Law Commons^™

Pulling Back The Curtain: A Follow-Up Report From The Aba Criminal Justice Section Women In Criminal Justice Task Force, Maryam Ahranjani

Faculty Scholarship

In an era when women’s hard-fought and hard-earned participation in the workforce is in peril, the ABA Criminal Justice Section’s Women in Criminal Justice Task Force (TF) continues its groundbreaking work of documenting challenges in hiring, retention and promotion of women criminal lawyers. Pulling Back the Curtain follows up on the initial findings of the TF. The findings are published in the Berkeley Journal of Criminal Law and the ABA Criminal Justice magazine. This report describes the results of a subsequent survey of diverse criminal lawyers and judges conducted at the end of 2020. The survey posed questions related to …

Anomalous Anatomies: How The Tsa Should Screen For Transgender People, Karissa J. Kang, John M. Kang

Faculty Scholarship

A transgender person faces obstacles trying to negotiate a gender-binary world. Going through a TSA checkpoint is no different. A substantial number of transgender persons have reported that they were detained and examined because they were transgender.1 Why this situation persists and what policy reforms should be implemented to alleviate it are the subjects of this Essay. This Essay is devoted mainly to the theme of transgender rights, rather than race, a central theme of the symposium in which this Essay appears. Given the relatively small pool of transgender individuals for whom data is available, this Essay is unable to …

Looking Back, Looking Forward: Women In Criminal Justice Task Force, Maryam Ahranjani

Faculty Scholarship

Since the Criminal Justice Section’s Women in Criminal Justice Task Force launched in November 2018, we have heard from women in criminal law around the country about their experiences with (1) hiring, (2) retention, and (3) promotion of women in criminal justice. We set many goals for ourselves, including hosting listening sessions, publishing columns, and collecting data, and we are proud of all we have accomplished over the past nearly two years.

"Toughen Up, Buttercup" Versus #Timesup: Initial Findings Of The Aba Women In Criminal Justice Task Force, Maryam Ahranjani

Faculty Scholarship

"Practicing criminal law as a woman is like playing tackle football in a dress.” Andrea George, Executive Director of the Federal Public Defender for Eastern Washington and Idaho, began her testimony to the American Bar Association’s Women in Criminal Justice Task Force with that powerful observation. In the wake of the #MeToo movement, the ABA has focused on ways to enhance gender equity in the profession and in the justice system. The Criminal Justice Section of the ABA has invested significant resources in the creation of the Women in Criminal Justice Task Force (WCJ TF), which launched its work in …

Hierarchies Of Elitism And Gender: The Bluebook And The Alwd Guide, Steven K. Homer

Faculty Scholarship

Hierarchies persist in legal academia. Some of these, while in plain view, are not so obvious because they manifest in seemingly small, mundane choices. Synecdoche is a rhetorical device used to show how one detail in a story tells the story of the whole. This Article examines hierarchies of elitism and gender through a lens of synecdoche. The focus is on the choice of citation guide. Even something as seemingly benign and neutral as choosing a citation guide can reveal hierarchies of elitism and gender bias in legal education and the legal profession. Put another way, the choice of citation …

It’S Still Me: Safeguarding Vulnerable Transgender Elders, Sarah Steadman

Faculty Scholarship

Transgender individuals have many reasons to be concerned about their welfare in the current political and legislative climate. Transgender elders are especially vulnerable. They are more likely to be disabled than the general elder population. Moreover, transgender elders profoundly fear a future when they must rely on others to maintain and protect their gender identity and dignity. This fear is alarmingly realistic because if a transgender elder becomes incapacitated or requires institutional care, they are likely to face discrimination and other harms by their caretakers. In addition, transgender elders who are incapacitated are particularly at-risk if a non-affirming guardian is …

Evaluating Judicial Standards Of Conduct In The Current Political And Social Climate: The Need To Strengthen Impropriety Standards And Removal Remedies To Include Procedural Justice And Community Harm, Joshua E. Kastenberg

Faculty Scholarship

Chief Justice Warren Burger warned that when “people who have long been exploited . . . come to believe that courts cannot vindicate their legal rights from fraud,” an “incalculable damage [is done] to society.”

Part I of this Article presents an examination of the current common frameworks shared by the states for addressing judicial conduct appealing to popular social and political influences. Included in this section is an analysis of the interrelationship between implicit bias and impropriety, as well as on community harm and procedural justice.

Part II provides both a historical and contemporary analysis of “populism,” including the …

Book Review: Aisling Swaine, Conflict-Related Violence Against Women: Transforming Transition (2018), Jennifer Moore

Faculty Scholarship

Acknowledging that rape is sometimes utilized as a “weapon of war” represents an important development in humanitarian action and scholarly inquiry. However, Aisling Swaine instructs this is but one important facet of the range of harms women experience in time of war, not to mention in peacetime. Swaine articulates two powerful themes: the variant nature of violence against women in times of war, and the other concerns its ambulant nature over time.

