Civil Rights and Discrimination Commons^™

Review Essay: African Americans, Sudan, And The Politics Of Solidarity, Walter Hill

The Journal of Social Encounters

No abstract provided.

Statutory Backups For Endangered Constitutional Rights, Aaron-Andrew P. Bruhl

Faculty Publications

This Article concerns the phenomenon of “statutory backup rights,” or statutes that provide protections parallel to constitutional rights that are believed to be at risk of judicial abrogation. Proposals for backup rights gained attention in the aftermath of the Supreme Court’s 2022 decision in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization, which not only eliminated the constitutional right to abortion but called into question some other constitutional rights as well. Shortly after Dobbs, Congress enacted a limited statutory backup for same-sex marriage. States have created backup rights across a range of topics, some of which appeal mostly to those …

Antitrust And Economic Liberty, Doha Mekki

Center for Law and the Economy

Over the last few years, antitrust plaintiffs have won important victories in cases against digital platforms. They’ve won important cases involving real estate associations, elite private colleges, sports leagues, pharmaceutical companies, pork processors, and health insurers. In some cases, they have secured record-breaking jury verdicts and redress for harmed individuals.

The U.S. Department of Justice’s Antitrust Division has been active too. Last year, a federal court held that Google illegally maintained monopolies in general internet search and related search advertising markets. That case is about access to the information we see and use to make decisions about how we want …

Columnas: The Honors Program Newsletter At Bentley University, Amanda Li, Wilson Jan, Michael Raphael, Alexandra Rieckehoff, Karina Wu, Michael Shehata, Nilufar Noorian, Eloise Weintraub

Honors Program

INSIDE THE MODERN WORLD

Page 2: Stepping Out by Amanda Li

Page 3: Inside the Corporate Slop Bowl by Wilson Jan

Page 4: The Silencing: An Evaluation of the Global Attacks on the Right to Protest by Michael Raphael

THE SOUND OF CHANGE

Page 5: The Social, Cultural, and Economic Impact of Bad Bunny by Alexandra Rieckehoff

Page 6: Streaming Changed Music, But Is It Fair to Artists? by Karina Wu

Page 7: Feeling the Music: How Haptic Wearables Are Changing the Way We Experience Sound by Michael Shehata

SHIFTING SYSTEMS

Page 8: The Story Behind Davos, One of the …

Cardozo Alumna Taylor Brown ’17 Appointed Director Of Nyc's New Office Of Lgbtqia+ Affairs, Benjamin N. Cardozo School Of Law

Cardozo Law News Archive

Cardozo Law alumna Taylor Brown ('17) was appointed the inaugural director of New York City's Office of LGBTQIA+ Affairs. The announcement highlights Brown's historic appointment, her leadership in civil rights advocacy, and her previous work with the New York State Attorney General's Office, the American Civil Liberties Union, and Lambda Legal.

Civil Rights Microviolations, Alissa Cooley Yonesawa, Michael Kagan

University of Cincinnati Law Review

This essay is an attempt to name and define a certain kind of civil rights problem. Namely: Rights violations that are small enough that the rational thing for the victim to do might be to just cope with them, but when allowed to fester and repeat, do significant damage. We call these problems microviolations. To define them, we borrow from the idea of a microaggression, a concept that developed to understand an analogous challenge in workplace and school discrimination. We offer a diagnosis of why microviolations are both problematic and difficult to address, and arguments that they should be a …

Visible At Last: Legal Recognition Of Children Born Of War (Cbow) And The Case Of Bosnia And Herzegovina, Ajna Jusić, Gordana Subotić Ph.D.

