Law Commons^™

Free Exercise, The Respect For Marriage Act, And Some Potential Surprises, Mark Strasser

Cleveland State Law Review

Congress recently passed the Respect for Marriage Act to assure that certain marriages would remain valid even if the Supreme Court were to overrule past precedent and hold that the Constitution does not protect the right to marry a partner of the same sex or of a different race. However, the Act, as written, may not offer protection for certain same-sex or interracial marriages and may open the door to the federal protection of plural marriages, congressional intent notwithstanding, because of the Court’s increasingly robust free exercise jurisprudence.

Methodological Gerrymandering, David Simson

Cleveland State Law Review

The U.S. Supreme Court has come to decide many of the most consequential and contentious aspects of social policy via its interpretations of the U.S. Constitution. Institutional features of the Court create significant pressure on the Justices to justify their decisions as applications of “law” rather than the practice of “politics.” Their perceived failure to do so calls forth criticism sounding in a variety of registers—ranging from allegations of a lack of neutrality, lack of impartiality, or lack of “principle,” to allegations of opportunism, disingenuousness, and hypocrisy. Analyzing the Justices’ choices in relation to interpretational “methodology”—choosing one lens through which …

Dobbs And The Future Of Liberty And Equality, Kim Forde-Mazrui

Cleveland State Law Review

This lecture critiques Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization and assesses its implications for liberty and equality. Dobbs’ immediate effect was major disruption to abortion rights. In the longer term, by discarding fifty years of precedent and by basing constitutional rights exclusively on long-standing history and tradition, Dobbs jeopardizes liberty and equality rights that the Court has recognized in the late twentieth and early twenty-first centuries. Such modern liberty rights include contraception, interracial marriage, adult sexual intimacy and same-sex marriage. Modern equality rights include strong bars on discrimination based on race and sex, and moderate protections for LGBTQ+ status. …

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, …

Online Sex Trafficking Hysteria: Flawed Policies, Ignored Human Rights, And Censorship, Regina A. Russo

Cleveland State Law Review

On April 11, 2018, President Donald Trump signed the Allow States and Victims to Fight Online Sex Trafficking Act (FOSTA) into law. The law, passed with bipartisan support, created a new federal offense that prohibits the use or operation of websites with the intent to "promote" or "facilitate" prostitution, expanded existing liability for federal sex trafficking offenses, and amended Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act. Touted as the "most important law protecting Internet speech," section 230 provides broad protection for online intermediaries that host or republish speech. It immunizes online intermediaries from liability for the things that third-party users …

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 …

When Is A Trafficking Victim A Trafficking Victim? Anti-Prostitution Statutes And Victim Protection, Michele Boggiani

Cleveland State Law Review

Victims of sex-market trafficking are often criminalized under anti-prostitution statutes rather than protected under anti-trafficking laws. As a result, trafficking victims suffer ramifications resulting from both the exploitation of their captors and the social stigma of criminalization. The combined hardships make it exponentially more difficult for victims to overcome their past and safely reintegrate into society. This Article first identifies the sources of the double-victimization problem, including the perpetuated stereotypes regarding trafficking victims and the methods of exploitation, inadequate law enforcement training, and statutes that conflate sex-market victims with prostitution. Having identified the source of the problem, the author proposes …

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 …

Gender Dysphoria In The Jailhouse: A Constitutional Right To Hormone Therapy?, Susan S. Bendlin

Cleveland State Law Review

United States Army Private Bradley Manning made headlines in the fall of 2013 when he was convicted of espionage, fraud, and theft for divulging classified military and diplomatic information to WikiLeaks. After the twenty-five year old was sentenced to thirty-five years in military prison, he made instantly made headlines again by announcing that he wanted to live as a woman in prison. Divulging that he has Gender Identity Disorder, Manning said that he had suffered for years in the wrong body and that he would henceforth be recognized as a female, Chelsea Manning. The Army, however, has stated that it …

