Supreme Court Decisions

About: Supreme Court Decisions is a research topic. Over the lifetime, 1804 publications have been published within this topic receiving 17066 citations.

Labor's troubadour

Abstract: Spiced with colorful anecdotes, leavened with humor, and rich with compassion for the struggles of the rank-and-file worker, "Labor's Troubadour" traces the life and work of labor balladeer Joe Glazer. For more than half a century, armed only with his guitar, reams of songs, and conviction, Glazer has marshaled the power of music to fight for union representation in mills, mines, factories, and offices all over the country. A performer, educator, and "musical agitator for all good causes," Glazer has sung on picket lines, in worn-out union halls, and at elegant dinners, using humor, irony, and pathos to drive home the message of unionism. With the ease and lan of a seasoned storyteller, Glazer tells of sharing platforms with political powerhouses including Harry Truman, Eleanor Roosevelt, Hubert Humphrey, Adlai Stevenson, George McGovern, John F. Kennedy, Lyndon Johnson, Ladybird Johnson, Jimmy Carter, and Bill Clinton. With sparks of humor, he describes his encounters with Jackie Kennedy, Rudolf Serkin, and other celebrities, as well as his relationships with Walter Reuther, George Meany, Cesar Chavez, Philip Murray, John Sweeney, and other outstanding leaders of the labor movement.During half a lifetime of rubbing shoulders with the powerful, however, Glazer's focus has never wavered from supporting workers' efforts to secure fair wages and decent working conditions. His reward has been to see his music bring unity out of discord, galvanize union support, and lift the spirits of striking workers who were running low on every resource except a shared faith in the strength of unity. In a career that has taken him all over the world to sing, write, and collect songs about the common human condition of working, Glazer has seen songs about the battle for the eight-hour day give way to songs about automation and cheap imports, with a constant refrain of union busters, scabs, solidarity, plant safety, and retirement benefits. Seventy of these songs are included in the book. An enthusiastic recruiter and promoter of new talent, Glazer has also drawn a number of new labor balladeers into the limelight, some of whom he profiles here. A lively and moving testament of "sticking to the union," "Labor's Troubadour" reveals the powerful role music can play in the serious business of changing the world. U.S. Supreme Court decisions change the lives of Americans for better or worse. Obviously, the stakes are high for litigants, but the outcomes also affect economic, social, and political life as the Court's actions direct law interpretation throughout the American legal system. Year after year the Supreme Court makes decisions that twist or turn American politics. In 2000, the Court decided the outcome of a presidential election. By doing so, some commentators claimed that the Court veered off its chartered constitutional course. Other commentators maintained that the Court brought needed stability to a political process that required finality. How it happens that a vote of nine justices substituted for the votes cast by citizens is not easily explained. In "Bush v. Gore" you can read and reflect on the entire proceedings, from the initial petitions urging the Supreme Court review through the briefs and reply briefs to the Court's opinions and dissents. More than that, you can listen to the proceedings as the justices ask questions and the attorneys answer. The recordings demonstrate as no transcript can the tension in the Court while it heard the arguments and the emotions that ran high as the justices dealt with each other. This is the first in a series of compact discs on major decisions made by the U. S. Supreme Court. "Bush v. Gore" takes full advantage of digital technology to allow access to each case as it was presented as well as to the decisions and dissents that came from it. Hardly an austere and impersonal body, the Supreme Court will come alive as individuals passionately involved in the logic, precedents, and consequences of law in the United States argue the great issues in our time.

Why Canada's Medical Assistance in Dying Legislation Should Be C(h)arter Compliant and What It May Help to Avoid

