INTRODUCTION In November 2023, the U.S. Department of Education Office for Civil Rights released its 2020-21 Student Discipline and School Climate in U.S. Public Schools report. The discipline compliance review revealed discriminatory disciplinary practices in K-12 education. It found that Black boys were nearly twice as likely as white boys to receive an out-of-school suspension …
A Call for Optimism: In Booker T. Washington’s crucial and inspiring autobiography, he explains his rise from life as a slave to becoming one of the most important black educators and thinkers of the 20th century. To reflect his forward-thinking approach to solving African Americans’ struggle for equality in the United States, Washington optimistically …
After decades of being unable to make money while participating in college athletics, student-athletes in recent years have enjoyed a newfound ability to profit from their Name, Image, and Likeness (NIL). But as with any burgeoning industry, the emerging intricacies of the NIL world have led to legal issues; and in this instance, a major …
In North Carolina, where the Black population comprises only 22%, Black women accounted for 43% of the state’s pregnancy-related deaths from 2020 to 2022. This staggering disparity takes place despite the fact that a number of these fatalities happen under the supervision of healthcare professionals. In 2021, the national maternal mortality rate was 32.9 per …
In Wake County, North Carolina, before offering someone on the street a dollar, you better make sure they have a permit to panhandle. If not, you are complicit in the commission of a criminal offense. As absurd as this sounds, this is exactly the case: Wake County Statute § 94 makes it illegal to ask for …
The Facts and Posture of United States v. Carter Does a sentence increase for a defendant who refuses to name their accomplice violate a defendant’s Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination? The Fourth Circuit, in U.S. v. Carter, 87 F.4th 217 (2023), did not decide the issue, but it highlighted a looming circuit split on the …
What is the Constitutional Sheriffs and Peace Officers Association (CSPOA)? CSPOA is a “law enforcement organization that operates on the tenet that the sheriff is the highest authority in any country and has the right, even the duty to reject any perceived intrusion by general entities.” The group is full of election deniers and COVID-19 …
North Carolina House Bill 40, commonly known as the “Anti-Riot Act” goes into effect on December 1st. What is HB 40? Introduced by House Speaker Tim Moore, HB 40 passed through the North Carolina General Assembly last Spring and was signed into law in March. Moore introduced an identical bill in 2021 directly after the …
The North Carolina Department of Environmental Quality (NCDEQ) faces another civil rights complaint. Last April, the Vermont Law and Graduate School’s Environmental Justice Clinic, on behalf of North Carolina nonprofits and residents, filed a complaint with the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Office of Civil Rights under the Civil Rights Act of 1964, alleging that the …
According to the North Carolina Court of Appeals, courts can let people with mental health conditions sit in jail, indefinitely, waiting for mental health evaluations to determine whether they need to be involuntarily committed to regain the mental capacity to proceed to trial. This decision balks in the face of due process, justice, and the …
