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Prefatory Matter

Richmond Public Interest Law Review

No abstract provided.

Letter From The Editor, Maryann Grover

Richmond Public Interest Law Review

No abstract provided.

2018 Symposium Keynote Address, Sharyn Tejani

Richmond Public Interest Law Review

No abstract provided.

2018 Symposium Panel Discussion: Sexual Harassment In The Workplace In The #Metoo Era, Kevin Woodson, Janice Craft, Kati Dean, Patty Gill, Rebecca Royals

Richmond Public Interest Law Review

No abstract provided.

Legal Changes Needed To Strengthen The #Metoo Movement, Sarah David Heydemann, Sharyn Tejani

Richmond Public Interest Law Review

The rise of the #MeToo Movement highlights the inadequacies of Title VII, the federal law that protects against employment discrimination, including sex harassment. Title VII, in its current form, does not adequately address the needs of workers, especially low-wage workers, who already face considerable obstacles to reporting their harassment. While states have made significant strides in this area, the work of advocates for change and for survivors, like the TIME’S UP Legal Defense Fund and the National Women’s Law Center, is necessary so that the federal government follows suit to ensure Title VII works for all workers. In this article, …

Vicarious Trauma In Public Service Lawyering: How Chronic Exposure To Trauma Affects The Brain And Body, Megan Zwisohn, Wayne Handley, Danielle Winters, Alyssa Reiter

Richmond Public Interest Law Review

Each day, attorneys and other service providers are subject to trauma. By the nature of the profession, they work with victims of crime, victims of poverty, and victims of discrimination. While attorneys do not personally experience this victimization, they do often internalize it and revisit it in case preparation. As a result, attorneys, particularly those in public interest roles, regularly experience, burnout, compassion fatigue, and vicarious trauma. These factors can negatively impact attorneys neurological and physiological functioning, causing them harm and potentially causing harm to their client or their client’s case. For these reasons, it is critically important for attorneys …

They Still Just Don’T Get It: The Lessons Of The #Metoo Movement Through The Lens Of Supreme Court Nominations, Maryann Grover

Richmond Public Interest Law Review

Many have hailed the #MeToo Movement as a turning point in the way this country discusses sexual assault and sexual harassment, but when looking at the #MeToo Movement through the lens of Supreme Court nominations, it is unclear whether the impact of the Movement will be as farreaching as some imagine. The hearing of Anita Hill, which came before the #MeToo Movement, and the hearing of Dr. Christine Blasey Ford, which came after the #MeToo Movement, perhaps demonstrate that the #MeToo Movement has reached its limit culturally and now institutional change must be the focus in order for the goals …

To The Survivors Of Childhood Sexual Abuse- Whenever You’Re Ready: Eliminating The Criminal Statute Of Limitations On Childhood Sexual Assault Crimes In Light Of Pennsylvania’S Catholic Dioceses Grand Jury Investigation, Rebecca Schultz

Richmond Public Interest Law Review

It is exceptionally difficult for many survivors of sexual assault to come forward to tell their story. This is particularly the case where the perpetrator is someone in a position of power who the survivor trusted. The statute of limitations for cases of childhood sexual abuse can serve as another barrier preventing survivors from coming forward because it prevents any semblance of justice for those individuals. This is currently most evident in states like Pennsylvania that still impose a statute of limitations on crimes of sexually assaulting children. Pennsylvania is reeling from its most recent Catholic clergy sex abuse scandal, …

E-Museletter: April 2019, William Taylor Muse Law Library

Museletter

This Issue:

What You Need to Know

Resource Updates

How to Make Your Life Easier

Director's Message

E-Museletter: March 2019, William Taylor Muse Law Library

Museletter

This Issue:

What You Need to Know

Resource Updates

Pleased to Make Your Acquaintance

Director's Message

The Opportunity And The Danger Of The New Urban Migration, Richard Sander

University of Richmond Law Review

Twenty-first century America is witnessing a broad and unprecedented migration of middle- and upper-middle class families to old, dense, and often low-income urban neighborhoods. This “new urban migration” has the potential to create wholly gentrified neighborhoods that displace existing residents, or to engender racially and economically integrated neighborhoods that strengthen both neighborhoods and central cities. I argue that valuable lessons can be learned from the 1970s, when another large intraurban migration—the vast metropolitan movement of black households into white neighborhoods that followed passage of the Fair Housing Act—produced patterns of resegregation in many cities, but genuine housing integration in others. …

A New Home For Haters—Online Home Sharing Platforms: A Look At The Applicability Of The Fair Housing Act To Home Shares, Allison K. Bethel

