Family Law Commons^™

Moral Conflict And Conflicting Liberties, Chai R. Feldblum

Georgetown Law Faculty Publications and Other Works

The authors' goal in this chapter is to surface some of the commonalities between belief liberty and identity liberty and to offer some public policy suggestions for what to do when these liberties conflict. She first wants to make transparent the conflict that she believes exists between laws intended to protect the liberty of lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) people so that they may live lives of dignity and integrity and the religious beliefs of some individuals whose conduct is regulated by such laws. The author believes those who advocate for LGBT equality have downplayed the impact of such …

Legislatures, Agencies, Courts And Advocates: How Laws Are Made, Interpreted And Modified, Chai R. Feldblum, Robin Appleberry

Georgetown Law Faculty Publications and Other Works

This chapter explains the nature and practice of lawmaking, legal advocacy, and legal research as they relate to the field of work and family. Through reference to the Family and Medical Leave Act of 1993 as a case study, the authors explain the dynamic processes by which laws are made, interpreted and modified by legislatures, administrative agencies and courts, with the help of legal advocates. Their goal is not to provide substantive analysis of laws related to work and family, but rather to enable researchers from a range of disciplines to understand and access the legal system, as it currently …

Domestic Violence In Ghana: The Open Secret, Nancy Chi Cantalupo, Lisa Vollendorf Martin, Kay Pak, Sue Shin

Georgetown Law Faculty Publications and Other Works

This report discusses the findings of a Georgetown Law International Women’s Human Rights Clinic fact-finding team that traveled to Ghana, Africa in March 2003 to investigate domestic violence. The report reviews the contours of the domestic violence problem in Ghana and outlines the ways in which Ghanaian law and procedure was insufficiently addressing the problem at the time. Its chief findings include that the Ghanaian laws existing in 2003 inadequately punished perpetrators and protected victims of domestic violence and that court and police enforcement of the existing law was lacking, including because the government was allowing the removal of domestic …

Eligibility For Medical & Family Leave Under The Fmla: Development Of The Statutory Text 1985-1993, Workplace Flexibility 2010, Georgetown University Law Center

Charts and Summaries of State, U.S., and Foreign Laws and Regulations

No abstract provided.

Love, Change, Mari J. Matsuda

Georgetown Law Faculty Publications and Other Works

This is morality: to include all as human and entitled to the deepest love and care. This is the distillation of everything the author fights for as a feminist, a critical race theorist, and a peace activist. Since we are at war, having sent to date 1,500 U.S. soldiers off to die, speaking against war and for peace is a current imperative. Then comes this invitation to speak as a critical race theorist on the subject of same-sex marriage.

Without marriage you can do everything that counts in marriage except that which requires the imprint of the state. What you …

Gay Is Good: The Moral Case For Marriage Equality And More, Chai R. Feldblum

Georgetown Law Faculty Publications and Other Works

The struggle for marriage equality in this country is ripe for an intervention. If the effort continues along in the manner in which it has been headed, gay couples may or may not succeed in gaining access to civil marriage. But even if gay couples succeed in "getting marriage," the gay rights movement may have missed a critical opportunity-a chance to make a positive moral case for gay sex and gay couples. In other words, it will have missed the opportunity to argue that "gay is good."

Moreover, to the extent that the struggle for marriage equality focuses solely on …

Living With Leave Part I: Intermittent Leave, Workplace Flexibility 2010, Georgetown University Law Center

Charts and Summaries of State, U.S., and Foreign Laws and Regulations

No abstract provided.

Fmla Scope, Coverage, And Eligibility, Workplace Flexibility 2010, Georgetown University Law Center

Charts and Summaries of State, U.S., and Foreign Laws and Regulations

No abstract provided.

Length Of Medical & Family Leave Allowed Under The Fmla & Covered Employers' Number Of Employees: Development Of Statutory Text (1985-1993), Workplace Flexibility 2010, Georgetown University Law Center

Charts and Summaries of State, U.S., and Foreign Laws and Regulations

No abstract provided.

Comparative Chart Of California’S Leave And Wage Replacement Laws, Workplace Flexibility 2010, Georgetown University Law Center

Charts and Summaries of State, U.S., and Foreign Laws and Regulations

No abstract provided.

Living With Leave Part Ii: Notice, Designation, And Substitution Of Leave Issues, Workplace Flexibility 2010, Georgetown University Law Center

Charts and Summaries of State, U.S., and Foreign Laws and Regulations

No abstract provided.

Legislation Proposed In The 108th Congress Relating To The Family And Medical Leave Act, Workplace Flexibility 2010, Georgetown University Law Center

Charts and Summaries of State, U.S., and Foreign Laws and Regulations

No abstract provided.

