Law Commons^™

Liberal Feminist Jurisprudence: Foundational, Enduring, Adaptive, Linda C. Mcclain, Brittany K. Hacker

Faculty Scholarship

Liberal feminism remains a significant strand of feminist jurisprudence in the U.S. Rooted in 19th and 20th century liberal and feminist political theory and women’s rights advocacy, it emphasizes autonomy, dignity, and equality. Liberal feminism’s focus remains to challenge unjust gender-based restrictions based on assumptions about men’s and women’s proper spheres and roles. Second wave liberal legal feminism, evident in Ruth Bader Ginsburg’s constitutional litigation, challenged pervasive sex-based discrimination in law and social institutions and shifted the Supreme Court’s interpretation of the Equal Protection Clause to a more skeptical review of gender-based classifications ...

Legal Barriers To Tribal Jurisdiction Over Violence Against Women In Maine: Developments And Paths Forward, Nina J. Ciffolillo

Maine Law Review

After claiming title to the land now widely known as the United States, colonizers and settlers imposed a legal system that denies Indigenous nations agency. The United States government has launched a steady attack on attributes of Tribal sovereignty since its inception. The sexism entangled with colonialism encourages violence against women, and limitations on Tribal jurisdiction leave Indigenous nations without adequate recourse for violence against women on their land. Violence against women has become an epidemic in Indian Country, and most aggressors come from outside the territory. In 2013 when Congress granted tribes limited criminal jurisdiction over nonmembers on Tribal ...

The Powers Of The Inter-American Court Of Human Rights Towards The Implementation Of Gender Justice Laws At The National Level In South America, Kiana Therrien-Tomas Miss

Bridges: An Undergraduate Journal of Contemporary Connections

Although South America is earning international attention as an innovative global leader in various fields, it currently remains a nation steeped in traditional beliefs and practices. Despite prevailing laws against domestic violence, countless Latin American women proceed to be failed by the legal system. As South American society produces its own theory of gender justice, apprised by local realities and universally accepted norms, women's rights advocates and the Supreme Court can represent a decisive role in forming the discourse. Throughout this work, I aim to contemplate the powers of the Inter-American Court of Human Rights (IACHR) towards the implementation ...

A Roadmap To Revising Ethiopia’S Gender Discriminatory Laws: A Comparative Analysis, Rangita De Silva De Alwis

Faculty Scholarship at Penn Law

Ethiopia is Africa's oldest independent country, the second-most populous nation in Africa, and one of the founding members of the Organization of African Unity (OAU), which was established on 25 May 1963 and replaced by the African Union (AU) in 2002. The headquarters of the AU is based in Addis Ababa. Today, Ethiopia has the largest GDP in East Africa and its economy is also one of the fastest growing economies in the world.

Ethiopia is one of the few countries in the world which had achieved gender parity in the cabinet, and where women hold the positions of ...

Scotus Denies Review To Florist Who Refused To Serve Same-Sex Couple, Arthur S. Leonard

Other Publications

No abstract provided.

Eyes Wide Shut: Using Accreditation Regulation To Address The “Pass-The-Harasser” Problem In Higher Education, Susan Saab Fortney, Theresa Morris

Faculty Scholarship

The #MeToo Movement cast a spotlight on sexual harassment in various sectors, including higher education. Studies reveal alarming percentages of students reporting that they have been sexually harassed by faculty and administrators. Despite annually devoting hundreds of millions of dollars to addressing sexual harassment and misconduct, nationwide university officials largely take an ostrich approach when hiring faculty and administrators with little or no scrutiny related to their past misconduct. Critics use the term “pass the harasser” or more pejoratively, “pass the trash” to capture the role that institutions play in allowing individuals to change institutions without the new employer learning ...

Maximizing #Metoo: Intersectionality & The Movement, Jamillah Bowman Williams

Boston College Law Review

Although women of color experience high rates of harassment and assault, the #MeToo movement has largely left them on the margins in terms of (1) the online conversation, (2) the traditional social movement activity occurring offline, and (3) the consequential legal activity. This Article analyzes how race shapes experiences of harassment and how seemingly positive legal strides continue to fail women of color thirty years beyond Kimberlé Crenshaw’s initial framing of intersectionality theory. I discuss the weaknesses of the reform efforts and argue for more tailored strategies that take into account the ineffectiveness of our current Title VII framework ...

Gavin Grimm Triumphs In Battle With Virginia School Board, Arthur S. Leonard

Other Publications

No abstract provided.

Mommy, Baby And Rapist Makes Three? Amid Abortion Bans, The Pressing Need For A Nationwide Lower Standard To Strip Parental Rights, Regardless Of A Rape Conviction, Melanie Dostis

William & Mary Journal of Race, Gender, and Social Justice

Among the fundamental rights recognized in the Constitution are the rights of parents to raise their children. While never interpreted as an absolute legal privilege, courts have exercised wide discretion in preserving this right and historically ignored the reality that not all parents are deserving of this right. Even though the family law system has protections in place to terminate parental rights for atrocities like abuse, it largely neglects an uncomfortable area of parental origin: parental rights regarding children conceived by rape. This is not only to the detriment of children, but, as this Note argues, at the peril of ...

