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Articles 241 - 262 of 262

Full-Text Articles in Civil Rights and Discrimination

Race(Ial)Matters: The Quest For Environmental Justice Review Essay, Sheila R. Foster Jan 1993

Race(Ial)Matters: The Quest For Environmental Justice Review Essay, Sheila R. Foster

Faculty Scholarship

The essays contained in Race and the Incidence of Environmental Hazards: A Time For Discourse and the recent report by the United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), Environmental Equity: Reducing Risk For All Communities represent what appears to be a remarkable consensus that low-income and minority communities bear a disproportionate share of environmental exposures and health risks. These two works also reflect the synergy of efforts by various elements of both the traditional civil rights and mainstream environmental movements to address issues of "environmental racism." Indeed, the current "environmental justice," or "environmental equity,"' movement is a combined effort of grassroots …

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The Question Of Family: Lesbians And Gay Men Reflecting A Redefined Society, Libby Post Jan 1992

The Question Of Family: Lesbians And Gay Men Reflecting A Redefined Society, Libby Post

Fordham Urban Law Journal

The cutting edge issue in the gay community is now the fight for domestic partnership rights. The absence of domestic partnership rights have resulted in the unequal treatment of an entire class of citizens, with gays and lesbians routinely denied jobs, housing, economic benefits such as health care, insurance, public accommodations, and may even result in these individuals being fired or facing eviction solely because of their sexual orientation. The author argues that to rectify these injustices, we must redefine the definition of family to be more in line with that used in New York's Braschi v. Stahl Assocs. Co., …

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Of Boroughs, Boundaries And Bullwinkles: The Limitations Of Single-Member Districts In A Multiracial Context, Judith Reed Jan 1992

Of Boroughs, Boundaries And Bullwinkles: The Limitations Of Single-Member Districts In A Multiracial Context, Judith Reed

Fordham Urban Law Journal

This essay examines the 1991 New York Ciity Council districting, with particular focus on the problems inherent in districting a multiracial city and the limitations of single member districts as a method of minority empowerment. The essay examines specific New York City Council districts that contain more than one minority group and concludes that electing council members from at-large, borough-wide districts by cumulative voting is a more effective districting strategy to structure majoritarian collective decision-making bodies that ensure meaningful minority interest representation and participation. .

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Bringing A Title Vii Action: Which Test Regarding Standing To Sue Is The Most Applicable?, Valerie L. Jacobson Jan 1990

Bringing A Title Vii Action: Which Test Regarding Standing To Sue Is The Most Applicable?, Valerie L. Jacobson

Fordham Urban Law Journal

This Note examines who is a proper plaintiff under Title VII and explains the need for a clearer definition of "employee" and "employed." Part II presents a historical development of the standards used to define employment relationships in Title VII. Part III discusses the general requirements for standing and sets forth the tests currently used to determine standing for a Title VII action. Part IV analyzes how the tests can produce different outcomes and why some tests more adequately serve the Act's goals. The Note concludes that Congress should amend the definition of "employee" or at least define what constitutes …

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Racial Reflections: Dialogues In The Direction Of Liberation , Derrick Bell, Tracy Higgins, Sung-Hee Suh Jan 1989

Racial Reflections: Dialogues In The Direction Of Liberation , Derrick Bell, Tracy Higgins, Sung-Hee Suh

Faculty Scholarship

"New voices" of future lawyers are particularly important in the area of civil rights because racial problems are theirs to confront in the next decades. Teaching techniques developed by Paulo Freire have facilitated the enlistment of students in the racial struggle. By these techniques teachers, as well as students, learn through sharing, and students become active participants, rather than passive observers, in the learning process. The educational process, Freire counsels, ''must begin with the solution of the teacher-student contradiction, by reconciling the poles of the contradiction so that both are simultaneously teachers and students. In the fall of 1988, two …

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Bias Crimes: Unconscious Racism In The Prosecution Of Racially Motivated Violence, Tanya K. Hernandez Jan 1989

Bias Crimes: Unconscious Racism In The Prosecution Of Racially Motivated Violence, Tanya K. Hernandez

Faculty Scholarship

Within the past four years, a perceived surge of "bias crimes" has seized the nation's attention. Bias crimes, physical acts of violence used as an outlet for prejudiced hostilities, are usually street crimes spontaneously committed by casual clusters of "normal people on the street" with very little advanced planning. This Note focuses on the physical injuries to persons that result from bias crimes. Such physical injuries represent cog- nizable harms that can be redressed through criminal statutes.'

