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Civil Rights and Discrimination Commons™

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Touro University Jacob D. Fuchsberg Law Center

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Articles 1 - 30 of 395

Full-Text Articles in Civil Rights and Discrimination

Undemocratic: Antiabortion Politicians’ Attacks On Direct Democracy, Deborah Machalow Jan 2026

Undemocratic: Antiabortion Politicians’ Attacks On Direct Democracy, Deborah Machalow

Journal of Race, Gender, and Ethnicity

This Article will highlight examples of antiabortion politicians abusing their positions throughout the initiative process to maintain their preferred antiabortion status quo during the 2024 election cycle, before Election Day—despite broad and increasing support for legal abortion. Ultimately, in only Arkansas, Florida, Nebraska, and South Dakota, antiabortion politicians succeeded; in Arizona, Colorado, Missouri, Montana, and Nevada citizens voted to expressly protect abortion in their state constitutions through the citizen-led initiative process.


Bodily Autonomy After Dobbs: A Queer Black Perspective, Eliot T. Tracz Jan 2026

Bodily Autonomy After Dobbs: A Queer Black Perspective, Eliot T. Tracz

Journal of Race, Gender, and Ethnicity

This article considers the impact of the Dobbs ruling from a black, queer perspective. It argues that the ripple effect of the Dobbs decision threatens the safety of queer black people in ways which, due to poor data collection, may not be widely understood or analyzed. It then suggests several ways in which the state and federal government can avoid these outcomes. Section II discusses the concept of bodily autonomy and the impact of the Dobbs decision. It begins by defining bodily autonomy as a concept with emphasis on the cases upon which it is founded. It then moves on …


Daniel Ezra Subotnik (1942-2024) Obituary Jan 2026

Daniel Ezra Subotnik (1942-2024) Obituary

Touro Law Review

No abstract provided.


Can We Talk—Really Talk—About Critical Race Theory? What A Game For All Ages Can Teach Us, Dan Subotnik Jan 2026

Can We Talk—Really Talk—About Critical Race Theory? What A Game For All Ages Can Teach Us, Dan Subotnik

Touro Law Review

This essay may shock many readers. What it tries to do is look more closely than usual at the underpinnings of American racial discourse in the hope of leaving its readers, by its end, more willing than before to speak openly and listen carefully to people who disagree with them on the fraught subject of race. Wouldn’t many of us academics like to engage in a more open-minded sort of interracial conversation with a greater variety of our peers than we usually do? And yet it never seems to happen. Do any of us, black or white, feel we can …


Eulogy For Daniel Subotnik דניאל עזרא בן אליעזר ואהובה Died–March 8 / 29 Adar 1, 57, Rabbi Wayne Franklin Jan 2026

Eulogy For Daniel Subotnik דניאל עזרא בן אליעזר ואהובה Died–March 8 / 29 Adar 1, 57, Rabbi Wayne Franklin

Touro Law Review

No abstract provided.


Dan Subotnik Kept It Real, John Mcwhorter Jan 2026

Dan Subotnik Kept It Real, John Mcwhorter

Touro Law Review

No abstract provided.


Son Of Orwell, Chesterton, And Mill, Stephen B. Presser Jan 2026

Son Of Orwell, Chesterton, And Mill, Stephen B. Presser

Touro Law Review

No abstract provided.


In Memory Of Dan Subotnik—Friend And Scholar, David M. Phillips Jan 2026

In Memory Of Dan Subotnik—Friend And Scholar, David M. Phillips

Touro Law Review

No abstract provided.


Foreword, Patricia B. Barnett Jan 2026

Foreword, Patricia B. Barnett

Journal of Race, Gender, and Ethnicity

No abstract provided.


Things Humans Do: The Use Of Esds On Autistic Children, Jami L. Anderson Jan 2026

Things Humans Do: The Use Of Esds On Autistic Children, Jami L. Anderson

Journal of Race, Gender, and Ethnicity

On March 26, 2024, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) published a proposed rule (PR) that would ban the use of electrical stimulation devices (ESDs)—shock devices—for treatment of selfinjurious behavior (SIB) and aggressive behavior (AB). This PR was directed at Judge Rotenberg Education Center (JRC), a residential institution in Canton, Massachusetts, that treats children and young adults with profound intellectual and emotional impairments, most of whom are autistic. Medical evidence has well established that ESDs not only fail to treat SIB, but cause the rate and severity of SIB to worsen. This is the FDA’s second attempt to ban ESDs. …


Balancing The Scales Between The Evolution Of Affirmative Action Policies And The Equal Protection Clause, Jesicca Patel Jan 2026

