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Volume 47, Numbers 5–6
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Clearinghouse REVIEW
50 East Washington Street Suite 500
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Volume 47, Numbers 5–6 September–October 2013 135–262
THE SARGENT SHRIVER NATIONAL CENTER ON POVERTY LAW PROVIDES
NATIONAL LEADERSHIP IN ADVANCING LAWS AND POLICIES THAT SECURE JUSTICE
TO IMPROVE THE LIVES AND OPPORTUNITIES OF PEOPLE LIVING IN POVERTY
A Legal Services Imperative
PURSUING
RACIAL
JUSTICE
HHHHHH
IN THE
HHHHHH
21st CENTURY
Structural Racialization
Racial Impact Statements
Racial Equity Impact Analysis
in Minneapolis
Immigrant Rights as Civil Rights
Intent Doctrine and the
Brain’s Bias
Geographic Information Systems
Affordable Care Act’s Tools
School-to-Prison Pipeline
Fair Housing Act’s Discriminatory
Effects Standard
Environmental Justice
TANF
LGBTQ Advocacy
African American Men
Mississippi Center for Justice
Advocates for Basic Legal Equality
Legal Aid Foundation of Los
Angeles’ Race Equity Initiative
Voting Rights
Racial Justice Training Institute
Volume 47, Numbers 5–6
September–October 2013
Published by the
Sargent Shriver National Center on Poverty Law
50 E. Washington St. Suite 500, Chicago, IL 60602
312.263.3830, Fax 312.263.3846
www.povertylaw.org
PRESIDENT: John Bouman
EDITORIAL
EDITOR AND VICE PRESIDENT OF COMMUNICATION PROGRAMS: Ilze Sprudzs Hirsh
ASSOCIATE EDITOR: Edwin P. Abaya
SENIOR ATTORNEY–LEGAL EDITOR: Marcia Henry
SENIOR ATTORNEY EDITOR: Michele Host
SENIOR ATTORNEY EDITOR: Amanda Moore
AMERICORPS VISTA: Christina Buckler
ADVOCACY
VICE PRESIDENT OF ADVOCACY: Carol Ashley
STAFF ATTORNEY: Todd Belcore
STAFF ATTORNEY: Jeremy P. Bergstrom
POLICY MANAGER, ELEV8 CHICAGO: Jennifer Doeren
DIRECTOR, ASSET OPPORTUNITY: Karen K. Harris
STAFF ATTORNEY: Andrea Kovach
DIRECTOR, ECONOMIC JUSTICE: Dan Lesser
Director, Women's Law and Policy Project: Wendy Pollack
DIRECTOR, COMMUNITY JUSTICE: Margaret Stapleton
DIRECTOR, HOUSING JUSTICE: Katherine E. Walz
OF COUNSEL: William Wilen
AMERICORPS VISTA: Lindsey Croasdale, Kali Grant,
Margaret Hlousek, Carolyn Sliwa, Rufus Urion
TRAINING PROGRAMS
VICE PRESIDENT OF TRAINING PROGRAMS: Ellen Hemley
LEARNING TECHNOLOGY SPECIALIST: Terrance O'Neil
TRAINING PROGRAMS MANAGER: Jaime Roosevelt
AMERICORPS VISTA: Catharine Debelle
ADMINISTRATION
CHIEF OPERATING OFFICER: Elizabeth Ring Zuckerberg
ADMINISTRATIVE ASSOCIATE: Murtle Mae English
TECHNOLOGY SYSTEMS MANAGER: Tim Fluhr
EVENT AND SPONSORSHIP COORDINATOR: Stephanie Bellus Frey
INDIVIDUAL GIVING MANAGER: Keenya Lambert
MARKETING DIRECTOR: Michelle Nicolet
SENIOR FOUNDATION RELATIONS OFFICER: Brendan Short
DEVELOPMENT RESOURCE COORDINATOR: Cara Thaxton
OPERATIONS ASSOCIATE: Wade Yount
AMERICORPS VISTA: Sara Hart
BOARD OF DIRECTORS
CHAIRPERSON: Brenda A. Russell, Chicago, IL
VICE CHAIRPERSON: Steven Eppler-Epstein, Middletown, CT
SECRETARY: Divida Gude, Atlanta, GA
TREASURER: C. Steven Tomashefsky, Chicago, IL
Bonnie Allen, Jackson, MI
Roel Campos, Washington, DC
Nicholas E. Chimicles, Haverford, PA
Stuart R. Cohen, Washington, DC
Sandra Cuneo, Los Angeles, CA
Gregory R. Dallaire, Seattle, WA
Gill Deford, Willimantic, CT
Sunny Fischer, Chicago, IL
Norah L. Jones, Chicago, IL
Frances P. Kao, Chicago, IL
Sheila Berner Kennedy, Kenilworth, IL
Chastity Lord, Brooklyn, NY
Betty J. Musburger, Chicago, IL
Janice E. Rodgers, Chicago, IL
Jean Rudd, Beverly Shores, IN
Jill Schuker, Washington, DC
John Tuhey, Glenview, IL
Robert J. Watson, Boston, MA
SENIOR ADVISOR: William Josephson, New York, NY
SENIOR ADVISOR: Mary Ann Orlando, New York, NY
SENIOR ADVISOR: Jamie R. Price III, New York, NY
To Strengthen Civil Rights Laws
Our nation is about to begin commemorating golden anniversaries of the federal legislative
victories of the civil rights movement. These include the Civil Rights Act of 1964, with protections against employment and public accommodations discrimination; the Voting Rights
Act of 1965; the Immigration Act of 1965, recognized as a civil rights achievement because
it eliminated the more blatant racial bias in our federal policies; and the Fair Housing Act
of 1968. Fifty years is a significant accomplishment for these laws, particularly because it
took more than one hundred years to achieve meaningful enforcement of post–Civil War
Constitutional amendments.
