Civil Rights and Discrimination Commons^™

Legal Indeterminacy, Judicial Discretion And The Mexican-American Litigation Experience: 1930-1980, George A. Martinez

Faculty Journal Articles and Book Chapters

This article explores a jurisprudential point: legal indeterminacy in the context of Mexican-American civil rights litigation. The article argues that because of legal uncertainty or indeterminacy the resolution of key issues was not inevitable. Judges often had discretion to reach their conclusions. In this regard, the article concludes that the courts generally exercised their discretion by taking a position on key issues against Mexican-Americans. The article points out that exposing the exercise of judicial discretion and the lack of inevitability in civil rights cases is important for two major reasons. At one level, exposing the exercise of judicial discretion is …

Recognizing Violence Against Women: Gender And The Hate Crimes Statistics Act, Elizabeth Pendo

All Faculty Scholarship

This article argues that acts of gender-based violence should be recognized under the Hate Crimes Statistics Act of 1990, and that certain types of violence against women, such as rape, are fundamentally gender-based. Part I examines the existing definition of hate crimes under the HCSA, and the exclusion of the majority of violence against women. Part II suggests gender should be included as a category under the HCSA because of the similar effects of violence directed at women due to gender, and violence directed at members of other groups because of their group identity. Using acquaintance rape as an example, …

From Crippled To Disabled: The Legal Empowerment Of Americans With Disabilities, Michael Ashley Stein

Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

Postconviction Review Of Jury Discrimination: Measuring The Effects Of Juror Race On Jury Decisions, Nancy J. King

Michigan Law Review

In Part I, I review the empirical evidence concerning the effect of jury discrimination on jury decisions. Using the work of social and cognitive psychologists, I argue that the influence of jury discrimination on jury decisions is real and can be measured by judges in certain circumstances. The empirical studies suggest criteria that courts could use to identify the cases in which jury discrimination is most likely to affect the verdict. I also refute the argument that white judges can never predict the behavior of jurors of racial backgrounds different than their own and conclude that judicial estimates of the …

Proving Environmental Inequity In Siting Locally Unwanted Land Uses, Michael Greenberg

RISK: Health, Safety & Environment (1990-2002)

This paper advances a process for determining whether, e.g., waste-to-energy facilities are disproportionately located in minority and poor communities, and the author asks others to join in searching for a scientifically sound and fair process of resolving conflicting interests in locating LULUs. He also discusses some difficult issues and argues that they need to be addressed by a representative panel.

Guess Who's Not Coming To Dinner!!, Stephen Reinhardt

Michigan Law Review

A Review of Faces at the Bottom of the Well: The Permanence of Racism by Derrick Bell and Two Nations: Black and White, Separate, Hostile, Unequal by Andrew Hacker

Reproductive Technology And Disability: Searching For The "Rights" And Wrongs In Explanation, Judith Mosoff

Dalhousie Law Journal

Several years ago I worked as a lawyer representing psychiatric patients on the grounds of a large medieval-looking turn-of-the-century mental hospital in British Columbia. Soon after starting my new job I met Ann, a woman who shortly after her admission as an involuntary patient had informed her treatment team that she was pregnant. She had always wanted to have a baby. When she told her doctor about her pregnancy, he decided that this idea was part of her delusional system and prescribed anti-psychotic drugs to control her pathology. In fact she was pregnant and the medication given during the first …

The Civil Rights Act Of 1991: A “Quota Bill,” A Codification Of Griggs, A Partial Return To Wards Cove, Or All Of The Above?, Kingsley R. Browne

Law Faculty Research Publications

No abstract provided.

An Imperfect Remedy For Imperfect Violence: The Construction Of Civil Rights In The Violence Against Women Act, David Frazee

Michigan Journal of Gender & Law

Along with the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the Americans with Disabilities Act, the Violence Against Women Act (VAWA) could be the most significant addition to federal civil rights laws in the last century. While potentially revolutionary, the VAWA's civil rights remedy forges two problematic legal concepts-traditional civil rights jurisprudence and "perfect" violence-into a super-remedy that risks combining the worst aspects of each. Those who utilize and interpret the Act can avoid this outcome by situating individual violent acts in the broader social and historical context of gender-motivated violence.

Structures Of Subordination: Women Of Color At The Intersection Of Title Vii And The Nlra. Not!, Elizabeth M. Iglesias

Articles

No abstract provided.

Liberty Vs. Equality: In Defense Of Privileged White Males, Nancy E. Dowd

UF Law Faculty Publications

In this book review, Professor Dowd reviews Forbidden Grounds: The Case Against Employment Discrimination Laws, by Richard A. Epstein (1992). First, Professor Dowd sets forth the thesis and arguments of Epstein’s book and explores her general criticisms in more detail. Next, she explores Epstein’s core argument pitting liberty against equality from two perspectives: that of the privileged white male and that of minorities and women. Finally, Professor Dowd argues that Epstein’s position cannot be viewed as an argument that most minorities or women would make, as it fails to take account of their stories.

