Civil Rights and Discrimination Commons^™

United States V. Rahimi: A Closer Look At The Implications For Domestic Abuse Victims, Dani Scudder

Public Interest Law Reporter

No abstract provided.

Stop Cop City: The Expanding Reach Of The Racketeer Influenced And Corrupt Organizations Act's Threat To First Amendment Protected Activism, Elizabeth Stamper

Public Interest Law Reporter

No abstract provided.

"No Evictions" Policies: Evaluating The Disparate Impact Of Auto-Rejection On Black Women, Mehreen Tariq

Public Interest Law Reporter

No abstract provided.

Looking Inward: Building A Restorative Legal Aid Agency, Andy Froelich

Public Interest Law Reporter

No abstract provided.

When Dirty Data Leads To Dirty Policing, Madison Blevins

Law Student Publications

"On May 25th, 2020, George Floyd was tragically killed by police officers in Minneapolis. While George Floyd’s death was the shock that catapulted the Black Lives Matter (“BLM”) movement to the center of international attention, it was also just the tip of the iceberg. Floyd’s death was not the first death of a black person at the hands of the police, nor would it be the last. “A black person is killed by a police officer in America at a rate of more than one [person] every other day.” These repeated incidents across the country have ignited a mass movement …

Transgender Erasure: Barriers Facing Transgender Refugees In Canada, Sean Rehaag, Alexandra Verman

All Papers

This paper explores the experiences of transgender refugee claimants in Canada’s refugee status determination system, using mixed methods: quantitative analysis of data obtained from the Immigration and Refugee Board (IRB), reviews of published and unpublished decisions, country condition documentation packages and IRB guidelines, as well as interviews with refugee lawyers. Using these methods, we explore how credibility arises in transgender refugee claims, noting the impact of medicalization and country conditions materials on transgender claims, and drawing parallels between medical gatekeeping and credibility assessments in refugee claims. We identify potential explanations for low recorded numbers of transgender claims as rooted in …

Corporate Governance And Gender Equality: A Study Of Comply-Or-Explain Disclosure Regulation, Aaron A. Dhir, Sarah Kaplan, Maria Arabella Robles

Seattle University Law Review

In 2020, the Nasdaq Stock Market filed a proposal with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission seeking permission to adopt a board diversity-related disclosure requirement for its listed companies. In 2021, the SEC approved the proposal, thus entrenching Nasdaq’s position as the most significant stock exchange to date to mandate listing rules that reflect the intention of diversifying corporate boardrooms. Nasdaq’s movement into the diversity space is not the first attempt to address homogeneous boards in the U.S. In 2009, the SEC adopted a rule requiring publicly traded firms to report on whether they consider diversity in identifying director nominees. …

Judicial Ethics And The Eradication Of Racism, Dontay Proctor-Mills

Seattle University Law Review

In 2020, the Washington Supreme Court entrusted the legal community with working to eradicate racism from its legal system. Soon after, Washington’s Commission on Judicial Conduct (hereinafter the Commission) received a complaint about a bus ad for North Seattle College featuring King County Superior Court Judge David Keenan. Along with a photo of Judge Keenan’s face, the ad included the following language: “A Superior Court Judge, David Keenan got into law in part to advocate for marginalized communities. David’s changing the world. He started at North.” The Commission admonished Judge Keenan for violating the Code of Judicial Conduct, in part …

Table Of Contents, Seattle University Law Review

Seattle University Law Review

Table of Contents

Why Corporate Boards Should Include Lgbtq+ People, Jeremy Mcclane, Darren Rosenblum

Seattle University Law Review

Corporate boardrooms sit at the heart of most of society’s most consequential decisions but fall far short of the diversity of our society. The current movement toward board diversification aims to remedy the underrepresentation of marginalized groups on corporate boards. More recently, some efforts have included LGBTQ+ people, even though the basis for their inclusion on corporate boards remains largely unstated. This Article examines both the normative and instrumental bases for LGBTQ+ inclusion in board diversity initiatives, articulating unspoken assumptions and linking LGBTQ+ people to the broader inclusion effort. In so doing, it begins to surface the unique issues LGBTQ+ …

Investment Bankers And Inclusive Corporate Leadership, Afra Afsharipour

Seattle University Law Review

Few major deals happen without the engagement and advice of investment bankers. Whether a company is undertaking an initial public offering or engaging in a large merger or acquisition deal, investment bankers play a central role in advising corporate executives. Successful investment bankers are devoted to cultivating relationships with executives. And these relationships place bankers in a position to earn tens of millions in fees for their advisory and service roles in connection with corporate dealmaking. Investment bankers’ constant endeavors to nurture relationships with executives, while also maximizing their own ability to enhance fees, commonly leads to allegations of double-dealing, …

Selective Patronage, Omari Scott Simmons

Seattle University Law Review

Contemporary academic corporate governance narratives have a blind spot. They focus on institutions, rules, regulations, processes, procedures, intermediaries, and market forces. Yet, missing in this narrative, is the impact of corporate leadership. Ignoring the “black box” of corporate leadership, particularly individual actors, renders an incomplete descriptive assessment as well as potential miscalculations. The examination of key historical figures and their corporate activism provides an important lens through which to identify potential challenges and opportunities related to the contemporary ESG movement.

