Author name: hlsmultitest

Amicus, Education & Youth, Labor and Employment

Does Publishing Teacher Rankings Implicate Privacy Concerns?

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It is reasonably foreseeable that parents will try to use this information to pressure their children’s schools into firing certain teachers or to assign their children to particular classrooms – actions which will not serve the broader purpose of improving instruction….The level of detail with which the data has been released can only serve to publicly humiliate teachers and is only reasonably necessary for school administrators’ use, not the general public.

Amicus, Guest Author, Poverty and Economic Justice

The House as an Asset in Play: The Spanish Response to the Foreclosure Crisis

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The thousands of evictions since the collapse of the housing bubble are one of the most tragic consequences of’ Spain’s private debt crisis. Although the crisis hit hard in both the U.S. and many European countries, the case of Spain is particularly striking. Residential mortgages in Spain are generally recourse loans, meaning that if the homeowner stops making payments, the creditor can take both the property and other assets.

Amicus, Reproductive Rights

The Fifth Circuit's Troubling Abortion Ruling

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The United States Circuit Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit on January 10 upheld a Texas law requiring doctors to show sonograms to patients seeking abortions. The decision functions as an unfortunate emblem of the court’s tendency to treat abortions as quasi-criminal acts rather than a legal medical procedures and improperly infringes upon the privacy and autonomy of patients’ and doctors’. Two key ideas underlie the court’s reasoning in this case: 1) the unborn are citizens of the state, and 2) legislation of this kind is reasonably calculated and reasonably necessary to ensure mature and informed decisions by would-be mothers.

Amicus, Courts & Judicial Interpretation, Criminal Justice, Freedom of Expression

Mass. Terror Trial Asks When Supporting Ideas Becomes Supporting Actions

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The defense attorneys for Tarek Mehanna, on trial in federal court in Boston accused of providing material support for terrorism, will try to convince a jury that Mehanna is being denied his “freedom of thought and the right of private judgment,” and that in fact it was his opinions about the United States and its military involvement in the Muslim world that the prosecution seeks to punish.

Amicus, Human Rights, Poverty and Economic Justice, Reproductive Rights, Sex Equality

Women on the rise?

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Many studies have demonstrated a strong correlation between the number of women in any given legislature or policy-making body and the extent to which that body takes up issues deemed important for women. On Sunday, the newly-formed United Nations entity, UN Women, announced that it was accepting applications for grants, with a focus on projects seeking to empower women in Arab countries transitioning to democracy. It’s only where real action occurs that women start to be empowered and involved in a way that strengthens a country’s democracy, making it responsive to the needs of all its population, not just the men.

Education & Youth, Events

Colloquium: Live Blog: The Right to Comprehensive Educational Opportunity

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In his article forthcoming in Volume 47:1 of the Harvard Civil Rights-Civil Liberties Law Review, “The Right to Comprehensive Educational Opportunity,” Michael A. Rebell, a professor at Columbia University Teachers College, argues for the recognition of a constitutional right to quality education for all children. The author was joined by Dean Martha Minow, Chair of the Institute for Educational Leadership Marty Blank, and Massachusetts Secretary of Education Paul Reville for a panel discussion of his article.

Amicus, Courts & Judicial Interpretation, Poverty and Economic Justice, Reproductive Rights, Sex Equality

Abortion Battle Not Over in Kansas

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Last Thursday, a federal judge in Kansas denied the ACLU’s motion for a preliminary injunction against the enforcement of a state law that bars insurance plans from covering elective abortions unless women or their employers purchase a separate rider calculated to cover all associated costs. The law is a clear step in the wrong direction for ensuring that a woman’s choice is protected. In spite of the courts denial, however, all is not lost.

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