Law Commons^™

The Thirteenth Amendment And Interest Convergence, William M. Carter Jr.

Articles

The Thirteenth Amendment was intended to eliminate the institution of slavery and to eliminate the legacy of slavery. Having accomplished the former, the Amendment has only rarely been extended to the latter. The Thirteenth Amendment’s great promise therefore remains unrealized.

This Article explores the gap between the Thirteenth Amendment’s promise and its implementation. Drawing on Critical Race Theory, this Article argues that the relative underdevelopment of Thirteenth Amendment doctrine is due in part to a lack of perceived interest convergence in eliminating what the Amendment’s Framers called the “badges and incidents of slavery.” The theory of interest convergence, in its …

Digital Multi-Media And The Limits Of Privacy Law, Jacqueline D. Lipton

Articles

While digital video and multi-media technologies are becoming increasingly prevalent, existing privacy laws tend to focus on text-based personal records. Individuals have little recourse when concerned about infringements of their privacy interests in audio, video, and multi-media files. Often people are simply unaware that video or audio records have been made. Even if they are aware of the existence of the records, they may be unaware of potential legal remedies, or unable to afford legal recourse. This paper concentrates on the ability of individuals to obtain legal redress for unauthorized use of audio, video and multi-media content that infringes their …

Troubled Waters: Mid-Twentieth Century American Society On "Trial" In The Films Of John Waters, Taunya Lovell Banks

Faculty Scholarship

In this Article Professor Banks argues that what makes many of filmmaker John Waters early films so subversive is his use of the “white-trash” body—people marginalized by and excluded from conventional white America—as countercultural heroes. He uses the white trash body as a surrogate for talk about race and sexuality in the early 1960s. I argue that in many ways Waters’ critiques of mid-twentieth century American society reflect the societal changes that occurred in the last forty years of that century. These societal changes resulted from the civil rights, gay pride, student, anti-war and women’s movements, all of which used …

The Language Of Consent In Police Encounters, Janice Nadler, J.D. Trout

Faculty Working Papers

In this chapter, we examine the nature of conversations in citizen-police encounters in which police seek to conduct a search based on the citizen's consent. We argue that when police officers ask a person if they can search, citizens often feel enormous pressure to say yes. But judges routinely ignore these pressures, choosing instead to spotlight the politeness and restraint of the officers' language and demeanor. Courts often analyze the language of police encounters as if the conversation has an obvious, context-free meaning. The pragmatic features of language influence behavior, but courts routinely ignore or deny this fact. Instead, current …

A New E.R.A. Or A New Era? Amendment Advocacy And The Reconstitution Of Feminism, Serena Mayeri

All Faculty Scholarship

Scholars have largely treated the reintroduction of the Equal Rights Amendment (ERA) after its ratification failure in 1982 as a mere postscript to a long, hard-fought, and ultimately unsuccessful campaign to enshrine women’s legal equality in the federal constitution. This Article argues that “ERA II” was instead an important turning point in the history of legal feminism and of constitutional amendment advocacy. Whereas ERA I had once attracted broad bipartisan support, ERA II was a partisan political weapon exploited by advocates at both ends of the ideological spectrum. But ERA II also became a vehicle for feminist reinvention. Congressional consideration …

Women’S Unequal Citizenship At The Border: Lessons From Three Nonfiction Films About The Women Of Juárez, Regina Austin

All Faculty Scholarship

There is no better illustration of the impact of borders on women’s equal citizenship than the three documentaries reviewed in this essay. All three deal with the femicides that befell the young women of Ciudad Juárez, Mexico between 1993 and 2005. Juarez is just across the border from El Paso, Texas. Performing the Border (1999) stimulates the viewer’s imagination regarding the ephemeral nature of borders and their impact on the citizenship of women who live at the intersection of local, regional, national and international legal regimes. Señorita Extraviada (2001) is an intimate portrait of the victims which illustrates why the …

The Heart Of The Game: Putting Race And Educational Equity At The Center Of Title Ix, Deborah L. Brake, Verna L. Williams

Articles

This article examines how race and educational equity issues shape women's sports experiences, building upon the narrative of Darnellia Russell, a high school basketball player profiled in the documentary The Heart of the Game. Darnellia is a star player who, because of an unintended pregnancy, has to fight to play the game she loves.