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Charleston Policy: Substance Or Abuse, The , Kimani Paul-Emile Jan 1989

Charleston Policy: Substance Or Abuse, The , Kimani Paul-Emile

Faculty Scholarship

In 1989, the Medical University of South Carolina (MUSC) adopted a policy that, according to subjective criteria, singled out for drug testing, certain women who sought prenatal care and childbirth services would be tested for prohibited substances. Women who tested positive were arrested, incarcerated and prosecuted for crimes ranging from misdemeanor substance possession to felony substance distribution to a minor. In this Article, the Author argues that by intentionally targeting indigent Black women for prosecution, the MUSC Policy continued the United States legacy of their systematic oppression and resulted in the criminalizing of Black Motherhood.

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Enforcement Provisions Of The Civil Rights Act Of 1866: A Legislative History In Light Of Runyon V. Mccrary, The Review Essay And Comments: Reconstructing Reconstruction, Robert J. Kaczorowski Jan 1988

Enforcement Provisions Of The Civil Rights Act Of 1866: A Legislative History In Light Of Runyon V. Mccrary, The Review Essay And Comments: Reconstructing Reconstruction, Robert J. Kaczorowski

Faculty Scholarship

The purpose of this Comment is to examine the history of the enactment and early enforcement of the Civil Rights Act of 1866 from the perspective of the remedies Congress sought to provide to meet the problems that necessitated the legislation. Its main foci are the statute's enforcement provisions and their early implementation, an aspect of the history of the statute that has not been fully considered in relation to section one, the provision that has received the most scholarly attention. The occasion of this study is the Supreme Court's reconsideration of Runyon v. McCrary' in Patterson v. McLean Credit …

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Section 1983: Absolute Immunity For Pretrial Police Testimony, Jack Kaufman Jan 1987

Section 1983: Absolute Immunity For Pretrial Police Testimony, Jack Kaufman

Fordham Urban Law Journal

This Note discusses the development of the Supreme Court's approach to section 1983 immunity for trial witnesses. Central to this discussion is an overview of the history of common-law immunities for government officials, the history and purpose of section 1983, and the history of the Supreme Court's section 1983 immunity decisions. The author discusses the current disagreement in the circuits over extending section 1983 immunity to pretrial police testimony. The author also analyzes various possible answers to the question of whether to extend witness immunity under section 1983 to specific pretrial proceedings by applying the current Supreme Court "functional categories" …

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Nonsolicitation And Cease And Desist Orders Against Real Estate Brokers In New York, Aba Heiman Jan 1987

Nonsolicitation And Cease And Desist Orders Against Real Estate Brokers In New York, Aba Heiman

Fordham Urban Law Journal

This Article will trace the origin, growth and enforcement of nonsolicitation and cease and desist orders. Part II outlines the federal framework for dealing with discriminatory practices by real estate brokers. Section A focuses on "steering" the target of cease and desist orders-and illustrates the dilemma of both the victims and the brokers. Section B details blockbusting-the target of nonsolicitation orders. In discussing its genesis, financial operation, and sociological implications, this section also considers whether solicitation by brokers constitutes "commercial speech" protected by the first amendment. Section C briefly explores the effectiveness of section 1982 of the Civil Rights Act …

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Revolutionary Constitutionalism In The Era Of The Civil War And Reconstruction , Robert J. Kaczorowski Jan 1986

Revolutionary Constitutionalism In The Era Of The Civil War And Reconstruction , Robert J. Kaczorowski

Faculty Scholarship

The meaning and scope of the fourteenth amendment and the Civil Rights Act of 1866 remain among the most controversial issues in American constitutional law. Professor Kaczorowski contends that the issues have generated more controversy than they warrant, in part because scholars analyzing the legislative history of the amendment and statute have approached their task with preconceptions reflecting twentieth century legal concerns. He argues that the most important question for the framers was whether national or state governments possessed primary authority to determine and secure the status and rights of American citizens. Relying on records of the congressional debates as …

