Law Commons^™

Ugly: An Inquiry Into The Problem Of Racial Gerrymandering Under The Voting Rights Act, Daniel D. Polsby, Robert D. Popper

Michigan Law Review

In the discussion that follows, we focus on the case of congressional districting rather than on districting in general. Although we proceed in this manner for the sake of clarity, it is also true that no single, all-purpose normative theory of electoral mechanics will cover every case of democratic representation, from county commissions to mosquito control districts to sovereign legislatures. We do not claim that one can generalize our argument to every sort of election to which the VRA might apply. Yet we think our argument does approximate a theory of general application.

Expressive Harms, "Bizarre Districts," And Voting Rights: Evaluating Election-District Appearances After Shaw V. Reno, Richard H. Pildes, Richard G. Niemi

Michigan Law Review

This article attempts to define the constitutional principles that characterize Shaw and to suggest how those principles might be applied in a consistent, meaningful way. Part I, in which we argue that Shaw must be understood to rest on a distinctive conception of the kinds of harms against which the Constitution protects, is the theoretical heart of the article. We call these expressive harms, as opposed to more familiar, material harms. In Part II, we briefly survey the history of previous, largely unsuccessful, efforts in other legal contexts to give principled content to these kinds of harms in redistricting. …

Race And Redistricting: Drawing Constitutional Lines After Shaw V. Reno, T. Alexander Aleinikoff, Samuel Isaacharoff

Michigan Law Review

Shaw is no doubt a major opinion that attempts to define limits on the use of racial or ethnic classifications in electoral redistricting. The main thrust of this article is to assess the critical question of whether Shaw renders unconstitutional the type of race-conscious realignment of electoral configurations that have given meaning to the voting rights reforms of the past two decades. In making this assessment, we try to ascertain exactly how the Court has limited the use of race-conscious districting, and we try to determine whether there is any jurisprudential coherence to the Court's latest confrontation with the law …

Rethinking Federal Judicial Selection

BYU Law Review

No abstract provided.

Excuses, Excuses: Neutral Explanations Under Batson V. Kentucky, Michael J. Raphael, Edward J. Ungvarsky

University of Michigan Journal of Law Reform

The legal struggle for racial justice in the United States has always been in part a struggle to determine how best to achieve racial equality. In 1986, in Batson v. Kentucky, the United States Supreme Court attempted to curb racial discrimination in the use of peremptory challenges to strike potential members of a jury. The Court mandated procedures for determining whether a prosecutor had struck members of the venire because of their race. The procedures furnished in Batson are quite general, however, and lower courts have used a variety of standards in implementing them. This Article examines how lower …

From Freeman To Brown And Back Again: Principle, Pragmatism, And Proximate Cause In The School Desegregation Decisions, David Crump

Washington Law Review

A court deciding a constitutional case should announce a clear principle, one that the people can easily understand and follow. At the same time, such a decision should be pragmatic, in that it should effectively accomplish its goals while treating all affected persons fairly. The simultaneous fulfillment of these two criteria, however, can sometimes be extraordinarily difficult. In this article, Professor Crump considers how well the school desegregation remedies ordered by the Supreme Court fit the tests of principle and pragmatism. He concludes that the early decisions, as well as many of the later ones, do not achieve both goals, …

Postconviction Review Of Jury Discrimination: Measuring The Effects Of Juror Race On Jury Decisions, Nancy J. King

Michigan Law Review

In Part I, I review the empirical evidence concerning the effect of jury discrimination on jury decisions. Using the work of social and cognitive psychologists, I argue that the influence of jury discrimination on jury decisions is real and can be measured by judges in certain circumstances. The empirical studies suggest criteria that courts could use to identify the cases in which jury discrimination is most likely to affect the verdict. I also refute the argument that white judges can never predict the behavior of jurors of racial backgrounds different than their own and conclude that judicial estimates of the …

St. Mary's Honor Center V. Hicks: Interpretation Of Title Vii Takes A Wrong Turn, Teresa C. Postle

West Virginia Law Review

No abstract provided.

