Civil Rights and Discrimination Commons^™

When Sexual Assault Becomes Incident To Military Service, Lauren C. Brady

Journal of Law and Policy

For seventy-two years, federal courts have barred military servicemembers who are survivors of sexual assault from recovery under the Federal Tort Claims Act (FTCA). The Feres doctrine, promulgated from the Supreme Court case Feres v. United States, became the foundation for federal courts’ decisions that sexual assault is incident to one’s service in the military. Courts’ over-deference to the military has enabled a system that turns a blind eye to perpetrators and abusive environments on bases. However, the Ninth Circuit recently turned the tide in FTCA cases, holding in Spletstoser v. Hyten that military sexual assault survivors should be permitted …

Unending Reform: Police Resistance To Consent Decrees And Federal Monitors, Finn Mayock

Journal of Law and Policy

The murder of George Floyd and the subsequent protests that engulfed the United States in 2020 reignited public attention towards the violent and discriminatory practices of police departments across the country. While methods of reforming these institutions were debated with new vigor, the federal courts have been quietly overseeing efforts to obtain constitutionally compliant policing in numerous cities for decades. Using legal tools such as consent decrees and monitors, the Department of Justice has enlisted the assistance of federal courts to ensure that police practices are in congruence with the Constitution. As pervasive police violence against black and brown people …

Intersectionality Pertaining To The Disproportionate Rates Of Black Women In Prisons And Jails, Mackenzie Heller

University Honors Theses

The incarceration rates of Black women in America surpass even all other demographics. Yet, Black women are often not on the news when discussing prison rates in the United States. Rather we see Black men, Hispanic men, and so forth. While these people do make up large portions of the prison system they are seeing a decline in their incarceration rates. Black women are often pushed to the sidelines when discussing matters that can be seen as central to their livelihoods.

This thesis addresses the intersectionality that only Black women experience and how that affects their imprisonment rates and experiences …

Implementing Equal Access To Legal Capacity In Canada: Experience, Evidence, And Legal Imperative – Final Report, Faisal Bhabha, Ruby Dhanda, Kerri Joffe, Lana Kerzner, Brendon Pooran

Commissioned Reports, Studies and Public Policy Documents

Many Canadians with disabilities have long been discriminated against in the enjoyment and exercise of their legal capacity, especially people with developmental, cognitive, or psychosocial disabilities.

The United Nations (UN) Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD) seeks to correct this pervasive discrimination. It recognizes the right to equality in the exercise of legal capacity without discrimination based on disability.

This study was motivated by two primary issues: 1) longstanding concerns in the disability rights community about this discrimination; and 2) the findings and recommendations made by the United Nations “Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities,” …

Updating Anderson-Burdick To Evaluate Partisan Election Manipulation, Andrew Vazquez

Fordham Law Voting Rights and Democracy Forum

This Article analyzes jurisprudence concerning the judicial review of election laws. It suggests that the United States Supreme Court’s approach should acknowledge the realities of political partisanship when reviewing challenged laws and regulations. Specifically, this Article proposes a judicial test to evaluate election laws for partisan biases using factors modeled on those employed by the Court in Gingles v. Thornburg. Simply put, the manipulation of election laws to pursue partisan advantages poses the greatest threat to our democracy. Accordingly, this Article concludes that protecting our democracy from election practices that benefit one party over another in the guise of …

Increasing Voter Investment In American Democracy: Proposals For Reform, Adam Drake

Fordham Law Voting Rights and Democracy Forum

Millions of Americans choose to stay home every election cycle. Polling suggests that these nonvoters are either apathetic with respect to the democratic process or feel alienated from the United States government. Reforms to the democratic system should focus on alleviating these sentiments, ultimately encouraging more voters to show up to the polls. As turnout increases, so too does the legitimacy and stability of the U.S. government.

