Law Commons^™

The Immigration Paradox: Alien Workers And Distributive Justice, Howard F. Chang

All Faculty Scholarship

The immigration of relatively unskilled workers poses a fundamental problem for liberals. While from the perspective of the economic welfare of natives, the optimal policy would be to admit these aliens as guest workers, this policy would violate liberal ideals. These ideals would treat these workers as equals, entitled to access to citizenship and to the full set of public benefits provided to citizens. If the welfare of incumbent residents determines admissions policies, however, and we anticipate the fiscal burden that the immigration of the poor would impose, then our welfare criterion would preclude the admission of relatively unskilled workers …

Book Review, Angela Mae Kupenda

Journal Articles

YOUR BLUES AIN’T LIKE MINE is an excellently written, fictionalized account of the lives of several people set in the fifties as a rural Mississippi community reacts to impending school racial desegregation and the killing of a fifteen year old black boy who had the misfortune of speaking French in the direction of a white woman. I’ve used this book to facilitate discussion on issues of race, gender, the law, class, and politics in several of my law school classes such as Race and the Law, Gender and the Law, and Civil Rights.

Majority Politics And Race Based Remedies, Darren Lenard Hutchinson

UF Law Faculty Publications

This Essay applies the principles of social movement theory and analyzes the legal status of race-based remedies. Many scholars have debated the constitutionality and efficacy of affirmative action, the appropriateness of race-consciousness (from legal and social perspectives) and the legitimacy of structural judicial remedies for various types of discrimination. This paper will add to this literature by demonstrating the influence of conservative race politics and ideology on Court doctrine concerning affirmative action and other race-based remedies. In particular, this Essay will demonstrate that, consistent with broader political trends, the Court disfavors governmental usage of race as a remedy for discrimination …

Summary Of Presentation: Climate Of Environmental Justice Conference, Michael B. Gerrard

The Climate of Environmental Justice: Taking Stock (March 16-17)

Presenter: Michael B. Gerrard, Partner, Arnold & Porter LLP, New York, NY

2 pages.

Internalizing Gender: International Goals, Comparative Realities, Darren Rosenblum

Elisabeth Haub School of Law Faculty Publications

This Article uses the example of international women's political rights to examine the value of comparative methodologies in analyzing the process by which nations internalize international norms. As internalized in Brazil and France, the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women suggests possibilities for (and possible limitations of) interdisciplinary comparative and international law scholarship. Indeed, international law scholarship is divided between theories of internalization and neorealist challenges to those theories. Comparative methodologies add crucial complexity to internalization theory, the success of which depends on acknowledging vast differences in national legal cultures. Further, comparative methodologies expose important …

Brown’S Legacy: The Promises And Pitfalls Of Judicial Relief, Deborah Jones Merritt

The Ohio State University Moritz College of Law Working Paper Series

Brown v. Board of Education marked a turning point for both civil rights and judicial activism. During the half century since Brown, social activists of all kinds have sought policy changes from the courts rather than legislatures. That trend has produced social benefits but, over time, it has also shifted political power to elites. This essay explores the possibility of retaining Brown's promise for racial equality while reinvigorating an electoral politics that would better represent many of the people Brown intended to benefit.

Politics, Gay Rights, And The Light At The End Of The Rainbow, Mary Lafrance

Scholarly Works

Legal scholars and practitioners concerned about the future of the law rather than merely its present know that successful strategies for advancing the law require not only a facility with the nuts and bolts of legal analysis but a sense of history and an awareness of the ways in which law is shaped by politics, public opinion, cultural norms, and moral and political philosophy.

Challenging those laws that discriminate on the basis of sexual orientation offers one of the most active and exciting undertakings for modern civil rights advocates. The losses are frustrating but the victories are exhilarating. The long-term …

Immigration Policy, Liberal Principles, And The Republican Tradition, Howard F. Chang

All Faculty Scholarship

No abstract provided.

Race And Political Empowerment: The Crisis Of Black Leadership, William E. Nelson Jr.

William Monroe Trotter Institute Publications

W.E.B. Du Bois demonstrated poignant insight into the character of American society when he predicted in 1901 that the fundamental problem of the 20th Century would be the problem of the color line. Du Bois was writing in the aftermath of the first reconstruction that saw the institutionalization of Jim Crow and white dominance across the South. This period was symbolized by the infamous Plessy v. Ferguson decision in 1896. It was also marked by the capitulation of white Republican custodians of Reconstruction to the racist demands of southern politics, including the massive ejection of Black politicians from public office, …

Geographically Sexual?: Advancing Lesbian And Gay Interests Through Proportional Representation, Darren Rosenblum

Elisabeth Haub School of Law Faculty Publications

Part I of this Article explores lesbian and gay interests and representational characteristics. Part II highlights the inadequacies of a single-member districting system in representing the interests of lesbian and gay communities. It concludes with an examination of the New York City Council's 1991 redistricting, where the mobilization of strong lesbian and gay communities in a receptive environment nonetheless failed to lead to effective representation of lesbian and gay interests in the City Council. Part III describes proportional representation systems and reveals how such systems would better serve lesbian and gay communities. Part IV acknowledges the political and legal obstacles …

Short Circuit: The Overselling Of Television In Politics, Larry S. Gibson

Faculty Scholarship

Television and now the Internet are at the forefront of American political campaigning but many local elections are won on the ground with little or no investment in television. This piece, originally developed as a book proposal, examines the development of political campaigns in Baltimore, Maryland and nationally with a particular emphasis on the experience of African American candidates.

Overcoming "Stigmas": Lesbian And Gay Districts And Black Electoral Empowerment, Darren Rosenblum

Elisabeth Haub School of Law Faculty Publications

This Article argues that the renewed disenfranchisement of blacks from districting remedies may be curbed through the use of community-based evidence similar to that used by lesbian and gay activists. Section One will explore the current position of blacks in the districting system, scrutinizing recent changes in the law that deprive blacks of their previously “protected” status under the Voting Rights Act. In 1995, the Miller v. Johnson decision notably held that race cannot be the predominant factor in the drawing of district lines. Blacks wishing to ensure that their interests are represented in the political process will therefore need …