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Full-Text Articles in Law

Just, Smart: Civil Rights Protections And Market-Sensitive Vacant Property Strategies, James J. Kelly Jr. Oct 2016

Just, Smart: Civil Rights Protections And Market-Sensitive Vacant Property Strategies, James J. Kelly Jr.

James J. Kelly Jr.

This essay, prepared for and published by the Center for Community Progress, a national, non-profit intermediary dedicated to developing effective, sustainable solutions to turn vacant, abandoned and problem properties into vibrant places, examines the legal and normative implications of local governments' use of neighborhood real estate market data to strategically focus vacant property remediation tools. I and other writers, such as Frank Alexander, Alan Mallach and Joseph Schilling, have argued for the importance of understanding the economic feasibility of market-based rehabilitation of derelict, vacant houses in making decisions as to how and when to use a variety of code enforcement, …


Does Parental Autonomy Require Equal Custody At Divorce?, Margaret F. Brinig Sep 2016

Does Parental Autonomy Require Equal Custody At Divorce?, Margaret F. Brinig

Margaret F Brinig

This paper considers the affect of amendments to state divorce laws that strengthen their joint custody preference. It does so in the context of suits by noncustodial parents challenging substantive custody standards not requiring equal custody at divorce. The complaint is that most custody laws, by using a best interests standard rather than equally dividing custodial time, violate substantive due process. Further, two states, Iowa and Maine, have recently amended their custody legislation to strongly presume joint physical custody.

After setting out the constitutional problem and describing the legislation in some detail, this paper tests the effects of the change …


Equality: A Test On Equal Protection, Alan E. Garfield Sep 2016

Equality: A Test On Equal Protection, Alan E. Garfield

Alan E Garfield

No abstract provided.


Equal Protection For People With Disabilities, Robert L. Hayman, Daniel G. Atkins Jun 2016

Equal Protection For People With Disabilities, Robert L. Hayman, Daniel G. Atkins

Robert L. Hayman

No abstract provided.


Notes Toward A Critical Contemplation Of Law, Sonia K. Katyal Apr 2016

Notes Toward A Critical Contemplation Of Law, Sonia K. Katyal

Sonia Katyal

In this tribute to Professor Derrick Bell’s legacy, Professor Katyal reflects on one of Bell’s greatest gifts: the necessary, and perhaps unfinished gift of critical contemplation of law, along with its possibilities and its concomitant limitations. In her paper, Katyal reflects on two seemingly disparate areas of civil rights that might benefit from Bell’s critical vision: the area of LGBT rights and equality, and federal Indian law. Relying on some of Bell’s most valuable insights, Katyal calls for the creation of a “critical sexuality studies” and a “critical indigenous studies” that employs some of Bell’s groundbreaking lessons in reimagining broader …


Unsuspecting, David Schraub Dec 2015

Unsuspecting, David Schraub

David Schraub

All laws classify, but not all classifications are created equal. Under contemporary Fourteenth Amendment doctrine, certain classifications are “suspect”, triggering heightened judicial review and often rendering the targeted legislation unconstitutional. Because the alternative rational basis test is so deferential, the question over which sorts of classifications are “suspect” may be the single most important — and most discussed — issue in equal protection doctrine. Yet amidst all the talk about how a group gains recognition as a “suspect class”, there has been virtually no discussion about the seemingly obvious corollary: how a group loses its status as one. After all, …


The Siren Song Of Stict Scrutiny, David Schraub Dec 2015

The Siren Song Of Stict Scrutiny, David Schraub

David Schraub

The past few years have seen a trickle of pro-gay rights judicial decisions turn into a flood. Yet gay rights advocates have been perplexed by one doctrinal oddity in the Court's decision-making: even as it has delivered a consistent stream of favorable decisions dating from the 1990s, it has displayed no interest in declaring sexual orientation to be a "suspect classification." This determination, which would require that sexual-orientation classifications satisfy strict scrutiny, has long been high on the objective list for the LGBT movement -- representing an official determination that sexual minorities are a politically marginalized group that faces systematic, …