Law Commons^™

Evading A Race-Conscious Constitution, Cara Mcclellan

All Faculty Scholarship

The idea of a “colorblind” Constitution is front and center in cases before the Supreme Court this term, including Students for Fair Admissions v. President & Fellows of Harvard College, and Students for Fair Admissions v. University of North Carolina (UNC). In these cases, the same plaintiff organization, Students for Fair Admissions (SFFA), has asked the Supreme Court to rule that the Equal Protection Clause and Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 prohibit universities from considering race as one of many factors in admissions to pursue the educational benefits that flow from diversity. In support …

Surveillance Normalization, Christian Sundquist

Articles

Since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, the government has expanded public surveillance measures in an attempt to combat the spread of the virus. As the pandemic wears on, racialized communities and other marginalized groups are disproportionately affected by this increased level of surveillance. This article argues that increases in public surveillance as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic give rise to the normalization of surveillance in day-to-day life, with serious consequences for racialized communities and other marginalized groups. This article explores the legal and regulatory effects of surveillance normalization, as well as how to protect civil rights and liberties …

Reframing Hate, Lu-In Wang

Articles

The concept and naming of “hate crime,” and the adoption of special laws to address it, provoked controversy and raised fundamental questions when they were introduced in the 1980s. In the decades since, neither hate crime itself nor those hotly debated questions have abated. To the contrary, hate crime has increased in recent years—although the prominent target groups have shifted over time—and the debate over hate crime laws has reignited as well. The still-open questions range from the philosophical to the doctrinal to the pragmatic: What justifies the enhanced punishment that hate crime laws impose based on the perpetrator’s motivation? …

Strategies For Equitable Access: Identifying Benefits And Strategies For Creating Integrated Public Schools, Annotated Examples Of Current School District Enrollment Practices, And Resources For Further Exploration, Lisa A. Gooden

Faculty Works

Prepared for the Equity Oriented Strategic Planning Committee for Kansas City Public Schools. Includes a summary of the benefits of integrated schools, strategies for creating equitable schools, annotated examples of current practices employed by public school districts in the United States to foster equitable access to education, and list of links to additional resources for further reading.

Bridging The Gap Between Unmet Legal Needs And An Oversupply Of Lawyers: Creating Neighborhood Law Offices - The Philadelphia Experiment, Jules Lobel, Matthew Chapman

Articles

In the United States there is, simultaneously, an abundance of unemployed lawyers and a significant unmet need for legal care among middle-class households. This unfortunate paradox is protected by ideological, cultural, and practical paradigms both inside the legal community and out. These paradigms include the legal chase for prestige, the consumer’s inability to recognize a legal need, and the growing mountain of debt new lawyers enter the profession with. This article will discuss a very successful National Lawyers Guild experiment from 1930s-era Philadelphia that addressed a similar situation, in a time with similar paradigms, by emphasizing community-connected lawyering. That is, …

Giving Meaning To 'Meaningful Access' In Medicaid Managed Care, Mary Crossley

Articles

As states seek to shift Medicaid recipients with disabilities out of traditional fee-for-service settings and into managed care plans, vexing questions arise about the impact on access to needed care and providers for beneficiaries with medically complex needs. With many states expanding their Medicaid program as part of health care reform and cost-containment pressures continuing to mount, this movement will likely accelerate over the next several years. This Article examines the possibility that disability discrimination law might provide a mechanism for prodding states in the planning stage to anticipate and plan for likely access issues, as well as for challenging …

The Paradox Of Political Power: Post-Racialism, Equal Protection, And Democracy, William M. Carter Jr.

Articles

Racial minorities have achieved unparalleled electoral success in recent years. Simultaneously, they have continued to rank at or near the bottom in terms of health, wealth, income, education, and the effects of the criminal justice system. Social conservatives, including those on the Supreme Court, have latched onto evidence of isolated electoral success as proof of “post-racialism,” while ignoring the evidence of continued disparities for the vast majority of people of color.

This Essay will examine the tension between the Court's conservatives' repeated calls for minorities to achieve their goals through the political process and the Supreme Court's increasingly restrictive "colorblind" …

The Thirteenth Amendment And Interest Convergence, William M. Carter Jr.

Articles

The Thirteenth Amendment was intended to eliminate the institution of slavery and to eliminate the legacy of slavery. Having accomplished the former, the Amendment has only rarely been extended to the latter. The Thirteenth Amendment’s great promise therefore remains unrealized.

