Archive for April 2022
Protecting Civil Liberties: Easier Said Than Done
April 1, 2022
by Julia Decker* It is easy to say that voting is the cornerstone of our democracy, perhaps easier still to say that protecting the right to vote is paramount. There is nuance, however, in assessing those protections. In an era of what many perceive to be increasing political polarization, ostensibly neutral yet increasingly stringent…
Continue ReadingInsurer Liability for Discriminatory Policies: Can Insurers as Agents of the Employer Be Liable Under Title VII?
April 5, 2022
By Elizabeth Wellhausen* In 1964, President Lyndon B. Johnson signed into law the Civil Rights Act of 1964. One section of the Act, referred to as Title VII, made it illegal for an employer to discriminate against an individual because of their race, color, religion, sex, or national origin. However, the courts have struggled to…
Continue ReadingDiscriminating Against Survivors of Domestic Violence as Sex-Based Discrimination Under Title VII
April 6, 2022
By Kendra Saathoff* Discriminating against a woman for being a victim of domestic violence is sex discrimination under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act. Domestic violence is a workplace issue, whether from an abuser threatening an office and the workers in it or because a survivor needs to miss work to ensure she…
Continue Reading“The Harvest of Solidarity”: Achievements of Black Activists Following the 1921 Duluth Lynchings
April 11, 2022
By Brenna Evans[1] Minnesota’s history with lynchings is a long and bloody one. [2] Over two dozen lynching attacks stain Minnesota’s history, but none are more infamous than the 1921 lynchings of Isaac McGhie, Elmer Jackson, and Elias Clayton in Duluth.[3] But one part of this brutal history that is often overlooked is the…
Continue ReadingAttack on the Right to Choose
April 12, 2022
By Laura Gustafson* A person’s right to choose has been under attack by state actions for some time, making headlines as the Supreme Court rules on bills restricting access to abortion. These bills can inflict great harm on people and attack the right to choose, but there is another very real threat that often goes…
Continue ReadingOut of the Cell and Into the Fire: Inherently Dangerous Prison Work Assignments, the Eighth Amendment’s Guarantee of Safe Conditions of Confinement, and California’s AB-2147
April 13, 2022
by River Lord[1] Using the labor of inmates in the United States has a long and controversial tradition. Many observers have identified how higher rates of policing and incarceration among minority communities, coupled with the widespread use of inmate labor in exchange for sub-minimum wages, create a system of labor exploitation and racial oppression…
Continue ReadingRacism, Social Control, and the Regulation of Bar Admissions
April 14, 2022
By Professor David Schultz* Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr. famously declared: “The life of the law has not been logic: it has been experience.” When it comes to admission to practice law, one could say that “The life of admission to practice law has not been fairness but exclusion.” From its birth, America was a racist…
Continue ReadingAn Illogical and Harmful Assessment: Credibility Findings in Trauma Survivor Asylum Applicants
April 18, 2022
By Linnea VanPilsum-Bloom* The current focus on and process for establishing credibility in asylum application interviews is illogical and harmful. A person who seeks asylum in the United States will either request asylum affirmatively, by applying to U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS), or through their potential removal in Immigration Court. In either process, the…
Continue ReadingSigning Away Your Right to Parent: How Safety Plans Evade Due Process Requirements in Child Welfare Proceedings
April 20, 2022
By Eleanor Khirallah While safety plans are supposedly voluntary and lack the court’s involvement, there have been many questions about the coercion involved in having parents sign these agreements. This is particularly true because these plans may be used to deprive parents of their right to custody of their children without due process of law.
Continue ReadingWhat’s Wrong With My Hair?: Discrimination Against Black Hair in the Workplace
April 26, 2022
By Jocelyn Rimes* I spent the days leading up to my first day of my summer law clerk position agonizing over how I would do my hair. While still unsure, I eventually decided that I would do a twist-out, sectioning my hair in small twists and untwisting it the next day for defined curls. On…
Continue ReadingThe Constitutionality of SB 1142
April 28, 2022
By Chase Lindemann[1] On March 1, 2022, Oklahoma State Senator Rob Standridge introduced Senate Bill 1142 to the Oklahoma Senate Floor.[2] SB 1142’s title states that this bill is an act “prohibiting certain schools and school libraries from maintaining or promoting certain books.”[3] If a parent believes that there is a violation of SB…
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