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Significant Statistics: The Unwitting Policy Making Of Mathematically Ignorant Judges, Michael I. Meyerson, William Meyerson
Significant Statistics: The Unwitting Policy Making Of Mathematically Ignorant Judges, Michael I. Meyerson, William Meyerson
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This article will explore several areas in which judges, hampered by their mathematical ignorance, have permitted numerical analysis to subvert the goals of our legal system. In Part II, I will examine the perversion of the presumption of innocence in paternity cases, where courts make the counter-factual assumption that regardless of the evidence, prior to DNA testing, a suspect has a 50/50 chance of being the father. In Part III, I will explore the unnecessary injection of race into trials involving the statistics of DNA matching, even when race is entirely irrelevant to the particular case. Next, in Part IV, …
An Open Letter From Heaven To Barack Obama, F. Michael Higginbotham
An Open Letter From Heaven To Barack Obama, F. Michael Higginbotham
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Since the passing of A. Leon Higginbotham, Jr. in 1998, many have wondered what the award winning author, longest-serving black federal judge, first black to head a federal regulatory agency, recipient of the Spingarn Medal and the Congressional Medal of Freedom, and author of the famous “Open Letter to Clarence Thomas” would think of the state of race relations today. Appointed to the Federal Trade Commission in 1962, Higginbotham served in several powerful federal positions including Vice-Chairman of the National Commission on the Causes and Prevention of Violence, member of the first wiretap surveillance court, and chief judge of a …
Is America Finally Ready To Elect A Black President?, F. Michael Higginbotham
Is America Finally Ready To Elect A Black President?, F. Michael Higginbotham
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In its 220 year history, America has yet to elect a president who is not white. In the 2008 presidential election, Barack Obama, the only black member of the United States Senate, has received the nomination of the Democratic Party, the first minority candidate to ever receive a major party nomination. This article argues that Americans must not let fear or prejudice squander this historic opportunity.
Some Learning Opportunities From The Imus Affair, Kenneth Lasson
Some Learning Opportunities From The Imus Affair, Kenneth Lasson
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The author discusses the broader issues of free speech under the surface of the Don Imus affair, where that commentator made a gratuitous slur about the Rutgers women's basketball team. He balances this gaff against the good deeds of the same personality, comparing this with similar provocative remarks made by other well-known public figures. The media is cited for an overreaction to the Imus incident, and all these components are discussed in light of what free speech means.
After 150 Years, Worst Supreme Court Decision Ever Continues To Haunt, F. Michael Higginbotham
After 150 Years, Worst Supreme Court Decision Ever Continues To Haunt, F. Michael Higginbotham
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In 1857, the Supreme Court rendered a decision in Dred Scott v. Sandford, declaring that it had no jurisdiction to hear Dred Scott's claim to freedom because he was black and, therefore, not a citizen of the United States. This article argues that not only was the decision morally reprehensible, it was also based on an erroneous interpretation of the Constitution.
How Antidiscrimination Law Learned To Live With Racial Inequality, Matthew Lindsay
How Antidiscrimination Law Learned To Live With Racial Inequality, Matthew Lindsay
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This Article explores a great paradox at the heart of the prevailing paradigm of American antidiscrimination law: the colorblindness ideal. In theory, and often in practice, that ideal is animated by a genuine commitment to liberal, individualist, race-neutral egalitarianism. For many of its partisans, colorblindness entails not only a negative injunction against race-conscious decisionmaking, but also, crucially, an affirmative program for the achievement of true racial equality. For these proponents, scrupulously race-neutral decisionmaking both advances the interests of racial minorities and embodies the best aspirations of the civil rights movement. In this worldview, colorblindness offers the only true antidote for …
Thurgood Marshall: Legal Strategist For The Civil Rights Movement, F. Michael Higginbotham, José F. Anderson
Thurgood Marshall: Legal Strategist For The Civil Rights Movement, F. Michael Higginbotham, José F. Anderson
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This brief article covers the career of attorney and U.S. Supreme Court Justice Thurgood Marshall, covering his early days as an attorney working for the NAACP, up to his career on the nation's highest court. Of particular interest are the hardships of his early days as a lawyer, as one of only 32 African American lawyers in Maryland in 1935. The key cases during his career are touched upon, along with the legal strategies used to further the cause of civil rights.
Free Speech: It's Great For Hate, Kenneth Lasson
Free Speech: It's Great For Hate, Kenneth Lasson
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Racism In Great Britain: Drawing The Line On Free Speech, Kenneth Lasson
Racism In Great Britain: Drawing The Line On Free Speech, Kenneth Lasson
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On any given Sunday in Hyde Park, London's huge urban sanctuary of tailored ponds and manicured gardens, one is likely to hear outrageous and provocative public utterances about race and religion. A few of those venting their spleen here are practicing rhetoricians, a few are clearly acting-but others are absolutely sincere in their hatemongering and passionate in their vilification. All of them are focal points for assembled spectators of varying classes, many of whom are professional hecklers. The police, milling about to put down possible disturbances of the peace, are seldom called upon to quell roused rabble. Thus is this …
In Defense Of Group-Libel Laws, Or Why The First Amendment Should Not Protect Nazis, Kenneth Lasson
In Defense Of Group-Libel Laws, Or Why The First Amendment Should Not Protect Nazis, Kenneth Lasson
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The author discusses group libel laws, and the underlying problems when free speech is used as a defense by those who would defame specific racial or ethnic groups and/or minorities. The topic is further explained in reference to various state laws, and the subsequent court cases extant at the time of the article's writing which defined the issue in terms of law. References are also made to such laws in countries other than the United States for the sake of comparison.