Civil Rights and Discrimination Commons^™

More Than A "Quick Glimpse Of The Life": The Relationship Between Victim Impact Evidence And Death Sentencing, Jerome E. Deise, Raymond Paternoster

Faculty Scholarship

In striking down the use of victim impact evidence (VIE) during the penalty phase of a capital trial, the Supreme Court in Booth v. Maryland and South Carolina v. Gathers argued that such testimony would appeal to the emotions of jurors with the consequence that death sentences would not be based upon a reasoned consideration of the blameworthiness of the offender. After a change in personnel, the Court overturned both decisions in Payne v. Tennessee, decided just two years after Gathers. The majority in Payne were decidedly less concerned with the emotional appeal of VIE, arguing that it would only …

Equality Standards For Health Insurance Coverage: Will The Mental Health Parity And Addiction Equity Act End The Discrimination?, Ellen M. Weber

Faculty Scholarship

Congress enacted the Mental Health Parity and Addiction Equity Act in 2008 to end discriminatory health insurance coverage for persons with mental health and substance use disorders in large employer health plans. Adopting a comprehensive regulatory approach akin to other civil rights laws, the Parity Act requires “equity” in all plan features, including cost-sharing, durational limits and, most critically, the plan management practices that are used to deny many families medically necessary behavioral health care. Beginning in 2014, all health plans regulated by the Affordable Care Act must also comply with parity standards, effectively ending the second-class insurance status of …

The Unfinished Journey - Education, Equality And Martin Luther King, Jr., Revisited, Taunya Lovell Banks

Faculty Scholarship

An educated society is important to the survival of a democracy, a sentiment echoed by the Supreme Court in Brown v. Board of Education. Today most commentators concede that the implementation of Brown was a failure and that over the years there has been retrenchment. Although America’s schools are no longer racially segregated by law, a substantial percentage of school children are consigned to racially isolated schools. While commentators continue to argue for racially integrated schools, this article argues that racial integration alone is insufficient--schools must receive adequate financial resources and be even more diverse socio-economically to adequately prepare America’s …

Has The Roberts Court Plurality's Colorblind Rhetoric Finally Broken Brown's Promise?, Phoebe A. Haddon

Faculty Scholarship

This Essay examines the continuing significance of the Keyes decision to the judicial vision of equality and racial isolation in public education. By comparing efforts to promote educational equality from the Keyes era through today, this Essay asserts that the judiciary has wrongly embraced a colorblind interpretation of the Equal Protection Clause. In so doing, courts have impeded the progress of children in Denver and around the country, ignored highly instructive social science studies on the benefits of desegregation, and broken the constitutional promise of equal citizenship. For future policy makers and lawyers to address these persistent problems, legal educators …

Minnesota's Criminal Sexual Conduct Statutes: A Call For Change, Jenna Yauch-Erickson

Symposium: 50th Anniversary of the Minnesota Criminal Code-Looking Back and Looking Forward

Minnesota criminalizes five degrees of Criminal Sexual Conduct (“CSC”). The base conduct prohibited in fifth degree CSC is nonconsensual sexual contact. The four higher degrees of CSC require one or more aggravating elements in addition to a nonconsensual sexual act. The two aggravating elements which distinguish the degrees of CSC in Minnesota are force and personal injury. These aggravators are supposed to separate out the worst offenses and offenders for the harshest punishment. But problematic statutory definitions and judicial interpretations have created overlap in the meaning of force and injury. Because the same conduct satisfies both the force and injury …

Brief For Prof. Leslie C. Griffin As Amica Curiae In Support Of Appellant, Kant V. Lexington Theological Seminary, Leslie C. Griffin

Supreme Court Briefs

No abstract provided.

Equal Protection For Children Of Same-Sex Parents, Catherine E. Smith

Scholarly Articles

Gay rights litigation and advocacy traditionally have focused on the unequal treatment of gay and lesbian individuals and couples; less attention has been dedicated explicitly to the legal rights of the children of gay and lesbian parents. This Article asserts that a child of same-sex parents denied a government benefit has a cognizable equal protection challenge—a legal claim that is separate and distinct from that of the child’s gay or lesbian parents. It is well-settled equal protection law that the government may not treat nonmarital children differently than marital children because of moral disdain for their parents’ relationship, and laws …

Springtime For Freedom Of Religion Or Belief: Will Newly Democratic Arab States Guarantee International Human Rights Norms Or Perpetuate Their Violation?, Robert C. Blitt

Book Chapters

The Arab Spring has generated unprecedented and seismic political and social upheaval across the Arab world. The reasons for the outbreak of widespread and vociferous public protest are myriad, but generally understood as including long-simmering resentment of government corruption and repression, underwhelming economic development, chronic unemployment and poor respect for human rights, including the treatment of individuals and groups affiliated with political manifestations of Islam. Despite the initial drama surrounding the street rallies, two years on, the pace of change has grown fitful and uncertain.

