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Full-Text Articles in Law and Race
For Whom Does The Bell Toll: The Bell Tolls For Brown?, Angela Onwuachi-Willig
For Whom Does The Bell Toll: The Bell Tolls For Brown?, Angela Onwuachi-Willig
Faculty Scholarship
This review essay analyzes Derrick Bell's provocative new book, Silent Covenants: Brown v. Board of Education and the Unfulfilled Hopes for Racial Reform (2004). In Silent Covenants, Professor Bell reviews Brown v. Board of Education, and inquires "whether another approach than the one embraced by the Brown decision might have been more effective and less disruptive in the always-contentious racial arena." Specifically, Professor Bell joins black conservatives in critiquing what he describes as a misguided focus on achieving racial balance in schools and argues that the quality of education for minority children, in particular Blacks, would have been better today …
Just Another Brother On The Sct?: What Justice Clarence Thomas Teaches Us About The Influence Of Racial Identity, Angela Onwuachi-Willig
Just Another Brother On The Sct?: What Justice Clarence Thomas Teaches Us About The Influence Of Racial Identity, Angela Onwuachi-Willig
Faculty Scholarship
Justice Clarence Thomas has generated the attention that most Justices receive only after they have retired. He has been boycotted by the National Bar Association, caricatured as a lawn jockey in Emerge Magazine, and protested by professors at an elite law school. As a general matter, Justice Thomas is viewed as a "non-race" man, a Justice with a jurisprudence that mirrors the Court's most conservative white member, Justice Antonin Scalia, in other words, Justice Scalia in "blackface." This Article argues that, although Justice Thomas's ideology differs from the liberalism that is more widely held by Blacks in the United States, …
The Rule Of Law And The Achievement Of Unanimity In Brown, Stephen J. Ellmann
The Rule Of Law And The Achievement Of Unanimity In Brown, Stephen J. Ellmann
Articles & Chapters
How did Justice Stanley Reed come to join the Supreme Court's unanimous decision in Brown v. Board ofEducation? It is clear from the historical record that Reed's first inclination was to uphold the constitutionality of racially segregated education, and clear as well that in the end he put this inclination aside and joined, without any public qualification, in the Court's decision banning segregation. Perhaps Reed changed his mind about the meaning of the constitution; perhaps he changed his mind about the legitimacy of judges' making social policy in the name of the constitution; perhaps he decided to uphold the Supreme …
Adverse Possession Of Identity: Radical Theory, Conventional Practice, Jessica A. Clarke
Adverse Possession Of Identity: Radical Theory, Conventional Practice, Jessica A. Clarke
Vanderbilt Law School Faculty Publications
This Article examines the conditions under which acting as if one has a particular legal status is sufficient to secure that status in the eyes of the law. Legal determinations of common-law marriage, functional parenthood, and racial identity share striking similarities to adverse possession law – these doctrines confer legal status on those who are merely acting as if they have that legal status. In each case, the elements of a legal claim are strikingly similar: physical proximity, notoriety and publicity, a claim of right, consistent and continuous behavior, and public acquiescence. The reason public performance is critical is that …
By Any Other Name?: On Being “Regarded As” Black, And Why Title Vii Should Apply Even If Lakisha And Jamal Are White, Angela Onwuachi-Willig, Mario Barnes
By Any Other Name?: On Being “Regarded As” Black, And Why Title Vii Should Apply Even If Lakisha And Jamal Are White, Angela Onwuachi-Willig, Mario Barnes
Faculty Scholarship
Forty years after the passage of Title VII, scholars Marianne Bertrand and Sendhil Mullainathan reported the results of their groundbreaking study, Are Emily and Greg More Employable Than Lakisha and Jamal? A Field Experiment on Labor Market Discrimination. Their study revealed that simply having an African American-sounding name significantly decreased one's opportunity to receive a job interview, regardless of occupation or industry. The results of Bertrand and Mullainathan's investigation raise critical questions about the effectiveness of Title VII as a remedy for race discrimination in the hiring market today, especially as employment discrimination has evolved into different forms. As shown …
Cry Me A River: The Limits Of 'A Systemic Analysis Of Affirmative Action In American Law Schools', Angela Onwuachi-Willig, Kevin Johnson
Cry Me A River: The Limits Of 'A Systemic Analysis Of Affirmative Action In American Law Schools', Angela Onwuachi-Willig, Kevin Johnson
Faculty Scholarship
This article is a response to Richard H. Sander's article, A Systemic Analysis of Affirmative Action in American Law Schools, which recently appeared in the Stanford Law Review. In his article, Professor Sander argues that affirmative action in law schools harms, rather than helps, African American law students by setting up African American students, who are out-matched by their white peers in terms of undergraduate grade point average and LSAT scores, for failure. Specifically, Professor Sander contends that because affirmative action enables African Americans to attend law schools for which they are unqualified, they are more likely to perform poorly …
True Integration: Advancing Brown's Goal Of Educational Equity In The Wake Of Grutter, Lia Epperson
True Integration: Advancing Brown's Goal Of Educational Equity In The Wake Of Grutter, Lia Epperson
Articles in Law Reviews & Other Academic Journals
No abstract provided.
