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Full-Text Articles in Law

Revisiting Parents Involved V. Seattle School District: Race Consciousness And The Government-Speech Doctrine, Joseph O. Oluwole Aug 2013

Revisiting Parents Involved V. Seattle School District: Race Consciousness And The Government-Speech Doctrine, Joseph O. Oluwole

Golden Gate University Law Review

Professor William M. Carter, Jr.’s trailblazing work, Affirmative Action As Government Speech, first examined the relationship between government speech and race-conscious measures. According to Professor Carter, the United States Supreme Court “has come to view race-conscious government action as a form of prohibited government speech.” This Article takes a different approach from that of Professor Carter; specifically, the Article reviews the majority, dissenting, and concurring opinions in the Parents Involved case for language indicating the Justices’ parameters for viewing voluntary race-conscious measures as government speech. This is important, given that Parents Involved is the landmark Supreme Court decision on …


Saving Disparate Impact, Lawrence Rosenthal Aug 2013

Saving Disparate Impact, Lawrence Rosenthal

Lawrence Rosenthal

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.


Employment Discrimination And The Assumption Of Equality, Michael Evan Gold May 2013

Employment Discrimination And The Assumption Of Equality, Michael Evan Gold

Michael Evan Gold

The assumption of equality undergirds the American law of employment discrimination. The assumption is that racial and sexual classes are equally qualified for jobs. Although it has sometimes been ignored, and can be rebutted in a specific case, the assumption of equality is fundamental to the law of nondiscrimination. Proof of discrimination in a class action, whether based on disparate treatment or disparate impact, requires the assumption. The assumption is so strong in this context that when the Supreme Court weakened it recently, Congress promptly reinforced it. The assumption of equality is also a crucial element of the law of …


In Defense Of Deference: The Case For Respecting Educational Autonomy And Expert Judgments In Fisher V. Texas, Eboni S. Nelson May 2013

In Defense Of Deference: The Case For Respecting Educational Autonomy And Expert Judgments In Fisher V. Texas, Eboni S. Nelson

University of Richmond Law Review

No abstract provided.


The Aesthetics Of Affirmative Action, Brian Soucek Jan 2013

The Aesthetics Of Affirmative Action, Brian Soucek

Studio for Law and Culture

Justice Thomas’s dissent in Grutter v. Bollinger — which dismissed diversity as an “aesthetic” — highlighted the Supreme Court’s least-discussed rationale for affirmative action in higher education: the claim that visible diversity in elite institutions bolsters those institutions’ “perceived legitimacy.” This Article takes seriously that claim, and Thomas’s critique, as distinctively aesthetic arguments about the role of appearances in public life. By distinguishing the perceived legitimacy argument from others made on behalf of affirmative action, the Article traces for the first time its origins, scope, and unacknowledged popularity. By identifying the aesthetic logic of the Court's argument and drawing on …


Casting Shadows: Fisher V. University Of Texas At Austin And The Misplaced Fear Of "Too Much" Diversity, Susannah W. Pollvogt Jan 2013

Casting Shadows: Fisher V. University Of Texas At Austin And The Misplaced Fear Of "Too Much" Diversity, Susannah W. Pollvogt

Maryland Law Review Online

No abstract provided.


The Inevitable Irrelevance Of Affirmative Action, Leslie Y. Garfield Jan 2013

The Inevitable Irrelevance Of Affirmative Action, Leslie Y. Garfield

Elisabeth Haub School of Law Faculty Publications

This article proceeds in three parts. In Part I of this article, I provide a narrative of affirmative action jurisprudence in higher education, with a particular focus on the meaning of viewpoint diversity in higher education. This section tracks the definitional shift in preference policies from their original design as remedial and compensatory programs for those suffering the effects of educational discrimination to interest convergence programs, which assure equal benefits irrespective of race. In Part II, I explore the circumstances giving rise to Fisher, including an overview of the lower court decisions. This section presents a discussion of the likely …


The Employment And Economic Advancement Of African-Americans In The Twentieth Century, Kenneth G. Dau-Schmidt, Ryland Sherman Jan 2013

The Employment And Economic Advancement Of African-Americans In The Twentieth Century, Kenneth G. Dau-Schmidt, Ryland Sherman

Articles by Maurer Faculty

In this article we examine the progress of African–Americans in the American labour market over the course of the twentieth century. We trace their progress as African-Americans moved from low-skill low-wage jobs in southern agriculture to a panoply of jobs including high-skill, high-wage jobs in industries and occupations across the country.We also document the migrations and improvements in educational achievement that have made this progress possible. We examine the progress yet to be made and especially the problems of lack of education and incarceration suffered by African–American males. Finally, we examine the importance of anti-discrimination laws and affirmative action in …


Reimagining Merit As Achievement, Aaron N. Taylor Jan 2013

Reimagining Merit As Achievement, Aaron N. Taylor

All Faculty Scholarship

Higher education plays a central role in the apportionment of opportunities within the American meritocracy. Unfortunately, narrow conceptions of merit limit the extent to which higher education broadens racial and socioeconomic opportunity. This article proposes an admissions framework that transcends these limited notions of merit. This “Achievement Framework” would reward applicants from disadvantaged backgrounds who have achieved beyond what could have reasonably been expected. Neither race nor ethnicity is considered as part of the framework; however, its nuanced and contextual structure would ensure that racial and ethnic diversity is encouraged in ways that traditional class-conscious preferences do not. The overarching …


Grutter's Denouement: Three Templates From The Roberts Court, Ellen D. Katz Jan 2013

Grutter's Denouement: Three Templates From The Roberts Court, Ellen D. Katz

Articles

Precedent from the Roberts Court shows the Justices taking three distinct approaches to precedent they dislike. Each provides a template for the Court to criticize race-based affirmative action in higher education, as Fisher v. University of Texas at Austin is widely expected to do. Most narrowly, the Court might use Fisher to issue a warning, much like it did in 2009 when it sidestepped a constitutional challenge to the Voting Rights Act; under this approach, the opinion would spell out why the Justices think the diversity celebrated in Grutter v. Bollinger no longer provides sufficient justification for the use of …


Saving Disparate Impact, Lawrence Rosenthal Dec 2012

Saving Disparate Impact, Lawrence Rosenthal

Lawrence Rosenthal

More than four decades ago, the Supreme Court concluded that Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964’s prohibition on racial discrimination in employment is properly construed to forbid “practices, procedures, or tests neutral on their face, and even neutral in terms of intent,” that nevertheless “operate as ‘built-in headwinds’ for minority groups . . . that are unrelated to testing job capability.” In the Civil Rights Act of 1991, Congress codified liability for cases in which an employer “uses a particular employment practice that causes a disparate impact on the basis of race, color, religion, sex, or national …