Law Commons^™

Systematic Racism, Abortion And Bias In Medicine: All Threads Woven In The Cloth Of Racial Disparity For Mothers And Infants, Gabrielle Ploplis

Journal of Law and Health

This note argues that decisions like that of NAACP v. Wilmington Medical Center, Inc. have been one of many contributing factors in the disparity in mortality rates of both black and American Indian/Alaska Native newborns in comparison to white newborns across the country. Part II examines the current state of the law regarding issues of discrimination, accessibility of health care, and relocation and closure of medical centers that has disproportionately affect minorities in the U.S. Part III discusses the statistics of white, black, and American Indian/Alaska Native newborn and maternal mortality rates in the United States. Part IV addresses the …

The Future Of The Americans With Disabilities Act: Website Accessibility Litigation After Covid-19, Randy Pavlicko

Cleveland State Law Review

The Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) was enacted in 1990 to eliminate discrimination against individuals with disabilities. Over time, as society has become more reliant on the internet, the issue of whether the ADA’s scope extends beyond physical places to online technology has emerged. A circuit split developed on this issue, and courts have discussed three interpretations of the ADA’s scope: (1) the ADA applies to physical places only; (2) the ADA applies to a website or mobile app that has a sufficient nexus to a physical place; or (3) the ADA broadly applies beyond physical places to online technology. …

Unexpected Inequality: Disparate-Impact From Artificial Intelligence In Healthcare Decisions, Sahar Takshi

Journal of Law and Health

Systemic discrimination in healthcare plagues marginalized groups. Physicians incorrectly view people of color as having high pain tolerance, leading to undertreatment. Women with disabilities are often undiagnosed because their symptoms are dismissed. Low-income patients have less access to appropriate treatment. These patterns, and others, reflect long-standing disparities that have become engrained in U.S. health systems.

As the healthcare industry adopts artificial intelligence and algorithminformed (AI) tools, it is vital that regulators address healthcare discrimination. AI tools are increasingly used to make both clinical and administrative decisions by hospitals, physicians, and insurers—yet there is no framework that specifically places nondiscrimination obligations …

Employer Liability For Sex Harassment Through The Lens Of Restorative Justice, Emily Rees

Cleveland State Law Review

Title VII cases alleging sex harassment have become almost completely deferential to employers who have anti-harassment policies. In this Note, I discuss legal and sociological influences on this development and propose using restorative justice focused mediation to avoid rendering Title VII entirely ineffective. Mediation should only be compelled as a remedy—after a court finds that harassment occurred, but that the plaintiff cannot prove her employer knew about the harassment. Instead of dismissing these cases—where judges have already found illegal discrimination—some corrective action should be imposed on the employer for its failure to maintain a harassment-free workplace. Focusing mediation on principles …

Masterpiece Cakeshop'S Homiletics, Marc Spindelman

Cleveland State Law Review

Viewed closely and comprehensively, Masterpiece Cakeshop, far from simply being the narrow, shallow, and modest decision many have taken it to be, is a rich, multi-faceted decision that cleaves and binds the parties to the case, carefully managing conflictual crisis. Through a ruling for a faithful custom-wedding-cake baker against a state whose legal processes are held to have been marred by anti-religious bias, the Court unfolds a cross-cutting array of constitutional wins and losses for cultural conservatives and traditional moralists, on the one hand, and for lesbians and gay men and their supporters committed to civil and equal rights, …

Now, I'M Liberal, But To A Degree: An Essay On Debating Religious Liberty And Discrimination, Francis J. Beckwith

Cleveland State Law Review

This essay is a critical analysis of the book authored by John Corvino, Sherif Girgis, and Ryan T. Anderson, Debating Religious Liberty and Discrimination. The book offers two contrary views on how best to think about some of the conflicts that have arisen over religious liberty and anti-discrimination laws, e.g., Masterpiece Cakeshop, Ltd. v. Colorado Civil Rights Comm’n, 138 S. Ct. 1719 (2018). One position is defended by Corvino, and the other by Girgis and Anderson. After a brief discussion of the differing views of religious liberty throughout American history (including the American founding), this essay summarizes each …

Tipped Scales: A Look At The Ever-Growing Imbalance Of Power Protecting Religiously Motivated Conduct, Why That's Bad, And How To Stop It, Jeff Nelson

Cleveland State Law Review

This Note examines the current state of the law that seemingly allows individuals to harm and discriminate against others on the basis of their protected religious beliefs. This Note also explores how such a result has been made possible and how it may be stymied by judicial and legislative action. Section II discusses a short history of the First Amendment’s Free Exercise Clause leading up to Religious Freedom Restoration Acts, and also includes an examination of both the real and possible harmful effects of RFRAs, current reactions to the application of these laws domestically, and interesting parallels internationally. Section III …

Pregnant Employees, Working Mothers And The Workplace - Legislation, Social Change And Where We Are Today , Thomas H. Barnard, Adrienne L. Rapp

