Comparative Enrollment in College-Level Holocaust vs. Slavery Classes

In an otherwise unrelated post recounting the life of a third-rate North Carolina Senator, Erik Loomis wrote something that jumped out at me:

So the U.S. has plenty of reason to feel shame about its actions or lack thereof in caring about the impending Holocaust, not that the college students who sign up for Holocaust courses by the hundreds but won’t touch slavery or Native American courses want to hear about their own nation’s complicity.

Is that last part -- suggesting that current college students "sign up for Holocaust courses by the hundreds", in comparison to presumably thinner enrollments in classes on slavery or Native American history -- true? Is it backed by any data regarding comparative enrollment levels across those sorts of classes?

Intuitively, it seems wrong to me. But I don't have any data either, so my intuition is just that. If others have harder numbers they could share, I'd be appreciative.

Thomas and Alito: The Anti-Gorsuchs on Tribal Rights

In the wake of today's blockbuster decision in Haaland v. Brackeen (upholding the Indian Child Welfare Act against constitutional challenge), and somewhat-less blockbuster decision in Lac du Flambeau Band of Lake Superior Chippewa Indians v. Coughlin (holding that tribal sovereign immunity is abrogated by the bankruptcy code), Josh Blackman observes that Justice Gorsuch appears to have ruled in favor of tribal parties in every case he's heard while on the Supreme Court. There's one case on that list that is arguably a bit dicey -- Yellen v. Confederated Tribes of Chehalis Reservation -- but by and large Justice Gorsuch's strong affinity for Indian tribes and tribal rights is very well-known.

Blackman thus asks whether Gorsuch has "ever written an opinion that ruled against an Indian Tribe or Member?" It's an interesting question. But reading Blackman's list, I noticed that in every case where Gorsuch ruled in favor of tribes, Justices Alito and Thomas were on the opposing side. He even recognizes that Gorsuch "is consistently on the other side of Justices Thomas and Alito" on these issues. Gorsuch has never written a unanimous opinion on a tribal rights question because in every case (at least) Thomas and Alito have voted against the tribes. Just as Gorsuch has apparently always voted on the side of tribal interests, it appears that, at least during Justice Gorsuch's tenure on the Court, Thomas and Alito have never voted in favor of tribal interests.

This is a striking streak -- maybe even more so than Gorsuch's 1.000 batting average. Obviously, Alito and Thomas don't have any general negative view towards Gorsuch's jurisprudential outlook -- they're aligned most of the time. And, whether you agree with Gorsuch or not, it's hard to gainsay that he is the foremost subject-matter expert on Indian law on the Supreme Court. So it's surprising that Alito and Thomas have never been willing to sign on to one of his opinions. When I was on the Eighth Circuit, my Judge (the late Diana E. Murphy) was generally recognized as one of the court's Indian law specialists, and so would typically get some amount of deference from her fellow judges on those questions -- not always, and not blindly, but it was there. Yet despite general ideological concurrence, and despite specific reasons to know that Gorsuch is the Supreme Court's Indian law specialist, Alito and Thomas have nonetheless been as implacable foes of tribal rights as Gorsuch has been a friend.

So again, asking whether Gorsuch has "ever written an opinion that ruled against an Indian Tribe or Member" is an interesting question. But still, I think there's also a corollary question to Blackman's. "When is the last time (if ever?) that Alito or Thomas have written an opinion ruling for an Indian Tribe or Member?" Thomas and Alito have been on the Court longer than Gorsuch has, so their record stretches back further than his tenure. But if we wonder as to why Gorsuch is so friendly to tribes and tribal interests, we perhaps should be equally curious as to why Thomas and Alito are so hostile to them.

Racist and Antisemitic Graffiti Case in Oklahoma

Police have a suspect in a spate of racist graffiti incidents in Oklahoma. A woman was caught on surveillance footage spraypainting racist, antisemitic, and White supremacist messages on the Oklahoma Democratic Party headquarters.

