Social Welfare Law Commons^™

Wisconsin's 2011 Act 108, Legislative Inaction, And Severe Racial Disparity: A Recipe For A Fair Housing Violation, Taylor N. Haefele

Marquette Benefits and Social Welfare Law Review

When individuals are released from prison, the biggest predictor of whether they will reoffend or successfully reenter society is whether the recently released individual has access to stable housing. Unfortunately, nearly every avenue to housing requires passing a criminal background check. Recognizing this as posing a nearly insurmountable barrier to accessing stable housing upon release from prison, Seattle, Washington; Minneapolis, Minnesota; and San Francisco, California have all enacted ordinances regulating the use of background checks to help ensure access to stable housing for formerly incarcerated individuals. Madison, Wisconsin, and other Wisconsin cities had similar ordinances that regulated the use of …

A Critical Jeffersonian Mind For A Community Reinvestment Bind, Chaz D. Brooks

Marquette Benefits and Social Welfare Law Review

The Community Reinvestment Act of 1977 ("CRA") primarily sought to remedy decades of government sanctioned disinvestment in so-called “redlined communities.” Through the Home Owners’ Loan Corporation and later the Federal Housing Administration, the United States of America created from whole cloth a structure that encouraged and subsidized the explosion of homeownership in white American households. Following decades of racialized wealth generation, the United States had a change of heart. Congress determined that financiers needed a gentle push to invest fairly. Additionally, Congress wanted one thing clear in the drafting of this remedy— it must not allocate credit. This essay considers …

How Should Inheritance Law Remediate Inequality?, Felix B. Chang

Washington Law Review

This Article argues that trusts and estates (“T&E”) should prioritize intergenerational economic mobility—the ability of children to move beyond the economic stations of their parents—above all other goals. The field’s traditional emphasis on testamentary freedom, or the freedom to distribute property in a will as one sees fit, fosters the stickiness of inequality. For wealthy settlors, dynasty trusts sequester assets from the nation’s system of taxation and stream of commerce. For low-income decedents, intestacy (i.e., the system of property distribution for a person who dies without a will) splinters property rights and inhibits their transfer, especially to nontraditional heirs.

Holistically, …

Opportunity Zones, 1031 Exchanges, And Universal Housing Vouchers, Brandon Weiss

Scholarly Articles in Law Reviews & Journals

The Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017 contained former President Trump's signature economic development initiative: the Opportunity Zone program. Allowing a deferral of capital gains tax for certain qualifying investments in low-income areas, the Opportunity Zone program aims to spur economic development by steering capital into economically distressed neighborhoods. The program is the latest iteration of an overly simplistic market-based approach to community development an approach that transcends political party-based on a flawed yet enduring notion that mere proximity of capital will solve deeply entrenched issues of poverty and racial inequality. In reality, the legacy of Opportunity Zones is …

The Emergency Next Time, Noa Ben-Asher

Elisabeth Haub School of Law Faculty Publications

This Article offers a new conceptual framework to understand the connection between law and violence in emergencies. It is by now well-established that governments often commit state violence in times of national security crisis by implementing excessive emergency measures. The Article calls this type of legal violence “Emergency-Affirming Violence.” But Emergency Violence can also be committed through governmental non-action. This type of violence, which this Article calls, “Emergency-Denying Violence,” has manifested in the crisis of the COVID-19 pandemic.

The Article offers a taxonomy to better understand the phenomenon of Emergency Violence. Using 9/11 and COVID-19 as examples, the Article proposes …

P*Law 2022, Center For Public Service Law

2021–2022 Flyers

This document outlines the full schedule for P*LAW Week 2022 at Cardozo School of Law, presented by the Center for Public Service Law. Held virtually from January 24 to January 27, the week featured panels, workshops, and discussions on key issues in public interest law, including immigration policy, educational equity, criminal justice reform, reproductive rights, data privacy, military law, labor rights, and overdose prevention. Events brought together legal professionals, advocates, scholars, and Cardozo students to explore law’s role in advancing social justice and supporting vulnerable communities.

