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Drawing the Blue Line: Categorizing Law Enforcement as a Protected Class Within Hate Crime Legislation
Get PDFSeveral states have passed legislation to include law enforcement officers as a protected class within Hate Crime laws. Additionally, there is pending legislation in the United States Senate to add law enforcement officers as a protected class under the federal Hate Crimes Act. This is a step in the wrong direction for both state and federal legislatures for three main reasons. First, law enforcement officers are distinguishable from the currently protected classes. These classes have not only been marginalized in our society but have been targeted for reasons they have no control over. In contrast, including law enforcement officers as a protected class would offer protection to a group based on its choice of employment rather than an immutable characteristic. Second, many states have already implemented increased punishment for crimes committed against law enforcement. The federal government is no exception, as it has also already provided for law enforcement safety within its code. Finally, this trend could potentially have serious consequences across the board
When Speech Is Your Stock in Trade: What Kennedy v. Bremerton School District Reveals about the Future of Employee Speech and Religion Jurisprudence
Get PDFCoaches play an important role in establishing a nondiscriminatory environment in public-school athletics, both on and off the field. In addition to the duties associated with training a team for athletic competition, coaches, like teachers, are hired to communicate with players and spectators both verbally and demonstratively. Coaches are expected to not only teach sports techniques, but also teach character, leadership, sportsmanship, and other positive character traits. In Kennedy v. Bremerton School District, courts from the district level to the Supreme Court have considered how Coach Joe Kennedy\u27s role as a coach factored into his right to pray on the 50-yard line directly following his team\u27s high school football games.
This Article reviews Kennedy v. Bremerton School District, from its inception through its current status, including the significance of Justice Alito\u27s concurring opinion issued in conjunction with the United States Supreme Court\u27s denial of Coach Kennedy\u27s Petition for Writ of Certiorari. After discussing the underlying facts, Part I provides an overview and analysis of the district and circuit courts\u27 rulings focusing particularly on the relationship between employee speech and the First Amendment religion clauses. Part II discusses the implications of Justice Alito\u27s concurring opinion in denying Coach Kennedy\u27s petition. And finally, Part III discusses the future of religious speech jurisprudence for public school employees, now that Justices Gorsuch and Kavanaugh are on the Supreme Court bench
If Doubt Arises : How the Department of State\u27s Interpretation of The Immigration and Naturalization Act Invites Discrimination Against the Children of Gay and Lesbian Americans
Get PDFFederal statutes granting US. citizenship to children born abroad to an American parent became law long before the advent of reproductive technologies that have helped millions of people grow their families. As written, the laws require further interpretation to address situations where a child is born to a married couple when one parent is American but does not have a biological link to the child. The U.S. Department of State \u27s interpretation of the laws requires staff to review a series offactors when a family applies for their child\u27s citizenship by birth abroad, and these factors result in gay and lesbian headed families always having to prove a biological link between the American parent and child, whilefamilies with straight parents generally do not.
The State Department\u27s biological test does not reflect federal appellate courts\u27 understanding of parent-child legal relationships. Courts understand the law as interested in the marital status of the parents at the time of birth, deeming a child born during the course of a valid marriage to be the legal child of the two married parents. This test ignores biology and can be more equitably applied to gay and lesbian parents as well as their straight peers, since the focus is on the parents\u27 marriage rather than the child\u27s conception.
Families whose children have been denied US. citizenship by birth abroad to a gay or lesbian American parent are suing the State Department, relying on the judicial test. This comment explores the laws and lawsuits and proposes changes to State Department policy
Retribution, Not a Solution : Drug-Induced Homicide in North Carolina
Get PDFTwo men - we\u27ll call them John and Will - share an apartment. Unfortunately, both men are addicted to heroin. The men are struggling to get by. Neither one of them would consider themselves drug dealers, but both have made minor sales here and there to help support their drug habit, and both have had their share of run-ins with the law. One evening, John tells Will he is going to pick up some heroin, and John asks Will if he wants any. Will decides to chip in; he gives some money to John. John takes the money, pools it with his own, and travels across town to his dealer. He picks up the drugs, travels back to the apartment, and hands Will his share of the drugs. Tragically, Will overdoses, and cannot be revived. Do John\u27s actions constitute murder? Or perhaps the better question - should John\u27s actions be prosecuted as murder?
