1 / 14

Professor Ruth Colker Heck Faust Memorial Chair in Constitutional Law

Is Separate Inherently Unequal?. Constitution Day Talk Ohio University September 18, 2007. Professor Ruth Colker Heck Faust Memorial Chair in Constitutional Law Michael E. Moritz College of Law. Theory vs. Practice. Separate is Inherently Unequal.

jstamper
Download Presentation

Professor Ruth Colker Heck Faust Memorial Chair in Constitutional Law

An Image/Link below is provided (as is) to download presentation Download Policy: Content on the Website is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use and may not be sold / licensed / shared on other websites without getting consent from its author. Content is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use only. Download presentation by click this link. While downloading, if for some reason you are not able to download a presentation, the publisher may have deleted the file from their server. During download, if you can't get a presentation, the file might be deleted by the publisher.

E N D

Presentation Transcript

  1. Is Separate Inherently Unequal? Constitution Day Talk Ohio University September 18, 2007 Professor Ruth Colker Heck Faust Memorial Chair in Constitutional Law Michael E. Moritz College of Law

  2. Theory vs. Practice

  3. Separate is Inherently Unequal • From Plessy v. Ferguson to Brown v. Board of Education • Statement arose after frustration with one step at a time approach • But it has been no panacea • Justice Roberts recently used it in Seattle School District case to dismantle race-conscious admissions plan

  4. Disability Constitutional Protection • Weaker than in Race Context • But Court has recognized right of individuals in group homes to live in neighborhoods • Has recognized rights of both mentally retarded and those with severe emotional illness not to be subject to death penalty

  5. Role of Statutes • Statutes have filled the gap left by Constitutional protections • Today, courts might find many of those rights guaranteed by Constitution if statutes were repealed. • But that is unlikely • Statutes developed around backdrop of race constitutional protections

  6. Law of Disability Discrimination • Borrowed integration presumption from race discrimination • Education • Voting • The Internet

  7. Integration Presumption

  8. Rethinking Integration Presumption IDEA measures success on the basis of presence in the regular classroom rather than on the basis of performance

  9. Continuum of Services Approach • Make sure that school districts offer instruction in “regular classes, special classes, home instruction and instruction in hospitals and institutions” • Then, help select the appropriate choice from this list.

  10. Help America Vote Act • Goal of public, accessible polling places

  11. New Developments • Why not bring voting to the voter in nursing homes and other places? • Absentee and early voting • Essential that it be fully accessible • Accessibility has to include the process of requesting the early ballot itself

  12. Similar Problem: The Internet • Is it a “place” of public accommodation?

  13. Home v. Public Sphere Should it matter where we shop?

  14. Your comments?

More Related