Civil Rights and Discrimination Commons^™

From Ambiguity To Accountability: The Case For A Legal Definition Of Antisemitism In Academia, Andrea Martin

Faculty Scholarship

Following the October 7, 2023, Hamas attacks on Israel, U.S. college campuses experienced a sharp rise in antisemitic incidents, driven by an antizionism movement aimed at demonizing and delegitimizing the Jewish state and its supporters. A congressional investigation found that antisemitism persisted at prominent universities because administrators repeatedly failed to denounce antizionist conduct that functions as a vehicle for harassment of Jewish students and neglected to enforce their own nondiscrimination policies. The congressional committee, as well as several university antisemitism task forces, identified antizionism as a primary driver of campus antisemitism and strongly recommended that university leaders recognize and address …

Recognition Policies, Self-Determination, And Access To Legal Redress For Indigenous Peoples In The United States, Australia, And Canada: A Comparative Study, Christian Zavardino

Cardozo International & Comparative Law Review

The note examines recognition policies and self-determination frameworks for Indigenous Peoples in the United States, Australia, and Canada, arguing that the U.S. federalist system of tribal recognition offers a potential model for addressing Indigenous rights in other countries, particularly Australia. It emphasizes the importance of international law, such as the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (UNDRIP), in guiding domestic policies and promoting Indigenous sovereignty.

Reframing Puerto Rican Advocacy: How The Emerging U.S.-China Rift Can Help Puerto Rico Realize Greater Autonomy, Michael Angelo Tabrizi

Cardozo International & Comparative Law Review

The note advocates for reframing Puerto Rican decolonization efforts as a foreign policy issue rather than solely a domestic matter, leveraging the U.S.-China rivalry to gain international support and alignment with the United Nations' principles on self-governance.

Brief Of Amicus Curiae Professor Corinna Barrett Lain In Support Of Neither Party, Corinna Lain

Law Faculty Publications

“I don’t think it’s a secret that we inherited one of the worst, most incompetent and most ill-funded Department of Corrections in the country. . . [a]nd I don’t think it takes a leap to suggest that we should understand whether they are capable of carrying out the death penalty before we do it.” That is how Attorney General Kris Mayes described Arizona’s Department of Corrections, Rehabilitation & Reentry (“ADCRR”) less than two years ago. Ryan Thornell, director of the ADCRR, agreed, attesting in a declaration in 2023 that the ADCRR lacked “the necessary institutional knowledge and expertise to conduct …

Interrogating Miranda's Custody Requirement, Lauren E. Clatch

Law Faculty Publications

Interrogating officers need only issue Miranda warnings in “custodial” settings, and a significant degree of psychological coercion makes a setting custodial. This Article asks a question at the heart of Miranda caselaw: Have courts applied Miranda’s custody trigger consistent with people’s real experiences of police questioning? If not, courts are allowing, and justifying, the admission of unwarned self-incriminating statements by deeming those interrogations “noncustodial” even when there is a significant element of compulsion. To compare courts’ custody decisions to civilians’ perceptions of coercion in interrogations, I surveyed laypeople across two studies using forty interrogation scenarios from jurisdictionally diverse cases spanning …

Flexing The Celebrity Muscle: Celebrity Leverage In Trademark Law And Why Small Businesses Deserve Equitable Treatment, Victoria M. Lopez

Cardozo Arts & Entertainment Law Journal

The note examines the imbalance in trademark law disputes between celebrities and small businesses, arguing that celebrities often leverage their fame and resources to gain an unfair advantage. It highlights how this dynamic can overshadow the rights of small businesses, even when they have prior use of a trademark, as seen in the case of Beauty Concepts vs. Kim Kardashian. The analysis advocates for a more equitable approach to trademark law to protect small businesses from being disadvantaged by celebrity influence.

No Knock? No Case: Prosecutorial Deterrence As A Countermeasure To No-Knock Warrants, Tamika Griffin Moses

Law Faculty Publications

The high-profile deaths of Amir Locke and Breonna Taylor ignited a national debate surrounding the legitimacy of no-knock warrants. Their deaths are part of a cycle of reaction and inaction that permeates this debate. As the impacted communities and segments of the populace respond by demanding that federal and state legislatures abolish or severely restrict the use of no-knock warrants, they are met with inaction. The legislative bodies have failed to pass laws banning the warrants and judges continue to sign them. This inaction continues to undermine the public’s trust in law enforcement and challenges the legitimacy of a democracy …

"Shocking The System" In The 21st Century: Conservative Policy Entrepreneurs And The Plan For Authoritarianism In The U.S., Athena M. King

Political Science & Geography Faculty Publications

The first few days of the second Trump presidency saw a flurry of executive orders targeting immigrants, the transgender community, blacks, and federal government employees. The resulting “shocks” to the system are unprecedented, causing many to question the continuation of American democracy. These actions are a few of many policy preferences developed by conservatives and captured in “Project 2025”, spearheaded by the Heritage Foundation and with the overall intent of restructuring the federal government to suit authoritarian aims. Using a theoretical framework regarding policy entrepreneurs (PEs), I argue that conservative PEs (CPEs), under the aegis of the Republican Party and …

In Through The Side Door: Anti-Asian Nativism, U.S. Immigration, And Foreign Policy—A Legal History And Case Study, Deenesh Sohoni, Vivian E. Hamilton, Chinua Thelwell