North Carolina, along with the rest of the nation, is facing an opioid crisis. Policymakers and law enforcement are scrambling to find a solution. Holding dealers of illegal drugs responsible for the deaths of overdose victims has been one of North Carolina\u27s answers - this Comment analyzes North Carolina\u27s Drug-Induced Homicide laws
Differential Treatment Among Creditors Under India\u27s Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code, 2016: Issues and Solutions
Get PDFThis paper represents the results of an examination of the implementation of India\u27s Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code, 2016 (IBC). This project included purposive sampling as well as interviews with resolution professionals, representatives of India\u27s Insolvency Professional Agencies, and officials of the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Board of India. Analysis of this data identified three problems: 1. Vesting near-plenary control of the Corporate Resolution Insolvency Process (CIRP) with a Committee of Creditors made up of financial creditors has led to a perception of inequitable distributions between the classes of creditors. 2. The CIRP provisions of the IBC are inconsistent with public policy to the extent that they were construed to fail to protect vested charges of secured creditors. 3. The CIRP provisions and the accompanying Insolvency Resolution Regulations fall short of the standards of procedural fairness. To resolve these problems this paper suggests that the Insolvency Resolution Regulations be revised to: (i) define net liquidation value as the value ofthe assets of the corporate debtor less the value of those assets subject to secured claims of holders of registered charges; (ii) require any resolution plan to account for the value of the secured claims of holders of registered charges in assets of the corporate debtor; (iii) require any resolution plan to disclose information substantiating the allocation of value within the class of financial creditors and between the classes of financial and operational creditors; and (iv) require the Committee of Creditors to provide reasons for any deviation from the norm of equitable distribution of any residual enterprise value between the classes of financial and operational creditors. In Part I of what follows there is a brief introduction to salient features of the corporate insolvency resolution process under the IBC. Part II describes the research underlying this project while Part III elaborates on certain aspects of that research. Part IV situates the conclusions of that research in the larger framework of Indian law and international practices. Finally, Part V lays out proposed changes to the CIRP Regulations and a defense of their efficacy in this context
When Market Forces Fail: The Case for Federal Regulation of Insulin Prices
Get PDFRising insulin prices entail rising economic and social costs that are shouldered by all Americans. While three insulin manufacturers cling to their control of the insulin market, consumers are unable to exercise meaningful choices between competitors to drive prices down. When market forces fail, the solution is federal regulation of the insulin market. The failure of typical forces like competition in this market necessitates federal regulation to curb the monopolistic powers of insulin manufacturers. This Comment explores the history and importance of insulin and the current ramifications of exorbitant insulin prices. This Comment then examines different categories of economic regulation and scrutinizes legislation that state governments have begun enacting to regulate insulin prices. Ultimately, this Comment argues that the federal government should implement a combination of price cap regulation and nationalization of insulin formula patents to increase competition and decrease insulin prices, thereby reducing the economic and social burdens borne by Americans
Who Is Going to Protect the LGBTQ Community from Discrimination - Congress or the Courts?
Get PDFTitle VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 is supposed to provide equal employment opportunities to all citizens of the United States. However, LGBTQ individuals face discrimination every day in the workplace, and based on the current state of the law, it is unclear whether discrimination based on an individual\u27s sexual orientation or gender identity is covered under sex in Title VII. This Article explores the term sex and its various interpretations by Congress, the courts, and the various states. Further, this Article explains why it is up to Congress, if the Supreme Court of the United States reverses Zarda v. Altitude Express, to pass legislation, such as the Equality Act, to protect the LGBTQ community