Law Commons^™

The Incorporation Doctrine: The Degradation Of State Sovereignty And The Ushering Of Federal Tyranny, Roland Al Achtau

Senior Honors Theses

Abstract

My senior thesis paper will discuss the incorporation doctrine of the Bill of Rights to state governments. The incorporation doctrine has been subject to extensive debate as to the proper relationship between state and federal sovereignty. Proponents of incorporation believe that the incorporation of the Bill of Rights limits state governments from using pre-Civil War practices (such as discrimination and inhumane treatment of persons) and thus would ensure greater liberty to individuals. However, opponents believe that such a transfer of power to the federal government can lead to the demise of state sovereignty and usurpation of national power. In …

A State's Obligation To Fund Hormonal Therapy And Sex-Reassignment Surgery For Prisoners Diagnosed With Gender Identity Disorder, Rena M. Lindevaldsen

Faculty Publications and Presentations

This article explores whether a state law imposing a flat ban on the use of funds to provide cross-gender hormones or sex-reassignment surgery for prisoners diagnosed with GID satisfies the Eighth Amendment standard of deliberately indifferent to serious medical needs. In other words, the issue is whether it constitutes cruel and unusual punishment for a state to refuse to provide hormones or sex-reassignment surgery to GID prisoners. The district court in Kosilek v. Spencer1 held that it does: the state violated the Eighth Amendment in providing feminizing hormones to Kosilek but refusing to provide him sex-reassignment surgery. Part I …