Balancing The Scales Between The Evolution Of Affirmative Action Policies And The Equal Protection Clause, Jesicca Patel

Journal of Race, Gender, and Ethnicity

This article argues that the Supreme Court’s ruling ending affirmative action was correct. Affirmative action does not solve the underlying issues of racial inequality and systemic oppression. Instead, affirmative action undermines the success of minorities and inflames racial tensions. This article is divided into Five Parts. The first part examines U.S. Supreme Court precedent addressing the Court’s decisions in upholding affirmative action policies in educational settings before Students for Fair Admissions, Inc. v. President and Fellows of Harvard College. The second part discusses Students for Fair Admissions, Inc. v. President and Fellows of Harvard College and why the Supreme Court …


Dan Subotnik—Three Encounters And One Strong Memory, Honorable Robert S. French Jan 2026

Dan Subotnik—Three Encounters And One Strong Memory, Honorable Robert S. French

Touro Law Review

No abstract provided.


Foreword, Patricia B. Barnett Jan 2025

Foreword, Patricia B. Barnett

Journal of Race, Gender, and Ethnicity

No abstract provided.


How Climate Change And Environmental Policies Affect Impoverished Communities, Nicole Skala Jan 2025

How Climate Change And Environmental Policies Affect Impoverished Communities, Nicole Skala

Journal of Race, Gender, and Ethnicity

Climate change is a global problem that affects everyone, but not proportionately. Lower income communities face greater physical and economic impacts, and policies often fail to consider their needs. These communities struggle to adapt and recover from disasters due to limited resources, and they lack access to resilient housing. Major corporations like Exxon and Shell profit while their workers are underpaid for dangerous labor. Historically, regions like rural Appalachia have seen exploitation through industries like coal. People of Color (POC) communities experience environmental racism, suffering greater environmental harm due to systemic neglect. Increasing commodity costs can hurt lower income individuals, …


Trading Places: The Intersection Of Lgbtq Rights And Zionist Rights Under Federal Civil Rights, Marc A. Greendorfer Jan 2025

Trading Places: The Intersection Of Lgbtq Rights And Zionist Rights Under Federal Civil Rights, Marc A. Greendorfer

Touro Law Review

While antidiscrimination laws have a long history at both the federal and state levels, the scope of coverage for these laws has evolved based on nuanced interpretations of terms that previously had established, static meanings. Many antidiscrimination laws prohibit discrimination on the basis of generic categorizations such as sex, religion or ethnicity but such terms are undergoing a rapid change in the way society understands and uses them. For example, sex, which historically has referred to biological gender at birth, now encompasses gender as well as sexual orientation. This article focuses on a recent Supreme Court decision relating to the …


Private Religious Schools And Disability Discrimination, Kevin Timpe Jan 2025

Private Religious Schools And Disability Discrimination, Kevin Timpe

Touro Law Review

In the lead-up to the passing of the Americans with Disabilities Act (“ADA”), religious institutions and organizations lobbied to be exempt. Because they were successful in securing an exemption to most of the ADA’s requirements, religious private schools maintain the legal right to refuse admission to disabled students or to fail to give them various legal protections. After considering the arguments given in its favor, the paper critiques this exemption on moral grounds. It then suggests that these considerations should lead to a reexamination of the legal right such schools have to discriminate against disabled individuals, especially in those cases …


America’S Turning Point: Religious & Free Speech Rights Transcend The Authority Public School Districts Think They Possess, Robert L. Coleman Jan 2025

America’S Turning Point: Religious & Free Speech Rights Transcend The Authority Public School Districts Think They Possess, Robert L. Coleman

Touro Law Review

What is the first thing that comes to mind when thinking about the First Amendment? I would argue that most people either say “Religion” or “Free Speech.” Arguably two of the most important and humane values inherent in a functioning democratic society are safeguarded by the First Amendment. But are they? Imagine this situation. You and your spouse have a child and send him to the local public school. One day, he comes home and says that his fourth grade teacher instructed the class that each student must refer to classmates by the pronouns of that student’s choice. Your child …


Evaluating Competitive Equality: The Department Of Education’S Regulations And Impact On Title Ix In Women’S Sports, Lola-Marie Pyros Jan 2025

Evaluating Competitive Equality: The Department Of Education’S Regulations And Impact On Title Ix In Women’S Sports, Lola-Marie Pyros