Human Rights Brief

Children born of war (CBOW) — those conceived through conflict-related sexual violence— have long remained stigmatized, marginalized, and largely invisible in law and policy. Drawing on international scholarship and Bosnia and Herzegovina’s post-conflict experience, this Article examines the social, political, and legal mechanisms that sustain CBOW exclusion and traces the emergence of CBOW as a recognized category within contemporary international legal frameworks. Using Bosnia and Herzegovina as a case study, the Article argues that patriarchal norms, fragmented governance and legal structures, and decades of institutional silence have profoundly shaped CBOW lived experiences and access to rights. Furthermore, the Article assesses …

B.T. And B.K.Cs. V. Hungary: Separating Roma Children From Their Mothers Before Births, Sara Apostol

Human Rights Brief

In June of 2025, the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) ruled in favor of a Roma mother, B.T., and her son after bringing a lawsuit against the Hungarian government for wrongfully violating their right to family life. The Hungarian government ordered the placement of B.T.’s unborn child into State care based on insufficient and dubious evidence used to justify such state action. This case focused on the prejudiced system that places Roma children into the State’s guardianship immediately after birth without evidence of imminent harm or other valid justification. Rather, it is based on the child’s ethnic and socio-economic …

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 …

Reversing Progress: The Political And Legal Ramifications Of The 2025 Dei Policy Rollback, Bridgette Baldwin

Faculty Scholarship

The year 2025 will mark a significant turning point in the landscape of American civil rights policy, as federal executive orders the Trump administration initiated seek to dismantle longstanding diversity, equity, and inclusion ("DEI") initiatives. Rooted in a historical context of civil rights progress, these orders aim to curtail affirmative action programs, eliminate DEI mandates within federal agencies and contractors, and challenge the legal foundations of inclusive policies across the country. This Article explores the evolving landscape of civil rights and DEI in the United States, examining its historical roots, recent legal and political developments, and ongoing challenges. From landmark …

Animus, Again, William D. Araiza

William & Mary Bill of Rights Journal

In the first week of his second term, President Donald Trump issued multiple executive orders targeting immigrants and transgender people. Additional actions targeting these and other vulnerable groups have already followed. Others may come; more generally, such orders will likely remain a part of the President’s policy agenda and governing style. These actions call for analysis of the legal tools litigants can deploy to challenge them. That call is urgent, as a response not just to the orders already issued, but to others the Administration might promulgate in the future.

One of those tools is equal protection animus. This Article …

Whose Right(S)?: Civil Rights Impact Of Cultural Conflicts In The Curriculum, S. David Mitchell

Faculty Publications

Statutes seeking to prohibit the teaching of certain curricular topics that are considered divisive infringe upon the civil rights of students, parents, and teachers. The conflict over what should be taught implicates the rights of students, specifically their right to receive and to learn information; the rights of parents, specifically the right to control the education of their children; and the rights of teachers, specifically the First Amendment and academic freedom. “Anti-Woke” legislation, as it is broadly termed, is designed to silence those who seek to engage in the critical analysis of the structural and systemic barriers that have prevented …

Statewide Injunction: State Judicial Power And Meaningful Remedies, Constance Van Kley

Faculty Law Review Articles

As federal courts increasingly limit the scope of constitutional remedies, state courts have begun issuing statewide injunctions that extend protections beyond individual litigants. This article examines the doctrinal foundations and implications of such injunctions, arguing that they represent a legitimate exercise of state judicial power. By analyzing historical practices, procedural norms, and recent case law, the author contends that statewide injunctions can serve as essential tools for enforcing civil rights and ensuring meaningful relief. The piece calls for a reevaluation of remedial doctrines to better accommodate the evolving role of state courts in safeguarding constitutional guarantees.

How Atlanta's Use Of Eminent Domain Displace Low-Income Peoplestown Residents, Babafemi Fatade

Tennessee Journal of Race, Gender, & Social Justice

No abstract provided.

Ben Crump And Racialized Professionalism, Katherine A. Macfarlane

St. John's Law Review

(Excerpt)

Benjamin “Ben” Crump is the country’s most influential civil rights lawyer. His advocacy led to the arrest and prosecution of George Zimmerman. He has represented the families of George Floyd and Breonna Taylor and many others, negotiating record-breaking settlements despite a body of civil rights precedent that is overwhelmingly pro-defendant. Crump is also a modern lawyer who uses press conferences and social media to advance his clients’ cause. To his clients, he is a lawyer, confidante, and friend. Yet, based on the way national media covers him, his significance isn’t always clear. When his work isn’t being erased, it’s …

