Civil Rights and Discrimination Commons^™

Housing Sexual Harassment: A Department Of Justice Case Study, Rigel C. Oliveri

Faculty Publications

Sexual harassment in housing-when tenants or prospective tenants are sexually harassed by their landlords, housing providers, or other people associated with their housing-is a clear national problem. In 2019 the Department of Justice (DOJ) and the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) announced an initiative to bring attention to this issue, as well as a shared commitment to increased enforcement against harassers.

This enforcement push provides an opportunity for study. In particular, there are now a significant number of complaints and other litigation documents posted to the DOJ's website that provide a convenient and robust sample for analysis. The …

Shrines Of Discrimination: A Comparative Exploration Of American And Indian Approaches To Balancing Religious Freedom And Equal Rights, Sree Vedala

MC Law Review

Religious freedom and equality, foundational human rights, often clash in legal contexts, particularly when religious practices justify discriminatory actions. The U.S. judiciary has grappled with this tension, as exemplified in Masterpiece Cakeshop v. Colorado Civil Rights Commission and Yeshiva University v. YU Pride Alliance. These cases reflect opposing judicial tendencies: deference to religious beliefs versus prioritization of equality. However, neither case established a clear framework for balancing these rights. This article examines India’s "essentiality test," which assesses whether a religious practice is integral to a faith, as a potential model for resolving such conflicts. By comparing U.S. and Indian …

When Is Discrimination Harmful?, Sandra F. Sperino

Faculty Publications

In Muldrow v. City of St. Louis, the Supreme Court held that Title VII does not require a plaintiff to establish material harm to prove employment discrimination. Instead, any action that is negative and affects a term, condition or privilege of employment is sufficient, if the employer took the action because of a protected trait.

At first glance, Muldrow appears to be a middling case focused on a technical aspect of discrimination law. This Article argues that Muldrow has the potential to be one of the most important modern discrimination cases. If taken to its natural conclusion it will …

The Anti-Discriminatory Right To Travel, Noah Smith-Drelich

Indiana Law Journal

Travel rights and travel restrictions shape nearly every part of society, moderating where and how we go about our daily lives. Yet a central aspect of travel has gone largely unnoticed in the legal literature. Oppressive governments have routinely restricted free movement as a principal means of effectuating discrimination. And travel rights, as a result, have always had a strong anti-discriminatory valence. From the Magna Carta to Blackstone’s Commentaries to the Constitution itself, rights to travel have consistently emerged from struggles against discrimination.

This Article makes several independent but related contributions. First, the Constitution’s protections of travel have a strong …

Fair-Enough Ai, Jane R. Bambauer, Tal Z. Zarsky

UF Law Faculty Publications

AI is unfair. It can be inaccurate (in several ways), biased (in several ways, and to several groups), disproportionate, exploitable, and opaque. The policy world is awash in AI-governance frameworks, ethical guidelines, and other policy documents, but these lack concrete standards and provide little guidance on how to select between competing versions of (un)fairness. In other words, they abdicate the responsibility of setting priorities among values. At the same time, many of the policy documents harshly criticize AI and algorithmic tools for deficiencies in some particular aspect of fairness without considering whether alternative designs that fix the problem would make …

Crip The Law: Representation As A Key Component Of Liberation Lawyering, Marissa Ditkowsky

Indiana Journal of Law and Social Equality

No abstract provided.

Seeking Safety And Losing The Self: Affirmative Action Bans And The Whitening Of Mexican American Identity, Bella Bennett

Indiana Journal of Law and Social Equality

No abstract provided.

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 …

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 …

Ai Ethics, Law, And Policy, Pauline Kim, Ryan Durrie

Scholarship@WashULaw

AI technologies promise many benefits, but they can also have significant negative impacts on human health, safety, well-being, and fundamental rights. This chapter explores the different governance tools that have been considered for guiding developments in AI in socially beneficial ways, examining the relevance of ethics, law, and policy. Each of these approaches offer tools to address these concerns; however, each has limitations, and none provides a complete solution in itself. Statements of ethical principles can articulate high-level values and goals to guide behavior but are usually quite vague and difficult to operationalize. They also lack any enforcement mechanism. In …

"Arbitration In Name Only": A Race Claims Mismatch, Michael Z. Green

Faculty Scholarship

With arbitration's meteoric rise as a tool in resolving statutory employment discrimination matters beginning in the 1990s, concerns about lack of employee bargaining power received little consideration when raised in court challenges to the enforcement of employer-mandated agreements to arbitrate those claims. Only in rare circumstances, when an employer appeared to go to extremes in using its overwhelming bargaining power to implement an arbitration process so clearly unfair would a court find the agreement created an unfair "arbitration in name only" that should not be enforced. 

