Civil Rights Documents and Cases
Mitsubishi Settles Sexual Harassment Suit
Mitisubishi Motor Company has agreed to settle a claim June 10, 1998 which was brought against them by the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. Mitsubishi agreed to pay $34 million in compensation for at least 350 women who were employed at a Normal, Ill. plant since 1990. The women were allegedly
subjected to a pattern of sexual harassment
which led to the filing of a civil class action prior to the EEOC suit.
ACLU Files Class Action Suit on Race Profiling
The American Civil Liberties Union has filed a class-action suit on
behalf of the Maryland NAACP and 11 minority motorists, charging
that the Maryland Police uses discriminatory racial-profiling techniques
in stopping drivers along Interstate 95. The NAACP and the 11
plaintiffs in the suit seek monetary damages on behalf of themselves
and hundreds of other minority motorists who have been stopped and
searched arbitrarily by officers searching for drug smugglers. This suit
is one of the first in the nation to seek monetary damages and is the
first class-action suit of its kind in Maryland.
American Bar Association Calls for Moratorium on Death Penalty
The American Bar Association is calling for an immediate ban on the death penalty "unless and until greater fairness and due process prevail." In a resolution issued February 3, 1997, the ABA decried the administration of the capital punishment in the United States as "seriously flawed" and "a haphazard maze of unfair practices with no internal consistency." The ABA also cited a growing concern around recently enacted federal and state laws that have limited appeals for death row inmates and funding for death row appeals.
Shannon Faulkner Seek Recovery of Legal Fees for Citadel Lawsuit
Shannon Faulkner filed suit successfully against The Citadel in 1994 and cleared the way for women to enroll in what was once an exclusively male institution. Faulkner's attorneys submitted the following memorandum November 1, 1996 asking for recovery of the fees, costs and expenses incurred during the suit. They assert that liability for attorney fees is "proper under the law . . . also serves as an important deference to future constitutional violations by these defendants, whose past history has shown a propensity for such behavior." The Citadel filed their own memo on Jan. 29, 1997 in opposition of the fee request arguing that Faulkner's half day of enrollment at The Citadel fails to justify the fees sought.
Federal Judge Declares Assisted Suicide Not a Constitutional Right
For several years, right-to-die advocate Dr. Jack Kevorkian has battled with Michigan prosecutors over his participation in assisted suicides. In a January 3, 1997 ruling, Dr. Kevorkian failed to persuade a federal judge that assisted suicide is a constitutional right. U.S. District Judge Gerald E. Rosen ruled "that a mentally competent, terminally ill or intractably suffering adult does not have a liberty interest protected by the Fourteenth Amendment's Due Process Clause in assisted suicide."
Judge Issues Preliminary Injunction Against California's Proposition 209
California voters passed the anti-affirmative action initiative known as Proposition 209 in November 1996. U.S. District Judge Thelton Henderson issued a preliminary injunction December 23, 1996 blocking the implementation and enforcement of Proposition 209, citing the law would violate equal protection guarantees for California's women and minorities. The judge also concluded that the law discriminates by banning "constitutionally permissible" affirmative action programs.
Hawaii Judge Rules State Should Not Deny Marriage Licenses to Gay Couples
A Circuit Court judge in Hawaii barred the state from denying marriage licenses to gay couples. An appeal, which is expected, would send the case back to the Hawaii Supreme Court, which ruled in 1993 that the denial of marriage licenses to same-sex couples amounts to gender discrimination under the state constitution's Equal Rights Amendment. In this Dec. 4, 1996 ruling, Judge Kevin Chang says that the state had not shown any compelling interest to deny gay and lesbian couples the right to marry.
Justice Scalia Speech at The Catholic University of America
Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia, in a speech before The Catholic University of America, advocates literal interpretation of the Constitution, declaring "[t]he words are the law." On the issue of the right-to-die, which will be argued before the court this session, Scalia says, "the Constitution means what it ought to mean...Absolutely plain that there is no right to die; there were laws against suicide." Here is the text of the October 18, 1996 speech.
Mochizuki v. U.S.
Latin Americans of Japanese descent is suing the federal government, seeking damages allegedly stemming from the policy of deportation and internment of persons of Japanese descent residing in the U.S. during World War II. The Civil Liberties Act of 1988 included an apology and payments of $20,000 each to Japanese Americans interred during the war in such camps as Manzanar. This suit filed August 27, 1996 says the act's exclusion from compensation of persons who were not U.S. citizens or permanent residents at the time of their internment is unconstitutional.
Dealing with Convicted Sex Offenders
Alabama Attorney General Jeff Sessions announced on July 12, 1996, that the state's version of Megan's Law, the Community Notification Act, bars convicted sex criminals from residing with all minors, including their own children.
A Same-Sex Marriage Debate
On July 1, 1996, Court TV invited lawyers Evan Wolfson and Rick Duncan to debate same-sex marriage on America Online's Center Stage.
Wolfson is the director of The Marriage Project for Lambda Legal Defense, the leading civil rights group for gay men and lesbians. He is co-counsel in Baehr v. Miike, the Hawaii case seeking the freedom to marry for gay and lesbian people. Duncan is a professor at the University of Nebraska College of Law. He wrote a Supreme Court brief on behalf of several states in support of Colorado's anti-gay rights law. The following is a transcript.
