Civil Rights and Discrimination Commons^™

In The Shadow Of Gaslight: Reflections On Identity, Diversity, And The Distribution Of Power In The Academy, Cyra Akila Choudhury

Faculty Publications

This essay explores identity and diversity in the Academy through the work of feminist philosopher, Sara Ahmed. It makes two interventions. First, it sketches the use of identity politics from the 1980s and 1990s as a tool of resistance against assimilation and erasure to its current uses sometimes as a tool of discipline within minority groups. Second, it raises the problem of the cooptation of identity by institutions to maintain the status quo. In the hands of institutions and as a metric for progress, diversity can mask ongoing subordination and create doubt in the minds of minorities about whether what …

Embracing Race-Conscious College Admissions Programs: How Fisher V. University Of Texas At Austin Redefines "Affirmative Action" As A Holistic Approach To Admissions That Ensures Equal, Not Preferential, Treatment, Nancy L. Zisk

Marquette Law Review

In Fisher v. University of Texas at Austin, the United States Supreme Court affirmed well-established Supreme Court doctrine that race may be considered when a college or university decides whom to admit and whom to reject, as long as the consideration of race is part of a narrowly tailored holistic consideration of an applicant's many distinguishing features. The Court's latest decision heralds a new way of thinking about holistic race-conscious admissions programs. Rather than considering them as "affirmative action" plans that prefer any one applicant to the disadvantage of another, they should be viewed as the Court has described …

Race, Rhetoric, And Judicial Opinions: Missouri As A Case Study, Brad Desnoyer, Anne Alexander

Faculty Publications

This Essay studies the relationship between race, rhetoric, and history in three twentieth century segregation cases: State ex rel. Gaines v. Canada, Kraemer v. Shelley, and Liddell v. Board of Education. Part I gives a brief overview of the scholarship of Critical Race Theory, majoritarian narratives and minority counter-narratives, and the judiciary’s rhetoric in race-based cases. Part II analyzes the narratives and language of Gaines, Kraemer, and Liddell, provides the social context of these cases, and traces their historical outcomes.

The Essay contends that majoritarian narratives with problematic themes continue to perpetuate even though court opinions have evolved to use …

Straight Out Of Compton: Developmental Equality And A Critique Of The Compton School Litigation, Nancy E. Dowd

UF Law Faculty Publications

In Part I, I set out my developmental equality model in three sections. First, I briefly explore the ecological perspective on child development, a broadly accepted developmental model, and its relation to best interests. Second, I consider the limitations of a ‘neutral’ ecological perspective, using as my example data about the life course of African American boys from birth to age 18. Finally, I suggest how to shift the lens to one of developmental equality, using the theoretical models of Cynthia Garcia Coll and Margaret Beale Spencer. While linked to the experience of children of color in the United States, …

A Culture Of Silence: Exploring The Impact Of The Historically Contentious Relationship Between African-Americans And The Police, Mikah K. Thompson

Faculty Works

The relationship between African-Americans and the police has traditionally been focused on authority, control, and the enforcement of laws we now acknowledge were racially discriminatory. This historical relationship, when combined with a modern-day narrative that the police disproportionately stop, arrest, and utilize deadly force against African-Americans, has resulted in pervasive, inter-generational fear and distrust of the police. Most African-Americans view police officers not as the heroic protectors they can call upon when in need of help or the hard-hitting investigators they would trust to look into a family member’s murder. Instead, many African-Americans believe police officers have bought into the …

Student Surveillance, Racial Inequalities, And Implicit Racial Bias, Jason P. Nance

UF Law Faculty Publications

In the wake of high-profile incidents of school violence, school officials have increased their reliance on a host of surveillance measures to maintain order and control in their schools. Paradoxically, such practices can foster hostile environments that may lead to even more disorder and dysfunction. These practices may also contribute to the so-called “school-to-prison pipeline” by pushing more students out of school and into the juvenile justice system. However, not all students experience the same level of surveillance. This Article presents data on school surveillance practices, including an original empirical analysis of restricted data recently released by the U.S. Department …

The Simple Meaning Of Stop Signs: A Response To Professor William Nelson, Dan Subotnik

Touro Law Review

No abstract provided.

