Civil Rights and Discrimination Commons^™

A Layperson's Guide To Fair Housing Law (2014), F. Willis Caruso, Michael P. Seng, Allison Bethel, John Marshall Law School Fair Housing Legal Support Center

Faculty White Papers

Housing discrimination can take many forms. Laws have been passed at the federal, state, and local levels to prohibit housing discrimination, and attorneys and many fair housing groups are working to eradicate the problem. But the solution to the fair housing problem will not come solely through the work of attorneys and fair housing agencies and organizations; it will also have to come from an educated public that is unwilling to tolerate the cost of housing discrimination. Housing discrimination affects every individual in the United States. Realtors and brokers, bankers and mortgage lenders, insurance companies and developers, real estate buyers …

The Quixotic Search For Race-Neutral Alternatives, Michael E. Rosman

University of Michigan Journal of Law Reform

The Supreme Court has stated that the narrow-tailoring inquiry of the Equal Protection Clause’s strict scrutiny analysis of racially disparate treatment by state actors requires courts to consider whether the defendant seriously considered race-neutral alternatives before adopting the race-conscious program at issue. This article briefly examines what that means in the context of race-conscious admissions programs at colleges and universities. Part I sets forth the basic concepts that the Supreme Court uses to analyze race-conscious decision-making by governmental actors and describes the role of “race-neutral alternatives” in that scheme. Part II examines the nature of “race-neutral alternatives” and identifies its …

Front Matter And Table Of Contents

University of Miami Race & Social Justice Law Review

No abstract provided.

Brown V. Board Of Education And National Federation Of Independent Business V. Sebelius: A Comparative Analysis Of Social Change, Brian G. Gilmore

University of Arkansas at Little Rock Law Review

No abstract provided.

North Carolina's Declaration Of Rights: Fertile Ground In A Federal Climate, Grant E. Buckner

North Carolina Central Law Review

No abstract provided.

Employment Discrimination, Peter Reed Corbin, John E. Duvall

Mercer Law Review

Following a relatively quiet and uneventful 2012 survey period, the United States Supreme Court stepped up its activity significantly in the area of employment discrimination during the 2013 survey period. The Supreme Court handed down several significant rulings. In University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center v. Nassar, the Court established a "but-for" rule of causation for purposes of Title VII retaliation cases. In Vance v. Ball State University, the Supreme Court determined the parameters of who qualifies as a "supervisor" for purposes of establishing vicarious liability in workplace harassment actions under Title VII.

At the circuit level, the …

Equal Access To Justice: Ensuring Meaningful Access To Counsel In Civil Cases, Including Immigration Proceedings, Human Rights Institute, Program On Human Rights And The Global Economy

Human Rights Institute

Only a small fraction of the legal problems experienced by low‐income and poor people living in the United States — less than one in five — are addressed with the assistance of legal representation. Many people who are low‐income and poor in the United States cannot afford legal representation to protect their rights when facing a crisis such as eviction, foreclosure, domestic violence, workplace discrimination, termination of subsistence income or medical assistance, loss of child custody, or deportation.

There is no federal constitutional right to counsel in civil cases, including in immigration proceedings. On the contrary, the Supreme Court has …

"He's A Black Male … Something Is Wrong With Him!" The Role Of Race In The Stand Your Ground Debate, D. Marvin Jones

University of Miami Law Review

No abstract provided.

Place, Not Race: Affirmative Action And The Geography Of Educational Opportunity, Sheryll Cashin

University of Michigan Journal of Law Reform

Ultimately, I argue that one important response to the demise of race-based affirmative action should be to incorporate the experience of segregation into diversity strategies. A college applicant who has thrived despite exposure to poverty in his school or neighborhood deserves special consideration. Those blessed to come of age in poverty-free havens do not. I conclude that use of place, rather than race, in diversity programming will better approximate the structural disadvantages many children of color actually endure, while enhancing the possibility that we might one day move past the racial resentment that affirmative action engenders. While I propose substituting …

Contracts Symposium Issue: Featured Speaker: The Right To Contract As A Civil Right, Robin West

Georgetown Law Faculty Publications and Other Works

The "right to contract," whether originating in the Constitution, common law, or natural law, has been long and widely felt to be in tension with our civil rights, broadly conceived. The individual himself, we generally believe, and only the individual, should decide the scope and terms of his affirmative, voluntary, and other-regarding undertakings. When he does so through contract, the individual and only the individual should determine the terms under which he will perform those duties. The civil rights laws of the nineteenth, twentieth, and early twenty-first centuries, and the various rights they create interfere with these natural freedoms.

So, …

Disparate Impact, School Closures, And Parental Choice, Nicole Stelle Garnett

Journal Articles

We live in an era of parental choice. Today, forty-two states and the District of Columbia authorize charter schools, and twenty states and the District of Columbia permit students to use public funds to attend a private school. During the 2012-2013 school year, nearly 2 million children attended charter schools, and nearly 250,000 children received publicly funded scholarship to attend a private school. The expanding menu of publicly funded educational options is one (but by no means the only) factor contributing to the current, intensely controversial, waves of urban public school closures. In school-closure debates, proponents of traditional public schools …

I Thought He Had A Gun: Amending New York's Justification Statute To Prevent Police Officers From Mistakenly Shooting Unarmed Black Men, Toussaint Cummings

Cardozo Public Law, Policy & Ethics Journal

The note advocates for reforming the legal standards governing police use of deadly force, particularly in cases involving unarmed Black men. It argues that racial stereotypes and implicit biases significantly influence officers' decisions to shoot, leading to unjustified shootings. The author proposes eliminating the subjective component of the justification defense, focusing instead on objective reasonableness and incorporating social science research to address these biases. The reforms aim to hold police accountable and promote justice by valuing Black lives equally.

