Law Commons^™

Beyond The Cat’S Paw: An Argument For Adopting A “Substantially Influences” Standard For Title Vii And Adea Liability, Tim Davis

The University of New Hampshire Law Review

[Excerpt] “Susan, an African-American nurse, has worked for a large group of physicians for nearly twenty years and is nearing the end of her career. Susan’s boss has recently retired and has been replaced by a man with an animus toward African-Americans. This has put Susan in a precarious situation.

Instead of overtly discriminating against her, Susan’s supervisor complains to the large medical practice’s personnel committee that Susan’s work is substandard and she no longer is a productive worker. The committee, based on the supervisor’s report, fires Susan.

When Susan goes to court to assert her right not to be …

A Beautiful Lie: Exploring Rhinelander V. Rhinelander As A Formative Lesson On Race, Identity, Marriage, And Family, Angela Onwuachi-Willig

Faculty Scholarship

This essay explores the past and present social meanings of what occurred during a 1920s New York trial court case, Rhinelander v. Rhinelander. Rhinelander involved a claim by Leonard Kip Rhinelander, a white socialite, who filed for annulment of his marriage to Alice Beatrice Jones, a woman of racially ambiguous heritage. Leonard claimed that Alice committed fraud that went to the essence of their marriage by failing to inform him that she was of "colored" blood. According to legend, Leonard and Alice were madly in love, and Leonard filed the lawsuit only because of his father, who refused to accept …

Slave Artists As Powerful Reality Creators: Taking Responsibility And Rejecting Race Consciousness, Kimberly L. Alderman

Kimberly L. Alderman

This article critiques the race conscious thinking inherent in Critical Race Theory (“CRT”) and offers an alternative to structuralism and determinism. It reviews the colonial origins of race consciousness, and argues that advocating race conscious remedies perpetuates the very racism CRT decries. The article focuses on powerful reality creators of the past to create a more empowering framework of individual responsibility and personal reality construction. The article makes a case study of David Drake, a slave potter from 1800s South Carolina. Slave artists like David Drake show us that, no matter how strong the forces of oppression, a marginalized individual …

The Noose, Timothy Zick

Popular Media

No abstract provided.

The Glass Half Full: Envisioning The Future Of Race Preference Policies, Leslie Yalof Garfield

Elisabeth Haub School of Law Faculty Publications

Justice Breyer's concern that the Court's June 2007 ruling in Parents Involved in Community Schools v. Seattle School District. No. 1 "is a decision the Court and nation will come to regret" is not well founded. Far from limiting the constitutionally permissible use of race in education from its present restriction to higher education, the case may allow governmental entities to consider race as a factor to achieve diversity in grades K-12. In Parents Involved, which the Court decided with its companion case, McFarland v. Jefferson County Public Schools four justices concluded that school boards may never consider race when …

Litigating The Meaning Of Emancipation: Reconstruction And Post Reconstruction Era Dilemmas Of Freed People And Property, Julie Novkov

Julie Novkov

This article explores how the southern courts managed the policy question of transferring property by bequest in the wake of the Civil War and emancipation. In the years when the infrastructure for Jim Crow was being assembled, many freedmen and freedwomen were able to gain access to property by bequest despite the system’s refusal to endorse broad based land reform. I argue, nonetheless, that these cases carried through a tradition of white patriarchal control of property, rather than heralding the uncertain dawn of a new era of racially egalitarian property rights.

Dealing With The Realities Of Race And Ethnicity: A Bioethics-Centered Argument In Favor Of Race-Based Genetics Research (Aug. Draft), Michael J. Malinowski

Michael J. Malinowski

This article addresses the proliferation of race and ethnicity-based genetics research, which has become increasingly prevalent with the utilization of population genetics to make medical sense out of the map of the human genome. The article challenges the work of several law scholars with arguments based in bioethics, research pragmatism, and genetic science to propose that recognition of race and ethnicity is preferred in population genetics. The article concludes that proposals to stretch U.S. antidiscrimination jurisprudence to regulate away race and ethnicity in genetics research are misguided at best.

The Race Question In Latcrit Theory And Asian American Jurisprudence, Robert S. Chang, Neil Gotanda

Nevada Law Journal

No abstract provided.