Government offices of the Chickasaw Nation were also targeted with similar slurs, and most recently more graffiti was found at culture centers and local Democratic Party offices in Norman.

The epithets include “Gas the Jews,” the word “Jewess” painted in red on a statue that had swastikas painted over its eyes, and “hang n***er kids,” all decorated with swastikas.  The graffiti also made violent threats against prominent Jewish Americans such as academic Barbara Spectre and political commentator Bill Kristol.

Last week graffiti was scrawled in Oklahoma City on a building that is also home to state agencies, non-profit groups and businesses. The phrases included “Welcome to Germany,” “Trump hates Israel,” ”Gas the Jews,” and “The Goyim know,” as well as the number sequence 1488, which is a reference to Adolf Hitler.

Hopefully she is caught soon and brought to justice. In the meantime, keep the targeted communities in Oklahoma -- Jews, African-Americans, and American Indians -- in your thoughts.

Tab Reduction is Stress Reduction Roundup

I've been very stressed these past few days. It's the usual mix of personal issues combined with the persistent fact of the world teetering on the brink of collapse. My appetite has gone, I haven't been sleeping well -- if it wasn't for the escape of Historical Murder Simulator: Greece, I don't know where I'd be.

Of course, none of this has stopped me from reading the internet. And here's a taste of what's been on the browser:

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Shais Rishon (aka MaNishtana) has a new book out -- a semiautobiographical text about a Black Jewish American Rabbi.

Jon Chait on why the rise of non-liberal socialism might be good for liberalism. Not sure I'm convinced, but it was an interesting read.

The Cleveland Indians are retiring the "Chief Wahoo" mascot. Good riddance. Now, the Washington Redskins stand alone and unchallenged for the title of "most obviously racist representation in professional sports". (The article did tell me a bit of trivia I hadn't been aware of: Apparently, the Cleveland Indians were named in honor of Louis Sockalexis, the first American Indian professional ballplayer who played three seasons for the then-Cleveland Spiders from 1897-99).

Top Corbyn ally tries to push head of Jewish Voice for Labour -- a fringe-left Jewish group formed to provide Jewish cover against broad-based Jewish outrage over Corbynista antisemitism -- to run for parliament in one of the most heavily Jewish seats in the country. At a candidate event, prominent Jewish community members (including journalists) banned from attending because they "misrepresent people, events, or facts". Protest outside the event includes someone trying to burn an Israeli flag ... that was being worn around someone's shoulders. Just another day.

Good article, bad title: In the Forward, Moshe Krakowski explores the nuanced and complicated posture Orthodox Jews take towards Israel and Zionism.

ADL explains how Soros-talk can be antisemitic talk. It's good, but certain examples of "left politics are a Soros backed conspiracy" were oddly omitted....

Israeli appellate court upholds ban on entry for Lara Alqasem. Guess my column didn't persuade. She may appeal to to the Supreme Court. Also worth noting: a good piece on the Academe Blog regarding Israeli academia rallying behind Alqasem, and a statement from the Alliance for Academic Freedom (which I signed) urging Israel to reverse this ill-advised and illiberal decision.

In happier news, Congress just passed a bill which would rename the federal courthouse building in Minneapolis after my late judge, Diana Murphy. Judge Murphy was the first women to serve on the Eighth Circuit when she was appointed in 1994 (as of 2018, that number has risen to ... two), and served nearly 40 years on the federal bench.

The Bachelor's Roundup

Today is a big week.

It is my last week as an unmarried man. This coming Sunday, September 2nd, 2018, I will be married. 9/2/18 -- it's very mathematical, and mathematical around the number "18" too, which is nicely auspicious.

Jill has been out of town since Wednesday -- she says on a work trip, though I think she's just having a second bachelorette party. She gets back late tonight, and then we both fly to Minnesota together on Thursday.

So ... this might be a light posting week. Or not! I'm unpredictable.

