Law Commons^™

A Remembrance Of Things Past?: Reflections On The Warren Court And The Struggle For Civil Rights, Ronald J. Krotoszynski, Jr.

Washington and Lee Law Review

No abstract provided.

Conceptualizing Constitutional Litigation As Anti-Government Expression: A Speech-Centered Theory Of Court Access, Robert L. Tsai

American University Law Review

This Article proposes a speech-based right of court access. First, it finds the traditional due process approach to be analytically incoherent and of limited practical value. Second, it contends that history, constitutional structure, and theory all support conceiving of the right of access as the modern analogue to the right to petition government for redress. Third, the Article explores the ways in which the civil rights plaintiff's lawsuit tracks the behavior of the traditional dissident. Fourth, by way of a case study, the essay argues that recent restrictions - notably, a congressional limitation on the amount of fees counsel for …

How The "Equal Opportunity" Sexual Harasser Discriminates On The Basis Of Gender Under Title Vii, Kyle F. Mothershead

Vanderbilt Law Review

Americans commonly know that federal law prohibits workplace sexual harassment. Many might be surprised to find, however, that generally courts have not found liability in the case of the so-called "equal opportunity" harasser.' A simple hypothetical will explain the nature of this peculiar species of harasser. Suppose Ken and Carol are both employed at Happyfun, Inc. as manufacturers of reindeer Christmas ornaments under the direction of their supervisor, Fred. Fred corners each of them daily and asks, "How about some sex today?" No doubt he is sexually harassing both Ken and Carol. If they sue for relief, however, a judge …

Killing The Messenger: The Misuse Of Disparate Impact Theory To Challenge High-Stakes Educational Tests, Jennifer C. Braceras

Vanderbilt Law Review

There are two basic theoretical models for addressing claims of discrimination: disparate treatment and disparate impact. The disparate treatment model attempts to expose and punish intentional discrimination; the disparate impact model seeks to eliminate policies that, while neutral on their face, disproportionately harm members of a protected class. Since 1991, Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, which prohibits discrimination in employment, has expressly permitted plaintiffs to challenge employment practices with a disproportionate impact on certain protected groups. By contrast, Title VI, which prohibits discrimination by federally assisted programs including most schools, does not explicitly authorize claims of …

The Unhappy History Of Civil Rights Legislation, Fifty Years Later, Jack M. Beermann

Faculty Scholarship

Seldom, if ever, have the power and the purposes of legislation been rendered so impotent.... All that is left today are afew scattered remnants of a once grandiose scheme to nationalize the fundamental rights of the individual.

These words were written fifty years ago by Eugene Gressman, now William Rand Kenan, Jr. Professor Emeritus, University of North Carolina School of Law, as a description of what the courts, primarily the Supreme Court of the United States, had done with the civil rights legislation passed by Congress in the wake of the Civil War. Professor Gressman's article, The Unhappy History of …

Postsecondary School Education Benefits For Undocumented Immigrants: Promises And Pitfalls, Victor C. Romero

Journal Articles

Should longtime undocumented immigrants have the same opportunity as lawful permanent residents and U.S. citizens to attend state colleges and universities? There are two typical justifications for denying them such opportunities. First, treating undocumented immigrants as in-state residents discriminates against U.S. citizen nonresidents of the state. Second, and more broadly, undocumented immigration should be discouraged as a policy matter, and therefore allowing undocumented immigrant children equal opportunities as legal residents condones and perhaps encourages "illegal" immigration. This essay responds to these two concerns by surveying state and federal solutions to this issue.

Rectifying The Tilt: Equality Lessons From Religion, Disability, Sexual Orientation, And Transgender, Chai R. Feldblum

Georgetown Law Faculty Lectures and Appearances

It was an honor and a joy to deliver the Tenth Annual Frank M. Coffin Lecture on Law and Public Service and to publish it now in the Maine Law Review. I thank you for this opportunity.

I have always believed that a life worth living includes two necessary components: passion and connection. I experience those components both in my work and in my personal life. I love the passion I find in my work - both in my advocacy efforts to advance justice in the world and in the teaching through which I try to pass on to others …

Collateral Damage In The War On Drugs, Graham Boyd

Villanova Law Review

No abstract provided.

Foreword: The Legal History Of The Great Sit-In Case Of Bell V. Maryland, William L. Reynolds

Maryland Law Review

No abstract provided.

Brown V. Board Of Education And The Origins Of The Activist Insecurity In Civil Rights Law, John Valery White

Scholarly Works

The peculiar thing about Brown v. Board of Education is that, when it was decided, liberal legal scholars trashed it. Indeed, the modern conservative movement has built its attack on civil rights initiatives and its critique of the judiciary on the disparaging assessments of the opinion offered by Henry Hart, Hebert Wechsler, and Alexander Bickel. This peculiar aspect of Brown has become the keystone supporting all arguments about what is excessive about the modern jurisprudence; federal courts are said to have a realist disposition producing an unbounded, relativistic, interdisciplinary judicial craft and characterized by an activist proclivity. These dual pillars …

Judicial Restraints On Illegal State Violence: Israel And The United States, John T. Parry

Vanderbilt Journal of Transnational Law

This Article examines the role of courts in controlling state violence in the United States and Israel. The Author considers how U.S. federal courts should respond to illegal state violence by comparing a U.S. Supreme Court case, "City of Los Angeles v. Lyons", with a case decided by the Supreme Court of Israel, Public Committee Against Torture in Israel v. Israel. Part II highlights the legal issues that were central to each court in reaching a decision, including standing, the scope of equitable discretion to craft remedies, and baseline attitudes towards illegal government action. Part III examines the doctrines discussed …

Foreword: The Legal History Of The Great Sit-In Case Of Bell V. Maryland, William L. Reynolds

Faculty Scholarship

Reviews the environment and history of the 1960 Baltimore sit-in case that eventually made its way to the United States Supreme Court.