Constitutional Law Commons^™

Preventing Balkanization Or Facilitating Racial Domination: A Critique Of The New Equal Protection, Darren L. Hutchinson

Darren L Hutchinson

Abstract

Preventing Balkanization or Facilitating Racial Domination: A Critique of the

New Equal Protection

The Supreme Court requires that equal protection plaintiffs prove defendants acted with discriminatory intent. The intent rule has insulated from judicial invalidation numerous policies that harmfully impact racial and ethnic minorities. Court doctrine also mandates that state actors remain colorblind. The colorblindness doctrine has caused the Court to invalidate many policies that were designed to ameliorate the conditions of racial inequality. Taken together, these two equality doctrines facilitate racial domination. The Court justifies this outcome on the ground that the Constitution does not protect “group rights.” …

"Not Without Political Power": Gays And Lesbians, Equal Protection, And The Suspect Class Doctrine, Darren Hutchinson

Darren L Hutchinson

The Supreme Court purportedly utilizes the suspect class doctrine in order to balance institutional concerns with the protection of important constitutional rights. The Court, however, inconsistently applies this doctrine, and it has not precisely defined its contours. The political powerlessness factor is especially undertheorized and contradictorily applied. Nevertheless, this factor has become salient in recent equal protection cases brought by gay and lesbian plaintiffs.

A growing body of and federal and state-court precedent addresses the flaws of the Court’s suspect class doctrine. This Article discusses the inadequacies of the suspect class doctrine and highlights problems within the emerging scholarship and …

Critical Race Histories: In And Out, Darren Hutchinson

Darren L Hutchinson

No abstract provided.

Social Movements And Judging: An Essay On Institutional Reform Litigation And Desegregation In Dallas, Texas, Darren Hutchinson

Darren L Hutchinson

No abstract provided.

Majority Politics And Race Based Remedies, Darren Hutchinson

Darren L Hutchinson

No abstract provided.

Unexplainable On Grounds Other Than Race: The Inversion Of Privilege And Subordination In Equal Protection Jurisprudence, Darren Hutchinson

Darren L Hutchinson

In this article, Professor Darren Hutchinson contributes to the debate over the meaning of the Fourteenth Amendment's Equal Protection Clause by arguing that the Supreme Court has inverted its purpose and effect. Professor Hutchinson contends that the Court, in its judicial capacity, provides protection and judicial solicitude for privileged and powerful groups in our country, while at the same time requires traditionally subordinated and oppressed groups to utilize the political process to seek redress for acts of oppression. According to Professor Hutchinson, this process allows social structures of oppression and subordination to remain intact.

First, Professor Hutchinson examines the various …

Progressive Race Blindness: Individual Identity, Group Politics, And Reform, Darren Hutchinson

Darren L Hutchinson

Critical Race Theorists advance race consciousness as a positive instrument for political and legal reform. A growing body of works by left-identified scholars, however, challenges this traditional progressive stance toward race consciousness.

After summarizing the contours of this budding literature, this Article criticizes the "progressive race blindness" scholarship on several grounds and offers an alternative approach to race consciousness that balances skepticism towards the naturalness of race with a healthy appreciation of the realities of racial subjugation and identity.

Gay Rights For Gay Whites: Race, Sexual Identity, And Equal Protection Discourse, Darren Hutchinson

Darren L Hutchinson

No abstract provided.

Out Yet Unseen: A Racial Critique Of Gay And Lesbian Legal Theory And Political Discourse, Darren Hutchinson

Darren L Hutchinson

Beyond The Rhetoric Of Dirty Laundry: Examining The Value Of Internal Criticism Within Progressive Social Movements And Oppressed Communities, Darren Hutchinson

Darren L Hutchinson

No abstract provided.