Genital Mutilation Hearing
Nineteen-year-old Fauziya Kasinga said she came to the United States in 1994 to seek asylum from a grisly and sometimes deadly practice in her West African homeland of Togo -- the ritual mutilation of female genitals.
The U.S. Board of Immigration Appeals held a hearing May 2, 1996 to consider whether Kasinga should be granted political asylum. The following is a transcript.
A 'Rush' to Judgement
During a free reading period, a fourth grade teacher spotted the words "Condoms: The New Diploma" on a student's book and seized it. The book was talk show host Rush Limbaugh's The Way Things Ought to Be and the chapter in question ridicules the practice of schools distributing condoms to students. According to this May 2, 1996 complaint, the student's father told school officials that the student had permission to read the book, but the school refused to return the book to the boy and will not permit it to be read in the classroom. The plaintiffs claim their First Amendment rights were violated.
Quill v. Vacco
For the second time in recent weeks, a federal appeals court struck down a state's ban on doctor-assisted suicide. The Second Circuit Court of Appeals ruled April 2, 1996, that two New York laws were unconstitutional because they did not provide equal protection under the law. The court noted that patients on life support can ask to be disconnected. But others wanting medication to hasten death were not allowed to be given it.
Dr. Kevorkian on Trial: A Right-to-Die Debate
With the third assisted suicide trial of Dr. Jack Kevorkian beginning, Court TV challenged Kevorkian's lawyer and a prosecutor opposing him to a Right-to-Die debate. On April 2, the second day of jury selection, defense lawyer Geoffrey Fieger and prosecutor John Skrzynski met after court in America Online's Main Stage. Questions were posed by the audience.
Stupid Letterman Tricks
Jane Bronstein, a 54-year-old woman from New York City, did not think it funny that a videotape of her eating a peach in an unsightly manner at the U.S. Open was repeatedly shown on "The Late Show" with David Letterman. In this Jan. 26, 1996 complaint, she claims Letterman used the images in advertisements and on the Times Square Jumbotron giant screen television in violation of her right to privacy and other civil rights.
Appeals Court Affirms Right to Die
A federal appeals court ruled March 6, 1996, that the state of Washington's ban on doctor-assisted suicide was unconstitutional. The case was the first of its kind to be decided by a full federal appeals court. Judge Richard Reinhardt of the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals said the state's ban violates the rights of a mentally competent, terminally ill adult to have "a dignified and humane death."
The Rules for Assisted Suicide
The Physicians for Mercy released these guidelines which they believe should become an accepted standard of care for physicians aiding in the suicide of terminally ill patients. According to the guidelines, assisted suicide should be provided only by an "obitiatrist," (a medical specialty not yet recognized) and no fee should be charged for the service. Dr. Jack Kevorkian is a member of this Michigan-based group.
Justice Thomas on 'Heroes and Victims'
The low-profile Supreme Court judge speaks out on "the modern ideology of victimhood."
Making Sport of Charles Manson?
The faces and life stories of Jeffrey Dahmer, Charles Manson, and other infamous criminals are printed on baseball-like trading cards published by Eclipse Enterprises in California.
In response to Eclipse's "True Crime" card series, Nassau County in New York passed an ordinance making it illegal to sell to minors trading cards that depict a "heinous crime, an element of a heinous crime, or a heinous criminal."
Eclipse brought suit against the county for violating its right to free speech. This is the magistrate's Oct. 6, 1995 report and recommendation.
Goldstein v. Manhattan Cable
The Time Warner Cable Group announced a policy that programming found to be "indecent" would be made available only to customers who request it in writing. In this memorandum supporting a motion for an injunction, Al Goldstein, the producer of Midnight Blue and other sexually-oriented programs, argues that the cable company is attempting to restrict his First Amendment rights. Joining him in the action are Robin Byrd, host of a show that features strippers, and the Gay Cable Network.
EDITOR'S NOTE: The parent company of Time Warner Cable, Time Warner Inc., is a part owner of Court TV.
Pretend Slavery
Brian Campbell, an 11-year old student in the Tempe, Arizona, is suing the local school district and manufacturers of a computer game, "Freedom!" The game, which was required classwork, calls for players to act out the lives of runaway slaves in pre-Civil War America.
Scott v. Sampson: Forced Pregnancy
Connie and Carl Scott supported their fifteen-year-old daughter's decision to have an abortion. But the girl's boyfriend and his family tried to stop her. After a confrontation at the Scott's home, the boyfriend was arrested.
Several hours later, police took the girl into protective custody. A judge allowed her to return to her parents "on the condition that no abortion shall be performed on the subject's unborn child without further order of the Court."
This is the Scott family's complaint against the county, various law officials and the boyfriend's family.
South African Death Penalty
In its very first decision, South Africa's newly-created supreme court (called the Constitutional Court) abolished the death penalty. This is the opinion written by Arthur Chaskalson, President of the Constitutional Court.
Checkbook Journalism
In this U.S. District Court decision, California's so called checkbook journalism law is struck down as unconstitutional. The law, enacted in the wake of the O.J. Simpson trial, prohibits crime witnesses from selling their stories for a designated period of time.
Clinton: World Women's Conference
Following is the text of First Lady Hillary Clinton's remarks to the United Nation's Fourth World Conference on Women, being held in Beijing.
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