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From Justice To Injustice: Lowering The Threshold Of European Consensus In Oliari And Others Versus Italy, Nazim Ziyadov Aug 2019

From Justice To Injustice: Lowering The Threshold Of European Consensus In Oliari And Others Versus Italy, Nazim Ziyadov

Indiana Journal of Global Legal Studies

Oliari and Others v. Italy, decided by the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) in 2015, changed its case law. The ECHR changed its position stated in Schalk and Kopf v. Austria (2010) when evaluating an alleged violation of Article 8 of the European Convention on Human Rights. It concluded that Italy has a positive obligation under the convention to guarantee alternative legal recognition for same-sex couples. The same conclusion was not reached in Schalk. In Oliari and Others, the ECHR heavily relied on the European consensus doctrine and eventually deepened formalization of two different institutions (marriage and civil unions). …


A New Peonage?: Pay, Work, Or Go To Jail In Contemporary Child Support Enforcement And Beyond, Noah D. Zatz May 2016

A New Peonage?: Pay, Work, Or Go To Jail In Contemporary Child Support Enforcement And Beyond, Noah D. Zatz

Seattle University Law Review

Child support enforcement is one of several contemporary contexts in which the state threatens to incarcerate people if they fail to work. This symposium essay explores whether this practice violates the Thirteenth Amendment’s ban on involuntary servitude. At first glance, such threats fall squarely within the ambit of the early 20th century peonage cases. There, the Supreme Court struck down criminal enforcement of legal obligations to work off a debt. Several modern courts have declined to reach a similar conclusion when child support enforcement puts obligors to a choice between paying, working, and going to jail. To do so, these …


Beginning With Brown: Springboard For Gender Equality And Social Change, M. Margaret Mckeown Nov 2015

Beginning With Brown: Springboard For Gender Equality And Social Change, M. Margaret Mckeown

San Diego Law Review

To paraphrase Winston Churchill, the Supreme Court’s opinion in Brown v. Board of the Education was not the end of litigation over discriminatory practices, nor was it the beginning of the end. It was, however, the end of the beginning. Brown marked a dramatic capstone to a series of lawsuits challenging the concept of “separate but equal” embodied in Plessy v. Ferguson. But it also signaled a new phase of civil rights litigation: advocates emboldened by Brown’s resounding endorsement of equality sought new constitutional protections against discrimination. Among them were women seeking to extend Brown’s logic towards a constitutional mandate …


Juridical Subordination, Roy L. Brooks, Kelly C. Smith Nov 2015

Juridical Subordination, Roy L. Brooks, Kelly C. Smith

San Diego Law Review

The purpose of this Article is to play out the various conceptualizations of the black equality interest in post-civil rights America. How is the claim of juridical subordination manifested in current Supreme Court cases, and what might civil rights law look like if the Court were to avoid juridical subordination? Our ambition is not to analyze every landmark Supreme Court civil rights case—page limitations prevent us from doing that—but to provide a framework for analysis, setting the table for the juridical subordination inquiry. Furthermore, we do not here attempt to reconcile the disparate ways in which the black equality norm …


The Past As Prologue: Shelby County V. Holder And The Risks Ahead, J. Corey Harris Apr 2015

The Past As Prologue: Shelby County V. Holder And The Risks Ahead, J. Corey Harris

Journal of Race, Gender, and Ethnicity

No abstract provided.


Is The Antidiscrimination Project Being Ended?, Michael J. Zimmer Jun 2013

Is The Antidiscrimination Project Being Ended?, Michael J. Zimmer

Indiana Journal of Law and Social Equality

No abstract provided.


A Reluctant Apology For Plessy: A Response To Akhil Amar, Barry P. Mcdonald Aug 2012

A Reluctant Apology For Plessy: A Response To Akhil Amar, Barry P. Mcdonald

Pepperdine Law Review

A response to the article "Plessy v. Ferguson and the Anti-Canon," by Akhil Amar, published in the November 2011 issue of the "Pepperdine Law Review," is presented. Topics include an examination of Justice Henry Billings Brown's decision in the case, the constitutionality of segregating U.S. citizens by race, and the impact of public opinion on U.S. Supreme Court decisions.


Plessy V. Ferguson And The Anti-Canon, Akhil Reed Amar Aug 2012

Plessy V. Ferguson And The Anti-Canon, Akhil Reed Amar

Pepperdine Law Review

The article focuses on the U.S. Supreme Court case Plessy v. Ferguson, which dealt with the constitutionality of racial segregation in the U.S. Topics include the application of precedent in controversial U.S. Supreme Court cases, when the U.S. Constitution can overrule a court decision, and dissenting judicial opinions.