Touro Law Review

Title IX was enacted to guarantee women equal opportunities in athletics by preserving competitive fairness. That objective has been challenged by evolving policies on transgender participation in women’s sports. Proponents of inclusion frame the issue as a matter of civil rights, while opponents emphasize physiological differences between the sexes that remain even after medical transition. Shifting interpretations by the Department of Education, influenced by changes in presidential administrations, have created legal uncertainty, culminating in Tennessee v. Cardona, which rejected an expansive definition of “sex” to include gender identity. This Note argues that maintaining the integrity of women’s athletics requires recognition …


A Holistic Treatment Team For Autism: The Professional Education Benefits Of A Medical-Legal Partnership For Autism Involving Students From Graduate Programs In Law, Applied Behavior Analysis, And Occupational Therapy, Melina Healey, Kayla Finuf, Karrie Lindeman, Rena B. Purohit, Linda Rini Jan 2025

A Holistic Treatment Team For Autism: The Professional Education Benefits Of A Medical-Legal Partnership For Autism Involving Students From Graduate Programs In Law, Applied Behavior Analysis, And Occupational Therapy, Melina Healey, Kayla Finuf, Karrie Lindeman, Rena B. Purohit, Linda Rini

Journal of Race, Gender, and Ethnicity

This article will outline the distinct special education and related service needs of children with autism and describe a new model for a medical-legal partnership tailored to address those needs and educate the professionals who work with children with autism. We will share results supporting the use of this model from a series of Interprofessional Education (“IPE”) case studies and consultations the authors conducted through interdisciplinary coursework shared among several graduate schools within Touro University. Part I explains the legal and client-centered framework within which the medical-legal partnership operates. Part II identifies the advantages of Applied Behavioral Analysis (ABA) and …


Protect Transgender Kids: What Is “Protection” In Light Of Bans On Gender-Affirming Care?, Patricia B. Barnett Jan 2025

Protect Transgender Kids: What Is “Protection” In Light Of Bans On Gender-Affirming Care?, Patricia B. Barnett

Journal of Race, Gender, and Ethnicity

This Note examines the growing legal and constitutional conflict surrounding state laws that ban or restrict gender-affirming care for transgender minors. At the heart of the issue lies the clash between state authority and the constitutionally protected rights of parents under the Due Process Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment. Drawing on medical consensus that affirms the necessity and efficacy of gender-affirming care, the Note argues that these laws not only endanger the well-being of transgender youth but also infringe on parents' fundamental rights to direct their children’s medical treatment. The analysis highlights how some states mischaracterize gender-affirming care as a …


Book Banning: The Post-Pico Epidemic Upon Nationwide Academic Curricula, Brian Gomberg Jan 2025

Book Banning: The Post-Pico Epidemic Upon Nationwide Academic Curricula, Brian Gomberg

Journal of Race, Gender, and Ethnicity

This Note explores the growing wave of book bans across the United States, highlighting the increasing role of state legislators in advancing policies that restrict access to literature in public schools. While historically driven by private individuals or local challenges, contemporary bans are now often state-sanctioned, with states like Texas, Florida, Missouri, Utah, and South Carolina leading the movement. These actions not only suppress specific titles but also target entire genres, disproportionately affecting books dealing with race, gender, and LGBTQ+ identities. Drawing on sources such as the PEN America Index of School Book Bans, the Note analyzes the historical context …


How To Teach A Course On Land Use And Anti-Jewish Discrimination, Michael Lewyn Jan 2025

How To Teach A Course On Land Use And Anti-Jewish Discrimination, Michael Lewyn

Scholarly Works

In 2022, I was asked to teach a one-week mini-course within a broader course on "Structural Barriers and the Pursuit of Equity," a course focusing on various forms of structural discrimination. The course is typically taught by over a dozen professors from various parts of Touro University, each of whom teaches for a week on a different topic. I chose to teach on issues related to land use law (because my scholarship focuses on that area) and in particular how land use law has been used by and against traditionally observant Jews (because that is the religious tradition I am …


Current Higher Education Legal Issues And The Roles Of Legal Leadership On Campus, Louis H. Guard, Joyce P. Jacobsen, Patricia E. Salkin Jan 2025

Current Higher Education Legal Issues And The Roles Of Legal Leadership On Campus, Louis H. Guard, Joyce P. Jacobsen, Patricia E. Salkin

Scholarly Works

No abstract provided.