Substantive Equal Protection Analysis Under State V. Russell, And The Potential Impact On The Criminal Justice System, Jeffery A. Kruse

Washington and Lee Law Review

No abstract provided.

Goldberg V. Town Of Rocky Hill: Second Circuit Refuses To Extend Absolute Immunity To Municipal Defendant, Nancy J. Bladich

Mercer Law Review

In Goldberg v. Town of Rocky Hill, the Second Circuit Court of Appeals held that municipalities sued under The Civil Rights Act, 42 U.S.C. § 1983, were not entitled to absolute immunity from suit. Kenneth Goldberg brought suit against the town of Rocky Hill, Connecticut ("the town"), its mayor, town manager, and councilmen in their official capacities, claiming he was wrongfully discharged. The town moved to dismiss under Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 12(b)(6) claiming absolute immunity from suit. The district court denied the motion holding that the town was not entitled to absolute immunity. The town then brought …

Wallace V. Dunn Construction Co.: Defining The Role Of After-Acquired Evidence In Federal Employment Discrimination Suits, Hugh Lawson Iii

Mercer Law Review

In Wallace v. Dunn Construction Co. the Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeals faced an issue of first impression in the circuit: the role of after-acquired evidence in actions arising under federal employment discrimination statutes, namely Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the Equal Pay Act. The court held that after-acquired evidence cases in which an employer discovers evidence constituting a permissible reason for discharging an employee after that employee has already been discharged for an impermissible reason are distinguishable from mixed-motive cases in which an employer discharges an employee for several reasons, some permissible and …

Proving Environmental Inequity In Siting Locally Unwanted Land Uses, Michael Greenberg

RISK: Health, Safety & Environment (1990-2002)

This paper advances a process for determining whether, e.g., waste-to-energy facilities are disproportionately located in minority and poor communities, and the author asks others to join in searching for a scientifically sound and fair process of resolving conflicting interests in locating LULUs. He also discusses some difficult issues and argues that they need to be addressed by a representative panel.

Understanding Mixed Motives Claims Under The Civil Rights Act Of 1991: An Analysis Of Intentional Discrimination Claims Based On Sex-Stereotyped Interview Questions, Heather K. Gerken

Michigan Law Review

This Note analyzes the Civil Rights Act of 1991 and relevant case law to determine whether posing sex-stereotyped interview questions is actionable conduct under Title VII. It questions whether proof of discrimination during a phase in the hiring process, specifically during the interview stage, supports a Title VII claim without other independent evidence that the hiring decision was discriminatory. Part I explains that the circuit courts have envisioned the impact of discrimination during the hiring process differently and, as a result, are divided in determining whether sex-stereotyped interview questions are actionable under Title VII. Part II examines the legislative history …

Rodrigo's Second Chronicle: The Economics And Politics Of Race, Richard Delgado

Michigan Law Review

A Review of Forbidden Grounds: The Case Against Employment Discrimination Laws by Richard Epstein

Guess Who's Not Coming To Dinner!!, Stephen Reinhardt

Michigan Law Review

A Review of Faces at the Bottom of the Well: The Permanence of Racism by Derrick Bell and Two Nations: Black and White, Separate, Hostile, Unequal by Andrew Hacker

Civil Liberties And Civil War: The Great Emancipator As Civil Libertarian, Paul Finkelman

Michigan Law Review

A Review of The Fate of Liberty: Abraham Lincoln and Civil Liberties by Mark E. Neely, Jr.

A Question Of Choice, Michele A. Estrin

Michigan Law Review

A Review of A Question of Choice by Sarah Weddington

Back To The Future: The Application Of The 1991 Civil Rights Act To Pre-Existing Claims, Jennifer Jolly Ryan

Mercer Law Review

On November 21, 1991, President Bush signed into law the Civil Rights Act of 1991 (the "1991 Act"). After two years of heated debate and compromise, Congress passed a comprehensive civil rights package that promises to strengthen and expand Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 ("Title VII") and Section 1981 of the Civil Rights Act of 18668 ("Section 1981"), largely by restoring anti-discrimination laws to their pre-1989 status as well as by instituting certain procedural changes for the courts to follow.