Mental Health Care And Intimate Partner Violence: Unasked Questions, Delaney E. Anderson, Richard C. Boldt

Faculty Scholarship

There is significant overlap between the group of people who experience trauma, including domestic or intimate partner violence, and those who are hospitalized for severe mental illness. In recent years there has been a growing awareness in the mental health treatment community of the prevalence of trauma among individuals with behavioral health problems. Despite the strong evidence of elevated rates of exposure to domestic or intimate partner violence among individuals experiencing mental illness (including depression, anxiety, and posttraumatic stress disorder), mental health professionals often do not effectively address this co-occurring factor in assessing and treating their clients or patients. The …

Csec Treatment Courts: An Opportunity For Positive, Trauma-Informed, And Therapeutic Systems Responses In Family And Juvenile Courts, Emma Hetherington, Allison Dunnigan, Hannah Elias Sbaity

Mitchell Hamline Law Journal of Public Policy and Practice

No abstract provided.

A Brown Buffalo’S Observations On Color(Blindness), Legal History, And Racial Justice In The Rocky Mountain West, Tom I. Romero

Sturm College of Law: Faculty Scholarship

This essay is a series of three observations about interrogating and complicating the meaning of color for all of us who call the Rocky Mountain West home. Published as part of the University of Utah Law Review’s annual symposium asking legal academics and law practitioners to 'tell our stories', this essay is designed to highlight the importance of racial consciousness in the legal geography of the Rocky Mountain West. These observations are divided into three reflections. In the first, I explore what has long been the defining feature of race relations in the Rocky Mountain West—the persistent tension between the …

The Color Of Local Government: Observations Of A Brown Buffalo On Racial Impact Statements In The Movement For Water Justice, Tom I. Romero

Sturm College of Law: Faculty Scholarship

This article is rooted larger racial justice conversations that became amplified in 2020 as the United States, and indeed the world, was literally and figuratively on fire as the interconnected pandemics of COVID-19, racial violence, and climate change-induced wildfires raged. These interconnected disasters helped reveal the ways that racial and ethnic minoritized communities disproportionately bore the brunt of economic dislocation, deadly health outcomes, and physical dislocation. For many local and state government entities, particularly those in the water sector, it also catalyzed a response to be more diverse, equitable, inclusive, and indeed color-conscious in service of racial and social equity …

Child Welfare Requires Adequate Remedial Services, Raymond C. O'Brien

Scholarly Articles

This Article argues that the focus of child welfare should be upon the adequacy of reasonable services provided to parents prior to and after their child has been declared dependent because of an abuse or neglect allegation. Admittedly, recent federal legislation funding rehabilitation services while permitting a child to remain with an offending parent may result in less trauma, but this feature should not distract from the point that states must develop adequate reasonable services, and these must be provided within a specified period of time. The consequence of inadequate reasonable services, unable to address adverse conduct within a specified …

Defining And Demystifying Automated Decision Systems, Rashida Richardson

Maryland Law Review

No abstract provided.

Moving From Harm Mitigation To Affirmative Discrimination Mitigation: The Untapped Potential Of Artificial Intelligence To Fight School Segregation And Other Forms Of Racial Discrimination, Andrew Gall

Catholic University Journal of Law and Technology

No abstract provided.

The Negative Impact Of Service Member And Veteran Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (Ptsd) Rating Or Specter Of Ptsd On Child Custody Arrangements, Erhan Bedestani

Catholic University Journal of Law and Technology

No abstract provided.

No-One Receives Psychiatric Treatment In A Squad Car, Judy Ann Clausen, Joanmarie I. Davoli

UF Law Faculty Publications

This Article explores tragedies caused by our current system for responding to mental health emergencies: homelessness, institutionalization, criminalization, harm to self, harm to others, and harm by police. In the wake of the George Floyd murder, there has been increased attention on our response to mental health emergencies and an outcry to reduce the role of police. This Article analyzes reforms from California, Colorado, Eugene, Oregon, the federal government, Dallas, and Nebraska. This Article posits that any reform that focuses only on first responders will not fix our system. Harm by police is only one of the tragedies suffered by …

Re-Envisioning Child Well-Being: Dismantling The Inequitable Intersections Among Child Welfare, Juvenile Justice, And Education, Kele Stewart

Articles

Twenty years after Shattered Bonds, Dorothy Roberts' indictment that the family regulation system polices, disrupts, and restructures Black families and communities remains urgent. Black families remain overrepresented in foster care with enshrined disparate treatment and outcomes. Black children are more likely to be removed from their homes, and their longer stays in foster care are characterized by placement instability, overly restrictive placements, the risk of abuse and exploitation, and inadequate mental health and other services. Black children also have worse educational outcomes than even other children in foster care, are over-referred to the juvenile justice system, and are more …

Don’T “Estop” Me Now: Estoppel, Government Contract Law, And Sovereign Immunity If Congress Retroactively Repeals Public Service Loan Forgiveness, Michael J. Cole

