Civil Rights and Discrimination Commons^™

Employment Discrimination, Peter Reed Corbin, John E. Duvall

Mercer Law Review

During the 2007 survey period, the United States Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit continued its recent trend of issuing many opinions-most unpublished-regarding employment discrimination. The court rendered eight published decisions concerning Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 ("Title VLI") and fifteen published opinions generally concerning employment discrimination. Unpublished opinions in this area continued to flourish, however, with at least forty-nine unpublished decisions regarding Title VII and fifty-seven unpublished employment discrimination opinions overall. Clearly, the case that received the most press coverage during the survey period was the United States Supreme Court's decision in Ledbetter v. …

William Faulkner, Legal Commentator: Humanity And Endurance In Hollywood's Yoknapatawpha, Michael Allan Wolf

UF Law Faculty Publications

Two of the several films based on William Faulkner's writings - “Intruder in the Dust” and “Tomorrow” - are sensitive adaptations that are permeated with themes regarding the nature of justice, the role of the attorney, and the place of law and lawlessness in society. In many ways, a careful study of each of these two films (and of the novel and story upon which they are based) reveals that William Faulkner holds a place as an important American legal commentator. No writer (before or since Faulkner) captures so vividly and so truly the moral predicament of an American South …

The Uncertain Future Of School Desegregation And The Importance Of Goodwill, Good Sense, And A Misguided Decision, Derek W. Black

Faculty Publications

The article was part of a symposium on the jurisprudence of Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O’Connor. First, the article analyzed whether the Court’s decision in Parents Involved v. Seattle Schools was consistent with Justice O’Connor’s majority opinion in Grutter v. Bollinger. The article concludes that Parents Involved narrowly construed the holding in Grutter and limited its effect. Second, the article assessed the practical import of the decision in Parents Involved. It found that the opinion made voluntary desegregation more difficult than it otherwise would be and, thus, would discourage many school districts from taking progressive action. Unfortunately, the article …

Review Of Crafting The Overseer's Image By William E. Wiethoff, Daniel J. Sharfstein

Vanderbilt Law School Faculty Publications

Wherever slaves worked on plantations in the antebellum South, overseers were hired to supervise and discipline them. Crops, soil types, and topographies varied greatly across the region, but professional slave drivers were fixtures of the landscape from the colonial era to the Civil War. Their ubiquity pleased few people, slave or free. Accounts of their sadism, sexual violence, and general coarseness and stupidity are not limited to slave narratives and abolitionist tracts; gripes and horror stories fill the public and private writings of plantation owners, too. Harriet Beecher Stowe was hardly taking literary license when she made slave owner Simon …

Judicial Decision-Making, Social Science Evidence, And Equal Educational Opportunity: Uneasy Relations And Uncertain Futures, Michael Heise

Cornell Law Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

The Many Mendelsohn “Me Too” Missteps: An Alliterative Response To Professor Rubinstein, Paul Secunda

NULR Online

No abstract provided.

An Assessment Of The Law School Climate For Glbt Students, Kelly Strader, Brietta R. Clark, Robin C. Ingli, Elizabeth Kransberger, Lawrence C. Levine, William D. Perez

Journal of Legal Education

No abstract provided.

Pushing Weight, André Douglas Pond Cummings

Law Faculty Scholarship

The plight of the black athlete in United States professional and collegiate sports reflects a historical road burdened by strident discrimination, yielding assimilation and gleeful exploitation. As African American athletes began to be permitted to enter the lineups of storied professional sports clubs beginning in the 1950s, they did so only on the strict conditions placed upon them by the status quo white male dominated regime. Often the very terms of black athlete participation required a rigid commitment to - covering - racial identity and outright suppression of self. Once African American athletes burst onto the nation's consciousness in the …

Dear Colleague Letter From Reps. Emanuel Cleaver And Mark Souder, Emanuel Cleaver, Mark Souder

Briefings, Hearings, and Congressional Study Group

Dear Colleague letter written by members of Congress, Emanuel Cleaver and Mark Souder for the event: Workplace Flexibility and Religion held June 6, 2008.

Torch (June 2008), Brandon Baldwin, Civil Rights Team Project

Torch: The Civil Rights Team Project Newsletter

No abstract provided.

Death By A Thousand Cuts Or Hard Bargaining?: How The Court's Indecision In Wilkie V. Robbins Improperly Eviscerates The Bivens Action, Natalie Banta

Brigham Young University Journal of Public Law

No abstract provided.

