Civil Rights and Discrimination Commons^™

Lawyers Represent Clients ... Or Do They?, Alan Mills

Public Interest Law Reporter

In most cases, lawyers file cases on behalf of clients. However, lawyers do not-get to make substantive decisions about the cases we work on; our clients do. Illinois Rule of Professional Conduct 1.2 makes this clear: [A] lawyer shall abide by a client's decisions concerning the objectives of representation and .. . Shall consult with the client as to the means by which they are to be pursued. But what happens in a class action lawsuit? Once a class is certified, lawyers represent both named plaintiffs and every member of the class. What happens when there is a conflict between …

Making Higher Education An Option: Taking A Look At The Chicago Support System For Undocumented High School Students, Martha Laura Garcia

Public Interest Law Reporter

From the injunction on the President's Executive Action to expand the current immigration policies to the current language presidential candidates have used when speaking about immigration reform, immigrants have more than enough reasons to feel uneasy about their future in this country. All is not bad, however, especially for undocumented students. Cities like Chicago, a city of immigrants, are making great strides to create welcoming and supportive communities for immigrants. Compared to other U.S. cities, Chicago is very immigrant-friendly, with people working across the city to provide support for undocumented students and ensure that they have access to higher education. …

Polling Stations Not Up To Ada Standards Prevent Voting, Bethany Dixon

Public Interest Law Reporter

No abstract provided.

Finding Common Ground: Exploring Whether Gentrification And Public Housing Can Co-Exist, Adrien Fernandez

Public Interest Law Reporter

No abstract provided.

State Budget Cuts Cause Disproportional Impact On Minorities, Women, And Immigrants, Ji Hwang

Public Interest Law Reporter

No abstract provided.

Who's In The Sights: Fighting The Illegal Effects Of Legal Gun Ownership In Chicago, Sarah Nagy

Public Interest Law Reporter

No abstract provided.

Should Transgender Men And Women Be Allowed To Get Sex Reassignment Surgery While Incarcerated?, Keimer Raymond

Public Interest Law Reporter

No abstract provided.

Are The Sexual Assault Policies On Illinois College Campuses Procedurally Structured To Support The Reproductive Rights Of Female Victims?, Erika Weaver

Public Interest Law Reporter

No abstract provided.

Marriage Certificates, Wedding Bells Unemployment Lines: Employment Discrimination Issues Post Marriage Equality, Joel Viramontes-Gallegos

Public Interest Law Reporter

No abstract provided.

How Chicago Is Criminalizing Homelessness, Anthony Wadas

Public Interest Law Reporter

Chicago passed an ordinance banning "aggressive panhandling," and the definition is rather broad, providing no clear definition of what constitutes "aggressive." The ordinance outright bans panhandling in certain locations, such as within ten feet of any CTA bus stop, "L" entrance, ATMs, or certain businesses including currency exchanges, banks, and outdoor cafes. Additionally, individuals are prohibited from soliciting people in vehicles for donations. Further, it prohibits soliciting in a manner that a reasonable person would find intimidating. Faced with these efforts to criminalize the homeless condition, individuals living on the streets face additional struggles when trying to escape poverty. People …

Civil Asset Forfeiture Reform: Is Chicago Making The Grade?, Austin Spillar

Public Interest Law Reporter

Civil asset forfeiture allows police to seize a person's cash and property without charging or convicting them of a crime, or even without making an arrest. The police simply just have to suspect that the assets are tied to an illegal activity. This leads some to call it "legal robbery," while law enforcement sees it as a tool to fight crime and supplement their budget. This article will examine civil asset forfeiture and its proceeds, emerging efforts for reform, and recent data and case law on civil asset forfeiture in Chicago.

Political Activism: Chicago Politicians' Silence When Black Lives Matter, Alison Hill

Public Interest Law Reporter

No abstract provided.

The Fight That Must Be Fought: Reflections On Race, School, Struggle And Sacrifice On The South Side Of Chicago, David Stovall

Public Interest Law Reporter

The following paragraphs are centered in the realities of life in a hyper-segregated city that moves to displace, marginalize and isolate certain members of its population while making space for new investments in housing and other infrastructure. The story is layered and multi-pronged, while deeply imbued in the politics of race, class, and government. Fortunately for some members of the city, the struggle for the basic needs of housing, education and quality of life has not ended. Instead, a public awakening has begun to ignite city members to work in unison to change the current condition.

Regulating Drones Under The First And Fourth Amendments, Marc Blitz, James Grimsley, Stephen E. Henderson, Joseph Thai

Faculty Articles

The FAA Modernization and Reform Act of 2012 requires the Federal Aviation Administration to integrate unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs), or drones, into the national airspace system by September of this year. Yet perhaps because of their chilling accuracy in targeted killings abroad, perhaps because of an increasing consciousness of diminishing privacy more generally, and perhaps simply because of a fear of the unknown, divergent UAV-restrictive legislation has been proposed in Congress and enacted in a number of states. Ultimately, given UAV utility and cost effectiveness over a vast range of tasks, widespread commercial use seems certain. So it is imperative …

Lawrence V. Texas: The Decision And Its Implications For The Future, Martin A. Schwartz

Touro Law Review

No abstract provided.

Qualified Immunity: The Constitutional Analysis And Its Application, Karen Blum

Touro Law Review

No abstract provided.

Road To Booker And Beyond: Constitutional Limits On Sentence Enhancements, John Gleeson

Touro Law Review

No abstract provided.