"The Prejudice Of Caste": The Misreading Of Justice Harlan And The Ascendency Of Anticlassificaiton, Scott Grinsell Jan 2010

"The Prejudice Of Caste": The Misreading Of Justice Harlan And The Ascendency Of Anticlassificaiton, Scott Grinsell

Michigan Journal of Race and Law

This Article reconsiders the familiar reading of Justice Harlan's dissent in Plessy v. Ferguson as standing for the principle of constitutional colorblindness by examining the significance of Harlan's use of the metaphor "caste" in the opinion. By overlooking Harlan's invocation of "caste," it argues that conservative proponents of anticlassification have reclaimed the opinion for "colorblindness," and buried a powerful statement of the antisubordination principle that is at the heart of our equality law. The Article begins by examining the emergence of a reading of the opinion as articulating a view of equality law based in anticlassification. The Article then returns …


For Whom Does The Bell Toll: The Bell Tolls For Brown?, Angela Onwuachi-Willig May 2005

For Whom Does The Bell Toll: The Bell Tolls For Brown?, Angela Onwuachi-Willig

Michigan Law Review

Fifty years after the landmark decision Brown v. Board of Education, black comedian and philanthropist Dr. Bill Cosby astonished guests at a gala in Washington, D.C., when he stated, "'Brown versus the Board of Education is no longer the white person's problem. (Black people] have got to take the neighborhood back . . . . (Lower economic Blacks] are standing on the comer and they can't speak English.'" Cosby, one of the wealthiest men in the United States, complained about "lower economic" Blacks "not holding up their end in this deal." He then asked the question, "'Well, Brown …


Why Segregation Is Inherently Unequal: The Abandonment Of Brown And The Continuing Failure Of Plessy, Gary Orfield Jan 2005

Why Segregation Is Inherently Unequal: The Abandonment Of Brown And The Continuing Failure Of Plessy, Gary Orfield

NYLS Law Review

No abstract provided.


Does The Supreme Court Matter? Civil Rights And The Inherent Politicization Of Constitutional Law, Matthew D. Lassiter Jan 2005

Does The Supreme Court Matter? Civil Rights And The Inherent Politicization Of Constitutional Law, Matthew D. Lassiter

Michigan Law Review

More than a decade ago, in a colloquium sponsored by the Virginia Law Review, scholars of the civil rights movement launched a fierce assault on Michael J. Klarman's interpretation of the significance of the Supreme Court's famous school desegregation ruling in Brown v. Board of Education. Klarman's "backlash thesis," initially set forth in a series of law review and history journal articles and now serving as the centerpiece of his new book, revolves around two central claims. First, he argues that the advancements toward racial equality generally attributed to Brown were instead the inevitable products of long-term political, …


A Rational Basis For Affirmative Action: A Shaky But Classical Liberal Defense, Richard A. Epstein Aug 2002

A Rational Basis For Affirmative Action: A Shaky But Classical Liberal Defense, Richard A. Epstein

Michigan Law Review

I am honored to participate in a symposium on the occasion of the lOOth anniversary of one of America's preeminent law reviews. I am saddened, however, to write, at what should be a moment of celebration, with the knowledge that both the Law School and the College of Literature, Science and the Arts are enmeshed in extensive litigation over the critical and explosive issue of affirmative action. To find striking evidence of the deep split of learned judicial views on this issue, it is necessary to look no further than the sequence of opinions in Gratz v. Bollinger and Grutter …


Some Effects Of Identity-Based Social Movements On Constitutional Law In The Twentieth Century, William N. Eskridge Jr. Aug 2002

Some Effects Of Identity-Based Social Movements On Constitutional Law In The Twentieth Century, William N. Eskridge Jr.