Journal of Law and Health

Accordingly, the focus of this Article is on the legal and social evolution resulting from the Civil Rights Act's prohibition of sex-based discrimination- and, in particular, pregnancy-related discrimination - in the workplace. Section II of this Article details the reluctance with which courts and employers initially extended workplace rights to women. Sections III and IV discuss Title VII's prohibition against "sex" discrimination and initial court hesitation to interpret that prohibition to include employees discriminated against on the basis of pregnancy. Sections V and VI provide an overview of federal and Ohio law granting pregnancy-related rights to women, including the PDA, …

New Strategies For Old Problems: The Fair Housing Act At 40, Symposium: New Strategies In Fair Housing, Jeffrey D. Dillman

Cleveland State Law Review

This article discusses the advances in fair housing since 1968 while analyzing the evidence of persistent discrimination and segregation. It looks at past strategies of the enforcement of the FHA by fair housing groups and the education and outreach performed by the groups. Additionally, the author provides commentary on the future of fair housing.

Toward A Plain Meaning Approach To Analyzing Title Vii: Employment Discrimination Protection Of Transsexuals, Kevin Schwin

Cleveland State Law Review

The purpose of this Article is two-fold. First, this Article will discuss whether transsexuals should be protected at all from employment discrimination, and if so, whether protection should be accomplished through legislative or judicial means. Then, the Article will discuss each of the aforementioned approaches and advocate for a logical and consistent manner in which courts should decide cases under Title VII where a transsexual plaintiff alleges discrimination because of sex.

Rhetorical Neutrality: Colorblindness, Frederick Douglass, And Inverted Critical Race Theory, Cedric Merlin Powell

Cleveland State Law Review

Rhetorical Neutrality refers to the middle ground approach adopted by the Supreme Court in its race jurisprudence. This Article examines rhetorical neutrality as evinced in the narratives espoused in the opinions of Justices O'Connor and Thomas. In Grutter, both Justices employ neutral approaches, rooted in colorblindness. However, the underlying rhetoric, or how their reasoning is expressed in their respective opinions, is strikingly distinct. Neither Justice advances a remedial approach; both Justices start with the premise that race is inherently suspect, but their approaches diverge because they view colorblind neutrality in fundamentally distinct ways.

Reconsidering The Scope And Consequences Of Appellate Review In The Certification Decision Of Dukes V. Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. , Nicole Hitch

Cleveland State Law Review

This article will explore the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure and their application in the granting or denial of certification in an employment discrimination class action. In doing so, this article will examine how the district court applied these rules in the Wal-Mart action, which resulted in the certification of the largest private class action suit in American history. Additionally, this article will consider the consequences of the Ninth Circuit's utilization of permissive and liberal standards and, alternatively, the consequences of incorporation of stricter standards from various other circuit courts and the possible result of denial of certification.

The Need For Parity In Health Insurance Benefits For The Mentally And Physically Disabled: Questioning Inconsistency Between Two Leading Anti-Discrimination Laws, Sarah Ritz

Journal of Law and Health

Discriminatory practices by the insurance industry, such as benefit limits (caps) on mental health services coverage, or complete lack of mental health care coverage fuel the disparate treatment of those with mental disabilities. These discriminatory practices have been the subject of much debate, and cases challenging those principles have not fared well in the court system. These insurance practices, which single out persons with mental illness and provide them with little or no benefits for mental health care, violate the terms of the Americans with Disabilities Act ("ADA"), and are inconsistent with other laws that seek to remedy discrimination against …

Constitutional Classifications And The "Gay Gene", Susan J. Becker

Law Faculty Articles and Essays

In this essay the author discusses the use of genetic information to classify individuals for purposes of the law, and more specifically, the impact of the so-called “gay gene” on legal classifications.

Genetic Discrimination: Does It Exist, And What Are Its Implications?, Paul Steven Miller

Journal of Law and Health

Does genetic discrimination exist? Thus far, there have been no cases other than Burlington Northern and maybe a couple of other cases which have been filed by plaintiffs in either federal or state court. Notwithstanding all of the statutes, there haven't been a tremendous amount of charges coming in, people coming to the EEOC (Equal Employment Opportunity Commission), or to respective state agencies and even filing charges. This fact confuses me, because I actually believe that genetic discrimination, as we've been talking about it, is happening more often in the real world than this charge flow would indicate.

Reasons To Eschew Federal Lawmaking And Embrace Common Law Approaches To Genetic Discrimination, S. Candice Hoke

Journal of Law and Health

Professor Hoffman and I agree: there ought to be some laws, but I want to talk to you a little bit about two possible, two real goals here. One is to ask you to critically evaluate whether a federal statute is the right remedial response at this point in time, and secondly, to ask you to start thinking about the possibility of drafting into service what we in law refer to as traditional state common-law approaches that actually might give us more and better ways to remedy what's going on than simply turning to Congress.

