Battered Person Syndrome in Court

On Wednesday, we'll be watching a film about the use of the battered woman defense in court. The film, Abused, tells the story of Susan Greenberg. The library entry for the film is here, but it won't be available until after class on Wednesday. But I'd like for you to think about this story, too. It is the story of Mr. Hassan and his battered person defense. Mr. Hassan is accused of beheading his wife after they decided to divorce. For background information, see this New York Times account of the story. His attorney used "battered person syndrome" as an explanation of his self-defense claim. Here is a news account of Hassan's defense:



After deliberating for less than an hour, the jury found him guilty. He was subsequently sentenced to life in prison by the trial court judge, but is likely to appeal the verdict. This case has led to a couple of legal innovations in New York. These innovations are intended to prevent domestic violence, mostly against women. They were inspired not by Hassan as "victim" (as his defense claimed), but as perpetrator of the murder of his wife. First, a new Integrated Domestic Violence Court was created to try to keep non-lethal "warning signal" events in the court system. A second innovation is a new law taking away the murderous spouse's right to the victim's remains.

Sexual Assault and Campus Procedures

In class today, we talked about the way college campuses can use administrative procedures to investigate and make findings in response to claims of sexual assault on campus.This article from the Cato Institute provides an introduction to some of these issues. To see the problems in practice, consider the story of Patrick Witt.

UNLV's procedures can be found at this link. Here is an excerpt: The Office of Student Conduct (OSC) collaborates with the UNLV community to provide an inclusive system of conflict resolution services through enforcement of the UNLV Student Conduct Code and related policies by:

• Promoting awareness of student rights and responsibilities;
• Establishing accountability for student choices;
• Creating opportunities for involvement in the process; and
• Striving to uphold the values and ethics that advance the common good.

UNLV Student Conduct Policy Individuals who are victims/survivors of interpersonal violence may report such acts to the Office of Student Conduct (OSC). A victim/survivor controls the level to which they participate in the conduct process. You can decide not to make a formal report, to make an anonymous report, or make formal charges against the accused student. OSC will always attempt to adjudicate incidents based upon the victim’s/survivor’s level of participation in the least intrusive way. Student Rights in the Conduct Process:

• To have all statements and reports remain confidential.
• To have a No Contact Letter issued against the charged student.
• To have an advocate present at all stages of the conduct process.

If you want to read more about the difficult position our college campuses have been put in, read this recent law review article.

Consent When Drugged?

Consent has a different meaning when the victim has been drugged. Here is a link to a short video on the topic.

Cohabitation

In America, cohabitation is on the increase. This article describes the changing nature of cohabitation, which includes the increase in older Americans who engage in the practice. This has important consequences for the traditional common law ideas of marriage. In Kenya, cohabitation laws are being relaxed. In India, the recent court decision described here attempts to deal with these new realities. Some American states have started to address the way that cohabitation impacts existing common law institutions like alimony. But several American states still have laws against cohabiting, as this unfortunate political candidate discovered recently.

From http://www.unmarried.org/housing.html

 

North Carolina's anti-cohabitation law was challenged in 2005, and the trial court's decision to overturn the law was later upheld on appeal. But several states still have such laws.

Women & Men Unglued

We'll be watching this film in class today. It is also available online via the library. If you would like to re-watch it or share it with your friends, here's the link. If you're off campus, you'll need to follow the instructions to activate the proxy server.

Title IX and the Third Prong

The Obama Administration announced recently that it is rescinding a controversial policy that allowed colleges to use student body surveys to demonstrate compliance with the "third prong" of Title IX, namely that the women's athletic program fully and effectively accommodates the interest of current and prospective female students. See this Chronicle of Higher Education article for more details.

Pull-Ups

An interesting write-up of some research on gender differences in pull-up ability: http://well.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/10/25/why-women-cant-do-pull-ups/

Title IX and Equality in Sports

Here's another take on the effect of Title IX on equality in collegiate sports. Enjoy!

Study Break!

If you need some music to complement your studies, try this. This is Mr. Gill's newest song. If you like it, feel free to drop him a vote. He's in the top 12 of more than 300. Enjoy!

The Law Fair

The dates are obviously different, but the rest of the advice from my advice to 2009 Law Fair Attendees still holds. This year's UNLV Law Fair is on the second floor of the union from 10-1 on Monday, 10/22. Enjoy.

RG

Sex Selection in the News

Need more evidence that sex-selective abortion in the US is going to be a major topic of discussion? <a href="http://www.worldmag.com/2012/09/boy_crazy">This article</a> suggests that, because sex-selective abortion is illegal in many other countries, many wealthy would-be parents are travelling to the US for sex-selection services. Notice at the end of the article where Dr. Steinberg draws the line. Does this make sense? Is there any ethical reason to consider sex-selection to be morally acceptable but selection based on these characteristics to be immoral?

The Return of the Abortion Restrictions

Given what we've talked about and read last week and this week, it would seem that some restrictions on abortion (waiting periods, informed consent, etc.) are old news. But check out this NPR story about a wave of renewed state-level legislation on abortion. I would suspect that one of these might make a great exam question, and I'd certainly write a question about this if I were writing the exam. What do you make of this new trend? What is driving this? I would think about this in terms of the socio-political context, including popular political movements as well as composition of and trends on the Supreme Court bench. I'd also consider if there is any new information here; perhaps old precedents are time-bound in some way? Generally speaking, is any of this constitutional? If so, which parts? What will this Court do in the face of a direct (or partial) challenge to Roe v. Wade and its progeny?