Lewis & Clark Law Review

This Article discusses whether Direct Loan borrowers can obtain recourse against the federal government using either promissory or equitable estoppel theories if Congress retroactively repeals the Public Service Loan Forgiveness (“PSLF”) program. The Article addresses various hurdles, including sovereign immunity and the Sovereign Acts Doctrine, which the borrowers would encounter at litigation. It concludes that, despite likely overcoming these hurdles, in many cases, the plaintiff-borrowers’ government contract law claims would likely still fail to win on their merits. The Article also contends that most, if not all, equitable estoppel claims would likely fail before a court. The Article then offers …

Stemming The Shadow Pandemic: Integrating Sociolegal Services In Contact Tracing And Beyond, Medha D. Makhlouf

Faculty Scholarly Works

The COVID-19 pandemic has shed light on the challenges of complying with public health guidance to isolate or quarantine without access to adequate income, housing, food, and other resources. When people cannot safely isolate or quarantine during an outbreak of infectious disease, a critical public health strategy fails. This article proposes integrating sociolegal needs screening and services into contact tracing as a way to mitigate public health harms and pandemic-related health inequities.

An Attempt To Bring Modern Workplace Realities To The Social Security Disability Adjudication System, Robert E. Rains

Dickinson Law Review (2017-Present)

No abstract provided.

Inheriting Privilege, Allison Anna Tait

Law Faculty Publications

All families may be created equal, so to speak. But differences between families in terms of economic wealth, resource networks, and access to cultural capital are both severe and stark. A large part of what shapes this scenery of economic possibility is the legal framework of wealth transfer. Wealth travels through generations and sticks, crystallizing in predictable places and shapes, thereby embedding complex forms of inequality within and between families. The family trust, in particular, is a mode of transfer that facilitates wealth preservation as well as wealth inequality. Family trusts are tailored to convey and defend complex patrimonies in …

Helping Self-Represented Litigants Isn’T Charity Work, It’S A Professional Obligation, Suzanne Harrington-Steppen, Eliza Vorenberg

Law Faculty Scholarship

No abstract provided.

2021 Surveys Of Rhode Island Law

Roger Williams University Law Review

No abstract provided.

Weathering The Storm: Is California’S Anti-Harassment Education Training The Life Preserver Lgbtq Youth Have Been Hoping For?, Natalie Purcell O'Dwyer

University of San Francisco Law Review

No abstract provided.

Retiring Social Security’S (Non)Payment At Death After Eight Decades, Alberto B. Lopez

Emory Law Journal Online

Section 202 of the Social Security Act, which originated in the 1939 Amendments to the 1935 Social Security Act, authorizes monthly benefits payments to an eligible person until the month prior to the month of death. Under this rule, an individual who dies on November 30th at 11:59 pm is not eligible to receive a check for benefits accrued during November because the individual failed to survive one additional minute; eligibility for payment ended on October 31st. After a beneficiary’s death, the Social Security Administration (“SSA”) either prevents deposit of a check for month-of-death benefits or mandates …

Asking Too Much: The Ninth Circuit’S Erroneous Review Of Social Security Disability Determinations, Stephen E. Smith

Lewis & Clark Law Review

Disability determinations made by the Social Security Administration’s administrative law judges are subject to judicial review by Article III courts. By statute, these courts apply the “substantial evidence” standard of review on appeal from the agency. The substantial evidence standard is a forgiving one that defers to the findings of the agency. But the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals has modified this standard. It now reviews certain categories of SSA findings not only for substantial evidence, but for support by “clear and convincing reasons.” This heightened standard of review is facially at odds with the statutorily mandated substantial evidence standard. …

Poor Gabriel: How Ambiguous State Immunity Policies For Child Protection Agency Workers Fail Children Of Color, Samiksha Manjani

American University Journal of Gender, Social Policy & the Law

No abstract provided.

Steering Loan Modifications Post-Pandemic, Pamela Foohey, Dalie Jimenez, Christopher K. Odinet

Articles

As part of federal and state relief programs created during the COVID-19 pandemic, many American households received pauses on their largest debts, particularly on mortgages and student loans. Others may have come to agreements with their lenders, likewise pausing or altering payment on other debts, such as auto loans and credit cards. This relief allowed households to allocate their savings and income to necessary expenses, like groceries, utilities, and medicine. But forbearance does not equal forgiveness. At the end of the various relief periods and moratoria, people will have to resume paying all their debts, the amounts of which may …