnson

Margaret E Johnson

This Article argues that the legal system should do more to address intimate partner violence and each party’s need for a home for several reasons. First, domestic violence is a leading cause of homelessness and family homelessness. Second, the struggle over rights to a shared home can increase the violence to which the woman is subjected. And third, a woman who decides that continuing to share a home with the person who abused her receives little or no system support, despite the evidence that this decision could most effectively reduce the violence. The legal system’s current failings result from its …


The Limits Of Debate Or What We Talk About When We Talk About Gender Imbalance On The Bench, Keith Bybee Jan 2013

The Limits Of Debate Or What We Talk About When We Talk About Gender Imbalance On The Bench, Keith Bybee

Keith J. Bybee

What do we talk about when we talk about gender imbalance on the bench? The first thing we do is keep track of the number of female judges. Once the data has been gathered, we then argue about what the disparity between men and women in the judiciary means. These arguments about meaning are not freestanding. On the contrary, I claim that debates over gender imbalance occur within the context of a broader public debate over the nature of judicial decisionmaking. I argue that this public debate revolves around dueling conceptions of the judge as impartial arbiter and as politically …


From Sex For Please To Sex For Parenthood: How The Law Manufactures Mothers, Beth A. Burkstrand-Reid Dec 2012

From Sex For Please To Sex For Parenthood: How The Law Manufactures Mothers, Beth A. Burkstrand-Reid

Beth A. Burkstrand-Reid

As soon as sperm enter a woman, so do law and politics, or so the decades-long disputes surrounding abortion suggest. Now, however, renewed debates surrounding contraceptives show legal and political interference with women’s sexual and reproductive autonomy may actually precede the sperm. This Article argues that, increasingly, women even thinking about having sex are defined socially and legally as “mothers.” Via this broad definition of who is a “mother," the State extends its reach into women’s decision-making throughout their reproductive lifetime. This Article argues that the State simultaneously devalues women’s choices to have sex for pleasure, which this Article calls …


Workshop On Judging: Does Gender Make A Difference, Herma Hill Kay, Geraldine Sparrow Dec 2012

Workshop On Judging: Does Gender Make A Difference, Herma Hill Kay, Geraldine Sparrow

Herma Hill Kay

No abstract provided.


The Rugged Feminism Of Sandra Day O'Connor, Judith Olans Brown, Wendy E. Parmet, Mary E. O'Connell Apr 2012

The Rugged Feminism Of Sandra Day O'Connor, Judith Olans Brown, Wendy E. Parmet, Mary E. O'Connell

Mary E. O'Connell

In this Article we explore Justice O'Connor's response to the woman question by looking at her opinions on matters traditionally perceived to be of interest to women or matters historically recognized as women's issues. This leads us to consider cases about women as physical and sexual beings and cases about women as nurturers and caretakers. In addition, we look at cases about individuals who, like women, have been traditionally perceived as dependent, vulnerable, and economically insecure. We do not claim that these are the only issues that matter to women. Clearly, the range of issues that matter to women is …


Implicit Bias In Employment Litigation, Melissa R. Hart Jan 2012

Implicit Bias In Employment Litigation, Melissa R. Hart

Melissa R Hart

Judges exercise enormous discretion in civil litigation, and nowhere more than in employment discrimination litigation, where the trial court’s “common sense” view of what is or is not “plausible” has significant impact on the likelihood that a case will survive summary judgment. As a general matter, doctrinal developments in the past two decades have quite consistently made it more difficult for plaintiffs to assert their claims of discrimination. In addition, many of these doctrines have increased the role of judicial judgment – and the possibility of the court’s implicit bias – in the life cycle of an employment discrimination case. …


Denying Choice Of Forum: An Interference By The Massachusetts Trial Court With Domestic Violence Victims' Rights, Margaret B. Drew, Marilu E. Gresens Dec 2009

Denying Choice Of Forum: An Interference By The Massachusetts Trial Court With Domestic Violence Victims' Rights, Margaret B. Drew, Marilu E. Gresens

Margaret B Drew

The article discusses the due process denials inherent in the Massachusetts scheme designed to defeat the victim's choice of forum for hearing on a civil protection order petition. The scheme would divert many protection orders to family court even though the statute in question permits filing and hearing of the petitions in district, superior and famiy courts. The diversion would be available whenever there is a related case filed in family court at the time that the petition for protection is filed. More alarmingly, the petition could be diverted to family court if a subsequent action was filed in the …