This Article explores the gap between the Thirteenth Amendment’s promise and its implementation. Drawing on Critical Race Theory, this Article argues that the relative underdevelopment of Thirteenth Amendment doctrine is due in part to a lack of perceived interest convergence in eliminating what the Amendment’s Framers called the “badges and incidents of slavery.” The theory of interest convergence, in its …

Women’S Unequal Citizenship At The Border: Lessons From Three Nonfiction Films About The Women Of Juárez, Regina Austin

All Faculty Scholarship

There is no better illustration of the impact of borders on women’s equal citizenship than the three documentaries reviewed in this essay. All three deal with the femicides that befell the young women of Ciudad Juárez, Mexico between 1993 and 2005. Juarez is just across the border from El Paso, Texas. Performing the Border (1999) stimulates the viewer’s imagination regarding the ephemeral nature of borders and their impact on the citizenship of women who live at the intersection of local, regional, national and international legal regimes. Señorita Extraviada (2001) is an intimate portrait of the victims which illustrates why the …

Judicial Review Of Thirteenth Amendment Legislation: 'Congruence And Proportionality' Or 'Necessary And Proper'?, William M. Carter Jr.

Articles

The Thirteenth Amendment has relatively recently been rediscovered by scholars and litigants as a source of civil rights protections. Most of the scholarship focuses on judicial enforcement of the Amendment in lawsuits brought by individuals. However, scholars have paid relatively little attention as of late to the proper scope of congressional action enforcing the Amendment. The reason, presumably, is that it is fairly well settled that Congress enjoys very broad authority to determine what constitutes either literal slavery or, to use the language of Jones v. Alfred H. Mayer Co., a "badge or incident of slavery" falling within the Amendment's …

The Majoritarian Difficulty: Affirmative Action, Sodomy, And Supreme Court Politics, Darren L. Hutchinson

Faculty Articles

This Article challenges liberal and conservative assessments of Lawrence, Gratz, and Grutter. Although the outcome of these cases might indeed prove helpful to the agendas of social movements for racial and sexual justice, progressive scholars and activists should not receive these cases with elation. Instead, the research of constitutional theorists, critical legal scholars, and political scientists allows for a more contextualized and guarded account of and reaction to these decisions. Instead of representing extraordinary victories for oppressed classes, these cases reflect majoritarian and moderate views concerning civil rights, and the opinions contain many doctrinal elements that reinforce, …

Infected Judgment: Legal Responses To Physician Bias, Mary Crossley

Articles

Substantial evidence indicates that clinically irrelevant patient characteristics, including race and gender, may at times influence a physician's choice of treatment. Less clear, however, is whether a patient who is the victim of a biased medical decision has any effective legal recourse. Heedful of the difficulties of designing research to establish conclusively the role of physician bias, this article surveys published evidence suggesting the operation of physician bias in clinical decision making. The article then examines potential legal responses to biased medical judgments. A patient who is the subject of a biased decision may sue her doctor for violating his …

Where Shall We Live? Class And The Limitations Of Fair Housing Law, Wendell Pritchett

All Faculty Scholarship

This paper examines the effort to secure fair housing laws at the local, state and federal levels in the 1950s, focusing in particular on New York City and state. It will examine the arguments that advocates made regarding the role the law should play in preventing housing discrimination, and the relationship of these views to advocates' understanding of property rights in general. My paper will argue that fair housing advocates had particular conceptions about the importance of housing in American society that both supported and limited their success. By arguing that minorities only sought what others wanted - a single-family …

Beyond The Civil Rights Agenda For Blacks: Principles For The Pursuit Of Economic And Community Development, James Jennings

William Monroe Trotter Institute Publications

Over the last several decades, this country has experimented with economic development and social welfare strategies and programs molded by liberals and conservatives, and embodied in the policies and politics of both Republicans and Democrats at the national level. However, given the continuing social and economic crisis, and gaps between African Americans and whites, it seems the approaches of both liberals and conservatives have been inadequate. Due to the failure of current policy strategies, in terms of black living conditions, debate in the black community should move from disagreements between liberals and conservatives, or Democrats and Republicans, towards the question …

Sncc Conference Pt. B. "The Redemptive Community : The Sit-Ins, The Freedom Rides, And The Birth Of S.N.C.C.", Trinity College

We Shall Not Be Moved: videos of a1988 conference on the Student Non-violent Coordinating Committee

Featuring Diane Nash, James Forman, Charles McDew, Bob Zellner ; moderator, Julian Bond. Part of a 10 part series of videorecordings of a conference held at Trinity College, Hartford, CT, April 14-16, 1988, titled, "We Shall Not Be moved: The Life and Times of the Student Non-violent Coordinating Committee, 1960-1966"

Sncc Conference Pt. J. "S.N.C.C., The 1960s, And The American Democratic Tradition.", Trinity College

We Shall Not Be Moved: videos of a1988 conference on the Student Non-violent Coordinating Committee

Featuring Clayborne Carson, Allen Matusow, Michael Thelwell ; moderator, Jack Chatfield. Part of a 10 part series of videorecordings of a conference held at Trinity College, Hartford, CT, April 14-16, 1988, titled, "We Shall Not Be moved: The Life and Times of the Student Non-violent Coordinating Committee, 1960-1966"

