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Full-Text Articles in Law
The Reed Case: The Seed For Equal Protection From Sex-Based Discrimination, Or Polite Judicial Hedging?, John P. Murphy Jr.
The Reed Case: The Seed For Equal Protection From Sex-Based Discrimination, Or Polite Judicial Hedging?, John P. Murphy Jr.
Akron Law Review
Reed is yet another example of how the Equal Protection Clause may be used to strike down state statutes which embody arbitrary classifications that are neither fairly nor substantially related to the object of the statute, and which bring about the invidious discrimination that is repugnant to the Fourteenth Amendment. It must stressed that the outcome of Reed is clearly commendable in terms of justice. What is troublesome is the fact that one may contend that the Supreme Court hedged, perhaps avoided, an excellent opportunity in which to expand the constitutional scope of the Equal Protection Clause. Reed afforded the …
Equal Protection - Property Taxes As A Method Of Funding Public Education; San Antonio Independent School District V. Rodriguez, Mark K. Croft
Equal Protection - Property Taxes As A Method Of Funding Public Education; San Antonio Independent School District V. Rodriguez, Mark K. Croft
Akron Law Review
Suit was brought in U.S. District Court for the Western District of Texas challenging the constitutionality of the Texas school financing system on the theory that it discriminated on a basis of wealth, permitting provision of a higher quality of education to be offered the children in property-rich school districts while residents pay a lower tax rate, thus denying equal protection of the law.' The District Court found the laws forming this system unconstitutional on this basis. Appeal brought the case to the Supreme Court in October of 1972, where it was reversed.
Standing; Assertion Of Jus Tertii; Sex Discrimination; Equal Protection; Twenty-First Amendment; Craig V. Boren, Anthony Sadowski
Standing; Assertion Of Jus Tertii; Sex Discrimination; Equal Protection; Twenty-First Amendment; Craig V. Boren, Anthony Sadowski
Akron Law Review
"A PPELLANTS brought an action in the United States District Court for the Western District of Oklahoma seeking declaratory and injunctive relief. The complaint charged that the operation of two Oklahoma statutes, which prohibited the sale of 3.2% beer to males under the age of 21 while allowing females over the age of 18 to purchase the commodity, violated the fourteenth amendment to the Federal Constitution. The three-judge court held that the gender-based classification did not violate the equal protection clause. In Craig v. Boren, on direct appeal, the United States Supreme Court reversed, finding that the gender-based classification could …
Standing; Assertion Of Jus Tertii; Sex Discrimination; Equal Protection; Twenty-First Amendment; Craig V. Boren, Anthony Sadowski
Standing; Assertion Of Jus Tertii; Sex Discrimination; Equal Protection; Twenty-First Amendment; Craig V. Boren, Anthony Sadowski
Akron Law Review
APPELLANTS brought an action in the United States District Court for the Western District of Oklahoma seeking declaratory and injunctive relief.' The complaint charged that the operation of two Oklahoma statutes,' which prohibited the sale of 3.2% beer to males under the age of 21 while allowing females over the age of 18 to purchase the commodity, violated the fourteenth amendment to the Federal Constitution. The three-judge court held that the gender-based classification did not violate the equal protection clause.' In Craig v. Boren,' on direct appeal, the United States Supreme Court reversed, finding that the gender-based classification could not …
Economic Discrimination; Denial Of Social Security Benefits Premised On Gender-Based Classification Is Unconstitutional; Violates Equal Protection; Weinberger V. Wiesenfeld, Janice M. Ahern
Akron Law Review
After his wife's death, Wiesenfeld applied for social security survivor benefits for himself and his infant son. While he was able to obtain benefits for his son under 42 U.S.C. Section 402(d), he was denied benefits under Section 402(g) because those benefits were available only to widows and surviving divorced mothers. When his application was denied, Wiesenfeld brought suit in federal district court to obtain declaratory and injunctive relief,' contending that the gender-based classification of 42 U.S.C. Section 402(g) violated equal protection as found within the due process clause of the fifth amendment.' A three-judge district court panel granted relief …
Abortion; Parental Consent; Minors' Rights To Due Process, Equal Protection And Privacy; State V. Koome, Barbara Child
Abortion; Parental Consent; Minors' Rights To Due Process, Equal Protection And Privacy; State V. Koome, Barbara Child
Akron Law Review
The Washington court had before it a physician appealing his conviction for performing an abortion on an unmarried 16-year-old woman, a ward of the King County Juvenile Court, which had given its consent to the abortion. However, the young woman's parents and the Catholic Children's Services, her temporary guardian, both opposed the abortion and were granted a stay of the abortion order pending review by the state supreme court. During the stay, Dr. Koome performed the abortion. The supreme court held that the Washington consent statute "too broadly encumbers the right of unmarried minor women to choose to terminate pregnancy, …
Equal Protection; Sex Discrimination; Veterans' Preference Statutes, Feeney V. Massachusetts, Eloise Taylor
Equal Protection; Sex Discrimination; Veterans' Preference Statutes, Feeney V. Massachusetts, Eloise Taylor
Akron Law Review
"Historically, the armed services have been predominantly male. The result has been that the operation of veterans' preferences has placed women as a class at a particular disadvantage in comparison to men when in or entering into civil service.' To nullify this stigma, the first successful challenge to veterans' preference, Feeney v. Massachusetts,' was litigated."