Generally, this essay examines corporate leadership’s potential to address socio-political issues through the prism of Civil Rights Movement activism. Specifically, …

Reframing The Dei Case, Veronica Root Martinez

Seattle University Law Review

Corporate firms have long expressed their support for the idea that their organizations should become more demographically diverse while creating a culture that is inclusive of all members of the firm. These firms have traditionally, however, not been successful at improving demographic diversity and true inclusion within the upper echelons of their organizations. The status quo seemed unlikely to move, but expectations for corporate firms were upended after the #MeToo Movement of 2017 and 2018, which was followed by corporate support of the #BlackLivesMatter Movement in 2020. These two social movements, while distinct in many ways, forced firms to rethink …

Women In Shareholder Activism, Sarah C. Haan

Seattle University Law Review

Even a cursory review of the history of American environmental, social, and corporate governance (ESG) shareholder activism reveals the presence of women leaders. This Article sketches some of this history and interrogates the role of women in the shareholder activism movement. That movement typically has involved claims by minority shareholders to corporate power; activists are nearly always on the margins of power, though minority shareholders may, collectively, represent a majority interest. This Article ascribes women’s leadership in shareholder activism to their longstanding position as outsiders to corporate organization. Women’s participation in shaping corporate policy—even from the margins—has provided women with …

#Metoo And The Corporation In Popular Culture, Brenda Cossman

Seattle University Law Review

#MeToo’s initial virtual explosion in the fall of 2017 was very much about Hollywood, with famous actresses speaking out against famous producers, media moguls and celebrities, exposing the ubiquity of sexual harassment and sexual violence in and around the entertainment industry. Since then, #MeToo has made its way into Hollywood representations without much irony. Films and television shows have explicitly taken up the #MeToo themes, exploring issues of sexual harassment and violence and its afterlives. Many television shows, from the relaunched version of Murphy Brown to Brooklyn Nine-Nine to The Good Fight have incorporated #MeToo themes into episodes exploring the …

Woke Capital Revisited, Jennifer S. Fan

Seattle University Law Review

Inclusive corporate leadership is now at the forefront of discussions related to corporate governance. Two corporate theories help to explain the rise in prominence of diversity, equity, and inclusion (“DEI”) efforts in corporate leadership. First, an expanded definition of corporate purpose which elevated the idea of the importance of stakeholders, contributed to the momentum from business and legal quarters for broader corporate inclusion. Second, the increasing publicness of corporations—the social expectation of how large, typically public corporations should act given their position of power—also led to corporations becoming more active in the DEI space. It is against this backdrop that …

Army Commander’S Role—The Judge, Jury, & Prosecutor For The Article 15, Anthony Godwin

Seattle University Law Review

Service members in the armed forces are bound by a different set of rules when compared to other U.S. citizens. Some of the normal safeguards and protections that civilians enjoy are much more restrictive for military service members, and this is generally for a good reason. Such restrictions are partly due to the complex demands and needs of the United States military. Congress and the President have entrusted military commanders with special powers that enable them to handle minor violations of law without needing to go through a full judicial proceeding. Non-judicial punishments (NJP), also known as Article 15s, are …

A Synthesis Of The Science And Law Relating To Eyewitness Misidentifications And Recommendations For How Police And Courts Can Reduce Wrongful Convictions Based On Them, Henry F. Fradella

Seattle University Law Review

The empirical literature on perception and memory consistently demonstrates the pitfalls of eyewitness identifications. Exoneration data lend external validity to these studies. With the goal of informing law enforcement officers, prosecutors, criminal defense attorneys, judges, and judicial law clerks about what they can do to reduce wrongful convictions based on misidentifications, this Article presents a synthesis of the scientific knowledge relevant to how perception and memory affect the (un)reliability of eyewitness identifications. The Article situates that body of knowledge within the context of leading case law. The Article then summarizes the most current recommendations for how law enforcement personnel should—and …

Protecting Corporations From Discrimination Under The Convention On The Elimination Of Racial Discrimination, William Thomas Worster

Brooklyn Journal of International Law

This article argues that legal persons derive rights under the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination (CERD) and can enforce those rights by individual or inter-state complaint. It uses the case study of media corporations, following from the recent judgment by the International Court of Justice (ICJ) in the litigation between Qatar and the UAE over the application of CERD to the treatment of the Al Jazeera media corporation. However, the implications of this study apply to all private corporations and non-governmental organizations (NGOs). The CERD protects against certain forms of racial, ethnic and national origin …

Different Countries, Same Homophobia And Transphobia: A Cross-Cultural Survey Of So-Called Conversion Therapy Practices And The Move Toward Legislative Protections For The United States Lgbtq+ Community, Samantha J. Past