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The Washington Post has a long article on the Lumbee Indians of North Carolina and the unique neither-fish-nor-fowl status they have under federal Indian law. I had a case that tangentially connected to the Lumbee when I was at Covington, so I actually was familiar with their situation -- and this article does a good job providing additional depth.

There is little doubt in my mind that, if Trump goes down, his hardcore followers will blame the Jews.

A fascinating -- if chilling -- essay by Cass Sunstein on how ordinary Germans experienced the rise of Nazism. The takeaway is that, for them, things still always felt "ordinary". They went camping, they hung out with friends, they made jokes. We have a very wrong idea of the phenomenology of authoritarianism -- at least for those persons not directly targeted for suppression.

David Hirsh goes into detail to explain what should be obvious: why Jeremy Corbyn dismissing "Zionists" as people who have "lived in this country for a very long time, probably all their lives," and yet "don’t understand English irony" is antisemitic. It leverages specifically antisemitic tropes, and it does so in a way that's only sensible if one is leveraging those tropes (the idea of "Zionists" retaining status as perpetual aliens who remain unassimilable outsiders no matter how long they live in their "host" countries is incoherent without supervening on "Zionist as Jew").

Who could have guessed that, if the fringe group Jewish Voice for Labour put on a forum on antisemitism, it would become a forum for antisemitism? Everyone, that's who!

Regarding the French Open's ban on Serena Williams wearing a "catsuit", it's simultaneously amazing and not at all amazing that misogynoir so easily trumps the truckloads of money and attention Williams -- one of the biggest stars in global sports -- brings to women's tennis.

Cleveland Indians Phasing Out "Chief Wahoo"

The Cleveland Indians' nakedly racist mascot, "Chief Wahoo", is being phased out of the team uniforms. About time. Frankly, while of course plenty of people have been complaining about the racist caricature that is Chief Wahoo for a long time, I've always been a bit surprised that the Indians largely managed to avoid a Redskins-style boycott over it.

The Other Voting Rights Travesty

One interesting aspect of studying "anti-discrimination" issues in America is the degree to which Indigenous rights are frequently simply forgotten. In Australia, New Zealand, or to a lesser extent Canada, indigenous issues often occupy a substantial part of the attention of scholars in this area, but in the United States Native Americans are completely overlooked. An American law student, for example, will invariably get a significant education in the history of civil rights legislation and jurisprudence spanning the entirety of American history. But one can get an entire American legal education at most schools and pretty much never read a case that is primarily about Native American law.

On that note, I found very interesting this New York Times article about renewed pushes in Native communities to get and protect their right to vote. Whether the demand is opening polling stations in remote areas where Native Americans often live, to contesting gerrymandered districting lines which deprive Native Americans of proportionate representation, to ensuring that Native Americans have equal access to the necessary infrastructural prerequisites to voting (e.g., adequate postal service in vote-by-mail communities, or available registration offices in places that require voter ID), Native voting rights issues overlap with but are also distinct from the more familiar set of problems that are present in the race field.

Anyway, the article makes for a good read. Recommended.

Palate-Cleansing Roundup

My Tablet article on Brooklyn Commons, and the follow up posted here, really pulled me away from a lot of my other reading -- including some planned posts. So here's a palate-cleansing roundup for your pleasure -- fewer entries than normal, but with more meat per bite.

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An interesting piece at Deadspin exploring why hijab-wearing fencer Ibtihaj Muhammad, rather than uncovered hurdler Dalilah Muhammad, became the "face" of Muslim women among American Olympians. At one level, I think it is absolutely fair to suggest that minority groups -- of all sorts -- tend to face greater barriers to inclusion the more they are differentiated from majoritarian norms (e.g., by wearing a hijab). On other, though, I think it is not improbable that there is a degree of exoticization going on here, where we recognize as "authentic" cultural enactments which play to our pre-existing stereotypes.