Equal Protection; State Alimony Statutes; Sex Discrimination; Orr V. Orr, David A. Detec, Jane L. Thomas-Moore
Equal Protection; State Alimony Statutes; Sex Discrimination; Orr V. Orr, David A. Detec, Jane L. Thomas-Moore
Akron Law Review
In Orr v. Orr the United States Supreme Court held unconstitutional the Alabama alimony statutes which provided that husbands, but not wives, may be required to pay alimony upon divorce. The Court's principal reason for so holding was the statutes' violation of the Equal Protection Clause of the fourteenth amendment on the basis of sex discrimination.
Container Legislation, Equal Protection, Commerce Clause, Minnesota V. Clover Leaf Creamery Company, Craig B. Paynter
Container Legislation, Equal Protection, Commerce Clause, Minnesota V. Clover Leaf Creamery Company, Craig B. Paynter
Akron Law Review
The problems of litter, solid waste, and natural resource depletion are often inexorably linked to the liquid manufacturing and packaging industry. Legislative efforts to ameliorate these problems may therefore involve various controls of containers. When states enact container legislation, however, terms must be carefully chosen to avoid conflict with both state and federal constitutions.
Mill's Theory Of Liberty In Constitutional Interpretation, Wilson Ray Huhn
Mill's Theory Of Liberty In Constitutional Interpretation, Wilson Ray Huhn
Akron Law Review
I wish to apply Justice Thompson's discussion of the nature of liberty in a more general context in addressing fundamental questions of constitutional interpretation. Justice Thompson's essential inquiry is, "Should the enforcement of morals be the concern of the law?" I take the liberty of slightly rephrasing that question: "Is the enforcement of traditional moral norms per se constitutional?" I suggest that the answer to this question is "no." Courts and scholars have often confused our moral traditions with our traditions of liberty and equality. My central premise is that it is for the legislature to enact morality into law, …
Giving Effect To Equal Protection: Adarand Constructors, Inc. V. Pena, Leslie Gentile
Giving Effect To Equal Protection: Adarand Constructors, Inc. V. Pena, Leslie Gentile
Akron Law Review
This Note will examine affirmative action jurisprudence, and explore the broader implications of the Court's present narrow course. Section II presents a brief historical background of the cases preceding Adarand, and traces the Court's fragmented approach to this issue and its deep divisiveness over the correct standard of review. Section IV examines the tension between the colorblind approach and the requirements of equal protection within the in escapable reality of our racist society. Finally, Section V calls for a focus by the Court on outcome, rather than a myopic fixation on process, toward the larger end of the realization of …
Private Problem, Public Solution: Affirmative Action In The 21st Century, Darlene C. Goring
Private Problem, Public Solution: Affirmative Action In The 21st Century, Darlene C. Goring
Akron Law Review
This Article will explore the origins of the Court’s color-blind interpretation of the Fourteenth Amendment, and the role that this interpretation plays in the development of new barriers against challenges to race-based affirmative action programs. Part II of this Article traces the development and application of the strict scrutiny test to evaluate the constitutionality of both invidious and benign racial classifications. Part III examines Justice Powell’s position that racial classifications used as remedial measures may overcome the presumption of constitutional invalidity associated with the use of race-based classifications. In this context, the Court recognizes that the continued impact of past …
Teaching Free Speech From An Incomplete Fossil Record, Michael Kent Curtis
Teaching Free Speech From An Incomplete Fossil Record, Michael Kent Curtis
Akron Law Review
The second part of this symposium has been devoted to how we teach the Constitution. It has emphasized what gets left out. The reader will see a pattern. Paul Finkelman is a leading scholar on the law of slavery and the Constitution. Paul thinks – and I believe he is correct – that the immense influence of slavery on American constitutional law is too often neglected in our constitutional law courses. James Wilson has studied how political philosophers – Aristotle, Rousseau, James Harrington, and others – have understood the distribution of wealth as a central factor affecting how the constitution …
The Continuing Importance Of Congressman John A. Bingham And The Fourteenth Amendment, Richard L. Aynes
The Continuing Importance Of Congressman John A. Bingham And The Fourteenth Amendment, Richard L. Aynes
Akron Law Review
In the now-famous 1830s chronicle of a visit to America, Alexis de Tocqueville wrote that in America every political issue is ultimately a legal issue in the courts. For Americans who lived through the antislavery and abolitionist era as well as the crisis of the war of 1861-1865, the military victory of the Union forces on the field of battle still left open large political issues. These issues were attempted to be resolved through the political process that produced a legal solution: a constitutional amendment that we currently identify as the Fourteenth Amendment. The meaning of the Amendment was ultimately …
Rebuilding The Slaughter-House: The Cases' Support For Civil Rights, David S. Bogen
Rebuilding The Slaughter-House: The Cases' Support For Civil Rights, David S. Bogen
Akron Law Review
This Article sets forth the Slaughter-House Cases’ support for civil rights. Justice Miller used federalism in order to protect Reconstruction legislatures where significant numbers of African-Americans participated fully for the first time. His recital of the history and purpose of the Civil War Amendments centered on the Amendments’ design to protect African-Americans, and suggested sweeping federal power to accomplish that end. Gutting the Privileges and Immunities Clause compelled the Court to read the Equal Protection Clause broadly, and was indirectly responsible for the reapportionment decisions of the Warren Court. The Slaughter-House Court’s structural analysis and its view of federal protective …