Law Commons^™

Labor Pains: The Inadequacies Of Current Federal Pregnancy Laws And The Alternative Routes To Accommodation, Sara Alexander

Mississippi College Law Review

Although many women are able to work through their pregnancies without employer accommodations, some pregnant workers who require accommodations "are forced out of their jobs unnecessarily when minor adjustments would enable them to keep working." In 2003, a hardware assembler in Ohio was terminated after her doctor limited her weight-lifting to twenty pounds and ordered that she work no more than eight hours at a time. In 2009, a retail worker in Kansas was fired because she needed to keep a water bottle with her in order to stay hydrated and prevent bladder infections. In 2011, an activity director at …

The Work-Rule Doctrine Doesn't Work After Reeves V. Sanderson Plumbing Products, Grafton Bragg

Mississippi College Law Review

This Note is about an existing plague on employment-law jurisprudence in the Fifth Circuit. Small and big companies alike can terminate an employee for no discriminatory reason but then be tagged with a lawsuit that has a fair chance of success, just because the disgruntled former employee is willing to lie or the parties disagree over the facts. This is true even though no evidence of actual discrimination exists. The work-rule doctrine changes at-will employment to good-will employment under the guise of federal employment discrimination statutes. Whatever your position is on the longstanding at-will employment regimes, there can be no …

Closing The Door On Human Dignity: How The Supreme Court Blocked The Path To Relief For Victims Of Title Ix Discrimination, Bailey Wylie

The Scholar: St. Mary's Law Review on Race and Social Justice

This comment exposes the far-reaching consequences of Cummings v. Premier Rehab Keller and scrutinizes the Supreme Court’s reliance on contract law principles to deny victims of discrimination recovery of non-economic damages.

For almost 50 years, courts have awarded emotional distress damages to victims of discrimination. Consequently, the Court’s lack of notice argument within Cummings falls flat through a cursory analysis of precedent. In the context of Title IX discrimination, school districts are undeniably aware of the possibility of sexual harassment liability at the time they accept federal funding. Mandated Codes of Conduct explicitly prohibit sexual harassment and outline ramifications for …

Once Is Enough: Why Title Ix's Pervasive Requirement Necessitates Adopting The Totality Inquiry, Evan S. Thompson

University of Cincinnati Law Review

No abstract provided.

Power V. Power: Federal Pattern-Or-Practice Enforcement Actions Applied To Local Prosecutors, Thomas P. Hogan

Maine Law Review

One of the most powerful tools available to the United States Department of Justice (DOJ) to stop abuses in the criminal justice system is the federal pattern-or-practice statute, which allows DOJ to bring an enforcement action to prevent discriminatory conduct by government agencies. The most powerful actor in the criminal justice system is the district attorney, the local prosecutor who is at the center of the system. Does DOJ’s pattern-or-practice enforcement authority extend to local prosecutors? This crucial question remains unresolved in formal precedent and has not been addressed in the relevant literature. This Article explores the issue in detail, …

Autism And Access To Healthcare, Amanda Forbes

Mitchell Hamline Law Journal of Public Policy and Practice

No abstract provided.

The Procedural Justice Industrial Complex, Shawn E. Fields

Indiana Law Journal

The singular focus on procedural justice police reform is dangerous. Procedurally just law enforcement encounters provide an empirically proven subjective sense of fairness and legitimacy, while obscuring substantively unjust outcomes emanating from a fundamentally unjust system. The deceptive simplicity of procedural justice – that a polite cop is a lawful cop – promotes a false consciousness among would-be reformers that progress has been made, evokes a false sense of legitimacy divorced from objective indicia of lawfulness or morality, and claims the mantle of “reform” in the process. It is not just that procedural justice is a suboptimal type of reform; …

