Law Commons^™

The Hauntings Of Mamudiyah, Francine Banner, Tyler Wall

Francine Banner

On March 12, 2006, five American soldiers stationed in Mamudiyah Province, Iraq had a few drinks, played a couple hands of cards, then jogged in staggered formation to nearby Yusufiyah Province, where they systematically murdered Abeer al Janabi her family. The perpetrators have been sentenced, yet, the ghosts of that day continue to haunt us. This essay engages the methodology of haunting investigation in order to explore the ghosts of race, class, and gender as they manifested themselves at Mamudiyah. Exploring trial transcripts, media accounts, and data obtained via interviews with American soldiers, we examine the ways in which these …

Immoral Waiver: Judicial Review Of Intra-Military Sexual Assault Claims, Francine Banner

Francine Banner

This essay critiques the application of the Feres doctrine and the policy of judicial deference to military affairs in the context of recent class actions against government and military officials for constitutional violations stemming from sexual assaults in the U.S. military. The Pentagon estimates that 19,000 military sexual assaults occur each year. Yet, in 2011, fewer than two hundred persons were convicted of crimes of sexual violence. In the face of such pervasive and longstanding constitutional violations, this essay argues that the balance of harms weighs heavily in favor of judicial intervention. The piece discusses why, from both legal and …

Pregnant Pause: The Interplay Of Gendered Expectations And Pregnancy In Legal Education, Ilya Iussa

Ilya Iussa

PREGNANT PAUSE: THE INTERPLAY OF GENDERED EXPECTATIONS AND PREGNANCY IN LEGAL EDUCATION

Abstract

Is the law student biased against pregnant women? No systematic empirical study exists that can confirm whether law or university students in fact evidence bias towards visibly pregnant professors. This article, thus, reviews scholarship in the social sciences that identifies the occurrence, pervasiveness, cause and effects of student bias towards professors that do not exemplify the “normal professor body.”

This article reflects upon my interactions with law students as their professor during the course of my recent pregnancy and posits that certain perceptions held by my students …