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Full-Text Articles in Law

Reflections On Augusta: Judicial, Legislative And Economic Approaches To Private Race And Gender Consciousness, Scott R. Rosner Oct 2003

Reflections On Augusta: Judicial, Legislative And Economic Approaches To Private Race And Gender Consciousness, Scott R. Rosner

University of Michigan Journal of Law Reform

In light of the recent controversy surrounding Augusta National Golf Club's exclusionary membership policy, this Article highlights the myriad incentives and disincentives that Augusta and similar clubs have for reforming such policies. The author acknowledges the economic importance of club membership in many business communities and addresses the extent to which club members' claims of rights of privacy and free association are valid. The Article also considers the potential of judicial action in promoting the adoption of more inclusive membership policy; the state action doctrine and the First Amendment right to freedom of association are discussed as frameworks under which …


The Politicization Of Clarence Thomas, Jagan Nicholas Ranjan May 2003

The Politicization Of Clarence Thomas, Jagan Nicholas Ranjan

Michigan Law Review

Perception often shapes memory. In particular, the way one perceives a noteworthy public figure often shapes that figure's historical legacy. For example, history largely remembers John Coltrane as one of the greatest jazz saxophone players of our time. His improvisational skill, innovative style, and mastery over his instrument all serve to classify him in the public memory as the ultimate jazz performer. Yet, as the example of Coltrane might demonstrate, perception is unjustly deficient. Coltrane was not merely a great saxophone player; he was first and foremost a religious figure whose spirituality drove his creativity and manifested itself in prayerful …


Live And Let Love: Self-Determination In Matters Of Intimacy And Identity, Kim Forde-Mazrui May 2003

Live And Let Love: Self-Determination In Matters Of Intimacy And Identity, Kim Forde-Mazrui

Michigan Law Review

Are you free to choose the race of your spouse, . . . of your child, . . . of yourself? Historically, the legal and social answer to these questions was No. Matters of racial identity and interracial intimacy were strictly circumscribed by ideologies of racial essentialism and separation, ostensibly rooted in science, morality, and religion. In contrast, according to Professor Randall Kennedy in his new book, Interracial Intimacies: Sex, Marriage, Identity, and Adoption, the answer to all three questions should be a resounding Yes. The exclusive source of racial identification and intimacy should be individual choice, free from legal …


The Arrangements Of Race, Frank H. Wu May 2003

The Arrangements Of Race, Frank H. Wu

Michigan Law Review

In his debut novel, Stephen Carter takes pains to explain that although he and his protagonist, Talcott Garland (who goes by "Misha"), share superficial aspects of their identities, they should not be confused as twins. Carter and Misha may both be middle-aged professors at prestigious East Coast universities who grew up as members of the African-American elite that summered on Martha's Vineyard as segregation was officially ending; and they may both be passionate about chess. Beyond that, however, they are dissimilar. Carter drives no faster than the speed limit and otherwise leads a life that appears to be boring beyond …


White Interests And Civil Rights Realism: Rodrigo's Bittersweet Epiphany, Richard Delgado Mar 2003

White Interests And Civil Rights Realism: Rodrigo's Bittersweet Epiphany, Richard Delgado

Michigan Law Review

I had just settled down, taken off my tie, and was about to go over the two-page handout entitled "Information for Wedding Parties " that the minister of the small church had handed me minutes earlier, when I heard a knock and familiar voice from the other side of the anteroom door.


Cleansing Moments And Retrospective Justice, Margaret M. Russell Mar 2003

Cleansing Moments And Retrospective Justice, Margaret M. Russell

Michigan Law Review

We live in an era of questioning and requestioning long-held assumptions about the role of race in law, both in criminal prosecutions specifically and in the legal process generally. Certainly, the foundational framework is not new; for decades, both legal literature and jurisprudence have explored in great detail the realities of racism in the legal system. Even among those who might prefer to ignore the role of race discrimination in more than two centuries of American law, denial is no longer a viable or intellectually defensible option. Rather, debate now centers upon whether or not the extensive history of American …


American Racial Jusice On Trial - Again: African American Reparations, Human Rights, And The War On Terror, Eric K. Yamamoto, Susan K. Serrano, Michelle Natividad Rodriguez Mar 2003

