By Ming Cheung Over the past week, a series of tragic and senseless attacks have taken place in the United States and Canada. First, a man struck two soldiers in a hit-and-run in Quebec , another targeted the Canadian Parliament in Ottawa, and a hatchet-wielding individual assaulted police officers in New York City. All three attackers happen to be Muslim, and as human nature is wont to do — politicians, the media, and our national attention — have begun to fit these incidents into our schema …
School Segregation in New York City
By Ana Choi On October 22, the New York City Council introduced a package of legislation aimed at addressing the problem of racial and socioeconomic segregation in New York City’s public schools. The package contains three pieces. The first piece would require the city’s Education Department to report statistics for various measures of diversity in the schools. The second piece calls on the Education Department to officially declare school diversity a policy goal. The third piece urges the New …
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Any Traction for the Dukes Majority’s Characterization of “Most Managers?”
Anne King As I wrote previously, as courts apply the Supreme Court’s decision in Wal-Mart Stores Inc. v. Dukes, observers are ever gaining new insight on how the opinion will impact future litigation. Nearly four months after Dukes (decided 6/20/11), I thought it would be interesting to take a look at whether a noteworthy passage in the majority opinion is finding any traction in the courts. Here’s the language I have in mind: “To the contrary, left to their own devices most managers in any …
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Whatever Happened to NSA Reform?
By Jake Laperruque For the last year and a half, government surveillance and NSA monitoring have generated one of the most intense discussions in the country. The Snowden disclosures have not only brought the surveillance debate to the front page, congressional hearings, and the campaign trail, but have also significantly impacted public opinion: Most Americans believe that NSA practices have gone too far, and need to be reined in. Now Congress needs to act to reform these surveillance …
Closing Guantanamo (For Real This Time)
By Lisa Ebersole This week, Obama Administration officials revealed that the President is considering using his executive power to close Guantanamo. Congress has attempted to preemptively block such action by including a provision in the military spending bill that forbids the transfer of any of Guantanamo’s prisoners back to the United States. However, Obama could circumvent Congress by vetoing the military spending bill or by signing the law into effect, but including a signing statement …
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Veasey v. Perry & The Voting Rights Amendment Act
By Tharuni Jayaraman Thursday night was a busy night in the voting rights world. Just before 9:00 PM EST, District Court Judge Ramos, in Veasey v. Perry, enjoined Texas’ photo identification law, SB 14. She held that the law (1) “creates an unconstitutional burden on the right to vote,” (2) has an impermissible discriminatory effect against Hispanics and African-Americans, and (3) was imposed with a discriminatory purpose.” Furthermore, as emphasized by Justin Levitt of Election Law Blog, Judge …
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