Suchergebnisse

The intersection of power and prejudice can control the shape of statutory law, and yet a dearth of legal scholarship investigates it. Invidious Deliberation addresses that deficit. It tackles the problem of prejudice in Congressional deliberations at a particularly critical point: when Congress decides which groups to protect under federal hate crime legislation. The article contends that Congress's own bias may exclude the most vulnerable groups from hate crime protection. To illustrate the point, this article systematically reviews over two decades of Congressional decisions with respect to expansions of the Hate Crime Statistics Act, a "gateway" for groups seeking protection under federal hate crime legislation. The review concludes that Congress exhibited greater resistance to constructing animus against gays, lesbians, and the homeless as morally or legally wrong, especially in comparison to the other covered groups. Invidious Deliberation argues this Congressional resistance is not attributable to an equitable, principled deliberation process; instead, it is an expression of "unrecognized" bias against unpopular groups. To mitigate the impact of Congressional bias, this article proposes that Congress explicitly and consistently use a set of principled criteria — such as suspect classification factors — to assess candidate groups.

Legal education reform efforts have persisted for over one hundred years, supported by substantive expertise, empirical data, cutting-edge curricula, and effective pedagogy. But today, the normative face of legal education remains essentially unchanged. If the substance behind legal education reform is valid, then what is the problem? This article examines the stasis of legal education through the lens of historical reform efforts, political science, and contemporary organizational change theory. The author argues that legal education reform efforts are marginalized and have limited normative impact because reformers underestimate the strategic demands of systemic change. As a result, reformers have yet to build a coherent, collective strategy for the transformation of legal education. The author contends that reformers must shift from an exclusive focus on the substance of legal education reform to adopt a new focus on strategy. Finally, the author offers some starting points on how to begin a new strategic discussion on the transformation of legal education.

This brief guides faith leaders interested in providing homeless services on their land, highlighting legal and operational considerations and community education and outreach. Faith-based organizations (FBOs) have been important social services providers throughout history. Today, they continue to play an important role with specific legal protections. Indeed, FBOs enjoy special legal protections for their religious practice, which may allow them to provide shelter even if otherwise prohibited by local law. Any FBO with the desire to address homelessness on its land should be able to do so, and this brief sets forth best practices based on successful case studies in Washington and Colorado. Among other recommendations, this brief recommends FBO hosts build partnerships with other organizations, be prepared to face opposition from neighbors and politicians by communicating effectively about homelessness, and make an effort not to exclude groups of homeless people who are often not welcome in shelters.

Downtown areas are a vital port for social services, human contact, the exercise of free speech, employment, food, and other necessary resources; however, visibly poor people are increasingly shut out as laws and policies increasingly restricts access to these core spaces. Business improvement districts (BIDs) have significant influence on the creation and enforcement of laws that regulate downtown public space. BIDs wield significant political and economic power; they can also effectively deputize citizens to act as a form of private security with broad authority and discretion to enforce these spatial regulations. This brief examines the increasing privatization of public space, the role of BIDs in this process, and the impact on visibly poor people. Keywords: business improvement district, tourism, economic, criminalization, homeless, BID, lobbying, public space, private space