"To Help, Not To Hurt": Justice Thomas's Equality Canon, Nicole Stelle Garnett, William S. Consovoy

Journal Articles

To comprehend Justice Thomas’s views on racial equality requires an understanding of how his life experiences influence his approach to questions of race and the law. Recurring themes in his opinions about racial equality include his belief that racial preferences stigmatize their beneficiaries, his concern that the prevailing notion that racial integration is necessary to black achievement is rooted in a presumption of racial inferiority, his worry that affirmative action efforts provide cover for the failure to address the urgent needs of disadvantaged Americans, and his knowledge that seemingly benign policies can mask illicit motives. Finally, Justice Thomas contends that …

Decriminalizing Childhood, Andrea L. Dennis

Scholarly Works

Even though the number of juveniles arrested, tried and detained has recently declined, there are still a large number of delinquency cases, children under supervision by state officials, and children living in state facilities for youth and adults. Additionally, any positive developments in juvenile justice have not been evenly experienced by all youth. Juveniles living in urban areas are more likely to have their cases formally processed in the juvenile justice system rather than informally resolved. Further, the reach of the justice system has a particularly disparate effect on minority youth who tend to live in heavily-policed urban areas.

The …

Overreach And Innovation In Equality Regulation, Olatunde C.A. Johnson

Faculty Scholarship

At a time of heightened concern about agency overreach, this Article highlights a less appreciated development in agency equality regulation. Moving beyond traditional bureaucratic forms of regulation, civil rights agencies in recent years have experimented with new forms of regulation to advance inclusion. This new "inclusive regulation" can be described as more open ended, less coercive, and more reliant on rewards, collaboration, flexibility, and interactive assessment than traditional modes of civil rights regulation. This Article examines the power and limits of this new inclusive regulation and suggests a framework for increasing the efficacy of these new modes of regulation.

Identity Entrepreneurs, Nancy Leong

Sturm College of Law: Faculty Scholarship

In my previous article, Racial Capitalism, I examined the ways in which white individuals and predominantly white institutions derive value from non-white racial identity. This process of deriving value from identity results from intense social and legal preoccupation with diversity. And it results in the commodification of nonwhite racial identity, with negative implications for both individuals and society.

This Article builds on Racial Capitalism in three ways. First, as a foundation, it expands the concept of racial capitalism to identity categories more generally, explaining that individual in-group members and predominantly in-group institutions—usually individuals or institutions that are white, male, straight, …

Newsroom: Horwitz On The Trump Effect 12-1-2016, Amanda Milkovits, Roger Williams University School Of Law

Life of the Law School (1993- )

No abstract provided.

Trending @ Rwu Law: Deborah Johnson's Post: Now "Defamation" Matters More Than Ever 11-16-2016, Deborah Johnson

Law School Blogs

No abstract provided.

Confronting Race And Collateral Consequences In Public Housing, Ann Cammett

Seattle University Law Review

Access to affordable housing is one of the most critical issues currently facing low-income families. In many urban areas, rising costs, dwindling economic opportunity, and gentrification have foreclosed access to previously available rental stock and contributed to a crisis in housing. For African Americans lingering economic disparities arising from generations of forced racial segregation and the disproportional impact of mass incarceration have magnified these problems. In this Article I explore legal barriers to publicly subsidized housing, a “collateral consequence” of criminal convictions that increasingly serves as a powerful form of housing discrimination. Evictions, denial of admission, and permanent exclusion of …

Trending @ Rwu Law: Dean Yelnosky's Post: America's Cycle Of Violence 7-8-16, Michael Yelnosky

Law School Blogs

No abstract provided.

More Than Just The Numbers: Fisher V. Texas And The Practical Impact Of Texas’S Top Ten Percent Law, Shakira D. Pleasant

University of Miami Business Law Review

No abstract provided.

The More Things Change, The More They Stay The Same: Why Fisher V. University Of Texas At Austin Will Not Fundamentally Alter The Affirmative Action Landscape, Adam Lamparello

University of Miami Business Law Review

No abstract provided.

It’S Not About Race: The True Purpose Of The University Of Texas’ Holistic Admissions System Is To Give Preferences To Well-Connected White Applicants, Not To Disadvantaged Minorities, Jonathan R. Zell

University of Miami Business Law Review

No abstract provided.

Diversity Is Dead. Long Live Diversity: The Racial Isolation Prong Of Kennedy’S Pics Concurrence In Fisher And Beyond., Francisco M. Negrón Jr.

University of Miami Business Law Review

No abstract provided.

Getting Real About Race And Class: An Evaluation Of The Constitutionality Of Class-Based, Socioeconomic Affirmative Action Without Grutter, Junis L. Baldon

University of Miami Business Law Review

No abstract provided.

Fisher V. University Of Texas At Austin: The Incoherence And Unseemliness Of State Racial Classification, Jay Alan Sekulow, Walter M. Weber

University of Miami Business Law Review

No abstract provided.

"Burn This Bitch Down!": Mike Brown, Emmett Till, And The Gendered Politics Of Black Parenthood, Teri A. Mcmurtry-Chubb

Nevada Law Journal

No abstract provided.

Different Script, Same Caste In The Use Of Passive And Active Racism: A Critical Race Theory Analysis Of The (Ab)Use Of “House Rules” In Race-Related Education Cases, Steven L. Nelson

Washington and Lee Journal of Civil Rights and Social Justice

No abstract provided.

