Civil Rights Enforcement Chief: “We Are Open for Business”

Thomas E. Perez, assistant attorney general for the civil rights division of the US Justice Department, had a clear and firm message when he visited Marquette University Law School on Friday: He’s aiming to do the job he has held since October energetically and thoroughly. 

That wouldn’t seem like a noteworthy statement, except for the political context of Perez’ situation and the controversies that attend many of the areas of enforcement in the civil rights division. 

Perez said he would prefer to be like “the proverbial Maytag man,” sitting around with no one needing his services. But that is hardly how he described the work load of his division. 

Perez spent almost all of his remarks, lasting about a half hour, defending the need for civil rights enforcement in today’s America and pointedly hitting the theme that the division is “open for business.”

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Should College Sports Revenue Be Taxed?

College basketball and football are big business — no one would deny that.  But should they be taxed like big business?  Although the NCAA and its member schools are tax-exempt not-for-proft organizations, such organization may nonetheless be taxed on “unrelated business income.”  So, the question is whether big-time college sports programs are related to the educational mission of the universities that host them.

Matt Mitten, James Musselman, and Bruce Burton argue “yes” in a new article — because sports programs advance a wide range of legitimate university objectives, sports revenues should retain their tax-exempt status.  Based on a number of case studies, they conclude that the benefits to universities of improved athletic programs may include “attracting high-quality faculty and students, generating donations and enrichment, reconfiguring [] campus identities, and enhancing institutional political clout.” 

Although Matt and his coauthors do not believe that tax law is the right way to reform college athletics, they recognize a need for changes to better protect student-athletes from exploitation.  They would promote reform through a new, conditional antitrust exemption for the NCAA and its members. 

Their article, entitled “Commercialized Intercollegiate Athletics: A Proposal for Targeted Reform Consistent with American Cultural Forces and Marketplace Realities,” was recenly published at 2 J. Intercollegiate Sport 202 as part of a symposium on tax law and athletic reform.  The abstract appears after the jump. 

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Establishment and the Limits of Neutrality

Rick Esenberg has a new article in print that explores tensions within the Supreme Court’s Establishment Clause jurisprudence.  In light of the recent, controversial decision overturning the National Day of Prayer, Rick’s topic could not be more timely.  As Rick observed earlier this week, the Day of Prayer opinion is consistent with a long line of cases that attempt to achieve a level of government neutrality as to religion that seems unrealistic and overly ambitious.  The article argues that “subtle expressive injury” cannot be entirely avoided when the government speaks, and suggests that the Establishment Clause jurisprudence would be much improved by abandoning any pretense to complete expressive neutrality.

The article, entitled “Must God Be Dead or Irrelevant: Drawing a Circle that Lets Me In,” appeared at 18 Wm. & Mary Bill Rts. J. 1.  The abstract appears after the jump. 

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