Testimony Before The Puerto Rico Advisory Committee To The United States Commission On Civil Rights On The Role That Race And Ethnicity Play In The Treatment Of The People Of Puerto Rico By The Federal Government, Yomaira Figueroa, Carlos Vargas-Ramos

CUNY Centro, The Center for Puerto Rican Studies

The Insular Cases, whether the narrow or more expansive canon, have structured the political relationship between Puerto Rico and the United States for more than a century. The genesis of this “third-way” of understanding and structuring the territorial relationship with the United States rested on the very ethnocentric and indeed racist ideology pervasive at the time in U.S. ruling circles, whereby there was a hierarchy of dominance and control that placed White Anglo Saxon Protestant men at the top and subordinated all other ethnic and racial groups in a gradation of subservience and exclusion.

The Different Rhetoric Between Upholding And Overriding Disability Rights Inside The United States Supreme Court, Shane Egan

Political Science Undergraduate Honors Theses

This paper seeks to explain the rhetoric the U.S. Supreme Court uses when deciding disability cases, specifically when the Court upholds or overrides disability rights. The paper attempts to show how when the Court upholds disabled rights they use passive and weak rhetoric, and utilizes active and enforcing rhetoric when overriding disability rights. This paper analyzes this rhetoric inside education, healthcare, and employment cases heard by the Supreme Court.

Trading Diversity? Judicial Diversity And Case Outcomes In Federal Courts, Ryan W. Copus, Ryan Hübert, Paige Pellaton

Faculty Works

Are federal lawsuits resolved differently based on the race or gender of the judges assigned to hear them? Recent empirical research posits that women and judges of color decide cases more liberally, at least in some identity-salient areas of law. However, these studies analyze small numbers of cases and judges, and use research designs that limit their causal interpretations. Using an original dataset of all civil rights cases filed in 20 federal district courts over multiple decades and a strong causal identification strategy, we find that assignment of cases to judges of color or women has no statistically significant effect …

The Development And Consequences Of The "Good Faith" Exception To The Exclusionary Rule And The Qualified "Good Faith" Immunity From Liability Under Section 1983, Philip M. Coffin Iii, Paul F. Driscoll

Maine Law Review

The remedies fashioned to redress violations of the fourth amendment to the United States Constitution continue to be the subject of much judicial, legislative, and scholarly inquiry. In striking the balance between the need to protect individual freedom and the need to protect society from criminal activity, the Supreme Court and Congress have developed two principal remedies for fourth amendment violations: the exclusionary rule and civil actions under 42 U.S.C. § 1983 or under theories of constitutional tort. on the development of both of these remedies it is assumed that their effectiveness is the true measure of fourth amendment liberties. …

Understanding Processes That Produce Racial Disparities In California Death Sentences: A Review Of The Literature, Catherine M. Grosso, Michael Laurence, Jeffrey A. Fagan

Faculty Scholarship

A robust and extensive body of empirical research, and a rich historical record, documents a recurring and pervasive influence of race in the application of California’s death penalty. This article reviews the legal and social science research to document multiple paths through which institutions and processes produce these racial disparities over many decisions in many cases across four decades. The article reviews relevant literature by decision, institution, or actor and presents key findings. This includes documenting the history of the broad statutory design of the California capital punishment statue. The review also considers research on policing, including the influence of …

Foreword, Patricia B. Barnett

Journal of Race, Gender, and Ethnicity

No abstract provided.

Cracking The Quotas: The 1948 New York Fair Educational Practices Act And The Jewish Quest For Color-Blindness, Miyuki Kita

FIU Law Review

This article explores how vigorously Jews pushed to enact the 1948 New York Fair Educational Practices Act to fight anti-Jewish quotas in higher education. The Act was the first state-level legislation to prohibit higher educational institutions from excluding, limiting or otherwise discriminating against persons seeking admission as students because of race, religion, creed, color, or national origin. Seeking a way to overcome discrimination in university admissions, Jews sought to combat it by promoting racially and religiously neutral admission procedures within the broad context of the expansion of opportunities in higher education after World War II instead of directly attacking antisemitism. …