With that goal in mind, this Article advocates for a five- prong approach to reforming the electoral system. The first proposed step is to eliminate unnecessary barriers to voting by establishing federal automatic …

Predictors Of College Student Support Toward Colin Kaepernick’S National Anthem Protests, Brooke Coursen, Nicole Peiffer, Sakira Coleman, Philip Lucius

VA Engage Journal

Racial discrimination and inequality have perpetuated within the U.S. since its inception. In 2016, Colin Kaepernick initiated the national anthem protests to oppose the oppression of people of color in America. This study was developed in 2018 to identify social determinants of health underlying discriminatory beliefs and behaviors. The objective was to investigate the impacts of college students’ race, gender, political ideology, socio-economic status [SES], NFL interest, patriotism, and general protest support on support for the national anthem protests. We administered paper-and-pencil surveys across locations on the James Madison University campus using a convenience sample. There were 408 participants included, …

Reimagining Public Safety, Brandon Hasbrouck

Northwestern University Law Review

In the aftermath of George Floyd’s murder, abolitionists were repeatedly asked to explain what they meant by “abolish the police”—the idea so seemingly foreign that its literal meaning evaded interviewers. The narrative rapidly turned to the abolitionists’ secondary proposals, as interviewers quickly jettisoned the idea of literally abolishing the police. What the incredulous journalists failed to see was that abolishing police and prisons is not aimed merely at eliminating the collateral consequences of other social ills. Abolitionists seek to build a society in which policing and incarceration are unnecessary. Rather than a society without a means of protecting public safety, …

Beyond The Law: A Four-Step Explanation Of Why Affirmativeaction Is Here To Stay, Jesse Merriam

Ohio Northern University Law Review

No abstract provided.

Conflicting Interests In Name And Pronoun Policies In K-12 School, Manni Jandernoa

SLU Law Journal Online

The year 2022 has brought a record number of proposed antitransgender legislation throughout the country. With an expanding amount of youths identifying as transgender and/or nonbinary, schools are continuing to grapple how to support these students while complying with the law. In this article, Manni Jandernoa discusses individual conflicting interests involved with respect to the application or lack of school name and pronoun policies.

Big Data Affirmative Action, Peter N. Salib

Northwestern University Law Review

As a vast and ever-growing body of social-scientific research shows, discrimination remains pervasive in the United States. In education, work, consumer markets, healthcare, criminal justice, and more, Black people fare worse than whites, women worse than men, and so on. Moreover, the evidence now convincingly demonstrates that this inequality is driven by discrimination. Yet solutions are scarce. The best empirical studies find that popular interventions—like diversity seminars and antibias trainings—have little or no effect. And more muscular solutions—like hiring quotas or school busing—are now regularly struck down as illegal. Indeed, in the last thirty years, the Supreme Court has invalidated …

The Impacts Of Compulsory Prison Labor Ballot Initiatives On Pregnant & Postpartum Incarcerated Women Of Color, Candace Bond-Theriault

Center for Gender & Sexuality Law

The 13th Amendment to the United States Constitution purported to abolish the institution of slavery, but it created an exception for compulsory labor performed by people convicted of crimes. In November 2022, voters in Alabama, Vermont, Louisiana, Tennessee, and Oregon will be asked to vote on ballot initiatives that would strike language from their state constitutions that currently allows states to force incarcerated people to perform labor with minimal or no pay.1 This policy brief examines the legal language of these ballot initiatives and evaluates whether each measure, if approved by voters, will actually close the compulsory labor loophole. In …

Cardozo Launches The Perlmutter Center For Legal Justice, Benjamin N. Cardozo School Of Law

2022 Event Invitations

The Perlmutter Center for Legal Justice at Cardozo Law will be comprised of two components:

The Perlmutter Forensic Science Educational Program, an ambitious legal education program in scientific evidence for practicing attorneys.

The Perlmutter Freedom Clinic, seeking justice for the unjustly incarcerated, will fight wrongful convictions based on the misuse of scientific evidence and work to obtain clemency for individuals that have been unjustly incarcerated.

