Law Commons^™

Keynote Address: The Difference "Difference" Makes, Deborah L. Rhode

Maine Law Review

Over the last two decades, we have witnessed a transformation for women in law, but not a transformation in leadership positions. Almost 30% of lawyers are women, but they represent only about 15% of federal judges and law firm partners, and about 10% of law school deans and general counsel positions at Fortune 500 companies. The same patterns are apparent in other leadership sectors, such as management and politics. Women are half the electorate but only 15% of Congress and 6% of state governors. They account for about half of managers but only 1% of the Chief Executive Officers of …

Foreword: Law, Labor And Gender, Jennifer B. Wriggins

Maine Law Review

The theme of the conference, Law, Labor, & Gender, came out of a working group comprised of law students, lawyers, a judge, and myself. We thought that a number of issues deserved attention, ranging from current jurisprudence on employment discrimination to more theoretical issues having to do with work/family dilemmas. Professor Deborah Rhode kindly accepted our invitation to be the keynote speaker, and various other academic speakers also agreed to present papers. The working group, and the editors of the Maine Law Review, drafted and sent out a call for papers to approximately 1600 law professors and others. The Law …

Constitution Day Lecture: Constitutional Law And Tort Law: Injury, Race, Gender, And Equal Protection, Jennifer B. Wriggins

Maine Law Review

The focus of today’s annual Constitution Day lecture at the University of Maine School of Law is on the Fourteenth Amendment and specifically how the Equal Protection Clause relates to tort law. First, I will talk about the Equal Protection Clause in general—what it says, and some of what it has been held to mean—particularly where government makes distinctions based on race and gender. Second, I will discuss two historical tort cases that violate equal protection on the basis of race. In doing so, I uncover the racial history of tort law that has been hidden in plain sight. I …

Gender Wage Inequality: Is More Legislation The Answer?, Nicole Michele Barnhart

Seattle University Law Review

This Comment examines the unfortunate truth of gender wage inequality, focusing primarily on the California Fair Pay Act—one of the toughest equal pay laws in the United States. Part I examines the gender pay gap and how it is calculated. Part II provides an overview of the different laws aimed at protecting women from wage inequality both at a federal and state level. Part III discusses the negative, unintended consequences that may arise from the California Fair Pay Act by closely examining the plain language of the legislation. Part IV analyzes the underlying factors that contribute to wage inequality between …

Hyatt V. Franchise Tax Board Of California: Perils Of Undue Disputing Zeal And Undue Immunity For Government-Inflicted Injury, Jeffrey W. Stempel

Nevada Law Journal

No abstract provided.

Sexual Violence As An Occupational Hazard & Condition Of Confinement In The Closed Institutional Systems Of The Military And Detention, Hannah Brenner, Kathleen Darcy, Sheryl Kubiak

Pepperdine Law Review

Women in the military are more likely to be raped by other service members than to be killed in combat. Female prisoners internalize rape by corrections officers as an inherent part of their sentence. Immigrants held in detention fearing deportation or other legal action endure rape to avoid compromising their cases. This Article draws parallels among closed institutional systems of prisons, immigration detention, and the military. The closed nature of these systems creates an environment where sexual victimization occurs in isolation, often without knowledge of or intervention by those on the outside, and the internal processes for addressing this victimization …

Babies Aren't U.S., Zachary J. Devlin

University of Massachusetts Law Review

Parental leave has been an on-going issue in the political process, most recently during this presidential election. This is because upon the birth or adoption of a child, many in the United States cannot afford to take time off from work to care for and integrate children into their families. This is especially true for the contemporary family. The Family and Medical Leave Act of 1993 (FMLA) was Congress’s attempt to strike equilibrium between employment and family and medical needs. The FMLA put legal emphasis on the family unit in an effort to neutralize gender discrimination while promoting gender equality …

Quacking Like A Duck? Functional Parenthood Doctrine And Same-Sex Parents, Katharine K. Baker

Chicago-Kent Law Review

This Article unpacks the relationship between the functional parenthood doctrine, constitutionally protected parental autonomy rights and intent-to-parent tests as they are applied in same-sex parenting relationships. It argues that, with the advent of same-sex marriage and second parent adoption, the functional parent doctrine is unnecessary and ultimately counterproductive to anyone interested in expanding legal recognition of non-traditional family forms. The functional parent doctrine asks courts to employ traditional understandings of parenthood (“Who acted like a parent?”) in assigning parental status.

