scholarly journals Municipal Reparations: Considerations and Constitutionality

2021 ◽  
pp. 345
Author(s):  
Brooke Simone
Keyword(s):  
Fourteenth Amendment ◽  
City Council ◽  
Equal Protection ◽  
Racial Justice ◽  
Equal Protection Clause ◽  
Marginalized Groups ◽  
Black Residents ◽  
Police Practices ◽  
Constitutional Analysis

Demands for racial justice are resounding, and in turn, various localities have considered issuing reparations to Black residents. Municipalities may be effective venues in the struggle for reparations, but they face a variety of questions when crafting legislation. This Note walks through key considerations using proposed and enacted reparations plans as examples. It then presents a hypothetical city resolution addressing Philadelphia’s discriminatory police practices. Next, it turns to a constitutional analysis of reparations policies under current Fourteenth Amendment jurisprudence, discussing both race-neutral and race-conscious plans. This Note argues that an antisubordination understanding of the Equal Protection Clause would better allow political branches to rectify vestiges of past discrimination and ongoing inequities through reparations plans such as the hypothetical Philadelphia City Council resolution. With these suggestions in mind, municipalities must boldly imagine and extend reparations to marginalized groups that have suffered harms. Similarly, the Court must reimagine its constitutional doctrine.

Murray, J., concurring.

2020 ◽  
pp. 202-220
Keyword(s):  
Sexual Orientation ◽  
Fourteenth Amendment ◽  
Equal Protection ◽  
Same Sex ◽  
Equal Protection Clause ◽  
The Right

Today, a majority of the Court strikes down laws banning the performance and recognition of same-sex marriages on the ground that such laws constitute caste or class legislation in violation of the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment. In so doing, the Court reiterates that the right to marry is a fundamental right and denominates sexual orientation a quasi-suspect classification subject to heightened scrutiny....

Race-Based Preferential Treatment Programs: Raising the Bar for Establishing Compelling Government Interests

1998 ◽  
Vol 27 (3) ◽  
pp. 349-360 ◽  
Author(s):  
Robert K. Robinson ◽  
Joseph G. P. Paolillo ◽  
Brian J. Reithel
Keyword(s):  
Civil Rights ◽  
Federal Court ◽  
Fourteenth Amendment ◽  
Equal Protection ◽  
National Origin ◽  
Treatment Programs ◽  
Preferential Treatment ◽  
Equal Protection Clause ◽  
Federal Program ◽  
Racial Preferences

In 1995 a series of federal court decisions called into question the efficacy of race-based preferential treatment programs initiated by two leading public universities.1 Both decisions occurred at a time when government-imposed, race-conscious remedial measures are being increasingly challenged on the grounds that they either violate the Civil Rights Act of 1964,2 or breach the guarantee of equal protection under the laws provided by the Fourteenth Amendment. Most recently, a federally mandated race-based preference was successfully challenged on the grounds that it violated an “implied” equal protection clause in the Fifth Amendment.3 As a further indication of this shift away from state supported racial preferences, legislation is pending in Congress4 that, if enacted, would make the consideration of any individual's race, color, national origin or gender in regard to selection or eligibility for any federal program unlawful.

Plessy v. Ferguson Re-examined

1973 ◽  
Vol 7 (2) ◽  
pp. 125-132 ◽  
Author(s):  
Richard A. Maidment
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Social Policy ◽  
Racial Segregation ◽  
The United States ◽  
Fourteenth Amendment ◽  
Equal Protection ◽  
United States Supreme ◽  
Equal Protection Clause ◽  
Governmental Policy ◽  
Sociological Jurisprudence

The United States Supreme Court's decision in Plessy v. Ferguson falls into that category of unfortunate opinions which have few defenders. Its only supporters currently are those who affirm their belief in and advocate the merits of legally-enforced racial segregation as state social policy. This support, however, is bereft of intellectual substance and is correctly ignored or dismissed by most scholars. Reputable students of the court have without exception been unremittingly hostile to the opinion of the court, because of the presumed socially deleterious ramifications of the judgement. Furthermore, the opinion of Mr Justice Brown has been criticized for logical and legal shortcomings and has been labelled by one scholar as being an exercise in ‘conservative sociological jurisprudence’.3 It is the purpose of this paper to suggest that Brown's judgement has been misrepresented. Despite the fact that the decision gave a constitutional imprimatur to racial segregation, the logic of the opinion owes more to a philosophy of judicial restraint and respect for precedent than to a belief in conservative sociology or racial superiority. The court was in Plessy merely affirming its understanding that the Louisiana statute under review was consonant with the equal protection clause of the Fourteenth Amendment and was not commenting on the merits of racial segregation as governmental policy.

Sex Discrimination and the Transformation of U.S. Education

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Erin E. Buzuvis
Keyword(s):  
Equal Opportunity ◽  
Sex Discrimination ◽  
Sexual Misconduct ◽  
Fourteenth Amendment ◽  
Equal Protection Clause ◽  
Lgbt Students ◽  
Societal Norms ◽  
Sex Equality ◽  
Equality In Education

This chapter highlights the role of Title IX of the Education Amendments Act of 1972 and the U.S. Constitution’s Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment in transforming the gendered landscape of U.S. education. After first providing an overview of these two sources of law, the chapter examines the role they have played in challenging sex-based designations in admissions and in the classroom, in promoting equal opportunity and access to school-sponsored athletics, in challenging sexual harassment and other sexual misconduct, in reducing barriers to LGBT students, and in promoting equal opportunity for students who are pregnant. Sections addressing each one of these topics will also note limitations and shortcomings of the law’s approach to these issues, as there is still more work to do to fully realize sex equality in education. While the law has not cured all the problems of sex discrimination education, owing to limitations in its scope, as well as enforceability, it has proven to be a powerful source of societal norms and expectations, which themselves operate to motivate compliance and beyond.

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