Code And Prejudice: Regulating Discriminatory Algorithms, Bernadette M. Coyle

Washington and Lee Law Review Online

In an era dominated by efficiency-driven technology, algorithms have seamlessly integrated into every facet of daily life, wielding significant influence over decisions that impact individuals and society at large. Algorithms are deliberately portrayed as impartial and automated in order to maintain their legitimacy. However, this illusion crumbles under scrutiny, revealing the inherent biases and discriminatory tendencies embedded in ostensibly unbiased algorithms. This Note delves into the pervasive issues of discriminatory algorithms, focusing on three key areas of life opportunities: housing, employment, and voting rights. This Note systematically addresses the multifaceted issues arising from discriminatory algorithms, showcasing real-world instances of algorithmic …

Religious Liberty, Discriminatory Intent, And The Conservative Constitution, Luke Boso

Utah Law Review

The Supreme Court shocked the world at the end of its 2021–22 term by issuing landmark decisions ending constitutional protection for abortion rights, expanding gun rights, and weakening what remained of the wall between church and state. One thread uniting these cases that captured the public’s attention is the rhetoric common of originalism—a backwards-looking theory of constitutional interpretation focused on founding-era meaning and intent. This Article identifies the discriminatory intent doctrine as another powerful tool the Court is using to protect the social norms and hierarchies of a bygone era, and to build a conservative Constitution.

Discriminatory intent rose to …

Education And Democracy From Brown To Plyler, Nicholas Espíritu

St. John's Law Review

(Excerpt)

Judicial review has often been cast in terms of democratic legitimacy. Democratic legitimacy is often linked to whether it institutes the will of the people through majoritarian rule and whether it creates processes for reevaluation of these prior decisions by newly constituted majorities. Judicial review of majoritarian decisions has often been criticized as a overriding or circumventing of these democratic processes. Beginning with Brown v. Board of Education, the Warren Court adopted a resolution of the “counter-majoritarian difficulty” of judicial review by tacitly accepting Justice Stone’s formulation from footnote four of United States v. Carolene Products and engaging …

The Most Important Law You’Ve Never Heard Of: Section 1981 And Its Potential Social Justice Issues, Isaac Hampton Verhelst

The Reporter: Social Justice Law Center Magazine

No abstract provided.

Title Ix And "Menstruation Or Related Conditions", Marcy L. Karin, Naomi Cahn, Elizabeth B. Cooper, Bridget J. Crawford, Margaret E. Johnson, Emily Gold Waldman

Michigan Journal of Gender & Law

Title IX of the Education Amendments Act of 1972 (“Title IX”) prohibits sex discrimination in educational programs or activities receiving federal financial assistance. Neither the statute nor its implementing regulations explicitly define “sex” to include discrimination on the basis of menstruation or related conditions such as perimenopause and menopause. This textual absence has caused confusion over whether Title IX must be interpreted to protect students and other community members from all types of sex-based discrimination. It also calls into question the law’s ability to break down systemic sex-based barriers related to menstruation in educational spaces. Absent an interpretation that there …

Proving Intra-Racial Discrimination In The U.S. And Canada: The Room For Making The Artificial Distinction Between Genealogical Relatedness And Race, Martin Kwan

University of Miami Inter-American Law Review

This article takes the role of the Devil’s advocate in order to question the judicial willingness to distinguish “race” from comparable notions. It suggests that, depending on the exact circumstances, a defendant can make an arguable case that the alleged intra–racial discrimination is motivated by perceived genealogical relatedness, but not because of belonging to the same “race.” Factually, the defendant claims to believe in being remotely genealogically related to the plaintiff. This is not unworthy of credence, because it is academically recognized that modern genealogy and root tracing can be an imaginative, forged exercise. Legally, this argument is supportable because …

“You Don’T Bring Me Flowers Anymore”: President Clinton, Paula Jones, And Why Courts Should Expand The Definition Of “Adverse Employment Action” Under Title Vii’S Anti-Retaliation Provision, Lawrence Rosenthal

St. John's Law Review

(Excerpt)

Anti-discrimination statutes such as Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 (“Title VII”), the Americans with Disabilities Act (“ADA”), and the Age Discrimination in Employment Act (“ADEA”) prohibit discrimination based on individuals’ protected characteristics. In addition to prohibiting this type of status-based discrimination, these statutes also prohibit employers from retaliating against employees who assert their rights under the statutes or who assist others in asserting their rights.