These traditional understandings are usually, if not inevitably, dyadic, heteronormative, genetic, and gendered. In practice, the functional parent doctrine undermines …

Introduction: Forging The Path Forward: Critical Conversations From Title Ix: History, Legacy, And Controversy, Valorie K. Vojdik

Tennessee Journal of Race, Gender, & Social Justice

No abstract provided.

Rethinking Red Lights: An Economic Approach To Appalachian Prostitution Laws, Kandi Spindler

DePaul Journal of Women, Gender and the Law

The legal discourse surrounding prostitution frequently drowns out the voices of sex workers themselves by focusing on questions of morality. But ignoring the voices of those affected by prostitution laws also ignores the driving force behind prostitution: economics. This Note departs from a traditional case study by using interviews with chiefly sex workers and brothel management to craft a more efficient and fair mode of regulating prostitution. By viewing prostitution for what it is—an industry driven by basic economic principles—business law becomes the clear choice for replacing the current, ineffective laws. Furthermore, reshaping prostitution laws to meet the monetary needs …

Meeting Of The Minds And Bodies: Contract Law And The Mutuality Of Sexual Exchanges, Kelly Jo Popkin

DePaul Journal of Women, Gender and the Law

Though it may seem like an obvious analogy, a comparison of consent to sex and consent to contract has rarely been explored in such detail. The legal concepts protecting bargainers to a contract can be applied to analyses of sexual coercion in consent to sexual encounters, thereby affording survivors with greater protection against instances of sexual violence that seem to consistently slip through the cracks of our criminal justice system. More importantly, this analysis has never before been applied to the Title IX campus sexual assault adjudication process and policies. As a procedure involving civil law, rather than criminal law, …

A Patient's Right Not To Hear: The Public Health Case For Challenging Pre-Abortion Ultrasound Description Mandates By Refocusing On The Listener, Juliana Shulman-Laniel

DePaul Journal of Women, Gender and the Law

This Article argues for a reframing of the discourse surrounding abortion-specific informed consent laws, calling for scholars and practitioners to focus not solely on the physician’s right against compelled speech, but also a patient’s right not to listen. Although this right has not been firmly recognized by the courts, a growing body of case law and scholarly papers has begun to acknowledge the potential for this right. This Article begins by examining how bridging the First Amendment rights of doctors-as-speakers and patients-as-listeners within the context of the unique doctor-patient relationship may help to establish a patient’s right not to hear. …

Pushback: Title Vii Takes On Hobby Lobby, Carole Okolowicz

DePaul Journal of Women, Gender and the Law

In Hobby Lobby, the U.S. Supreme Court decided that a for-profit corporation could avoid the requirement under the Affordable Care Act that it pay for coverage of female contraception in the employee health plan due to the employer’s religious objections to birth control. In so deciding, the Court allowed the employer to discriminate against its female employees in their employee benefits. Such a decision raises the possibility of a claim of sex discrimination by the corporation’s female employees under Title VII. This article explores the main issues and pitfalls in such a claim.

The two main issues with the possible …

Becoming Women Engineers: Dismantled Notions And Distorted Perspectives, Lisa Zagumny, Holly Garrett Anthony, Sally J. Pardue

Journal of Multicultural Affairs

In an investigation of (non-international) undergraduate students’ experiences with their engineering major, we interviewed 10 young women asking questions about their interactions with instructors, academic successes/struggles, and any challenges they felt they had faced as women/girls in engineering. Initial findings echoed those in previous research serving to affirm held notions of interventions that would improve women/girls’ experiences in engineering. In reflecting on the research methods and troubling its design, we realized that we had approached the data with limited perspectives. A new approach to analysis opened up concepts and yielded findings that offer a different course of action for abating …

Remarks On Campus Sexual Assault, Alison M. Tinsey

University of Richmond Law Review

No abstract provided.

