Law Commons^™

Realizing Restorative Justice: Legal Rules And Standards For School Discipline Reform, Lydia Nussbaum

Scholarly Works

Zero-tolerance school disciplinary policies stunt the future of school children across the United States. These policies, enshrined in state law, prescribe automatic and mandatory suspension, expulsion, and arrest for infractions ranging from minor to serious. Researchers find that zero-tolerance policies disproportionately affect low-income, minority children and correlate with poor academic achievement, high drop-out rates, disaffection and alienation, and greater contact with the criminal justice system, a phenomenon christened the "School-to-Prison Pipeline."

A promising replacement for this punitive disciplinary regime derives from restorative justice theory and, using a variety of different legal interventions, reform advocates and lawmakers have tried to institute …

Shame Agent, Joan W. Howarth

Scholarly Works

As a nation, we have recently experienced a significant positive shift in norms against casual campus sexual violence. These changes are perhaps as dramatic as the attitudinal shifts over recent decades regarding drunk driving or cigarette smoking. In a world in which masculinity is too often associated with sexual conquest, and women still suffer under intense and conflicting pressures regarding their sexual behavior, pushing this potential transformation forward is both difficult and necessary. Enforcement of Title IX protections has become a crucial driver of much of this change.

This is an account of some of what I learned as a …

Schwartz V. Lopez, 132 Nev. Adv. Op. 73 (Sep. 29, 2016), Scott Cardenas

Nevada Supreme Court Summaries

The Court determined that (1) Article 11, Section 1 of the Nevada Constitution does not limit the Legislature’s discretion in encouraging other methods of education, and based on this, the Education Savings Account (“ESA”) program is not contrary to Article 11, Section 2 which requires the Legislature to “provide for a uniform system of common schools”; and that (2) the funds deposited in the education savings account are not “public funds” subject to Article 11, Section 10; and finally that (3) the ESA program violates the mandate under Section 2 and 6 to fund public education because SB 302 does …

Nevada's Education Savings Accounts: A Constitutional Analysis, Thomas W. Stewart, Brittany Walker

Nevada Supreme Court Summaries

This piece will analyze potential conflicts between Senate Bill 302 and Article XI of the Nevada Constitution to explore the constitutionality of educational savings accounts.

Hairr V. First Judicial Dist. Ct., 132 Nev. Adv. Op. 16 (Mar. 10, 2016), Douglas H. Smith

Nevada Supreme Court Summaries

The Supreme Court denied petitioners’ application for a writ of mandamus for abuse of the district court’s discretion. If granted, this writ would have compelled the district court to grant the petitioners’ application to intervene under Rule 24 of the Nevada Rule of Civil Procedure as defendants in a constitutional challenge to a program that awards grants to children who are educated by entities other than public schools. The State is presumed to adequately represent the interests of those who support the bill. Since they did not demonstrate a conflict of interest with the State’s position or present an argument …

Beyond The Basketball Court: How Brittney Griner's In My Skin Illustrates Title Ix's Failure To Protect Lgbt Athletes At Religious Institutions, Leslie C. Griffin

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Symposium: Playing with Pride: LGBT Inclusion in Sports.

Unlike schoolteachers, janitors, coaches, food-service directors, organists, and other workers, professional athletes usually command center stage in society. Their successes and failures loom larger than life. Sometimes their prominent lives highlight themes hidden from public discussion or neglected by the majority. Professional basketball player Brittney Griner's autobiography does just that, by illuminating how "religious freedom" can undermine equality, especially LGBT equality.

Economic Inequality And College Admissions Policies, David Orentlicher

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As economic inequality in the United States has reached unprecedented heights, reformers have focused considerable attention on changes in the law that would provide for greater equality in wealth among Americans. No doubt, much benefit would result from more equitable tax policies, fairer workplace regulation, and more generous spending policies.

But there may be even more to gain by revising college admissions policies. Admissions policies at the Ivy League and other elite American colleges do much to exacerbate the problem of economic inequality. Accordingly, reforming those policies may represent the most effective strategy for restoring a reasonable degree of economic …

Academic Freedom And Academic Responsibility, Nancy B. Rapoport

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In this review of Matthew W. Finkin & Robert C. Post, For the Common Good: Principles of Academic Freedom (Yale University Press 2009), I examine Finkin & Post's study of academic freedom in U.S. higher education institutions and link the issues surrounding academic freedom to the issues surrounding shared governance. I argue that the problems with shared governance can create a race to the bottom in academic units.

Teaching Freedom: Exclusionary Rights Of Student Groups, Joan W. Howarth

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Progressive, anti-subordination values support robust First Amendment protection for high school and university students, including strong rights of expressive association, even when those rights clash with educational institutions' nondiscrimination policies. The leading cases addressing the conflicts between nondiscrimination policies and exclusionary student groups are polarized and distorted by their culture war context. That context tainted the leading authority, Boy Scouts of America v. Dale, and is especially salient in the student expressive association cases, many of which are being aggressively litigated by religious groups with strong anti-homosexuality goals. The strength of these First Amendment claims can be difficult to recognize …

Diversity: A Fundamental American Principle, David Orentlicher

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In this article, Professor David Orentlicher argues that following the U.S. Supreme Court's affirmative action decisions in June 2003, both the Court in its defense of diversity and the commentators in their critiques of the diversity rationale have misjudged the public interest in diversity . Rather than having insufficient weight to justify affirmative action or reflecting a limited educational interest, diversity is a critical principle for much of American constitutional and social structure. In particular, the federalist system of government rests in large part on the belief that a diversity of approaches by the fifty states will lead to better …

The Most Rational Branch: Guinn V. Legislature And The Judiciary's Role As Helpful Arbiter Of Conflict, Jeffrey W. Stempel

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When the Nevada Supreme Court decided Guinn v. Legislature, one would have thought from reading the popular press accounts that the court had forcibly displaced the State legislature by means of a violent coup d'etat. Newspaper accounts of the decision referred to it as a usurpation of power in violation of clear constitutional language, belittling the court in language sometimes more appropriate to the baseball bleachers than to serious editorial commentary. Following suit, politicized elements of the citizenry began a recall effort (seemingly unsuccessful as of this writing) directed at the court as well as joining the chorus of criticisms. …

Their Own Preposessions: The Establishment Clause 1999-2000, Leslie C. Griffin

Scholarly Works

No abstract provided.

Affirmative Action And Texas’ Ten Percent Solution: Improving Diversity And Quality, David Orentlicher

Scholarly Works

No abstract provided.