Brooklyn Journal of International Law

So-called “conversion therapy” consists of dangerous practices that inflict detrimental, long-lasting effects on its victims. As a form of sexual orientation or gender identity or gender expression change efforts, conversion therapy is fostered by global homophobia and transphobia. Despite formal public rejection and scientific discreditation, conversion therapy providers across the world continue to target LGBTQ+ individuals, predominately under the guise of offering health care services or obeying religious practices. The following piece compares conversion therapy in three countries with recently introduced LGBTQ+ legislation––(1) Ghana; (2) Canada; and (3) the United States (U.S.)–––in order to identify factors furthering conversion therapy and …

Answering The Call

DePaul Magazine

With a strong spirit of service, DePaul initiatives aid displaced populations in Chicago and internationally.

Weekly Pop-Up Class: Understanding The Lgbtq+ Civil Rights Movement And Why It Matters, Ferkauf Professors Kailey Roberts And Jennifer Cooper, Benjamin N. Cardozo School Of Law

2022 Event Invitations

Kailey Roberts is an Assistant Professor of Clinical Psychology at Ferkauf Graduate School of Psychology specializing in bereavement and existential psychotherapy. Roberts' research and teaching focuses on understanding existential distress and supporting individuals facing adversity through connection to their unique sense of meaning, identity and purpose. Jennifer Cooper, is an Assistant Professor at Ferkauf Graduate School of Psychology. Cooper’s research agenda is focused on preventing and treating youth mental, emotional and behavioral issues through improving the use of multi-tier frameworks and culturally responsive evidence-based practices in schools. They will discuss "Cultivating Psychosocial Wellbeing in LGBTQIA+ Individuals and Communities."

Weekly Pop-Up Class: Lgbtq Rights And The Crisis Of Democracy, Deborah Pearlstein, Benjamin N. Cardozo School Of Law

2022 Event Invitations

Deborah Pearlstein is Professor of Law and Co-Director of the Floersheimer Center for Constitutional Democracy. Pearlstein has repeatedly testified before Congress on topics from war powers to executive branch oversight. Her work on the U.S. Constitution, international law, and national security has appeared widely in law journals and the popular press.

Weekly Pop-Up Class: Understanding The Lgbtq+ Civil Rights Movement And Why It Matters, Kate Shaw, Benjamin N. Cardozo School Of Law

2022 Event Invitations

Cardozo Professor Kate Shaw is the Co-Director of the Floersheimer Center for Constitutional Democracy. Before joining Cardozo, she worked in the White House Counsel’s Office as a Special Assistant to the President and Associate Counsel to the President. She clerked for Justice John Paul Stevens of the U.S. Supreme Court and Judge Richard A. Posner of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit.

Law School News: Should Prison Be Abolished? 10-6-2022, Michael M. Bowden

Life of the Law School (1993- )

No abstract provided.

Weekly Pop-Up Class: Understanding The Lgbtq+ Civil Rights Movement And Why It Matters, Rachel B. Tiven, Benjamin N. Cardozo School Of Law

2022 Event Invitations

Rachel Tiven will discuss "A History of U.S. Immigration Exclusion." Tiven is a civil rights leader turned historian. As the head of national non-profits Lambda Legal, Immigration Equality, and Immigrant Justice Corps, Tiven fought for equality for immigrants and LGBTQ/HIV+ people. Tiven has been recognized for her work by the Advocate magazine, New York County Lawyers Association and United We Dream.

Check Your Bank Account First: Examining Copyright Formalities And Remedies Through A Race Conscious Lens, Emma Burri

Washington and Lee Journal of Civil Rights and Social Justice

This Note examines copyright formalities through a race conscious lens and concludes that further change is necessary given the legacy of economic inequality that communities of color experience. It examines the history of copyright formalities in the United States and the disenfranchisement of Black musical creators through the theft of their intellectual property. In exploring the relationship between race, wealth, and musical copyright protection this Note explains why considering the economic inequality is relevant to ensure copyright protection for Black creators. This Note proposes abolishing the registration timeline for certain remedies and altering the filing fee structure of the copyright …

Masthead

Washington and Lee Journal of Civil Rights and Social Justice

No abstract provided.

Table Of Contents

Washington and Lee Journal of Civil Rights and Social Justice

No abstract provided.

Certain Prosecutors: Geographical Arbitrariness, Unusualness, & The Abolition Of Virginia’S Death Penalty, Bernadette M. Donovan

Washington and Lee Journal of Civil Rights and Social Justice

Virginia’s abolition of the death penalty in 2021 was a historic development. As both a southern state and one of the country’s most active death penalty jurisdictions, Virginia’s transition away from capital punishment represented an important shift in the national landscape. This article considers whether that shift has any constitutional significance, focusing on the effect of Virginia’s abolition on the geographical arbitrariness of the country’s death penalty.

As a starting point, the death penalty in America is primarily regulated by the Eighth Amendment, which bars “cruel and unusual punishments.” The United States Supreme Court has held that the death penalty …