Law and Race Commons^™

(A)Woke Workplaces, Michael Z. Green

Faculty Scholarship

With heightened expectations for a reckoning in response to the broad support for the Black Lives Matter movement after the senseless murder of George Floyd in 2020, employers explored many options to improve racial understanding through discussions with workers. In rejecting any notions of the existence of structural or systemic discrimination, let alone the need to address the consequences of such discrimination, certain groups have begun to oppose BLM by seeking to diminish any social justice actions. One of those key resistance efforts includes labelling in pejorative terms any employers that pursue anti-racism objectives via social justice statements or internal …

A Call To Action For Parents' Lawyers In The Family Regulation System: Bearing Witness As Praxis And Practice In The Face Of Structural Injustice, Joshua Michtom

Journal of Law and Policy

In this Essay, a public defender specializing in parent defense argues that the family regulation system is fundamentally unfair to parents, and that this unfairness is perpetuated by closed courtrooms and a lack of public understanding. He calls on lawyers who represent parents in these proceedings to make the practice of public storytelling integral to their work, by reporting the injustices that happen in family regulation courts to a broader audience, and helping clients tell their own stories publicly when they want to. He argues that only when the workings of this system are broadly exposed can policy change and …

When Permanency Is Permanent Separation: In The Family Regulation System, A Temporary Removal Fast Tracks Terminating Parents' Rights, Alison Peebles

Journal of Law and Policy

The Adoption and Safe Families Act (“ASFA”) is a federal law that creates a mandate for states to move to terminate parents’ rights if a child has been in foster care for fifteen out of the twenty-two most recent months. The federal government then pays states for each adoption over a set threshold amount, which has resulted in terminating over two million children’s parents’ rights and disbursing over four hundred million dollars to states. Black families, Indigenous families, and families of color as well as low-income families disproportionately experience the trauma and harm of permanent family separation. This Note argues …

A More Perfect Union For Whom?, Emmanuel Hiram Arnaud

Articles

Amending the federal Constitution has been instrumental in creating and developing the North American constitutional project. The difficult process embedded in Article V has been used by “The People” to expand rights and democracy, fix procedural deficiencies, and even overturn Supreme Court precedent. Yet, it is no secret that the amendment process has fallen to the wayside and that a constitutional amendment in our present age of extreme political polarization feels impossible.

Our nation’s history suggests otherwise. In John F. Kowal and Wilfred U. Codrington III’s exciting and inspirational new book, they explain that interest in constitutional amendments has coincided …

Harm Egalitarianism, Michael E. Herz

Articles

In the last few years, law schools and law professors have given new attention to how questions of race can be interwoven into courses that are not explicitly about race. Much has been written about how to do so in both first-year and upper-level courses, and, from all reports, the law school classroom has meaningfully changed. My sense, though it is completely impressionistic and unscientific, is that the typical Administrative Law course may have changed less than many others. It seems fair to say, at least, that there has not developed a standard suite of topics that a professor wanting …

Law School News: Joyce And Bill Cummings Of Cummings Foundation To Deliver Keynote Address At Rwu Commencement 4-20-2023, Jill Rodrigues

Life of the Law School (1993- )

No abstract provided.

Pathology Logics, S. Lisa Washington

Northwestern University Law Review

Every year, thousands of marginalized parents become ensnared in the family regulation system, an apparatus more commonly referred to as the child welfare system. In prior work, I examined how the coercion of domestic violence survivors in the family regulation system perpetuates harmful knowledge production and serves to legitimize family regulation intervention. This Article focuses on another logic deeply embedded in the family regulation system: the pathologizing of impoverished and racialized groups. Scholars have discussed the pathologizing of marginalized groups to describe a host of different phenomena. In this Article, “pathology logic” refers to a logic that produces notions of …

Liberating Legal Aid: Reducing Covid-19'S Justice Gap And Promoting Health By Removing The Legal Services Corporation's Class Action And Advocacy Restrictions, Molly C. Schmidt

