Academic freedom is an oft-invoked buzzword in debates about campus speech and the American university. But how have courts treated legal disputes where faculty members have invoked academic freedom as a potential constitutional interest? And how do faculty themselves conceptualize academic freedom? The similarities and differences between these…

As overall student loan indebtedness in the United States has increased over the years, many borrowers have found themselves unable to repay their student loans. Ordinarily, declaring bankruptcy is a means by which a debtor may discharge--that is, obtain relief from--debts he is unable to repay. However, Congress, based upon its determination that…

The need to ensure equal rights to different age groups without discrimination in our country necessitates the study of international experience. One of the traditional and at the same time, urgent problems in the USA is the problem of age equality and the overcoming of discriminatory theory and practice. The goal of the study is to analyze the…

Background: Local governments increasingly rely on sales taxes to raise revenue, often justifying the need for a local sales tax increase with a specific programmatic goal, such as better education or transportation. In Washington State, the legislature explained that a local sales tax increase was necessary to support criminal justice because…

Courts, students are told, will protect minorities' legal rights against popular sentiment and political pressure. But courts can be expected to protect rights only within boundaries shaped in part by popular and political opinion. This suggests that litigation outcomes regarding education rights issues will depend on shifting the policymaking…

Since the separate-but-equal era, students attending schools with high concentrations of Black students have attempted to improve the quality of their educations through school finance litigation. Because of the negative effects of racial isolation, Black students might consider mounting school finance litigation to force states to explicitly…

Research examining disparities in sentencing outcomes under federal sentencing guidelines has focused almost exclusively on aggregate national data. Although these studies contribute considerably to the criminological literature on sentencing disparity, their findings may have masked contextual variation in relation to case processing across…

The school psychologist plays a central role in eligibility and other determinations under the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) not only at the school level but also, upon formal disputes, at the successive adjudicative levels of impartial hearing officers and courts. One of the sources of professional confusion that requires…

The first sale doctrine says that after a copyright holder first sells a copy of his or her work, the new owner may do whatever he or she pleases with that copy (assuming that use is legal). This concept came up through common law and was eventually codified in the Copyright Act of 1976. In 2010, two cases were working their way through the U.S.…

The 1983 Review of the Family Services Act (1973) and the Advisory Council meetings in Saskatchewan should be viewed against the backdrop of political changes taking place in North American society. Beginning with decolonization movements in both Canada and the United States, control over the provision of child and family services to indigenous…

In 2007, services under the Individuals with Disabilities Education Improvement Act were provided to almost 6 million students with disabilities (Data Accountability Center, 2011). By virtue of their eligibility, these students were entitled to a "free and appropriate public education" (FAPE). To ensure that students receive FAPE,…

In 1990, Congress enacted the Americans with Disabilities Act as a comprehensive mandate to eliminate discrimination against individuals with disabilities. The ADA's primary intent was to extend the protection of Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973. The major difference between the two laws is that Section 504 applies to programs that…

In this article, the author explores the attempts by academic theorists to replace the conception of marriage as a "natural" institution with the idea that marriage is defined by the state, and is therefore open to whatever transformations the state may choose to impose. This claim, which began in law schools and philosophy departments,…

Judicial decisions focusing on equal educational opportunity involve significant issues of educational governance and often involve explicit questions about the extent to which authority to make educational decisions should be centralized or decentralized across various institutions and entities. This review aims at clarifying scholars'…

In late 2008, Congress passed the Americans with Disabilities Act Amendments Act (ADAAA) and the new law became effective on January 1, 2009. The amended law corrected what Congress considered to be a departure from the intent of the original ADA (passed in 1990) brought about by several narrow interpretations by the courts. Because the ADAAA…