University of Richmond Law Review

In 2018, we celebrated the fiftieth anniversary of the Fair Housing Act which outlawed discrimination in residential transactions. When the FHA was passed, the home search process was very different. Fifty years ago, most people searched for housing by viewing listings in newspapers and other printed publications or perhaps used a realtor. Today, most people use the internet to search for housing. Home sharing, where all or part of a home is rented on a short-term basis, has become very popular since 2008 when Airbnb entered the market. It has become a multimillion-dollar business and proponents see great potential in …

Racism Knocking At The Door: The Use Of Criminal Background Checks In Rental Housing, Valerie Schneider

University of Richmond Law Review

One of the harshest collateral consequences of an arrest or conviction is the impact a criminal record can have on one’s ability to secure housing. Because racial bias permeates every aspect of the criminal justice system as well as the housing market, this collateral consequence—the inability to find a place to live after an arrest or conviction—disproportionately affects minorities.

In 2016, after decades of appearing to encourage local public housing providers to adopt harsh policies barring applicants with criminal records, the Office of General Counsel for the United States Department of Housing and Urban Development (“HUD”) issued guidance instructing public …

Coordinated Action On School And Housing Integration: The Role Of State Government, Megan Haberle, Philip Tegeler

University of Richmond Law Review

In this essay, we assess the prospects for more coordinated government efforts to address housing and school segregation at the federal, state and local level. We conclude that multiple barriers to concerted action at the federal and local level, particularly to addressing racial and economic segregation across local boundaries, suggest a more central role for state governments than has previously been the case. State-level laws and programs can succeed as drivers of integration in a way that is distinct from either federal or local interventions, because of the state’s direct control over the key policies that drive modern school and …

Fifty Years Of Fair Housing: Learning From The Past, Looking To The Future, Douglas Wilder

University of Richmond Law Review

I think sometimes you need to wonder where we were in 1968. It wasn’t just the Fair Housing Act that was passed in 1968. What happened in 1968? George Wallace was running for president. Hubert Humphrey was running for president, and Richard Nixon as well. It wasn’t just the assassination of Dr. King, we also had the assassination of Robert Kennedy. We likewise had the Vietnam War, and America was a mess. We had something else occurring in 1968. That was the Kerner Commission Report, that Dr. Crutcher mentioned had been instrumental in the fair housing bill. And they made …

Table Of Contents

University of Richmond Law Review

No abstract provided.

Fair Housing Act At Fifty, Sara Pratt

University of Richmond Law Review

I’m going to talk a little bit about why it is that the Fair Housing Act at fifty still is relevant. I mean, after all, should it really be relevant?

How is it that a law that languished in Congress for years and then was abruptly passed when our country was in deep anger, grief, and disbelief at the assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King is still relevant? There’s virtually no legislative history around the passage of the law. It was going nowhere in Congress until Dr. King was assassinated. There was no time to build up to it in …

Housing Supply And The Common Wealth, Benjamin P. Campbell

University of Richmond Law Review

It’s a powerful thing to mark the fiftieth anniversary of the Fair Housing Act of 1968, something that actually happened and has actually had an effect. I grew up in segregated Virginia, so I have a pretty powerful sense of the passage of time here. It’s given us the opportunity today to review and mark human progress, to take stock of where we are and to identify the efforts and issues of our time. The victories here have changed the nation, and the task is still daunting.

Acknowledgements, Carly M. Celestino

University of Richmond Law Review

No abstract provided.

Unjust Cities? Gentrification, Integration, And The Fair Housing Act, Olatunde C.A. Johnson

University of Richmond Law Review

What does gentrification mean for fair housing? This article considers the possibility that gentrification should be celebrated as a form of integration alongside a darker narrative that sees gentrification as necessarily unstable and leading to inequality or displacement of lower-income, predominantly of color, residents. Given evidence of both possibilities, this article considers how the Fair Housing Act might be deployed to minimize gentrification’s harms while harnessing some of the benefits that might attend integration and movement of higher-income residents to cities. Ultimately, the article urges building on the fair housing approach but employing a broader set of tools to advance …

Affordable Housing: Of Inefficiency, Market Distortion, And Government Failure, Michael Diamond

University of Richmond Law Review

In this essay, I examine the types of costs that are imposed on society as a whole due to the absence of a sufficient number of decent housing units that are affordable to the low-income population. These costs present themselves in relation to health care, education, employment, productivity, homelessness, and incarceration. Some of the costs are direct expenditures while others are the result of lost opportunities. My hypothesis is that these costs are significant and offer, at the very least, a substantial offset to the cost of creating and subsidizing the operation of the necessary number of affordable housing units …

Table Of Contents: Allen Chair Symposium 2009

University of Richmond Law Review

No abstract provided.