Employers have become savvier in how they require employees to agree to resolve discrimination …

Discriminatory Censorship Laws, Jonathan Feingold, Joshua Weishart

Faculty Scholarship

The summer of 2020 ignited global protests for racial justice. Across the United States, millions marched with a modest plea: that America reckon with its racism. For K-12 schools, this moment pushed local communities and district leaders to create more inclusive classrooms and curricula. Yet before the summer had ended, America's antiracist turn provoked a backlash campaign that has proven far more impactful and enduring.

This campaign has featured the rise and spread of "discriminatory censorship laws"-a term we apply to government action designed to demean inclusionary values and to deny students access to critical knowledge, inquiry, and thinking. As …

Policing Gender: The Interest Convergence Of Women's And Transgender Rights, Michael Ulrich

Faculty Scholarship

The social, political, and legal landscape has seen a resurgence of gender fundamentalism, seeking to reinforce archaic notions of what it means to be a woman. Social media movements run in tandem with this resurgence of gender fundamentalism. For instance, the “tradwife” phenomenon that romanticizes a domestic, subservient role for women.¹ Alabama Senator Katie Britt most infamously reflected the convergence of these trends when she delivered her response to the State of the Union from a kitchen table and proclaimed that her message was “a direct appeal” to her “fellow moms.”² Meanwhile, executive orders and state laws have …

Stewart V. Inhabitants Of Durham: An Exclusionary Purpose Ignored, Peter Alexander Meyer

Maine Law Review

Exclusionary zoning of mobile homes has become an increasingly important issue in Maine because of escalating costs of conventional housing and rising unmet housing needs. Although towns may regulate mobile home or any other housing use in order to foster public health, safety, morals, or general welfare, they may not enact a zoning ordinance to exclude people of lower income in an attempt to avoid the "increased governmental costs and the stresses upon public services which generally accompany such an incursion." In Stewart v. Inhabitants of Durham, the Maine Supreme Judicial Court was confronted with an exclusionary purpose in a …

“Split My Award With Whom?” A Case For Plaintiff Incentive Awards And Plaintiff-Attorney Fee Splitting In Class Action Lawsuits, Ilana Kruchenetskaya

Cardozo Law Review

Named plaintiffs are the heart of class action lawsuits—without them, there is no class action. To motivate these individuals to be the face of the class and compensate them for their role in the litigation process, courts typically approve named plaintiff incentive awards when such awards are included in settlement offers. Recently, however, the Eleventh Circuit held that these awards are prohibited under purported Supreme Court precedent from the late 1800s. This decision undermines the future of class actions by removing any incentive individuals may have in taking on the extra work and scrutiny of bringing a class action lawsuit. …

Thurgood Marshall Memorial Lecture: 80 Years After Korematsu V. U.S.: It's All About Us 10-29-2024, Roger Williams University School Of Law

School of Law Conferences, Lectures & Events

No abstract provided.

Transcript: The Intersection Of Race And Poverty In Criminal Justice, Stephen B. Bright

Tennessee Journal of Law and Policy

Transcript of the lecture given by Bright at the University of Tennessee College of Law Summers-Wyatt Lecture given on September 27, 2010.