This girl's story provides a unique and underutilized lens through which to examine gender and athletics, as well as evaluate the legal framework for gender equality in sport. In focusing on this narrative, we seek to give voice to black female athletes and to express their …

Slides: Meaningful Engagement: The Public's Role In Resource Decisions, Mark Squillace

The Future of Natural Resources Law and Policy (Summer Conference, June 6-8)

Presenter: Mark Squillace, Director, Natural Resources Law Center, University of Colorado Law School

22 slides

Title Ix As Pragmatic Feminism, Deborah Brake

Articles

This paper uses Title IX as a vehicle for exploring the potential benefits of pragmatism for feminist legal theory. Title IX is unusual in antidiscrimination law for its eclectic approach to theory, drawing from liberal feminism, substantive equality, antisubordination and different voice models of equality at various points in the law's approach to gender equality in sports. This paper argues that Title IX, as a pragmatic approach to theory, provides a promising example of how feminist legal theory can draw from pragmatism to navigate the double-bind and the backlash.

Following an introduction in Part I, Part II of this Article …

Perceiving Subtle Sexism: Mapping The Social-Psychological Forces And Legal Narratives That Obscure Gender Bias, Deborah L. Brake

Articles

This essay seeks to explain the Davis v. Monroe County Board of Education case as an interpretation of discrimination that notably and correctly focuses on how institutions cause sex-based harm, rather than on whether officials within chosen institutions act with a discriminatory intent. In the process, I discuss what appears to be the implicit theory of discrimination underlying the Davis decision: that schools cause the discrimination by exacerbating the harm that results from sexual harassment by students. I then explore the significance of the deliberate indifference requirement in this context, concluding that the standard, for all its flaws, is distinct …

Judicial Review Of Thirteenth Amendment Legislation: 'Congruence And Proportionality' Or 'Necessary And Proper'?, William M. Carter Jr.

Articles

The Thirteenth Amendment has relatively recently been rediscovered by scholars and litigants as a source of civil rights protections. Most of the scholarship focuses on judicial enforcement of the Amendment in lawsuits brought by individuals. However, scholars have paid relatively little attention as of late to the proper scope of congressional action enforcing the Amendment. The reason, presumably, is that it is fairly well settled that Congress enjoys very broad authority to determine what constitutes either literal slavery or, to use the language of Jones v. Alfred H. Mayer Co., a "badge or incident of slavery" falling within the Amendment's …

The Strange Career Of Jane Crow: Sex Segregation And The Transformation Of Anti-Discrimination Discourse, Serena Mayeri

All Faculty Scholarship

This article examines the causes and consequences of a transformation in anti-discrimination discourse between 1970 and 1977 that shapes our constitutional landscape to this day. Fears of cross-racial intimacy leading to interracial marriage galvanized many white Southerners to oppose school desegregation in the 1950s and 1960s. In the wake of Brown v. Board of Education, some commentators, politicians, and ordinary citizens proposed a solution: segregate the newly integrated schools by sex. When court-ordered desegregation became a reality in the late 1960s, a smattering of southern school districts implemented sex separation plans. As late as 1969, no one saw sex-segregated schools …

Race, Religion And Law: The Tension Between Spirit And Its Institutionalization, George H. Taylor

Articles

My reflections flow from some recent writings by the critical race scholar Derrick Bell. Bell acknowledges that in prior work he has focused on the "the economic, political, and cultural dimensions of racism" but now suggests the possibility of a "deeper foundation" arising from the conjunction that "[m]ost racists are also Christians." This statement is Bell at his best: at once both extremely provocative and extremely unsettling. I want to explore and develop two aspects of Bell's argument.

First, if we want to examine and understand the many dimensions of racism, it is not enough to employ economic, political, or …

The Majoritarian Difficulty: Affirmative Action, Sodomy, And Supreme Court Politics, Darren L. Hutchinson

Faculty Articles

This Article challenges liberal and conservative assessments of Lawrence, Gratz, and Grutter. Although the outcome of these cases might indeed prove helpful to the agendas of social movements for racial and sexual justice, progressive scholars and activists should not receive these cases with elation. Instead, the research of constitutional theorists, critical legal scholars, and political scientists allows for a more contextualized and guarded account of and reaction to these decisions. Instead of representing extraordinary victories for oppressed classes, these cases reflect majoritarian and moderate views concerning civil rights, and the opinions contain many doctrinal elements that reinforce, …

Racism As 'The National Crucial Sin': Theology And Derrick Bell, George H. Taylor

Articles

The Article probes a paradox that lies at the heart of the work of critical race scholar Derrick Bell. Bell claims on the one hand that racism is permanent, and yet on the other he argues that the fight against racism is both necessary and meaningful. Although Bell's thesis of racism's permanence has been criticized for rendering action for racial justice unavailing, the Article advances an understanding of Bell that supports and defends the integrity of his paradox. The Article draws upon the work of Protestant theologian Reinhold Niebuhr and Niebuhr's paradox that social action is both necessary and meaningful …

