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Full-Text Articles in Law

Cultural Norms And Race Discrimination Standards: A Case Study In How The Two Diverge, Derek W. Black Dec 2010

Cultural Norms And Race Discrimination Standards: A Case Study In How The Two Diverge, Derek W. Black

Faculty Publications

The legal standard for race discrimination - the intent standard - has been scrutinized and justified for decades, but that conversation has occurred almost entirely within the legal community. Relatively little effort has been made to engage the public. This Article posits that the discussion of discrimination standards must account for and include public understandings of race and discrimination because race is a socially constructed concept and discrimination is culturally contingent. Race discrimination standards based solely upon the legal community’s perceptions are susceptible to significant flaws. This Article begins the incorporation of public understandings of race and discrimination by examining …


Response To "Snyder V. Louisiana: Continuing The Historical Trend Towards Increased Scrutiny Of Peremptory Challenges", Bidish J. Sarma Oct 2010

Response To "Snyder V. Louisiana: Continuing The Historical Trend Towards Increased Scrutiny Of Peremptory Challenges", Bidish J. Sarma

Michigan Law Review First Impressions

John P. Bringewatt's recent note makes several important observations about the Supreme Court's opinion in Snyder v. Louisiana. Although he provides reasonable support for the claim that Snyder represents a sea change in Batson jurisprudence, the US Supreme Court's fresh opinion in Thaler v. Haynes (rendered on February 22, 2010) reads the Snyder majority opinion narrowly and suggests the possibility that Snyder is not as potent as it should be. The Haynes per curiam's guarded reading of Snyder signals the need for courts to continue to conduct the bird's-eye cumulative analysis that the Court performed in Miller-El v. Dretke[hereinafter Miller-El …


The Dilemma Of Difference: Race As A Sentencing Factor, Palcido G. Gomez Sep 2010

The Dilemma Of Difference: Race As A Sentencing Factor, Palcido G. Gomez

Golden Gate University Law Review

This paper addresses the dilemma of difference, specifically that associated with the race of an offender, as it affects criminal sentencing under the federal sentencing guidelines mandated by the Sentencing Reform Act. I argue that federal judges should continue to consider an offender's race as a mitigating factor when imposing criminal sentences, despite language to the contrary in the guidelines and the enabling statute.


Patterson V. Mclean Credit Union: Racial Discrimination By Private Actors And Racial Harassment Under Section 1981, Helen J. Moore Sep 2010

Patterson V. Mclean Credit Union: Racial Discrimination By Private Actors And Racial Harassment Under Section 1981, Helen J. Moore

Golden Gate University Law Review

This Note argues that had the Patterson Court considered the evidence of congressional intent and concern in its interpretation of section 1981, and had it placed more weight on policy considerations, it would have held that section 1981 prohibits racial harassment. The Note shows that, as decided, the Patterson decision will leave many victims of contractual racial harassment with an inadequate remedy, or with no remedy at all, because the closest alternative to section 1981, Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, is much less effective than section 1981, and because Patterson's narrow construction of section 1981 deters …


Defeating Health Disparities-A Property Interest Under The Patient Protection And Affordable Care Act Of 2010, Dayna Bowen Matthew Sep 2010

Defeating Health Disparities-A Property Interest Under The Patient Protection And Affordable Care Act Of 2010, Dayna Bowen Matthew

West Virginia Law Review

No abstract provided.


From Reconstruction To Obama: Understanding Black Invisibility, Racism In Appalachia, And The Legal Community's Responsibility To Promote A Dialogue On Race At The Wvu College Of Law, Brandon M. Stump Apr 2010

From Reconstruction To Obama: Understanding Black Invisibility, Racism In Appalachia, And The Legal Community's Responsibility To Promote A Dialogue On Race At The Wvu College Of Law, Brandon M. Stump

West Virginia Law Review

No abstract provided.


Outside/Inside, Jarrett T. Barrios Jan 2010

Outside/Inside, Jarrett T. Barrios

American University Journal of Gender, Social Policy & the Law

No abstract provided.


Alienated: A Reworking Of The Racialization Thesis After September 11, Ming H. Chen Jan 2010

Alienated: A Reworking Of The Racialization Thesis After September 11, Ming H. Chen

American University Journal of Gender, Social Policy & the Law

No abstract provided.


Contingent Equal Protection: Reaching For Equality After Ricci And Pics, Jennifer S. Hendricks Jan 2010

Contingent Equal Protection: Reaching For Equality After Ricci And Pics, Jennifer S. Hendricks

Publications

The Supreme Court's decision in Parents Involved in Community Schools v. Seattle School District #1 has been extensively analyzed as the latest step in the Court's long struggle with the desegregation of public schools. This Article examines the decision's implications for the full range of equal protection doctrine dealing with benign or remedial race and sex classifications. Parents Involved revealed a sharp division on the Court over whether government may consciously try to promote substantive equality. In the past, such efforts have been subject to an equal protection analysis that allows race-conscious or sex-conscious state action, contingent on existing, de …


Different Shades Of Bias: Skin Tone, Implicit Racial Bias, And Judgments Of Ambiguous Evidence, Justin D. Levinson, Danielle Young Jan 2010

Different Shades Of Bias: Skin Tone, Implicit Racial Bias, And Judgments Of Ambiguous Evidence, Justin D. Levinson, Danielle Young

West Virginia Law Review

No abstract provided.


Response: Anti-Discrimination Law In Peril?, Trina Jones Jan 2010

Response: Anti-Discrimination Law In Peril?, Trina Jones

Faculty Scholarship

No abstract provided.


A Post-Race Equal Protection?, Trina Jones, Mario L. Barnes, Erwin Chemerinsky Jan 2010

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

Faculty Scholarship

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 …


The Many Faces Of Strict Scrutiny: How The Supreme Court Changes The Rules In Race Cases, Evan Gerstmann, Christopher Shortell Jan 2010

The Many Faces Of Strict Scrutiny: How The Supreme Court Changes The Rules In Race Cases, Evan Gerstmann, Christopher Shortell

Political Science Faculty Publications and Presentations

In this paper, we argue that there is no single test called strict scrutiny when the Court considers claims of racial discrimination. In fact, the Court changes the rules depending on why and how the government is using race. By examining racial redistricting, remedial affirmative action, and diversitybased affirmative action cases, we show how the Court uses at least three very different versions of strict scrutiny. The costs of maintaining the fiction of unitary strict scrutiny is high. In the area of racial profiling, for example, courts refuse to apply strict scrutiny for fear that it will either overly hamper …


“Equal Citizenship Stature”: Justice Ginsburg’S Constitutional Vision, Neil S. Siegel Jan 2010

“Equal Citizenship Stature”: Justice Ginsburg’S Constitutional Vision, Neil S. Siegel

Faculty Scholarship

In this essay, Professor Siegel examines the nature and function of constitutional visions in the American constitutional order. He argues that Associate Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg possesses such a vision and that her vision is defined by her oft-stated commitment to “full human stature,” to “equal citizenship stature.” He then defends Justice Ginsburg’s characteristically incremental and moderate approach to realizing her vision. He does so in part by establishing that President Barack Obama articulated a similar vision and approach in his Philadelphia speech on American race relations and illustrated its capacity to succeed during the 2008 presidential election.