Harvard Law & Policy Review

Archives for September 2016

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Open Carry Is Not a Solution: Problems With Texas’ New Gun Law

by Greg Tsioros* New Texas Firearm Laws Raise Concerns As of January 1st, 2016, it is now legal for some Texas citizens to openly carry loaded handguns in public places. Texas has now joined a group of state governments that are expanding rights for pro-gun advocates at a time when gun violence is a massive national public health concern. Several arguments have been advanced to justify the passage of House Bill 910, Texas’ recently enacted open carry law. Among these, the two most …

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EEOC Believes Sexual Harassment Prevention Efforts Are Failing

by Carney Shegerian* The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) recently released a report revealing the inadequacy of employers’ efforts to prevent sexual harassment. The EEOC said in a statement that employer training, which has been used for over 30 years, “has been ineffective and focused on simply avoiding legal liability,” rather than preventing harassment from taking place. Anyone can be sexually harassed in the workplace, regardless of race, gender, sexual orientation or …

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A Tribute To Our Living Constitution

By Isaac Saidel-Goley* In honor of Constitution Day, I reflect on what I have learned from countless pages of constitutional law cascading from a brief document that I have had the privilege to spend the past few years of my life studying. I have learned that the Constitution is not, and has never been, perfect. Not even close. It was crafted by flawed framers and has been interpreted by imperfect jurists. It has enshrined slavery; condoned segregation; authorized the involuntary …

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On Racial Bias and Police Shootings

By Simon Hedlin* More than a hundred blacks have been shot and killed by the police this year. According to data compiled by The Washington Post, nearly 600 individuals have died in police shootings in 2016. About half of those killed were ethnic minorities, and blacks were more than twice as likely to be fatally shot as whites. The disproportionate police violence against blacks raises the question of whether, and to what degree, law enforcement discriminates against African-Americans in its …

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Toward a Reproductive Justice Framework Based on Meaningful Family Choice

By Amanda Woog, JD, and Shetal Vohra-Gupta, PhD* Introduction Earlier this year, in Whole Woman’s Health v. Hellerstedt, 579 US _ (2016), the Supreme Court held unconstitutional two provisions in Texas’s 2013 omnibus abortion law. The provisions were designed to shutter abortion facilities – after the law passed, more than half of Texas’s 41 abortion clinics closed – and the Supreme Court correctly found that “each [provision] places a substantial obstacle in the path of women seeking a …

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