Cleveland State Law Review

The Legal Services Corporation (LSC) is the single-largest funder of civil legal services, or legal aid, in the United States. The COVID-19 pandemic underscored a longstanding and growing problem faced by ow-income Americans served by LSC-funded legal aid organizations: the growing "justice gap." The justice gap represents the unmet civil legal needs of low-income Americans. The justice gap perpetuates poverty, conceals health-harming legal problems, and furthers racial disparities. Despite the LSC’s essential role in reducing the justice gap and promoting “equal access to justice,” Congress consistently underfunded the LSC before and during COVID-19. Congress has also prohibited the LSC-funded legal …

Elitism In The Legal World: A Comparison Between The U.K. And U.S.A, Michael Johnson Jr

Faculty Curated Undergraduate Works

In this paper I will be discussing the various ways that the United Kingdom has played an integral part in creating the way the world looks at and practices common law, while also addressing the systemic racism and elitism entrenched in the U.K. legal system. I will also be comparing the U.K. to the United States as American law was built on the influence of British law and share deep similarities to how minorities are treated due to constant and ongoing systemic disadvantages and legal elitism. I will be discussing how the U.K. and U.S. are trying to address the …

Ctr. For Biological Diversity V. United States Fish & Wildlife Serv., Ali Stapleton

Public Land & Resources Law Review

The Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals affirmed the District Court of Arizona’s decision to deny a proposed mining plan becuase the operations exceeded the boundaries of a valid mining claim. The issue the court addressed is whether a permanent occupancy of waste rock and tailings on land, absent the discovery of valuable minerals, is a reasonable use related to mining activities. The Ninth Circuit decision effectively prevented mining companies from amending the 1872 Mining Law on the administrative record. Motions for a rehearing and a rehearing en banc were denied.

Keep Austin…White? How Equitable Development Can Save Austin, Texas From Its Racist Past And Homogenized Future, Kaylie Hidalgo

Texas A&M Journal of Property Law

More than a century of racist federal, state, and local government policies created inequitable and racially segregated neighborhoods through a practice known as redlining. I-35 in Austin, Texas, represents one of the most iconic and stark segregationist splits in the country, with the Eastside being impoverished and mostly Black while the Westside’s mostly White population thrives. As a result, Austin is the only fastest-growing city in the nation losing people of color. While there have been some private and local efforts in Austin and across the country to increase investment in marginalized and divested communities, most of these approaches are …

Racial Equality Compromises, Yuvraj Joshi

Faculty Scholarship

No abstract provided.

De Jure Separate And Unequal Treatment Of The People Of Puerto Rico And The U.S. Territories, Natalie Gomez-Velez

Fordham Law Review

Current efforts to dismantle systemic racism in the United States are often met with the argument that legally sanctioned inequality is a thing of the past. Yet despite progress toward formal legal equality, racism and discrimination in the United States exist not only as the effects of past laws and systems—they exist presently in current laws and systems as well. Current U.S. law discriminates against U.S. territories and their residents with respect to citizenship status, voting rights and representation, and equal access to benefits, among other things.

This Essay examines such separate and unequal treatment using the recent case, United …

Carceral Socialization As Voter Suppression, Danieli Evans

Michigan Journal of Race and Law

In an era of mass incarceration, many people are socialized through interactions with the carceral state. These interactions are powerful learning experiences, and by design, they are contrary to democratic citizenship. Citizenship is about belonging to a community of equals, being entitled to mutual respect and concern. Criminal punishment deliberately harms, subordinates, and stigmatizes. Encounters with the carceral system are powerful experiences of anti-democratic socialization, and they impact peoples’ sense of citizenship and trust in government. Accordingly, a large body of social science research shows that eligible voters who have carceral contact are significantly less likely to vote or to …

Cultivating Sense: Cultural Change In The Prosecutor’S Office, Shih-Chun Steven Chien

Law Faculty Articles and Essays

Prosecutors exercise broad discretion. They are widely viewed as the gatekeepers of the criminal justice system. To date, studies on prosecutors in different jurisdictions have largely focused on how to conceptualize, manage, and eventually control the exercise of prosecutorial discretion. Scholars have recently turned their attention to the importance of internal organizational management and leadership’s role in changing office culture as a means to regulate prosecutorial discretion. But we have limited empirical evidence as to how changes occur within a prosecutor’s office and what precise role organizational leaders play during this process.