The Politicization Of Judicial Elections And Its Effect On Judicial Independence, Matthew W. Green Jr., Susan J. Becker, Marsha K. Ternus, Camilla B. Taylor

Cleveland State Law Review

This article presents the proceedings of the Cleveland-Marshall College of Law Symposium, The Politicization of Judicial Elections and Its Effect on Judicial Independence and LGBT Rights, held October 21, 2011. The idea for the conference stemmed from the November 2010 Iowa judicial election, in which three justices were voted out of office as a result of joining a unanimous ruling, Varnum v. Brien, that struck down, on equal protection grounds, a state statute limiting marriage rights to heterosexual couples. The conference addresses whether the backlash that occurred in Iowa after the Varnum decision might undermine judicial independence in jurisdictions where …

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.

Equal Protection For Homosexuals: Why The Immutability Argument Is Necessary And How It Is Met, Kari Balog

Cleveland State Law Review

The immutability factor is possibly the most disputed of the four factors of the Frontiero test, a test laid out by the Supreme Court to identify suspect classifications. Doctors and scientists have spent years studying sexual orientation, attempting to find the cause of homosexuality in order to determine whether or not sexual orientation may be changed. Unfortunately, the many studies have not provided a definitive answer to the question of immutability. This Note considers many of the psychological, hormonal, and more recent genetic studies and determines what the medical and scientific evidence means for homosexuals in their pursuit for equal …

Male Sexual Assault: Issues Of Arousal And Consent, Siegmund Fred Fuchs

Cleveland State Law Review

This Note argues that an erection under these circumstances does not indicate consent to engage in sexual activity. Part II of this Note explores the reality of male sexual assault and offers various medical, psychological, sociological, and cultural reasons to explain why a male victim may maintain an erection while being sexually assaulted and/or raped. Part II also explores the complex relationship between physical arousal and sexual desire. Part III provides a legal background to both the law's treatment of male sexual assault generally and in specific instances where the male victim maintained an erection during his assault. This part …

Civil Rights For Gays And Lesbians And Domestic Partner Benefits: How Far Could An Ohio Municipality Go , Mark A. Tumeo

Cleveland State Law Review

It can be seen from the analyses in this Article that ordinances which grant domestic partnership benefits and/or civil rights to gays and lesbians will probably face a complex gambit of legal challenges under state law, federal law, and both State and U.S. Constitutions. Current law and current common practice in the State, however, indicates that municipalities probably have almost unfettered power to pass ordinances that either grant protection or deny protection to gays and lesbians in the area of employment and housing discrimination within the municipalities jurisdiction. The situation is not as clear when it comes to domestic partnership …

Constitutional Classifications And The Gay Gene, Susan Becker

Journal of Law and Health

What I am going to talk about is 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. What is really important here, and the reason I need to offer you a primer on constitutional law, is so that we all start on the same page by understanding how our laws, starting with the federal constitution, classify people for the purpose of bestowing or denying rights and benefits. This leads us to an understanding of why people object to various classifications, and an appreciation …

Re-Orienting Law And Sexuality , Ratna Kapur, Tayyab Mahmud

Cleveland State Law Review

This symposium issue of the Cleveland State Law Review emerges from the Reorienting Law and Sexuality Conference hosted by Cleveland-Marshall College of Law in October 1999. The symposium locates itself as a continuation of the discourse that surfaced in the American legal academy in 1979 with a symposium issue of the Hastings Law Review. It is a discourse that brings into sharp relief technologies of power and strategies of resistance that contend at all sites where law aims to regulate human sexuality. While the initiative of 1979 was further cultivated by other forums of knowledge production within the American legal …

The Strengths And Weaknesses Of Local Human Rights Ordinances, Robert Salem

Cleveland State Law Review

This panel will discuss the prospects and perils of local human rights initiatives. Specifically, I will talk about the nature of these local initiatives and their advantages and disadvantages. Time permitting, I will also talk about our successful effort last year in Toledo, Ohio to pass a human rights ordinance that includes sexual orientation as a protected category, and why it is so crucial that lawyers and law professors become involved in these local campaigns. I believe that with determination, most communities can achieve what we did in Toledo. Local human rights ordinances (HROs) take a variety of forms, and …

