Law Commons^™

Shotguns,Weddings, And Lunch Counters: Why Cultural Frames Matter To Constitutional Law, Anders Walker

All Faculty Scholarship

Though most constitutional scholars celebrate the civil rights movement, few have asked whether and to what extent the movement relates to current efforts of constitutional reform. Yet, the rise of direct action in the 1960s marked a bold realignment of the collective action, social movement frames of the civil rights struggle, a movement that has direct relevance to current constitutional battles, particularly over marriage and guns. As this Article will show, both the constitutional challenge to gun bans in Illinois and the constitutional challenge to California’s same-sex marriage ban have dealt with issues of frame alignment similar to those confronted …

Racial Inequities In Mortality And Access To Health Care: The Untold Peril Of Rationing Health Care In The United States, Ruqaiijah A. Yearby

All Faculty Scholarship

On February 25, 2007, a 12-year-old African American boy named Deamonte Driver died of a toothache because he did not receive a routine $80 tooth extraction that may have saved him, which was covered by his insurer: Medicaid. Unable to afford $80 or find a dentist that took Medicaid, Deamonte wound up in the emergency room, underwent two brain surgeries, and was in the hospital for six weeks of treatment, which cost approximately $250,000. In the end, Deamonte still died from a brain infection caused by the spread of the bacteria from the abscess in his mouth.

While Deamonte did …