Law Commons^™

The Impacts Of Compulsory Prison Labor Ballot Initiatives On Pregnant & Postpartum Incarcerated Women Of Color, Candace Bond-Theriault

Center for Gender & Sexuality Law

The 13th Amendment to the United States Constitution purported to abolish the institution of slavery, but it created an exception for compulsory labor performed by people convicted of crimes. In November 2022, voters in Alabama, Vermont, Louisiana, Tennessee, and Oregon will be asked to vote on ballot initiatives that would strike language from their state constitutions that currently allows states to force incarcerated people to perform labor with minimal or no pay.1 This policy brief examines the legal language of these ballot initiatives and evaluates whether each measure, if approved by voters, will actually close the compulsory labor loophole. In …

Fool Me Once... The Need For Federal Legislation To Remedy Fraud And Misrepresentation In Ballot Initiatives That Negatively Affect Minority Communities, Jessica George

Journal of Civil Rights and Economic Development

(Excerpt)

This Note proposes new federal legislation to provide relief for voters who might be negatively affected by fraud and deception at any phase of a ballot initiative, including the signature-gathering process. Ballot initiatives are a significant part of the democratic process. They must be protected from fraud, especially when those practices result in initiatives that harm specific minority group interests. This legislation will give deceived voters a cause of action to stop the effect of a ballot initiative before it negatively impacts them. Voters can bring a civil action in federal court for preventive relief, including a permanent or …

Sexual Minority Stigma And System Justification Theory: How Changing The Status Quo Impacts Marriage And Housing Equality, Jordan A. Blenner

Department of Psychology: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

Sexual minorities (i.e. lesbians and gay men) experience systemic discrimination throughout the United States. Prior to the Supreme Court ruling in Obergefell v. Hodges (2015), in many states, same-sex couples could not marry and sexual minorities were not protected from sexual orientation housing discrimination (Human Rights Campaign, 2015). The current, two-experiment study applied Jost and Banaji’s (1994) System Justification Theory to marriage and housing discrimination. When sexual minorities question dissimilar treatment, thereby threatening the status quo, members of the heterosexual majority rationalize sexual minority discrimination to maintain their dominant status (Alexander, 2001; Brescoll, Uhlmann, & Newman, 2013; Citizens for Equal …