Did Gebser Cause The Metastasization Of Sexual Harassment Under Title Ix Ten Years Later, Justin F. Paget

University of Richmond Law Review

This comment will evaluate the criticism of Gebser in two novelways, now that ten years have passed since the Supreme Court issued the decision. Part II will provide pertinent background information on Title IX. Part III will identify the problem sexual harassment in educational institutions poses for this country's youth. Part IV will discuss the development of Title IX sexual harassment jurisprudence, including the Gebser decision. Part V will address the foundation of the criticism fired at Gebser's adoption of an actual notice and deliberate indifference standard of institutional liability from two fresh perspectives. First, the policybehind agency principals will …

Disestablishing "The Last Plantation": The Need For Accountability In The United States Department Of Agriculture, Seth L. Ellis

Journal of Food Law & Policy

The United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) was signed into law by President Abraham Lincoln in 1862. At the signing ceremony, President Lincoln declared the Department of Agriculture to be the "people's Department" because he said it governed an industry "in which [citizens felt] more directly concerned than in any other. .. ." Today, many American citizens do not share Abraham Lincoln's view of the USDA as being the "people's Department"; rather, they identify it as being "the last plantation" due to its long history of open discrimination against African-American farmers. While this discrimination has occurred throughout America's history, perhaps …

Program: Rodney Hurst Sr Presents "It Was Never About A Hot Dog And A Coke," His Personal Account.

Textual material from the Rodney Lawrence Hurst, Sr. Papers

A presentation by Rodney Hurst at Bethel Baptist Institutional Church on Friday, April 18, 2008

The Right To Learn Across The Tracks: An Analysis Of School Funding And Integration In Seattle, Houston, Philadelphia, Chicago And Washington, D.C., Erin M. Pollard

Politics Honors Papers

Through examining the levels of integration in public and private schools across the United States, it is clear that the spirit of Brown v. Board of Education was never fulfilled. Students are still learning in an overwhelmingly homogeneous environment. Even in diverse neighborhoods there is a difference: the poor and minority children attend the public schools and the wealthy children attend private school. Thus, the urban public schools remain overwhelmingly minority, while private schools are overwhelmingly white. There is a clear discrepancy between black and white students in terms of size of school and quality of education.

To determine whether …

Reply Brief For Petitioner, Engquist V. Oregon Department Of Agriculture, No. 07-474 (U.S. April 9, 2008), Justin Florence, Mathew Gerke, Neal K. Katyal

U.S. Supreme Court Briefs

No abstract provided.

Public Employee Speech, Categorical Balancing And Section 1983: A Critique Of Garcetti V. Ceballos, Sheldon Nahmod

All Faculty Scholarship

No abstract provided.

The Early Roberts Court Attacks Congress's Power To Protect Civil Rights, Rochelle Bobroff

North Carolina Central Law Review

No abstract provided.

Torch (April/May 2008), Amy Homans, Civil Rights Team Project

Torch: The Civil Rights Team Project Newsletter

No abstract provided.

Slavery And "Abuse Regeneration", Christine Bell

Human Rights & Human Welfare

Skinner’s depiction of modern day slavery is graphic and challenging. Anyone viewing prohibitions on slavery, or abolition, as historical anachronism, or requiring reinterpretation for modern-day practices, must think again. Skinner persuades us that slavery in its most old fashioned sense is alive and well and, worse than that–on the rise.

Diversity As A Dead-End, Kenneth B. Nunn

UF Law Faculty Publications

Supreme Court cases on diversity could only assist if they defined diversity in a way that allowed institutions to admit significant numbers of the type of individuals that the institutions were lacking. This is precisely what the Supreme Court's cases on diversity do not do. Furthermore, the Supreme Court's view of diversity is flawed because it does not address existing power differentials between Blacks and Whites. As a result diversity, as it is defined by the Supreme Court, is a dead-end for those who are concerned about social justice and equity in higher education.

