Civil Rights

Weekly Briefs: Bar group that ditched drag trivia event criticized; Black law schools guide drops overall rankings

Social justice group criticizes bar drag event cancellation The nonprofit Southern Coalition for Social Justice is forwarding a letter with more than 100 signatures to a bar group that canceled a drag show trivia night, citing “political” reasons. The letter says the decision by the North Carolina Bar Association “flies…

Jun 9, 2023 3:04 PM CDT

Proposal to require Michigan courts to use preferred pronouns has some critics

The Michigan Supreme Court has received some pushback on its proposal to require state courts to use preferred pronouns when identifying parties or lawyers.

Jun 7, 2023 2:05 PM CDT

Is the word ‘alien’ objectionable? Federal appeals judge sees ‘no need to bowdlerize’ decisions and laws

A federal appeals judge who announced plans to boycott Yale Law School students for clerkships is taking aim at his colleagues for using the word “noncitizen” instead of “alien."

Jun 5, 2023 12:21 PM CDT

Weekly Briefs: ‘Zero matrimonial knowledge’ judge gets reprimand; judge adopts AI policy

Judge sanctioned after disclaiming family law knowledge The New Jersey Supreme Court publicly reprimanded Judge Michael J. Kassel of the Camden County Superior Court in New Jersey on Wednesday for telling litigants that he was unfamiliar with their cases and with matrimonial law. In one case, he said he has…

Jun 2, 2023 3:16 PM CDT

From Undocumented to Attorney at Law: A journey of hope and resilience

There was room for only two of us on our tiny raft, yet three of my siblings and I managed to cling onto its surface as my father waded through the Rio Grande, pulling the raft behind him. In front of us was the promised land: America. It promised an education and a better life.

Jun 1, 2023 1:30 AM CDT

Municipal ordinances can banish low-level offenders for petty offenses

Although St. Louis is not the only U.S. city with an exclusion law for low-level offenders, critics say these types of measures raise constitutional concerns and result in sending troubled people elsewhere—often within the same municipality—while acute social problems are ignored. Proponents of the laws say they help deter illegal activity.

Jun 1, 2023 12:50 AM CDT

Tsion Gurmu calls on personal experience to support Black immigrants

Tsion Gurmu traces her interest in law back to the Buford Highway community in Atlanta, where she grew up among a large number of asylum-seekers from Africa who struggled to navigate the immigration system.

Jun 1, 2023 12:40 AM CDT

June 3, 1943: The zoot suit riots begin

On June 3, 1943, an estimated 50 sailors stationed in Los Angeles crammed into taxis and swarmed into the nearby Alpine Street neighborhood of East LA, where they began beating a group of teens, several dressed in zoot suits—the loose-fitting bib and tucker associated in the local press with Mexican American youth gangs.

Jun 1, 2023 12:05 AM CDT

If SCOTUS rules against racial preferences, this 4th Circuit decision presents next issue

If the U.S. Supreme Court restricts the consideration of race in college admissions, there is another looming issue: whether schools can use race-neutral tools that boost diversity.

May 31, 2023 11:59 AM CDT

Brown v. Board of Education should be renamed, group plans to tell Supreme Court

A lawyer in Camden, South Carolina, plans to ask the U.S. Supreme Court to rename Brown v. Board of Education for the first case taken to federal court in a quest to eliminate the separate-but-equal doctrine.

May 31, 2023 9:50 AM CDT

Silver Gavel Awards go to works featuring Emmett Till, Roe v. Wade

This year’s recipients of the Silver Gavel Awards for Media and the Arts delve into a multitude of pressing and prominent legal issues, including abortion rights, affirmative action and modern-day slavery.

May 24, 2023 12:30 PM CDT

9th Circuit rejects claim that illegal reentry law violated defendant’s right to equal protection

A federal appeals court on Monday rejected a defendant’s claim that his Fifth Amendment equal protection rights were violated by a law making it a crime to reenter the United States after deportation.

May 23, 2023 11:38 AM CDT

Gorsuch’s Title 42 statement is ‘a remarkable jeremiad against COVID mitigation policies,’ law prof says

Justice Neil Gorsuch issued a lengthy statement criticizing “rule by indefinite emergency edict” Thursday, when the U.S. Supreme Court issued an order related to a COVID-19-pandemic-era immigration policy.

May 22, 2023 2:40 PM CDT

Retired state supreme court justice tapped to lead law school

North Carolina Central University has appointed Patricia Timmons-Goodson, a retired North Carolina Supreme Court justice, as the dean of its law school.

May 18, 2023 12:13 PM CDT

Program rolls out next generation of civil rights attorneys

A new generation of civil rights lawyers is being trained and deployed to fight racial injustice and inequity across the South, thanks to a program started in 2021 through a $40 million donation to the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund.

May 18, 2023 8:48 AM CDT