Swaine’s treatment of “conflict-related violence against women” represents an important contribution to the canon of feminist scholarship on gender-based violence. Her insights emerge from qualitative research she conducted …

High Crimes And Misdemeanors: A View From The #Metoo Era, Elizabeth Rapaport

Faculty Scholarship

A look at President Bill Clinton, sexual misconduct, feminism and politics within the lens of the #MeToo movement. This article builds off the authors 2001 article, "Sex and Politics at the Close of the Twentieth Century: A Feminist Looks Back at the Clinton Impeachment and the Thomas Confirmation Hearings," in Aftermath: The Clinton Impeachment and the Presidency in the Age of Political Spectacle.

Federalism And The State Police Power: Why Immigration And Customs Enforcement Must Stay Away From State Courthouses, George Bach

Faculty Scholarship

The Trump Administration’s rhetoric and increased immigration enforcement actions have raised the level of fear in immigrant communities. The increased enforcement has included having United States Immigrant and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents appear at state and local courthouses to detain undocumented immigrants when they arrive for court. This presence has had an adverse effect on domestic violence victims who are immigrants, as they fear encountering immigrations officials at the courthouse. In El Paso, for example, agents detained a woman who was bringing a case of domestic violence against her abuser. There were claims that ICE was tipped off about the …

From Out To In: The Opportunity And Need For Clinical Law Programs To Effectively Serve Low-Income Lgbt Individuals, Sarah Steadman

Faculty Scholarship

Although the recent legalization of same-sex marriage in the U.S. is heartening for lesbians and gays, the resulting discriminatory legislative backlash against the LGBT population shows that this community continues to be marginalized and at risk. Over two hundred anti-LGBT bills have been introduced in state legislatures since January 2016. North Carolina recently passed anti-LGBT legislation that eliminated and prohibits LGBT anti-discrimination protections, and bars transgender individuals from using gender congruent public bathrooms. One result of recent and historical discrimination is LGBT individual's newfound and pre-existing fears of encountering anti-LGBT bias when seeking legal services, even as recent developments have …

Legal Education At A Crossroads: Innovation, Integration, And Pluralism Required!, Antoinette M. Sedillo Lopez, Robert F. Seibel, Peggy Maisel, Karen Tokarz

Faculty Scholarship

We conclude in this Article that expanded practice-based, experiential education will provide foundational learning for the successful transition from law student to law practice, and that clinical education (in-house clinics, hybrid clinics, and externships) is crucial to the preparation of competent, ethical law graduates who are "ready to become professionals." We urge law schools to require each graduate complete a minimum of twenty-one experiential course credits over the three years of law school, including at least five credits in law clinics or externships. Twenty-one required credits (or roughly 25 percent of the eighty-three required credits for graduation from an American …

Name Narratives: A Tool For Examining And Cultivating Identify, Margaret E. Montoya, Irene Morris Vasquez, Diana V. Martinez

Faculty Scholarship

This paper uses Critical Race Theory and LatCrit terminology, analytical approaches, and discursive conventions, including autobiographical narratives. From their inception, names are embedded with meaning and coded with identity, and over time, they become layered with nuance and memory. We divide this article into three sections, Part I is a brief overview of recent commentaries in newspapers and public radio related to names, particularly as they pertain to identity and specifically to Latinas/os. Part II is a description of how Professor Irene Vasquez has used Name Narratives in the undergraduate classroom to help students deepen their understanding of their cultural …

The Story Behind A Letter In Support Of Professor Derrick Bell, Margaret E. Montoya

Faculty Scholarship

Jointly authored with Cheryl Nelson Butler, Sherrilyn Ifill, Suzette Malveaux, Natsu Taylor Saito, Nareissa L. Smith and Tanya Washington. Professor Derrick A. Bell, Jr. had a long and proud history of disturbing authority. He is widely noted as one of the founders of Critical Race Theory. His scholarship on race was not only a direct challenge to the traditionally conservative legal academy, but also to the more liberal bastions within the academy, such as the Critical Legal Studies movement. His writings about the role of race in American law have made him one of the most prominent legal scholars of …

Brief For Professors At Unm School Of Law, Griego V. Oliver, New Mexico Supreme Court No. 34,306, George Bach, Max Minzner

Faculty Scholarship

Brief on same-sex marriage .