Volunteer Discrimination, Angela Onwuachi-Willig

Faculty Scholarship

Part I of this Essay describes the new NBA dress code and then lays the framework for the discussions that ensued after the implementation of the code. Part II examines how some Blacks' defense of the allegedly discriminatory NBA appearance policy does not in itself negate claims of racial discrimination. In so doing, this Part explicates the various ways in which Blacks are pressured to perform their racial identity in order to advance in society - in particular, the ways in which outsiders often must conform to traditional standards of appearance and must distinguish themselves from the "bad outsiders" or …

“But Some Of [Them] Are Brave”: Identity Performance, The Military, And The Dangers Of An Integration Success Story, Mario L. Barnes

Duke Journal of Gender Law & Policy

By dislodging the story and acknowledging the effects of unconscious bias, the Armed Forces will be better able to address the ways in which some use identity-race in particular-as a tool to stigmatize, dishonor, and disfavor group members based on their perceived characteristics.11 As it currently stands, the operation of unconscious biases interacts with Armed Forces' institutional policy choices-such as a commitment to formal equality achieved through race- and gender-neutral regulations-and organizational social norms to negatively shape the work "performance"12 of women and minority service members.

Efforts To Improve The Illinois Capital Punishment System: Worth The Cost?, Thomas P. Sullivan

University of Richmond Law Review

No abstract provided.

An Uninvited Guest: The Federal Death Penalty And The Massachusetts Prosecution Of Nurse Kristen Gilbert, John P. Cunningham

University of Richmond Law Review

No abstract provided.

Adding Colors To The Chameleon: Why The Supreme Court Should Adopt A New Compelling Governmental Interest Test For Race-Preference Student Assignment Plans, Leslie Yalof Garfield

Elisabeth Haub School of Law Faculty Publications

When the Supreme Court ordered the City of Birmingham to desegregate its schools in 1954, it failed to consider the long range implications of its mandate. School districts across the country responded to the Court’s order by adopting race-preference school assignment plans, created to designate the particular public elementary or secondary school a student should attend. Now that these plans have successfully achieved their goals of desegregating classrooms, the question has become whether the continuation of the very programs that helped achieve those goals remain legal? In other words, as Justice Ginsburg recently said in arguments before the Supreme Court, …

Race And Wealth Disparity: The Role Of Law And The Legal System, Beverly Moran, Stephanie Wildman

Faculty Publications

In response to the prevalent view that American law and legal institutions are class and color blind, this Article provides examples of how legal institutions sometimes do create and maintain racialized wealth disparities. The Article offers examples of this phenomenon by examining a sequence of federal judicial decisions, the federal taxing statutes, the role of legal education, and access to legal services. These examples are instructive because they cut across a broad spectrum of components of the American legal system. By revisiting issues of race and wealth in different legal settings from the Constitution to federal cases, the tax system, …

Agenda: The Climate Of Environmental Justice: Taking Stock, University Of Colorado Boulder. School Of Law

The Climate of Environmental Justice: Taking Stock (March 16-17)

On March 16-17, The Climate of Environmental Justice: Taking Stock conference gathered 125 academics and practitioners from around the country to consider the pressing issues facing low-income and/or communities of color that continue to be subjected to a disproportionate share of environmental maladies.

"Some people are more equal than others when it comes to bracing ourselves for the impacts of climate change," said conference organizer Professor Maxine Burkett. "Whether it's because poor folks lived in the lowest areas of New Orleans when Katrina floodwaters rushed in, or are less able to afford the cooling bill during increasingly frequent heat waves, …

Antisubordination Of Whom? What India’S Answer Can Tell Us About The Meaning Of Equality In Affirmative Action, Sean A. Pager

Seattle University

Who should be the beneficiaries of race-conscious affirmative action? Conspicuous by its absence in the US affirmative action debate, this question takes us beyond conventional majority/minority discourse and forces us to confront questions of comparative entitlement. Asking the “Who Question” serves to illuminate a much larger debate over the nature of equality itself. Two paradigms of equal protection compete in modern scholarship: antidiscrimination vs. antisubordination. Yet, neither offers a satisfactory method to select affirmative action beneficiaries on its own.

