Law Commons^™

Putative Fathers Take Note: Revisiting In Re Loveheart And Revising The Rule Of Notice In Dependency Proceedings In Light Of Missouri's Revised Statutes And Putative Father Registry, Lauren A. Standlee

ExpressO

An increasingly large number of babies are born to unwed parents in the United States every year. This phenomenon is problematical for putative fathers in adoption proceedings because it is difficult to protect such a father’s rights while advancing the child’s best interests. Many states, such as Missouri, have responded by enacting putative father registries. An unwed father may file his intent to claim paternity with the Missouri Putative Father Registry in a postcard to insure notice of any proceeding that may affect his parental rights. However, a Missouri putative father who has not filed with the registry and taken …

The Constitutionality Of The Partial-Birth Abortion Ban Of 2003, Katherine R. Atkinson

ExpressO

Evaluates the constitutionality of the Partial-Birth Abortion Ban Act of 2003, beginning with a general discussion of relevant abortion procedures and jurisprudence. The Article then analyzes the Act using the void for vagueness doctrine, the undue burden test, and the Court's analysis in Stenberg, ultimately concluding the Act is unconstitutionl.

Gender Matters: Making The Case For Trans Inclusion, Nancy K. Knauer

The University of New Hampshire Law Review

[Excerpt] “The transgender communities are producing an important and nuanced critique of our gender system. For community members, the project is self-constitutive and, therefore, has an immediacy that also marks the efforts of other marginalized groups who have attempted to make sense of the world through description, interrogation, and ultimately a program for transformation. The transgender project also has universalizing elements because, existing within the gender system, each one of us embodies a particular gender articulation. It is through this articulation that we define ourselves in relation to the gender we were assigned at birth, the gender we choose, the …

The Development, Interpretation And Scope Of The Word "Sex" Within Title Vii: With Particular Reference To "Sexual Orientation.", Abbas Kazerounian

ExpressO

This is a paper demonstrating the shortcomings of the current jurisprudence in the U.S. with regards to the readings of Title VII's construction of the word "sex." Currently sexual minorities are not considered within Title VII and therefore sexual minorities are not offered the same protections under this Congressional Act. This paper shows how this is a misreading of the statute and how it should include protection for sexual minorities.

The Meaning Of “Life”: The Morning-After-Pill, The Question Of When Life Begins, And Judicial Review, Jason M. Horst

ExpressO

The Article foresees that certain state legislation limiting access to the morning-after-pill will thrust the question of when life begins onto the courts. This is due both to fact that the morning-after-pill has the potential to act at a point when the existence of potential life is in dispute and largely a matter of belief and to the fact that the constitutionality of the legislation may depend on whether courts consider the morning-after-pill abortion or contraception.

The Article argues that courts should address the question of whether to consider the morning-after-pill abortion or contraception by attempting to adopt and apply …

Conference Program

Dimensions of Women's Equal Citizenship (2006)

No abstract provided.

A Complete Property Right Amendment, John H. Ryskamp

ExpressO

The trend of the eminent domain reform and "Kelo plus" initiatives is toward a comprehensive Constitutional property right incorporating the elements of level of review, nature of government action, and extent of compensation. This article contains a draft amendment which reflects these concerns.

Harassing Women With Power: The Case For Including Contra-Power Harassment Within Title Vii, Ann C. Juliano

Working Paper Series

After overcoming the obstacles to advancement, women who reach managerial positions are still subject to harassment. At times, this harassment comes from subordinates. The incidence of those employees with “lesser” power harassing those with more power presents a dilemma for traditional thinking on sexual harassment and for the developing judicial doctrine of sexual harassment. It is well-established that Title VII protects employees from discrimination because of sex. Yet, it is unclear whether the statute reaches as far as contra-power harassment.

Traditionally, sexual harassment was considered an abuse of power in the workplace. If this is true, how can female supervisors …

In The (Canadian) Shadow Of Islamic Law: Translating Mahr As A Bargaining Endowment, Pascale Fournier

Osgoode Hall Law Journal

This article addresses the dilemmas of Muslim women living in Canada as they negotiate between the constitutional and juridical systems of the dominant society, on the one hand, and the Muslim community, on the other. It will examine the ideological assumptions about law and multiculturalism that have worked to depoliticize the stakes of law in Marion Boyd's report, Protecting Choice, Promoting Inclusion. With the Islamic institution of mahr in the background, this article suggests a methodology to evaluate the costs and benefits of abstract legal rules as they are actually used by the parties in the "shadow of the law" …

Gender Equality And Women's Solidarity Across Religious, Ethnic, And Class Differences In The Kenyan Constitutional Review Process, Athena D. Mutua

William & Mary Journal of Race, Gender, and Social Justice

No abstract provided.