Thus, as many have recognized, these commemorations must involve more than a celebration, but a recommitment to and strengthening of these civil rights laws. We recognize this
imperative in the face of narrow-minded pundits who regularly assert that fifty years is
long enough to accomplish necessary change in our society and polity. Consistent with this
ahistorical and anticontextual commentary, each U.S. Supreme Court term presents threats
to restrict or vitiate civil rights protections. This year saw the conservative majority, in
Shelby County v. Holder, incapacitate one of the most powerful Voting Rights Act provisions—
requiring preclearance of electoral changes in certain jurisdictions. Next term already poses
threats of undermining equal protection and of limiting the disparate impact theory.
Shelby County, of course, demands legislative remediation, presenting an opportunity to
modernize the Voting Rights Act, using knowledge gathered since 1965 to improve on its
protections. This opportunity, thrust upon us by the Supreme Court, ought to be voluntarily extended to other civil rights laws. Golden anniversaries should invite discussion,
and ultimate enactment, of improvements informed by half a century of challenging
experience. Improvements might include finishing what was not completed; the possibility of federal immigration reform offers the chance to eliminate the remaining vestiges of
racially discriminatory policy—such as the national origin quotas that, though equalized
among nations, still subject similarly situated Mexican potential immigrants to longer
waits to reunify families. Improvements might also include importing tools from one law to
another; imagine what might have been accomplished in closing the so-called achievement
gap if a Voting Rights Act–like preclearance obligation applied to changes in state education
policy.
Improvements should also respond to key social development. First is the demographic
growth of the nonwhite population, and in particular the growth of the Latino community,
now the nation’s largest minority group. The Latino community’s historical and continuing
struggle with discrimination by proxy—language, accent, presumed or actual immigration
status, for example—and with fitting these depredations into preexisting legal frameworks
should inform civil rights legislation 2.0.
Second is recognizing the entire Constitution as a tool for civil rights progress. In just the
last twenty years, preemption under the supremacy clause, previously seen as primarily a
business tool to block state-law regulation, has become a staple of civil rights law, particularly for immigrants. Beyond this, the contracts clause and even the Tenth Amendment, the
states’ rights amendment, have potentially served civil rights goals. An expanded view of the
Constitution should underlie a reinvigorated civil rights scheme.
These and other changes should form the further impetus and foundation for a twenty-first
century civil rights legislation. This special issue of Clearinghouse Review, with its exploration of the critical connections between racial justice and legal services, should contribute
to this golden civil rights endeavor.
National support centers help identify and analyze poverty law developments in Clearinghouse Review. They make substantial contributions to the Review and the online article collection of the Sargent Shriver National Center on Poverty
Law (formerly National Clearinghouse for Legal Services). The Shriver Center is fortunate to have the assurance of
continued contributions from most of the national support centers that the Legal Services Corporation formerly
funded and from some other specialized support centers. The Shriver Center lists them here and is grateful for their
significant work to enhance communication about poverty law problems among advocates.
AARP/Legal Counsel for the Elderly
601 E St. NW
Washington, DC 20049
202.434.2120
ABA Commission on Law and Aging
740 15th St. NW
Washington, DC 20005-1009
202.662.8690, Fax 202.662.1032
Center for Adolescent Health
and the Law
211 N. Columbia St.
Chapel Hill, NC 27514
919.968.8850, Fax 919.968.8854
[email protected]
www.adolescenthealthlaw.org
Center for Law and Education
37 Temple Place Suite 303
Boston, MA 02111
617.451.0855, Fax 617.451.0857
www.cleweb.org
1875 Connecticut Ave. Suite 510
Washington, DC 20009
202.986.3000, Fax 202.986.6648
Center for Law and Social Policy
1015 15th St. NW Suite 400
Washington, DC 20005
202.906.8000, Fax 202.842.2410
www.clasp.org
Center for Medicare Advocacy
P.O. Box 350
Willimantic, CT 06226
860.456.7790, Fax 860.456.2614
www.medicareadvocacy.org
1025 Connecticut Ave. NW Suite 709
Washington, DC 20036
202.293.5760, Fax 202.293.5764
The Center for Social Gerontology
2307 Shelby Ave.
Ann Arbor, MI 48103-3895
313.665.1126, Fax 313.665.2071
Thomas A. Saenz
President and General Counsel, MALDEF
Child Care Law Center
445 Church St.
San Francisco, CA 94114
415.558.8005
www.childcarelaw.org
Clearinghouse Review encourages the submission of articles from legal aid field staff and others. Send articles to Ilze Sprudzs Hirsh, editor and
vice president of communication programs, Sargent Shriver National Center on Pov­erty Law, 50 E. Washington St. Suite 500, Chicago, IL 60602;
[email protected].
