Civil Rights and Discrimination Commons^™

Amicus Brief Of The Defender Initiative And Washington Defender Association In Support Vs. Of Motion To Appoint Counsel, The Defender Initiative, Robert C. Boruchowitz, Counsel For Defendant

Fred T. Korematsu Center for Law and Equality

The Defender Initiative Amicus Brief

The Fred T. Korematsu Center For Law And Equality And Its Vision For Social Change, Robert S. Chang

Faculty Articles

The Fred T. Korematsu Center for Law and Equality at Seattle University School of Law takes its name and inspiration from Fred Korematsu. Entrusted with honoring and furthering his legacy, the Korematsu Center, although not speaking as or for him, constructs its identity through its activities as an actor in the legal community and more broadly in the public. The Korematsu Center is very self-consciously engaged in developing a distinct personality as a collective entity that exists not just as a collection of the individuals or projects within the center.

The Korematsu Center is constituted by its commitments, by what …

What Comes After Gender?, Robert S. Chang

Faculty Articles

A conference paper about postracialism and the end of gender as a social category in the U.S. as of June 2011 is presented. It discusses the management of diversity and the multiplicity of gender formations, as well as gender's role in social identity and the incorporation of masculine and feminine personal traits.

Living History Interview With Richard Delgado & Jean Stefancic, Richard Delgado, Jean Stefancic

Faculty Articles

One of the unique features of Transnational Law and Contemporary Problems ("TLCP") is the publication of a "Living History Interview" with a person of international accomplishment and renown. The Living History Interview complements the symposium format of TLCP by blending theory and practice, thus giving a practical perspective to the questions examined in the symposium. The purpose of the Living History Interview is to invite the responses of a prominent international scholar, jurist, or politician-not to explore his or her professional point of view, but to gain insight into his or her personal perspectives as shaped by historical events in …

Bias In The Classroom, One Degree Removed: The Story Of Turner V. Stime And Amicus Participation, Robert S. Chang

Faculty Articles

This article summarizes a recent amicus brief written by the Korematsu Center. It describes a Spokane, Washington medical malpractice case where juror racial bias toward a party’s attorney was used as direct evidence. It describes the momentum and mobilization of the amicus brief, and the success in the appellate courts. It is offered as a model for how law school clinics can engage in effective advocacy to help democratize the courts.

Latcrit Xv Symposium Afterword, Steven W. Bender, Francisco Valdes

Faculty Articles

In this afterword, the authors begin to sketch the kind of future that they imagine. This afterword starts with an overview account of the first fifteen years of LatCrit theory, community, and praxis. Then turns to a handful of highlights regarding current or new programmatic initiatives that LatCrit scholars have recently launched or plan imminently to launch-a quick survey intended to connect the past with the present before turning to the future. In the concluding part of this afterword, the authors lay out some of the basic parameters for the LatCritical future that they imagine and that they hope to …

Meeting Across The River: Why Affirmative Action Needs Race And Class Diversity, Deirdre M. Bowen

Faculty Articles

This paper is a response to Richard Sander’s latest work challenging the notion that race based affirmative action is still relevant and demanding that institutions of higher education consider class based affirmative action. To support his thesis, Sander conducts an empirical study on who benefits from affirmative action.

This Article is divided into three sections, each containing a critique of Sander’s arguments and analysis. First, I briefly reframe and reiterate the history of race and ethnicity in affirmative action’s origins to directly confront the assumption that Sander makes about what affirmative action’s original purpose entailed. The goal of Part I …

Rodrigo’S Reconsideration: Intersectionality And The Future Of Critical Race Theory, Richard Delgado

Faculty Articles

The author presents a discussion between him and his friend Rodrigo Crenshaw on intersectionality and the future of critical race theory. They discuss the three core critical-race theory ideas which include narrative jurisprudence, integroup coalitions and intersectionality. The author also explains the concept of classical liberalism.

Amicus Curiae Brief In Support Of Plaintiff-Appellees By Asian American Justice Center, Asian Law Caucus, Asian American Institute, Asian Pacific American Legal Center, Asian Pacific American Women Lawyers Alliance, Asian Pacific Islander Legal Outreach, Api Equality, California Conference Of The Naacp, Chinese For Affirmative Action, Coalition For Humane Immigrant Rights Of Los Angeles, Korematsu Center At Seattle University, Mexican American Legal Defense And Education Fund, And The Zuna Institute, Fred T. Korematsu Center For Law And Equality, Attorneys For Amicus Curiae

Fred T. Korematsu Center for Law and Equality

Perry v. Hollingsworth

The Cross-Dressing Case For Bathroom Equality, Jennifer Levi, Daniel Redman

Seattle University Law Review

While transgender rights advocates have won many battles in the fight for equality, bathroom discrimination remains a significant obstacle to transgender people’s full participation in society. This Article discusses the reasoning behind the cases that have rejected transgender people’s discrimination claims based on bathroom exclusion. The Article then demonstrates how these arguments mirror the rationales offered by supporters of long-dead, unconstitutional cross-dressing laws. Synthesizing the two bodies of case law, Levi and Redman offer a new way forward for transgender advocates seeking bathroom equality.