The purpose of this chapter is to consider one narrow aspect of the Arab Spring. …

Torch (January/February 2013), Brandon Baldwin, Civil Rights Team Project

Torch: The Civil Rights Team Project Newsletter

No abstract provided.

Until Men Bear Children, Women Must Not Bear The Costs Of Reproductive Capacity: Accommodating Pregnancy In The Workplace To Achieve Equal Employment Opportunities, Maryn Oyoung

McGeorge Law Review

No abstract provided.

Justice Kennedy’S “Gay Agenda”: Romer, Lawrence, And The Struggle For Marriage Equality, Lawrence C. Levine

McGeorge Law Review

No abstract provided.

Empowering Women Through Recognition Of Rights To Land: Mechanisms To Strengthen Women's Rights In Vanuatu, Vijaya Nagarajan, Therese Macdermott

Theology & Religious Studies

Although the pluralist system of land tenure in Vanuatu does not directly discriminate against women, the operation of the system and contemporary interpretations of custom are increasingly marginalizing women from decision-making processes regarding land management and control. Commitment to the principles of gender equality through constitutional guarantees and the ratification of relevant international treaty obligations, while providing an appropriate legal framework for equality, have only had limited success in addressing discriminatory practices. This article analyzes alternative ways to overcome the barriers faced by women that are currently under consideration in many Pacific Island countries, including recording and registration, as well …

Bathroom Bias: Making The Case For Trans Rights Under Disability Law, Daniella A. Schmidt

Michigan Journal of Gender & Law

Disability law is one of the more successful tools currently being used to protect trans people fom discrimination. While the use of disability law as a framework for affirming or creating trans rights has come with some success, many in the community remain reluctant to use disability law for fear of the policy implications and stigma associated with medicalization of trans identity. After exploring the current state of the law on both the federal and state level, this Note will argue how disability law both could and should be used more often to further trans protections. In particular, this Note …

Reflections On The History And Future Of The Voting Rights Act In The Wake Of Shelby County, Frank Deale

Publications and Research

No abstract provided.

(Dis)Owning Religious Speech, B. Jessie Hill

Faculty Publications

To claims of a right to equal citizenship, one of the primary responses has long been to assert the right of private property. It is therefore troubling that, in two recent cases involving public displays of religious symbolism, the Supreme Court embraced property law and rhetoric when faced with the claims of minority religious speakers for inclusion and equality.

The first, Pleasant Grove City v. Summum, is a free speech case in which the defendant evaded a finding that it was discriminating against the plaintiff’s religious speech by claiming a government speech defense. In the process, it claimed as its …

Removing The Presumption Of Innocence: A Constitutional Analysis Of The Ogden Trece Gang Injunction, Megan K. Baker

Utah OnLaw: The Utah Law Review Online Supplement

Gang activity poses a substantial problem in many communities. The city of Ogden, Utah, is home to many gangs, and law enforcement is constantly looking for a way to decrease gang violence. In an attempt to reduce gang violence in Ogden, Judge Ernie Jones issued the Ogden Trece gang injunction on September 27, 2010, in Weber County, Utah. The injunction, based on several similar injunctions in California, affects hundreds of alleged Ogden Trece gang members and spans an area including virtually the entire city of Ogden. The injunction prohibits those enjoined from engaging in various illegal activities as well as …

Review Of Stoltzfus, Pacifists In Chains: The Persecution Of Hutterites During The Great War, Carol A. Leibiger

Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

What's Religion Got To Do With It? Virtually Nothing: Hosanna-Tabor And The Unbridled Power Of The Ministerial Exemption, Marsha B. Freeman

Faculty Scholarship

No abstract provided.

Promoting Language Access In The Legal Academy, Gillian Dutton, Beth Lyon, Jayesh M. Rathold, Deborah M. Weissman

University of Maryland Law Journal of Race, Religion, Gender and Class

"Promoting Language Access in the Legal Academy," details the progress made by the legal profession in meeting the needs of individuals with limited English language proficiency. The authors outlines the current need, summarizes various approaches taken by law schools, and emphasizes the value of training bilingual law students as well as mobilizing a cadre of undergraduate interpreters.

Checking Out Of The Exception To 3-104: Why Parties Should Be Able To Negotiate Whether Checks Should Be Payable On Demand, 3 Colum. J. Race & L. 73 (2013), Linda R. Crane

UIC Law Open Access Faculty Scholarship

Many aspects of American society, including its legal system, operate to the disadvantage of minorities. Obvious examples include inequities in our criminal/justice system and in school funding. Much has been written on those and other topics. This article focuses on another example, specifically on how a sweeping change to an obscure banking rule regulating the check collection process has negatively affected consumers in general, and minority groups in particular.