In +972 Magazine, Assaf David argues that Israel is simply another Middle Eastern nation struggling to find its way in the wake of the colonial withdrawal from the region. None of Israel's problems -- from its identification with a particular religious and social group to the chafing of minority members of the state, to its ongoing struggles with sub- and super-national identities like religion, ethnicity, and community, to border disputes brought upon by indifferent colonial line-drawers and chaotic independence -- is particularly novel in the Middle East. And indeed, with a largely Mizrahi Jewish identity, Israel's own cultural heartbeat is at this point more Middle Eastern than Ashkenazi-European (via).

DOJ and Army Corps of Engineers announce a moratorium on pipeline building protested by the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe. More importantly, they look to be launching a more formal consultation process with tribal governments regarding how (either through current or new legislation) to better involve tribes in the planning and review process of infrastructural projects that touch or affect tribal lands or treaty rights.

2016's Opening Roundup

It's a new year, and so it deserves to be kicked off with a roundup!

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Jeannie Suk and Jake Gersen have posted a draft of their forthcoming article "The Sex Bureaucracy" (forthcoming this summer in the California Law Review). I saw them workshop this paper at Berkeley last fall, and it is certainly going to provoke discussion (I think it raises some important points, though there is a lot I disagree with).

The Supreme Court may be about to eviscerate tribal court civil jurisdiction over non-Indians who engage in consensual relations with the tribe or its members. This is unnerving for a host of reasons. First, I thought that the issue was settled by relatively recent precedent (the Tribe's attorney, Neal Katyal, is right that the Supreme Court's "tribal exhaustion" cases make zero sense if civil jurisdiction doesn't exist). Second, it threatens to reverse decades of hard-won progress in the courts to recognize and respect Indian sovereignty. And third, the argument forwarded by several Justices that tribal courts pose an inherent due process risk to non-tribal members because the juries will be comprised of Indians is flatly outrageous, especially given the existence of the Indian Civil Rights Act.  As Justice Breyer observes, this is no different from a citizen of Alabama getting an all-Mississippian jury in Mississippi state court, and just as with diversity jurisdiction generally (which is authorized by Congress but not a due process right) if Congress identifies a problem Congress is free to step in and regulate.

Israel has finally withdrawn its nomination for Dani Dayon to serve as Ambassador to Brazil. Brazil was set to publicly reject the appointment of the former settler leader, and the entire spectacle was yet another unforced diplomatic error by the increasingly hapless Netanyahu foreign policy machine.

An Israeli soldier who passed on confidential IDF information to terrorists (in this case, those of the "price tag" variety) has been sentenced to four years in prison. If only we could do the same to the right-wing MKs who did the exact same thing (Agricultural Minister Uri "If a person who transfers information about IDF movements is a spy, then I am a spy" Ariel, I'm looking at you).

Zeynep Tufekci has a touching editorial in the New York Times about "Why the Postal Service Makes America Great." This hits me where I live. First, I'm never prouder of being an American than when talking with immigrants about how wondrous they are about America. Immigrants, of course, are people who almost by definition made incredible sacrifices (social, financial, sometimes physical) to come here because they believe in their bones in the American dream. They have an excitement about America that is infectious and exhilarating. But separately, I too have long been in awe of the U.S. postal system. It is nothing short of amazing that I can address a letter to anyone in the country, no matter what far-flung flyspeck village they might live in, and have it delivered to them in a timely and reliable fashion.

Binjamin Arazi offers up the progressive case for Israel. It's quite good -- most posts in this vein quickly become smarmy declarations about how good the gays have it or how Israel is "the only democracy in the middle east!" This one, by contrast, puts the focus where I do: on progressive understandings of oppression and liberation (here applied to Jews). Still perhaps a little smarmy, but definitely below median (and who am I to judge on that front, anyway?).

We Want Dawes!

Shorter Rand Paul : The struggles of Native Americans began when we took their land. In conclusion, we should abolish Native American sovereignty and demand they be fully assimilated into American culture.