Justification For Police Intrusions, Corey Rashkover

Touro Law Review

No abstract provided.

Search And Seizures: Constitutionally Protected Or Discretionary Police Work?, Jaren Fernan

Touro Law Review

No abstract provided.

Femicide In Bolivia After Law 348, Adán Martínez

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

This project explores the concept of femicide from a unique perspective, by analyzing the effect that Law #348: The Internal Law to Guarantee Women a Life Without Violence after a year that it passed during the Morales' administration. I examine two crucial questions to this study: 1) How do we explain the paradox that although this law has passed, today we see an increase in the number of femicides in Bolivia? 2) What are the obstacles that prevent that application of law 348 3) What can we do to put a stop to femicides? I demonstrate that several factors like …

The Demographic Dilemma In Death Qualification Of Capital Jurors, J. Thomas Sullivan

Law Faculty Scholarship

No abstract provided.

Human Rights Infringements In Brazil’S Penitentiary System Understood Through Access To Healthcare, Sara Morris

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

Brazil has a reputation of being home to some of the worst penitentiary conditions worldwide, eventually leading the United Nations to make an appeal to the Brazilian government in 2003 to analyze their systems and make necessary improvements. The poor conditions and lack of access to legal counsel, living space, and specifically healthcare, cause riots and uprisings within prisons that in the past have lead to death of prisoners and guards. Prisons serve a very specific purpose in society, and according to most social theorists that is to reform, not to torture. In Brazil there is no capital punishment, so …

The Use Of Mediation To Settle Prisoner Grievances In Federal Court, Michelle Burns

Pepperdine Dispute Resolution Law Journal

This article discusses the importance of mediation and mediation-like alternative dispute resolution (ADR) methods used by the U.S. federal district courts to settle prisoner litigation claims. Topics discussed include laws made for the prisoners for filing their claims in the Federal District Courts under Section 1983, the role of ADR in resolving prisoner grievances and the role of ADR in settling the disputes related to prisoner civil rights.

Democracy In Disguise: Assessing The Reforms To The Fundamental Rights Provisions In Guyana, Arif Bulkan

Georgia Journal of International & Comparative Law

No abstract provided.

Sentencing Inequality Versus Sentencing Injustice, Melanie D. Wilson

Scholarly Articles

Women lag behind men in pay for equal work and in positions of prestigious employment, such as chief executive officers at Fortune 500 companies and presidents of colleges and universities. Women also suffer conscious and subconscious negative bias from both men and women in positions to evaluate an applicant's capabilities and potential, making it less likely that an employer or mentor will choose a woman instead of a man. In contrast to these and many other contexts, our federal criminal justice system regularly favors women over men. Empirical studies show that this lenient treatment begins with prosecutors and law enforcement …

Is Guilt Dispositive? Federal Habeas After Martinez, Justin F. Marceau

William & Mary Law Review

Federal habeas review of criminal convictions is not supposed to be a second opportunity to adjudge guilt. Oliver Wendell Holmes, among others, has said that the sole question on federal habeas is whether the prisoner’s constitutional rights were violated. By the early 1970s, however, scholars criticized this rights-based view of habeas and sounded the alarm that postconviction review had become too far removed from questions of innocence. Most famously, in 1970 Judge Friendly criticized the breadth of habeas corpus by posing a single question: Is innocence irrelevant? In his view habeas review that focused exclusively on questions of rights in …

Windsor Beyond Marriage: Due Process, Equality & Undocumented Immigration, Anthony O'Rourke

William & Mary Law Review

The Supreme Court’s recent decision in United States v. Windsor, invalidating part of the federal Defense of Marriage Act, presents a significant interpretive challenge. Early commentators have criticized the majority opinion’s lack of analytical rigor, and expressed doubt that Windsor can serve as a meaningful precedent with respect to constitutional questions outside the area of same-sex marriage. This Article offers a more rehabilitative reading of Windsor and shows how the decision can be used to analyze a significant constitutional question concerning the use of state criminal procedure to regulate immigration.

From Windsor’s holding, the Article distills two concrete doctrinal propositions …

Incarceration And Reintegration: How It Impacts Mental Health, April M. Marier, Alex Alfredo Reyes

Electronic Theses, Projects, and Dissertations

ABSTRACT

Background: Previous criminal justice policies have been non-effective leading to overpopulated prisons and unsuccessful reintegration. There is a lack of effective supportive and/or rehabilitative services resulting in high rates of recidivism and mental health implications. Objective: This study investigated the perceived impact that incarceration and reintegration with little to no supportive and/or rehabilitative services has on the mental health status of an individual. The emphasis was on participant perception and not on professional reports because of underreporting and lack of attention to mental health in the criminal justice system. Methods: Focus groups in the Inland Empire and Coachella Valley …

Summary Of Afzali V. State, 130 Nev. Adv. Op. 34, Sean Daly

Nevada Supreme Court Summaries

The Court determined whether a defendant has a constitutional right to know the racial composition of a grand jury that indicted him.

The Case For Rational Basis Review Of General Suspicionless Searches And Seizures, Richard C. Worf

Touro Law Review

This article examines the constitutional status of suspicionless searches and seizures of groups- an exceedingly important question in the age of terror, and a subject recently brought back to the forefront by the searches of subway passengers in New York City. It draws on process theory to argue that when a legislature has authorized a group search or seizure, courts should generally apply rational basis review.

First, other areas of constitutional doctrine exhibit deep trust in the power of groups to protect their interests in political process, and there is no reason why fourth amendment doctrine should not do the …