COMMENT: The Detroit Water Shut-Offs: An Alternative Approach to Analyzing the Constitutionality of the Detroit Water and Sewerage Department’s Shut-Off Policy

By Jackie Pilcowitz Associate Editor, Vol. 21 The City of Detroit is denying water to thousands of its residents. In the spring of 2014, the Detroit Water and Sewerage Department (DWSD) announced its plan to disconnect water service to Detroit residents with delinquent accounts — those who owed… Read More

COMMENT: Deportation of Possibly Exculpatory Witnesses Should be Per Se Bad Faith

By Andrew VanEgmond Associate Editor, Vol. 21 I.         Deportation of Witnesses with Exculpatory Evidence: The Circuit Split The Circuit split analyzed in this Comment turns on whether or not to adopt a per se rule regarding government bad faith during a determination of whether the government’s deportation of… Read More

COMMENT: Limited Voir Dire: An Inadequate Safeguard of the Constitutional Right to an Impartial Jury

By Austin Webbert Associate Editor, Vol. 21 Last term the Supreme Court was indirectly confronted with the specter of juror racial bias and its threat to the constitutional right to an impartial jury.[1] Warger v. Shauers, 135 S. Ct. 521 (2014). While the Court ultimately sidestepped the issue,… Read More

Being black at a PWI: “We are all ConcernedStudent1950”

By Saeeda Joseph-Charles Associate Editor, Vol. 21 After students, faculty, and even lawmakers called for his resignation, the University of Missouri’s system president, Tim Wolfe, finally stepped down earlier this month. On November 2nd, graduate student Jonathan Butler launched a hunger strike, which he said would end… Read More

UPDATE: Court recognizes racial discrimination in Foster, raises procedural concerns

By Matt Johnson Associate Editor, Vol. 21 The Supreme Court listened to oral arguments on Monday, November 2 for Foster v. Chatman, a case this author looked at in more detail in a previous piece. The case centers around Timothy Tyrone Foster, an African-American man who was… Read More

Good cops, bad cops, and the so-called YouTube effect

By Jason Raylesberg Associate Editor, Vol. 21 In my last post, I described how some states have allocated funds toward initiatives seeking to theoretically establish what is already known in practice about profiling by police.  I argued that such money would be better spent implementing more immediately impactful… Read More

The bifurcated Asian American response to Fisher II: controversy goes on

Last month, the author explored how Asian Americans view affirmative action policies.  As the Supreme Court prepares to hear Fisher II, this issue reappeared to the author personally in her role as a student leader. By Jennifer Chun Associate Editor, Vol. 21 In 1997, Texas passed a law… Read More

One person, one vote? The Supreme Court considers in Evenwel v. Abbott

By Tom Topping Associate Editor, Vol. 21 “One person, one vote,” a longstanding principle upon which our legislative districts are drawn, is under fire in a case currently pending before the Supreme Court. In Evenwel v. Abbott, the petitioners attack Texas’s policy of drawing state-level legislative districts in… Read More

Fear of United States police officers causes one Black man to seek asylum in Canada

By Breanna Caldwell Associate Editor, Vol. 21 Kyle Lydell Canty is a 30-year-old Black male from the United States who has become so fearful that he will be killed by U.S. police officers because he is Black that he has applied for asylum in Canada on the basis of… Read More

Interracial advocacy and the role of attorney: reflections on the power differentials coloring client interactions (Part 2/2)

This blog is the second of two parts.  Part 1 unpacks the attorney privilege and considers how it can affect attorney-client relationships.  Part 2 explains the impact of power differentials, identities, and attorney privilege on advocacy and offers suggestions to strengthen the law school curriculum. By Hazel Caldwell-Kuru… Read More