The 1991 Act provides access to compensatory and punitive damages, as well as trial by jury, …

The Creation And Perpetuation Of The Mother/Body Myth: Judicial And Legislative Enlistment Of Norplant, Madeline Henley

Buffalo Law Review

No abstract provided.

The Affirmative Action/Quota Issue: Back To The Future In The Year 2000? (The Ben J. Altheimer Lecture), James E. Jones Jr.

University of Arkansas at Little Rock Law Review

No abstract provided.

Bray V. Alexandria Women's Health Clinic: Women Under Siege, Dianne Olivia Fischer

University of Miami Law Review

No abstract provided.

Buying Fertility: The Constitutionality Of Welfare Bonuses For Welfare Mothers Who Submit To Norplant Insertion, John R. Hand

Vanderbilt Law Review

In 1990, Wyeth-Ayerst Laboratories introduced Norplant, a five- year contraceptive consisting of six capsules that release contraceptive hormones when inserted in a woman's arm. Soon after the introduction of Norplant, a Philadelphia Inquirer editorial column stirred tremendous controversy when the author suggested that Norplant could solve the welfare problem if states would offer welfare mothers incentives to use the device.' Tremendous outrage and cries of racism, fascism and genocide prompted the Inquirer's Editor, Maxwell King, to apologize publicly and retract the editorial.'

Despite the fury, some states have introduced welfare reform bills that would do exactly what the Inquirer editorial …

The Violence Against Women Act: Civil Rights For Sexual Assault Victims, W. H. Hallock

Indiana Law Journal

No abstract provided.

"Hell Man, They Did Invent Us:" The Mass Media, Law, And African Americans, Adeno Addis

Buffalo Law Review

No abstract provided.

Reproductive Technology And Disability: Searching For The "Rights" And Wrongs In Explanation, Judith Mosoff

Dalhousie Law Journal

Several years ago I worked as a lawyer representing psychiatric patients on the grounds of a large medieval-looking turn-of-the-century mental hospital in British Columbia. Soon after starting my new job I met Ann, a woman who shortly after her admission as an involuntary patient had informed her treatment team that she was pregnant. She had always wanted to have a baby. When she told her doctor about her pregnancy, he decided that this idea was part of her delusional system and prescribed anti-psychotic drugs to control her pathology. In fact she was pregnant and the medication given during the first …

Marching To The Beat Of A Different Drummer: The Case Of The Virginia Military Institute, Brian Scott Yablonski

University of Miami Law Review

No abstract provided.

The Inward Turn In Outsider Jurisprudence, Richard Delgado

William & Mary Law Review

No abstract provided.

Religiously Motivated "Outrageous" Conduct: Intentional Infliction Of Emotional Distress As A Weapon Against "Other People's Faiths", Paul T. Hayden

William & Mary Law Review

No abstract provided.

Judicial Activism And The Administration Of Civil Rights Policy, Kenyon D. Bunch, Grant B. Mindle

Brigham Young University Education and Law Journal

No abstract provided.

"Was Blind, But Now I See": White Race Consciousness And The Requirement Of Discriminatory Intent, Barbara J. Flagg

Michigan Law Review

Part I briefly reviews the case law that has established and elaborated the requirement of discriminatory intent. I discuss the theoretical background against which Washington v. Davis was decided, a debate over the possibility and propriety of judicial review of legislative motive. I suggest that the significant institutional difficulties associated with the triumphant discriminatory intent rule, together with the many substantive criticisms leveled against it, might lead one to expect to see relative doctrinal instability here. On the contrary, the requirement of discriminatory intent has been one of the most stable doctrines in modem constitutional law. I conclude with the …