Personally, I think any Republican who doesn't support restoring the Dawes Act is a RINO.

A Tribe's Sovereign Authority To Exploit Workers

One of my favorite cases to teach is Santa Clara Pueblo v. Martinez, 436 U.S. 49 (1978). Martinez involved an ordinance by the Santa Clara Pueblo tribe which granted tribal membership to the children of men -- but not women -- who married out of the tribe. A suit challenging the ordinance was brought by a a Santa Clara Pueblo woman married to a Navajo man and their daughter, who would not be deemed a citizen of the Santa Clara Pueblo nation under the ordinance. It's fun to teach because it pits two deeply-held liberal commitments -- gender equality and political autonomy for indigenous communities -- against one another. Even Catherine MacKinnon wrote that she found the case "difficult" (adding "and I don't usually find cases difficult."). The law seems manifestly misogynist, but it is difficult to think of a more fundamental element of tribal sovereignty than the authority to determine who qualifies as a member of the tribe -- and in any event, respecting tribal autonomy means nothing if it doesn't include allowing them to do things you don't like. The case never fails to make my students squirm (the Court, for its part, held that the suit could not be maintained).

But Santa Clara Pueblo is nearing 40 years old. Maybe it's time for some fresh blood. And in today comes the Sixth Circuit in NLRB v. Little River Band of Ottawa Indians. The case involves a challenge to a tribal ordinance governing labor and employment rules, which primarily impact the tribe's multi-million dollar casino (most of whose employees and customers are non-tribal members, but whose revenue makes up the lion's share of the tribe's budget). From how it is described in the court opinion, the ordinance at issue would make Scott Walker blush:

[The ordinance] grants to the Band the authority to determine the terms and conditions under which collective bargaining may or may not occur; prohibits strikes, work stoppage, or slowdown by the Band’s employees and, specifically, by casino employees; prohibits the encouragement and support by labor organizations of employee strikes; prohibits any strike, picketing, boycott, or any other action by a labor organization to induce the Band to enter into an agreement; subjects labor organizations and employees to civil penalties for strike activity; subjects employees to suspension or termination for strike activity; subjects labor organizations to decertification for strike activity; subjects labor organizations to a ban on entry to tribal lands for strike activity; and requires labor organizations doing business within the jurisdiction of the Band to apply for and obtain a license. [It] also precludes collective bargaining over the Band’s decisions to hire, lay off, recall, or reorganize the duties of its employees; precludes collective bargaining over any subjects that conflict with the Band’s tribal laws; exempts the Band from the duty to bargain in good faith over the terms and conditions under which the Band’s employees may be tested for alcohol and drug use; limits the duration of collective bargaining agreements to three years or less; provides that decisions by the Band, through its Tribal Court, over disputes involving the duty to bargain in good faith or alleged conflicts between a collective-bargaining agreement and tribal laws shall be final and not subject to appeal; and limits the period of time during which employees may file a deauthorization petition. Further, [it] prohibits the requirement of membership in a labor organization as a condition of employment. It also prohibits the deduction of union dues, fees, or assessments from the wages of employees unless the employee has presented, and the Band has received, a signed authorization of such deduction. [It] prohibits Band employers, such as the casino, from giving testimony or producing documents in response to requests or subpoenas issued by non-tribal authorities engaged in investigations or proceedings on behalf of current or former employees, when such employees have failed to exhaust their remedies under the [tribal ordinance].

Yowzers. Labor groups complained, alleging the ordinance was unlawful under the federal National Labor Relations Act. And they're almost certainly right ... if the NLRA applies to the tribe -- a question that the statute is silent on. That was the question before the Sixth Circuit, and in a 2-1 decision the court agreed with the National Labor Relations Board that the statute did apply as against the tribe.