Michigan Law Review

What motivated big changes in constitutional law doctrine during the twentieth century? Rarely did important constitutional doctrine or theory change because of formal amendments to the document's text, and rarer still because scholars or judges "discovered" new information about the Constitution's original meaning. Precedent and common law reasoning were the mechanisms by which changes occurred rather than their driving force. My thesis is that most twentieth century changes in the constitutional protection of individual rights were driven by or in response to the great identity-based social movements ("IBSMs") of the twentieth century. Race, sex, and sexual orientation were markers of …


What's Wrong With Our Talk About Race? On History, Particularity, And Affirmative Action, James Boyd White Jan 2002

What's Wrong With Our Talk About Race? On History, Particularity, And Affirmative Action, James Boyd White

Michigan Law Review

One of the striking and original achievements of the Michigan Law Review in its first century was the publication in 1989 of a Symposium entitled Legal Storytelling. Organized by the remarkable editor-in-chief, Kevin Kennedy - who tragically died not long after his graduation - the Symposium not only brought an important topic to the forefront of legal thinking, it did so in an extraordinarily interesting way. For this was not a mere collection of papers; the authors met in small editorial groups to discuss their work in detail, and as a result the whole project has a remarkable coherence and …


Race, Class, Caste…? Rethinking Affirmative Action, Clark D. Cunningham, N.R. Madhava Menon Mar 1999

Race, Class, Caste…? Rethinking Affirmative Action, Clark D. Cunningham, N.R. Madhava Menon

Michigan Law Review

Many who oppose affirmative action programs in the United States because they use "racial" categories such as black, African American, or Latino, claim that equally effective and more equitable programs can be developed using only class categories, such as "low income." A key test case for the "race v. class" debate is admission to law schools, made urgent by recent legal prohibitions on the use of "race" in the admission procedures to state universities in California, Washington, and Texas. An empirical study by Linda Wightman, the former director of research for the Law School Admissions Council (LSAC), has shown that …


Students' Rights And How They Are Wronged, Nadine Strossen Jan 1998

Students' Rights And How They Are Wronged, Nadine Strossen

University of Richmond Law Review

Defending and enhancing the rights of students and young people has always been a major priority for the American Civil Liberties Union. One reason is that the rights of our nation's youth are always especially embattled - not surprisingly, since they are not yet eligible to vote and, therefore, lack political power.


Attainder And Amendment 2: Romer's Rightness, Akhil Reed Amar Oct 1996

Attainder And Amendment 2: Romer's Rightness, Akhil Reed Amar

Michigan Law Review

Call me silly. In fact, call me terminally silly. For despite Justice Scalia's remarkably confident claim, I believe, and shall try to prove below, that the Romer Court majority opinion invalidating Colorado's Amendment 2 was right both in form and in substance, both logically and sociologically. I stress "form" and "logic" at the outset because I share Justice Scalia's belief in the importance of these things in constitutional adjudication. I also share his commitment to constitutional text, history, and structure, and his suspicion of "free-form" constitutionalism. And so I shall highlight the text, history, and spirit of a constitutional clause …


Freeman V. Pitts: A Rethinking Of Public School Desegregation, Frank H. Stubbs Iii Jan 1993

Freeman V. Pitts: A Rethinking Of Public School Desegregation, Frank H. Stubbs Iii

University of Richmond Law Review

On March 31, 1992, the United States Supreme Court unanimously declared that federal district courts have the authority to relinquish supervision and control of a public school desegregation plan in incremental stages, before full compliance has been achieved in every area of school operations. The Court also held that public school districts have no duty to remedy racial imbalance caused by demographic shifts once the vestiges of de jure segregation have been eliminated. Reversing a lower court's ruling, Justice Kennedy, writing for the majority, stated that the decision was consistent with the Court's duties to both remedy constitutional violations and …


The Plessy Case: A Legal-Historical Interpretation, David D. Meyer May 1989

The Plessy Case: A Legal-Historical Interpretation, David D. Meyer

Michigan Law Review

A Review of The Plessy Case: A Legal-Historical Interpretation by Charles A. Lofgren


Bakke, Weber And Fullilove: Benign Discrimination And Congressional Power To Enforce The Fourteenth Amendment, Robert A. Bohrer Apr 1981

Bakke, Weber And Fullilove: Benign Discrimination And Congressional Power To Enforce The Fourteenth Amendment, Robert A. Bohrer

Indiana Law Journal

No abstract provided.