Reverse Discrimination: An Opportunity To Modernize And Improve Employment Discrimination Law, William R. Corbett

University of Miami Law Review

The issue of how to prove discrimination in reverse discrimination cases has produced a division in the circuits and some strongly worded opinions about discriminatory discrimination law. The courts begin with the three-stage proof framework developed by the Supreme Court in 1973 in McDonnell Douglas Corp. v. Green, 411 U.S. 792. Some courts adjust the prima facie case, the first stage of the analysis, by requiring a reverse discrimination plaintiff to prove background circumstances that justify the inference that the defendant discriminates in a way that is not consistent with historical patterns of discrimination. Other courts reject the background …

The Burden To Reach The Ballots: Tackling Eleventh Circuit Line-Warming Bans And Their Intersectional Harm Under An Ada Framework, Alyssa Clune

Fordham Law Voting Rights and Democracy Forum

Line-warming bans present an additional hurdle for voters across America, especially in an era of historically few polling locations and historically long lines to reach the ballot. Particularly in Eleventh Circuit states like Georgia and Florida, line-warming bans, in conjunction with long wait times, have had a disparate impact on Black communities and their ability to cast ballots in key swing districts. Nevertheless, attempts to bring racial discrimination claims against these bans have not been successful in the Eleventh Circuit. This Essay proposes a new strategy to tackle line-warming bans under an ADA framework. It analyzes the harm that these …

Reasonable Accommodation And Non-Invidious Discrimination Under The Maine Human Rights Act, Stuart W. Tisdale Jr.

Maine Law Review

"Invidious," through its Latin root invidia, for envy, hints at the dangers of arbitrary discrimination. Statutes, for instance, that distribute social or economic benefits and allocate burdens in a patently arbitrary manner alienate the burdened class. Such laws tear at the social fabric by instilling resentment and bitterness in the disfavored group. At an extreme they encourage rebellion. The famous Carolene Products footnote, in which Justice Stone suggested that the Court would apply a heightened standard of judicial review to statutes affecting "discrete and insular minorities," draws an implicit connection between invidiousness and fundamental unfairness. Invidiousness thus refers to the …

Transportation Racism And State-Created Danger: A Civil Rights Litigation Strategy For Pedestrians Harmed By Traffic Violence, Riley Freedman

Washington Law Review

Pedestrian fatality rates in the United States are markedly high compared to peer nations and are on the rise. The distribution of these deaths shows an alarming racial gap: Black pedestrians are twice as likely to be killed compared to white pedestrians. One significant factor that explains the disparity is the greater presence of wide, high-speed roads—built to move traffic quickly at the expense of pedestrian safety—in Black neighborhoods. In some cases, there is evidence that governments intentionally placed roads through and around Black neighborhoods for racially discriminatory reasons.

This Comment argues that a pedestrian harmed or killed by a …

Discrimination, Model Rule 8.4(G), And The Aba’S Quixotic Quest For Uniformity, Alex B. Long

Washington and Lee Law Review

Under American Bar Association (“ABA”) Model Rule 8.4(g), it is professional misconduct for a lawyer to engage in conduct related to the practice of law that the lawyer knows, or reasonably should know, is harassment or discrimination on the basis of race and other protected characteristics. Widespread concerns over the breadth and lack of clarity concerning the rule have triggered substantial criticism, including the refusal of multiple states to adopt this model rule. Instead, several states have responded by introducing alternative versions of Model Rule 8.4(g) or by applying older rules of professional conduct in the case of discriminatory speech …

Women On Death Row In The United States, Sandra Babcock, Nathalie Greenfield, Kathryn Adamson

Cardozo Law Review

This Article presents a comprehensive study of forty-eight persons sentenced to death between 1990 and 2022 who were legally recognized as women at the time of their trials. Our research is the first of its kind to conduct a holistic and intersectional analysis of the factors driving women’s death sentences. It reveals commonalities across women’s cases, delving into their experiences of motherhood, gender-based violence (“GBV”), and prior involvement with the criminal legal system. We also explore the nature of the women’s crimes of conviction, including the role of male codefendants and the state’s use of aggravating factors. Finally, we reveal …

Is Grammar Religious Exercise? Addressing Transgender Students And The Limits Of The Complicity Doctrine, Saul R. Thorkelson

Cardozo Law Review

May teachers reject transgender students’ names and pronouns on religious grounds? Across the United States, many schools and universities have adopted policies calling on staff to use all students’ designated first names and gender-congruent pronouns. A number of conservative Christian teachers have claimed that they cannot address transgender students in this way without violating their religious beliefs. In several cases, after unsuccessful attempts by administrators to accommodate these objections, teachers who were subject to employment consequences have brought lawsuits alleging violation of their religious liberty and free speech rights.