Social Murder And The Antisocial Contract, Marissa Jackson Sow

Law Faculty Publications

Social murder is widely understood as the reckless and calculated killing by the State of people who are considered surplus and thus made redundant by the State. It is not merely an outcome, however; social murder, is an antidemocratic process, and—certainly as it is manifesting in the United States under the second Trump Administration—is also an anti-constitutionalist project aimed at destroying society, eliminating social goods, and renegotiating an American social contract that is, definitionally, antisocial. Social murder is as much about the elimination of social life as it is about the interruption of physical life. And it is fueled by …

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.

Sabbath Accommodations As A Civil Right: History, Title Vii, And The Path To Groff V. Dejoy, Isaac May

FIU Law Review

In Groff v. DeJoy, which concerned a Christian Sabbath observer, Jewish groups were vindicated by the Court’s overturning Hardison v. Transworld Airlines and strengthening Title VII’s protections for religion, particularly around employees’ Sabbath observance. This article positions Groff within the history of Jewish efforts to secure employment protections for Sabbath worship. Efforts to secure Sabbath accommodations were an outgrowth and expansion of early twentieth-century efforts to ensure Jews were protected by public accommodation laws and a product of attempts by litigators such as Leo Pfeffer to end mandatory Sunday closing laws in the mid-twentieth century. Sabbath accommodations became a critical …

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 …

Status, Conduct, Belief, And Message: The Wedding Vendor Cases, Mark L. Movsesian

Faculty Publications

(Excerpt)

I’d like to speak today about one of the more neuralgic episodes in the United States’s ongoing culture wars: the wedding vendor cases. These are cases in which small business owners decline, from religious conviction, to provide services for same-sex weddings. A baker declines to bake a wedding cake for a gay couple because, as a Christian, he opposes same-sex marriage and doesn’t want to participate in sinful behavior. A Christian web designer declines to create websites for same-sex weddings, since doing so would express her support for such weddings, which she doesn’t want to do. Other examples involve …

No Knock? No Case: Prosecutorial Deterrence As A Countermeasure To No-Knock Warrants, Tamika Griffin Moses

Law Faculty Publications

The high-profile deaths of Amir Locke and Breonna Taylor ignited a national debate surrounding the legitimacy of no-knock warrants. Their deaths are part of a cycle of reaction and inaction that permeates this debate. As the impacted communities and segments of the populace respond by demanding that federal and state legislatures abolish or severely restrict the use of no-knock warrants, they are met with inaction. The legislative bodies have failed to pass laws banning the warrants and judges continue to sign them. This inaction continues to undermine the public’s trust in law enforcement and challenges the legitimacy of a democracy …

Redefining The Scope Of Anti-Discrimination Law: Illuminating Colorism As A Basis For Discrimination Claims By Black Entertainers, Tolulope Odunsi-Nelson

Faculty Scholarship

This Article critically examines the pervasive issue of colorism within the entertainment industry and its profound impact on dark-skinned Black entertainers. Anti-Black colorism is discrimination against Black people with darker skin tones and Afrocentric features (i.e. darker eye color, kinkier hair, broader nose, fuller lips). Tracing the historical roots of colorism from the colonial era to contemporary times, the Article emphasizes how societal preferences for Eurocentric features and anti-Black racism have created and perpetuated a hierarchy that disadvantages darker-skinned individuals. It analyzes the underrepresentation and pay disparities faced by dark-skinned Black actors and actresses. It details the industry’s preference for …

New York Times V. Sullivan: A Civil Rights Story, Samantha Barbas

Texas A&M Law Review

The 1964 Supreme Court decision in New York Times v. Sullivan established the “actual malice” rule in libel law, requiring that in order to win a libel suit, a public official must show that a defamatory statement was false and that the speaker made the statement knowing that it was false or “with reckless disregard of whether it was false or not.”

Sullivan involved a libel suit brought by segregationist Alabama officials against the New York Times (“Times”) and leaders of the civil rights movement. Sullivan arose from sectional battles over civil rights and integration in the 1960s. An all-white …