By Matthew Fellows Associate Editor, Vol. 25 Race is a human invention. Although made up, race theories in their inception were offered and accepted as constituting natural scientific fact. The hierarchies created out of pen and paper articulated what people thought was a proper arrangement of the… <a href="https://mjrl.org/2020/01/23/combatting-white-supremacy-the-pressing-need-to-make-the-baseless-scientific-origins-of-race-and-their-place-in-society-part-of-american-curriculum/" class="read-more">Read More</a>
By Miguel Medina Associate Editor, Vol. 25 Chicago’s Vista Tower, currently under construction. Anyone from Chicago knows quite well that construction is booming. With 33 new high rises in progress, Downtown continues to boast an increasingly packed skyline .”[i] As a summer associate at a… <a href="https://mjrl.org/2019/12/06/chicagos-construction-boom-who-is-it-for/" class="read-more">Read More</a>
By Raul Noguera-McElroy Associate Editor, Vol. 25 Part I: Overview This fall, I enrolled in Race and the Law, a class that examines how the United States’ legal system oppresses various ethnic and/or racial minority groups. The course gave a passing mention of how the child welfare system fits… <a href="https://mjrl.org/2019/11/20/how-the-child-welfare-system-targets-families-of-color/" class="read-more">Read More</a>
By Tamar Alexanian Associate Editor, Vol. 25 On October 25, 2019, the 45th President of our great, fair, and just nation received the Bipartisan Justice Award at the 2019 Second Step Presidential Justice Forum, an event organized by the 20/20 Bipartisan Justice Center.[1] The Justice Center gave… <a href="https://mjrl.org/2019/11/20/donald-trump-the-champion-of-criminal-justice-reform/" class="read-more">Read More</a>
By Kyle Pham Associate Editor, Vol. 25 The Harvard Yard Students for Fair Admissions, Inc. v. Harvard is a federal lawsuit challenging Harvard University’s consideration of race and ethnicity in its undergraduate admissions process.[1] While U.S. District Judge Allison D. Boroughs recently ruled in favor… <a href="https://mjrl.org/2019/11/20/students-against-fair-admissions-the-continued-war-on-affirmative-action/" class="read-more">Read More</a>
By Edith Lerner Associate Editor, Vol. 25 Attorney General William Barr About one year ago, our editor Samantha Kulhanek wrote a blog post called How Jeff Sessions is Quietly Transforming Immigration Law to Promote His Anti-Immigrant Agenda. In it, she describes a growing trend during Session’s tenure… <a href="https://mjrl.org/2019/11/14/ag-further-restricts-asylum-seekers-family-based-asylum-claims-now-reserved-for-families-of-societal-import/" class="read-more">Read More</a>
By Sophie Karpf Associate Editor, Vol. 25 As of November 2, 2019, the police have shot and killed 752 people this year.[1] While that number represents nearly 90 fewer shootings than there were at this time last year, there has not been an appreciable drop in… <a href="https://mjrl.org/2019/11/05/hands-up-dont-shoot-keeping-police-brutality-in-check/" class="read-more">Read More</a>
By Becky Wasserman Associate Editor, Vol. 25 Ten out of twelve jurors. That’s all it takes in the State of Oregon to convict a person accused of a crime.[1] Before 2018, Louisiana also permitted non-unanimous jury verdicts in criminal trials.[2] Now, Oregon is the last… <a href="https://mjrl.org/2019/11/05/ramos-v-louisiana-the-fight-for-unanimous-jury-verdicts-as-a-constitutional-right/" class="read-more">Read More</a>
by Miguel Medina Associate Editor, Vol. 25 The Trump Administration has weaponized immigration policy in an attempt to appeal to its voter base. In the process, immigration has been thrust to the forefront of American political discourse. For some, seeing immigrant children in U.S. concentration camps is new… <a href="https://mjrl.org/2019/10/28/how-discussions-of-latinos-in-the-legal-system-omit-racism-within-latino-communities/" class="read-more">Read More</a>
By Liz Morales
Associate Editor, Vol. 24
Disclaimer: This blog post is not intended to provide legal advice. If you are interested in learning about your constitutional rights, please visit the webpage of a legal organization linked below, or consult with a licensed attorney.
The importance of ‘Know Your Rights’ training was recently highlighted in a video showing a man using his training to prevent an Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officer from arresting two persons.[1] In the clip, an unidentified ICE officer can be seen approaching a vehicle claiming to have a judicial warrant for the arrest of an alien.[2] Sitting in the driver’s seat was Bryan MacCormack, executive director of a nonprofit organization that helps immigrant communities in Columbia County in New York. [3] MacCormack and the two undocumented persons he was accompanying had just left the local court house to deal with minor traffic citations when the ICE officer came up to their window.[4] Refusing to open his car door, MacCormack told the ICE officer that the paperwork he was presenting to him was “not signed by a judge” and thus was “not a judicial warrant.”[5] “I have no obligation to oblige by that warrant,” he continued.[6] MacCormack was able to articulate his rights to the ICE officer thanks in part to his Department of Justice-accredited ‘Know Your Rights’ training.[7] The training had provided attendees with copies of the letter the ICE officer was presenting as well as copies of a ‘real’ warrant, both of which MacCormack had in the car with him.[8] MacCormack said training administrators provided these materials so that “people know not to listen” to documents like the one used by this ICE officer.[9] <a href="https://mjrl.org/2019/05/26/how-know-your-rights-training-can-protect-you-and-others/" class="read-more">Read More</a>
