Civil Rights and Discrimination Commons^™

Race-Conscious Student Assignment Plans After Parents Involved: Bringing State Action Principles To Bear On The De Jure/De Facto Distinction, Michael Wells

Scholarly Works

In Parents Involved in Community Schools v. Seattle School District No. 1, a sharply divided Supreme Court struck down two race-conscious school assignment plans aimed at achieving greater racial integration of the public schools. Taking Parents Involved as a starting point, this Article looks ahead to the future of litigation over student assignment plans. By striking down the Seattle and Louisville plans, the decision may "require hundreds of school districts to rethink race-based policies that they use voluntarily to desegregate schools." At the very least, the 5-4 ruling almost certainly did not put an end to race-conscious integration plans or …

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 …

The Story Of San Antonio Independent School Dist. V. Rodriguez: School Finance, Local Control, And Constitutional Limits, Michael Heise

Cornell Law Faculty Publications

Part of the Education Law Stories, this book chapter tells the story behind San Antonio Independent School Dist. v. Rodriguez. Mindful of the challenges incident to the federal courts' effort to dismantle de jure and de facto school segregation, the Rodriguez decision evidences reluctance by some of the Justices to become ensnarled in an effort to dismantle school finance systems in way that would affect an overwhelming majority of the nation's public schools. By side-stepping such a confrontation, Rodriguez implicitly reveals important aspects about the federal courts and, in particular, how the Justices view their role in our federal system …

Parents Involved And Race-Conscious Measures: A Cause For Optimism, Joseph O. Oluwole, Preston C. Green Iii

Buffalo Public Interest Law Journal

No abstract provided.

The Democratic Right To Full Bilingual Education, Thomas Kleven

Nevada Law Journal

No abstract provided.

Litigated Learning, Law's Limits, And Urban School Reform Challenges, Michael Heise

Cornell Law Faculty Publications

This Article assesses the likely efficacy of litigation efforts seeking to enhance equal educational opportunity by improving student academic achievement in the nation's urban public schools. Past education reform litigation efforts focusing on school desegregation and finance met with mixed success. Current litigation efforts seeking to improve student academic achievement promise to be even less successful because student academic achievement involves variables and activities located further from the reach of litigation than such variables as a school's racial composition and per pupil spending levels. Moreover, efforts to improve student achievement in the nation's urban public schools--especially high poverty schools--face additional …

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, …

Outlawed And Exiled: Zero Tolerance And Second Generation Race Discrimination In Public Schools, Frances P. Solari, Julienne E.M. Balshaw

North Carolina Central Law Review

No abstract provided.

A Re-Analysis Of The Legal, Political, And Social Landscape Of Desegregation From Plessy V. Ferguson To Parents Involved In Community Schools V. Seattle School District No. 1, Stephen J. Caldas, Carl L. Bankston Iii

Brigham Young University Education and Law Journal

No abstract provided.

Re-Imagining Public Enforcement Of Title Ix, Julie A. Davies, Lisa M. Bohon

Brigham Young University Education and Law Journal

No abstract provided.

A Preference For Equality: Seeking The Benefits Of Diversity Outside The Educational Context, David A. Harvey

Brigham Young University Journal of Public Law

No abstract provided.

Black, White, Brown, Green, And Fordice: The Flavor Of Higher Education In Louisiana And Mississippi, Alfreda S. Diamond

ExpressO

"Black, White, Brown, Green, and Fordice: The Flavor of Higher Education in Louisiana and Mississippi" chronicles the higher education desegregation sagas in Louisiana and Mississippi. The Article specifically compares the histories of the higher education desegregation lawsuits in the two states and their subsequent experiences and progress under Settlement Agreements. The statistical populations of many universities in both states are still largely identifiable as “white” or “black,” and so the Article will pose questions not only respecting the implementation of United States v. Fordice in both states, but also respecting the value, desirability, or possibility of the “integrative ideal” converting …

Gender Equity In College Athletics: Women Coaches As A Case Study, Deborah L. Rhode, Christopher J. Walker

ExpressO

As Title IX celebrates its 35th anniversary, many have noted the positive impact it has had on women sports. But there is also an unintended (and oft-neglected) byproduct: as opportunities for female students have increased, opportunities for female professionals have declined. This Article focuses on the barriers that still confront women in college athletics, particularly those who seek professional positions in coaching and administration. Part I presents a brief overview of Title IX, which makes clear its limitations in securing gender equity. Part II.A discusses the declining representation and lower success rate of women coaches, while Part II.B explores the …

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 …

The Solomon Amendment, Expressive Associations, And Public Employment, Paul Secunda

ExpressO

Rumsfeld v. FAIR apparently concedes that public employers, in the guise of public law school members of the FAIR association, have expressive association rights. This state of affairs could now mean that public employers could gain constitutional rights at the expense of pubic employees. Thus, to the extent that public employers are considered expressive associations, public employees may see their free speech and other constitutional rights diminished (even more so than they recently have been by the Garcetti v. Ceballos decision).

Thankfully, I cannot imagine that the Court, if faced with the question directly, would find that public employers have …

Surfing Past The Pall Of Orthodoxy: Why The First Amendment Virtually Guarantees Online Law School Graduates Will Breach The Aba Accreditation Barrier, Nicholas C. Dranias

ExpressO

The impact of the constitutional dilemma created by the ABA’s aversion to Internet schooling is widespread. Currently, 18 states and 2 U.S. territories restrict bar exam eligibility to graduates of ABA-accredited law schools. Additionally, 29 states and 1 U.S. territory restrict admission to practice on motion to graduates of ABA-accredited law schools.