The Abortion Rights Of Adolescents Should Be Coextensive With Those Of Adults--A Theoretical Framework, Chad M. Gerson

ExpressO

The aim of this article is to argue that the abortion rights of adolescents should be coextensive with those of adults. The first section of the article reviews research in child development which has demonstrated that adolescents are able to make informed, mature decisions on procreative issues. The second section reviews cases which have defined the contours of adult women’s abortion rights, and argues that the reasoning behind those holdings also applies to adolescents.

Form And Substance: Standards For Promotion And Retention Of Legal Writing Faculty On Clinical Tenure Track, Melissa H. Weresh

ExpressO

This article compares standards for promotion and retention of legal writing faculty on a clinical tenure track. The article provides a brief history of legal writing professionals and examines specific employment criteria such as teaching, service, and scholarship. The article makes recommendations regarding those criteria based upon an assessment of institutional realities and the historical development of the profession.

“Actions As Words, Words As Actions: Sexual Harassment Law, The First Amendment And Verbal Acts, John F. Wirenius

ExpressO

The article examines the tension between the hostile work environment under the civil rights laws and the First Amendment’s protection of free speech, even when such speech is offensive and even discriminatory. After discussing the tension and its limits, the author examines other rationales proposed to resolve this tension, and rejecting them as unsatisfactory. Noting that hostile work environment doctrine, as a variable standard, employs a less “bright-line” approach than is typical of the First Amendment’s rule, the author nonetheless finds that the “open texture” of all rules, and the requirement that a hostile work environment be systematically pervasive or …

Imagining The Law-Trained Reader: The Faulty Description Of The Audience In Legal Writing Textbooks., Jessica E. Price

ExpressO

In law schools today, first-year legal writing courses play a crucial role in helping students learn to communicate about the law. Many legal writing teachers approach legal writing education in a practical way, attempting to pass on their own experiences in law practice settings to students. Unfortunately, as other writers have observed, such reliance on personal knowledge about “what lawyers are like” may lead legal writing teachers to oversimplify a complicated matter – the needs and preferences of the audience for legal writing – and may even amount to indoctrination in stereotypes about law practice. This article offers a closer …

Toward A Feminist Theory Of The Rural, Lisa R. Pruitt

ExpressO

Feminists have often criticized law’s ignorance of women’s practical, lived experiences, even as they have also sought to reveal the variety among those experiences. This article builds on both critiques to argue for greater attentiveness to a neglected aspect of women’s situation: place. Specifically, Professor Pruitt asserts that the hardships and vulnerability that mark the lives of rural women and constrain their moral agency are overlooked or discounted by a contemporary cultural presumption of urbanism.

Professor Pruitt considers judicial responses to the realities of rural women’s lives in relation to three different legal issues: domestic violence, termination of parental rights, …

Cyberstalking, A New Crime: Evaluating The Effectiveness Of Current State And Federal Laws, Naomi Harlin Goodno

ExpressO

Imagine a distressed woman discovering the following message on the Internet that was falsely attributed to her: “Female International Author, no limits to imagination and fantasies, prefers group macho/sadistic interaction . . . stop by my house at [current address] . . . . Will take calls day or night at [current telephone number] . . . I promise you everything you ever dreamt about. Serious responses only.” This is an example of cyberstalking – which involves the use of the Internet, e-mail, or other means of electronic communication to stalk another individual. Current statistics suggest that tens of thousands …

Legal Pluralism & Women's Rights: A Study In Post-Colonial Tanzania, Edward R. Fluet, Mark J. Calaguas, Cristina M. Drost

ExpressO

Recognizing a dearth of legal research on Zanzibar, the authors explore the complex legal and cultural landscape of this archipelago and its relationship to mainland Tanzania. The article discusses the problems that arise when multicultural societies adopt a pluralist system of justice in order to preserve the traditions of its diverse communities. Although the article focuses on Tanzania, the problems that arise from multicultural accommodations affect not only young, postcolonial nations in Africa and Asia, but also individuals in cosmopolitan, economically-developed countries such as Israel and the United States. As countries wrestle with ever diversifying ethnic and religious populations, such …

Integrating A Human Rights Perspective Into The European Approach To Combating The Trafficking Of Women For Sexual Exploitation, Alexandra Amiel

Buffalo Human Rights Law Review

No abstract provided.

Centering Men's Experience: Norah Vincent's Self-Made Man Complicates Feminist Legal Theorists' Views Of Gender, Kathy A. Thomack

Buffalo Women's Law Journal

No abstract provided.

Double Whammy: How The New Credit Card Nondischargeability Provision And The New Means Test Hit Single Mothers Over The Head, Hatty Yip

Buffalo Women's Law Journal

No abstract provided.

When Rights Collide: In A Battle Between Pharmacists' Right Of Free Exercise And Patients' Right To Access Contraception, Who Wins?, Jacqueline Gilbert

Nevada Law Journal

No abstract provided.

