Law Commons^™

Don't Mess With Texans' Rights: Protecting Transgender Youth From The Paternalistic Policies Of State Executives, Mary Franklin

Indiana Journal of Law and Social Equality

Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton issued an opinion in 2022 detailing how gender-affirming care for transgender minors constituted child abuse under the Texas Family Code. As a result of this opinion, multiple families of trans teens engaging in various forms of gender-affirming care were investigated by the Texas Department of Family and Protective Services. This Article applies the constitutional standards imposed by the equal protection clause, substantive due process, and parental authority to Paxton’s recommendation, using both the U.S. and Texas Constitutions. Ultimately, this Article concludes that Paxton’s opinion fails to meet these constitutional standards and recommends action from the …

Abortion And Affirmative Action: The Fragility Of Supreme Court Political Decision-Making, William E. Nelson

Indiana Journal of Law and Social Equality

This Article shows, on the basis of new evidence, that the canonical case of Marbury v. Madison has been grossly misinterpreted and that as a result of the misinterpretation we cannot understand what is wrong with contemporary cases such as Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization and Students for Fair Admissions, Inc. v. President and Fellows of Harvard College.

The Article will proceed as follows. Because Marbury cannot be properly understood without understanding the eighteenth-century background against which it was decided, Part I will examine legal practices in colonial and post-Revolutionary America, focusing on cases in which judicial review emerged …

Countering Jihadi Cool And The Case Of Raza V. City Of New York, Caroline Joan S. Picart

Indiana Journal of Law and Social Equality

This Article begins with an explanation of the rhetoric, aesthetics, and culture of jihadi cool/chic, which is a crucial factor in the formation of self-radicalizing individuals. It then analyzes the jurisprudence, and legal and cultural ramifications of Raza v. City of New York, in which the New York Police Department had initiated an intense covert surveillance operation that focused on Muslims in New York and beyond without probable cause. This led to a lawsuit that claimed that the New York Police Department’s Muslim Surveillance Program violated the Fourteenth Amendment’s Equal Protection Clause, the First Amendment’s Free Exercise and Establishment Clauses, …

Why Is There No Social Citizenship In Puerto Rico? The Demise Of Section 20, Haley Powell

Indiana Journal of Law and Social Equality

Part I will define T.H. Marshall’s theory of citizenship rights and explain how that framework pertains to the denial of social welfare rights in Puerto Rico’s constitution. It will also delineate the larger context of social welfare in the United States using the contract versus charity paradigm posited by two historians, New School Professor Nancy Fraser and New York University Professor Linda Gordon. Part II will explore the legislative history of the Puerto Rican Constitution at the Puerto Rican Constitutional Convention and the U.S. Congress debates following the convention. Part III will examine the ramifications of the removal of Section …

Banned Books & Banned Identities: Maintaining Secularism And The Ability To Read In Public Education For The Well-Being Of America's Youth, Megan M. Tylenda

Indiana Journal of Law and Social Equality

Books containing LGBTQ+ themes and characters are being removed from public school libraries at a rapid rate across the United States. While a book challenge has made it to the Supreme Court once before, the resulting singular plurality opinion left courts without a clear test to apply, ultimately leaving students’ First Amendment rights in the air. Additionally, the increasingly relaxed view of courts towards religious influence in public schools indicates that if a modern case were to reach the Supreme Court, religious challenges may be accepted, which would leave LGBTQ+ students who seek to see themselves represented in literature without …

Qualified Immunity And The Unintentional, Or Intentional, Chill On Free Speech, Madison Heiney

Indiana Journal of Law and Social Equality

No abstract provided.

Incombustible Ideas: Evaluating The Impact Of Federal Court Opinions Regarding Book Banning In Public-School Libraries, Noah T. Holloway

Indiana Journal of Law and Social Equality

No abstract provided.

Serving Only To Oppress: An Intersectional And Critical Race Analysis Of Constitutional Originalism Inflicting Harm, Ethan Dawson

Indiana Journal of Law and Social Equality

“[T]imes can blind us to certain truths and later generations can see that laws once thought necessary and proper in fact serve only to oppress.” - Justice Anthony Kennedy, Lawrence v. Texas (2003)

This Note will first focus on a historical analysis of originalist constitutional interpretation, drawing attention to initial disparities in the Constitution incompatible with our current social context. It will discuss modern originalism as a method of perpetuating systemic shortcomings, drawing specific attention to originalist interpretation as a method of oppression against white women and people of color, specifically Black women. In analyzing the harm originalism does to …

Recidivist Sentencing And The Sixth Amendment, Benjamin E. Adams

Indiana Journal of Law and Social Equality

No abstract provided.

Reevaluating Politicized Identity & Notions Of An American Political Community In The Legal & Political Process, Marvin L. Astrada Jd, Phd

Indiana Journal of Law and Social Equality

No abstract provided.

Marriage Equality And A Lawyer's Role In The Emergence Of "New" Rights, Daniel J. Canon

Indiana Journal of Law and Social Equality

The last few decades have seen a dramatic change in the way in which Americans view LGBT rights, and the right to same-sex marriage in particular. In 1972, the Supreme Court issued its first opinion on same-sex marriage. In sharp contrast with Obergefell v. Hodges, which established the constitutional right to marriage equality in 2015, the case of Baker v. Nelson held in one sentence that the idea that such a right might exist was not even worth discussing. What happened in the intervening forty years to change the outcome so profoundly? And how can attorneys seek to replicate …

Autism Charter Schools: Legally Vulnerable Or Viable?, Janet R. Decker, Keshia Seitz, Bruce Kulwicki

Indiana Journal of Law and Social Equality

Perhaps due to the dramatic increase in children diagnosed with autism, a new type of charter school has emerged that is designed to specifically serve students with autism. If these autism charter schools illegally segregate students with autism from typically developing peers, they are vulnerable to legal challenges. In this Article, we identified many constitutional and statutory violations that could exist at autism charter schools; however, our review of the litigation found that autism charter schools have not been challenged for these legal violations. Instead, we found only one charter school case alleging segregation based on ability level and eight …

A Marriage By Any Other Name: Why Civil Unions Should Receive Federal Recognition, Deborah A. Widiss, Andrew Koppelman

Indiana Journal of Law and Social Equality

The federal government now recognizes same-sex marriages as triggering rights and responsibilities under federal law. However, it still generally refuses to recognize alternative legal statuses—civil unions and domestic partnerships—that were created by states to serve as functional marriages. Even though all the states that created such alternative statuses now permit same-sex couples to marry, this misguided policy causes ongoing harms. Some same-sex couples who entered into alternative relationships when marriage was not an option may now lack the capacity to marry. Couples who have since married may also be hurt by the federal government’s refusal to recognize civil unions or …

If A Right To Health Care Is Argued In The Supreme Court, Does Anybody Hear It?, W. David Koeninger

Indiana Journal of Law and Social Equality

No abstract provided.

Affirmative Action And Academic Freedom: Why The Supreme Court Should Continue Deferring To Faculty Judgments About The Value Of Educational Diversity, Steve Sanders

Indiana Journal of Law and Social Equality

No abstract provided.

Rights Of Belonging For Women, Rebecca E. Zietlow

Indiana Journal of Law and Social Equality

No abstract provided.

Is The Antidiscrimination Project Being Ended?, Michael J. Zimmer

Indiana Journal of Law and Social Equality

No abstract provided.