Defeating Antisemitism In The World’S First Democratic Republic: The American Revolution And Jewish Legal And Political Equality, Paul Finkelman, Lance J. Sussman Jan 2025

Defeating Antisemitism In The World’S First Democratic Republic: The American Revolution And Jewish Legal And Political Equality, Paul Finkelman, Lance J. Sussman

Touro Law Review

At a moment when antisemitism is on the rise in the United States, we believe it is useful to consider how the American Revolution led to the first nation in the world where antisemitism was fundamentally contrary to the national constitution and Jews were entitled to full rights as citizens of the national government. As we explain in this article, during and after the Revolution, Jews were free to participate in all professions and general civic life, naturalize (if immigrants), vote, serve on juries, become lawyers and judges, become military officers, and attend universities. Jews had almost none of these …


School Choice & Religious Discrimination: A Story Of The Illusory "Wall Of Separation," Sour "Lemon Tests," And Overgrown "Baby Blaines", Keren Kendil Nov 2024

School Choice & Religious Discrimination: A Story Of The Illusory "Wall Of Separation," Sour "Lemon Tests," And Overgrown "Baby Blaines", Keren Kendil

Touro Law Review

The significance of elementary school education in shaping a child's future, and the success of society, is immeasurable. The free public school system is built on the premise that every child deserves to have the equal opportunity to learn and succeed. However, this system overlooks the millions of children attending private schools due to their religious and moral convictions. This note delves into the imperative of ensuring universal access to quality elementary education for every child, irrespective of their family's religious affiliations or preferences for private schooling, highlighting the constitutional imperatives of ensuring that every child has the opportunity to …


“Improve Your Privileges While They Stay”: A Guide To Improve The Privileges Of U.S. Citizenship For Everybody, Joshua J. Schroeder Jan 2024

“Improve Your Privileges While They Stay”: A Guide To Improve The Privileges Of U.S. Citizenship For Everybody, Joshua J. Schroeder

Touro Law Review

In 1767, the young Phillis Wheatley wrote from her position of slavery in the Wheatley home of Boston to “ye sons of Science” at Harvard College, telling them to “improve your privileges while they stay.” She beheld the startling privileges of learning and discovery bestowed upon an elite group of young, rich white men in Boston and celebrated their privileges. Neither did she scorn those whose luck had placed a bounty of privilege upon their laps, for she likely planned to share in that bounty herself, one day. When she was only 13 or 14, Wheatley sublimely encouraged grown men …


A License To Discriminate? 303 Creative V. Elenis And Where The Supreme Court May Go, Christopher J. Manettas Jan 2024

A License To Discriminate? 303 Creative V. Elenis And Where The Supreme Court May Go, Christopher J. Manettas

Touro Law Review

No abstract provided.


Politics And School Libraries, Legal Challenges And Impacts, Dr. Cynthia Boyer Jan 2024

Politics And School Libraries, Legal Challenges And Impacts, Dr. Cynthia Boyer

Journal of Race, Gender, and Ethnicity

This article begins by exploring the tensions between public opinion, education, and political conflicts, focusing on how these dynamics shape current debates. It then examines the rising trend of book banning legislation across various states and the constitutional challenges these laws face. Finally, the analysis considers the broader implications of these actions on students, educators, and society, highlighting the potential consequences for the future of education and democratic engagement in the United States.


Mental Health In Prison: The Unintended But Catastrophic Effects Of Deinstitutionalization, Felicia Mulholland Jan 2024

Mental Health In Prison: The Unintended But Catastrophic Effects Of Deinstitutionalization, Felicia Mulholland

Touro Law Review

Prisons and jails are not adequately equipped to manage the ever-growing population of mentally ill inmates. Despite deinstitutionalization efforts, prisons have steadily become the new psychiatric hospitals and unfortunately, because of the lack of treatment and the ability to properly supervise this population of inmates, these individuals are dying by their own hands at an alarming rate. This Note argues that the lack of proper care for mentally ill inmates is a violation of their constitutional right, despite their incarcerated status. The Department of Corrections and Community Supervision (DOCCS) should incorporate more concrete and universal rules and regulations for the …


Medical Taking Of Human Biological Material V. Traditional “Art Looting”: Henrietta Lacks And The Complex Ethical And Legal Liability Questions Raised By Her Unfortunate Case, Alyaa Chace Jan 2024

Medical Taking Of Human Biological Material V. Traditional “Art Looting”: Henrietta Lacks And The Complex Ethical And Legal Liability Questions Raised By Her Unfortunate Case, Alyaa Chace

Touro Law Review

During a poignant saga of American history, Henrietta Lacks stands as an emblem of both scientific triumph and ethical controversy. In 1951, Mrs. Lacks, a tobacco farmer and mother of five, visited Johns Hopkins Hospital for treatment of what was later discovered to be advanced stage cervical cancer. Her doctors treated her with radium, which was standard practice at the time. However, Mrs. Lacks’s cancer rapidly metastasized and she ultimately passed away just months later on October 4, 1951, at the age of 31. During the course of her treatment, Mrs. Lacks’s cells were non-consensually removed for purposes of scientific …