On the eve of Title IX’s fortieth anniversary, news of the federal government’s failure to meaningfully enforce the law’s provisions is troubling. The Office for Civil Rights must overhaul its enforcement efforts if the progress that Title IX has made in expanding women’s rights is to continue.
Last month, Governor Rick Scott of Florida signed a bill requiring Temporary Assistance for Needy Families recipients to undergo drug testing. If a recipient tests positive for drugs, she or he becomes ineligible for benefits. Critics’ Fourth Amendment arguments against the legislation may ultimately lead to its invalidation – however from a civil rights perspective, the discriminatory nature of the legislation is even more important.
While there has always been a resistance to affirmative action policies, the present debate has added a new dimension. There has been a rise in rhetoric concerning the notion of white victimhood, and policies like affirmative action are cited as justification for these theories. This victimhood narrative is important because of the way it portrays affirmative action policies as oppressive and discriminatory.
In a story reported on by news outlets as varied as ESPN and NPR last week, University of New Mexico football player Deshon Marman was arrested after refusing to deplane from a US Airways flight based on complaints from the flight crew about his sagging pajama pants. The story has taken an interesting, if disheartening, turn this week with the revelation that a man dressed only in women’s underwear was allowed to fly on a US Airways flight just days before Marman’s loose waistband caused such a stir.
For the very first time, the Human Rights Council at the United Nations approved a resolution that condemns discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation. The 47-member Human Rights Council voted 23 in favor and 19 against Friday, with 3 abstentions, for the resolution put forward by South Africa. The [...]
The Editorial Board of the New York Times today encourages the Obama Justice Department to stop defending the Defense of Marriage Act in federal court. The law, they say, is “blatant discrimination” that should be “presumed to be unconstitutional.” With this, I agree. DOMA, signed into law by Bill Clinton, [...]
The history of litigation surrounding equality issues often involves the unexpected scenario of rights expansions only occurring when dominant group members claim discrimination under a law. The best example of this is pregnancy leave- women are often not guaranteed sufficient amounts of paid leave to take care of children post-pregnancy. [...]
When Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 passed, it was heralded as a long-overdue measure to eradicate discrimination. The law has had a profound effect on the workplace, both by helping to establish a public ethic against discrimination and by providing a mechanism by which victims of [...]
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