Law Commons^™

Discrimination In Sentencing On The Basis Of Afrocentric Features, William T. Pizzi, Irene V. Blair, Charles M. Judd

Michigan Journal of Race and Law

This Article does not challenge the prior research on sentencing discrimination between racial categories that found no significant difference in sentences given to similarly-situated African Americans and Whites. In fact, in the jurisdiction investigated- Florida- no discrimination between African Americans and Whites was found in the sentences imposed on defendants, looking only at racial category differences. Rather, the research suggests that in focusing exclusively on discrimination between racial groups, the research has missed a type of discrimination related to race that is taking place within racial categories: namely, discrimination on the basis of a person's Afrocentric features. By Afrocentric features, …

Felon Disenfrachisement Laws: Partisan Politics In The Legislatures, Jason Belmont Conn

Michigan Journal of Race and Law

This examination of the institutional changes to state legislatures, synthesized with an analysis of the handling of felon disenfranchisement laws by state legislatures, presents a troubling realization about the law today: in the twenty-first century, partisan politics moderates decisions about even the most basic and fundamental principles of democracy. This Note suggests that because state legislators follow their party leadership and position, a state's traditional treatment of racial minorities, geographic location, and even ideology are not the strongest indicators of a state's disenfranchisement laws. Rather, partisan politics drives changes to the state laws governing felon voter eligibility.

"We Insist! Freedom Now": Does Contract Doctrine Have Anything Consitutional To Say?, Hila Keren

Michigan Journal of Race and Law

This Article first exposes the detachment between contract doctrine and the scattered antidiscrimination norms and analyzes the harmful consequences of this detachment. It then creates an original meeting point between the two bodies of law, one of which is intentionally located within contract doctrine. This point is found by dismantling the dominant concept of "freedom OF contact", and especially by defining and establishing the freedom to make a contract.

Decline Of Title Vii Disparate Impact: The Role Of The 1991 Civil Rights Act And The Ideologies Of Federal Judges, Michael J. Songer

Michigan Journal of Race and Law

This study employs various statistical techniques to test the efficacy of the 1991 Civil Rights Act in moderating the highly restrictive disparate impact regime imposed by Wards Cove, and to evaluate the hypothesis that political ideology should be a more powerful predictor of case outcomes following the 1991 Act. Part I of the paper describes the evolution of disparate impact doctrine from 1971 to the present. Part II analyzes data from randomly selected disparate impact cases brought by African American plaintiffs and finds that the current disparate impact doctrine emanating from the 1991 Civil Rights Act dramatically decreases the likelihood …

Controlling Identity: Plessy, Privacy, And Racial Defamation, Jonathan Kahn

Faculty Scholarship

This Article explores the origins of privacy law in early twentieth century America in relation to the legal solidification of Jim Crow in the aftermath of Plessy v. Ferguson. It considers some distinctively southern aspects of the origins of the right to privacy and argues that by viewing privacy, racial defamation, and Jim Crow in relation to each other, we can gain new insights into each-coming to understand that Plessy was not just about controlling space, or property, or even equality but also about controlling identity itself, and coming to see that in its origins, the right to privacy had …

The Court Of Appeals For The Fifth Circuit 2003-2004 Insurance Decisions: A Survey And An Empirical Analysis, Willy E. Rice

Faculty Articles

The Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals decided twenty-four insurance-related appeals between the survey period of June 2003 through May 2004. Those cases originated in nine federal district courts. The overwhelming majority of appeals concerned the interpretation and enforcement of insurance contracts. Barring one case of first impression, most involved very familiar procedural and substantive conflicts.

This year, federal preemption questions and conflicts over subject matter jurisdiction appeared in several cases. The Fifth Circuit also decided six class-action or class-certification cases, and the court decided two conflicts involving allegedly widespread racial and ethnic discrimination in the sale and marketing of various …

Controversy, Consensus, And The Concept Of Discrimination, George Rutherglen

Saint Louis University Law Journal

No abstract provided.

Statutes Of Limitations: A Policy Analysis In The Context Of Reparations Litigation, Suzette M. Malveaux

Publications

This article discusses the underlying policy rationales for statutes of limitations and their exceptions, as demonstrated by Supreme Court precedents. This article explores limitations law in the context of a case brought by African-American survivors of the Tulsa Race Riot of 1921 who sought restitution from the local government for its participation in one of the worst race riots in American history, in violation of their constitutional and federal civil rights. Using the Tulsa case as an exemplar, this article analyzes the propriety of the case’s dismissal as time-barred, and contends that this outcome was unwarranted under precedents and failed …

Playing The Game Of Academic Integrity Vs. Athletic Success: The Americans With Disabilities Act (Ada) And Intercollegiate Student-Athletes With Learning Disabilities , Yuri Nicholas Walker

Marquette Sports Law Review

No abstract provided.