Taking The Lead: A Strategic Analysis Of Stealthing And The Best Route For Potential Civil Plaintiffs To Recover, Mckenney Cornett

William & Mary Journal of Race, Gender, and Social Justice

A pervasive trend invading the sexual interactions between men and women, and homosexual men, is “stealthing” or “nonconsensual condom removal.” Stealthing garnered national and legal attention following Alexandra Brodsky’s article and study concerning the practice published in 2017. A typical stealthing case involves an initial, consensual sexual relationship between two parties predicated on the use of contraception. During the act, the partner removes the condom without the knowledge or consent of their sexual partner.

Despite its widespread impact, there has yet to be a criminal or civil case concerning nonconsensual condom removal brought in the United States, and the ...

Increasing Accountability For Rape In Liberia: The Need For A Forensic System To Increase The Success Rates Of Prosecution, Pela Boker Wilson

William & Mary Journal of Race, Gender, and Social Justice

The need for a fully functioning forensic system has been identified by the Liberian government and international partners, but it has not been addressed. This Article argues that despite a robust framework put in place to create accountability for rape, Liberia needs a system of collecting and processing forensic evidence to increase the success rate of prosecutions that currently fail due to the inadequacy of non-forensic evidence.

Gender-Based Violence In International Human Rights Law: Evolution Towards A Binding Post-Binary Framework, Tatsiana Ziniakova

William & Mary Journal of Race, Gender, and Social Justice

The present Article seeks to analyze the notion of gender-based violence, in light of the evolving gender discourse, and identify the problems associated with effectively addressing it in international human rights law. It analyzes the definitions of gender, enshrined in various human rights documents, and suggests using performative theory of gender to form a comprehensive view on gender-based violence. It also critically addresses three aspects of regulating gender-based violence: inclusivity, patriarchy, and normativity. It concludes that, in the long term, the commitment to eradicate gender-based violence should be strengthened by framing it as a binding treaty obligation on the universal ...

Shelter From The Storm: Human Rights Protections For Single-Mother Families In The Time Of Covid-19, Theresa Glennon, Alexis Fennell, Kaylin Hawkins, Madison Mcnulty

William & Mary Journal of Race, Gender, and Social Justice

COVID-19’s arrival, and the changes it has unleashed, reveal how longstanding legal and policy decisions produced structural inequalities that have left so many families, and especially single-parent families with children, all too insecure. The fragility of single-mother families is amplified by the multifaceted discrimination they face. While all single parents, including single fathers and other single relatives who are raising children, share many of these burdens, this Article focuses on the challenges confronting single mothers.

Federal policy choices stand in sharp contrast to the political rhetoric of government support for families. Social and economic policy in the twentieth century ...

Confronting Eugenics Means Finally Confronting Its Ableist Roots, Robyn M. Powell

William & Mary Journal of Race, Gender, and Social Justice

In September 2020, a whistleblower complaint was filed alleging that hysterectomies are being performed on women at an immigration detention center in alarmingly high rates. Regrettably, forced sterilizations are part of the nation’s long-standing history of weaponizing reproduction to subjugate socially marginalized communities. While public outrage in response to the whistleblower complaint was swift and relentless, it largely failed to acknowledge how eugenic ideologies and practices, including compulsory sterilizations, are ongoing and deeply entrenched in ableism. Indeed, a conversation that recognizes the ways in which eugenics continues to target people with disabilities is long overdue.

This Article contextualizes how ...

Bostock’S Paradox: Textualism, Legal Justice, And The Constitution, Marc Spindelman

Buffalo Law Review

The Supreme Court’s opinion in Bostock v. Clayton County, Georgia—recognizing that anti-gay and anti-trans discrimination are forms of sex discrimination under Title VII of the 1964 Civil Rights Act—has already gained a steady reputation as a textualist statutory interpretation decision. The reality of the ruling is far more complicated than that. Bostock is a textualist decision, but, as the argument here shows, Bostock also offers a construction of Title VII’s sex discrimination rule that sounds in a rule-of-law norm of legal justice about LGBT equality that itself traces roots to the Supreme Court’s constitutional LGBT ...

Adjudicating Patriarchy In The Nationality Law, Muhammed Samy Ahmed Mr.

Theses and Dissertations

The Egyptian legal structure has long discriminated against women. Taking nationality law as an example, it is obvious that all consecutive nationality laws have ignored women’s right concerning passing on and acquiring nationality. Even after its amendment in 2004, major gender discrimination still exists. This is caused by the fact that the nationality law is only a part of the legal system. Consequently, its essence will not deviate from the patriarchal composition of the overall nature of the legal system. This paper argues that the existing forms of discrimination in the nationality law correlate with the broader legal environment ...

Modernizing Discrimination Law: The Adoption Of An Intersectional Lens, Marisa K. Sanchez

The Scholar: St. Mary's Law Review on Race and Social Justice

Abstract forthcoming.