The Supreme Court’s current antidiscrimination approach to affirmative action remains incomplete. In focusing solely on remedying particularized underrepresentation, the Court tells …

Antisubordination Of Whom? What India’S Answer Tells Us About The Meaning Of Equality In Affirmative Action, Sean A. Pager

Seattle University

Who should be the beneficiaries of race-conscious affirmative action? Conspicuous by its absence in the US affirmative action debate, this question takes us beyond conventional majority/minority discourse and forces us to confront questions of comparative entitlement. Asking the “Who Question” serves to illuminate a much larger debate over the nature of equality itself. Two paradigms of equal protection compete in modern scholarship: antidiscrimination vs. antisubordination. Yet, neither offers a satisfactory method to select affirmative action beneficiaries on its own.

The Supreme Court’s current antidiscrimination approach to affirmative action remains incomplete. In focusing solely on remedying particularized underrepresentation, the Court tells …

Reading, Writing, And Race: The Constitutionality Of Educational Strategies Designed To Teach Racial Literacy, Michael J. Kaufman

University of Richmond Law Review

No abstract provided.

Relations Before Transactions: A New Paradigm For Racial Discrimination Theory, Glenn C. Loury

Georgia State University Law Review

No abstract provided.

Antisubordination Of Whom? What India’S Answer Tells Us About The Meaning Of Equality In Affirmative Action, Sean Pager

Seattle University

Who should be the beneficiaries of race-conscious affirmative action? Conspicuous by its absence in the US affirmative action debate, this question takes us beyond conventional majority/minority discourse and forces us to confront questions of comparative entitlement. Asking the “Who Question” serves to illuminate a much larger debate over the nature of equality itself. Two paradigms of equal protection compete in modern scholarship: antidiscrimination vs. antisubordination. Yet, neither offers a satisfactory method to select affirmative action beneficiaries on its own.

The Supreme Court’s current antidiscrimination approach to affirmative action remains incomplete. In focusing solely on remedying particularized underrepresentation, the Court tells …

Antisubordination Of Whom? What India’S Answer Tells Us About The Meaning Of Equality In Affirmative Action, Sean Pager

Seattle University

Who should be the beneficiaries of race-conscious affirmative action? Conspicuous by its absence in the US affirmative action debate, this question takes us beyond conventional majority/minority discourse and forces us to confront questions of comparative entitlement. Asking the “Who Question” serves to illuminate a much larger debate over the nature of equality itself. Two paradigms of equal protection compete in modern scholarship: antidiscrimination vs. antisubordination. Yet, neither offers a satisfactory method to select affirmative action beneficiaries on its own.

The Supreme Court’s current antidiscrimination approach to affirmative action remains incomplete. In focusing solely on remedying particularized underrepresentation, the Court tells …

Toward A Legal Genealogy Of Color Blindness, Julie Novkov

Julie Novkov

Conservative colorblindness is often understood by legal scholars as a backlash phenomenon that emerged in the post-civil rights era in response to gains by African Americans in the legal and social spheres. Following Reva Siegel's work, this paper pushes the time frame back substantially and traces the origins of conservative colorblindness in legal doctrine to the early 1960s. It describes a discursive struggle that began in the courts and spilled out into the cultural arena, ultimately resulting in the full appropriation of colorblindness by the right.

Moving Beyond Strict Scrutiny: The Need For A More Nuanced Standard Of Protection Analysis For K Through 12 Integration Programs, Deborah N. Archer

Articles & Chapters

In Comfort v. Lynn School Committee, the United States Court of Appeals for the First Circuit evaluated a race-conscious student assignment program using the affirmative action strict scrutiny framework of Grutter v. Bollinger. Comfort is part of a trend of applying strict scrutiny to race-conscious integration programs that has gained new momentum following the decision in Grutter. Invited by the Supreme Court's seemingly unequivocal language in Adarand Constructors v. Pena, that "all racial classifications, imposed by whatever federal, state, or local governmental actor, must be analyzed by a reviewing court under strict scrutiny," federal district and appellate courts confronted with …

