Being Fair to Church Autonomy After Smith

Stuart McPhail makes an interesting observation in his short essay “Being FAIR to Religion: Rumsfeld v. FAIR’s Impact on the Associational Rights of Religious Organizations,” 3 Harv. L. & Pol’y Rev. 221 (2009), which was recently brought to my attention by the Alliance Defense Fund’s excellent “Alliance Alert” daily email (a must-read for scholars and activists interested in religious liberty, marriage, or life issues). In the essay, McPhail looks at the freedom of expressive association doctrine as an alternative grounding for the rights of religious organizations. He does so because he questions whether the traditional protection for such rights, the church autonomy doctrine, has survived the Supreme Court’s decision in Employment Division v. Smith, 494 U.S. 872 (1990).

McPhail asks “whether or not the church autonomy doctrine has survived Smith.” He acknowledges that courts which have considered the matter, including five federal circuit courts, have held that it did so. However, he questions whether “Smith ended religious organizations’ unique associational rights, leaving only the protections for expressive associations and any limitations to them, upon which all other organizations must rely.” 

Continue ReadingBeing Fair to Church Autonomy After Smith

Overcoming Gender Stereotypes: What Can Law Schools Do?

As Andrea Schneider observes in a new article, media coverage of the 2008 election nicely illustrates the dilemma facing many women in leadership roles: they are apt to be perceived as either competent but unlikeable (the way that Hillary Clinton was often portrayed) or likeable but incompetent (the way that Sarah Palin was often portrayed).  Andrea and her coauthors also discuss research indicating that this dilemma is not limited to the political sphere, but may be experienced by professional women in many other settings, including the practice of law.

Although the problem they discuss seems to arise from deeply rooted gender stereotypes, Andrea and her coauthors believe that educational institutions (including law schools) can help to reduce the negative effects of the stereotypes.  For instance, they suggest a number of specific exercises that can help to raise awareness among students of the persistence of gender bias, such as having students evaluate two hypothetical job applicants with identical credentials, one male and one female.

The article, coauthored with Catherine Tinsley, Sandra Cheldelin, and Emily Amanatullah, is entitled “Leadership and Lawyering Lessons From the 2008 Elections.”  It was recently published at 30 Hamline J. Pub. L. & Pol’y 581.

Continue ReadingOvercoming Gender Stereotypes: What Can Law Schools Do?

So You Think You Can Bring Peace to the Middle East?

I’ve never used a computer game in my teaching, but Andrea Schneider and Kathleen Goodrich ‘o8 make a good case that the game PeaceMaker has a lot to teach dispute resolution students.  The game puts players into the position of either the Israeli Prime Minister or the Palestinian President, with an opportunity to achieve peace and win a Nobel Prize or fail and lose office.  Andrea and Kathleen describe how the game can be used to teach principles of dispute resolution in a new paper entitled “The Classroom Can Be All Fun & Games.”  Their paper, which is available on SSRN here, was recently published at 25 Ohio St. J. on Disp. Resol. 87.  The abstract appears after the jump.  Do readers have any other suggestions for computer games that can be usefully incorporated into law-school teaching?

Continue ReadingSo You Think You Can Bring Peace to the Middle East?