The Center will be led by prominent civil rights attorney and criminal justice reform advocate Josh Dubin, who will serve as Executive Director. The Deputy Director will be Derrick Hamilton, a formerly incarcerated individual who …

Weekly Pop-Up Class: Understanding The Lgbtq+ Civil Rights Movement And Why It Matters, Ferkauf Professors Kailey Roberts And Jennifer Cooper, Benjamin N. Cardozo School Of Law

2022 Event Invitations

Kailey Roberts is an Assistant Professor of Clinical Psychology at Ferkauf Graduate School of Psychology specializing in bereavement and existential psychotherapy. Roberts' research and teaching focuses on understanding existential distress and supporting individuals facing adversity through connection to their unique sense of meaning, identity and purpose. Jennifer Cooper, is an Assistant Professor at Ferkauf Graduate School of Psychology. Cooper’s research agenda is focused on preventing and treating youth mental, emotional and behavioral issues through improving the use of multi-tier frameworks and culturally responsive evidence-based practices in schools. They will discuss "Cultivating Psychosocial Wellbeing in LGBTQIA+ Individuals and Communities."

Weekly Pop-Up Class: Lgbtq Rights And The Crisis Of Democracy, Deborah Pearlstein, Benjamin N. Cardozo School Of Law

2022 Event Invitations

Deborah Pearlstein is Professor of Law and Co-Director of the Floersheimer Center for Constitutional Democracy. Pearlstein has repeatedly testified before Congress on topics from war powers to executive branch oversight. Her work on the U.S. Constitution, international law, and national security has appeared widely in law journals and the popular press.

Discrimination Because Of Sex[Ual Orientation And Gender Identity]: The Necessity Of The Equality Act In The Wake Of Bostock V. Clayton County, Rachel Eric Johnson

BYU Law Review

No abstract provided.

Racecraft And Identity In The Emergence Of Islam As A Race, Cyra Akila Choudhury

University of Cincinnati Law Review

Can a religion, over time and through its social and legal resignification, come to be a race? Drawing on Critical Race Theory (“CRT”), Critical Discourse Theory, the work of Karen E. and Barbara J. Fields and Cedric Robinson, this article argues that Islam has emerged as a race and Muslims as a racial group. To support the claim, Part I examines the theoretical basis for the argument. Applying the concept of “racecraft,” the article theorizes that racism produces both the racial group and race. As many have already argued, race is not based in biology; it is not a fact …

Weekly Pop-Up Class: Understanding The Lgbtq+ Civil Rights Movement And Why It Matters, Kate Shaw, Benjamin N. Cardozo School Of Law

2022 Event Invitations

Cardozo Professor Kate Shaw is the Co-Director of the Floersheimer Center for Constitutional Democracy. Before joining Cardozo, she worked in the White House Counsel’s Office as a Special Assistant to the President and Associate Counsel to the President. She clerked for Justice John Paul Stevens of the U.S. Supreme Court and Judge Richard A. Posner of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit.

Ma'ii And Nanaboozhoo Fistfight In Heaven, Tamera Begay, Matthew Fletcher

Articles

In the form of a cute, cuddly, and innocent waabooz, Nanaboozhoo munched on the chewy, bitter Tłohdá’ákáłiitsoh he found everywhere in this⁣ land, far from his own. Although, it was a bit dry. In this land, Dinétah,⁣ Nanaboozhoo thought he could see forever. There were few trees. The sky⁣ was bright blue and limitless. The air smelled like a kind of dirt he had never⁣ experienced. And, boy howdy, was it dry. He couldn’t smell water for the⁣ life of him. But there was water, to be sure, or else there wouldn’t be this⁣ bush.

Race And Washington's Criminal Justice System: 2022 Recommendations To Criminal Justice Stakeholders In Washington, Task Force 2.0: Race And The Criminal Justice System

Fred T. Korematsu Center for Law and Equality

Race and Washington's Criminal Justice System: 2022 Recommendations to Criminal Justice Stakeholders in Washington