Law Commons^™

Hair Me Out: Why Discrimination Against Black Hair Is Race Discrimination Under Title Vii, Alexis Boyd

American University Journal of Gender, Social Policy & the Law

In May 2010, Chastity Jones sought employment as a customer service representative at Catastrophe Management Solutions (“CMS”), a claims processing company located in Mobile, Alabama. When asked for an inperson interview, Jones, a Black woman, arrived in a suit and her hair in “short dreadlocks,” or locs, a type of natural hairstyle common in the Black community. Despite being qualified for the position, Jones would later have her offer rescinded because of her hair. CMS claimed that locs “tend to get messy” and violated the “neutral” dress code and hair policy requiring employees to be “professional and business-like.” Therefore, CMS …

The Revolution Will Not Be Moderated: Examining Florida And Texas's Attempts To Prohibit Social Media Content Moderation, Caroline Jones

American University Journal of Gender, Social Policy & the Law

Today, around seventy percent of American citizens actively use social media for news content, entertainment, and social engagement. Since 2005, the number of Americans using social media in some capacity has increased 13 fold from five to sixty-five percent. Despite numerous studies demonstrating a correlation between social media rhetoric and real-world violence against women, racial and ethnic minority communities, and the LGBTQIA community, both Florida and Texas passed bills limiting the ways in which social media sites can moderate the content and users on their platforms in 2021. Florida’s Senate Bill 7072 requires social media platforms to allow political candidates …

Religious Exemption Or Exceptionalism? Exploring The Tension Of First Amendment Religion Protections & Civil Rights Progress Within The Employment Non-Discrimination Act, Richael Faithful

Articles in Law Reviews & Journals

The District of Columbia (D.C.) marked a landmark civil rights achievement in December 2009 when the city passed the Religious Freedom and Civil Marriage Equality Amendment Act. The law’s enactment allowed D.C. to become the sixth jurisdiction to sanction same-sex marriage in the United States. Supporters hailed the law as a victory for lesbian and gay equality, while detractors vowed that their efforts to traditionally define marriage would continue.

Among the most public opponents of the law was the Catholic Archdiocese of Washington, which operates Catholic Charities, a leading service provider to low-income residents in the metropolitan area. The Catholic …

Symposium: Reflections On Tinker, Tinker Turns 40: Freedom Of Expression At School And Its Meaning For American Democracy - April 16, 2009 - Symposium: Foreword , Mary Beth Tinker

American University Law Review

Mary Beth Tinker recounts her upbringing and her family’s involvement in important issues of their day. Tinker discusses how her family’s commitment to social justice was shaped by her parents religious values, and how this shaped their commitments to civil rights, ultimately leading to their protesting ongoing injustices. In particular, Tinker discusses how she, her siblings, and friends wore black armbands calling for a Christmas Truce in the Vietnam War and how the case that went before the Supreme Court was one of a series of events in her family’s journey for equality.

The 'High Crime Area' Question: Requiring Verifiable And Quantifiable Evidence For Fourth Amendment Reasonable Suspicion Analysis, Andrew Ferguson, Damien Bernache

Articles in Law Reviews & Other Academic Journals

This article proposes a legal framework to analyze the "high crime area" concept in Fourth Amendment reasonable suspicion challenges.Under existing Supreme Court precedent, reviewing courts are allowed to consider that an area is a "high crime area" as a factor to evaluate the reasonableness of a Fourth Amendment stop. See Illinois v. Wardlow, 528 U.S. 119 (2000). However, the Supreme Court has never defined a "high crime area" and lower courts have not reached consensus on a definition. There is no agreement on what a "high-crime area" is, whether it has geographic boundaries, whether it changes over time, whether it …

The "High-Crime Area" Question: Requiring Verifiable And Quantifiable Evidence For Fourth Amendment Reasonable Suspicion Analysis [Pdf], Andrew Guthrie Ferguson, Damien Bernache

American University Law Review

This article proposes a legal framework to analyze the "high crime area" concept in Fourth Amendment reasonable suspicion challenges. Under existing Supreme Court precedent, reviewing courts are allowed to consider that an area is a "high crime area" as a factor to evaluate the reasonableness of a Fourth Amendment stop. See Illinois v. Wardlow, 528 U.S. 119 (2000). However, the Supreme Court has never defined a "high crime area" and lower courts have not reached consensus on a definition. There is no agreement on what a "high-crime area" is, whether it has geographic boundaries, whether it changes over time, whether …

The Intergration Myth: America's Failure To Produce Equal Education Outcomes, Samuel E. Brown

The Modern American

No abstract provided.

Democracy's Handmaid, Robert L. Tsai

Articles in Law Reviews & Other Academic Journals

Democratic theory presupposes open channels of dialogue, but focuses almost exclusively on matters of institutional design writ large. The philosophy of language explicates linguistic infrastructure, but often avoids exploring the political significance of its findings. In this Article, Tsai draws from the two disciplines to reach new insights about the democracy enhancing qualities of popular constitutional language. Employing examples from the founding era, the struggle for black civil rights, the religious awakening of the last two decades, and the search for gay equality, he presents a model of constitutional dialogue that emphasizes common modalities and mobilized vernacular. According to this …

Applying The Discrimination Model To Violence Against Women: Some Reflections On Theory And Practice, Sally F. Goldfarb

American University Journal of Gender, Social Policy & the Law

No abstract provided.

Advancing Equality In Domestic Violence Law Reform, Julie Goldscheid

American University Journal of Gender, Social Policy & the Law

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 …

Transcript: Responses To The Debate On Whether Congress Must End The Disenfranchisement Of The District Of Columbia , American University Law Review

American University Law Review

No abstract provided.

Transcript: Must Congress End The Disenfranchisement Of The District Of Columbia? A Constitutional Debate , American University Law Review

American University Law Review

No abstract provided.

Balancing Efficiency And Justice: In Support Of The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission's Policy Statement Regarding Mandatory Arbitration And Employment Contracts , Gina K. Janeiro

American University Journal of Gender, Social Policy & the Law

No abstract provided.

The Color-Blind Court , Jeffery Rosen

American University Law Review

No abstract provided.

The End Of Innocence Or Politics After The Fall Of The Essential Subject , Robert S. Chang

American University Law Review

No abstract provided.

Getting Beyond Racial Preferences: The Class-Based Compromise , Richard D. Kahlenberg

American University Law Review

No abstract provided.