U.S. check collections require a complex system comprised of a variety of institutions including commercial banks, savings and loans, savings banks, and credit unions, as well as the customers who rely …

A Thought Experiment: Brown V. Board Of Education Of Topeka, Kansas, Louis Michael Seidman

The Modern American

No abstract provided.

When Convicts Need Not Apply: Proposing Clarifications To The Eeoc’S 2012 Guidelines, 47 J. Marshall L. Rev. 401 (2013), Alex J. Whitt

UIC Law Review

No abstract provided.

Trial Jurors And Variables Influencing Why They Return The Verdicts They Do - A Guide For Practicing And Future Trial Attorneys, Mitchell J. Frank, Osvaldo F. Morera

Faculty Scholarship

No abstract provided.

'No Body Left Behind': Re-Orienting School-Based Childhood Obesity Interventions, Lindsay Wiley

Scholarly Articles in Law Reviews & Journals

Although there are now laws on the books in virtually every jurisdiction aimed at addressing childhood obesity in K-12 schools, these efforts are inadequate and may even be misguided in important ways. Efforts aimed at health promotion - through healthier eating and increased physical activity - remain woefully underfunded even as they proliferate at every level of government. It is one thing to enact a requirement that all schools offer a minimum number of minutes of physical education each week or that school lunches include more fruits and vegetables. But it is quite another to make the budgetary commitment to …

Procedural Hurdles And Thwarted Efficiency: Immigration Relief In Wage And Hour Collective Actions, Llezlie Green

Scholarly Articles in Law Reviews & Journals

Wage theft and its frequent exploitative companions, trafficking and involuntary servitude, have seen substantial increases in recent years. Low-wage workers often bear the brunt of these practices. Vulnerable populations, such as immigrant workers, and more specifically, undocumented workers, experience wage theft and other forms of workplace-related exploitation at alarmingly high rates. Individual adjudications of these claims are neither efficient nor, in many cases, feasible, given attorneys’ aversion to shouldering the risks and costs in cases that may yield only limited attorneys’ fees. The collective adjudication of Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) claims, however, largely resolves these challenges and provides an …

"Give Us Free": Addressing Racial Disparities In Bail Determinations, Cynthia E. Jones

Scholarly Articles in Law Reviews & Journals

This article considers racial disparities that occur nationally in the bail determination process, due in large part to the lack of uniformity, resources, and information provided to officials in bail proceedings. It argues that the almost unbridled decision making power afforded to bail officials is often influenced by improper considerations such as the defendant's financial resources or the race of the defendant. As a result of these failures, the bail determination process has resulted not only in racial inequalities in bail and pretrial detention decisions, but also in the over-incarceration of pretrial defendants and the overcrowding of jails nationwide. The …

Advocating For Equality, Stephen Wermiel

Scholarly Articles in Law Reviews & Journals

No abstract provided.

“The Tyranny Of The Majority Is No Myth”: Its Dangers For Legally Married Same-Sex Couples, Barbara Cox

Faculty Scholarship

This article has three sections. Section 1 explains that sexual minorities, consisting of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgendered, and queer people (LGBTQ), 15 comprise a small number of people within the U.S. and describes the current laws granting and prohibiting legal rights to married or partnered same-sex couples. Thus, the LGBTQ community is dependent on the non-LGBTQ community to decide its rights when those rights are debated at the ballot box, a bad public policy in and of itself. 16 Section II considers the question posed by this symposium: is the tyranny of the majority a danger to minority communities or …

The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission And Structural Reform Of The American Workplace, Margo Schlanger, Pauline T. Kim

Law & Economics Working Papers

In 2011, the United States Supreme Court struck down a class action suit alleging that Wal-Mart stores discriminated against female employees in pay and promotion decisions, making it more difficult to obtain certification of private employment discrimination class actions. As a result, the role of the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission in seeking structural reform of the workplace, always of substantial influence, has gained in comparative importance. Yet there is remarkably little written about the EEOC’s large-scale injunctive cases. This Article addresses this major gap in scholarship.

Using both qualitative case studies and a new quantitative data-set, we test existing theories …

Evidence-Based Sentencing And The Scientific Rationalization Of Discrimination, Sonja B. Starr

Law & Economics Working Papers

This paper critiques, on legal and empirical grounds, the growing trend of basing criminal sentences on actuarial recidivism risk prediction instruments that include demographic and socioeconomic variables. I argue that this practice violates the Equal Protection Clause and is bad policy: an explicit embrace of otherwise-condemned discrimination, sanitized by scientific language. To demonstrate that this practice should be subject to heightened constitutional scrutiny, I comprehensively review the relevant case law, much of which has been ignored by existing literature. To demonstrate that it cannot survive that scrutiny and is undesirable policy, I review the empirical evidence underlying the instruments. I …