The Recent Respectability Of Summary Judgments And Directed Verdicts In Intentional Age Discrimination Cases: Adea Case Analysis Through The Supreme Court's Summary Judgment Prism, Frank J. Cavaliere

Cleveland State Law Review

The purpose of this Article is to review recent Supreme Court "guidance" on standards for summary judgment and directed verdict and the effect these decisions are having upon ADEA cases.

Credulous Courts And The Tortured Trilogy: The Improper Use Of Summary Judgment In Title Vii And Adea Cases, Ann C. Mcginley

Scholarly Works

Civil rights are under siege. In mid-1989, the United States Supreme Court decided several cases that severely limit the civil rights claims and remedies available to a plaintiff claiming employment discrimination. This Article examines the gradual and continuing erosion of the factfinder's role in federal employment discrimination cases and its replacement by an increasing use of summary judgment through which the courts make pretrial determinations formerly reserved for the factfinder at trial. This trend not only represents a major shift in court procedure and, in the case of age discrimination claims, a transfer of power from juries to judges, but …

Reinventing Reality: The Impermissible Intrusion Of After-Acquired Evidence In Title Vii Litigation, Ann C. Mcginley

Scholarly Works

This Article analyzes the use of after-acquired evidence to defeat a discrimination victim's claim against her employer. The use of the Mount Healthy and Price Waterhouse mixed motives analysis in after-acquired evidence cases is misplaced because it is impossible for the permissible motive—resume fraud—to have been a factor in the adverse employment decision. Furthermore, after the enactment of the Civil Rights Act of 1991, it would be an improper judicial intrusion upon the power of the legislature for courts to apply mixed motives analysis to these cases. Besides the constitutional limitation on the judiciary's power created by the Civil Rights …

State Responses To Task Force Reports On Race And Ethnic Bias In The Courts, Suellyn Scarnecchia

Articles

While several states have embarked on studies of race and ethnic bias in their courts, Minnesota is only the sixth to publish its report to date. As Minnesota joins the ranks of states with published reports, it is worthwhile to assess the impact of the five earlier published reports from other states. Final reports have been published in Michigan (1989), Washington (1990), New York (1991), Florida (1991) and New Jersey (1992). The published reports make findings and provide several specific recommendations for change. This article will review the published findings and recommendations of the task forces and will discuss the …

The Bar Against Challenges To Employment Discrimination Consent Decrees: A Public Choice Perspective, John O. Mcginnis

Articles

No abstract provided.

An Administrative Battle Of The Forms: The Eeoc's Intake Questionnaire And Charge Of Discrimination, Laurie M. Stegman

Michigan Law Review

This Note argues that the EEOC's interpretation of Title VII as reflected in its regulations is consistent with underlying statutory intent and strikes an appropriate balance between the needs of employers and employees. Therefore, Congress should amend section 706(b) of Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 to provide that a charge must be verified prior to the commencement of an EEOC investigation but not necessarily within the statutory filing period. Part I examines the legislative history of Title VII and its integrated procedures for obtaining administrative and judicial relief. Part II critiques the various ways in which …

Discrimination In The Legal Profession, Codes Of Professional Conduct And The Duty Of Non-Discrimination, Christ Tennant

Dalhousie Law Journal

This paper is about discrimination in the legal profession, and about the kinds of responses to discrimination that the legal profession should be considering. I begin with a review of the various forms of discrimination which exist in the legal profession. Discrimination in the legal profession ranges from the exclusion of the members of certain groups from parts of the profession, to sexual harassment, to discrimination in our courts, to the exclusion and deprecation of the perspectives and experiences of those who have not traditionally beenin positions of power. Discrimination in the legal profession occurs against women, against aboriginal people, …

Public Housing And Equality Rights - Dartmouth/Halifax County Regional Housing Authority V. Irma Sparks, Stephen G. Coughlan

Dalhousie Law Journal

In Dartmouth/HalifaxCounty Regional Housing Authority v. Sparks, courts in Nova Scotia are once again called upon to consider whether tenants in public housing are entitled to the same protection as private tenants. The Supreme Court Appeal Division decided in Bernard v. Dartmouth Housing Authority that shorter notice periods for public housing tenants were not objectionable, under either s. 7 or s. 15 of the Charter. The issue will now return to the Court of Appeal, but in the meantime the County Court has held that Bernard still sets the standard in Nova Scotia.

