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The Debate Over The Efficacy Of Federal Hate Crime Legislation: A Look At Arlen Specter’S Senatorial Efforts And Its Legacy, Sierra Reddi
The Debate Over The Efficacy Of Federal Hate Crime Legislation: A Look At Arlen Specter’S Senatorial Efforts And Its Legacy, Sierra Reddi
Arlen Specter Center Research Fellowship
Bias-motivated violence is considered especially heinous in the United States of America. This research examines the Federal legislation that cements that value into law. Hate crimes are criminal acts where the target was specifically chosen because of their race, sexual orientation, gender expression, ethnicity, or religion. These crimes, whether intentionally or not, have a ripple effect on societal values, and especially spread fear within oppressed minority groups. This research begins by examining the context that precipitated a need for hate crime laws to begin with and then looks at federal developments as a reaction to landmark hate crime cases. One …
“A Matter Of Great Importance”: Interest Groups, The Senate Judiciary Committee, And Supreme Court Confirmation Hearings, Elizabeth A. Lane, Jessica A. Schoenherr
“A Matter Of Great Importance”: Interest Groups, The Senate Judiciary Committee, And Supreme Court Confirmation Hearings, Elizabeth A. Lane, Jessica A. Schoenherr
Arlen Specter Center Research Fellowship
As Senator Arlen Specter once explained, the Supreme Court confirmation process is a “matter of great importance” to the president, the nominee, senators, and the public at large. The public cares who sits on the Court, and interest groups play a key role in disseminating information about the nominee and his or her qualifications for the job. In this paper, we focus on one piece of interest groups’ involvement in Supreme Court confirmation hearings: their decision to send senators summarized information about the nominees via briefing books. We use a combination of archival research and text analysis to examine the …