Legal Challenges To And By Sex Workers/Prostitutes , Amalia Lucia Cabezas

Cleveland State Law Review

Sex worker is a term that emerges from a particular historical and political juncture. It reflects a change in consciousness imbedded in the political struggles of women prostitutes. In this article, I trace the genealogy of the term to the 1960s, when major changes occurred in the role of women in society and in the reconceptualization of what were heretofore known as "deviant" sexualities. I then shift attention to the Caribbean, where I apply the term to the advent of sex tourism and the development of a sex workers' movement linked to a human rights agenda.

Second-Parent Adoption, Patricia J. Falk

Cleveland State Law Review

My topic for today's presentation is second-parent adoption. I hope to accomplish four things in my discussion. First, I will define second-parent adoption and give some reasons that it is desirable for both parents and children. Second, I will summarize the state of the law in terms of legislative enactments and case law in the United States. Third, I will discuss the role of social science in second-parent adoption cases. Finally, I will discuss some of the implications of recognizing these adoptions.

The First Amendment's Petition Clause As An Alternative Basis For Challenging Voter Initiatives That Burden The Enactment Of Anti-Discrimination Protection For Gays, Lesbians, And Bisexuals, Kevin Francis O'Neill

Cleveland State Law Review

The purpose of my remarks today is to suggest that the First Amendment-specifically, the Petition Clause of the First Amendment provides an alternative basis for vindicating gay, lesbian, and bisexual rights in certain cases. At least in the context of voter initiatives that seek to abolish anti-discrimination protection for sexual orientation, the Petition Clause is a promising alternative to equal protection and substantive due process. My objective here was merely to plant a seed: to identify an alternative basis for vindicating the rights of gays, lesbians, and bisexuals-especially when combatting homophobic voter initiatives like those in Romer and Cincinnati. It's …

Consent To Sperm Retrieval And Insemination After Death Or Persistent Vegatative State, Carson Strong

Journal of Law and Health

Although a number of additional legal questions can be raised, including issues of paternity and inheritance, this paper focuses on the legal issues pertaining to consent, as well as the ethical questions raised above, which need to be discussed in order to address adequately the legal consent issues. The paper is organized as follows: first, the current law of consent to sperm retrieval and insemination after death or PVS is discussed in order to identify gaps in the law - areas that the law does not address or concerning which it is unclear; second, ethical issues are discussed that are …

Law And The Sexual Subaltern: A Comparative Perspective , Ratna Kapur

Cleveland State Law Review

I am entering this conversation as a comparativist who wants to complicate the received wisdom about India in the West in regard to matters of sex, desire and the law. I want to address three issues:* First, how sex generally and alternative sexuality more specifically, are emerging as zones of contest in the legal arena and are simultaneously cast as cultural controversies in post-colonial India.* Second, I address how sexual subalterns, that is, gays, lesbians and sexworkers, are challenging dominant sexual and cultural norms.* And finally, I examine why a project of pleasure and desire is an important political goal …

The Beltway And Beyond: The Struggle For Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual And Transgender Equality, Rebecca Isaacs

Cleveland State Law Review

I will focus primarily on the struggle in the legislative arena in Washington, DC and more importantly, in states and local communities. And I will focus on three key issues for the GLBT community: families; civil rights and the intersection with religious liberty rights; and finally, violence and hate crimes. In summary, the GLBT community is pushing ahead of these and other issues in all 50 states.