The Allure And Danger Of Practicing Law As Taxonomy, Marcia L. Mccormick

All Faculty Scholarship

In this article, I hope to contribute to the ongoing debate on how our society treats the problem of discrimination. Many scholars have criticized the types of antidiscrimination statutes we have enacted as well as the ways in which the courts have interpreted those laws. While I agree with many of these critiques, rather than tackle those very large issues at the outset, I focus on the test the courts currently use to evaluate the evidence to determine whether an inference can be made that discrimination has occurred. I argue that lawyers and courts have become so caught up in …

General Dynamics Land Systems, Inc. V. Cline: Shrinking The Realm Of Possibility For Reverse Age Discrimination Suits, Rebecca L. Ennis

University of Richmond Law Review

No abstract provided.

Credit Where It Counts: The Community Reinvestment Act And Its Critics, Michael S. Barr

Articles

Despite the depth and breadth of U.S. credit markets, low- and moderate-income communities and minority borrowers have not historically enjoyed full access to credit. The Community Reinvestment Act (CRA) was enacted in 1977 to help overcome barriers to credit that these groups faced. Scholars have long leveled numerous critiques against CRA as unnecessary, ineffectual, costly, and lawless. Many have argued that CRA should be eliminated. By contrast, I contend that market failures and discrimination justify governmental intervention and that CRA is a reasonable policy response to these problems. Using recent empirical evidence, I demonstrate that over the last decade CRA …

Subjective Decisionmaking And Unconscious Discrimination, Melissa Hart

Publications

Unconscious bias is widely recognized as the most pervasive barrier to equal employment opportunity for minorities and women in the workplace today and yet many argue that federal laws prohibiting discrimination do not prohibit unconscious discrimination. This article argues that the law does in fact provide some redress for unconscious discrimination. Title VII may not be a perfect method for attacking unconscious bias, but it is a mistake to assume that it is without potential. The article challenges the assumption commonly held by judges that a finding of discrimination must be preceded by the belief that an employer is lying …

Two "Wrongs" Do/Can Make A Right: Remembering Mathematics, Physics, & Various Legal Analogies (Two Negatives Make A Positive; Are Remedies Wrong?) The Law Has Made Him Equal, But Man Has Not, John C. Duncan Jr

Journal Publications

This article demonstrates the incomplete logic and inconsistent legal reasoning used in the argument against affirmative action. The phrase "two wrongs don't make a right" is often heard in addressing various attempts to equalize, to balance, and to correct the acknowledged wrongs of slavery and segregation and their derivative effects. Yet, "two wrongs do/can make a right" has a positive connotation. This article reviews the history of societal and judicial wrongs against Blacks, as well as the evolution of the narrowing in legal reasoning concerning discrimination against minorities, including Blacks. Next, the legal reasoning behind legacy programs will be reviewed …

Innocence And The Sopranos, Seth D. Harris

NYLS Law Review

No abstract provided.

Judicial Notice: How Judicial Bias Impacts The Unequal Application Of Equal Protection Principles In Affirmative Action Cases, Victor Suthammanont

NYLS Law Review

No abstract provided.

By Any Other Name?: On Being “Regarded As” Black, And Why Title Vii Should Apply Even If Lakisha And Jamal Are White, Angela Onwuachi-Willig, Mario L. Barnes

Faculty Scholarship

Forty years after the passage of Title VII, scholars Marianne Bertrand and Sendhil Mullainathan reported the results of their groundbreaking study, Are Emily and Greg More Employable Than Lakisha and Jamal? A Field Experiment on Labor Market Discrimination. Their study revealed that simply having an African American-sounding name significantly decreased one's opportunity to receive a job interview, regardless of occupation or industry. The results of Bertrand and Mullainathan's investigation raise critical questions about the effectiveness of Title VII as a remedy for race discrimination in the hiring market today, especially as employment discrimination has evolved into different forms. As shown …

Cry Me A River: The Limits Of 'A Systemic Analysis Of Affirmative Action In American Law Schools', Angela Onwuachi-Willig, Kevin Johnson

Faculty Scholarship

This article is a response to Richard H. Sander's article, A Systemic Analysis of Affirmative Action in American Law Schools, which recently appeared in the Stanford Law Review. In his article, Professor Sander argues that affirmative action in law schools harms, rather than helps, African American law students by setting up African American students, who are out-matched by their white peers in terms of undergraduate grade point average and LSAT scores, for failure. Specifically, Professor Sander contends that because affirmative action enables African Americans to attend law schools for which they are unqualified, they are more likely to perform poorly …

Protecting Gays From The Government’S Crosshairs: A Reevaluation Of The Ninth Circuit’S Treatment Of Gays Under The Federal Constitution’S Equal Protection Clause Following Lawrence V. Texas, Jeffrey M. Goldman

University of San Francisco Law Review

No abstract provided.

Latino Educational Neglect: The Result Bespeaks Discrimination, Lupe S. Salinas

University of Maryland Law Journal of Race, Religion, Gender and Class

No abstract provided.