Over the past several years, retaliation charges filed with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (“EEOC”) have made up an increasingly high percentage of all charges filed with the agency. Specifically, …

Shooting To Minimize Gender Discrimination As An Unintended Consequence Of Title Ix, Alexa Potts

Dickinson Law Review (2017-Present)

Title IX is a federal law prohibiting sex-based discrimination in any education program or activity that receives federal funding. Congress initially passed Title IX out of concern for sexbased equality in academia. However, Title IX has had significant impacts on athletics, resulting in increased athletic opportunities for females. To be Title IX compliant, institutions must provide equality in athletic participation for both sexes. The Office of Civil Rights provided a three-part test to measure equality in athletic participation. Institutions must satisfy at least one of the three prongs to meet Title IX requirements as they pertain to equality in athletic …

Climate Discrimination, Duane Rudolph

Catholic University Law Review

This Article focuses on the coming legal plight of workers in the United States, who will likely face discrimination as they search for work outside their home states. The Article takes for granted that climate change will have forced those workers across state and international boundaries, a reality dramatically witnessed in the United States during the Dust Bowl of the 1930s. During that environmental emergency (and the devastation it wrought), workers were forced across boundaries only to be violently discriminated against upon arrival in their new domiciles. Such discrimination is likely to recur, and it will threaten the livelihoods of …

A Road To Resolution For Federal Whistleblowers' Mixed Case Claims, Devin Redding

West Virginia Law Review

Since the birth of the United States, whistleblowers have held our nation’s government accountable for illegal, fraudulent, and harmful behavior. The triumphs and failures of whistleblowers are deeply entwined with our nation’s struggle for independence, civil rights, and economic freedom. Nevertheless, employees who bravely expose misdeeds at all levels of our federal government are often bullied and discriminated against on the basis of sex, gender, age, disability, and more. In recent decades, and despite improved whistleblower protections, federal whistleblowers increasingly suffer from adverse employment actions and discrimination as reprisal for their disclosures. Employees looking toward our administrative law systems and …

How To Get Away With Discrimination: The Use Of Algorithms To Discriminate In The Internet Entertainment Industry, Sumra Wahid

American University Journal of Gender, Social Policy & the Law

In July 2021, Ziggi Tyler posted a video on TikTok, a popular video sharing platform, where he expressed his frustration with being a Black content creator on TikTok. The video showed Ziggi typing phrases such as “Black Lives Matter” or “Black success” into his Marketplace creator bio, which the app would immediately flag as inappropriate content. However, when Ziggi replaced those words with “white supremacy” or “white success,” no inappropriateness warning appeared. Although a TikTok spokesperson responded to the video clarifying that the app had mistakenly flagged phrases without considering word order, Ziggi refused to let an algorithm absolve TikTok …

Deeply Rooted Or Deeply Flawed? A Constitutional Criticism Of Dobbs And Roe's Potential Resurrection, Julian Whitley

American University Journal of Gender, Social Policy & the Law

Abortion has been a divisive issue in this country for decades. Some believe that abortion should be illegal under any circumstance, others believe that abortion under certain circumstances should be legal, and still others believe that abortion should be legal in all circumstances. The issue of abortion was initially decided by the Court in 1973 under Roe v. Wade, where the Court devised a trimester approach.

Shades Of Justice: Racial Profiling Then And Now, F. Michael Higginbotham

University of Colorado Law Review

No abstract provided.