E-Museletter: February 2019, William Taylor Muse Law Library

Museletter

This Issue:

What You Need to Know

Resource Updates

Out and About in RVA

Director's Message

Letter From The Editor, Maryann Grover

Richmond Public Interest Law Review

No abstract provided.

The Appeal Of A Repeal: Analyzing Virginia’S Self-Sabotage Of Successful Re-Entry For Drug Felons, Salaam Bhatti

Richmond Public Interest Law Review

The United States is currently engaged in a battle against poverty. There are many heads to this Hydra, but one of the most significant is the felony drug ban. The felony drug ban prohibits individuals convicted of felony drug offenses from receiving Supplement Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) and Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) benefits. This means that, at a time when a former inmate is most vulnerable – when they struggle to find work and support themselves post-release - the government turns a blind eye to that individual’s need, often forcing a former inmate to recidivate and do anything …

Grassroots Organizing And Medicaid Expansion In Virginia: The Lee County Chapter Of Virginia Organizing And Medicaid Expansion, Brian Johns, Rosemary Gould, Ladelle Mcwhorter

Richmond Public Interest Law Review

The ability to participate in grassroots organizing derives implicitly from the Constitution’s declaration of “We the People” and explicitly from the First Amendment’s guarantee of the right to petition the Government for redress. At Virginia Organizing, we take this grant of power very seriously as is evident from our recent grassroots organizing for Medicaid expansion in Virginia. Our work focused predominately on more rural parts of the Commonwealth where our chapter members have experienced the consequences of a lack of access to health care. By mobilizing individuals passionate about Medicaid expansion and those who suffer from the lack of it …

Aging Out: 2018 Legislation Seeking To Address Virginia’S Permanency Problem For Children In Foster Care, Valerie L'Herrou

Richmond Public Interest Law Review

Virginia has one of the highest rates of youth who “age out” of the foster care system and one of the lowest family reunification rates in the country. This is due to several factors, including that the termination of parental rights has an accelerated timeline in Virginia compared to the federal timeline. Children who age out of the system lack a sense of permanency that is critical to healthy psychological development. As a result, many such children tend to experience lower levels of educational attainment and income, and higher levels of substance use, criminal justice system involvement, and homelessness than …

Free To Bleed: Virginia House Bill 83 And The Dignity Of Menstruating Inmates, Holly Seibold, Gianna Fienberg

Richmond Public Interest Law Review

For many individuals, their monthly period is an embarrassing and stigmatizing event, but for those who are homeless or have a low income, are students, or are incarcerated, it is something much more dangerous. A lack of menstrual hygiene can lead to serious health risks including skin infections, urinary tract and bladder infections, and toxic shock syndrome. Because of the cost of menstrual supplies, though, many are prevented from adequately caring for their menstrual health. Students, the homeless and low-income, and the incarcerated are regularly confronted by a lack of access to menstrual supplies and are thus forced to use …

Virginia Pioneers Mental Health Transportation Alternative For Children Under Temporary Detention Order, Snapper Tams, Victoria Zicker

Richmond Public Interest Law Review

Children in Virginia who are experiencing a mental health crisis have traditionally been shackled while they are transported to a mental health facility for treatment. Such shackling is traumatizing for children and detrimental to their cognitive and emotional development. Shackling has been required by law enforcement personnel, the default providers of mental health transportation. However, alternative transportation options to law enforcement exist and are actively being explored in Virginia in order to de-stigmatize mental health crises and minimize trauma caused by the transportation process. The Virginia Department of Behavioral Health and Developmental Services funded a pilot program in southwestern Virginia …

If Roe Falls: Whole Woman’S Health Act As A Necessary Stop-Gap On The Way To Full Protection Of Bodily Autonomy In Virginia, Galina Varchena

Richmond Public Interest Law Review

In 2016, the Supreme Court clarified the scenarios in which an “undue burden” is imposed on a pregnant person seeking an abortion in Whole Woman’s Health v. Hellerstedt. As a result, the constitutionality of many of Virginia’s abortion regulations seems in doubt. These unconstitutional regulations include the TRAP regulation that limits the type of facilities that can provide abortions, and statutes relating to informed consent and mandatory waiting periods. Thus, the outlook following the Court’s ruling in Whole Woman’s Health looked, if not bright, then at least hopeful for reproductive rights. That changed, though, with the Court’s 2018 ruling in …