Abstract: In 2015, the Supreme Court of Canada in Carter v Canada (AG) (Carter) invalidated the absolute prohibition on what is now known in Canada as medical assistance in dying (MAID), It nevertheless reaffirmed the validity of a more limited criminal law-based prohibition and the role of the criminal law. In response, the 2016 federal legislation provides access to MAID to competent adults who have a grievous and irremediable medical condition that causes enduring and intolerable suffering, but it balances this with restrictions aimed at the realization of several broad goals and values: the protection against errors and abuse; the equal value of every person’s life and the avoidance of negative perceptions of the quality of life of persons who are elderly, ill, or disabled; the prevention of suicide; and the protection of vulnerable people. Access is therefore restricted to people whose natural death is “reasonably foreseeable” and whose “capabilities” are irreversibly declining. Several commentators have criticized the law for being inconsistent with Carter and for violating the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms (Charter) and the law is already being challenged in court. In this article, we argue that the federal legislation constitutes a proper response to Carter, in that it respects Carter as well as the Charter. The first Part of the article discusses the largely ignored restrictive, and at times contradictory, nature of the Carter trial and Supreme Court decisions, their discussion of the evidence, the subsequent public and parliamentary debates, the introduction of the legislation, and some problematic interpretations that have since been put forward. The second Part of the article looks at serious problems that are increasingly identified in Belgium's euthanasia regime, which has been hailed by some as a good model for MAID regulation, and which played a particular role in the Carter decision. Our discussion highlights how a Belgian-style regime, which provides broad access to MAID outside of the end-of-life context and relies mostly on physician evaluations and post-factum reporting as safeguards, risks undermining the legitimate goals and values of the federal legislation. The authors conclude with recommendations to keep the current end-of-life restrictions in place, to introduce a meaningful reporting system, and to provide proper guidance for the interpretation of the end-of-life restrictions.

Television News and the Supreme Court: “The Supreme Court Decided Today …” – or Did It?

Abstract: “Every time Dan Rather says ‘The Supreme Court today upheld … ’ I want to smack him. … He has got to know better. He's been around too long.” Toni House, Public Information Officer, U.S. Supreme Court Throughout our narrative we have documented at many junctures that the Supreme Court is a uniquely invisible institution in the eyes of the American public both in a relative as well as in an absolute sense. As Gregory Caldeira notes, numerous studies have demonstrated that “there is only a shallow reservoir of knowledge about … the Court in the mass public. … Few … fulfill the most minimal prerequisites of the role of a knowledgeable and competent citizen vis-a-vis the Court” (1986: 1211). At any given moment if the average American were queried about any decisions the Court had rendered in its current or past term, the questioner would likely come up largely empty. Considerable research documents “that many Americans little recognize or little remember the Court's rulings. On open-ended questions that probe for specific likes or dislikes about Court rulings, only about half (or fewer) … can offer an opinion on even the most prominent Supreme Court decisions” (Marshall, 1989:143). The lack of public information about the Court extends beyond its decisions, per se, to a similar lack of familiarity with the justices who comprise the Court. Thus, in one study, fewer than 10 percent of the public could name the Chief Justice of the United States while, somewhat ironically, more than a quarter of the populace could recognize the name of Judge Wapner of the People's Court television fame (Morin, 1989).

A New Lesson Plan for Educational Institutions: Expanded Rules Governing Liability Under Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972 For Student and Faculty Sexual Harassment

Abstract: I. TITLE IX'S PROHIBITION AGAINST SEX DISCRIMINATION .............. 579 A. Title IY Covers Programs and Activities in Schools That Receive Federal F unds .......................................................................................................... 579 B. Expanding Title IX To Recognize A Private Cause ofAction for Sexual H arassm ent ................................................................................................. 583 II. DEFINING THE STANDARDS FOR LIABILITY UNDER TITLE IX ...... 587 A. Gebser v. Lago Vista Independent School District ..................................... 587 B. Davis v. Monroe County Board of Education ............................................. 588 C. Supreme Court Analysis .............................................................................. 591 HI. ANALYZING KEY ELEMENTS OF THE \"DELIBERATE INDIFFERENCE\" STANDARD TO ESTABLISH TITLE IX LIABILITY ............................................................................................. 594 A . Hypothetical ................................................................................................ 595 B. Key Elements To Establish Title IXLiability For Sexual H arassm ent ................................................................................................. 596 1. Naomi Is A Member of A Protected Group Based On Her Sex .............. 597 2. Naomi Was Subjected to Unwelcome Conduct Of A Sexual Nature ...... 598 a. Quid Pro Quo Sexual Harassment ....................................................... 600 b. Hostile Educational Environment ....................................................... 602 3. The Unwelcome Sexual Conduct Was So Severe, Pervasive, and