This Article constructs a new paradigm for the …

Transforming The Future Of Work By Embracing Corporate Social Justice, Andrea Giampetro-Meyer

Washington and Lee Journal of Civil Rights and Social Justice

Professionals from Generations Y (millennials) and Z (Gen Z or zoomers) expect their employers to embrace diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI). They want to work for companies that support individuals of various races, ethnicities, religions, abilities, genders, and sexual orientations. Professionals from these generations are seeking employers that have created a diverse workforce, clear promotion track, and a commitment to dismantling systemic racism. Companies that want to attract top talent are making DEI a priority. They are also implementing action plans to demonstrate their serious commitment to DEI because millennials and zoomers are quick to recognize and criticize performative approaches. …

Removing White Hoods From The Blue Line: A Legislative Solution To White Supremacy In Law Enforcement, Hope Elizabeth Barnes

Washington and Lee Journal of Civil Rights and Social Justice

On May 25, 2020, George Floyd took his final breaths. His death at the hands of multiple Minneapolis police officers was recorded by witnesses and viewed by millions. The public response to Floyd’s death was immediate and powerful. Americans were demanding change on a greater scale than ever before. The problem with policing is not Derek Chauvin, or the Minneapolis Police Department, but rather with the very institution. White supremacy is alive and well in American policing. This Note begins by examining the historic connection between white supremacist groups and law enforcement agencies. This Note then evaluates existing standards of …

An Intelligent Path For Improving Diversity At Law Firms (Un)Artificially, Rimsha Syeda

Michigan Technology Law Review

Most law firms are struggling when it comes to diversity and inclusion. There are fewer women in law firms compared to men. The majority of lawyers—81%—are White, despite White people making up only about 65% of the law school population. Lawyers of color remain underrepresented with the historic high being only 28.32%. By comparison, 13.4% of the United States population is Black and 5.9% is Asian. The biases that perpetuate this lack of diversity in law firms begin during the hiring process and extend to associate retainment. For example, an applicant’s resume reveals a lot, including the prestige of the …

Healthcare Inequities In The United States And Beyond Are Taking Black Women’S Lives, Alichia Mcintosh

Northwestern Journal of Law & Social Policy

Black women have been dying at devastating rates due to health complications at the hands of the United States’ healthcare and legal systems. This Note explores these distressing rates and how they compare to White women while analyzing the fatalities and diagnoses among several health complications and diseases. These fatalities persist due to the United States’ history of racism—such as the institution of slavery and over 100 years of Black bodies experiencing Jim Crow laws—and the socioeconomic disadvantages Black women disproportionally face. This Note emphasizes that these disparities continue because the United States has failed to implement treaties—which it is …

Get Out: Structural Racism And Academic Terror, Renee Nicole Allen

William & Mary Journal of Race, Gender, and Social Justice

Released in 2017, Jordan Peele’s critically acclaimed film Get Out explores the horrors of racism. The film’s plot involves the murder and appropriation of Black bodies for the benefit of wealthy, white people. After luring Black people to their country home, a white family uses hypnosis to paralyze victims and send them to the Sunken Place where screams go unheard. Black bodies are auctioned off to the highest bidder; the winner’s brain is transplanted into the prized Black body. Black victims are rendered passengers in their own bodies so that white inhabitants can obtain physical advantages and immortality.

Like Get …

Interracial Coalition Building: A Filipino Lawyer In A Black-White Community, Victor C. Romero

Dickinson Law Review (2017-Present)

The United States is in the midst of a political and cultural war around race and demography that goes to the heart of America’s self-definition as a nation of immigrants. Heeding Eric Yamamoto’s four-part prescription for interracial cooperation via the conceptual, the performative, the material, and the reflexive, this Essay draws from the author’s own experience as an Asian- American volunteer attempting to serve and lead a traditionally African-American civil rights organization in a predominantly white, rural town in Pennsylvania. Three lessons emerge from this experience. When volunteering, it is important to answer the call to serve even when in …

Policy’S Place In Pedestrian Infrastructure, Michael L. Smith

Dickinson Law Review (2017-Present)

Angie Schmitt’s Right of Way: Race, Class, and the Silent Epidemic of Pedestrian Deaths in America delves into the complex, multi-layered phenomenon of how traffic infrastructure and policies systematically disadvantage pedestrians and contribute to thousands of deaths and injuries each year. Despite the breadth of the problem and its often-technical aspects, Schmitt presents the problem in an engaging and approachable manner through a step-by-step analysis combining background, statistics, and anecdotes. While Right of Way tends to focus on infrastructure design, it offers much for legal scholars, lawyers, and policymakers. Schmitt addresses several policy issues at length in the book. But …

The Bitter Ironies Of Williams V. Walker-Thomas Furniture Co. In The First Year Law School Curriculum, Duncan Kennedy

Buffalo Law Review

No abstract provided.