Canadian Same Sex Relationship Recognition Struggles And The Contradictory Nature Of Legal Victories, Brenda Cossman

Cleveland State Law Review

I want to pick up on one of the themes running through virtually all of the papers in this symposium-the contradictory nature of law. Legal victories-and defeats-are always fragile, partial and contradictory. The perspective I bring to this theme is a Canadian one, where in the context of gay and lesbian struggles, legal victories now outweigh legal defeats. I will tell a story of these legal victories, which resulted in a much celebrated case in 1999 known as M v. H., in which the Supreme Court of Canada recognized the equality rights of same sex couples, and struck down a …

Second-Parent Adoption By Same-Sex Couples In Ohio: Unsettled And Unsettling Law, Susan J. Becker

Cleveland State Law Review

In addition to the need for homes for children without any legally recognized parent, the need for a child who already has one legal parent to be adopted by the parent's gay or lesbian partner who is already serving as a de facto parent is very important to the child's emotional stability and material well being. This type of adoption, frequently referred to as a "second-parent" adoption,' is the focal point of this article. However, the matters discussed herein also apply directly and by analogy to situations where gay and lesbian couples and heterosexual unmarried couples desire to jointly adopt …

Welfare Reform And The Use Of State Power In The Prostitution Of Poor Women , April L. Cherry

Cleveland State Law Review

I would like to talk about the connection between welfare reform "as we know it," and the potential for increased state support for the prostitution of women. In particular, I would like to discuss the work requirements found in both federal and state welfare reform statutory schemes. I worry that these work requirements will sanction the prostitution of poor women, particularly poor women of color, lesbians, and other women with children who are already forced to live their lives at the economic and social margins of society. I worry that the work requirements found in the new welfare regime will …

Legislating Special Rights , Karen Engle

Cleveland State Law Review

Is it possible to pursue a queer agenda in promoting and defending gay rights ordinances? My answer is yes, or at least that we need to try to do it. I propose that we pursue a queer agenda by arguing for special rights, not equal rights. Not only does the special rights argument fit with the queer agenda; it also provides our best hope for confronting gay rights opponents. I'll put forth my argument in the following way. First, I'll talk about what a queer sensibility is, and discuss how a call for special rights fits within that sensibility. Second, …

Gender Discrimination Within The Reproductive Health Care System: Viagra V. Birth Control, Lisa A. Hayden

Journal of Law and Health

This Article begins with an examination of the prescription drug, Viagra and the medical condition it is intended to aid. Additionally, this Article evaluates the five most common, and FDA approved forms of contraceptives: contraceptive pills, intrauterine devices (IUD's), Depo-Provera shots, Norplant inserts and diaphragms. A basic understanding of the above prescriptions is necessary to determine if health care inequity exists between men and women in the area of prescriptive coverage, or if there is such a difference between the medical conditions involved that insurance companies are justified in excluding contraceptive coverage while including Viagra coverage. Part III of this …

Domestic Partnership Benefits: Why Not Offer Them To Same-Sex Partners And Unmarried Opposite Sex Partners, Debbie Zielinski

Journal of Law and Health

Employers offering these benefits to same-sex domestic partners only, may face legal challenges such as marital status and sexual orientation discrimination or equal protection arguments from their unmarried heterosexual employees. In addition, states and municipalities have been increasing the potential of such litigation by passing laws that prohibit discrimination based on sexual orientation and marital status especially in the areas of housing and employment. This Note examines the potential of such legal challenges when employers use the narrow definition in structuring their domestic partner benefit programs. In addition, avoiding challenges by simply not offering benefits will be discussed. However, before …

The Ohio Supreme Court Sets The Statute Of Limitations And Adopts The Discovery Rule For Childhood Sexual Abuse Actions: Now It Is Time For Legislative Action, R. Christopher Yingling

Cleveland State Law Review

This Note discusses the issue of childhood sexual abuse and challenges the appropriateness of Ohio's current statute of limitations for prosecuting a civil claim of childhood sexual abuse. Part II of this Note describes the problem of child sexual abuse in our society. Part III examines the short-and long-term effects of childhood sexual abuse, particularly memory repression. Part IV reviews the theory of recovered memories and the associated problems with reliability. Part V addresses Ohio's governing statute of limitations for civil claims of childhood sexual abuse. Part VI reviews the history of the discovery rule in Ohio and its application …