The Uncertain Future Of Marriage And The Alternatives, Daniel I. Weiner

ExpressO

The cultural and institutional predominance of marriage in our society has lately been challenged by two important social trends: growing dissatisfaction with or indifference to marriage on the part of those eligible to marry, and the emergence of nontraditional families headed by adults who may wish to marry but are presently excluded from doing so. This Essay argues that proactive law reformers have responded to these trends by taking two very different approaches. The first approach, “diversity of forms,” is exemplified by the cultivation of alternatives and substitutes to traditional marriage ranging from same and opposite-sex domestic partnerships and other …

Jumping On The Mommy Track: A Tax For Working Mothers, Jessica C. Kornberg

ExpressO

“Jumping on the Mommy Track: a Tax for Working Mothers,” was written in response to recent data suggesting that mothers experience a wage penalty unrelated to diminished work productivity or commitment. This Article starts from the assumption that a wage penalty, in combination with already existing disadvantages to working mothers embedded in the tax code, drives women out of the workforce and into less economically efficient activity. The Article proposes remedying this distortion by implementing a targeted regressive tax on working mothers.

Parental Consent And Notification Laws In The Abortion Context: Rejecting The "Maturity" Standard In Judicial Bypass Proceedings, Anna Bonny

ExpressO

The choice to become a parent, to give a baby up for adoption, or to terminate a pregnancy presents a life-altering decision for a minor. The majority of states require minors to engage their parents or legal guardians in their choice to obtain an abortion, but not in decisions to give their babies up for adoption or to become parents. Though the Supreme Court has held that parental consent and notification laws do not infringe on a minor's constitutional rights if judicial bypass options are available, the reality of these judicial proceedings demonstrates a biased and unworkable legal avenue. Even …

Internalizing Gender: International Goals, Comparative Realities, Darren Rosenblum

Elisabeth Haub School of Law Faculty Publications

This Article uses the example of international women's political rights to examine the value of comparative methodologies in analyzing the process by which nations internalize international norms. As internalized in Brazil and France, the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women suggests possibilities for (and possible limitations of) interdisciplinary comparative and international law scholarship. Indeed, international law scholarship is divided between theories of internalization and neorealist challenges to those theories. Comparative methodologies add crucial complexity to internalization theory, the success of which depends on acknowledging vast differences in national legal cultures. Further, comparative methodologies expose important …

Marriage And The Elephant: The Liberal Democratic State’S Regulation Of Intimate Relationships Between Adults , Maxine Eichner

ExpressO

This essay considers the current debate in legal theory over the stance that the state should adopt toward intimate relationships between adults. Should the state, as some scholars argue, privilege marriage because of the benefits it provides to society? Or should it, as others argue, distance itself from relationships between adults on the ground that adults should be left to order their own affairs? The essay argues that scholars involved in this debate have reached such diametrically different conclusions from one another because each side has focused on a particular, narrow range of goods at issue in these relationships. Relationships …

Multistable Figures: Sexual Orientation Visibility And Its Effects On The Experiences Of Sexual Minorities In The Courts, Todd Brower

ExpressO

A multistable figure is a cognitive illusion in which a single drawing contains multiple, competing images. On first viewing a person will see one image, but not the other – it usually requires additional information to trigger the viewer’s awareness of the second image. However, once you know about the disparate figures in the illustration, you cannot erase that knowledge from your mind and see a sole image as you did originally. This inability to ignore information and its effect on subsequent experience has parallels in lesbians’ and gay men’s treatment in the courts.

Courts today are deeply involved in …

Domestic Violence And Legal Reforms In Nigeria: Prospects And Challenges, Itoro Eze-Anaba

ExpressO

The article focuses on the challenges for women’s rights activists attempting to provide a better legal regime for victims of domestic violence in Nigeria. It is my desire to provide a resource material on the issue of domestic violence for activists, policy makers, legislators and law reformers who are engaged in providing a better legal framework for the protection and promotion of women’s rights in a developing country like Nigeria. Having worked extensively on this issue, the article documents my experience on law reform advocacy in Nigeria.

The Purpose Of Child Support, Ira M. Ellman

ExpressO

What is the appropriate amount of child support to require in particular cases? How should we take account, if at all, of subsequent events such as either parent’s remarriage? It seems obvious that the answers to such questions ought to turn on our purpose in requiring support payments in the first place. But while fixing the amount of child support can be politically contentious, and has attracted the attention of partisans on both sides of the gender gap, the literature contains no systematic examination of support rules in light of their underlying policy purpose. This article fills that gap. It …

Federal Employment Law: Current Problems And A Call For Reform, Joseph Prud'homme

Journal of Race, Gender, and Ethnicity

No abstract provided.