Infected Judgment: Legal Responses To Physician Bias, Mary Crossley

Articles

Substantial evidence indicates that clinically irrelevant patient characteristics, including race and gender, may at times influence a physician's choice of treatment. Less clear, however, is whether a patient who is the victim of a biased medical decision has any effective legal recourse. Heedful of the difficulties of designing research to establish conclusively the role of physician bias, this article surveys published evidence suggesting the operation of physician bias in clinical decision making. The article then examines potential legal responses to biased medical judgments. A patient who is the subject of a biased decision may sue her doctor for violating his …

Where Shall We Live? Class And The Limitations Of Fair Housing Law, Wendell Pritchett

All Faculty Scholarship

This paper examines the effort to secure fair housing laws at the local, state and federal levels in the 1950s, focusing in particular on New York City and state. It will examine the arguments that advocates made regarding the role the law should play in preventing housing discrimination, and the relationship of these views to advocates' understanding of property rights in general. My paper will argue that fair housing advocates had particular conceptions about the importance of housing in American society that both supported and limited their success. By arguing that minorities only sought what others wanted - a single-family …

School Liability For Peer Sexual Harassment After Davis: Shifting From Intent To Causation In Discrimination Law, Deborah L. Brake

Articles

This essay seeks to explain the Davis v. Monroe County Board of Education case as an interpretation of discrimination that notably and correctly focuses on how institutions cause sex-based harm, rather than on whether officials within chose institutions act with a discriminatory intent. In the process, I discuss what appears to be the implicit theory of discrimination underlying the Davis decision: that schools cause the discrimination by exacerbating the harm that results from sexual harassment by students. I then explore the significance of the deliberate indifference requirement in this context, concluding that the standard, for all its flaws, is distinct …

Indian Religious Freedom: Recognized/Denied, David E. Wilkins

Jepson School of Leadership Studies articles, book chapters and other publications

Clinton's sacred site executive order applies to all "federal lands" and to all "recognized" Indian tribes. A "sacred site" is defined as "any specific, discrete, narrowly delineated location of Federal land that is identified by an Indian tribe, or Indian individual... as sacred by virtue of its established religious significance to, or ceremonial use by, an Indian religion; provided that the tribe or appropriately authoritative representative of an Indian religion has informed the agency of the existence of such a site."

The issue that seemed most troublesome from William Downes' legal perspective, besides the alleged Establishment clause violation, was that …

Tribal-State Affairs: The Next Proving Ground?, David E. Wilkins

Jepson School of Leadership Studies articles, book chapters and other publications

While these more profound issues of structure and perception beg for solution, a more immediate problem has arisen with the advent of Republican dominance in the Congress. One of the likely outgrowths of this transference of political power is that Congress, along with the Supreme Court, which has been doing it for some time, may funnel more issues to the States and their subsidiary governments for resolution or administration. Such a transfer does not bode well for tribes. Remember the allotment of Indian lands (1880s-1930s) and the Termination of tribes (1950s-1960s)? Those policies essentially made tribes and their citizens subject …

Beyond The Civil Rights Agenda For Blacks: Principles For The Pursuit Of Economic And Community Development, James Jennings

William Monroe Trotter Institute Publications

Over the last several decades, this country has experimented with economic development and social welfare strategies and programs molded by liberals and conservatives, and embodied in the policies and politics of both Republicans and Democrats at the national level. However, given the continuing social and economic crisis, and gaps between African Americans and whites, it seems the approaches of both liberals and conservatives have been inadequate. Due to the failure of current policy strategies, in terms of black living conditions, debate in the black community should move from disagreements between liberals and conservatives, or Democrats and Republicans, towards the question …

Transformations In Supreme Court Thought: The Irresistible Force (Federal Indian Law & Policy) Meets The Movable Object (American Indian Tribal Status), David E. Wilkins

Jepson School of Leadership Studies articles, book chapters and other publications

This article is a content analysis examination of 107 federal court cases involving American Indian tribal sovereignty and federal plenary power rendered between 1870 and 1921. Our focus, however, is the U.S. Supreme Court's Indian Law jurisprudence; thus ninety of the cases analyzed were Supreme Court opinions. The cases seemingly entail two separate braces of opinions. One brace included decisions which affirmed tribal sovereignty. The other brace entailed cases which negatively affected tribal sovereignty. These negative decisions generally relied on doctrines such as plenary power, the political question doctrine, or the so- called “guardian-ward” relationship. We argue that the Supreme …