Fait Accompli?: Where The Supreme Court And Equal Pay Meet A Narrow Legislative Override Under The Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act, Megan Coluccio

Seattle University Law Review

This Comment argues the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act’s consequences will be minimally felt, so long as the Act is narrowly construed. The Comment suggests congressional action was appropriate after the Supreme Court’s Ledbetter decision and discusses the political and legislative debate leading to the Act. In addition, the Comment analyzes the Act in application, exploring its meaning, implications, and function. The Comment argues that the concerns and consequences arising from the enactment of the Act can be alleviated and avoided by a narrow interpretation of its amendment to Title VII of the Civil Rights Act. Finally, the Comment recommends …

Brief Of Amici Curiae Fred T. Korematsu Center For Law And Equality, Asian Bar Association Of Washington, And Vietnamese American Bar Association Of Washington, Lorraine K. Bannai, Counsel For Amici Curiae

Fred T. Korematsu Center for Law and Equality

Civil Rights Amicus Brief Project

Keynote Address, Dean Spade

Faculty Articles

This article challenges the traditional methods taken by progressive lawyers and activists. It argues that superficial changes to a marginalizing system simply create “window dressing” that serves to reinforce the status quo. This article is a provocative call to radicalize legal practice, to be critical of all movements, and always question who is being excluded. It highlights that what may appear like making things better may actually be a contribution to the legitimization of the system that one intends to challenge.

Brilliant Disguise: An Empirical Analysis Of A Social Experiment Banning Affirmative Action, Deirdre M. Bowen

Faculty Articles

The notion of a colorblind society captured the imagination of voters who passed propositions banning affirmative action in higher education admissions in California, Washington, more recently in Michigan, and on November 4th, in Nebraska. Affirmative action is no longer required, proponents assert, because society no longer judges people by their skin color. They argue that the need for affirmative action is a vestige of a bygone era, and such a policy only creates resentment and stigma. This paper confronts the colorblind ideal myths of stigma and resentment, which appear at much greater rates in anti-affirmative action states. In analyzing data …

Making Up Is Hard To Do: Race/Gender/Sexual Orientation In The Law School Classroom, Robert S. Chang, Adrienne D. Davis

Faculty Articles

This exchange of letters picks up where Professors Adrienne Davis and Robert Chang left off in an earlier exchange that examined who speaks, who is allowed to speak, and what is remembered.' Here, Professors Davis and Chang explore the dynamics of race, gender, and sexual orientation in the law school classroom. They compare the experiences of African American women and Asian American men in trying to perform as law professors, considering how makeup and other gender tools simultaneously assist and hinder such performances. Their exchange examines the possibility of bias that complicates the use of student evaluations in assessing teaching …

Rock Climbing With The Gotandas, Robert S. Chang

Faculty Articles

No abstract provided.

Rodrigo's Portent: California And The Coming Neocolonial Order, Richard Delgado

Faculty Articles

No abstract provided.

The Alienage Spectrum Disorder: The Bill Of Rights From Chinese Exclusion In Guantanamo, Won Kidane

Faculty Articles

The fundamental notion that increased ties to the polity of the United States would entitle an alien to better rights is deeply-rooted in the jurisprudence. Ordinarily, these rights tend to strengthen as one moves forward from the beginning of the spectrum, which might involve the most attenuated contact, as in the case of enemy aliens detained by United States military in a foreign land or an overseas visa applicant, to the end of the spectrum, which might involve a United States citizen. While this seems to make perfect sense, this article argues that a closer examination of the century-old jurisprudence …

Pretext In Peril, Natasha T. Martin

Faculty Articles

This Article addresses the connections among substance, procedure, and equality in the American workplace. Exploring the deepening struggle for plaintiffs under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, this Article seeks to add clarity to an enduring quandary—why does Title VII fail to combat the prejudicial disparate treatment it was designed to eradicate? This Article offers a critique of the hardships shouldered by plaintiffs in proving contemporary workplace discrimination.

Challenging the seemingly unfettered discretion of the courts in evaluating claims of workplace bias, this Article pursues the interplay of procedural and substantive law to expose how courts "chip …

Asian Americans And The Road To The White House: Musings On Being Invisible, Robert S. Chang

Faculty Articles

In October 1993, the Asian Law Journal published its inaugural issue, featuring its first article entitled "Toward an Asian American Legal Scholarship: Critical Race Theory, Post-structuralism, and Narrative Space." I ASIAN L.J. 1 (1993). With this opening salvo, the Asian Law Journal (now the Asian American Law Journal) launched only the second law journal in the United States dedicated to Asian American Jurisprudence. The author of this landmark article is none other than Professor Robert S. Chang, one of the most recognized figures in Asian American Jurisprudence and Critical Race Theory. To celebrate the fifteen years since the publication of …

Brief Of Amici Curiae Fred T. Korematsu Center For Law And Equality, Asian Bar Association Of Washington, South Asian Bar Association Of Washington, And Washington Women Lawyers, Lorraine K. Bannai, Counsel For Amici Curiae

Fred T. Korematsu Center for Law and Equality

Civil Rights Amicus Brief Project

Half-Full, Half-Empty? Asian American Electoral ‘Presence’ In 2008, Robert S. Chang, Keith Aoki

Faculty Articles

The article discusses the role of Asian Americans in the election of the U.S. President Barack Obama in 2008. It notes that the influence of Asian American in national politics may not significantly affect the next cycles of presidential elections in the U.S. It notes the importance of patience and optimism in envisioning and constructing Asian American electorate.