Legislation And Genetic Discrimination, Sharona Hoffman

Journal of Law and Health

State legislation addresses genetic discrimination in both employment and health insurance. Thirty-one states have passed laws that address genetic discrimination in employment. Approximately thirteen states prohibit employers from requiring applicants to undergo genetic testing as a condition of employment. Some states have more limited restrictions. Florida prohibits only the screening of applicants for the sickle-cell trait. Wisconsin requires employers to obtain written and informed consent from applicants prior to administering genetic tests, but does not preclude their utilization altogether. Some states establish exceptions that permit genetic testing that is job-related or that is conducted, with the employee's written and informed …

Genetic Testing And Employment Litigation, Harry Zanville

Journal of Law and Health

I have only a couple of comments to make that relate to litigation hurdles and how to achieve this balance, and the first thing I want to talk about, following the wonderful presentation is, in fact, we probably don't in some ways even need a new cause of action.

The Recent Respectability Of Summary Judgments And Directed Verdicts In Intentional Age Discrimination Cases: Adea Case Analysis Through The Supreme Court's Summary Judgment Prism, Frank J. Cavaliere

Cleveland State Law Review

The purpose of this Article is to review recent Supreme Court "guidance" on standards for summary judgment and directed verdict and the effect these decisions are having upon ADEA cases.

From Class Actions To Miss Saigon: The Concept Of Representation In The Law, Martha L. Minow

Cleveland State Law Review

The representation debates over casting "Miss Saigon" and law school faculties reflect the prevalence of contemporary assumptions about group differences. They reflect arguments made on behalf of historically excluded groups that group membership serves as a proxy for shared experiences and especially common experiences as victims of societal prejudice. Opponents, styled as defenders of neutrality, resist such arguments because they undermine the commitment to treating individuals as individuals. Maybe we can understand the debates better by seeing connections to deeper confusions about the concept of representation throughout our society, made especially vivid in legal and political contexts. If treated as …

From Class Actions To Miss Saigon: The Concept Of Representation In The Law, Martha L. Minow

Cleveland State Law Review

The representation debates over casting "Miss Saigon" and law school faculties reflect the prevalence of contemporary assumptions about group differences. They reflect arguments made on behalf of historically excluded groups that group membership serves as a proxy for shared experiences and especially common experiences as victims of societal prejudice. Opponents, styled as defenders of neutrality, resist such arguments because they undermine the commitment to treating individuals as individuals. Maybe we can understand the debates better by seeing connections to deeper confusions about the concept of representation throughout our society, made especially vivid in legal and political contexts. If treated as …

The Myth Of Reverse Race Discrimination: An Historical Perspective, Shirley E. Stewart

Cleveland State Law Review

This paper will analyze the competing considerations in America's struggle for true equality for all its people. The basic premise upon which the analysis will be made is that it is in the best interest of the country to achieve equality among the races, at every level of American society, as quickly as possible. This author views discrimination and the present effects of past discrimination, as experienced by black America, as an evil facing Americans of every color. The sooner this country can rid itself of the evil, the sooner it can be on its way to achieving a decent, …

Using Statistical Evidence To Enforce The Laws Against Discrimination, Kenneth Montlack

Cleveland State Law Review

In actions brought under a variety of federal statutes barring racial discrimination, the federal judiciary has increasingly relied upon statistical evidence in determining the existence of unlawful discrimination. This article will seek to identify the nature and extent of such reliance on statistical evidence, discuss the reasons for the increasing use of statistical evidence, analyze the significance of the increase, and explore the potential for using statistical evidence in actions by the Ohio Civil Rights Commission.

Trafficante V. Metropolitan Life Ins. Co. - White Ghetto Tenants - Standing To Protest Landlord's Rental Discrimination, Rosalee Chiara

Cleveland State Law Review

The Supreme Court in Trafficante v. Metropolitan life Insurance Co. has held that tenants having standing under Tile VIII of the 1968 Civil Rights Act, 42 U.S.C. §3610(a), §3610(d) and 42 U.S.C. §19824 to sue their landlord for its alleged discriminatory rental practices.5 Plaintiffs, one black and one white, were tenants of an apartment complex in San Francisco whose tenant population of approximately 8,200 people was less than one percent black. The complaint alleged a variety of discriminatory rental practices directed toward non-white rental applicants and stated that plaintiffs had been injured in three respects. They claimed that they had …

Discrimination Against Women In Employment In Higher Education, Alan Miles Ruben, Betty J. Willis

Cleveland State Law Review

Having been forced to adjust the structure of academic governance and the design of the curriculum responsively to large-scale student protest, it now appears that universities will have to rework their traditional patterns for the appointment, compensation and promotion of faculty and administrative staff to satisfy the demands being made by the women's liberation movement for an end to sexist employment practices.

A Note On Racial Restrictions, William R. Kinney

Cleveland State Law Review

In view of the holding in the Shelley case, can the grantor in a deed have recourse to the courts to enforce a stipulated penalty contained in a discriminatory racial covenant (such as payment of damages or forfeiture of title) if the enforcement of such penalty does not directly involve the constitutional rights of third persons?