Civil Rights and Discrimination Commons^™

Disparate Discrimination, Leah M. Litman

Michigan Law Review

This Article explains and analyzes a recent trend in the Supreme Court’s cases regarding unintentional discrimination, where the argument is that a law has the effect of producing a disadvantage on members of a particular group. In religious discrimination cases, the Court has held that a law is presumptively unconstitutional if the law results in a comparable secular activity being treated more favorably than religious activity. Yet in racial discrimination cases, the Court has said the mere fact that a law more severely disadvantages racial minorities as a group does not suffice to establish unlawful discrimination.

The two tracks for …

Redefining Reproductive Rights And Justice, Leah Litman

Michigan Law Review

Review of Reproductive Rights and Justice Stories edited by Melissa Murray, Katherine Shaw, and Reva B. Siegel.

Ely At The Altar: Political Process Theory Through The Lens Of The Marriage Debate, Jane S. Schacter

Michigan Law Review

Political process theory, closely associated with the work of John Hart Ely and footnote four in United States v. Carolene Products, has long been a staple of constitutional law and theory. It is best known for the idea that courts may legitimately reject the decisions of a majority when the democratic process that produced the decision was unfair to a disadvantaged social group. This Article analyzes political process theory through the lens of the contemporary debate over same-sex marriage. Its analysis is grounded in state supreme court decisions on the constitutionality of barring same-sex marriage, as well as the high-profile, …

Stark Karst, Richard Delgado

Michigan Law Review

A Review of Law's Promise, Law's Expression: Visions of Power in the Politics of Race, Gender, and Religion by Kenneth L. Karst

Looking At Our Language: Glendon On Rights, James Boyd White

Michigan Law Review

A Review of Rights Talk: The Impoverishment of Political Discourse by Mary Ann Glendon

Abortion, Politics, And The Courts: Roe V. Wade And Its Aftermath, Michigan Law Review

Michigan Law Review

A Review of Abortion, Politics, and the Courts: Roe v. Wade and Its Aftermath by Eva R. Rubin

Constitutional Law- Civil Rights - Union Use Of Dues For Political Action, Paul Hanke

Michigan Law Review

Defendant unions under the authority of section 2, Eleventh of the Railway Labor Act obtained union shop agreements from defendant railroads. Non-union employees sought to enjoin enforcement of the agreements because the unions used periodic dues, fees, and assessments to support political doctrines and candidates opposed by plaintiffs. The trial court dismissed for failure to state a cause of action, but the Supreme Court of Georgia overruled the dismissal and remanded. The lower court then ruled that petitioners were denied constitutional liberties and issued the injunction. On appeal, held, affirmed. Enforcement of union shop contracts requiring employees to pay …

The Divided Supreme Court, 1944-1945, C. Herman Pritchett

Michigan Law Review

The United States Supreme Court has in recent years been supplying fascinating material for students interested in the interplay of personal and institutional factors in the judicial decision-making process. Contrary to the more restrictive practices of some other legal systems, the traditions of the American judiciary have never insisted that justices sitting en banc should hide the existence of division among themselves behind a facade of pretended unanimity. Justices who dissent from a decision of their brethren have been permitted to say so, and to give their reasons. This practice has had an immeasurably great effect in facilitating the growth …