Bias, The Brain, And Student Evaluations Of Teaching, Deborah J Merritt

ExpressO

Student evaluations of teaching are a common fixture at American law schools, but they harbor surprising biases. Extensive psychology research demonstrates that these assessments respond overwhelmingly to a professor’s appearance and nonverbal behavior; ratings based on just thirty seconds of silent videotape correlate strongly with end-of-semester evaluations. The nonverbal behaviors that influence teaching evaluations are rooted in physiology, culture, and habit, allowing characteristics like race and gender to affect evaluations. The current process of gathering evaluations, moreover, allows social stereotypes to filter students’ perceptions, increasing risks of bias. These distortions are inevitable products of the intuitive, “system one” cognitive processes …

Title Vi And The Warren County Protests, Bradford Mank

Faculty Articles and Other Publications

One part of the 1982 civil rights struggle against building a Polychlorinated Biphenyls ("PCB") landfill in Warren County, North Carolina, was a suit by the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People ("NAACP") under Title VI of the 1964 Civil Rights Act. Although the suit was unsuccessful, the Warren County protests led to a 1983 General Accounting Office study and a 1987 United Church of Christ's Commission on Racial Justice (CRJ) study, both of which found that hazardous waste facilities were more likely to be located in minority communities. The Warren County protests and the two studies helped build …

Symposium: Current Issues In Community Economic Development: Foreword: Entrepreneurship, Race, And The Current Environment For Community Economic Development, Eric J. Gouvin

Faculty Scholarship

On March 30, 2007, the Western New England College School of Law and the School of Business jointly hosted the second annual academic conference on Current Issues in Community Economic Development, sponsored by the Western New England College Law and Business Center for Advancing Entrepreneurship. The Conference promotes the two primary goals of the Law and Business Center: (1) to provide technical legal and business assistance to entrepreneurs and (2) to sponsor educational and outreach events focused on entrepreneurship and economic development. The Law and Business Center is a unique resource in Western Massachusetts. The combination of legal and business …

Racial Fairness In The Criminal Justice System: The Role Of The Prosecutor, Angela J. Davis

Articles in Law Reviews & Other Academic Journals

In this article, Davis analyzes discusses efforts to involve prosecutors in the elimination of racial disparities in the criminal justice system. Part II explains how prosecutors unintentionally contribute to disparities through the arbitrary, unsystematic exercise of discretion. Part III argues that the U.S. Supreme Court has failed to provide an effective legal remedy for victims of race-based selective prosecution. Finally, in Part IV, Davis endorses the use of racial impact studies and task forces and discusses a model reform effort spearheaded by the Vera Institute of Justice.

Friday Night Lite: How De-Racialization In The Motion Picture Friday Night Lights Disserves The Movement To Eradicate Racial Discrimination From American Sport, N. Jeremi Duru

Articles in Law Reviews & Other Academic Journals

No abstract provided.

Why Do Landlords Still Discriminate (And What Can Be Done About It)?, Robert G. Schwemm

Law Faculty Scholarly Articles

Let's say you have a serious, though not life-threatening, medical condition, such as a non-malignant growth in your back that causes considerable pain and impairs your ability to walk. At first, your doctor tells you there is no cure, but then one day, a new drug specifically designed to eliminate this kind of problem is approved. You take this drug, but notice no change. With your doctor's encouragement, you continue to take the drug, hoping that its cumulative effect will achieve the desired result. Twenty years go by with no relief. Then, your doctor tells you that a much stronger …

The Devil In The Details: On Intelligent Design, Racial Conspiracy Theories, And The Theology Of Whiteness, Brant T. Lee

Akron Law Faculty Publications

It is a central problem in the great American conversation about race to explain persistent racial inequality. The dominant narrative tells us that, historically, racial inequality was caused directly and simply, by explicit and intentional racial discrimination based on unreasoning race hatred. The paradigmatic examples are slavery and segregation; the icon is Bull Connor. Together, the Civil War and the civil rights movement comprise America's delivery from this original sin. In law, this redemption is reflected in the Emancipation Proclamation and in the fulfillment of the Civil War-era constitutional amendments [FN6] through Brown v. Board of Education and the antidiscrimination …