Law Commons^™

Religiosity In Constitutions And The Status Of Minority Rights, Brandy G. Robinson

Cultural Encounters, Conflicts, and Resolutions

Minority rights and religion have never been topics that are simultaneously considered. However, arguably, the two have relevance, especially when combined with the topic and theory of constitutionalism. Historically and traditionally, minorities have been granted certain rights and have been denied certain rights under various constitutions. These grants and denials relate to cultural differences and values, arguably relating to a culture’s understanding and interpretation of religion.

This article explores the relationship and status of minority rights as it relates to religiosity and constitutionalism. Essentially, there is a correlation between these topics and research shows where certain nations have used religion …

Lawrence V. Texas: The Decision And Its Implications For The Future, Martin A. Schwartz

Touro Law Review

No abstract provided.

Words That Deny, Devalue, And Punish: Judicial Responses To Fetus-Envy?, Sherry F. Colb

Sherry Colb

Abstract needed.

Some Thoughts On The Conduct/Status Distinction, Sherry F. Colb

Sherry Colb

No abstract provided.

Social Science And Legal Policy: The Case Of Heterosexual Cohabitation, Cynthia Grant Bowman

Cynthia Grant Bowman

The rate at which people live together in unmarried unions has increased enormously in recent decades, making this one of the remarkable social changes of our era. The response to this change in the law review literature has been inadequate. Recent articles about cohabitation have argued simply that the institution of marriage is better than cohabitation for both the couple and their children, and the law should therefore be structured so as to discourage this conduct, because to give legal protections to cohabitants will harm the institution of marriage. This article explores the findings of social scientists about cohabitation and …

Race And Gender In The Law Review, Cynthia Grant Bowman, Dorothy E. Roberts, Leonard S. Rubinowitz

Cynthia Grant Bowman

No abstract provided.

Legal Treatment Of Cohabitation In The United States, Cynthia Grant Bowman

Cynthia Grant Bowman

This article discusses the variety of ways state legal systems in the United States treat cohabitation, both by same-sex and heterosexual couples. The different approaches are described along a spectrum that ranges from one extreme, under which cohabitants have essentially no rights against one another or against third parties, to the other extreme, under which cohabitants are to be treated as though they were married under state law. Different areas of law are discussed, including the rights of cohabitants both against one another (remedies upon dissolution, inheritance) and against third parties, such as state benefits, tort claims, health-related benefits, and …

Extracting More Than Resources: Human Security And Arctic Indigenous Women, Victoria Sweet

Seattle University Law Review

The circumpolar Arctic region is at the forefront of rapid change, and with change come potential threats to human security. Numerous factors determine what makes a state, a community, or an individual feel secure. For example, extractive industry development can bring economic benefits to an area, but these development projects also bring security concerns, including potential human rights violations. While security concerns connected with development projects have been studied in southern hemisphere countries and countries classified as “developing,” concerns connected with extractive industry development projects in “developed” countries like the United States have received little attention. This Article will change …

The Gender Bend: Culture, Sex, And Sexuality – A Latcritical Human Rights Map Of Latina/O Border Crossings, Berta E. Hernández-Truyol

Berta E. Hernández-Truyol

In the course of studying and theorizing about Latinas/os and their location in law and culture, critical theory has been simultaneously liberating and restraining, confining, and coercive. Critical theorists have made substantial inroads in recognizing the intersectionality, multidimensionality, multiplicity, and interconnectivities of the intersections of race and sex. These paradigms are central to an analysis of the Latina/o condition within the Estados Unidos (United States). However, much work remains to be done in other areas - such as culture, language, sexuality, and class - that are key to Latinas'/os' self-determination and full citizenship. Cognizant of, and notwithstanding such limitations, this …

Asking The Man Question: Masculinities Analysis And Feminist Theory, Nancy E. Dowd

Nancy Dowd

Masculinities scholarship is an essential piece of feminist analysis and of critical equality analysis. It requires that we "ask the man question" to further unravel inequalities. This symposium marks one of several movements toward examining and considering what masculinities scholarship can offer. In this introduction, I suggest a framework of masculinities analysis and describe its relationship to feminist theory. First, I consider why we should ask the "man question," and how we should ask it. Second, I explore how masculinities analysis might be useful in our examination of the "man question." Masculinities work can be used to understand more clearly …

Psychological Mechanisms Underlying Support For Juvenile Sex Offender Registry Laws: Prototypes, Moral Outrage, And Perceived Threat, Margaret C. Stevenson, Cynthia J. Najdowski, Jessica M. Salerno, Tisha R.A. Wiley, Bette L. Bottoms, Katlyn S. Farum