The opinions expressed herein are those of the authors and should not be construed as representing the opinions or policy of the organizations which
employ them or of the Shriver Center.
Farmers’ Legal Action Group
6 W. Fifth St. Suite 650
St. Paul, MN 55102-1404
651.223.5400, Fax 651.223.5335
[email protected], www.flaginc.org
EDITORIAL ADVISORY BOARD
Gill Deford, Willimantic, CT
Francisca Fajana, Boston, MA
Jane Perkins, Carrboro, NC
Theresa-Vay Smith, Oak Ridge, TN
Margaret Stapleton, Chicago, IL
Mona Tawatao, Los Angeles, CA
National Support Centers and the Sargent Shriver National Center on Poverty Law
Collaborate to Share Information with Advocates
Clearinghouse Review: Journal of Poverty Law and Policy is published six times a year, in February, April, June, August, October, and December
by the Sargent Shriver National Center on Poverty Law, 50 E. Washington St. Suite 500, Chicago, IL 60602. Annual subscription price for six issues
online and access to the archive of published articles since 1967: $400 to individuals; $500 to law school libraries; $300–$1,800 (varies with size of
operating budget) to nonprofit organizations. ISSN 0009-968X. For subscription information, e-mail [email protected].
Photographs and drawings that appear in Clearinghouse Review are produced independently of articles and bear no relationship to cases or
incidents discussed herein.
Food Research and Action Center
1875 Connecticut Ave. NW Suite 540
Washington, DC 20009-5728
202.986.2200, Fax 202.986.2525
www.frac.org
National Health Law Program
3701 Wilshire Blvd. Suite 750
Los Angeles, CA 90010
310.204.6010, Fax 213.386.0774
[email protected], www.healthlaw.org
Judge David L. Bazelon Center for Mental
Health Law
1101 15th St. NW Suite 1212
Washington, DC 20005-5002
202.467.5730, TDD 202.467.4232
Fax 202.223.0409
www.bazelon.org
1444 I St. NW Suite 1105
Washington, DC 20005
202.289.7661, Fax 202.289.7724
Migrant Legal Action Program
1001 Connecticut Ave. NW Suite 915
Washington, DC 20036
202.775.7780, Fax 202.775.7784
[email protected]
National Center for Law and
Economic Justice
275 Seventh Ave. Suite 1506
New York, NY 10001-6708
212.633.6967, Fax 212.633.6371
www.nclej.org
National Center for Youth Law
405 14th St. 15th Floor
Oakland, CA 94612
510.835.8098, Fax 510.835.8099
[email protected], www.youthlaw.org
National Consumer Law Center
77 Summer St.
Boston, MA 02110
617.542.8010, Fax 617.523.7398
[email protected], www.consumerlaw.org
1001 Connecticut Ave. Suite 510
Washington, DC 20036-5528
202.452.6252, Fax 202.463.9462
Direct service calls to the Boston office
National Economic Development
and Law Center
2201 Broadway Suite 815
Oakland, CA 94612
510.251.2600, Fax 510.251.0600
National Employment Law Project
80 Maiden Lane Room 509
New York, NY 10038
212.285.3025, Fax 212.285.3044
www.nelp.org
National Housing Law Project
703 Market St. Suite 2000
San Francisco, CA 94103
415.546.7000, Fax 415.546.7007
1629 K St. NW Suite 600
Washington, DC 20006
202.463.9461, Fax 202.463.9462
Direct service calls to the San Francisco office
National Immigration Law Center
3435 Wilshire Blvd. Suite 2850
Los Angeles, CA 90010
213.639.3900, Fax 213.639.3911
[email protected], www.nilc.org
1444 I St. NW Suite 1110
Washington, DC 20005
202.216.0261, Fax 202.216.0266
National Law Center on
Homelessness and Poverty
2000 M St. NW Suite 210
Washington, DC 20036
202.638.2535, Fax 202.628.2737
National Senior Citizens Law Center
1444 I St. NW Suite 1100
Washington, DC 20005
202.289.6976, Fax 202.289.7224
[email protected], www.nsclc.org
3701 Wilshire Blvd. Suite 750
Los Angeles, CA 90010
213.674.2900, Fax 213.368.0774
www.nsclc.org
1330 Broadway Suite 525
Oakland, CA 94612
510.663.1055, Fax 510.663.1051
[email protected], www.nsclc.org
National Veterans Legal Services Project
2001 S St. NW Suite 610
Washington, DC 20009
202.265.8305, Fax 202.328.0063
www.nvlsp.org
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