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The Equal Rights Amendment And The Equality Act: Closing Gaps Post-Bostock For Sexual Orientation And Gender Identity Minorities, Sarah Blazucki May 2023

The Equal Rights Amendment And The Equality Act: Closing Gaps Post-Bostock For Sexual Orientation And Gender Identity Minorities, Sarah Blazucki

University of the District of Columbia Law Review

In 2020, the Supreme Court held in Bostock v. Clayton County that the “because of sex” protection in Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 (Title VII) included an individual’s “homosexual and transgender status.”1 This landmark decision expanded employment protections under the law, for the first time providing broad federal protections to sexual orientation and gender identity minorities.2 It was a sweeping decision, granting protections to millions of people.3 Yet many worry the protections are incomplete, for several reasons. First, the Court explicitly used the language “homosexual and transgender,”4 potentially leaving unresolved if other minority sexual orientations and …


Is It Hot In Here Or Is It Just Me? A Call For Menopause Equity In The Workplace, Leslie Mullins Jul 2022

Is It Hot In Here Or Is It Just Me? A Call For Menopause Equity In The Workplace, Leslie Mullins

University of the District of Columbia Law Review

In a society where many topics related to female reproduction are considered taboo, menopause is especially stigmatized because of its intersection with age and a perception that a woman’s value ends with her reproductive ability.1 As described by Gail Sheehy (“Sheehy”) in The Silent Passage, menopause is “one of the most misunderstood passages in a woman's life.”2 Menopause causes shame and stigma because of its association with middle age in a culture obsessed with youth.3 The failure of courts to extend available protections to claims related to menopause denies millions of working persons protections from unlawful discrimination under the Americans …


Laboratory Of Democracy: How The District Of Columbia Is Using The Home Rule Act To Achieve Elements Of Statehood, Walter A. Smith Jr., Kevin M. Hilgers May 2020

Laboratory Of Democracy: How The District Of Columbia Is Using The Home Rule Act To Achieve Elements Of Statehood, Walter A. Smith Jr., Kevin M. Hilgers

University of the District of Columbia Law Review

On January 3, 2019, Congresswoman Eleanor Holmes Norton, the District of Columbia's (the "District') nonvoting delegate to the House of Representatives, reintroduced the Washington, D.C. Admission Act, which would make much of the District the 51st state. While Norton had made a tradition of opening each new Congress by introducing D.C. democracy bills, the context this time gave District advocates more reason to be optimistic. With the Democrats gaining control of the House, the bill gained a record 155 original cosponsors, and Representative Elijah Cummings, chair of the House Committee on Oversight and Reform, committed to holding a hearing on …


Sanctuary Cities? Asylum? Dreamers? When A House Is Not A Home: The Legal And Socioeconomic Implications Of National Populism On Local Governance And Individual Liberties, Rawle Andrews Jr., Sanchita Bose May 2020

Sanctuary Cities? Asylum? Dreamers? When A House Is Not A Home: The Legal And Socioeconomic Implications Of National Populism On Local Governance And Individual Liberties, Rawle Andrews Jr., Sanchita Bose

University of the District of Columbia Law Review

Since the 1950s, the U.S. has proudly boasted itself as "a nation of immigrants," However, immigration reform is amongst the most intensely confusing, divisive, and polarizing issues in America's public square. Immigration remains front and center in the public debate across the U.S., especially since the September 11th terrorist attacks. The fear and turmoil, which ebbed and flowed since the 9/11 tragedy, reached a boiling point during the 2016 general election cycle, and ultimately the election of the 45th president, Donald J. Trump. This article examines the impact and implications of a broken federal government on America's cities which are …


A Proposal To Win The District Of Columbia A Partial Vote In The House Of Representatives, Mary M. Cheh May 2020

A Proposal To Win The District Of Columbia A Partial Vote In The House Of Representatives, Mary M. Cheh

University of the District of Columbia Law Review

Unlike many citizens of the United States, citizens of the District of Columbia are denied a vote in the national legislature. Not only are they denied a voting representative on matters of national scope and importance, but Congress may control all facets of local governance for the 700,000 residents of the District. This paper suggests a new initiative. It calls for the D.C. Council, under its "Home Rule" authority granted by Congress, to amend a federal law, "The District of Columbia Delegate Act," ("Delgate Act") and give the District's delegate to the House of Representatives the authority to vote in …


