Civil Rights and Discrimination Commons^™

Right To Education For The Handicapped In West Virginia, Laura F. Rothstein

Laura Rothstein

1981 was the International Year of the Disabled Person. During that year handicapped individuals received much attention from the press. Hopefully this publicity will result in an increased awareness of the existence of handicapped persons in our society, the special problems they have, and also their special abilities. Of the legal issues concerning handicapped individuals, the one receiving the most attention is the right to education. Many changes have occurred in the legal requirements placed on state and local educational agencies, and these changes in the law have caused dramatic changes in the attitudes of parents, teachers, administrators, and others …

The Network For Justice: Pursuing A Latinx Civil Rights Agenda, Luz E. Herrera, Pilar M. Hernández-Escontrías

Luz Herrera

This article explores the need to develop a Latinx-focused network that advances law and policy. The Network for Justice is necessary to build upon the existing infrastructure in the legal sector to support the rapidly changing demographic profile of the United States. Latinxs are no longer a small or regionally concentrated population and cannot be discounted as a foreign population. Latinxs reside in every state in our nation and, in some communities, comprise a majority of the population. The goal of the Network for Justice is to facilitate and support local and statewide efforts to connect community advocates to formal …

Measuring Political Power: Suspect Class Determinations And The Poor, Bertrall L. Ross, Su Li

Bertrall L Ross

Which classes are considered suspect under equal protection doctrine? The answer determines whether courts will defer to legislatures and other government actors when they single out a group for special burdens, or intervene to protect that group from such treatment. Laws burdening suspect classes receive the strictest scrutiny possible—and under current doctrine, whether a class is suspect turns largely on whether the court views the group as possessing political power.

But how do courts know when a class lacks political power? A liberal plurality of the Supreme Court initially suggested that political power should be measured according to a group’s …

Administering Section 2 Of The Voting Rights Act After Shelby County, Christopher Elmendorf, Douglas Spencer

Douglas M. Spencer

Until the Supreme Court put an end to it in Shelby County v. Holder, Section 5 of the Voting Rights Act was widely regarded as an effective, low cost tool for blocking potentially discriminatory changes to election laws and administrative practices. The provision the Supreme Court left standing, Section 2, is generally seen as expensive, cumbersome and almost wholly ineffective at blocking changes before they take effect. This paper argues that the courts, in partnership with the Department of Justice, could reform Section 2 so that it fills much of the gap left by the Supreme Court’s evisceration of Section …

The Blinding Color Of Race: Elections And Democracy In The Post-Shelby County Era, Sahar F. Aziz

Sahar F. Aziz

No abstract provided.

Democracy And Renewed Distrust: Equal Protection And The Evolving Judicial Conception Of Politics, Bertrall L. Ross

Bertrall L Ross

Judicial interpretations of the Equal Protection Clause have undergone a major transformation over the last fifty years. A Supreme Court once suspicious of the democratic losses of discrete and insular minorities, now closely scrutinizes their democratic victories. A Court once active in structuring the democratic process to be inclusive of racial and other minorities, now views minority representation in the political process as essentially irrelevant. A Court once deferential to exercises of congressional power that enhanced the equal protection rights of minorities, now gives Congress much less leeway.

What explains these shifts? An easy explanation is that the Supreme Court …

The Representative Equality Principle: Disaggregating The Equal Protection Intent Standard, Bertrall L. Ross

Bertrall L Ross

No abstract provided.

The Costs And Elusive Gains Of Creating Complementarities Between Party And Popular Democracy, Bertrall L. Ross

Bertrall L Ross

No abstract provided.