American Blood: Who Is Counting And For What?, Gerald Torres

Cornell Law Faculty Publications

When thinking about "who counts," I initially titled this Essay: "Who is Counting and for What?" I wanted to highlight the role that power necessarily plays in the very asking of the question. It presumes a perspective, and interrogating that perspective can only occur if the second part of the question is answered. Because race has always played a critical role in our culture from the very beginning, I wanted to explore one of the many ways it has been deployed to justify a particular expression of power. The story virtually every American learns is the story of the inevitable …

Reforming Property Law To Address Devastating Land Loss, Thomas W. Mitchell

Faculty Scholarship

Tenancy-in-common ownership represents the most widespread form of common ownership of real property in the United States. Such ownership under the default rules also represents the most unstable ownership of real property in this country. Thousands of tenancy-in-common property owners, including members of many poor and minority families, have lost their commonly-owned property due to court-ordered, forced partition sales as well as much of their real estate wealth associated with such ownership as a result of such sales. Though some scholars and the media have highlighted how thousands of African-Americans have lost an untold amount of property and substantial real …

Introduction: Challenging Authority: A Symposium Honoring Derrick Bell, Jasmine Gonzales Rose

Faculty Scholarship

This is the Introduction to the University of Pittsburgh Law Review’s Challenging Authority: A Symposium Honoring Derrick Bell (L.L.B. 1957). This special symposium issue of the 75th volume of the Law Review celebrates and seeks to continue Bell’s critical inquiry into and fight against racial injustice. It features leading and emerging voices that examine and build upon some of Bell’s most eminent concepts, such as the permanence of racism and Interest Convergence Theory; explore Bell’s impact as a professor and activist; and look ahead to the next wave of critical race study.

Breastfeeding And A New Type Of Employment Law, Marcy Karin, Robin Runge

Catholic University Law Review

No abstract provided.

Dan Subotnik, Toxic Diversity: Race, Gender, And Law Talk In America, Hannah Abrams

Touro Law Review

No abstract provided.

Federalism And Business Decisions In The October 2005 Term, Carter G. Phillips

Touro Law Review

No abstract provided.

Other Civil Rights Decisions In The October 2005 Term: Title Vii, Idea, And Section 1981, Eileen Kaufman

Touro Law Review

No abstract provided.

Other Civil Rights Decisions In The October 2005 Term: Title Vii, Idea, And Section 1981, Leon Friedman

Touro Law Review

No abstract provided.

Exploring The Case For Healthcare As An Unenumerated, Fundamental Right, Andre "Truth" Mcdavid, Brandon A. Robinson

North Carolina Central University Science & Intellectual Property Law Review

No abstract provided.

Plaintiffs-Appellants/Cross-Appellees’Response And Reply Brief, Robert S. Chang, Lorraine Bannai, Charlotte Garden, Fred T. Korematsu Center For Law And Equality, Ronald A. Peterson Law Clinic, Attorneys For Appellants

Fred T. Korematsu Center for Law and Equality

Fighting Arizona's Attack on Ethnic Studies - Maya Arce, et al. v. John Huppenthal, et. al

Torch (June 2014), Brandon Baldwin, Civil Rights Team Project

Torch: The Civil Rights Team Project Newsletter

No abstract provided.

Vicki Eaklor's Queer America: A People's History Of The United States (Book Review), Michael Boucai

Book Reviews

No abstract provided.

Original Intent And The Fourteenth Amendment: Into The Black Hole Of Constitutional Law, Paul Finkelman

Chicago-Kent Law Review

This article explores and examines William E. Nelson’s masterful study of the origins and adoption of the Fourteenth Amendment, The Fourteenth Amendment: From Political Principal to Judicial Doctrine (1988). The article explains that a quarter of a century after he wrote this book, Nelson’s study of the origins and adoption of the Amendment remains the best exploration of these issues. His book illustrates the difficulties of determining the “original intent” of the framers of this complicated and complex Amendment. At the same time, however, Nelson demonstrates that for many issues we can come to a strong understanding of the goals …

The "Moral Hazards" Of Title Vii's Religious Accomodation Doctrine, Stephen Gee

Chicago-Kent Law Review

Freedom of religion in the workplace has recently become a hot topic with regards to whether U.S. or state laws (mainly contraceptive care and treatment of same-sex, married employees’ spouses) must accommodate certain employer’s religious beliefs or else violate the employer’s constitutional right. However, before this recent employer-centric topic came to light, the main focus was on employees and to what extent employers must accommodate an employee’s religion via Title VII. Most, if not all, academic literature has argued an employer’s duty to accommodate employee’s religion is too weak under Title VII and should thus be increased to the significant …

The Ninth Circuit's Treatment Of Sexual Orientation: Defining “Rational Basis Review With Bite”, Ian Bartrum

Michigan Law Review First Impressions

On February 10, Nevada's Democratic attorney general decided to stop defending the state's constitutional amendment banning same-sex marriage, which is currently under review in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit. Perhaps even more surprising, Nevada's Republican governor agreed with that decision, concluding that the "case is no longer defensible in court." Ironically, all of this came after the plaintiffs had lost their case in the district court. But the federal constitutional landscape surrounding same-sex marriage is rapidly shifting, and in the nation's largest circuit change is coming quickly indeed. The latest upheaval—the decision that in fact prompted …

Title Vii At Fifty Years: A Symposium, Ann C. Mcginley

Nevada Law Journal

No abstract provided.

Hiding The Statute In Plain View: University Of Texas Southwestern Medical Center V. Nassar, Michael J. Zimmer

Nevada Law Journal

No abstract provided.

Lessons From The Dolphins/Richie Incognito Saga, Kerri Lynn Stone

Nevada Law Journal

No abstract provided.