Toward A Just System For Juveniles, Karl A. Racine, Elizabeth Wilkins Mar 2019

Toward A Just System For Juveniles, Karl A. Racine, Elizabeth Wilkins

University of the District of Columbia Law Review

Each year as a nation we prosecute over 800,000 children-nearly three percent of the juvenile population2 and detain over 200,000 of them.3 That is, we saddle almost three percent of our youth with the experience of being a defendant in court, with the label of delinquency. And we separate over a quarter of those youth from family and community for some period of time. The overwhelming majority of these children have experienced life-altering trauma in their young lives, and these experiences with the juvenile justice system can exacerbate that trauma.4 Yet,while we are affecting our young people on this massive …


The Eviction Geography Of New Orleans: An Empirical Study To Further Housing Justice, Davida Finger Mar 2019

The Eviction Geography Of New Orleans: An Empirical Study To Further Housing Justice, Davida Finger

University of the District of Columbia Law Review

Low-income tenants in the U.S. have weak bargaining power as well as limited housing and mobility options in the housing market. With no enforceable "right to housing," tenants are stuck-quite literally in the case of uninhabitable property - in unsafe and unhealthy living conditions. Poverty and economic instability make it challenging for tenants either to leave or to force repairs to substandard rental units. The author completed an empirical study of eviction cases in New Orleans in order to quantify the problem of evictions, learn more about where evictions occur throughout the municipality, and better understand who is evicted. The …


Navigating The Unknown: Why Scotus Ought To Again Affirm That Achieving True Diversity In Higher Education Is A Compelling Interest That Satisfies Strict Scrutiny When It Rehears Fisher, Kenrick Frank Roberts Mar 2016

Navigating The Unknown: Why Scotus Ought To Again Affirm That Achieving True Diversity In Higher Education Is A Compelling Interest That Satisfies Strict Scrutiny When It Rehears Fisher, Kenrick Frank Roberts

University of the District of Columbia Law Review

On June 29th, 2015, the Supreme Court agreed to once again hear oral arguments in Fisher. This decision is troubling to supporters of Affirmative Action policies because of the Court's indistinguishable motivation for hearing the case a second time. This Note argues that theCourt must continue to allow race-based considerations in higher education admissions policies. Part I takes a look at the beginnings of affirmative action and the effects of past discrimination on the educational attainment of minorities. Part II charts the case law related to affirmative action in higher education. Part III tracks how the meaning of narrowly-tailored has …


Congressional Management Of The District Of Columbia Prior To Home Rule: The Struggle To Understand Power Lines In The Nation's Capital, James Moeller Mar 2016

Congressional Management Of The District Of Columbia Prior To Home Rule: The Struggle To Understand Power Lines In The Nation's Capital, James Moeller

University of the District of Columbia Law Review

Article I, Section 8 of the U.S. Constitution authorizes the U.S.Congress to establish a federal capital and "[t]o exercise exclusive Legislation in all Cases whatsoever, over such District."' For this reason, Congress has exclusive jurisdiction over the District ofColumbia ("District"), which has neither statehood nor voting representation in Congress. In 1973, Congress enacted the District of Columbia Home Rule Act,which delegated some measure of local self-governance to the District.2Since 1973, District residents have elected their own mayor and city council. Council legislation, however, is still subject to review by Congress, which also approves the annual budget for the District.


The Social Maladjustment Exclusion: Leaving A Category Of Students Behind And The Problem With State And Judicial Interpretation Of Congressional Intent, Carolyn Mason Mar 2016

The Social Maladjustment Exclusion: Leaving A Category Of Students Behind And The Problem With State And Judicial Interpretation Of Congressional Intent, Carolyn Mason

University of the District of Columbia Law Review

Since its inception in 1975, controversy surrounding the Social Maladjustment Exclusion has plagued its understnding. This paper delves deeper into the controversy and explores jurisdictional and nationwide patterns in the judicial interpretation of the social maladjustment exclusion. This analysis further demonstrates how the evolving interpretation of social maladjustment is out of touch with the needs of vulnerable youth in our schools and society, and may be based, in large measure, on a small group of non-representative plaintiffs.


