BOSTON COLLEGE
Boston College Third World Law Journal
Publications
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BOSTON COLLEGE
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Student Publications |
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| Volume 23 | 2003 | Number 2 |
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[Pages 213-274] Abstract: In AIDA
v. Time Warner Entertainment Company, currently before the Illinois
Supreme Court, the American Italian Defense Association (AIDA) alleges that
the television series “The Sopranos” portrays the criminal and psychopathically
depraved character of the Mafia underworld as the dominant motif of Italian
and Italian-American culture. The author, drawing upon his experience as
co-counsel to AIDA, submits that the law should provide a remedy for racial
and ethnic group defamation. It is paradoxical for the law to only allow
a remedy for individual defamation. The current civil damage lawsuit for
defamation is inapplicable because courts consistently deny damages for
group defamation by refusing to recognize the individual harm caused by
group defamation. Likewise, criminal defamation statutes are now found in
fewer than half the states and rarely used by prosecutors. This Article
proposes enacting a declaratory judgment statute at the state level to remedy
group racial and ethnic defamation. This suggested remedy takes the form
of model legislation in the Appendix to this Article. Abstract: In Department of
Housing and Urban Development v. Rucker, the United States Supreme Court
upheld the agency’s use of the “one strike” eviction policy, which requires
housing authorities to issue leases with the condition that tenants who
engage in any drug-related criminal activity are subject to eviction. Moreover,
the court held that a tenant’s ignorance of the activity is not a defense
to eviction. Although this ruling appears consistent with the Court’s decision
in Goldberg v. Kelly, the seminal case delineating the government’s
ability to terminate public assistance, the one strike eviction policy nevertheless
suffers from several problems that limit its effectiveness. In particular,
housing authorities have excessive discretion when implementing the policy;
the policy does not define “engaging” in drug-related criminal activity;
and the policy fails to prevent non-residents from participating in drug-related
criminal activity in the housing community. This Article proposes means
of alleviating these problems to increase the effectiveness of the one strike
eviction policy. [Pages 293-330] Abstract: The aggravated felony
provision of the U.S. Immigration and Nationality Act was was originally
intended to provide for the deportation of non-citizens convicted of very
serious crimes. Over the last 15 years, however, the provision has been consistently
expanded to include a plethora of minor crimes that are neither aggravated
nor felonious. Moreover, Congress has categorically prohibited aggravated
felons from applying for discretionary, equitable relief. This Note contends
that the sweeping and indiscriminately applied aggravated felony provision
violates an individual’s universally recognized right to respect for family
and private life. The Note concludes that to comply with international law
and treaty obligations, Congress should follow the standards employed by
the European Court of Human Rights in deportation cases. Under this approach,
a court may overturn a deportation order when the relevant interests of
the non-citizen outweigh those of the United States. [Pages 331-358] Abstract: Despite documentation of the atrocities of the Holocaust, there are those who deny its occurrence. Previously, the Holocaust denial movement had been confined to the western world. Western Holocaust deniers, however, faced with opposition and legal restriction by countries such as the United States, Canada, France, and Germany, have expanded their efforts into many Arab nations, such as Egypt, Syria, and the Palestinian Authority. While Holocaust-inspired anti-Semitism is nothing new in these countries, the on-going Arab-Israeli conflict provides a fertile ground for efforts to promulgate Holocaust denial as a new anti-Semitic propaganda tool. Most disturbing is that many Arab governments and political leaders not only support, but even perpetuate Holocaust denial themselves. With no internal remedies in these Arab countries to suppress deniers’ activities, the international community must act to combat Holocaust denial worldwide. [Pages 359-378] Abstract: Samantha Power’s book examines the American political tactic of doing nothing in response to the major genocides of the twentieth century. Power argues that American leaders are apathetic in response to genocide because politicians and the general public are suffering from a failure of imagination. Since genocide involves human anguish at an enormous scale, Power’s contention is that human nature would rather turn away from recognizing such horrors. While Power’s argument is persuasive, this Book Review argues that the reasons for apathy in response to genocide stem from a more fundamental failure of moral and legal perspective. This Book Review analyzes the Anglo-American legal structure as an outgrowth of what Carol Gilligan refers to as an “ethic of justice.” Because Anglo-American law is primarily concerned with defining and protecting individual rights, acting out of a sense of responsibility to prevent genocide can seem fraught with legal tension. [Pages 379-398] Abstract: Andrew Koppelman’s book presents the legal and moral case for gay equality. He contends that various arguments, such as privacy and sex discrimination, justify the equal treatment of gay men and lesbians. By analogizing the struggle for equality to the debate surrounding same-sex marriage, Koppelman suggests that although change will come, the courts are presently too far ahead of public opinion to recognize same-sex marriage. This Book Review examines how law and economics removes the debate to a pragmatic theater, compelling recognition of same-sex marriage. [Pages 399-418] Abstract: This Book Review uses Michael Barnett’s argument that the United Nations (UN) refrained from intervening to stop the Rwandan genocide out of considered self-interest as a case-study through which to examine whether absolute rights exist in practice. The UN’s actions in Rwanda represent a staggering failure to protect absolute rights, namely, the Rwandan people’s right to freedom from genocide. The Rwandan case-study demonstrates that absolute rights, which have an impressive pedigree in legal and philosophical scholarship, are nothing more than a theoretical ideal—they are non-existent in practice. Nonetheless, there are hopeful signs, such as the international community’s 1999 intervention in Kosovo, that absolute rights need not be “dead” as a useful concept. In order to maintain relevance as practical, as opposed to normative, ideals, absolute rights must be given greater priority in policymaking, allowing the existing, powerful regime of human rights law to prevent future absolute rights catastrophes. |
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