New Mexico's history reflects a deep commitment to equal treatment under the law and the protection of individual liberty. The framers of the New Mexico Constitution created substantial and unique provisions relating to minority rights and individual autonomy that are broader in scope than the corresponding federal law. These include an Equal Protection Clause interpreted more expansively than the Fourteenth Amendment and an Inherent Rights Clause with no federal counterpart. Our state courts have consistently exercised independence and pragmatism in applying these rights guaranteed by the New Mexico Constitution.

A prohibition on marriage for same-sex …

Mascaras Y Trenzas: Reflexiones. Un Proyecto De Identidad Y Analysis A Traves De Veinte Anos (Masks And Braids: Reflections, A Project On Identity And Analysis Over Twenty Years), Margaret E. Montoya

Faculty Scholarship

This article uses Critical Race Theory and LatCrit methodologies, vocabulary, categories, and pedagogical approaches. In this Section, titled 'On Mascaras,' I am grappling with race (and gender secondarily) in public space -- un/masking my professional persona. In using the word 'wrestle' in the subheading I am referring to this struggle over a re-allocation of the social power that inheres in racial hierarchies, namely, the back-and-forth exchanges involved in changing the racial ambiance by exposing and transforming the presumptions, especially regarding notions of inferiority, that cabin our thinking and restrain our relationships. My original paper was something of an outburst, challenging …

Threats Demand Our Action, Margaret E. Montoya

Faculty Scholarship

Those of us who identify as progressive see this as a time when speaking up and engaging on public policy is our duty. I am writing to express my deep concern and dismay about the state of the federal government under Donald Trump. Like others, I have marched, donated, and joined Wednesday’s International Women’s Day protests against the administration of Donald Trump.

Las Voces De America: Reflecting On Mari Matsuda's Voice, Stories, And Analysis, Margaret E. Montoya

Faculty Scholarship

Professor Matsuda's exhortation to listen to people of color was certainly heard and seized by people of color. It spoke to me personally and inspired me as I was writing my first article, Mascaras, Trenzas y Grerias. Once the multiracial group of scholars that took the name "LatCrit" organized ourselves, we deliberately and intentionally centered our annual conferences around listening to the voices at the bottom, including the local activists in the cities in which we met. We listened to such voices as both method and substance.

Remediating Discrimination Against African American Females At The Intersection Of Title Ix And Title Vi, Alfred Dennis Mathewson

Faculty Scholarship

In Part I, I present a brief treatment of intersectionality in anti-discrimination law focusing on the distinction between cause of action and remedy. Harm caused by gender or racial discrimination may give rise to causes of action based on equal protection principles." In Part II, I go further and argue that the primary intersectionality problem presented by Title IX is one of remedy. I conclude that the differences in the remedial effects of Title IX result, in part, from unremedied racial discrimination, a conclusion that begins with Professor Jerome Dees's argument that Brown v. Board of Education and anti-discrimination laws …

Legal Education, Social Justice And The Law School Dean: Latinas At The Center, Margaret E. Montoya

Faculty Scholarship

The opening of LatCrit XVI in San Diego, CA, on October 9, 2011, coincided with the events that are identified as the start of the global expression of the Occupy Movement. The Occupy Movement began to gain media attention on September 17, 2011, in Zuccotti Park in New York City. By October 9, protests had taken place or were ongoing in eighty-two countries and over 600 communities in the United States. The broad theme for LatCrit XVI was "Global Justice" and the conference was billed as "an opportunity to explore theories, histories, and futures of global justice. Of particular importance …

Beyond Best Practices For Legal Education: Reflections On Cultural Awareness - Exploring The Issues In Creating A Law School And Classroom Culture, Antoinette M. Sedillo Lopez

Faculty Scholarship

If law schools are to prepare students for the reality of practice, it is useful to help students become aware of cultural issues that can affect client representation by examining the culture that the law school creates. The culture created by faculty, students, administration, and staff will affect the law student's acculturation as a legal professional as well as the law student's psychological well-being. This issue was addressed briefly in Best Practices for Legal Education (Best Practices), but not developed. This essay explores some of the challenges and opportunities of bringing cross-cultural issues into a law school classroom and some …

Building On Best Practices–Call For Ideas And Authors, Antoinette M. Sedillo Lopez

Faculty Scholarship

The Clinical Legal Association Best Practices Implementation Committee is planning a follow-up publication to Best Practices for Legal Education by Roy Stuckey and others. The vision of the book is to build on ideas for implementing best practices, and to develop new theories and ideas on Best Practices for Legal Education.