Perspectives From The Bench On Feminist Judgments, Elinore Marsh Stormer

ConLawNOW

Judge Elinore Marsh Stormer, probate judge in Summit County, Ohio, gave these remarks as part of a panel discussion on feminist judging. The discussion took place at a conference sponsored by the Center for Constitutional Law at the University of Akron in October 2016. Judge Stormer offered insights on her own experience as a woman judge and on the role of judges addressing issues of gender equality in their courts.

Criminal And Civil Liability For Failure To Report Suspected Child Abuse In South Carolina, Megan Clemency

South Carolina Law Review

No abstract provided.

The Pre-Furman Juvenile Death Penalty In South Carolina: Young Black Life Was Cheap, Sheri Lynn Johnson, John H. Blume, Hannah L. Freedman

South Carolina Law Review

No abstract provided.

The Updated Commentary On The First Geneva Convention – A New Tool For Generating Respect For International Humanitarian Law, Lindsey Cameron, Bruno Demeyere, Jean-Marie Henckaerts, Eve La Haye, Heike Niebergall-Lackner

International Law Studies

Since their publication in the 1950s and the 1980s respectively, the Commentaries on the Geneva Conventions of 1949 and their Additional Protocols of 1977 have become a major reference for the application and interpretation of these treaties. The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), together with a team of renowned experts, is currently updating these Commentaries in order to document developments and provide up-to-date interpretations. The work on the first updated Commentary, the Commentary on the First Geneva Convention relating to the protection of the wounded and sick in the armed forces, has already been finalized. This article provides …

The Negative Ramifications Of Hate Crime Legislation: It’S Time To Reevaluate Whether Hate Crime Laws Are Beneficial To Society, Briana Alongi

Pace Law Review

Supporters of hate crime legislation suggest that the primary reason for the codification of hate crime laws is “to send a strong message of tolerance and equality, signaling to all members of society that hatred and prejudice on the basis of identity will be punished with extra severity.” However, hate crime laws may actually be accomplishing the opposite effect of tolerance and equality because they encourage U.S. citizens to view themselves, not as members of our society, but as members of a protected group. The enactment of hate crime legislation at the federal and state levels has led to unintended …

A Call For Limiting Absolute Privilege: How Victims Of Domestic Violence, Suffering With Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder, Are Discriminated Against By The U.S. Judicial System, Jerrell Dayton King, Donna J. King

DePaul Journal of Women, Gender and the Law

The U.S. court system often traumatizes victims of domestic violence (“DV”) through institutional gender discrimination, which has plagued women throughout the United States since colonial American times. In many ways the court system becomes a participant in re-victimizing and continuing the abuse of the DV victim. Abusive power and control of women exposes them to DV in alarming numbers; this causes many DV victims to experience severe trauma that results in psychological injuries such as Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (“PTSD”). In the court system, the DV abuser enters the legal process with an advantage over his victim who suffers from PTSD. …

Refugee Roulette: A Comparative Analysis Of Gender-Related Persecution In Asylum Law, Joanna J. Kallinosis

DePaul Journal of Women, Gender and the Law

From the moment Rodi Alvarado Pena married a Guatemalan army officer at the age of 16, she was subjected to intensive abuse, and all her efforts to get help where unsuccessful. Her husband raped and sodimized her repeatedly, attempted to abort their child by violently kicking her in the spine, dislocated her jaw, attempted to cut her hands off with a machete, kicked her in her genitals and used her head to break windows. He terrified her by bragging about his power to kill innocent civilians with impunity and all of Rodi’s pleas for help from the Guatemalan government were …