Having read the opinions though, I'm inclined to think that the dissent got the better of it. This law seems repulsive to me, and its enactment is enough to convince me that the NLRA should apply to tribes. But the statute is silent on that question, and the real question is what we should infer from that silence. The majority opinion draws the sweeping conclusion that, subject to a few exceptions, when Congress crafts a generally-applicable law we should assume that they intended to divest tribes of their sovereignty over that area. This is a 180 to how I understand tribal sovereignty, which is that we assume that tribes maintain most if not all of their sovereign powers unless Congress takes some specific step to demonstrate it intends to strip that sovereignty away. Here, there is no indication that Congress thought it was applying the NLRA to Indian tribes, and the extraordinarily belated attempt by the NLRB to assert such authority makes that inference even more dubious as a matter of congressional intent.

Incidentally, for all you folks who think all contested legal questions boil down to politics, the panel consisted of -- you guessed it -- two Republicans and one Democrat. What you might not have guessed is that it was the Republicans who split: George W. Bush appointee Julia Smith Gibbons wrote the opinion, joined by Carter appointee Gilbert Stroud Merritt. The dissent was authored by fellow GWB appointee David McKeague.

The case may feel like a good outcome, but I think it creates a bad rule. Respect for tribal sovereignty and autonomy means our default should be to preserve their sovereign authority unless Congress makes evident its intent to do the contrary. Ordinances like this certainly heighten the appeal of "the contrary" in the labor law context. But ultimately, that's a decision for Congress to make. Allowing Courts to make it for them, and in the process make tribal sovereignty the exception rather than the rule, would have devastating consequences for the autonomy and independence of Indian tribes and runs counter to the basic principle of Indian sovereignty.

Discovery of the Day: Indian Delegates to Congress

Today I learned an interesting historical tidbit about America's relationship with Indian tribes: In several early treaties, we offered Tribes a "delegate" to Congress. A treaty with the Delaware in 1778 offered "a representation in Congress" to a potential envisioned confederation between the Delaware and other tribes (with the Delaware presumed to be the head of that newly created state). Similarly, a 1775 treaty with the Cherokee allowed them "to send a deputy of their choice" to Congress. Both of these predate the end of the Revolutionary War, but the 1836 Treaty of New Echota between the United States and the Cherokee Nation contains similar language applicable to the modern Congress:

The Cherokee nation having already made great progress in civilization and deeming it important that every proper and laudable inducement should be offered to their people to improve their condition as well as to guard and secure in the most effectual manner the rights guarantied to them in this treaty, and with a view to illustrate the liberal and enlarged policy of the Government of the United States towards the Indians in their removal beyond the territorial limits of the States, it is stipulated that they shall be entitled to a delegate in the House of Representatives of the United States whenever Congress shall make provision for the same.

The Treaty of New Echota was the basis by which Congress justified removal of the Cherokee to present-day Oklahoma (the notorious "trail of tears"). And the delegate provision has never been implemented.

Still, it is an interesting fact of American and American Indian history that I was hitherto unaware of. The more you know!

A Minor Variation

Stephen Breyer's lecture detailing the history of the Cherokee nation's attempt to resist Georgia's theft and colonization of their land reveals something important. "State's rights" wasn't always just a fig leaf to promote White supremacy over Black people. Sometimes, it was used to promote White supremacy over Native Americans too. Georgia's action were in unbelievably flagrant violation of the law and dutifully signed treaty rights possessed by the Cherokee nation. It's the sort of thing that still outrages, 175 years later.

Civil Rights Roundup: 10/14/08

Your daily dose of civil rights and related news

Among other problems, the language interpretation at Guantanamo Bay trials is awful.

Wyoming remains one of the few states without a hate crimes law.

The Tulsa World: Many Native Americans don't celebrate Columbus Day.

Civil rights leaders are worrying that a new agreement between Las Vegas officials and ICE will increase racial profiling and decrease the reporting of violent crime.

Working from the ground up: Increased success by local Black politicians is getting White voters used to Black leadership. See, e.g., my home of Montgomery County, which recently elected African-American Ike Leggett as our County Executive. Montgomery County is 65% White and only 15% Black.