Brief Of Amici Curiae Alameda County Bar Association, Bar Association Of San Francisco, Los Angeles County Bar Association, Marin County Bar Association, Santa Clara County Bar Association, Et Al. Supporting Petitioners, Attorneys For Amicus Curiae, Fred T. Korematsu Center For Law And Equality

Fred T. Korematsu Center for Law and Equality

Strauss et al. v. Horton et al.

Trans Law Reform Strategies, Co-Optation, And The Potential For Transformative Change, Dean Spade

Faculty Articles

This paper considers two critiques of how law and rights struggles co-opt social movements and applies them to the example of the emergent law reforms in the area of transgender rights. First, it considers the limitations of the discrimination principle. Second, it looks at the emergent critique of "nonprofitization." Examining how the focus on formal legal equality and the growth of non-profit formations that centralize the concerns and experiences of white and upper class people have impacted gay and lesbian rights work, the paper suggests that these avenues present dangers to creating meaningful transformation of conditions facing trans population, including …

Stories Absent From The Courtroom: Responding To Domestic Violence In The Context Of Hiv And Aids, Jane Stoever

Faculty Articles

HIV/AIDS dramatically impacts domestic violence survivors' needs and demands reconceptualization of current responses to domestic violence. This article aims to illuminate the problem of domestic violence in the context of HIV/AIDS and to prompt further development of legal response systems. Specifically, this article brings together the worlds of law, public health, and women's lived experiences to argue for recognizing and responding to domestic violence in the context of HIV/AIDS in the United States. Utilizing accounts of clients' experiences and data from public health studies, this article sets forth eight categories of HIV/AIDS-related domestic violence: repercussions from partner notification, use of …

Trans Politics On A Neoliberal Landscape, Dean Spade

Faculty Articles

These edited Keynote remarks from the Temple Political and Civil Rights Law Review Symposium on transgender law address how questions of law reform strategy relate to critical understandings of neoliberalism. The paper addresses questions of administrative governance, identity documentation, the relationship between law and social movements, and questions of economic and racial justice as applied to transgender politics.

Richard Delgado And The Politics Of Citation, Robert S. Chang

Faculty Articles

Twenty-five years ago, Professor Richard Delgado published The Imperial Scholar. The article asserted that a group of white scholars dominated the field of civil rights scholarship to the exclusion of minority scholars. It created a firestorm of sorts with what one critic called a "serious charge of invidious racism on the part of respected legal scholars." Professor Derrick Bell described the piece as "an intellectual hand grenade, tossed over the wall of the establishment as a form of academic protest." Whether as firestorm or grenade, this foundational piece had a tremendous impact on the legal landscape. This brief essay examines …

Democratizing The Courts: How An Amicus Brief Helped Organize The Asian American Community To Support Marriage Equality, Robert S. Chang, Karin Wang

Faculty Articles

In this essay, the authors offer an alternative rationale for amicus practice. This rationale emerges from thier experience working on a brief in support of marriage equality that sixty-three Asian American organizations endorsed. They found that an amicus brief can be an effective tool to engage and educate community-based organizations and their constituencies, thereby helping to advance social justice issues. Their story also illustrates how amicus practice can be used to organize communities around a legal issue and to democratize the courts. In this way, even if the effect of amicus briefs on litigation outcomes may be marginal, the process …

Critical Error: Courts’ Refusal To Recognize Intentional Race Discrimination Findings As Constitutional Facts, Bryan Adamson

Faculty Articles

Critical Error: Courts’ Refusal To Recognize Intentional Race Discrimination Findings as Constitutional Facts raises a novel double standard: while fact-specific trial court findings of actual malice are reviewed under the “independent judgment” standard (a wholesale re-weighting of the trial court record and decision) on appeal, intentional race discrimination findings are reviewed under the far more deferential Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 52 clear error standard. Both legal concepts are arrived at through assessing state-of-mind determinations; both directly trigger constitutional proscriptions. Only actual malice, however, is classified as a constitutional fact, thus taking it out of the more deferential standard of …

Knocked Down Again: An East L.A. Story On The Geography Of Color And Colors, Steven W. Bender

Faculty Articles

The article discusses the history of struggle of Latin Americans and the legacy of gang violence in East Los Angeles, California. The author states that the positive thing about the place is the closeness of the community and families. However, the 2000 Census states that ninety-seven percent of the city's population is Latin American with about a quarter living below poverty line. Moreover, sociologists consider gang warfare as a defense of turf marked by defined geographic boundaries.