Foreword, Patricia E. Roberts

The Scholar: St. Mary's Law Review on Race and Social Justice

Foreword written by Patricia E. Roberts upon her first year as the 10th dean of St. Mary's University School of Law in San Antonio, Texas.

Undocumented Domestic Workers: A Penumbra In The Workforce, Abigail A. Roman

The Scholar: St. Mary's Law Review on Race and Social Justice

Abstract forthcoming.

Marriage Or License To Rape? A Socio-Legal Analysis Of Marital Rape In India, Vidhik Kumar

Dignity: A Journal of Analysis of Exploitation and Violence

Rape exposes the failure of society’s institutions which were established to provide better security to an individual in a society. These institutions sometimes not only failed to protect an individual from such grave assaults on their autonomy and privacy, but also sanctioned them by either providing them legitimacy by law or not illegitimating them. States often have either provided legal sanctity to rapes within marriage or have refrained from declaring it a crime, on account of it being a private sphere not open to interference. Rape within marriage or marital rape is a global problem, and it is argued ...

Early Survivor Voices And Primary Sources. Modern Slavery: A Documentary And Reference Guide By Laura J. Lederer, Sandra Morgan

Dignity: A Journal of Analysis of Exploitation and Violence

No abstract provided.

Law School News: Dean's Distinguished Service Award 2021: Ralph Tavares 05/28/2021, Michael M. Bowden

Life of the Law School (1993- )

No abstract provided.

Misguided At Best, Malevolent At Worst: The International Impact Of United States Policy On Reproductive Rights, Lindsay Marum

UC Irvine Journal of International, Transnational, and Comparative Law

This Note discusses the effect of U.S. foreign policies on the reproductive rights of women in developing countries. Many international human rights treaties and their progeny have consistently found that reproductive rights are intertwined with basic human rights, such as the right to privacy, the right to health, the right to education, and the right to start a family. Despite considering itself a superpower among all other countries, U.S. policies like the Helms Amendment and the Mexico City Policy fail to adhere to these basic international human rights standards. At the same time the United States recognized the ...

Dark Matter In The Law, D. Carolina Núñez

Boston College Law Review

Not all law is written down. Sometimes, informal norms and expectations about what the law is or ought to be constrain behavior. Lawyers and legal commentators instinctively understand this concept and have written about it, but none have discussed the interaction or relationship between these unwritten norms—which I refer to as law’s “dark matter”—and traditional formal law, like case law and statutes—which I refer to as law’s “ordinary matter.” I venture into this overlooked relationship to reveal a fascinating and important dynamic that shapes the development of law. In this Article, I explore law’s ...

Rejecting ‘Unjustified’ Rejection: Why Family Courts Should Exclude Parental Alienation Experts, Alyssa G. Rao

Boston College Law Review

Parental alienation is a controversial and disputed proposed mental disorder whereby children unjustifiably reject one parent because of the other parent’s influence. One parent often raises parental alienation in family court when the other parent makes an accusation of domestic abuse. Despite appearing in the legal discourse, no professional organization officially recognizes either parental alienation or the related concept of parental alienation syndrome, the original anti-feminist theory from which parental alienation derives. Domestic violence advocates staunchly criticize both “disorders” because the theories can undercut legitimate and concerning abuse allegations. Nonetheless, courts invite such experts into the courtroom to aid ...

Beyond A Sliver Of A Full Moon: Acknowledging And Abolishing White Bias To Restore Safety & Sovereignty To Indian Country, Mary T. Hannon

American Indian Law Journal

Violence against indigenous women in the United States is unprecedented. This violence is aggravated by the fact that indigenous women are often unable to obtain justice for the crimes against them due to a complex jurisdictional scheme that ignores the inherent authority of the First Nations. This scheme is the product of centuries of white bias – perpetuated by contemporary legislators and the judiciary – that treats the First Nations and tribal courts as inferior. In the context of Congress’s recent attempt to expand protection for indigenous women in the Violence Against Women Reauthorization Act of 2019, this Note will shed ...

The Blind Eye: Jus Soli, And The "Pretended" Treaty Of New Echota, Christopher Robert Rossi

American Indian Law Journal

No abstract provided.

Case Law On American Indians, Thomas P. Schlosser

American Indian Law Journal

No abstract provided.

Striking The Balance Of Fairness And Inclusion: The Future Of Women's Sports After The Supreme Court's Landmark Decision In Bostock V. Clayton County,Ga, Jacqualyn Gillen

Jeffrey S. Moorad Sports Law Journal

No abstract provided.

Transformative Disarmament: Crafting A Roadmap For Peace, Louise Arimatsu

International Law Studies

Notwithstanding their absence in the formal structures of power, women have engaged actively with disarmament for over a century. Their activism has been rich and complex. It is, however, not a history that is generally familiar to those outside the world of feminist activism and scholarship. This article tells the story of feminist activism and scholarship and how women have sought to overcome exclusion, marginalization, and silencing in both policy and law in pursuit of what the author describes as a transformative disarmament agenda. It is concerned not only with women’s political activism and the struggle for equal participation ...