The Supreme Court has cleared the way for Troy Wilson to be executed. Wilson, convicted of capital murder, became a cause for many death penalty opponents (or supporters who care about justice) because the vast majority of the witnesses against him have since recanted their testimony.

Gay couples in California worry it's now or never. What a sad position to be put in.

Are Georgia election officials illegally purging voters?

The war over Amendment 46 continues to rage in Colorado.

Civil Rights Roundup: 09/04/08

Your daily dose of civil rights and related news

This is a little late, but the Atlanta Journal-Constitution had a fascinating story about an area police office who found out recently that she was intersex.

A judge has ruled that the ADA applies to airlines.

My home county is posting a decline test scores and an increase in the racial achievement gap. Mounting economic diversity is to blame, claims the school superintendent.

A Texas woman is fighting back against predatory lenders, saying they targeted her because she was Black.

Maryland's new DNA law is under criticism due to concerns it would allow police to keep a suspect's DNA on file even if she or he was not convicted.

The Human Rights Campaign's equality index shows an increase in firms' protections of LGBT Americans.

The chair of Vermont's commission on Native Americans has resigned in frustration with legislative inaction on recognizing local tribes.

Steven Steinlight of the far-right Center for Immigration Studies tries to convince Jews to oppose immigration (legal and illegal). Somehow, I'm skeptical it will work.

The Ft. Myers News-Press lauds a recent slavery conviction of several agricultural owners in Florida, but lays the blame for the problem squarely on our immigration policy. "Disrespect for human beings is in the DNA of the current system. Respect demands that we legalize the foreign labor we clearly need to harvest our crops."

The ACLU is suing to block Rhode Island's use of e-verify, which they say improperly labels foreign workers as ineligible to work.

The New York Times reports that the process of transitioning in the workplace has become easier for transgender individuals.

Federal job bias claims are down, but Paul Secunda thinks that it's mostly due to an unfriendly environment to whistle-blowing.

A Georgia man is scheduled to be executed in a few days, despite the fact that seven witnesses have now recanted the statements that got him convicted in the first place.

The few remaining Black Republicans are bemoaning the fact that their party seems to have all but given up on attracting Black voters.

The Colorado affirmative action counter-measure has failed to make the ballot. In contrast to the original, Ward Connerly-backed initiative, which would have barred affirmative action in all forms outright, this one would have only clarified that racial quotas are illegal.

Civil Rights Roundup: 08/08/08

Your daily dose of civil rights and related news

Texas has executed another illegal immigrant in a case with similar fact patterns to Medellin.

...And the Washington Post asks why Texas hates America.

A federal judge ruled that the government owes Indian tribes $455 million for mismanaged oil and gas revenues -- far less than the $47 billion they were seeking.

Even White folks can "play the race card" if they dare corroborate an accusation of racism.

A step in the right direction: Two Texas Republican judges sought the endorsement of local GLBT groups.

A 14-year old boy who is being charged with a hate crime in the slaying of a gay classmate has plead not guilty.

The Employee Free Choice Act (EFCA) is looking like it'll be one of the biggest battles between corporations and unions we've seen in years.

An Army recruiter threatened a high school student with jail if he picked going to college over joining the military. The kid had signed a non-binding contract to enlist, but then changed his mind.

Dueling "civil rights" initiatives related to affirmative action are on the ballot in Colorado. My organization, the LCCR, is sponsoring Initiative 82, which would prohibit quota or points systems, but would allow affirmative action to remain to remedy discrimination. It's counterpart, Amendment 46, would dismantle affirmative action outright.

A civil rights attorney is suing after a NYPD cop handcuffed a ten-year old girl for not taking her seat fast enough on the school bus.

A Law.com columnist says companies must bolster their anti-retaliation policies. He focuses more on the changing legal landscape which makes companies more vulnerable to retaliation, whereas I'd prefer to focus on the fact that retaliation is just plain wrong, but whatever is persuasive to your audience, I guess.