Faculty Publications

The 19th- and early 20th-centuries were marked by pervasive anti-Asian sentiment, and antipathy towards people of color more generally. Giving legal effect to the anti-Asian nativism prevalent at the time, U.S. policies prohibited most Asian immigration and naturalization. In particular, immigration laws sought to exclude Asian laborers and working-class immigrants from entry. During the same period, however, the federal government determined that other Asian visitors—especially Chinese government officials, merchants, religious leaders, and students—could be useful in advancing U.S. political and economic interests abroad. Thus, in marked contrast to its inhospitable treatment of their working-class counterparts, U.S. policy facilitated the entry …

Contesting "Address": Conflicts Over The Words We Use To Address And Refer To Each Other, Helen Norton

Publications

Professor Richard Brooks's generative insights provide us with valuable tools for recognizing, and trying to make sense of, address's role in human interactions. That "address"--the words we use to address and refer to each other--has the potential both to offer value and to inflict harm to these interactions sometimes triggers conflict over appropriate forms of address. In this Commentary to Professor Brooks's Frankel Lecture, I examine some of these conflicts.

As we'll see, some address conflicts involve debates over whether and when address actually makes meaning or whether it’s instead relatively trivial--while others involve contestants who agree that address makes …

Transgender Disenfranchisement, Scott Skinner-Thompson

Publications

Transgender and gender variant people are excluded from formal democratic participation at the polls through a variety of legal mechanisms. Such barriers include purportedly neutral voter identification laws, which may prevent transgender people from voting given the obstacles to achieving accurate identification documents in many states, and felon disenfranchisement laws, which exclude the disproportionate number of trans people ensnared in the carceral system.

But, as this Article explains, transgender people are also deterred from public space and participation more broadly through laws and customs specifically policing gender identity. Such laws include so-called bathroom bills that prevent people from accessing facilities …

A New Satanic Panic, Jonathon J. Booth

Publications

A broad backlash to LGBTQ visibility and equality has emerged in recent years. Its conservative proponents have asserted that queer people are Satanic, called gender affirming healthcare child abuse, and labeled adults who teach about gender and sexuality "groomers." This rhetorical shift, combined with an explosion of anti-transgender legislation, may presage a revival of the 1980s Satanic Panic, when fears of brutal crimes allegedly committed by Satanic cults swept the nation. These accusations spurred the longest trial in American history, commanded tabloid news, and led dozens of people to be convicted of lurid crimes, nearly all of whom were later …

By Any Other Name: Dei Is Not What You Think It Is, Nicole Porter

Faculty Publications

In this moment, Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) programs are hotly debated and very misunderstood. Contrary to popular belief, DEI programs do not drastically change an employer’s hiring practices. They are, to some extent, performative. In this essay, I explain what DEI really is and why a rebranding (or at least a new name) might be in order.

Younger And Older Abstention, Fred O. Smith Jr.

Michigan Law Review

When victims of systemic rights violations in state criminal proceedings seek federal court relief, governmental defendants often ask federal courts to abstain for reasons of federalism. These arguments frequently disregard the Supreme Court’s emphasis that abstention is a narrow exception to federal courts’ duty to exercise jurisdiction. Lower federal courts are increasingly employing a form of “free-floating federalism,” diverging from the Supreme Court’s careful balance between comity and individual rights. This has led to lower courts’ significant expansion of criminal abstention doctrine, leaving severe irreparable harm unaddressed in an increasingly broad range of settings, such as pretrial detention and child …

Effects Of Actualized Language Policy On Ukrainian Stability, 1989-2022, Dawn Hersey

Electronic Theses & Dissertations (2024 - present)

This dissertation seeks to generate a new perspective of the complicated relationship between actualized policy and stability through looking at Ukraine’s language policies and stability in a mixed manner approach that includes both primary and secondary sources. Russia justified its irridentist activities through claiming to protect Russian nationals within Ukraine’s borders: language policies within Ukraine appear to be a trigger for Russian antagonism. Neither Russian irridentism nor Ukrainian nationalism are being considered as right or wrong in this dissertation: the intent is to highlight trends, patterns, and perceptions in alignment with Ukrainian language policy. This dissertation does not present a …

Volume 48 Masthead, Seattle University Law Review

Seattle University Law Review

Volume 48 Masthead

Voting Matters: Materiality Considerations And The Shareholder Vote, Renee M. Jones

Seattle University Law Review

For the shareholder franchise to have meaning, shareholders must have access to relevant information to inform their voting decisions. The securities laws’ disclosure requirements play an essential role in informing the shareholder vote.

This Essay focuses on the question of the materiality of information in the context of shareholder voting. It addresses the question of whether ESG-related information is material, positioning the materiality inquiry within the context of shareholders’ voting decisions. It explores the definition of materiality with a focus on the “reasonable investor” concept embedded within the definition. The Essay argues that the implicit expectations of many commentators that …

Volume 48 Masthead, Seattle University Law Review

Seattle University Law Review

Volume 48 Masthead

Understanding The Big Three’S Wavering Support Of Environmental And Social Shareholder Proposals, Jeff Schwartz, Jefferson Jensen

Seattle University Law Review

Because of their substantial equity portfolios, BlackRock, Vanguard, and State Street (the Big 3) are central players in corporate governance. It is, therefore, critical to understand how they vote. One puzzle is that their support for shareholder proposals on environmental and social matters appears to waiver. In 2020, for instance, BlackRock supported 11.1% of environmental proposals at S&P 500 firms. In 2021, it seemingly reversed course, supporting 55.2%. It then flipped again, supporting 32.1% in 2022. Such statistics suggest that the Big 3 are constantly changing their views on these topics. This Article seeks to better understand whether this is …

Volume 48 Masthead, Seattle University Law Review

Seattle University Law Review

Volume 48 Masthead