Psychology Faculty Scholarship

We investigated whether and how a juvenile’s history of experiencing sexual abuse affects public perceptions of juvenile sex offenders in a series of 5 studies. When asked about juvenile sex offenders in an abstract manner (Studies 1 and 2), the more participants (community members and undergraduates) believed that a history of being sexually abused as a child causes later sexually abusive behavior, the less likely they were to support sex offender registration for juveniles. Yet when participants considered specific sexual offenses, a juvenile’s history of sexual abuse was not considered to be a mitigating factor. This was true when participants …

Sexual Harassment And Disparate Impact: Should Non-Targeted Workplace Sexual Conduct Be Actionable Under Title Vii?, Kelly Cahill Timmons

Kelly Cahill Timmons

No abstract provided.

Wimberly And Beyond: Analyzing The Refusal To Award Unemployment Compensation To Women Who Terminate Prior Employment Due To Pregnancy, Mary F. Radford

Mary F. Radford

In Wimberly v. Labor & Industrial Relations Commission, the Supreme Court interpreted section 3304(a)(12) of the Federal Unemployment Tax Act (FUTA), which requires that states not dent unemployment benefits "solely on the basis of pregnancy," as an antidiscrimination statue, rather that one requiring preferential treatment for pregnant and formerly pregnant women. Professor Mary Radford argues that given the ambiguous legislative history and other Supreme Court precedent in the area of unemployment compensation, Wimberly could just as easily have held that FUTA's language requires preferential treatment to pregnant and formerly pregnant women. She further argues that given the current realities that …

Post-Mortem Sperm Retrieval And The Social Security Administration: How Modern Reproductive Technology Makes Strange Bedfellows, Mary F. Radford

Mary F. Radford

This article was prepared in conjunction with the Thurgood Marshall School of Law March, 2009 symposium on "Emerging Issues in Estate Planning, Probate & Trust Law." The article examines a relatively new assisted reproduction technique through which the sperm of a man who has recently died is retrieved after his death, cryopreserved, and then later used by a woman (spouse, partner, or other) to produce a child. While much has been written about posthumously-conceived children (children conceived from sperm that were banked by the father while he was alive), there has to date been little examination of the ramifications of …

Punitive Injunctions, Nirej S. Sekhon

Nirej Sekhon

No abstract provided.

State Common-Law Choice-Of-Law Doctrine And Same-Sex "Marriage": How Will States Enforce The Public Policy Exception?, L. Lynn Hogue

L. Lynn Hogue

Growth in the number of states legalizing same-sex marriages and civil unions that increasingly mirror the rights afforded married partners has brought renewed focus on the issue of extra-territorial recognition of those relationships. The public policy exception is a primary, state-law-based impediment to the recognition of foreign marriages that do not conform to the forum state's definition of marriage. This article discusses the role of the public policy exception in rejecting recognition of foreign marriages and argues that the public policy exception has constitutional underpinnings that are rooted in principles of federalism and the protection of state sovereignty which inheres …

Expedited Partner Therapies For Sexually Transmitted Diseases: Legal And Policy Approaches, James G. Hodge, Erin C. Fuse Brown

Erin C. Fuse Brown

No abstract provided.

Voided Vows: Annulment As A Full Faith And Credit Solution To The Same-Sex Divorce Conundrum, Katharine J. Westfall

William & Mary Bill of Rights Journal

No abstract provided.

License To Discriminate: How A Washington Florist Is Making The Case For Applying Intermediary Scrutiny To Sexual Orientation, Kendra Lacour

Seattle University Law Review

Over the past few decades, the debate over sexual orientation has risen to the forefront of civil rights issues. Though the focus has generally been on the right to marriage, peripheral issues associated with the right to marriage—and with sexual orientation generally—have become more common in recent years. As the number of states permitting same-sex marriage—along with states prohibiting discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation—increases, so too does the conflict between providers of public accommodations and those seeking their services. Never is this situation more problematic than when religious beliefs are cited as the basis for denying services to …

A Brief Introduction To The Relationship Between Sexuality And Rights, Oliver Phillips

Georgia Journal of International & Comparative Law

No abstract provided.

Legal Recognition Of Gender Change For Transsexual Persons In The United Kingdom: The Human Rights Act 1998 And "Compatibility" With European Human Rights Law, Robert E. Rains

Georgia Journal of International & Comparative Law

No abstract provided.

