Law Commons^™

Talking About Race And Equality, Sharon E. Rush

UF Law Faculty Publications

Lots of people of different races are increasingly uncomfortable talking about race. They prefer to function in a colorblind society where they insist that race is irrelevant. Not surprisingly, the concept of racial silencing is consistent with the concept of colorblindness. Logically, it seems impossible to talk about race if we are not even supposed to see it. The idea seems to be that if people who believe in racial equality magically stopped seeing and talking about race they could avoid the negativity surrounding racial issues and just hope that the inequality would fix itself. But we know that if …

Majority Politics And Race Based Remedies, Darren Lenard Hutchinson

UF Law Faculty Publications

This Essay applies the principles of social movement theory and analyzes the legal status of race-based remedies. Many scholars have debated the constitutionality and efficacy of affirmative action, the appropriateness of race-consciousness (from legal and social perspectives) and the legitimacy of structural judicial remedies for various types of discrimination. This paper will add to this literature by demonstrating the influence of conservative race politics and ideology on Court doctrine concerning affirmative action and other race-based remedies. In particular, this Essay will demonstrate that, consistent with broader political trends, the Court disfavors governmental usage of race as a remedy for discrimination …

The Majoritarian Difficulty: Affirmative Action, Sodomy, And Supreme Court Politics, Darren Lenard Hutchinson

UF Law Faculty Publications

Contemporary debates over recent Court decisions provide a rich context to weigh claims of judicial countermajoritarianism against the work of constitutional theorists, critical legal scholars, and political scientists who view the Court as a majoritarian body. In particular, the Court's decisions in Lawrence v. Texas, Gratz v. Bollinger, and Grutter v. Bollinger have reignited arguments concerning the propriety of judicial review. Prominent judicial commentators have described the decisions as important, and unexpected, civil rights victories from a markedly conservative Court. Liberal and conservative scholars and activists seem to agree with this description: mainline civil rights organizations and liberal scholars view …

Affirmative Action And The Decline Of Intellectual Culture, Charles W. Collier

UF Law Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

Reflections On Racism And World Order, Winston P. Nagan

UF Law Faculty Publications

This Article is about international racism. Racism is not simply a local or national phenomenon, it is an immense global problem. Indeed, its tentacles stretch from the local to the global and back to the local. Let us put the picture of international racism into perspective by tying it to the claims made to eradicate racism in economic relations. Apart from affirmative action, there are two other approaches: either to assert the notion that reparations is a way to ameliorate the worst manifestations of racism and provide for racial justice, or to join that with the notion that there is …

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

UF Law Faculty Publications

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 …

Sharing Space: Why Racial Goodwill Isn't Enough, Sharon E. Rush

UF Law Faculty Publications

Racism is understood by most White people to be an attitude of prejudice toward Blacks. In contrast, Blacks define racism more inclusively; it is a system of institutional preferences for Whites, resulting from historically ingrained prejudices Whites have against Blacks. People of goodwill are disinclined to attribute racial connotations to ordinary, everyday negative interactions involving Whites and people of color as long as the Whites are people of goodwill (people who do not think they have prejudiced attitudes). Second, goodwill comfort is important to maintain, causing many Whites to shy away from any discussions about race. People of goodwill have …

Diversity: The Red Herring Of Equal Protection, Sharon E. Rush

UF Law Faculty Publications

Couching the constitutional inquiry in cases like Bakke and VMI in the context of integration also puts in perspective the diversity justification. Affirmative action policies are constitutional because they integrate state programs. Integration on the basis of race and sex also diversifies state programs. In contrast, attempts to justify sex-segregation in state programs by arguing the policy promotes diversity is irrelevant to an equal protection analysis. Voluntarily created all-female schools should be constitutional because they promote the equal citizenship of women without damaging the equal citizenship stature of men. This is true for voluntarily race-segregated programs for minorities; as well. …

The Diversity Among Us, Berta E. Hernández-Truyol

UF Law Faculty Publications

It is really a pleasure to be here today and I think we owe great thanks to Western New England College School of Law for hosting this historic First Annual Northeastern People of Color Legal Scholarship Conference. I think there are two people who deserve special mention and to whom a great deal of thanks are in order. First, I would like to thank Dean Mahoney of Western New England College School of Law who made this conference possible. These events just do not happen without administrative and, more specifically, deaconal support. Her role and support are invaluable. The other …

The New Logic Of Affirmative Action, Charles W. Collier

UF Law Faculty Publications

Is affirmative action inherently preferential, discriminatory, and thus inconsistent with the Constitution's guarantee of equal protection? This question is basic to the legal discussion of affirmative action, and yet it seems to me that it has not been adequately addressed, much less analyzed. Clearly, there is no shortage of individual abuses and misuses in the name of “affirmative action,” and these have been amply documented elsewhere. My primary concern is with what might be termed the “logic” of affirmative action.

Liberty Vs. Equality: In Defense Of Privileged White Males, Nancy E. Dowd

UF Law Faculty Publications

In this book review, Professor Dowd reviews Forbidden Grounds: The Case Against Employment Discrimination Laws, by Richard A. Epstein (1992). First, Professor Dowd sets forth the thesis and arguments of Epstein’s book and explores her general criticisms in more detail. Next, she explores Epstein’s core argument pitting liberty against equality from two perspectives: that of the privileged white male and that of minorities and women. Finally, Professor Dowd argues that Epstein’s position cannot be viewed as an argument that most minorities or women would make, as it fails to take account of their stories.

Title Vii V. Seniority: The Supreme Court Giveth And The Supreme Court Taketh Away, Berta E. Hernández-Truyol

UF Law Faculty Publications

Congress intended to solve the widespread problem of nonegalitarian hiring practices by enacting title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 (the Act), during the apogee of the civil rights era. The Act represented a national commitment to end discrimination and to promote equality in employment. The enactment of title VII spawned extensive commentary on the effect of facially neutral employment practices that perpetuated pre-Act discrimination. Particular controversy arose concerning the application of seniority rules to blacks in jobs or seniority units from which they previously had been excluded because of their race.

The problem of accommodating seniority systems …