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Civil Rights and Discrimination

Selected Works

2016

Equal Protection

Articles 1 - 2 of 2

Full-Text Articles in Law

2017: Evaluating The Force Of Equal Protection Along The South-Texas Border In A Post Trump Elect United States, Ezekiel Perez Mar 2016

2017: Evaluating The Force Of Equal Protection Along The South-Texas Border In A Post Trump Elect United States, Ezekiel Perez

Ezekiel Perez

The history of Mexican-Americans along the South Texas border consists of a myriad of violations and challenges of the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteen Amendment to the Constitution. From the end of the Mexican American War, which led to the incorporation of the land that comprises the southwestern portion of The United States, and the people who lived there prior to the war’s inception, Americans of Mexican descent, especially those who reside in borderlands, have had to overcome perpetual challenges to the legitimacy of their American-ness. These challenges have shifted form over the past hundred-plus years and continue to …

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Measuring Political Power: Suspect Class Determinations And The Poor, Bertrall L. Ross, Su Li Dec 2015

Measuring Political Power: Suspect Class Determinations And The Poor, Bertrall L. Ross, Su Li

Bertrall L Ross

Which classes are considered suspect under equal protection doctrine? The answer determines whether courts will defer to legislatures and other government actors when they single out a group for special burdens, or intervene to protect that group from such treatment. Laws burdening suspect classes receive the strictest scrutiny possible—and under current doctrine, whether a class is suspect turns largely on whether the court views the group as possessing political power.

But how do courts know when a class lacks political power? A liberal plurality of the Supreme Court initially suggested that political power should be measured according to a group’s …

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