Some Post-Bakke-And-Weber Reflections On "Reverse Discrimination", Henry J. Abraham Jan 1980

Some Post-Bakke-And-Weber Reflections On "Reverse Discrimination", Henry J. Abraham

University of Richmond Law Review

So much has been said, written, and emoted concerning the subject of "reverse discrimination" that it represents a veritably frustrating experience to endeavor to come to grips with it in a nonredundant, non-banal, non-breast-beating manner. The difficulty is compounded by the all-too pervasive substitution of passion for reason on the wrenching issue-one that, admittedly, invites passion. Indeed, passion informed not an insignificant number of the record filings of the 120 briefs amicii curiae in the first central "reverse discrimination" case of Regents of the University of California v. Bakke, in which oral argument was presented to the Supreme Court of …


Higher Education: The Black Professional, Donald H. Godbold, Andrew Goodrich, William Moore, Jr., Oct 1973

Higher Education: The Black Professional, Donald H. Godbold, Andrew Goodrich, William Moore, Jr.,

IUSTITIA

The black professional in the community college is a catalog of contradictions. His or her condition can only be described as tragic; and his or her plight is a travesty on the philosophy of the two-year college. The preliminary findings of one study in progress note that nearly half (409 or 47 per cent) of the 865 two-year institutions included in the sample do not have a single black faculty member or administrator. Eighty-nine of the remaining 456 colleges have only one black staff member. Similarly, there are a number of community colleges located in areas heavily populated by blacks …


Hyneman: The Supreme Court On Trial, William W. Van Alstyne Nov 1964

Hyneman: The Supreme Court On Trial, William W. Van Alstyne

Michigan Law Review

A Review of The Supreme Court on Trial. By Charles S. Hyneman


The Fourteenth Amendment Reconsidered, The Segregation Question, Alfred H. Kelly Jun 1956

The Fourteenth Amendment Reconsidered, The Segregation Question, Alfred H. Kelly

Michigan Law Review

Some sixty years ago in Plessy v. Ferguson the Supreme Court of the United States adopted the now celebrated "separate but equal" doctrine as a constitutional guidepost for state segregation statutes. Justice Brown's opinion declared that state statutes imposing racial segregation did not violate the Fourteenth Amendment, provided only that the statute in question guaranteed equal facilities for the two races. Brown's argument rested on a historical theory of the intent, although he offered no evidence to support it. "The object of the amendment," he said, "was undoubtedly to enforce the absolute equality of the two races before the law, …


Constitutional Law - Equal Protection - Discrimination Against Negroes In State Recreation Facilities, Sanford B. Hertz S.Ed. Feb 1955

Constitutional Law - Equal Protection - Discrimination Against Negroes In State Recreation Facilities, Sanford B. Hertz S.Ed.

Michigan Law Review

Three suits were brought to obtain injunctions to prevent racial segregation at public bathing beaches, bathhouses, and swimming pools. Because the cases raised the same legal issue they were consolidated for trial. The plaintiffs moved for judgment on the pleadings. Held, motion denied. The segregation of Negroes and whites at bathing beaches, bathhouses and swimming pools does not per se deny to Negroes any rights protected by the Fourteenth Amendment to the Federal Constitution. Lonesome v. Maxwell, (D.C. Md. 1954) 123 F. Supp. 193.


Segregation In Public Education: The Decline Of Plessy V. Ferguson, Paul G. Kauper Jun 1954

Segregation In Public Education: The Decline Of Plessy V. Ferguson, Paul G. Kauper

Michigan Law Review

In the landmark case of Plessy v. Ferguson decided in 1896, the Supreme Court of the United States gave its sanction to the "separate but equal" doctrine in the interpretation of the equal protection clause of the Fourteenth Amendment. More particularly, the Court held that a state statute requiring racial segregation in railway service did not result in a denial of the equal protection of the laws. This decision did not go unchallenged. Kentucky-born Justice John Harlan remonstrated in a dissenting opinion of extraordinary force. Crying out like a lone voice in the wilderness he predicted that the judgment declared …


Constitutional Law-Fourteenth Amendment-Equal Protection Of The Laws-Racial Segregation In Public Educational Institutions, Neal Seegert S.Ed. Mar 1948

Constitutional Law-Fourteenth Amendment-Equal Protection Of The Laws-Racial Segregation In Public Educational Institutions, Neal Seegert S.Ed.

Michigan Law Review

Segregation of races, particularly separation of white and colored races, has long been condoned by American courts as permissible under the Fourteenth Amendment to the Constitution of the United States. Underlying the traditional view is the idea that the equal protection clause is not violated by segregation so long as equal facilities are provided for both races. On this basic premise a large number of jurisdictions, particularly the southern states, have predicated constitutional provisions and statutory enactments compelling racial segregation, while a number of other states where segregation has not been forbidden by express constitutional or statutory provision have achieved …