Spiritual Custody: Relational Rights And Constitutional Commitments, Jeffrey Shulman

Georgetown Law Faculty Publications and Other Works

Patricia and David Zummo were married on December 17, 1978. When they divorced ten years later, the Zummos were unable to come to agreement about the religious upbringing of their three children. Prior to their marriage, Patricia and David had agreed that they would raise their children in the Jewish faith, and while they were married, "the Zummo family participated fully in the life of the Jewish faith and community." But after the divorce David wanted to take the children to Roman Catholic services as he saw fit, and he refused to arrange for the children's attendance at Hebrew School …

Law's Nobility, Robin West

Georgetown Law Faculty Publications and Other Works

This article first aims to set out the feminist theory of Catharine MacKinnon as explicitly as possible and in a way that accounts for its incredible power. To strengthen MacKinnon's theoretical project, the article proposes some modifications to the original that are drawn from, in part, the critiques of queer theorists. The crucial departure proposed here concerns MacKinnon's "critique of desire," which in my view is deeply mistaken. Rather than distrusting the sexual desires of women as hopelessly polluted by subordination, we should be neutral -- neither critical nor confident -- regarding the degree to which our desires, if fulfilled, …

Egyptian Feminism: Trapped In The Identity Debate, Lama Abu-Odeh

Georgetown Law Faculty Publications and Other Works

This Article argues that if we wish to account for the limited gains made in the area of family law reform in Egypt in the twentieth century, it is crucial to relate the debate on family law with another debate, one revolving around the identity of the Egyptian legal system. Whereas the dispute over family law reform forced decisions on gender and the family, the contest surrounding identity centered on the ongoing and agonized struggle by Egyptians to define the nature of their country's contemporary cultural identity. The question of identity was often framed as a debate over the "character" …

Modernizing Muslim Family Law: The Case Of Egypt, Lama Abu-Odeh

Georgetown Law Faculty Publications and Other Works

The Author discusses the dynamics of family law reforms in modern Egypt as an instance of similar dynamics of reforms in other Muslim countries. The forces that push for reforms as well as those that try to limit them are also introduced. The Author begins by describing the historical legal background shared by the vast majority of Muslim countries, including Egypt. An account of the general evolution of Islamic law-from a dominant system existing within an Islamic state to a subordinate system existing within an overall secularized legal system characterized by legal borrowing from European codes-is given. Islamic law has …

Brief Amicus Curiae Of Joseph R. Grodin As Amicus Curiae Supporting Neither Party (Vacatur), Elk Grove Unified School District V. Newdow, No. 02-1624 (U.S. Dec. 19, 2003), ., Neal K. Katyal

U.S. Supreme Court Briefs

No abstract provided.

Brief In Opposition, Nevada Department Of Human Resources V. Hibbs, No. 01-1368 (U.S. 2001), Cornelia T. Pillard

U.S. Supreme Court Briefs

No abstract provided.

Law, Marriage, And Intimate Commitment, Milton C. Regan

Georgetown Law Faculty Publications and Other Works

Does society have any interest in the stability of marriage per se - that is, apart from any concerns about the impact of divorce on children or financially dependent spouses? Should law try in any way to reinforce an ethic of commitment in marriage as a good in and of itself? . . . Two social trends make this a timely issue. First is the steady erosion of the link between marriage and procreation over the last generation. More married couples do not have children; more children are born outside of marriage. A second trend is the rise of unmarried …

Surrogacy From The Perspectives Of Economic And Civil Liberties, Lawrence O. Gostin

Georgetown Law Faculty Publications and Other Works

The field of law and economics, of which Judge Posner is the leading theorist, has offered a rich and sophisticated framework for thinking about a wide variety of problems at the interface of law and society. The theory, based on economic principles for understanding behavioral incentives and disincentives, is widely taught in law schools and is influential in scholarship. I have not always agreed with the application of the theory to complex problems of individual and group behavior, yet I constantly have been impressed with the elegance of the writing and analysis.

Judge Posner thinks about surrogacy arrangements in terms …

Calibrated Commitment: The Legal Treatment Of Marriage And Cohabitation, Milton C. Regan

Georgetown Law Faculty Publications and Other Works

A couple of points are worth making at the outset of my argument. First, I speak in this Essay primarily about the extension of benefits to domestic partners, rather than the imposition of duties upon them. That is because this has been the focus of most of the debate about the legal treatment of married and unmarried couples. I readily acknowledge, however, that a fuller debate would consider not only when domestic partners should be given rights, but also when they should assume certain responsibilities. Indeed, as I will make clear, one reason for rejecting certain claims by unmarried couples …

Self-Defense And Subjectivity, Victoria Nourse

Georgetown Law Faculty Publications and Other Works

The law of self-defense has rarely produced as much academic or popular heat as it has in the past two decades. Widely publicized trials, such as the Goetz and Menendez cases, have generated deep-seated fears of a law unmoored from principle. Those fears have generated a standard public critique--that the criminal law has become too soft and subjective, too wedded to syndrome science and prone to weak-kneed affection for defendants. The criminal law has lost its "objectivity," so the argument goes. The poster child, and even the alleged cause of this development, is the battered woman.