Reversing The School-To-Prison Pipeline: Initial Findings From The District Of Columbia On The Efficacy Of Training And Mobilizing Court-Appointed Lawyers To Use Special Education Advocacy On Behalf Of At-Risk Youth, Kylie Scholefield, Joseph B. Tulman Mar 2015

Reversing The School-To-Prison Pipeline: Initial Findings From The District Of Columbia On The Efficacy Of Training And Mobilizing Court-Appointed Lawyers To Use Special Education Advocacy On Behalf Of At-Risk Youth, Kylie Scholefield, Joseph B. Tulman

University of the District of Columbia Law Review

This article will describe the implementation and analyze the results of an attorney training and mobilizing project of the Juvenile and Special Education Law Clinic (Clinic) 1 of the University of the District of Columbia David A. Clarke School of Law (UDC-DCSL).2 This project was premised in part on the notion that many of the children caught in the District of Columbia's school-to-prison pipeline have disabilities that significantly affect their ability to learn, and that many of these children therefore encounter, more than other children, conflict with school personnel and failure in school. These children disproportionately repeat grades, face school …


Civil Protection Orders: Increased Access And Narrowed Enforcement, Courtney Cross Mar 2015

Civil Protection Orders: Increased Access And Narrowed Enforcement, Courtney Cross

University of the District of Columbia Law Review

The statute governing civil protection orders in the District of Columbia is the Intrafamily Offenses Act,1 which has been in effect since 1970.2 This statute has been amended frequently over the past 45 years. While some of these changes have been clerical3 or procedural,4 there have also been substantive amendments which, inter alia,significantly expand both who may file for a protection order and what remedies that petitioner may request and receive. Yet this expansion has coincided with an intense scaling back by the judiciary of who can prosecute alleged violations of protection orders. While the statute continues to enable more …


Next Generation Tanf: Reconceptualizing Public Assistance As A Vehicle For Financial Inclusion, Aleta Sprague Mar 2015

Next Generation Tanf: Reconceptualizing Public Assistance As A Vehicle For Financial Inclusion, Aleta Sprague

University of the District of Columbia Law Review

Fifty years into the War on Poverty, the ability to fully participate in American economic life is predicated on access to basic financial services and mechanisms; yet, public programs designed to support the economic advancement of people in poverty often explicitly excludeinte nded beneficiaries from meaningful engagement with financial institutions. To promote economic opportunity for families accessing public assistance, we need policy reforms that both remove access barriers and create entry points to the financial mainstream. Safe and affordable financial products are foundational to financial inclusion. Unbanked and "underbanked" households-the vast majority of which are low-income---often rely on high-cost credit, …


Developments In Family Law In The District Of Columbia: Three Significant Legislative Changes For Child Support, Meridel Bulle-Vu, Tianna Gibbs, Ashley Mcdowell Mar 2015

Developments In Family Law In The District Of Columbia: Three Significant Legislative Changes For Child Support, Meridel Bulle-Vu, Tianna Gibbs, Ashley Mcdowell

University of the District of Columbia Law Review

Over the last decade, the District's child support law has changed in three significant ways: (1) by the enactment of a statute that requires sentencing judges to notify obligors of their right to modify or suspend their child support order during incarceration; (2) by the passage of a law that requires the District of Columbia government to distribute up to the first $150 of child support collected each month to custodial parents who receive Temporary Assistance for Needy Families(TANF); and (3) by substantial revisions to how child support orders are calculated under the District's Child Support Guideline (the Guideline).1 These …


The Struggle To Rise Above The Shadows Before Sunset: A Critical Discussion On The Need To Lift The Expiration And Renewal Requirements Of Daca And Dapa, Anna Oguntimein Mar 2015

The Struggle To Rise Above The Shadows Before Sunset: A Critical Discussion On The Need To Lift The Expiration And Renewal Requirements Of Daca And Dapa, Anna Oguntimein

University of the District of Columbia Law Review

Reasoning that judicial economy is best served when a law enforcement agency determines how to expend its limited enforcemen tresources, the Supreme Court has held that the decision to exercise prosecutorial discretion is presumptively unreviewable.1 In the realm of immigration law, Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) and the recently announced Deferred Action for Parents of Americans and Lawful Permanent Residents (DAPA) promote the goal of judicial economy by imposing a freeze on the deportation of eligible noncitizens who either entered the United States as children or who have a child who is a U.S. citizen or lawful permanent resident …