The Thirteenth Amendment, Disparate Impact, And Empathy Deficits, Darrell A.H. Miller

Seattle University Law Review

Modern civil rights policy is, as the late Justice Scalia warned, at “war.” On the one hand, some laws, like Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 (Title VII) and the Fair Housing Act, can impose liability for decisions due to their racial impacts rather than their racial motivation. Defendants in such cases can always respond that the challenged decision (a test, a criterion, an allocation) is necessary in some legally cognizable sense; but the courthouse doors open with the prima facie case of disparate impact. On the other hand, the Fourteenth Amendment’s Equal Protection Clause, ever since …

A New Peonage?: Pay, Work, Or Go To Jail In Contemporary Child Support Enforcement And Beyond, Noah D. Zatz

Seattle University Law Review

Child support enforcement is one of several contemporary contexts in which the state threatens to incarcerate people if they fail to work. This symposium essay explores whether this practice violates the Thirteenth Amendment’s ban on involuntary servitude. At first glance, such threats fall squarely within the ambit of the early 20th century peonage cases. There, the Supreme Court struck down criminal enforcement of legal obligations to work off a debt. Several modern courts have declined to reach a similar conclusion when child support enforcement puts obligors to a choice between paying, working, and going to jail. To do so, these …

The Thirteenth Amendment, Human Trafficking, And Hate Crimes, Jennifer Mason Mcaward

Seattle University Law Review

The two most recent federal statutes passed pursuant to Congress’s Thirteenth Amendment enforcement power are the Trafficking Victims Protection Act of 2000 (TVPA) and the Shepard-Byrd Hate Crimes Act of 2009. While the Thirteenth Amendment basis of the TVPA has never been questioned in court, the constitutionality of the Shepard-Byrd Act has been challenged (albeit unsuccessfully) in a series of recent cases. This Essay will consider this disparity and suggest that it tells us something about the parameters of the Thirteenth Amendment enforcement power. In particular, it suggests that congressional power is at its apex when the conduct regulated—like human …

Race And The Jury: How The Law Is Keeping Minorities Off The Jury, Stephanie Adamakos

Washington University Undergraduate Law Review

The modern jury focuses on three main ideas: impartiality, as laid out in the Sixth Amendment, jury of one’s peers, stemming from the Magna Carta, and a jury that represents a fair cross-section of the community. The cross-section idea has been developed by case law, but originates from the Sixth Amendment, under the belief that jury selection that does not systematically discriminate against members of the community and has a jury pool represents a cross-section of the community is likely to be impartial. Jurors are likely to draw upon their own experiences when deliberating, so having a variety of experiences …

The Strange Career Of Title Vii's § 703(M): An Essay On The Unfulfilled Promise Of The Civil Rights Act Of 1991, Jeffrey A. Van Detta

St. John's Law Review

(Excerpt)

The 1991 CRA, then, held great promise when it responded to the provocation of Price Waterhouse v. Hopkins to address a larger problem—the problem that Francis Vaas identified in 1966. However, the often-invoked canon of statutory construction—start and stop with the text unless it is necessary to go to the legislative history to figure out what an ambiguous text means—has been tossed to the side, and the contextual history of overruling Price Waterhouse has been invoked by normally textualist judges who refuse to believe that Congress actually meant what it wrote. It is upon that sobering reality that we …

Title Vii At 50: The Landmark Law Has Significantly Impacted Relationships In The Workplace And Society, But Title Vii Has Not Reached Its True Potential, Cynthia Elaine Tompkins

St. John's Law Review

(Excerpt)

This Article’s historical chronicle provides a valuable backdrop for an examination of Title VII. Part II analyzes Title VII’s impact on race relations in the workplace and society. While progress has been made in the effort to provide equal opportunities for all workplace employees, Title VII legislation has not eliminated employment discrimination. As Title VII marches toward its sixtieth anniversary, this Article’s final section, Part III, reviews unconscious bias and other current challenges preventing Title VII from reaching its true potential.

The Future Of Workplace Affirmative Action After Fisher, Rebecca K. Lee

St. John's Law Review

(Excerpt)

The Supreme Court’s decision on race-conscious affirmative action in Fisher, along with the Fifth Circuit’s ruling in Fisher on remand, importantly preserves the validity of affirmative action programs in state decisionmaking if the programs meet certain criteria under strict scrutiny and satisfy full judicial review. Although Fisher arose in the higher education context, its application extends to the public setting more generally and thus would also apply to the public sector workplace under the Constitution, making it permissible for public sector employers to use race-conscious affirmative action in hiring and promoting employees. The approach taken in Fisher also …