In this article, the …

Evidence Issues In Domestic Violence Civil Cases, Jane H. Aiken, Jane C. Murphy

Georgetown Law Faculty Publications and Other Works

This article is intended to assist practitioners in anticipating and responding to some of the evidentiary challenges in civil cases in which relief is sought for the victims of domestic violence. First, expert testimony is often necessary to dispel common myths about battered women and to educate judges and juries about the dynamics of domestic violence. Recent case law, however, has limited the admissibility of "non-scientific" expert testimony and may make it difficult for practitioners to use experts in their cases. In addition, particular evidentiary issues arise when victims are pursuing both criminal and civil remedies against the batterer. This …

Redefining The State's Response To Domestic Violence: Past Victories And Future Challenges, Deborah Epstein

Georgetown Law Faculty Publications and Other Works

What role should the state play in the fight against domestic violence? Although most activists in the early domestic abuse movement viewed government institutions with a robust dose of suspicion, over time they began to look to the state for substantial assistance. During this period-the late sixties and seventies-increased hope for a positive governmental role appeared to be well-founded. The civil rights, feminist, and labor movements had pushed the federal government into expanding civil liberty guarantees and economic protections. Laws were enacted prohibiting sex- and race-based discrimination, health care got a strong boost through the creation of Medicaid and Medicare, …

Effective Intervention In Domestic Violence Cases: Rethinking The Roles Of Prosecutors, Judges, And The Court System, Deborah Epstein

Georgetown Law Faculty Publications and Other Works

Despite over two decades of reform, fundamental failures persist in the justice system's response to domestic violence. Society now widely accepts elimination of intrafamily abuse as a crucial goal, and it has been illegal in most states since the late nineteenth century. But the problem remains one of epidemic proportions. As documented in Part I of this Article, battering by husbands, ex-husbands, or lovers is the single largest cause of injury to women in the United States, and accounts for approximately thirty percent of all murders of women. Physical aggression occurs in at least one out of four marriages, and …

Rules Of Engagement, Rebecca Tushnet

Georgetown Law Faculty Publications and Other Works

Why does the law treat engagement rings differently from other gifts? The answer is rooted in a history in which courts generally entertained litigation over broken engagements. As legislatures slowly abolished actions for breach of promise to marry in the early and middle decades of this century, on the grounds that such actions were inconsistent with modem understandings of love and marriage, one potential fact pattern for successful plaintiffs emerged: the case in which a man sues a woman for the return of his engagement gifts.

The history and logic of this body of law-the rules of engagement invite examination.

Intimate Violence And The Problem Of Consent, Jane H. Aiken

Georgetown Law Faculty Publications and Other Works

The juxtaposition of intimacy with violence is striking. Intimacy implies a closeness and a vulnerability that is treasured and inviolate. Intimacy should foreclose the possibility of violence. Intimate violence should be an oxymoron. Yet, intimacy sometimes creates its own special kind of violence, one that can erupt into rape or assault. On a less physical level, intimacy may cause violence to a woman's personal integrity and economic independence.

Intimate violence manifests itself with a certain subtlety that forces women to walk a careful tightrope in order to avoid threatened harm. This essay is about that tightrope: the double binds women …

Fighting Domestic Violence In The Nation’S Capital, Deborah Epstein

Georgetown Law Faculty Publications and Other Works

Every year, in the District of Columbia alone, the Metropolitan Police Department receives more than 18,000 calls for help from victims of domestic violence, and more than 2,500 battered women bring legal actions requesting protection from their abusers. Thousands of other cases go unreported, either because the victims are too afraid of their batterers to report the violence, or because they do not know how to obtain relief to which they are entitled.

The "Gag Rule" Revisited: Physicians As Abortion Gatekeepers, Maxwell Gregg Bloche

Georgetown Law Faculty Publications and Other Works

To the surprise of many and the dismay of some, the U.S. Supreme Court took it upon itself last term to proclaim a national compromise on the question of abortion. The Court's announced truce, an elaboration on Justice O'Connor's "undue burden" idea, is pragmatic in design but unlikely to prove stable in practice. The three justices who spoke for the Court disparaged Roe with reluctant praise, then upheld its outer shell on the ground that social expectations and the need to sustain the appearance of the rule of law made it impolitic to do otherwise. This awkward doctrinal invention seems …

Marital Exits And Marital Expectations In Nineteenth Century America, Hendrik A. Hartog

Philip A. Hart Memorial Lecture

On April 10, 1991, Professor of Law, Hendrik A. Hartog of the University of Wisconsin Law School, delivered the Georgetown Law Center’s eleventh Annual Philip A. Hart Memorial Lecture: "Meanings of Marriage: The Structure of Marital Expectations in Nineteenth Century America."

Hendrik Hartog is the Class of 1921 Bicentennial Professor of the History of American Law and Liberty at Princeton University. He holds a PhD. in the History of American Civilization from Brandeis University (1982), a J.D. from the New York University School of Law (1973), and an A.B. from Carleton College (1970). Before coming to Princeton, he taught at …