American Racial Jusice On Trial - Again: African American Reparations, Human Rights, And The War On Terror, Eric K. Yamamoto, Susan K. Serrano, Michelle Natividad Rodriguez

Michigan Law Review

Much has been written recently on African American reparations and reparations movements worldwide, both in the popular press and scholarly publications. Indeed, the expanding volume of writing underscores the impact on the public psyche of movements for reparations for historic injustice. Some of that writing has highlighted the legal obstacles faced by proponents of reparations lawsuits, particularly a judicial system that focuses on individual (and not group-based) claims and tends to squeeze even major social controversies into the narrow litigative paradigm of a two-person auto collision (requiring proof of standing, duty, breach, causation, and direct injury). Other writings detail the …


Breaking The Camel's Back: A Consideration Of Mitigatory Criminal Defenses And Racism-Related Mental Illness, Camille A. Nelson Jan 2003

Breaking The Camel's Back: A Consideration Of Mitigatory Criminal Defenses And Racism-Related Mental Illness, Camille A. Nelson

Michigan Journal of Race and Law

This article will examine the concept of racist words, symbols, and actions that are used as weapons to "ambush, terrorize, wound, humiliate, and degrade,” as psychological and physiological violence. The implications of such violence are relevant to several affirmative defenses and, indeed, to the initial formulation of mens rea. The historical and contextual legacy that is intentionally invoked by the utilization of racialized violence is what separates the racial epithet or racially violent symbolism from other distressing insults and slurs. While First Amendment protection extends to offensive or insulting speech, the mental and physical sequelae of such speech, even absent …


Emotional Segregation: Huckleberry Finn In The Modern Classroom, Sharon E. Rush Jan 2003

Emotional Segregation: Huckleberry Finn In The Modern Classroom, Sharon E. Rush

University of Michigan Journal of Law Reform

In this article, I explore emotional segregation and how it functions in the context of Huckleberry Finn for both personal and academic reasons. Recently, I read Huckleberry Finn because it had been assigned to my daughter's middle school class. I was concerned for her welfare because she is Black and worried how the book would affect her. To understand her reactions, I had to understand the controversy surrounding the book, particularly as a White mother I have reflected quite deeply on the question whether the book is racist. I define "racism" as a belief in the myth of White superiority …


Expressivism, Empathy And Equality, Rachel D. Godsil Jan 2003

Expressivism, Empathy And Equality, Rachel D. Godsil

University of Michigan Journal of Law Reform

In this article, Professor Godsil argues that the Supreme Court should not limit its application of heightened scrutiny to facially neutral government actions motivated by discriminatory intent, but rather, that the Court should apply such scrutiny when the challenged government action expresses contempt or hostility toward racial, ethnic, and gender groups or constitutes them as social inferiors or stigmatized classes. This article builds upon recent scholarship seeking to transplant this form of expressivism from the Establishment Clause to the Equal Protection context. However, this article contends that this scholarship has misconceived the test to be applied. For any expressive theory, …


Obligations Impaired: Justice Jonathan Jasper Wright And The Failure Of Reconstruction In South Carolina, Caleb A. Jaffe Jan 2003

Obligations Impaired: Justice Jonathan Jasper Wright And The Failure Of Reconstruction In South Carolina, Caleb A. Jaffe

Michigan Journal of Race and Law

Part I of this article, on the historiography of South Carolina Reconstruction, explains the difficulty scholars have had in uncovering the documentary history of Reconstruction, and outlines the development of historical interpretations of Reconstruction from the Nineteenth century Redeemer-era accounts to the revisionists of the 1970's. Part II provides brief biographies of both Justice Wright and William James Whipper. Parts III and IV track the different approaches of Whipper and Wright on two vital issues of their day: (1) whether to repudiate all private debts relating to slavery; and (2) how to construct a homestead law to protect cash-poor landowners. …


Regulating Target Marketing And Other Race-Based Advertising Practices, Ross D. Petty, Anne-Marie G. Harris, Toni Broaddus, William M. Boyd Iii Jan 2003

Regulating Target Marketing And Other Race-Based Advertising Practices, Ross D. Petty, Anne-Marie G. Harris, Toni Broaddus, William M. Boyd Iii