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Municipal Hospital Closings Under Title Vi: A Requirement Of Reasonable Justifications, Carol A. Cimkowski Jan 1981

Municipal Hospital Closings Under Title Vi: A Requirement Of Reasonable Justifications, Carol A. Cimkowski

Fordham Urban Law Journal

Municipal hospital closings in recent years are a by-product of two phenomena: 1) the dramatic increase in health care costs and, 2) the fiscal crisis facing many cities. The impact of this reduction in municipal services is felt most acutely by indigent inner city residents, who, because of municipal hospitals receive a portion of their funding from the federal government, have been able to challenge the closings of acute health care facilities as a violation of Title VI of the 1964 Civil Rights Act. Whether plaintiffs can succeed in these suits depends upon the standard that federal courts will employ …

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The Handicapped And Mass Transportation: The Effectiveness Of Section 504 In Implementing Equal Access, Serene K. Nakano Jan 1981

The Handicapped And Mass Transportation: The Effectiveness Of Section 504 In Implementing Equal Access, Serene K. Nakano

Fordham Urban Law Journal

In an effort to advance the rights of handicapped people to use mass transportation, the Department of Transportation has enacted a series of regulations that required facilities to be updated to allow for effective use by the handicapped, including the non-ambulatory wheelchair bound. As part of these regulations, section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act contained a general clause prohibiting discrimination against the handicapped by recipients of federal funds. The legislative history of the Rehabilitation Act makes it clear that Congress intended the handicapped to be integrated into mainstream society. Imposition of such a dichotomy, moreover runs afoul of the Federal-Aid …

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Third Party Suits Under Section 3612 Of The Fair Housing Act Of 1968, Gary A. Grasso Jan 1977

Third Party Suits Under Section 3612 Of The Fair Housing Act Of 1968, Gary A. Grasso

Fordham Urban Law Journal

This note examines the Fair Housing Act of 1968 (1968 Act) which makes it unlawful, with certain exceptions, to discriminate in the sale or rental of private housing. In particular, the note examines the remedies available under Sections 3610 and 3612, which provide for the enforcement of the statute by private complainants. The note focuses on the issue of standing and the question of alternative use involving sections 3610 and 3612 of the 1968 Act, especially as to third party complainants. The note concludes that just as section 3610 was opened to plaintiffs arguing for the rights of third parties, …

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Toward Equal Delivery Of Municipal Services In The Central Cities, Kenneth W. Bond Jan 1976

Toward Equal Delivery Of Municipal Services In The Central Cities, Kenneth W. Bond

Fordham Urban Law Journal

Urban living has become inevitable for most Americans in central cities and government assistance has risen steadily to help the masses crowded in the urban complex. Legislation has been aimed at equalizing the opportunity for employment, decent housing, voting, education, basic social welfare, and a host of other concerns considered elemental for the fulfillment of the “American dream.” Until recently, the courts have been slow to act affirmatively to remedy the inequities related to the enforcement of such legislation. Recent cases suggest an attitude of benign complacency in the Supreme Court, allowing it to ignore critical socio-economic problems in the …

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Selecting A Remedy For Private Racial Discrimination: Statutes In Search Of Scope, John M. Peterson Jan 1976

Selecting A Remedy For Private Racial Discrimination: Statutes In Search Of Scope, John M. Peterson

Fordham Urban Law Journal

Racial discrimination in the United States has been effectively attacked in both the legislatures and the courts for over a hundred years. Enslavement of blacks in the American South prompted adoption of the thirteenth amendment and the Reconstruction Civil Rights Acts enacted pursuant to the amendment’s enabling clause. These laws sought primarily to elevate the status of the black freedman by granting him rights equal to those enjoyed by white citizens. The most far-reaching of these statutes is 42 U.S.C. § 1981, derived from the Civil Rights Act of 1866, which insures to all persons the same right to make …

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Elimination Of Arbitrary Automobile Stops: Theory And Practice, Gary D. Stumpp Jan 1976