Lessons Unlearned: The Effects Of Statutory Ambiguity And The Interpretative Uncertainty It Injects In The Courts, Carolyn Singh Mar 2015

Lessons Unlearned: The Effects Of Statutory Ambiguity And The Interpretative Uncertainty It Injects In The Courts, Carolyn Singh

University of the District of Columbia Law Review

For centuries, courts have dealt with the challenge of imposing penalties for crimes when governing law changes. Applying the new provisions can be a straightforward exercise for courts, but when legislatures are ambiguous with regard to which law applies-forexample, to pending cases-the courts are forced to interpret what legislatures intended. For some judges, the answer is easily found in the plain meaning of the text. For others, legislative intent can become the deciding factor. Throughout United States history, this has been a manageable yet controversial task, but aside from interpretive differences among judges, creating laws with uncertainty is a dangerous …


Are There Too Many Due Process Cases? An Examination Of Jurisdictions With Relatively High Rates Of Special Education Hearings, Andrew A. Feinstein, Michele Kule-Korgood, Joseph B. Tulman Mar 2015

Are There Too Many Due Process Cases? An Examination Of Jurisdictions With Relatively High Rates Of Special Education Hearings, Andrew A. Feinstein, Michele Kule-Korgood, Joseph B. Tulman

University of the District of Columbia Law Review

Congress enacted, and President Ford signed, the Education for All Handicapped Children Act (EAHCA) in 1975 to ensure that children with disabilities had access to a free appropriate public education. As the Supreme Court emphasized in Smith v. Robinson:[T]he Act establishes an enforceable substantive right to a free appropriate public education. See Board of Education of Hendrick Hudson Central School Dist. v.Rowley, 458 U.S. 176, (1982). See also 121 Cong. Rec.37417 (1975) (statement of Sen. Schweiker: "It can no longer be the policy of the Government to merely establish an unenforceable goal requiring all children to be in school. [The …


Gideon Is My Co-Pilot: The Promise Of Civil Right To Counsel Pilot Programs, Clare Pastore Mar 2014

Gideon Is My Co-Pilot: The Promise Of Civil Right To Counsel Pilot Programs, Clare Pastore

University of the District of Columbia Law Review

In recent years, access to justice and civil right to counsel advocates have taken a strong interest in pilot programs to test the cost and effectiveness of increasing the availability of counsel to low-income civil litigants. An eighteen-month privately-funded housing counsel pilot in two Boston courts has recently concluded and a new housing pilot is about to begin in three different Massachusetts courts. Pilots are also ongoing or in late stages of development in several other states. The most ambitious pilot program to date is the multi-year, multi-county pilot project underway in California pursuant to the Sargent Shriver Civil Counsel …


The Kingpin Act Vs. California's Compassionate Use Act: The Dubious Battle Between State And Federal Drug Laws, Sumeet H. Chugani, Xingjian Zhao Sep 2011

The Kingpin Act Vs. California's Compassionate Use Act: The Dubious Battle Between State And Federal Drug Laws, Sumeet H. Chugani, Xingjian Zhao

University of the District of Columbia Law Review

No abstract provided.


The Politics Of Exclusion In California's Marijuana Reform Movement, Brooke Mascagni Sep 2011

The Politics Of Exclusion In California's Marijuana Reform Movement, Brooke Mascagni

University of the District of Columbia Law Review

No abstract provided.


A Decade After Drug Decriminalization: What Can The United States Learn From The Portuguese Model?, Jordan Blair Woods Sep 2011

A Decade After Drug Decriminalization: What Can The United States Learn From The Portuguese Model?, Jordan Blair Woods

University of the District of Columbia Law Review

No abstract provided.


Rise Of The Pills, Ken Lammers Jr. Sep 2011

Rise Of The Pills, Ken Lammers Jr.

University of the District of Columbia Law Review

No abstract provided.


