Aug
23
Gender Discrimination in Jury Selection as Ineffective Assistance of Counsel
Posted by: Michael M. O'Hear | August 23, 2011 | Leave a Comment
A defendant’s right to reasonably competent legal representation is violated when the defendant’s lawyer discriminates on the basis of gender during jury selection, the Seventh Circuit ruled last week inWinston v. Boatwright (No. 10-1156). The court’s reasoning would presumably apply equally to racial discrimination. However, because of the peculiarities of federal habeas law, the particular defendant who [...]
Aug
2
Adoption Across Race: Disparate Treatment of Native Americans and African Americans
Posted by: Michael M. O'Hear | August 2, 2011 | Leave a Comment
David Papke has a new paper on SSRN that contrasts the laws governing the adoption of Native American and African American children by whites. Once rare in this country, “transracial” adoptions became common over the latter decades of the twentieth-century. Such adoptions sparked concerns within both Native American and African American communities, but the legal [...]
Jun
27
Department of Justice Files Fair Housing Act Suit Against City of New Berlin
Posted by: Garrett Soberalski | June 27, 2011 | 2 Comments
On Thursday, the United States Department of Justice (DOJ) filed a complaint against the City of New Berlin. The complaint arises out of a series of events that led to the City’s denial of a “workforce” housing development proposal made by MSP Real Estate, Inc. (MSP). The DOJ alleges that the City of New Berlin ultimately denied the [...]
Feb
16
Racial Disparities in the Federal Death Penalty: Uncovering the Key Role of Geography
Posted by: Michael M. O'Hear | February 16, 2011 | 1 Comment
The federal death penalty is plagued by two important types of disparity. One is racial: as of last year, nearly half of federal death row inmates (28 of 57) were black. The other is geographic: out of the 94 federal districts, just 16 have produced 75 percent of the death sentences, and nine have produced nearly [...]
Dec
22
Neighborhood Councils as Antidote to Minority Political Marginalization?
Posted by: Michael M. O'Hear | December 22, 2010 | Leave a Comment
In many of America’s major cities, a sense of hopelessness and cynicism discourages political participation, especially by members of minority groups. Disengagement, in turn, undermines accountability and facilitates corruption, which exacerbates public cynicism. How can the vicious circle be broken? In a new paper on SSRN, Matt Parlow argues that neighborhood councils — “new substructures of local government that [...]
Dec
20
Milwaukee’s Residential Segregation – It’s Not Simply Black and White
Posted by: David R. Papke | December 20, 2010 | 3 Comments
The Milwaukee metropolitan area is taking what seems to be its annual beating in the media because of its racially segregated housing patterns. According to a new report from the Brookings Institution based on 2005-09 census data, the City of Milwaukee and the surrounding area including Milwaukee, Ozaukee, Washington and Waukesha Counties is virtually tied [...]
Oct
11
Racial Disparities and Risk Assessment
Posted by: Michael M. O'Hear | October 11, 2010 | 1 Comment
Bernard Harcourt (University of Chicago) has an interesting new paper entitled “Risk as a Proxy for Race.” (A copy is available here on SSRN.) Harcourt is responding to progressive arguments in favor of tying prison release to risk assessment: An increasing chorus argues, today, that risk-assessment instruments are a politically feasible method to redress our problem [...]
Mar
22
The Native American Mascot Issue Will Just Not Go Away
Posted by: J. Gordon Hylton | March 22, 2010 | 15 Comments
WISCONSIN. In Wisconsin, the legislature is considering a bill that would give Native Americans the right to formally object to the use of a disparaging nickname by a high school in their school district. Under the Democratic-sponsored bill, anyone who objects to the use of a race-based team name, mascot, symbol, or logo in their [...]
Mar
10
Everyday Eviction
Posted by: David R. Papke | March 10, 2010 | 2 Comments
Eviction has become a special burden for low-income African American women, many of whom live in run-down rental housing and are raising children in single-parent homes. University of Wisconsin sociologist Michael Desmond, quoted in an article in the New York Times, argues, “Just as incarceration has become typical in the lives of poor black men, [...]
Feb
26
Part of the Way Along the Path of Racial Equity
Posted by: Alan J. Borsuk | February 26, 2010 | Leave a Comment
Lindsey Draper recalls that when he was a student at Marquette Law School, he would sometimes pause to look at photos of previous graduating classes. He would have a hard time spotting anyone who was African American like him. As Draper (L ’75) looked out at about 50 people, many of them African Americans who [...]
Feb
11
The Legacy of the Little Rock Crucible
Posted by: Alan J. Borsuk | February 11, 2010 | 1 Comment
“That crucible moment” – that’s a phrase Ernest Green used to describe the period when he and eight other African American students enrolled in and attended Little Rock Center High School in 1957. It took the president of the United States and 10,000 soldiers to help them get in the door in deeply segregationist Arkansas. [...]
Nov
27
Horace Scurry: Our First African-American Law Student
Posted by: J. Gordon Hylton | November 27, 2009 | Leave a Comment
Horace S. Scurry was one of many fascinating individuals who passed through the Milwaukee Law School between the time of its founding in the early 1890’s and its merger with Marquette University in 1908. He appears to have been the first African-American to join the ranks of that institution’s students. Details of Scurry’s life are [...]
Blog Editors
- Alan Borsuk
- Bruce E. Boyden
- Edward A. Fallone
- Melissa L. Greipp
- Scott C. Idleman
- Lisa Mazzie
- Michael M. O'Hear
- Ryan Scoville