Aboriginal Peoples And Criminal Justice: A Special Report Of The Law Reform Commission Of Canada, Bruce P. Archibald

Dalhousie Law Journal

Canada's criminal justice system has been shaken out of its stolid complacency in recent years by demonstrated instances of unfair treatment of religious, ethnic and racial minorities, and in particular our Aboriginal peoples.' Faced with a hue and cry directed at the justice system, the federal Minister of Justice asked the Law Reform Commission of Canada to study "as a matter of special priority, the Criminal Code and related statutes and to examine the extent to which those laws ensure that Aboriginal persons and persons who are members of cultural or religious minorities have equal access to justice and are …

Retroactive Application Of The Civil Rights Act Of 1991, Kristine N. Mcalister

Vanderbilt Law Review

On November 21, 1991, President Bush signed the Civil Rights Act of 1991 (the "Act") into law. The Act contained a general section stating that its provisions should take effect upon enactment. What the Act did not do, however, is indicate whether it should apply to cases pending at the time of its enactment. Since the Act is more favorable to plaintiffs than was its predecessor, plaintiffs whose cases were pending at the time of its enactment have attempted to amend their complaints to benefit from the new Act's provisions. Congress's failure to indicate whether the Act should apply to …

A Curious Document Recently Discovered In The Archives, Peter Tillers

Cardozo Law Review

The document reproduced below, which appears to be a letter written by Peter Pilgrim to "Lash, " was recently discovered in the archives of the library of the Benjamin N. Cardozo School of Law. Peter Pilgrim is the late Doctor of Facts at Cardozo. "Lash" is probably L.H. LaRue, Story Professor of Law at Washli University. Professor LaRue is also known as the Delphic Oracle of Lex, possibly because no one knows for sure what the letters "L.H." represent. The annotations to the text of the putative letter appear to be a mixture of notes by its author and comments …

A Road Less Traveled To A Federal Era, John Paul Jones

Law Faculty Publications

Professor Jones examines efforts to ratify the federal Equal Rights Amendment which ended unsuccessfully in 1982. He argues that efforts to use the federal courts to fill in the gaps in protection of rights based on gender are likely to fall far short of what the Amendment would have provided, and that a renewed attempt at ratification would likely meet the same fate as the earlier one. He suggests a third alternative, U.S. ratification of the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women, as the most feasible means of achieving the goals of the ERA without …

Miles To Go: Some Personal Reflections On The Social Construction Of Disability, Dianne Pothier

Dalhousie Law Journal

The "social construction" of disability refers to the way an able bodied conception of disability magnifies its consequences. The social construction of disability assesses and deals with disability from an able bodied perspective. It includes erroneous assumptions about capacity to perform that come from an able bodied frame of reference. It encompasses the failure to make possible or accept different ways of doing things. It reflects a preoccupation with "normalcy" that excludes the disabled person.

The Hidden Gender Of Law, Christine Boyle

Dalhousie Law Journal

Two legal academics who set out to produce a book of materials with such a title could weave many components into it. They could explore feminist methodology, and show how much feminist legal scholarship has in common with feminist scholarship generally. They could illustrate the influence of feminist academic work on actual legal decisions and legislation. They could discuss feminist scholarship and legal education, including the dramatic developments over the last twenty years. Questions about fundamental values - equality, liberty, security, fairness - could be addressed. Materials could be included from the field of law often called Women and the …

Beyond The New Property: The Right To Become And Remain Productive, Edgar S. Cahn

University of the District of Columbia Law Review

The sixties and seventies saw the creation of new rights and the expansion of old ones in response to discrimination, disenfranchisement, and poverty. The new rights were both participatory rights' and substantive rights.2 They effected a redistribution of wealth and power. Essentially, they were rights to consume and rights to share. We called these rights "The New Property."3 As we moved from an era of sustained growth and surplus to budget deficits and trade deficits, we have been less willing to address social problems by expansion of those rights. Political and judicial receptivity to further redistribution diminished sharply.' Litigation seeking …

The Newly Disenfranchised: A Constitutional Right Withheld, Herman R. Brown Jr.

University of the District of Columbia Law Review

Traditionally, Blacks and women have been denied their constitutional rights based strictly on race and sex. This brand of disenfranchisement has in many instances made these groups feel like "second class" citizens. Although recently, these groups have been able to share in some rights previously withheld, the "playing field of equality of rights" is still not level. For example, women still earn less pay for comparable work performed by their male counterparts. Blacks continue to be shut out of the system based strictly on race. Just as women and Blacks have been denied their rights, other groups have suffered similar …

The Death Of The Employer: Image, Text, And Title Vii, D. Marvin Jones

Vanderbilt Law Review

It is incredible that our people's faith could have brought them so much they sought in the law and left them with so little they need in life. It is so unfair. Like the crusaders of old we sought our Holy Grail of "equal opportunity," and having gained it in court decisions and civil rights statutes, found the quest to be for naught. Equal opportunity, far from being the means of achieving racial equality, has become yet another device for perpetuating the racial status quo.'

Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 was hailed as the most important …

Civil Rights Act Of 1991, William L. Taylor

Touro Law Review

No abstract provided.

The Death Of The Employer: Image, Text, And Title Vii, D. Marvin Jones

Articles

No abstract provided.