Again And Again We Suffer: The Poor And The Endurance Of The "War On Drugs", Brian Gilmore Sep 2011

Again And Again We Suffer: The Poor And The Endurance Of The "War On Drugs", Brian Gilmore

University of the District of Columbia Law Review

No abstract provided.


Breaking Free From Insanity: A White-Collar Crime Approach To Drug War Policy, Brian Harrison Sep 2011

Breaking Free From Insanity: A White-Collar Crime Approach To Drug War Policy, Brian Harrison

University of the District of Columbia Law Review

Preventing crime should be a top priority for law enforcement. A victim of crime would readily agree that never having been a victim at all is preferable to suffering at the hands of a criminal. Even if the criminal is later caught and punished, a victim remains a victim. Despite this simple truth, current drug policy does not place a top priority preventing the laundering of drug-tainted money. As a result, the United States remains a victim in the War on Drugs.' As will be discussed, the crime of money laundering can be prevented in many instances by prosecuting banks …


What Would It Look Like If We Cared About Narcotics Trafficking? An Argument To Attack Narcotics Capital Rather Than Labor, Mark Osler Sep 2011

What Would It Look Like If We Cared About Narcotics Trafficking? An Argument To Attack Narcotics Capital Rather Than Labor, Mark Osler

University of the District of Columbia Law Review

Law enforcement actions should be judged by a simple measure: are they solving a problem? After all, we Americans loathe the loss of freedom and the spending of tax dollars, and we should never take away citizens' freedom and money unless there actually is a problem being solved. Illegal narcotics are a problem, but we aren't solving it. Narcotics trafficking and use lead to violence, undermine productivity,' and rip apart the social fabric of families and communities. Despite much attention to these issues, drug use in this country continues at high levels, even among children.2 We have failed, and it …


The False Claims Act: How Vigilantes Find Justice Fighting Government Fraud And Corruption, Wayne Turner Mar 2009

The False Claims Act: How Vigilantes Find Justice Fighting Government Fraud And Corruption, Wayne Turner

University of the District of Columbia Law Review

This comment focuses on the False Claims Act and its increasing potential to bring greater accountability to government programs designed to serve disadvantaged opulations. Citizen avengers play an increasing role in seeking retribution against grafters because existing safeguards built into government contracting and procurement often fail to ensure that taxpayer dollars are spent efficiently. The False Claims Act, the citizens' tool against fraud, is contrasted with the Inspectors General, the federal government's principle means of investigating, auditing, and prosecuting fraud in federal agencies and programs.


Capital Punishment: 21st Century Lynching, Serena L. Hargrove Sep 2001

Capital Punishment: 21st Century Lynching, Serena L. Hargrove

University of the District of Columbia Law Review

No abstract provided.


Unmet Legal Needs Of Dc Immigrants: How Substantive And Procedural Changes In The Laws Restrict Liberty And Deny Access To Justice, Regina Morris Sep 2000

Unmet Legal Needs Of Dc Immigrants: How Substantive And Procedural Changes In The Laws Restrict Liberty And Deny Access To Justice, Regina Morris

University of the District of Columbia Law Review

No abstract provided.


Appendix C: Juvenile Detention Statute And Rule, University Of The District Of Columbia Law Review Sep 1995

Appendix C: Juvenile Detention Statute And Rule, University Of The District Of Columbia Law Review

University of the District of Columbia Law Review

No abstract provided.


Blind Injustice: Seeing Beyond The D.C.Superior Court Exclusion Of Blind Citizens From Jury Duty, Deborah Ann A'Hearn Mar 1994

Blind Injustice: Seeing Beyond The D.C.Superior Court Exclusion Of Blind Citizens From Jury Duty, Deborah Ann A'Hearn

University of the District of Columbia Law Review

On January 4, 1994, the Cohncil of the District of Columbia (D.C. Council) adopted PR 10-361, the "Sense of the Council on Blind Citizens' Right to Jury Service Resolution of 1993." This Resolution, which supports the United States District Court's decision in Galloway v. Superior Court of the District of Columbia," would afford blind citizens the same privilege and right to serve as jurors that is granted to non-disabled citizens. Currently, D.C. CODE ANN. § 11-1903 (1981)3 prohibits exclusion of citizens from jury service on the basis of physical handicap. Specifically, the Code provides that: [A] citizen of the District …