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On Justitia, Race, Gender, and Blindness
This Essay focuses on Justitia's more problematic attributes. Like Justitia's blindfold, which has been described as "the most enigmatic" of her traits. Is the blindfold merely emblematic of Justitia's purported impartiality, her claim to algorithmic justice? As law professor Costas Douzinas and art historian Lynda Nead have asked, does the blindfold enable Justitia "to avoid the temptation to see the face that comes to the law and put the unique characteristics of the concrete person before the abstract logic of the institution"? Or does the blindfold signify something more, a second sight of sorts? Maybe that Justitia, unable to see, becomes, like Sophocles' Teiresias, a seer? That Justitia, lacking sight, obtains insight? The French scholar M. Petitjean gives us yet a third possibility: that the blindfold functions as a limiting principle, reminding Justitia that she should tread cautiously, slowly, always cognizant of the step that came before.Black Musical Traditions and Copyright Law: Historical Tensions
This Note begins with a discussion of copyright law and then examines Black musical traditions and how they have conflicted with American copyright law through the years. Part I explains the history of American copyright law and its theoretical underpinnings. Part II relates common Black musical traditions in more detail. Part III illustrates how the foundations of Black musical traditions can be found in Negro Spirituals. Part IV outlines the notion of Black music as it evolved in ragtime. Part V describes how copyright undermined the traditions of blues, jazz, and R&B. Part VI explains how rock 'n' roll's prominence embodied copyright's clash with the Black musical tradition. Part VII portrays the history of the hip-hop musical phenomenon and illustrates how copyright's negative treatment of digital sampling continues to denigrate the Black musical tradition. Part VIII discusses the need for a more culturally inclusive copyright regime. Part IX concludes the Note by discussing the importance and benefits of amending the current copyright laws.Si Se Puede, But Who Gets the Gravy?
In this piece, the author writes in two alternating voices: the voice of rap and the voice of standard academic discourse. The rap passages are rude, direct, even raunchy, while the prose passages are rendered in academic English. This dichotomy is intentional: Rap represents the voice of the people, the voice from below, the voice of those who live in neighborhoods filled with broken glass, an impatient, insurgent voice that bears little in common with the complex, jargon-filled sentences of most contemporary left discourse. The latter voice, in my view, has become too detached from that of our many constituents who worry about their children turning to gangs and drugs and dropping out of school, about police harassment, and where their next paycheck is coming from.Through the Lens of Diversity: The Fight for Judicial Elections After Republic Party of Minnesota V. White
This Article is directed at the ongoing discussion taking place in many states and among members of the bench and bar about whether states that elect judges should switch to appointment in light of White. The author argues that states should resist what he regards as the Court's heavy-handed dicta denouncing judicial elections in White. Rather than accede to the pressure to shift from an elective to an appointive system-pressure that is being felt in several states- the author contends that states should regard the White decision as an opportunity to engage in a thorough and far-reaching review of judicial selection. Before presuming that judicial elections ipso facto cannot be reconciled with the ideal of judges as independent, impartial decision-makers, states should seek ways to improve their methods of judicial selection in order to improve judicial decision-making. States with judicial elections should be prepared to drastically transform the way judges are elected to address what I concede are significant failings in most judicial election systems. Principal among these deficiencies, in my view, is the failure of judicial elections to adequately address the lack of racial diversity on the nation's courts.Expert Report of Robert B. Webster
The author’s opinions are based primarily upon knowledge and insight gained in the forty years in which he has been a practicing attorney, counselor, arbitrator, mediator, bar officer, and state court judge. Webster’s opinions are also based in part upon materials described in Section IV.B, within.Children’s Rights and Family Autonomy in the South African Context: A Comment on Children’s Rights Under the Final Constitution
This Article investigates the nature and extent of the protection granted to children's rights in the South African Constitution. It concludes that the child-centered approach of the Constitution entitles children, as independent actors, to certain fundamental rights. Acknowledging both the parent-centered nature of the existing South African legal framework and the entrenched support for practices, many rooted in indigenous law and tradition, that contribute to the oppression of children, the author argues that the constitutionalization of these rights will contribute to the betterment of children in South Africa, proving to be more than mere moral exhortation. Under apartheid in South Africa. children, who were treated only as objects of parental concern and not as independent actors, were left to the mercy of the state. As a result, they lost any claim to their fundamental rights. This Article argues that recognition of the inalienable rights of children, in fact and not just in the Constitution, is the critical step in improving children's lives and ensuring the future of a democratic South Africa. Specifically, constitutionalization provides a basis for challenging racially structured and parent-centered child welfare laws and practices.Moving from Colonias to Comunidades: A Proposal for New Mexico to Revisit the Installment Land Contract Debate
Communities of Mexican Americans in the Southwest, known as colonias, have provided many low-income buyers with affordable opportunities. Affordability, however, comes at a high price for the colonias residents. Most of the buyers live in colonias pursuant to installment land contracts, devices which allow buyers to spread the purchase price of property over a number of years but leave them without legal title or equity under New Mexico law. The buyers sacrifice their legal rights to "own" small, unimproved lots of land in developments that are often without electricity, gas, a sewage system, and indoor plumbing. The author argues that New Mexico could allocate rights to buyers under installment land contracts while maintaining the reasonable cost of colonias housing and preserving the communities. She posits several alternatives for the state legislature and judiciary, including the adoption of a statutory definition which treats the contracts as mortgages and a more flexible interpretation of the forfeiture clauses in the contracts pursuant to mortgage and contract law. The Note concludes with suggested outreach strategies to inform colonias residents of their rights under installment land contracts and to provide them with legal assistance to enforce their rights.Toward a South African Administrative Justice Act
Section 33 of South Africa's Constitution provides fundamental principles of administrative justice. It also requires Parliament to adopt an Administrative Justice Act. This Article contends that without enactment of such legislation Section 33 will be ineffective in practice and may prove to be an obstacle to achieving the economic and social objectives of the Constitution. In addition, such legislation is essential to preserving the legitimacy and the effectiveness of the Constitutional Court.In Sisterhood
A review of Where Is Your Body? by Mari Matsuda
