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Full-Text Articles in Law
Blatant Discrimination Within Federal Law: A 14th Amendment Analysis Of Medicaid’S Imd Exclusion, J. Michael E. Gray, Madeline Easdale
Blatant Discrimination Within Federal Law: A 14th Amendment Analysis Of Medicaid’S Imd Exclusion, J. Michael E. Gray, Madeline Easdale
University of Massachusetts Law Review
A discriminatory piece of Medicaid law, the institution for mental diseases (IMD) exclusion, is denying people with serious mental illness equal levels of treatment as those with only primary healthcare needs. The IMD exclusion denies the use of federal funding in psychiatric hospitals for inpatient care. This article discusses the history and collateral implications of the IMD exclusion, then examines it through the lens of the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment, argues that people with severe mental illness constitute a quasi-suspect class, and that application of intermediate scrutiny would render the IMD exclusion unenforceable.
Now I Know My “Acbs”: The Right To Literacy Following An Incremental Path, Gregory J. O'Neill
Now I Know My “Acbs”: The Right To Literacy Following An Incremental Path, Gregory J. O'Neill
University of Massachusetts Law Review
It is a tragic irony that a nation with enormous wealth will not provide the most basic of education rights to its citizens. Despite continual judicial and legislative measures to ensure access to education, or a facsimile thereof, no judicial or legislative body has taken the step to ensure that literacy is a fundamental right for the citizens of the United States. The issue has been, and continues to be, presented to both Congress and the courts. While Congress has passed legislation to some degree, both institutions have largely failed to ensure the population receives the fundamental right of literacy. …
Massachusetts Attorney's Oath: History That Should Not Be Repeated, Jared A. Picchi
Massachusetts Attorney's Oath: History That Should Not Be Repeated, Jared A. Picchi
University of Massachusetts Law Review
Massachusetts proudly boasts that it has one of the oldest versions of the Attorney’s Oath in the United States. However, the Oath contains phrases that reflect both gender and religious biases. The use of the masculine form within the text, as well as the reference to God, reflect the nation’s history of intolerance and ignorance. These phrases exclude a large portion of the legal community and act as a distraction from the true purpose of an attorney’s oath, which is to remind incoming lawyers of their ethical obligations. This Article focuses primarily on the need for Massachusetts to adopt a …
Final Cut: The West’S Opportunity To Accommodate Asylee Victims Of Female Genital Mutilation, Patricia N. Jjemba
Final Cut: The West’S Opportunity To Accommodate Asylee Victims Of Female Genital Mutilation, Patricia N. Jjemba
University of Massachusetts Law Review
In an era where immigration and asylum is at the forefront of many western nationals’ minds, so too should be the reasons behind an individual’s intent to seek refuge in a new country. Statistics have shown that one of the pragmatic reasons women and girls, particularly from Middle Eastern and African nations, seek refuge through western asylum programs is to escape or recover from Female Genital Mutilation (FGM). While the practice has been a longstanding tradition in various communities around the world, modern western governments and international entities have moved to abolish the tradition completely, given its alarming implications against …
Beyond Punks In Empty Chairs: An Imaginary Conversation With Clint Eastwood’S Dirty Harry—Toward Peace Through Spiritual Justice, Mark L. Jones
Beyond Punks In Empty Chairs: An Imaginary Conversation With Clint Eastwood’S Dirty Harry—Toward Peace Through Spiritual Justice, Mark L. Jones
University of Massachusetts Law Review
This Article is based on a presentation at the 2012 conference on “Struggles for Recognition: Individuals, Peoples, and States” co-sponsored by Mercer University, the Concerned Philosophers for Peace, and the Carnegie Council for Ethics in International Affairs, and it seeks to help combat our human tendency to demonize the Other and thus to contribute in some small way to the reduction of unnecessary conflict and violence. The discussion takes the form of a conversation in a bar between four imagined protagonists, who have participated in the conference, and Clint Eastwood’s Dirty Harry, who is having a bad day questioning his …
Keeping It Real: Why Congress Must Act To Restore Pell Grant Funding For Prisoners, Spearit
Keeping It Real: Why Congress Must Act To Restore Pell Grant Funding For Prisoners, Spearit
University of Massachusetts Law Review
In 1994, Congress passed the Violent Crime Control and Law Enforcement Act (VCCLEA), a provision of which revoked Pell Grant funding “to any individual who is incarcerated in any federal or state penal institution.” This essay highlights the counter-productive effects this particular provision has on penological goals. The essay suggests Congress acknowledge the failures of the ban on Pell Grant funding for prisoners, and restore such funding for all qualified prisoners.
Putting The Plug In The Jug: The Malady Of Alcoholism And Substance Addiction In The Legal Profession And A Proposal For Reform, Alexander O. Rovzar
Putting The Plug In The Jug: The Malady Of Alcoholism And Substance Addiction In The Legal Profession And A Proposal For Reform, Alexander O. Rovzar
University of Massachusetts Law Review
To members of the legal profession, and many of those familiar with it, the high rate of chemical dependency among practitioners is not a secret. Moreover, there is a strong correlation between chemically dependent attorneys and ethical violations across the nation. Over the past thirty years, the legal profession has generally dealt with the alarming amount of professional misconduct rooted in an attorney’s alcoholism or substance addiction by imposing discipline. With the exception of some state-led movements toward rehabilitating the addicted attorney, little has been done on the national level to address chemical dependency among practicing attorneys. Drawing from the …
State Sovereign Immunity And Intellectual Property: An Evaluation Of The Trademark Remedy Clarification Act’S Attempt To Subject States To Suit In Federal Courts For Trademark Infringements Under The Lanham Act, Jennifer L. Fessler
University of Massachusetts Law Review
There are two things that can be learned from this paper. First, the analytical framework developed by the Court in City of Boerne is a stringent test that has considerably narrowed Congress’s ability to abrogate state’s Eleventh Amendment immunity through legislation. Second, only half of the battle was won when Congress enacted the Trademark Remedy Clarification Act. Although it met the new requirements the Court placed on legislative efforts in Atascadero, it is not able to meet the requirements that were later set forth in Seminole Tribe. The Rehnquist Court’s holdings indicate the Court’s active pursuit of state’s …