Elimination Of Arbitrary Automobile Stops: Theory And Practice, Gary D. Stumpp

Fordham Urban Law Journal

The authority of the police to enforce the statutory restrictions governing vehicle and traffic laws has often been considered to be concomitant with a right to stop motorists arbitrarily to determine their compliance. Recently, some courts have eroded this power, to protect the constitutional rights guaranteed to individuals under the fourth amendment. In their consideration of these arbitrary automobile stops, the courts have utilized a balancing process. They consider the state interest in promoting public safety on the highways through the guaranteed enforcement of the relevant laws, as well as the duty of the police to detect and control crime. …

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Note: Going Public With Discriminating Private Clubs, Tina L. Wellner Jan 1975

Note: Going Public With Discriminating Private Clubs, Tina L. Wellner

Fordham Urban Law Journal

The United States Supreme Court has frequently expressed the notion that private clubs have a right to discriminate in cases such as Moose Lodge No. 107 v. Irvis, amongst others. This Note examines post-Moose Lodge case law and theories to determine when exclusion, despite abridgement of associational rights, becomes illegal discrimination. In addition, it proposes new theories and laws to deal with discrimination by private clubs, including continued and expanding use of administrative procedures.

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Religious Discrimination In Employment: The 1972 Amendment -- A Perspective, John D. Dadakis, Thomas M. Russo Jan 1975

Religious Discrimination In Employment: The 1972 Amendment -- A Perspective, John D. Dadakis, Thomas M. Russo

Fordham Urban Law Journal

This Note evaluates the effect of the 1972 amendment to the Civil Rights Act, which clarifies that the term "religion" includes "belief" as well as practices and actions based on the belief, and requires reasonable accommodation to the employee's religious needs unless the employer can show that an undue hardship is thereby imposed on his business. The Note determines whether the amendment has resulted clarification of the law governing religious discrimination. It focuses on three key terms in the amendment: religion, reasonable accommodation, and undue hardship. Finally, it considers the problem of employees whose beliefs preclude their membership in labor …

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Civil Rights - Right To Treatment - Neither Due Process Nor Equal Protection Clause Of The Fourteenth Amendment Guarantees The "Right To Treatment" For Mentally Retarded Children Confined In A State Institution Through Noncriminal Procedures Jan 1974

Civil Rights - Right To Treatment - Neither Due Process Nor Equal Protection Clause Of The Fourteenth Amendment Guarantees The "Right To Treatment" For Mentally Retarded Children Confined In A State Institution Through Noncriminal Procedures

Fordham Urban Law Journal

Civil rights action was brought on behalf of residents at Willowbrook State Hospital by their parents and guardians attacking the conditions and treatment offered violated due process and equal protection. The court refused to extend a right to treatment to patients civilly committed to state hospitals - forestalling an extension of such rights to the retarded. Plaintiffs sought to classify the vast majority of commitments as involuntary despite original admission data mandating due process protection. The court determined that a hearing with procedural safeguards would suffice and in certain situations the court may find the appointment of a guardian at …

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Searching For The Intent Of The Framers Of Fourteenth Amendment , Robert J. Kaczorowski Jan 1972

Searching For The Intent Of The Framers Of Fourteenth Amendment , Robert J. Kaczorowski

Faculty Scholarship

IN 1946 JUSTICE HUGO BLACK DECLARED that one of the objects of the fourteenth amendment was to apply the Bill of Rights to the States. He was confident that an analysis of the intent of the framers of the amendment would support his assertion. A few years later the Supreme Court requested such an investigation, but when the analysis was made and the results presented to it, the Supreme Court concluded that the framers' intent could not be determined. The uncertainty surrounding the intent of the framers of the fourteenth amendment has had profound implications on the application of that …

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Union Discrimination Checked: Ethridge V. Rhodes Rouses A Slumbering Giant Leading Article, Maria Marcus Jan 1968

Union Discrimination Checked: Ethridge V. Rhodes Rouses A Slumbering Giant Leading Article, Maria Marcus

Faculty Scholarship

This article considers case law relating to state actors and the racist practices of labor unions.

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