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The Democratic (Il)Legitimacy Of Assembly-Line Litigation, Jessica Steinberg, Colleen F. Shanahan, Anna E. Carpenter, Alyx Mark
The Democratic (Il)Legitimacy Of Assembly-Line Litigation, Jessica Steinberg, Colleen F. Shanahan, Anna E. Carpenter, Alyx Mark
GW Law Faculty Publications & Other Works
In response to Daniel Wilf-Townsend’s Assembly-Line Plaintiffs we take a panoramic picture of state civil courts, and debt cases in particular, and name specific features of the courts that must be taken into account in crafting reform prescriptions. In doing so, we question both the democratic legitimacy of debt collection courts and the adequacy of incremental reform that targets the structure of litigation. Part I contributes two critical components to Wilf-Townsend’s rich description of consumer debt cases: pervasive intersectional inequality among pro se defendants and a record of fraud among top filers. We add a sharper focus on the racial, …
Racial Capitalism In The Civil Courts, Tonya L. Brito, Kathryn A. Sabbeth, Jessica Steinberg, Lauren Sudeall
Racial Capitalism In The Civil Courts, Tonya L. Brito, Kathryn A. Sabbeth, Jessica Steinberg, Lauren Sudeall
GW Law Faculty Publications & Other Works
This Essay explores how civil courts function as sites of racial capitalism. The racial capitalism conceptual framework posits that capitalism requires racial inequality and relies on racialized systems of expropriation to produce capital. While often associated with traditional economic systems, racial capitalism applies equally to nonmarket settings, including civil courts.
The lens of racial capitalism enriches access to justice scholarship by explaining how and why state civil courts subordinate racialized groups and individuals. Civil cases are often framed as voluntary disputes among private parties, yet many racially and economically marginalized litigants enter the civil legal system involuntarily, and the state …
Race And The Criminal Law Curriculum, Cynthia Lee
Race And The Criminal Law Curriculum, Cynthia Lee
GW Law Faculty Publications & Other Works
This chapter briefly sketches a few places in the substantive criminal law curriculum where law professors can include discussion of race to enrich students’ understanding of the law. These include racially based jury nullification, the void-for-vagueness doctrine, hate crimes and the actus reus requirement, voluntary manslaughter and the defense of provocation, involuntary manslaughter, rape, the doctrine of self-defense, the “Black rage” defense, and the “cultural defense.” The chapter also discusses the Guerilla Guides to Law Teaching project, which suggests that criminal law professors introduce the concept of abolition of the carceral state as a framework through which students can “question …