Defining Disparate Treatment: A Research Agenda For Our Times, Deborah Hellman

Indiana Law Journal

Both statutory and constitutional laws prohibiting discrimination forbid actions taken on the basis of certain traits. But rarely are those traits specifically defined. As a result, courts fill in these definitions and do so with consequential results. The boundaries they draw often determine whether or not a law, policy, or action constitutes disparate treatment on the basis of a legally protected trait. As disparate treatment calls for a significantly heavier burden of justification than does disparate impact, the key move putting laws, policies, and the acts of individuals into one category or the other happens in this definitional step.

Defining …

Slave Law, Race Law, Gabriel J. Chin

University of Colorado Law Review

No abstract provided.

Foreword: Looking Back To Move Forward: Exploring The Legacy Of U.S. Slavery, Suzette Malveaux

University of Colorado Law Review

No abstract provided.

The Color(Blind) Conundrum In Colorado Property Law, Tom I. Romero Ii

University of Colorado Law Review

No abstract provided.

Promoting Change In The Face Of Retrenchment, Marcia Mccormick

FIU Law Review

This article delves into the challenges of teaching antidiscrimination law and the complexities students face in reconciling legal doctrines with their expectations of justice. It explores the persistent inequalities embedded in wage gaps, labor market segregation, and more, highlighting the transformative potential of addressing stereotypes. Professor Kerry Stone's book, "Panes of the Glass Ceiling," is lauded for unveiling deeply ingrained cultural assumptions, offering tools to challenge them. The article reflects on hidden assumptions exposed in Stone's work and discusses the ideological pushback against education aimed at revealing and dismantling stereotypes. It concludes with a call for a nuanced understanding of …

Panel 2 - Unreported Shortcomings Of Title Ix, Lisa Taylor, Leslie Annexstein, Elizabeth Kristein, Natasha Martin, Elizabeth Kristen

American University Journal of Gender, Social Policy & the Law

MODERATOR: Hello, everyone, and welcome to our second panel, Unreported Shortcomings of Title IX. I’m going to start off with a quick introduction of our moderator. Today we have Dean Lisa Taylor who is our Dean for Diversity, Inclusion and Affinity Relations at WCL. She is much beloved by students of the Journal and students of WCL in general. And I know she is going to kick off a great panel. Dean Taylor, it’s all yours.

Unlocking The Beauty From Within Title Vii: Arguing For An Expansive Interpretation Of Title Vii To Protect Against Attractiveness Discrimination, Michael Conklin

American University Journal of Gender, Social Policy & the Law

Beauty may only be skin deep, but discrimination against the unattractive runs far deeper. Research emphatically demonstrates that attractiveness discrimination affects nearly every aspect of life, including hiring and promotion decisions. For example, personal injury attorneys utilize economists as expert witnesses for how their clients’ reduced attractiveness will negatively affect their future earnings. Attractiveness discrimination is just as prevalent as discrimination based on ethnicity. Unfortunately, current interpretations of federal antidiscrimination legislation do not offer protections from attractiveness discrimination. This Article offers a comprehensive framework for providing such protections under an expansive interpretation of Title VII.

Anti-Abortion Statutes As Religious Beliefs, Scott Devito

American University Journal of Gender, Social Policy & the Law

In Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization, Justice Alito ruled there is no right, under the U.S. Constitution, for a woman to have an abortion. Since then, eleven states have either enacted or activated statutes that forbid the performance of an abortion. Others may soon follow suit. This Article does not attempt to dispute the reasoning of the Dobbs decision. Instead, it asks whether the eleven state statutes, now construed as constitutionally permitted, are, in fact impermissible intrusions into the constitutionally required separation of church and state. This Article approaches this problem from both a historical and philosophical perspective. First, …

Foreword: Expanding The Boundaries Of Knowledge About Slavery And Its Legacy, Lolita Buckner Inniss

University of Colorado Law Review

No abstract provided.

Higher Education Redress Statutes: A Preliminary Analysis Of States’ Reparations In Higher Education, Christopher L. Mathis

University of Colorado Law Review

No abstract provided.