Sncc Conference Pt. B. "The Redemptive Community : The Sit-Ins, The Freedom Rides, And The Birth Of S.N.C.C.", Trinity College

We Shall Not Be Moved: videos of a1988 conference on the Student Non-violent Coordinating Committee

Featuring Diane Nash, James Forman, Charles McDew, Bob Zellner ; moderator, Julian Bond. Part of a 10 part series of videorecordings of a conference held at Trinity College, Hartford, CT, April 14-16, 1988, titled, "We Shall Not Be moved: The Life and Times of the Student Non-violent Coordinating Committee, 1960-1966"

Sncc Conference Pt. J. "S.N.C.C., The 1960s, And The American Democratic Tradition.", Trinity College

We Shall Not Be Moved: videos of a1988 conference on the Student Non-violent Coordinating Committee

Featuring Clayborne Carson, Allen Matusow, Michael Thelwell ; moderator, Jack Chatfield. Part of a 10 part series of videorecordings of a conference held at Trinity College, Hartford, CT, April 14-16, 1988, titled, "We Shall Not Be moved: The Life and Times of the Student Non-violent Coordinating Committee, 1960-1966"

Sncc Conference Pt. H. "Alabama Bound : Selma, And The Lowndes County Black Panther Party, 1964-1966.", Trinity College

We Shall Not Be Moved: videos of a1988 conference on the Student Non-violent Coordinating Committee

Featuring Silas Norman, Martha Norman, Robert Mants, Johnny Jackson ; moderator, Cheryl Greenberg. Part of a 10 part series of videorecordings of a conference held at Trinity College, Hartford, CT, April 14-16, 1988, titled, "We Shall Not Be moved: The Life and Times of the Student Non-violent Coordinating Committee, 1960-1966"

Sncc Conference Pt. F. "Oh Freedom : The Music Of The Movement", And Pt. G. "The S.N.C.C. Woman And The Stirrings Of Feminism.", Trinity College

We Shall Not Be Moved: videos of a1988 conference on the Student Non-violent Coordinating Committee

Featuring Casey Hayden, Jean Wheeler Smith, Joyce Ladner ; moderator, Barbara Sicherman. Part of a 10 part series of videorecordings of a conference held at Trinity College, Hartford, CT, April 14-16, 1988, titled, "We Shall Not Be moved: The Life and Times of the Student Non-violent Coordinating Committee, 1960-1966"

Sncc Conference Pt. G: "The S.N.C.C. Woman And The Stirrings Of Feminism.", Trinity College

We Shall Not Be Moved: videos of a1988 conference on the Student Non-violent Coordinating Committee

Featuring Casey Hayden, Jean Wheeler Smith, Joyce Ladner ; moderator, Barbara Sicherman. Part of a 10 part series of videorecordings of a conference held at Trinity College, Hartford, CT, April 14-16, 1988, titled, "We Shall Not Be moved: The Life and Times of the Student Non-violent Coordinating Committee, 1960-1966."

Sncc Conference Pt. D (Continued From Part C): "The Beginnings Of The Voter Registration Movement, 1961-1963.", Trinity College

We Shall Not Be Moved: videos of a1988 conference on the Student Non-violent Coordinating Committee

Featuring James Forman, Bernard Lafayette, Charles Sherrod, Danny Lyon ; moderator, Julian Bond. Part of a 10 part series of videorecordings of a conference held at Trinity College, Hartford, CT, April 14-16, 1988, titled, "We Shall Not Be moved: The Life and Times of the Student Non-violent Coordinating Committee, 1960-1966"

Sncc Conference Pt. C "The Beginnings Of The Voter Registration Movement, 1961-1963.", Trinity College

We Shall Not Be Moved: videos of a1988 conference on the Student Non-violent Coordinating Committee

Featuring James Forman, Bernard Lafayette, Charles Sherrod, Danny Lyon ; moderator, Julian Bond. Part of a 10 part series of videorecordings of a conference held at Trinity College, Hartford, CT, April 14-16, 1988, titled, "We Shall Not Be moved: The Life and Times of the Student Non-violent Coordinating Committee, 1960-1966"

Sncc Conference Pt. A "The New Abolitionists And The Modern South.", Trinity College

We Shall Not Be Moved: videos of a1988 conference on the Student Non-violent Coordinating Committee

Featuring Howard Zinn, Joanne Grant, Mary King, June Johnson ; moderator, J. Ronald Spencer. Part of a 10 part series of videorecordings of a conference held at Trinity College, Hartford, CT, April 14-16, 1988, titled, "We Shall Not Be moved: The Life and Times of the Student Non-violent Coordinating Committee, 1960-1966"