University of Colorado Law Review

PDF: Anuj C. Desai,[1] Is Title VII an “Anti-Discrimination” Law? Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 is commonly referred to as an “anti-discrimination” statute. At its core, we are told, it prohibits something called “discrimination.” But does it? Startlingly, the answer is no—not really. Instead, Title VII prohibits certain acts done for certain reasons. True, the reasons are precisely what everyone has long understood them to be—”because of . . . race, color, religion, sex, or national origin . . . .”[2] But the law’s prohibited acts do not Continue reading →

This article argues that legal education needs to get its act together by getting organized. Unlike the rest of the university, law schools are over a century behind in recognizing the need for the greater organization that departments can provide. Specialization, which did not exist many years ago, has become so universal that some members of any faculty either cannot understand or care about, much less govern wisely, what goes on around them. Ignorance is compounded by non-professional agendas driven by ideologies and interdisciplinary interests. Continue reading →

On October 1, 2019, Missouri began the execution of death row inmate Russell Bucklew.[1] Those present for the execution reported seeing Mr. Bucklew strapped to a gurney, the IV inserted, and a white sheet up to his chest.[2] The elevated gurney was the only sign that Missouri had attempted to accommodate his cavernous hemangioma, a rare condition resulting in the growth of blood-filled tumors in his head, neck, and throat.[3] His face, notable for the sizeable blackish-purple tumor protruding from his upper lip, was turned Continue reading →

Ingrid Eagly,[1] Address to Colorado Law School on Monday, February 22, 2021 at 5:00-6:30 p.m.   The topic of today’s lecture, which was selected in Breanna Boss’s memory, is access to justice for immigrants. We gather here today at the start of a new presidential administration, but following four years that have significantly threatened access to justice for immigrants. Under President Donald Trump, a series of executive orders fundamentally restructured the immigration system and made all undocumented immigrants a priority for deportation.[2] Meanwhile, growing backlogs Continue reading →

Since the founding, Americans have sought a perfectly calibrated government that vigorously protects, but never violates, citizens’ individual rights.[2] To accomplish this, government must balance orderly security and individual liberty. This liberty-or-security dilemma is significant to the study of the United States Constitution. Since at least the 1960s, the Supreme Court has repeatedly confronted this dilemma in the context of police use-of-force cases.[3] In these cases, the Supreme Court routinely grants summary judgment to police officers based on qualified immunity, thereby denying relief to aggrieved Continue reading →

During the spring of 2020, the COVID-19 crisis began to unfold in the U.S. Legal scholars exploring the impact of the pandemic on people with disabilities focused much of their attention on triage protocols. These scholars debated the legality and ethics of using patient disability as a basis for rationing ventilators in the face of then-looming ventilator shortages at hospitals.[2] At least initially, stay-at-home orders across the country were successful in “flattening the curve” and reducing the demand for ventilators.[3] However, the pandemic’s widespread disruption Continue reading →

On October 22, 2019, Justice Elena Kagan sat down with Professor Suzette Malveaux, director of the Byron White Center for the Study of Constitutional Law, for the Eighth Annual John Paul Stevens Lecture. (Text of the full lecture can be found here.) What made Justice Kagan’s visit to Colorado Law particularly special was the opportunity for her to honor her predecessor on the bench—the namesake of the lecture series—only three months after the country lost him at the age of ninety-nine. In 2011, Justice John Continue reading →

PROJECT PROTECT FOOD SYSTEMS: The Colorado Food System Workers Rapid Response Team is composed of immigrants, farmers, scholars, activists, unions, and workers across Colorado working to identify, elevate and address the needs of the people who contribute their labor to all parts of the food system. Federal relief directed toward the agriculture sector prioritized the needs of business owners, but largely ignored the specific vulnerabilities and needs of Food System Workers. Inattention to the plight and the health of food system workers is unsurprising but Continue reading →

On April 5, 2020, Michael Tyson, a 53-year old man arrested for a technical parole-violation, became the first reported person on Rikers Island to die from COVID-19.[2] By April 20, over two-thirds of the people incarcerated in Ohio’s Mario Correctional Institution had tested positive for the novel coronavirus, and over twenty percent of Ohio’s 12,919 confirmed cases had been traced to the state’s prison system.[3] By April 30, prisons or jails had been identified as the source of eight out of ten of largest viral Continue reading →

In 2007, following decades of advocacy by indigenous peoples, the United Nations General Assembly adopted the Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (Declaration). This is a standard-setting document supported by the 148 member nations, including the United States, committing to the individual and collective rights of indigenous peoples. These rights include the right to self-determination, equality, property, culture, and economic well-being.[1] John Echohawk, Executive Director of the Native American Rights Fund (NARF), has said that the Declaration affirms many of the rights for which Continue reading →