Egg Freezing On Company Dollars: Making Biological Clock Irrelevant?, Madhumita Datta

DePaul Journal of Women, Gender and the Law

In an attempt to boost gender diversity, two of the technology giants of Silicon Valley, Apple and Facebook, announced in October 2014 that they would cover the costs of freezing eggs, so that women employees who want to pursue both motherhood and a serious career could conveniently ‘time’ their pregnancy. Intel followed suit in October 2015. Unlike other reproductive benefits aiming to cure a biological deficiency such as infertility, employers promote egg freezing as an investment towards women employees’ career success. Women employees may take advantage of this benefit for non-medical reasons to delay pregnancy and childbirth because of the …

A Problem Of Competing Interests: A Detailed Look At Transgender Children In Schools, Corinne Cundiff

DePaul Journal of Women, Gender and the Law

Discrimination of transgender students is an area of the law that is rapidly developing. Unfortunately for schools trying to find guidance in the law, there are conflicts regarding how schools are to work with their transgender students when it comes to access to gender specific spaces, including bathrooms and locker rooms. There is currently a disagreement among federal agencies, the courts, and the legislature regarding the protection gender identity should receive in the law. The difference of opinion among the various branches of the government equates to problems for schools that are trying to navigate this area of the law. …

The Case For Trauma-Informed, Gender-Specific Prevention/Early Intervention Programming In Reducing Female Juvenile Delinquency In Florida, Joan Flocks, Emily Calvin, Simone Chriss, Marina Prado-Steiman

Northwestern Journal of Law & Social Policy

This article describes the statutory recognition of the need for prevention/early intervention juvenile services in Florida that are both trauma-informed and gender-specific. It examines how childhood trauma can impact at-risk children and the gendered aspects of such trauma. The article then describes the PACE Center for Girls, a Florida-based school, currently undergoing a comprehensive evaluation, which attempts to incorporate elements that fulfill statutory recommendations into its programming.

Forgotten Youth: Homeless Lgbt Youth Of Color And The Runaway And Homeless Youth Act, Michelle Page

Northwestern Journal of Law & Social Policy

Over the years, the rate of youth homelessness in America has steadily risen, prompting the creation and subsequent revision of corrective policies. One such policy is the Runaway and Homeless Youth Act of 1974. The Act is not a cure-all for homelessness but it does provide services and programs specifically designed to aid homeless youth. It has had some success, but not all homeless youth benefit from it equally.

Obviously, the youth population is not a homogenous one. Youth are of varying ages, races, genders, and sexualities. Unfortunately, the Runaway and Homeless Youth Act does not specifically account for these …

Gender-Selective Service: The History And Future Of Women And The Draft, Elizabeth Farrington

University of Arkansas at Little Rock Law Review

No abstract provided.

The Professional Responsibility Of Fair Play When Dealing With A Pro Se Adversary, Davis G. Yee

South Carolina Law Review

No abstract provided.

University Of Baltimore School Of Law Center On Applied Feminism's 9th Annual Feminist Legal Theory Conference On Applied Feminism Today: Keynote Speaker Judge Nancy Gertner, Former United States Federal Judge For The United States District Court For The District Of Massachusetts, Nancy Gertner

University of Baltimore Law Review

Below is a transcription of the keynote speech from the University of Baltimore School of Law Center on Applied Feminism’s 9th Annual Feminist Legal Theory Conference: Applied Feminism Today. Judge Nancy Gertner, former United States Federal Judge for the United States District Court for the District of Massachusetts, gave the keynote speech on March 4, 2016.

I was on the bench for seventeen years, and I intend to write about that experience. The problem is that while my memoir was funny, this book—on judging—is not. In my memoir, I describe the fact that the only way I could face the …

Uniform Rules: Addressing The Disparate Rules That Deny Student-Athletes The Opportunity To Participate In Sports According To Gender Identity, Chelsea Shrader

University of Richmond Law Review

No abstract provided.