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Fetal Personhood Laws As Limits To Maternal Personhood At Any Stage Of Pregnancy: Balancing Fetal & Maternal Interests At Post-Viability Among Fetal Pain & Fetal Homicide Laws, Bernice M. Bird
Bernice M. Bird
Collectively, fetal pain and homicide laws serve to effectively diminish maternal personhood at any stage of pregnancy. At pre-viability, fetal pain laws unconstitutionally infringe on women’s right to reproduce without state interference, as reaffirmed in Planned Parenthood of Southeastern Pennsylvania v. Casey. In tandem, at post-viability, fetal homicide laws act as undue burdens because the laws lack life or health exceptions to maternal prosecution for the death of the fetus. Ultimately, both types of laws encroach on women's liberty interests to continue or terminate pregnancies at all stages. This paper proposes that state fetal pain and homicide laws should only …
Section 2 As An “Adequate Substitute” For Section 5: Proposing An “Effects-Only” Test As An Amendment To Section 2 Of The Voting Rights Act Of 1965, Bernice M. Bird
Section 2 As An “Adequate Substitute” For Section 5: Proposing An “Effects-Only” Test As An Amendment To Section 2 Of The Voting Rights Act Of 1965, Bernice M. Bird
Bernice M. Bird
As the U.S. Supreme Court shall finally determine whether Section 5 of the Voting Rights Act of 1965 is unconstitutional next year in Shelby County, Ala. v. Holder, most suppressed minority voters may be left with only Section 2 as a remedy for voting discrimination challenges. However, the federal courts have consistently interpreted Section 2's "results" or "intent" test contrary to the legislative intent of Section 2 in increasing the burden for plaintiffs to demonstrate discriminatory intent of racial bias in enacting election laws. Thus, Section 2 currently serves as an inadequate substitute for redressing voting discrimination should the Supreme …
The Conflicting Judicial Interpretations Of “Employee” Under The Fair Labor Standards Act: Precluding Employee Status To Student Interns And Its Effect On Employer Exploitation, Bernice M. Bird
Bernice M. Bird
Nationally, the Department of Labor has increased its investigations into internships upon reports of employer exploitation. However, the class of interns and trainees remain without the remedy of backpay under the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) primarily because of the judiciary’s interpretation of the term “employee.” The judiciary has broadly precluded interns and trainees employee status under the FLSA, unless either a contractual obligation is shown or all of the Walling factors are substantiated. With regard to the latter, the courts have incorrectly applied the rule of statutory construction as it pertains to the FLSA. Rather than broadly interpreting whether …
Online Investigations And The Americans With Disabilities Act: The Resurgence Of Overbroad And Ineffectual Mental Health Inquiries In Character And Fitness Evaluations, Bernice M. Bird
Bernice M. Bird
Nationally, state board bar examiners’ interest to inquire into mental health has been a hotly contested issue invoking the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) for the last two decades. After the enactment of the ADA in 1990 a floodgate of litigation resulted in a litany of publications, all surrounding the issue of whether mental health based inquiries into character and fitness violated the ADA. Consequently, narrowly tailored mental health inquiries into specific disorders emerged as the trend in a majority of jurisdictions. This comment analyzes whether fitness boards' mental health inquiries among social networking profiles may cause the resurgence of …