Although numerous lawsuits have been filed in ultimately failed efforts to strike down bar admission rules that restrict eligibility to graduates of ABA-accredited law schools, none has challenged the ABA-accreditation requirement based on the First Amendment’s prohibition on media discrimination. This Article makes that case.

Despite accelerating technological …

Racial Disparities In U.S. Public Education And International Human Rights Standards: Holding The U.S. Accountable To Cerd, Amelia Parker

Human Rights Brief

No abstract provided.

Book Review: Lesbian And Transgender Issues In Education: Programs, Policies, And Practices , Justin K. Terres

The Modern American

No abstract provided.

Reprising Brown Vs. Board Of Education: New Hope Or More Despair, Marie Failinger

Faculty Scholarship

From the perspective of constitutional doctrine, the PICS case is not particularly novel. The central rule of the plurality opinion-that state or local government use of visible racial classifications must survive the courts' "strict scrutiny" even if that use is "benign" and for the benefit of minorities-has been firmly in place at least since City of Richmond v. J.A. Croson Company (1989). Similarly, the PICS plurality followed longstanding case law holding that under the "strict scrutiny" test, the state must show a "compelling interest" when it uses racial preferences and that remedying past racial discrimination and diversity in higher education …

Without Color Of Law: The Losing Race Against Colorblindness In Michigan, Khaled Ali Beydoun

Michigan Journal of Race and Law

This Essay examines affirmative action, while discussing its fall in California, Washington State, and ultimately Michigan.

Drug Testing Of Students: A Legal And Public Health Perspective, Floralynn Einesman

Faculty Scholarship

This article seeks to address the efficacy of school drug-testing programs. After providing some general background information on the abuse of substances, the article sets forth the Supreme Court decisions on student drug testing. Part III then discusses the extension of the jurisprudence in the state courts to show how the Supreme Court law is being expanded by the states, and is likely to be further expanded in the future. The next section, Part IV, turns to drug screening from a public health perspective, analyzing whether or not drug screening is a valid public health screen. Finally, Part V examines …

The Case For A Collaborative Enforcement Model For A Federal Right To Education, Kimberly J. Robinson

Law Faculty Publications

This Article proposes an innovative approach for directing the expanding federal role in education that will encourage states to address disparities in educational opportunities that prevent disadvantaged students from achieving their full potential. The proposed approach builds on the understanding reflected in NCLB that the federal government will remain critical in public education reform. This Article reexamines one avenue for federal involvement that the U.S. Supreme Court considered in several cases and that scholars have debated for more than thirty years: a federal right to education.

San Antonio Independent School District v. Rodriguez explicitly offered the Supreme Court the opportunity …

The 2006 Winthrop And Frances Lane Lecture: The Unintended Legal And Policy Consequences Of The No Child Left Behind Act, Michael Heise

Cornell Law Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

Disparate Impact Discrimination: The Limits Of Litigation, The Possibilities For Internal Compliance, Melissa Hart

Publications

No abstract provided.

Re-Imagining Public Enforcement Of Title Ix, Julie A. Davies, Lisa M. Bohon

McGeorge School of Law Scholarly Articles

No abstract provided.

The Architecture Of Inclusion: Interdisciplinary Insights On Pursuing Institutional Citizenship, Susan Sturm

Faculty Scholarship

Structural inequality has captured the attention of academics, policymakers, and activists. This structural reorientation is occurring at a time of judicial retrenchment and political backlash against affirmative action. These developments have placed in sharp relief the mismatch between structural diagnoses and the dominant legal frameworks for addressing inequality. Scholars, policymakers, and activists are faced with the pressing question of what to do now. They share a need for new frameworks and strategies, growing out of a better understanding of institutional and cultural change.

I am honored that the Harvard Journal of Law & Gender has used the publication of The …

Blackthink's™ Acting White Stigma In Education And How It Fosters Academic Paralysis In Black Youth, Kimberly Jade Norwood

Scholarship@WashULaw

Black students who attend school regularly, participate in the classroom experience — by either participating in class and/or turning in homework, take “AP” classes, and who perform well on tests are, not uncommonly, accused of “acting white.” This happened to me as a child, it has happened to my children and it has happened to black youth I have interviewed throughout the country. This Article explores the practice within the black community of blacks who attack — verbally and sometimes physically — other blacks simply because the latter perform well in school. The Article explores the ironies of this attack …

“Pick”Ering The Speech Rights Of Public School Teachers: Arguing For A Movement By Courts Toward The Hazelwood-Tinker Standard Under The First Amendment, Heather P. Bennett

ExpressO

This Note addresses freedom of speech issues facing the nation's public schools, concentrating on the recent decision by the District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia, Lee v. York County School Division, for the final paper in my First Amendment course. Ultimately, this Note analyzes the court’s decision in this case and both standards set forth by the Supreme Court in dealing with free speech rights in the field of public education, which are currently creating a circuit split between the Courts of Appeals. The Note argues that the Hazelwood-Tinker standard applied to student speech should be the general …

Race-Conscious Student Assignment Plans: Balkanization, Integration, And Individualized Consideration, Neil S. Siegel

Faculty Scholarship

In deciding Meredith v. Jefferson County Board of Education and Parents Involved in Community Schools v. Seattle School District No. 1, the Supreme Court of the United States will likely confront a critical issue to emerge from the lower court opinions on voluntary integration plans: whether school districts that use race as a factor in student assignment must comply with a legal requirement of individualized consideration. The Court has imposed such a requirement in other contexts, but it has not clearly explained what the concept of individualized consideration means and why particular forms of it matter.

This Article clarifies the …

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.