This Note employs two recent cases to examine courts’ reasoning on …

Bound To Misfortune: Protecting Juvenile Abortion Through The Right To Travel, John H.C. Hughes

Cardozo Law Review

On July 1, 2022, the Indianapolis Star reported that a ten-year-old Ohio girl, who had been raped and was six weeks pregnant, had sought an abortion in Indiana. Abortion had been outlawed in Ohio mere hours after the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade, but it remained legal ˙in neighboring Indiana. The Ohio girl was able to cross the state border, get the abortion, and—presumably—return home safely. But if lawmakers like those in Missouri, South Carolina, Texas, and a handful of other states have their way, pregnant© children in abortion-restrictive states will be unable to avail themselves of neighboring …

Anti-Transgender Constitutional Law, Katie Eyer

Vanderbilt Law Review

Over the course of the last three decades, gender identity anti-discrimination protections and other transgender-supportive government policies have increased, as government entities have sought to protect and support the transgender community. But constitutional litigation by opponents of transgender equality has also proliferated, seeking to limit or eliminate such trans-protective measures. Such litigation has attacked as unconstitutional everything from laws prohibiting anti-transgender employment discrimination to the efforts of individual public school teachers to support transgender teens.

This Article provides the first systematic account of the phenomenon of anti-transgender constitutional litigation. As described herein, such litigation is surprisingly novel: while trans-protective measures …

The Consequences Of Homophobia: Analysis Of Discriminatory Medical And Legislative Policies And Their Influence On Health Disparities, Kaiden J. Fandel

Honors Thesis

Are there specific roots that influence the introduction and incorporation of discriminatory medical policies? What are the sources of such stigma, discrimination, and prejudice, in what forms does such discrimination take place, and what negative impacts does such hatred have on health outcomes, quality of care, and health disparities? Through a review of existing literature on this topic, intertwining the examination of the evolution of discriminatory policies and other explanatory literature in the United States, this thesis aims to answer the questions above, and explain the roots of such homophobic discrimination and its prevalence in the United States. Through the …

Break Their Lineage, Break Their Roots: Investigating The Chinese Government’S Relationship With The Uyghur Population To Determine The Potential For Terrorism And Genocide, Anya Veinberg

Helm's School of Government Conference - 2021-2024

History is wrought with war, crime, and persecution. After nearly every conflict, world leaders vow to never let something similar happen again. Yet, history seems to repeat itself, and so do its conflicts. The Holocaust claimed the lives of millions of Jews and seemed to set a precedent of a modern threshold of evil. How many people would argue that an event strikingly similar to the Holocaust is happening right now in China?

The Chinese government is currently committing acts of violence and faith and race-based discrimination against the Uyghur population.

This work analyzes the interaction between the Chinese government …

The Work-Rule Doctrine Doesn't Work After Reeves V. Sanderson Plumbing Products, Grafton Bragg

MC Law Review

This Note is about an existing plague on employment-law jurisprudence in the Fifth Circuit. Small and big companies alike can terminate an employee for no discriminatory reason but then be tagged with a lawsuit that has a fair chance of success, just because the disgruntled former employee is willing to lie or the parties disagree over the facts. This is true even though no evidence of actual discrimination exists. The work-rule doctrine changes at-will employment to good-will employment under the guise of federal employment discrimination statutes. Whatever your position is on the longstanding at-will employment regimes, there can be no …

Labor Pains: The Inadequacies Of Current Federal Pregnancy Laws And The Alternative Routes To Accommodation, Sara Alexander

MC Law Review

Although many women are able to work through their pregnancies without employer accommodations, some pregnant workers who require accommodations "are forced out of their jobs unnecessarily when minor adjustments would enable them to keep working." In 2003, a hardware assembler in Ohio was terminated after her doctor limited her weight-lifting to twenty pounds and ordered that she work no more than eight hours at a time. In 2009, a retail worker in Kansas was fired because she needed to keep a water bottle with her in order to stay hydrated and prevent bladder infections. In 2011, an activity director at …