The LA Times comes out hard against the California ballot initiative which would strip gay couples of their right to marry.

Robert Koehler: Obama's "dollar bill" remark "violated the cardinal rule of the Era of Forgetting [about racism]: He talked about it."

Civil Rights Roundup: 08/05/08

Your daily dose of civil rights and related news

The WaPo opines against the appalling state of DC's child services department.

The Feds are pursuing a case against a unrecognized Indian tribe which falsely told immigrants that by purchasing tribal membership, they would become American citizens.

The 5th Circuit is preparing to hear whether Texas' moment of silence law is an unconstitutional cover for school prayer.

Texas continues to struggle with getting good teachers to teach at poorer and urban school districts.

Immigrant children get less exercise than other American kids.

AIDS among migrant workers are being neglected during their detention by American authorities.

A death row inmate in Ohio claims that his weight will prevent the lethal injection protocol from working on him, subjecting him to an "excruciating" death.

AlterNet has a good story on the continued tensions between radical feminists and transgender women.

The title is a bit bizarre, but this article on unionizing immigrants is very interesting.

The Texas Board of Pardons and Paroles has denied a request by Jose Ernesto Medellin for a 240-day reprieve or commutation of his sentence, despite his lawyer's pleas that the case seriously threatens American interests abroad by undermining the Vienna Convention.

Even if California voters approve Proposition 8, which would overturn the state's gay marriage ruling, it would not apply retroactively.

The NYCLU wants to know the race of suspects shot at by the NYPD.

Casinos rule in Las Vegas, and it seems they can use their privileged position to get out of liability for gross safety violations.

Civil Rights Roundup: 08/04/08

Your daily dose of civil rights and related news

The part of this story about video-taping errant traffic cops is not civil rights related. But the part about private citizen videos serving as a check against abusive cops is.

Nothing says sensible immigration policy more than deporting a 31 year old legal immigrant for a theft charge she got probation for ... as a teenager.

The Washington Post accuses the Virginia GOP of trying to scare voters away from the polls.

Texas is set to go forward with the Medellin execution, despite pleas from President Bush and the World Court to hold off.

New Mexico becomes the first state to adopt a Navajo textbook. I say: if you come to America, better learn to speak the language Anglos!

Now hospitals are getting in on the deportation game.

Is reduced illegal immigration a function of enforcement or the economy?

The railroading of suspected illegal immigrants continues to get attention.

Civil rights groups are nervous about new federal profiling that will hit Arab and Muslim Americans hard.

The DoD admits it targeted a man with accusations of spying for Israel strictly because he was an observant Jew.

The Confederate flag battles are moving to private property.

New Jersey adds religion-based jokes to the list of things that can constitute work-place harassment (here is the ruling).

Will the Obama campaign fracture or renew the Black/Jewish alliance?

More Hairy Situations

A controversy in rural Texas is brewing over a Native American child who, in accordance with his religious beliefs, wishes to wear his hair long. The local school district refuses to allow males to wear their hair below the collar, and is refusing an exemption. The family is digging in its heels as well:

Meanwhile, Betenbaugh said she is ready to fight the Needville rule and has not considered moving to another school district with a less stringent hair code.

"It would just teach our son that it is easier to roll over and do what you're told and not stand up for your rights," she said.

As I've expressed in other posts, the application of these rules strikes me as simply mean-spirited, and I think a renewed focus on what a just policy would like, rather than arrogant assertions of what a school board has a "right" to do, would improve things all around.

Amazingly, this will be my third post on hair as an element of discrimination law and minority rights. But the incongruity of it, I suspect, stems from the fact that hair just isn't that important to the identity of White Christians -- or perhaps, that to the extent we do care about our hair, any regulations that are passed comfortably encompass the type of stylings White people care about (which helps explain why the hair length restriction applies only to boys, not girls).

Strange but True Jews

The story of the only known Jewish Indian chief.

Via Professor Muller.