Report & Recommendations Legal Scholar Team, Margaret E. Montoya, Tucker Culbertson, Marc-Tizoc González

Faculty Scholarship

The Report’s Recommendations for next steps reflect and incorporate the multiple experiences, false starts, insights, frustrations and new beginnings that represent the various ways that diversity works within the different sectors of the legal profession. We have included Recommendations that are already being used as well as some that are ambitious and aspirational. Within each of the four sectors of the profession, the recommendations are broadly categorized, but not prioritized. We recognize that every individual or organization will have its own priorities based on its unique circumstances. We do encourage the Report’s users to select and prioritize recommendations for next …

Seeking Educational Self-Determination: Raza Studies For Revolution, Margaret E. Montoya, Marcos Pizarro, Monica Nanez, Ray Chavez, Nadine Bermudez

Faculty Scholarship

This article is a multi-textured effort to explain the educational, social justice work of MAESTR@S, an innovative, organic group of educational activists fighting to address the needs of Latina/o youth. It is unlike anything we have ever written and probably unlike anything you are likely to read in an academic journal such as Equity & Excellence in Education.We do not have a well-defined result that we are reporting to you. Instead, we see ourselves on a quest, with a deep concern about the current educational choices facing most raza youth and their teachers, and a commitment to try to work …

Another Interdisciplinary Collaboration—This Time With A Professor Of German!, Antoinette M. Sedillo Lopez

Faculty Scholarship

The University of New Mexico International Studies Institute has a relationship with the German government in which the Institute runs a summer program at a castle near Dusseldorf known as Schloss-Dyck. In summer 2010, I am going to have the privilege of teaching in the program with a Jason Wilby, a UNM visiting Professor of German. We put a joint proposal together. He will teach about the culture, political environment and constitutional framework right after the Weimar Republic was created as a result of WWI. I will teach about the Nuremberg trials, with a particular focus on the trial of …

A Medical/Legal Teaching And Assessment Collaboration On Domestic Violence: Assessment Using Standardized Patients/Standardized Clients, Antoinette M. Sedillo Lopez, Cameron Crandall, Steve Mclaughlin, Diane Rimple, Mary Neidhart, Teresita Mccarty, Lou Clark, Carrie Martell, Gabriel Campos

Faculty Scholarship

Assessment of skills is an important, emerging topic in law school education. Two recent and influential books, Educating Lawyers published by the Carnegie Foundation and Best Practices in Legal Education, published by the Clinical Legal Education Association have both suggested dramatic reform of legal education. Among other reforms, these studies urge law schools to use outcome-based' assessments, i.e., using learning objectives and assessing knowledge and skills in standardized situations based on specific criteria, rather than simply comparing students' performances to each other.

Commencement Address, Cuny School Of Law, Margaret E. Montoya

Faculty Scholarship

Who we are, how we see ourselves, how we want to be seen, what we value, how our memories connect us to specific histories in specific places — we communicate this information best through narratives. In Spanish we sometimes call such stories cuentos — an accounting. I encourage all of you to take time over the next few days to celebrate your graduation, this singular accomplishment of your lives, by accounting — by telling stories to those who have helped you, held you up, fed you, wiped your tears, paid your bills. Share your recollections.

Latina/Os' And Latina/O Legal Studies: A Critical And Self-Critical Review Of Latcrit Theory And Legal Models Of Knowledge Production, Margaret E. Montoya, Francisco Valdes

Faculty Scholarship

For the twelfth time in as many years, the LatCrit community convened its annual conference to underscore the importance of location and locality in the work that we do. The conference theme's framing around Critical Localities: Epistemic Communities, Rooted Cosmopolitans and Knowledge Processes not only focused our collective attention on questions of epistemic community and intellectual (as well as physical) location, but also invited reflection on the meanings we inscribe onto the positions we elect to stake out for ourselves and our work in light of the options and traditions that serve as background. The "Critical Localities" theme invites an …

Death Penalty For Women In North Carolina, Elizabeth Rapaport, Victor Streib

Faculty Scholarship

Is Justice Marshall right? Have women received "favored treatment" under our death penalty laws and procedures? The national data might lead to such a presumption, given that over 99% of the people executed in the United States are men, but the analyses and explanations are far from simple. The authors have written about this national phenomenon for the past two decades, sharing a strong interest in the issue but not always agreeing in their explanations. Now we examine the North Carolina experience within the national context. This article reports the results of that examination, beginning with North Carolina's history of …

Uniendo Comunidades By Learning Lessons And Mobilizing For Change, Margaret E. Montoya

Faculty Scholarship

Building community, that is, sustaining our connections to family and our ancestry is often hampered by going to law school. Law schools are highly adept at assimilating you into a profession and a worldview that can be at odds with who you were and how you saw the world before you began law school. Unfortunately, in order to fit in, it can seem advantageous to forget tus ralces, your roots. I began by talking about unigndo comunidades as a progressive objective and have been talking about the second part of your conference theme, learning lessons and mobilizing for change, as …