Racial Isolation, School Police, And The “School-To-Prison Pipeline”: An Empirical Perspective On The Enduring Salience Of “Tipping Points”, Michael Heise

Buffalo Law Review

Two broad trends inform public K-12 education’s current trajectory. One involves persisting (and recently increasing) school racial isolation which helps account for an array of costs borne by students, schools, and communities. A second trend, involving a dramatically increasing police presence in schools, is evidenced by a rising school resource officer (“SRO/police”) presence in schools. Increases in the magnitude of a school’s SRO/police presence correspond with increases in the school’s propensity to engage law enforcement agencies in student disciplinary matters which, in turn, help fuel a growing school-to-prison pipeline problem. While these two broad trends propel two distinct research literatures, …

Beyond More Accurate Algorithms: Takeaways From Mccleskey Revisited, Ngozi Okidegbe

Faculty Scholarship

McCleskey v. Kemp¹ operates as a barrier to using the Equal Protection Clause to achieve racial justice in criminal administration.² By restricting the use of statistical evidence in equal protection challenges, McCleskey stifled the power of the discriminatory intent doctrine to combat the colorblind racism emanating from facially neutral criminal law statutes and governmental actions.³ But what if McCleskey had been decided differently? Given that Washington v. Davis⁴ held that the challenged law or governmental action had to be “traced to a discriminatory racial purpose,”⁵ could McCleskey have articulated an approach to equal protection doctrine …

Centring The Black Muslimah: Interrogating Gendered, Anti-Black Islamophobia, Rabiat Akande

Articles & Book Chapters

No abstract provided.

Rural Bashing, Kaceylee Klein, Lisa R. Pruitt

University of Richmond Law Review

Anti-rural sentiment is expressed in the United States in three major threads. The first is a narrative about the political structure of our representative democracy—an assertion that rural people are over-represented thanks to the structural features of the U.S. Senate and the Electoral College. Because rural residents are less than a fifth of the U.S. population, complaints about this situation are often framed as “minority rule.”

The second thread is related to the first: rural people and their communities get more than their fair share from federal government coffers. The argument, often expressed in terms of “subsidies,” is that rural …

Heirs' Property In Virginia: Filling In The Gaps, J. Noble Pearson, Lillian Coward

Virginia Coastal Policy Center

The term heirs’ property refers to land that has been passed down informally for multiple generations through intestate succession. Each generation of intestate succession can drastically increase the number of heirs who own the property as tenants-in-common to the point that many may not even know their heirship status. This clouds the title to the property and makes ownership more fractionalized. Because heirs’ property exists outside of the official estate and title systems, owners are vulnerable both at the community and individual levels for three main reasons.

First, and most importantly, heirs’ property is a leading cause of involuntary Black …

Startup Biases, Jennifer S. Fan

Articles

This Article provides an original descriptive account of bias in the startup context and explains why litigation is eschewed and what happens when it is used as a mechanism to combat bias in the venture capital ecosystem. Further, this Article identifies two particular phenomena in the startup context that exacerbate gender and racial bias. First, homophily—the idea that like attracts like—abounds and has been part of the DNA of venture capital since its inception. The thick networks that developed as venture capital made its way from the East Coast to the West Coast were limited to an elite group that …

Teaching Slavery In Commercial Law, Carliss N. Chatman

Michigan Journal of Race and Law

Public status shapes private ordering. Personhood status, conferred or acknowledged by the state, determines whether one is a party to or the object of a contract. For much of our nation’s history, the law deemed all persons of African descent to have a limited status, if given personhood at all. The property and partial personhood status of African-Americans, combined with standards developed to facilitate the growth of the international commodities market for products including cotton, contributed to the current beliefs of business investors and even how communities of color are still governed and supported. The impact of that shift in …