The Last Abortion Clinic

Today, we'll be dealing with questions about access to abortion. We will be watching The Last Abortion Clinic in class. If you would like to see it again, you can watch it for free online <a href="http://digital.films.com/PortalViewVideo.aspx?xtid=40903">here</a>. Just remember that you'll either need to be online at UNLV, or you'll have to log in using the proxy server. The link from the library's website is <a href="http://webpac.library.unlv.edu/search~S1/?searchtype=.&searcharg=b3948823">here</a>, and information about off-campus access is <a href="http://www.library.unlv.edu/help/remote.html">here</a>.

Where is the Life Line?

In on Wednesday, 9/24, we're going to talk about a very controversial article from the Journal of Medical Ethics. It is quite short, and you should be familiar with it before you arrive in class today. Find a copy of it here. As you read this, consider how this article illustrates why Americans may never come to an agreement on abortion policy.

Sex-Selection

Here's an article that is relevant to one of the four paper topics: http://bigthink.com/ideafeed/why-are-americans-selecting-baby-girls-over-boys

Constitution Day

Remember that this year's Constitution Day festivities include a lecture on Contraception and the Constitution. Extra credit is available to those who attend and sign the sheet. The talk is at 7:30 pm on Monday, 9/17 at the Barrick Museum Auditorium. More details are here.

Bradwell v. Illinois: A Reenactment

What follows is a long video. It is nearly an hour long, and for this reason it is recommended and not required viewing. This is a reenactment of <i>Bradwell v. Illinois</i> (1873). It is notable for many reasons, among them performance of one of our current Supreme Court Justices. If you have the time and inclination, I recommend this.



Setting the "stage" for the next panel, we will travel back to 1872 and have a chance to observe the oral argument before the United States Supreme Court in Bradwell v. Illinois. Myra Bradwell, a married woman, was found qualified to practice law but denied admission to the Bar by the Supreme Court of Illinois on the grounds "[t]hat God designed the sexes to occupy different spheres of action, and that it belonged to men to make, apply, and execute the laws." The United States Supreme Court heard the case. We will have a chance to
hear the argument — or a creative, updated version of it, with different advocates and a different outcome. Ms. Arabella Mansfield, the first women lawyer in the United States, will be arguing arguing for Ms. Bradwell (although in fact, Ms. Bradwell was represented by a male lawyer, and Illinois will be well represented (although, in fact, the state was so sure of the outcome that it did not send any representative to argue in the Court). Should women be able to practice law? Does the United States Constitution have anything to say on the subject? Come and find out.

Introduction: 

• Hon. Marsha S. Berzon, Circuit Judge, U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit

Reenactment: 

Members of the U.S. Supreme Court:

• Hon. Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Associate Justice, U.S. Supreme Court
• Hon. Richard R. Clifton, Circuit Judge, U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit
• Hon. Sidney R. Thomas, Circuit Judge U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit

Advocates:

• Judith Resnik, Arthur Liman, Professor of Law, Yale Law School
• Carter G. Phillips, Esq., Sidley Austin LLP

Recorded: August 18, 2011
2011 Ninth Circuit Judicial Conference

Video Clip for Class, 9/10

The video clip from today's class comes from PBS's 3/4/2011 "To the Contrary" Episode called "Women's History Month--Equal Rights Amendment." gram: To The Contrary

Episode: Women's History Month - Equal Rights Amendment

Rep. Carolyn Maloney (D-NY) talks about what she and other women's rights advocates are doing to guarantee women equal protection under the U.S. Constitution

Duration: (3:16)
Premiere Date: 03/04/2011
Episode Expires: Never
TV Rating: NR

Watch Women's History Month - Equal Rights Amendment on PBS. See more from To The Contrary.

Updates

I have completed the group reading summary blogs. You should post your reviews to the blog, making sure that you personally post one review per four extra readings in the syllabus. You'll need to coordinate the schedule with your group. If you have a group with five members, you will need to duplicate one of the readings.

You will also notice that there is a peer review mechanism associated with the reading summary blog. You will need to read and assess the reading summaries posted by each of your groupmates. Please review these within a week after the reading was assigned. Keep in mind that your evaluations will be seen only by the author of the summary. Your identity will be concealed from the author of the summary, who will see only your evaluation and comments. Only our graduate assistant (Mr. O'Neal) and I will be able to connect your identity with your review.

Mr. O'Neal and I will also provide you feedback on your summaries.

In addition, I have added a page of links to the full text of the cases. This page is in the Readings folder, which is linked on the main WebCampus page for our course.

Equal Rights Amendment

In the course of the next couple of classes, we'll begin to learn a bit about the campaign for the Equal Rights Amendment. The long and failed campaign for an ERA is an interesting story, and it encapsulates many of the dilemmas that we'll be dealing with over the course of the semester. Certainly, feminists themselves were divided over what sex equality ought to look like. There were also major conflicts over the strategy for achieving these rights. Many argued that a constitutional amendment was not the ideal avenue, instead arguing for a piecemeal approach. This type of approach, in the view of many, would rely heavily on the Supreme Court and a reinterpretation of the Equal Protection Clause. This might also be seen as a relatively risky strategy in light of the Supreme Court's history on Equal Protection issues. Indeed, the story of the ERA's failure might also be seen as a story of the Supreme Court stealing the ERA's thunder. As the Supreme Court began to chip away at the most egregious examples of sex discrimination, it also undermined some of the most persuasive arguments in favor of the ERA. Consider this as you watch the video below.

Welcome to 411D

Hi, everyone. Welcome to our course on the Constitutional Rights of Women. In truth, we'll be talking about more than just constitutional rights; in many areas of the law, statutory law is the key to protecting the rights of women.

A note about using RSS feeds:

It's fine to just type in http://drgill411d.blogspot.com and read the blog in your browser just as you would any other website. If you'd like to learn how to get new messages delivered right to your computer or smartphone, check out this how-to video!



-RG