A Joyful Heart Is Good Medicine: Sexuality Conversion Bans In The Courts, Wyatt Fore

Michigan Journal of Gender & Law

Led by California and New Jersey, states have begun to ban Sexual Orientation Change Efforts (SOCE) for minors. States have targeted SOCE, also called ‘gay conversion therapy,’ by regulating state licensure requirements for mental health professionals. Conservative legal groups have challenged these bans in federal court, alleging a variety of constitutional violations sounding in the First and Fourteenth Amendments. More specifically, these legal groups propose theories claiming that the bans infringe upon individuals’ freedom of speech, free exercise, and parental rights. In this Note, I survey the history of these bans, as well as court decisions that have rejected constitutional …

The Limits Of Child Pornography, Carissa Byrne Hessick

Indiana Law Journal

Although the First Amendment ordinarily protects the creation, distribution, and possession of visual images, the Supreme Court has declared that those protections do not apply to child pornography. But the Court has failed to clearly define child pornography as a category of speech. Providing a precise definition of the child pornography exception to the First Amendment has become increasingly important because recent years have seen a dramatic increase in the penalties associated with the creation, distribution, and possession of child pornography.

This Article proposes a clear definition of the child pornography exception. It argues that an image ought to fall …

Twu Law: A Reply To Proponents Of Approval, Elaine Craig

Dalhousie Law Journal

Trinity Western University has a Community Covenant that only permits sexual minorities to attend at considerable personal cost to their dignity and sense of self-worth. All student and staff applicants to TWU are required to sign this covenant, pledging not to engage in same-sex intimacy. The purpose of this article is to offer a reply to the arguments advanced by proponents of granting law society accreditation to TWUs proposed program. The paper rejects six of the central claims that proponents ofapproval have advanced. First it responds to the claim that TWU does not actually discriminate against the LGBTQ community. Second …

Femicide In Bolivia After Law 348, Adán Martínez

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

This project explores the concept of femicide from a unique perspective, by analyzing the effect that Law #348: The Internal Law to Guarantee Women a Life Without Violence after a year that it passed during the Morales' administration. I examine two crucial questions to this study: 1) How do we explain the paradox that although this law has passed, today we see an increase in the number of femicides in Bolivia? 2) What are the obstacles that prevent that application of law 348 3) What can we do to put a stop to femicides? I demonstrate that several factors like …

The Illusion Of Autonomy In Women's Medical Decision-Making, Jamie Abrams

Articles in Law Reviews & Other Academic Journals

This article considers why there is not more conflict between women and their doctors in obstetric decision-making. While patients in every other medical context have complete autonomy to refuse treatment against medical advice, elect high-risk courses of action, and prioritize their own interests above any other decision-making metric, childbirth is viewed anomalously because of the duty to the fetus that the state and the doctor owe at birth. Many feminist scholars have analyzed the complex resolution of these conflicts when they arise, particularly when the state threatens to intervene to override the birthing woman’s autonomy. This article instead considers the …

Circles Of Trust: Using Restorative Justice To Repair Organizations Marred By Sex Abuse, Meredith C. Doyle

Pepperdine Dispute Resolution Law Journal

This article focuses on the role of restorative justice in repairing the sexual abuse cases of organizations like schools and churches. Topics discussed include efforts of the community members and institution leaders in the prevention of sexual victimization, the role of public apology and restorative justice in restoring the community faith and the role of the criminal justice system in protecting the victims of sexual abuse.

Democracy In Disguise: Assessing The Reforms To The Fundamental Rights Provisions In Guyana, Arif Bulkan

Georgia Journal of International & Comparative Law

No abstract provided.

Same-Sex Marriage And Religion: An Inappropriate Relationship, Brittney Baker

e-Research: A Journal of Undergraduate Work

The debate over same-sex marriage has been a prominent issue in our society over many years now, appearing in several ballot initiatives such as California's Proposition 8. The idea of allowing two people of the same gender to enter into the institution of marriage has brought out drastic emotions and reactions from many different groups of people. Those who engage in the debate believe strongly in their convictions; the two loudest voices tend to come from the gay community and the religious community, the former arguing in favor of same-sex marriage and the latter against it. Religious groups, predominantly from …

Religious Views As A Predictor Of Vote Choice, Erienne Plotkin

e-Research: A Journal of Undergraduate Work

This is a study of the relationship between the religious beliefs of people in the United States and their voting patterns. It is also a comparison between such results and that of more traditional voting predictors such as economic status or education level of voters. In general, there has been an apparent separation of church and state. More common predictors of voting behavior that have been used in the past are traditional demographics such as education levels and economic status. Although these traditional predictors are often accurate, religious belief and churches may play a greater, if insufficiently recognized role in …