For The Sake Of All Children: Opponents And Supporters Of Same-Sex Marriage Both Miss The Mark, Nancy Polikoff
For The Sake Of All Children: Opponents And Supporters Of Same-Sex Marriage Both Miss The Mark, Nancy Polikoff
Articles in Law Reviews & Other Academic Journals
No abstract provided.
After Georgia V. Ashcroft: The Primacy Of Proportionality, Felix B. Chang
After Georgia V. Ashcroft: The Primacy Of Proportionality, Felix B. Chang
Faculty Articles and Other Publications
This Note argues that the majority in Ashcroft have left courts with an unadministerable standard-not so much for reasons that Justice Souter articulated in his dissent, but rather because the Court provided no guidance on navigating around the myriad of factors in the convoluted totality analyses. Part I examines two cases after Ashcroft which represent different degrees of racial vote dilution: Shirt v. Hazeltine and Session v. Perry. Through other post-Ashcroft cases, Part II teases out the differences (i) between influence districts as injury and remedy and (ii) between a jurisdiction's Section 5 and Section 2 obligations--details closely related …
Using The Master’S “Tool” To Dismantle His House: Why Justice Clarence Thomas Makes The Case For Affirmative Action, Angela Onwuachi-Willig
Using The Master’S “Tool” To Dismantle His House: Why Justice Clarence Thomas Makes The Case For Affirmative Action, Angela Onwuachi-Willig
Faculty Scholarship
Justice Clarence Thomas, the second black man to sit on the Supreme Court, is famous, or rather infamous, for his opposition to affirmative action. His strongest critics condemn him for attacking the very preferences that helped him reach the Supreme Court. None, however, have considered how Thomas's life itself may be used as a justification for affirmative action. In what ways can the master's "tool" be used to dismantle his house? This Article analyzes Justice Thomas's appointment to the Supreme Court and contends that his nomination to and performance on the Court ironically make the case for forward-looking affirmative action. …
Against Prediction: Sentencing, Policing, And Punishing In An Actuarial Age, Bernard E. Harcourt
Against Prediction: Sentencing, Policing, And Punishing In An Actuarial Age, Bernard E. Harcourt
Faculty Scholarship
Actuarial methods – i.e., the use of statistical rather than clinical methods on large datasets of criminal offending rates to determine different levels of offending associated with one or more group traits, in order to (1) predict past, present or future criminal behavior and (2) administer a criminal justice outcome – now permeates the criminal law and its enforcement. With the single exception of racial profiling against African-Americans and Hispanics, most people view the turn to the actuarial as efficient, rational, and wealth-maximizing. The fact is, law enforcement agencies can detect more crime with the same resources if they investigate …
Credit Where It Counts: The Community Reinvestment Act And Its Critics, Michael S. Barr
Credit Where It Counts: The Community Reinvestment Act And Its Critics, Michael S. Barr
Articles
Despite the depth and breadth of U.S. credit markets, low- and moderate-income communities and minority borrowers have not historically enjoyed full access to credit. The Community Reinvestment Act (CRA) was enacted in 1977 to help overcome barriers to credit that these groups faced. Scholars have long leveled numerous critiques against CRA as unnecessary, ineffectual, costly, and lawless. Many have argued that CRA should be eliminated. By contrast, I contend that market failures and discrimination justify governmental intervention and that CRA is a reasonable policy response to these problems. Using recent empirical evidence, I demonstrate that over the last decade CRA …