Law Commons^™

Racial Indirection, Yuvraj Joshi

Yuvraj Joshi

Sexual Orientation And Gender Identity Discrimination, Holning Lau

Holning Lau

From Loving To Obergefell: Elevating The Significance Of Discriminatory Effects, Holning Lau

Holning Lau

A Post-Race Equal Protection?, Trina Jones, Mario L. Barnes, Erwin Chemerinsky

Erwin Chemerinsky

Most vividly demonstrated in the 2008 election of the first African-American President of the United States, post-race is a term that has been widely used to characterize a belief in the declining significance of race in the United States. Post-racialists, then, believe that racial discrimination is rare and aberrant behavior as evidenced by America’s pronounced racial progress. One practical consequence of a commitment to post-racialism is the belief that governments - both state and federal - should not consider race in their decision making. One might imagine that the recent explosion in post-racial discourse also portends a revised understanding of …

American Equal Protection And Global Convergence, Holning Lau, Hillary Li

Holning Lau

Unfinished Equality: The Case Of Black Boys, Nancy E. Dowd

Nancy Dowd

Vulnerabilities and identities theories have an interdependent and symbiotic relationship that is critical to achieve social justice. Vulnerabilities analysis demands the state to explain and correct structural inequalities, while identities theories call for constructs and stereotypes to be confronted, challenged, and transformed in order to achieve justice and equality. An example of the value of both theoretical perspectives is in challenging, uncovering, and demanding action to end the subordination of black boys. Analyzing the situation of black boys, from birth to age eighteen, and the interaction they have with individuals, institutional structures, and culture leads to a conclusion that identity …

Agency, Equality, And Antidiscrimination Law, Tracy E. Higgins, Laura A. Rosenbury

Laura A. Rosenbury

Some commentators, perhaps a minority, have argued that the Equal Protection Clause should be read to require the use of race-conscious policies when necessary to eradicate or remedy the most serious consequences of racial inequality. Others have argued that such policies, though not required, should be permitted when duly adopted by the majority of the populace to promote the interests of an historically oppressed minority. Still others, including now a majority of the Supreme Court, take the view that the Constitution forbids virtually all explicit uses of race by the state. In this Essay, we do not enter this debate …

The High Price Of Poverty: A Study Of How The Majority Of Current Court System Procedures For Collecting Court Costs And Fees, As Well As Fines, Have Failed To Adhere To Established Precedent And The Constitutional Guarantees They Advocate., Trevor J. Calligan

Trevor J Calligan

No abstract provided.

Diversity And The Federal Workforce, Alev Dudek

Alev Dudek

Searching For Equity Amid A System Of Schools: The View From New Orleans, Robert A. Garda Jr.

Robert A. Garda

Hurricane Katrina leveled both the buildings and governance structure of the New Orleans school system. The system was transformed from one elected school board controlling nearly all the schools to a system of schools with sixty-three school districts operating within the city’s geographic boundaries that are run by forty-four independent school boards. There is not a more decentralized school governance structure in the United States. This article discusses how this new system of schools is attempting to achieve equal educational opportunities for its most vulnerable and at-risk student populations: the poor, minorities, students with disabilities, and English Language Learners.

For …

Liberty Vs. Equality: In Defense Of Privileged White Males, Nancy E. Dowd

Nancy Dowd

In this book review, Professor Dowd reviews Forbidden Grounds: The Case Against Employment Discrimination Laws, by Richard A. Epstein (1992). First, Professor Dowd sets forth the thesis and arguments of Epstein’s book and explores her general criticisms in more detail. Next, she explores Epstein’s core argument pitting liberty against equality from two perspectives: that of the privileged white male and that of minorities and women. Finally, Professor Dowd argues that Epstein’s position cannot be viewed as an argument that most minorities or women would make, as it fails to take account of their stories.

Beyond Admissions: Racial Equality In Law Schools, Sharon E. Rush

Sharon E. Rush

Beginning with a discussion of the United States Supreme Court’s decision in McLaurin v. Oklahoma State Regents for Higher Education, this article discusses the meaning of “integration.” In McLaurin, the University of Oklahoma was forced to abandon its segregation policy and not separate black students from their white classmates in all settings (not just the classroom). The McLaurin decision raised the fundamental questions: "What is integration?" and "How is integration related to racial equality?" Significantly, the McLaurin Court clarifies that equality is premised on integration and that integration means more than just having a presence in an institution. The case …

Marriage Equailty: Why Laws Restricting Same-Sex Couples' Rights Should Be Subject To Heightened Scrutiny Under Equal Protection Challenges., Cory A. Delellis

Cory A DeLellis

This thesis discusses why laws that restrict marital rights and recognition, on the basis of the couple’s sexual orientation, should be subject to a heightened or intermediate level of judicial scrutiny under Equal Protection challenges. This thesis addresses, analyzes, and suggests why sexual orientation – within the context of same-sex couples – should be considered a quasi-suspect class, rather than a non-suspect class, so that laws negatively impacting couples based on their sexual orientation are subjected to a fairer and more reasonable level of judicial scrutiny.