Essay: A Search For Reason In Fairy Tales, John F. Hernandez

Faculty Articles

A fairy tale: Once upon at time (not so very long ago), in a land (not so far away) lived a beautiful queen (well, actually a "runner up ") with a golden voice. The beautiful queen reined over her people and sang of sunshine. Some of the queen's subjects had felt that they were not treated fairly by the laws of the land and sought to have their unfair treatment prohibited. Apparently, this caused the queen to develop a fear and hatred for these subjects. These subjects had done nothing to the queen. Yet, the queen made it her mission …

Constructing Reality: Social Science And Race Cases, Beverly I. Moran

Vanderbilt Law School Faculty Publications

Dred Scott v. Sanford, Plessy v. Ferguson, Brown v. Board of Education and Grutter v. Bollinger all demonstrate that law alone is not enough to make social change. Instead, lawyers interested in social change must understand the nature of the societies that they attempt to persuade and the language that leads judges to change their ways of thinking. In the early 21st century, the language of persuasion is often the language of social science.

The Law And Racism: Some Reflections On The Australian Experience, Laksiri Jayasuriya

Research outputs pre 2011

Racism in Australian society is not something new and surprising. For a variety of historical and socio-political reasons it has existed from the earliest days ·of colonisation, and there have been a variety of strategies tried over the years to deal with racism as a social problem. One strategy most frequently resorted to, especially in recent years, has been to use the law as a means of combating racism. Before considering the questions of law and racism, we need first to clarify what we mean by the term racism...

Instructions In Inequality: Development, Human Rights, Capabilities, And Gender Violence In School, Erika George

Michigan Journal of International Law

This Article argues that the international community's gender equality targets will not be realized by 2015 because the problems associated with sexual violence against girls in schools are situated at an intersection of contested conceptual divides between human rights (civil and political liberties) and development aims (social and economic needs). Cracks in the conceptual foundations of both the liberal and utilitarian theories of justice and equality, which support traditional human rights advocacy and economic development plans, respectively render each approach inadequate to fully identify and address the grave danger sexual violence and harassment in schools pose to educational equality. In …

Eagle Feathers And Equality: Lessons On Religious Exceptions From The Native American Experience, Kevin J. Worthen

Faculty Scholarship

The legality and propriety of exempting religiously motivated conduct from otherwise applicable legal norms is the subject of ongoing scholarly, judicial, and legislative debate. The issue is particularly thorny when it arises in a legal system deeply committed to the concept of equality. The Eagle Protection Act, which exempts Native Americans religious practitioners who are members of federally recognized tribes from its general prohibition on the taking and use of bald and golden eagle feathers, provides an interesting context in which to examine that debate. Not only does the Act exempt religiously motivated conduct from the otherwise applicable norms, it …

The "Privilege Of Speech" In A "Pleasantly Authoritarian Country", Hans C. Clausen

Vanderbilt Journal of Transnational Law

Giving credence to Alexis de Tocqueville's argument that in democratic societies the love of equality is greater than the love of freedom is a recently emerging trend among Western nations to legally proscribe speech critical of homosexuality. Such laws, in various forms, now exist in a large and growing minority of countries in Europe and North America. The goal of these laws is much grander than preventing discrimination against homosexuals; rather, the objective is seemingly to promote the social acceptance of gay and lesbian lifestyles. These laws provide for civil remedies and in some instances even criminal sanctions for speech …

True Integration: Advancing Brown's Goal Of Educational Equity In The Wake Of Grutter, Lia Epperson

Scholarly Articles in Law Reviews & Journals

No abstract provided.

Introduction: The Enduring Power Of Collective Rights, In Labor Law Stories, Catherine L. Fisk, Laura J. Cooper

Faculty Scholarship

No abstract provided.

The Feminist Pervasion: How Gender-Based Scholarship Informs Law And Law Teaching, Deseriee A. Kennedy, Ann Bartow, F. Carolyn Graglia, Joan Macload Hemingway

Scholarly Works

This is an edited, annotated transcript of a conference panel discussion on feminism, sex, and gender in law, legal education, and legal scholarship. The transcript reflects widely divergent views of the place of feminism, sex, and gender in the law and legal scholarship. Moreover, the panelists differ as to the role feminism has played in the lives of women as law students and practicing attorneys. In the latter part of the transcript, the panelists' remarks focus in on hotly debated issues surrounding possible gender (or sex) and racial bias in LSAT testing and the innate abilities of women and men …

Constitutional Law—State Employees Have Private Cause Of Action Against Employers Under Family And Medical Leave Act—Nevada Department Of Human Resources V. Hibbs, 538 U.S. 721 (2003)., Gabriel H. Teninbaum

ExpressO

The Eleventh Amendment of the United States Constitution provides that non-consenting states are not subject to suit in federal court. Congress may, however, abrogate the states’ sovereign immunity by enacting legislation to enforce the provisions of the Fourteenth Amendment. In Nevada Department of Human Resources v. Hibbs, the Supreme Court of the United States considered whether Congress acted within its constitutional authority by abrogating sovereign immunity under the Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA), which allows private causes of action against state employers to enforce the FMLA’s family-leave provision. The Court held abrogation was proper under the FMLA and state …