Michigan Journal of Race and Law

Recognizing the significant role that advertising plays in American life, this article examines the phenomenon of race-based targeted marketing as a contributing factor to the racial tension of our media age and evaluates the role of government regulation in preventing the dissemination of racist messages through advertising. In Part I, the article first looks at the evolution of "mass" marketing into today's standard use of targeted marketing techniques, and especially how those techniques can sometimes have racist effects. In Part II, the article discusses both measurable and esoteric harms of cultural racism. Part III examines existing laws designed to regulate …


Prologue: Brief Of Amici Curiae On Behalf Of A Committee Of Concerned Black Graduates Of Aba Accredited Law Schools: Vicky L. Beasley, Devon W. Carbado, Tasha L. Cooper, Kimberlé Crenshaw, Luke Charles Harris, Shavar Jeffries, Sidney Majalya, Wanda R. Stansbury, Jory Steele, Et Al., In Support Of Respondents, Luke Charles Harris Jan 2003

Prologue: Brief Of Amici Curiae On Behalf Of A Committee Of Concerned Black Graduates Of Aba Accredited Law Schools: Vicky L. Beasley, Devon W. Carbado, Tasha L. Cooper, Kimberlé Crenshaw, Luke Charles Harris, Shavar Jeffries, Sidney Majalya, Wanda R. Stansbury, Jory Steele, Et Al., In Support Of Respondents, Luke Charles Harris

Michigan Journal of Race and Law

The brief of Amici Curiae on Behalf of a Committee of Concerned Black Graduates of ABA Accredited Law Schools in Grutter v. Bollinger was written so as to intervene and to assist in the refraining of the public debate surrounding minority admissions programs in institutions of higher education.


Brief Of Amici Curiae On Behalf Of A Committee Of Concerned Black Graduates Of Aba Accredited Law Schools: Vicky L. Beasley, Devon W. Carbado, Tasha L. Cooper, Kimberlé Crenshaw, Luke Charles Harris, Shavar Jeffries, Sidney Majalya, Wanda R. Stansbury, Jory Steele, Et Al., In Support Of Respondents, Mary Mack Adu Esq. Jan 2003

Brief Of Amici Curiae On Behalf Of A Committee Of Concerned Black Graduates Of Aba Accredited Law Schools: Vicky L. Beasley, Devon W. Carbado, Tasha L. Cooper, Kimberlé Crenshaw, Luke Charles Harris, Shavar Jeffries, Sidney Majalya, Wanda R. Stansbury, Jory Steele, Et Al., In Support Of Respondents, Mary Mack Adu Esq.

Michigan Journal of Race and Law

In the Supreme Court of the United States. Barbara Grutter V. Lee Bollinger


"The Implicit Association Test": A Measure Of Unconscious Racism In Legislative Decision-Making, Reshma M. Saujani Jan 2003

"The Implicit Association Test": A Measure Of Unconscious Racism In Legislative Decision-Making, Reshma M. Saujani

Michigan Journal of Race and Law

This Article argues that the Court will not fulfill the promise of the Equal Protection Clause unless the Court adapts its vision of antidiscrimination to account for the complex nature of discrimination. Imagine that we could measure unconscious discrimination. If so, then we could broaden the concept of purposeful discrimination to include the measurement of a legislator's reliance on unconscious racial stereotypes. Such a measuring device may already exist: The Implicit Association Test (IAT), a computer-based test developed by Yale and University of Washington psychologists. Researchers do not yet know how well the IAT can uncover racial stereotypes; however, if …


Land And Liberation: Lessons For The Creation Of Effective Land Reform Policy In South Africa, Hasani Claxton Jan 2003

Land And Liberation: Lessons For The Creation Of Effective Land Reform Policy In South Africa, Hasani Claxton

Michigan Journal of Race and Law

Based upon the premise that land reform is essential to creating socio-economic equality, easing racial tensions and stemming the tide of violence in South Africa, this note will provide suggestions for effective land reform policy. To accomplish this, this Note will examine the paths taken by several other transitional African governments in land reform policy. It will attempt to extract practical lessons from their experiences and apply them towards the development of effective land redistribution policy in South Africa. Part I of this note will provide a historical overview of colonialism and land law in Africa. Part II will examine …