The Problem Of Thirst: The Right To Equality And The Unlawful Privatization Of Water, Kasari Jl Govender

Kasari JL Govender

The problem of thirst is a massive one, and a child dies every 15 seconds from disease related to lack of access to safe, clean water. Privatization is touted as the solution to water injustice, despite evidence that privatization of water services only increases water deprivation for the poorest citizens. This paper examines whether a privatized for-profit system of water access for personal use infringes the human right to water, and whether states have a legal responsibility to protect their citizens from any and all third party business interests in water. The problem of thirst is considered from the perspective …

Employment Discrimination And The Assumption Of Equality, Michael Evan Gold

Michael Evan Gold

The assumption of equality undergirds the American law of employment discrimination. The assumption is that racial and sexual classes are equally qualified for jobs. Although it has sometimes been ignored, and can be rebutted in a specific case, the assumption of equality is fundamental to the law of nondiscrimination. Proof of discrimination in a class action, whether based on disparate treatment or disparate impact, requires the assumption. The assumption is so strong in this context that when the Supreme Court weakened it recently, Congress promptly reinforced it. The assumption of equality is also a crucial element of the law of …

A Noble Cause: A Case Study Of Discrimination, Symbols, And Reciprocity, In: Diversity And European Human Rights, Yofi Tirosh

Yofi Tirosh

This chapter is part of a volume dedicated to rewriting human rights cases issued by the European Court of Human Rights. It uses the case of De La Cierva Osorio De Moscoso v. Spain (1999) as a platform to discuss the inherent tension typifying signs such as nobility titles – as merely symbolic or as carrying substantive content. The problem of one’s ownership of signs is especially acute in the case of women. I will argue that the distinction between form and substance collapses in this case, as in many other cases that involve allocation of allegedly merely symbolic signifiers …

Children's Oppression, Rights And Liberation, Samantha Godwin

Samantha Godwin

This paper advances a radical and controversial analysis of the legal status of children. I argue that the denial of equal rights and equal protection to children under the law is inconsistent with liberal and progressive beliefs about social justice and fairness. In order to do this I first situate children’s legal and social status in its historical context, examining popular assumptions about children and their rights, and expose the false necessity of children’s current legal status. I then offer a philosophical analysis for why children’s present subordination is unjust, and an explanation of how society could be sensibly and …

On Equality: The Anti-Interference Principle, Donald J. Kochan

Donald J. Kochan

This Essay introduces the “Anti-Interference Principle” – a new term on the meaning of equality, or at least one not yet so-named in the equality lexicon – as a necessary foundation for achieving the goal of true equality. Equality has a long-standing place in the discussion of politics and jurisprudence and remains a struggle of definition today. Rather than rehash the mass of scholarship, this Essay seeks to summarize the general equality concept, and propose that the legal discourse on equality center on a requirement that governmental power must protect and respect equal treatment and opportunity, unconstrained, not equal outcomes. …

Marriage As A Trade: Bridging The Private/Private Distinction, Martha M. Ertman

Martha M. Ertman

No abstract provided.

From Immutable To Existential: Protecting Who We Are And Who We Want To Be With The 'Equalerty' Of The Substantive Due Process Clause, Aaron J. Shuler

Aaron J Shuler

Abstract Scholars have written about the duality of the substantive due process and equal protection doctrines and described how they have worked in tandem, although many academics have focused on, or outright called for, a preference for the use of the equal protection clause. Another contingent of the academic community, however, has discussed the favored use of substantive due process in the last fifty years in providing equal treatment for all groups by ferreting out discrimination against marginalized minorities. Scholars have also separately alluded to substantive due process’ ability to protect the most existential of liberties. This works seeks to …

Thinking Critically About Equality: Government Can Make Us Equal, Robert L. Hayman, Nancy Levit

Nancy Levit

As kids we called it having to use the old noodle: needing to think real hard about something that was real hard to think about. It was the kind of thinking that would cause your face to get all scrunched up, and if you didn't stop or if someone didn't stop you - it would eventually make your head hurt. The expression came from our families when we figured something out: that's using your old noodle, they'd tell us. The noodle we eventually understood to be our brains, which, we reckon, do look something like noodles, though we were quite …

Equality Trouble: Sameness And Difference In Twentieth-Century Race Law, Angela Harris

Angela P Harris

No abstract provided.

Equal Protection And Sexual Orientation, Jack Tsen-Ta Lee

Jack Tsen-Ta LEE

Equality is the thread running through the fundamental liberties enshrined in our Constitution. ... Equality, expressed in Art 12 of the [Singapore] Constitution, is also a specific right enforceable by the court. The difficulty comes in applying this deceptively simple concept to real-life situations. ... In considering the validity of legislation, Singapore and Malaysian courts have generally favored rational review, a modest conception of equal protection, unlike their American counterparts which have adopted a more expansive reading in the form of strict and intermediate review. This article examines how these three levels of equal protection review operate, and argues that …