Darned If You Due Process, Darned If You Don't! Understanding The Due Process Dilemma For Punitive Damages In Title Vii Class Actions, Paul Edgar Harold, Tracy L. Cole

University of Arkansas at Little Rock Law Review

When Congress expanded the remedies available to Title VII the plaintiffs in the Civil Rights Act of 1991 to include compensatory and punitive damages, it did not realize that it was creating a minefield for certifying would-be Title VII class actions. The Fifth Circuit thoroughly explored many of the new pitfalls and hazards in its landmark opinion in Allison v. Citgo Petroleum Corp. This article attempts to critically evaluate a recent post-Allison trend whereby Title VII plaintiffs seeking class certification have foregone their claims for compensatory damages while still seeking punitive damages. Plaintiffs, relying on the Supreme Court's recent cases …

Virginia Is For (Lovers) Business Owners Who Feel The Human Rights Commission Poses A Threat To Their Religious Liberties, Sarah Miller

William & Mary Journal of Race, Gender, and Social Justice

In November 1992, the Arlington County Board voted to add "sexual orientation" to the group of classes protected under its antidiscrimination policy. When a store owner was sued for violating this policy in 2006, he countersued, claiming that Arlington did not have the power to enact such a policy. His claim was based on the existence of a strongly state-centered power hierarchy unique to a very small minority of states, including Virginia, laid out in the Dillon Rule. Virginia's use of the Dillon Rule basically cripples its municipal corporations by injecting uncertainty into the process of enacting local legislation and …

Voting Rights Rollback: The Effect Of Buckhannon On The Private Enforcement Of Voting Rights, Brian J. Sutherland

North Carolina Central Law Review

No abstract provided.

Why We Can't Wait: Reversing The Retreat On Civil Rights - An Introduction To The Civil Rights Section, Joshua Cristobal Alex, Tanene Allison, Genevieve Gazon

North Carolina Central Law Review

No abstract provided.

Introduction: Umkc Sports Law Symposium: Emerging Legal Issues Affection Amateur & Professional Sports, Kenneth D. Ferguson

Faculty Works

Introduction to the 2007 University of Missouri-Kansas City Law School’s inaugural Sports Law Symposium. The symposium created a forum that contributed to developing intellectual synergies among national sports law scholars, practicing sports law attorneys, athletic directors, coaches, sports industry professionals, and, importantly, student-athletes. The engagements created revolved around the theme of emerging legal issues affecting amateur and professional sports. The symposium featured scholarly presentations in the amateur and professional sports areas. Scholarly inquiry focused on a range of topics, from the economic and legal issues affecting the coaching profession to balancing gender and minority gender equity under Title IX. The …

Skin Color Discrimination And Immigrant Pay, Joni Hersch

Vanderbilt Law School Faculty Publications

In "Profiling the New Immigrant Worker: The Effects of Skin Color and Height," (Journal of Labor Economics 2008), I present strong evidence of a wage penalty to darker skin color among new legal immigrants to the United States. Immigrants with the lightest skin color earn on average 17 percent higher wages than comparable immigrants with the darkest skin color, taking into account Hispanic ethnicity, race, country of birth, education, English language proficiency, family background, and occupation in the source country. This current paper demonstrates that the penalty to darker skin color is not a spurious consequence of omitted variables bias. …

Reconstructing The Race-Sex Analogy, Serena Mayeri

William & Mary Law Review

In the standard account, American sex equality law rests on a partial and imperfect analogy to race, developed in the 1970s by feminists intent on establishing formal equality between men and women, and embraced, albeit selectively and uneasily, by lawmakers and judges. But this account, although containing important elements of truth, obscures the creative ways that advocates turned the tables, arguing that principles developed in sex equality jurisprudence could expand the availability of remedies for racial injustice. This Article explores one example of this phenomenon: efforts, led by Ruth Bader Ginsburg, to use the emerging constitutional distinction between detrimental and …

An "Unintended Consequence": Dred Scott Reinterpreted, Sam Erman

Michigan Law Review

Austin Allen's monograph marks the 150th anniversary of the decision in Dred Scott v. Sandford with a revisionist interpretation of that oft-examined case. Many scholars have portrayed the case as a proslavery decision that fanned sectional fires. After all, the Court held that blacks were not U.S. citizens and that Congress was impotent to bar slavery in U.S. territories. Allen, by contrast, understands the case primarily as a judicial attempt to rationalize federal commerce and slavery jurisprudences. Part I argues that this ambitious reinterpretation enriches, but does not topple, existing Dred Scott historiography. In the case of the Court's citizenship …

Law Enforcement In Subordinated Communities: Innovation And Response, Richard Delgado

Michigan Law Review

Policing styles and policy reform today exhibit a ferment that we have not seen since the turbulent sixties. The reasons propelling reform include some of the same forces that propelled it then - minority communities agitating for a greater voice, demands for law and order - but also some that are new, such as the greater premium that society places on security in a post-9/11 world. Three recent books discuss this new emphasis on styles of policing. Each centers on policing in minority communities. Steve Herbert's Citizens, Cops, and Power: Recognizing the Limits of Community examines the innovation known as …