Sncc Conference Pt. H. "Alabama Bound : Selma, And The Lowndes County Black Panther Party, 1964-1966.", Trinity College

We Shall Not Be Moved: videos of a1988 conference on the Student Non-violent Coordinating Committee

Featuring Silas Norman, Martha Norman, Robert Mants, Johnny Jackson ; moderator, Cheryl Greenberg. Part of a 10 part series of videorecordings of a conference held at Trinity College, Hartford, CT, April 14-16, 1988, titled, "We Shall Not Be moved: The Life and Times of the Student Non-violent Coordinating Committee, 1960-1966"

Sncc Conference Pt. F. "Oh Freedom : The Music Of The Movement", And Pt. G. "The S.N.C.C. Woman And The Stirrings Of Feminism.", Trinity College

We Shall Not Be Moved: videos of a1988 conference on the Student Non-violent Coordinating Committee

Featuring Casey Hayden, Jean Wheeler Smith, Joyce Ladner ; moderator, Barbara Sicherman. Part of a 10 part series of videorecordings of a conference held at Trinity College, Hartford, CT, April 14-16, 1988, titled, "We Shall Not Be moved: The Life and Times of the Student Non-violent Coordinating Committee, 1960-1966"

Sncc Conference Pt. G: "The S.N.C.C. Woman And The Stirrings Of Feminism.", Trinity College

We Shall Not Be Moved: videos of a1988 conference on the Student Non-violent Coordinating Committee

Featuring Casey Hayden, Jean Wheeler Smith, Joyce Ladner ; moderator, Barbara Sicherman. Part of a 10 part series of videorecordings of a conference held at Trinity College, Hartford, CT, April 14-16, 1988, titled, "We Shall Not Be moved: The Life and Times of the Student Non-violent Coordinating Committee, 1960-1966."

Sncc Conference Pt. D (Continued From Part C): "The Beginnings Of The Voter Registration Movement, 1961-1963.", Trinity College

We Shall Not Be Moved: videos of a1988 conference on the Student Non-violent Coordinating Committee

Featuring James Forman, Bernard Lafayette, Charles Sherrod, Danny Lyon ; moderator, Julian Bond. Part of a 10 part series of videorecordings of a conference held at Trinity College, Hartford, CT, April 14-16, 1988, titled, "We Shall Not Be moved: The Life and Times of the Student Non-violent Coordinating Committee, 1960-1966"

Sncc Conference Pt. C "The Beginnings Of The Voter Registration Movement, 1961-1963.", Trinity College

We Shall Not Be Moved: videos of a1988 conference on the Student Non-violent Coordinating Committee

Featuring James Forman, Bernard Lafayette, Charles Sherrod, Danny Lyon ; moderator, Julian Bond. Part of a 10 part series of videorecordings of a conference held at Trinity College, Hartford, CT, April 14-16, 1988, titled, "We Shall Not Be moved: The Life and Times of the Student Non-violent Coordinating Committee, 1960-1966"

Sncc Conference Pt. A "The New Abolitionists And The Modern South.", Trinity College

We Shall Not Be Moved: videos of a1988 conference on the Student Non-violent Coordinating Committee

Featuring Howard Zinn, Joanne Grant, Mary King, June Johnson ; moderator, J. Ronald Spencer. Part of a 10 part series of videorecordings of a conference held at Trinity College, Hartford, CT, April 14-16, 1988, titled, "We Shall Not Be moved: The Life and Times of the Student Non-violent Coordinating Committee, 1960-1966"

Sncc Conference Pt. E. "In The Middle Of The Iceberg : The Movement In Mississippi, 1964-1965.", Trinity College

We Shall Not Be Moved: videos of a1988 conference on the Student Non-violent Coordinating Committee

Featuring Lawrence Guyot, Victoria Gray Adams, Hollis Watkins, Mendy Samstein ; moderator, Casey Hayden. Part of a 10 part series of videorecordings of a conference held at Trinity College, Hartford, CT, April 14-16, 1988, titled, "We Shall Not Be moved: The Life and Times of the Student Non-violent Coordinating Committee, 1960-1966"

Sncc Conference Pt. I "The Rise And Triumph Of Black Power, 1965-1966.", Trinity College

We Shall Not Be Moved: videos of a1988 conference on the Student Non-violent Coordinating Committee

Featuring Michael Thelwell, Cleveland Sellers, Gloria House, Courtland Cox ; moderator, James Miller. Part of a 10 part series of videorecordings of a conference held at Trinity College, Hartford, CT, April 14-16, 1988, titled, "We Shall Not Be moved: The Life and Times of the Student Non-violent Coordinating Committee, 1960-1966"