Law Commons^™

Vindicating Fundamental Environmental Rights: Judicial Acceptance Of Constitutionally Entrenched Environmental Rights, James May, Erin Daly

Erin Daly

This article examines the extent to which constitutionally embedded fundamental environmental rights have met the promise of ensuring a right to an adequate environment. It explains these results and suggests ways to neutralize judicial resistance to these emerging constitutional rights. In Part II we explain the prevalence of constitutionally entrenched rights to a quality environment. In Part III, we provide examples of the extent to which courts have enforced these provisions. In Part IV, we examine institutional and structural factors, conceptual disjunctions, and pragmatic considerations that help to explain judicial receptivity to constitutionally entrenched environmental rights. And in Part V …

Labor Union Coalition Challenges To Governmental Action: Defending The Civil Rights Of Law-Wage Workers, Maria Ontiveros

Maria L. Ontiveros

(This paper is a working draft, which will be published in final form by the University of Chicago Legal Forum, Vol. 2009.)

The article examines international and domestic legal challenges filed by traditional labor unions, in coalition with others, against the government of the Unites States of America. The article argues that these lawsuits can help protect the civil rights of low-wage workers by creating a coherent legal theory defending the civil rights of low-wage workers and by creating an identifiable change agent to work on that defense. The lawsuits include those challenging governmental action with respect to immigrant workers, …

Race, Class, And Katrina : Human Rights And (Un)Natural Disaster, Hope Lewis

Hope Lewis

This essay reflects on the international human rights implications of Hurricane Katrina. For those of us in the human rights movement, it seemed natural to see Katrina and its aftermath as both a massive international humanitarian disaster and a human rights crisis. This was not just the awful result of a huge storm having hit a densely populated area and thereby necessitating the marshalling of public and private humanitarian aid. It also revealed government inaction and affirmatively abusive actions before, during, and after the storm hit that implicate international human rights standards.

We know that Katrina was not the last …

Vindicating Fundamental Environmental Rights: Judicial Acceptance Of Constitutionally Entrenched Environmental Rights, James R. May, Erin Daly

James R. May

This article examines the extent to which constitutionally embedded fundamental environmental rights have met the promise of ensuring a right to an adequate environment. It explains these results and suggests ways to neutralize judicial resistance to these emerging constitutional rights. In Part II we explain the prevalence of constitutionally entrenched rights to a quality environment. In Part III, we provide examples of the extent to which courts have enforced these provisions. In Part IV, we examine institutional and structural factors, conceptual disjunctions, and pragmatic considerations that help to explain judicial receptivity to constitutionally entrenched environmental rights. And in Part V …

The Dirty War Index: A Public Health And Human Rights Tool For Examining And Monitoring Armed Conflict Outcomes., M Hicks, M Spagat

Madelyn Hsiao-Rei Hicks

War, a major public health problem, is a situation where the interests of public health, human rights, and humanitarian law intersect.

The DWI is a data-driven public health tool that identifies rates of particularly undesirable or prohibited, i.e., “dirty,” outcomes inflicted on populations during war (e.g., civilian death, child injury, or torture).

A DWI is calculated as: (Number of “dirty,” i.e., undesirable or prohibited cases/Total number of cases) × 100.

DWIs are designed for direct, easy translation of war's public health outcomes into the human rights, policy, and interdisciplinary work needed to address war's practice.

DWIs support monitoring, deterrence, and …

Transgender Theory: Reprogramming Our Automated Settings, Marybeth Herald

Marybeth Herald

Over the course of the last few decades, both law and society have struggled to deprogram unhelpful and downright destructive gender stereotypes that are ubiquitous in our everyday existence. It has not been an easy task, nor entirely successful on either the legal or cultural front. Laws that prohibit gender discrimination, such as Title VII, have helped end overt discrimination. The next phase involves the challenging problem of unconscious bias, which often effectively keeps us treading the same mental paths while bypassing any roads not traveled.

It is not surprising then that when the validity of even the basic categories …

Advocates Should Use Applicable International Standards To Address Violations Of Undocumented Migrant Workers In The United States, Connie De La Vega, Conchita Lozano-Batista

Connie de la Vega

This article seeks to provide migrant rights advocates with international legal arguments that can be used to address domestic human rights abuses when domestic law is inadequate and in violation of U.S. treaty obligations. It discusses applicable international law and suggests how these standards may be used to protect migrant workers. The article: describes the working conditions of undocumented migrants in the United States, highlighting recent violations of their human rights. It discusses Hoffman Plastics Compounds, Inc. v. National Labor Relations Board, 535 U.S. 137 (2002), which limited the rights of undocumented workers, and its aftermath and in which there …

The Supreme Court Of The United States Has Been Called Upon To Determine The Legality Of The Juvenile Death Penalty In Michael Domingues V. State Of Nevada, Connie De La Vega, Jennifer Fiore

Connie de la Vega

This article summarizes the arguments made against the juvenile death penalty in a U.S. Supreme Court amici curiae brief in Domingues v. State, 961 P.2d 1279 (Nev. 1998), cert. denied, 528 U.S. 963 (1999), and rebuts some of the State's propositions made in its response. It argues that United States' obligation to faithfully comply with its treaty obligations (particularly under the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights), as well as the customary international law and jus cogens norm do not permit the execution of juveniles for crimes committed while below the age of eighteen.

Women (Under)Development : The Relevance Of The "Right To Development" To Poor Women Of Color In The United States, Hope Lewis

Hope Lewis

This essay, written during a time of Clinton-era welfare reform, was an attempt to reimagine South-North roles. What if "right to development" analysis were applied to poor women of color living in the United States? Some see the right to development as an anachronism in the face of the apparent globalization of market-based economic development. However, “development” in the narrow form of a thriving industrial sector, reliable infrastructure, and steady economic growth, remains beyond the reach of many nations - particularly the poorest African nations. More important, the broader goals of human development - access to basic needs and an …

Between Irua And "Female Genital Mutilation" : Feminist Human Rights Discourse And The Cultural Divide, Hope Lewis

Hope Lewis

“Irua,” or female genital surgery (“FGS”), involves the most private aspects of individual female physical and cultural identity. Yet, the health risks caused by FGS raised concern in cultures in which FGS is not traditionally practiced. There has been extensive dialogue regarding the implications of FGS for cross-cultural feminist approaches to human rights. This Article examines the controversy over FGS terminology as it reflects more complex debates over FGS as a violation of international human rights. It further assesses the reasons offered to justify Western feminists’ participation in cross-cultural strides to address FGS through human rights law. In addition, the …