{"id":8848,"date":"2023-01-19T18:21:31","date_gmt":"2023-01-19T18:21:31","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ncjolt.org\/?p=8848"},"modified":"2023-01-19T18:21:31","modified_gmt":"2023-01-19T18:21:31","slug":"a-60-year-march-requires-some-stretching-the-statutory-expansion-of-the-civil-rights-act-of-1964","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/journals.law.unc.edu\/ncjolt\/articles\/volume-24\/volume-24-issue-2\/a-60-year-march-requires-some-stretching-the-statutory-expansion-of-the-civil-rights-act-of-1964\/","title":{"rendered":"A 60-YEAR MARCH REQUIRES SOME STRETCHING: THE STATUTORY EXPANSION OF THE CIVIL RIGHTS ACT OF 1964"},"content":{"rendered":"Coutinho-Final<\/a>\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The\u00a0Civil\u00a0Rights\u00a0Act\u00a0of\u00a01964\u00a0(“CRA”)\u00a0gives\u00a0individuals\u00a0the\u00a0right to equal enjoyment of public goods and services without discrimination. Although slow-moving, the CRA’s, and relevant state civil rights laws’, statutory language has historically been stretched to provide increased anti-discriminatory coverage in order to accommodate the humanitarian interests and progressive trends of modern society.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

This Article discusses the statutory construction hoops through which\u00a0the\u00a0CRA\u00a0and\u00a0state\u00a0civil rights\u00a0laws\u00a0have\u00a0been\u00a0forced\u00a0in\u00a0order to\u00a0accommodate\u00a0the\u00a0universal\u00a0reliance\u00a0on\u00a0technology\u00a0that resulted, in large part, from the technological blitzkrieg that bombarded American\u00a0society\u00a0duringCOVID-19\u00a0shutdowns.\u00a0The\u00a0CRA\u00a0has\u00a0been routinely\u00a0expanded\u00a0to\u00a0provide\u00a0broader\u00a0coverage\u00a0when demanded\u00a0by policy goals, and current policy suggests that the CRA has some catching up to do. Common law trends and congressional intent behind civil rights laws support that “any place of public accommodation,”\u00a0language\u00a0frequently\u00a0included\u00a0in\u00a0state\u00a0and\u00a0federal civil rights statutes (including the CRA), should expand to include within its coverage virtual accommodations such as websites, applications, and online events when such accommodations are deemed\u00a0“public”\u00a0in the\u00a0context\u00a0of\u00a0relevant\u00a0statutes.\u00a0Expansion\u00a0here is\u00a0proper\u00a0given\u00a0the\u00a0multifarious\u00a0uses\u00a0of\u00a0technology as\u00a0a\u00a0fundamental resource for serving the public at large. Including cyberspace as “any place of public accommodation” in the CRA would generate\u00a0a newfound, but proper, expansion of civil protections against discrimination\u00a0because\u00a0it\u00a0would eliminate\u00a0the\u00a0outdated\u00a0requirement that\u00a0a\u00a0space\u00a0must\u00a0have\u00a0a\u00a0significant\u00a0connection\u00a0to\u00a0a\u00a0physical facility in order to be covered by the Act.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The CRA and state civil rights laws also provide for the “equal enjoyment” of these public goods and services. Therefore, new to the\u00a0civil\u00a0rights\u00a0policy\u00a0discussion\u00a0is\u00a0whether\u00a0the\u00a0Americanpeople\u00a0can benefit from the “equal enjoyment” of public resources that are offered through virtual accommodations when current access to technology is grievously unequal. The ubiquitous adoption of modern technology brings technology and civil rights law to a nexus.\u00a0Accordingly,this\u00a0Article\u00a0argues\u00a0that\u00a0modern\u00a0society\u00a0is\u00a0facing exposure to a new realm of civil rights issues as a result of digital discrimination,\u00a0and\u00a0it\u00a0is\u00a0both\u00a0the\u00a0duty\u00a0and\u00a0desire\u00a0of\u00a0civil\u00a0rights\u00a0laws to address and promote equality-inducing solutions in order to achieve the “equal enjoyment” of basic public goods and services.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Author: Rachel Coutinho<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

PDF<\/strong>: http:\/\/journals.law.unc.edu\\\/ncjolt\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2023\/01\/Coutinho-Final.pdf<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Volume 24, Issue 2<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The\u00a0Civil\u00a0Rights\u00a0Act\u00a0of\u00a01964\u00a0(“CRA”)\u00a0gives\u00a0individuals\u00a0the\u00a0right to equal enjoyment of public goods and services without discrimination. Although slow-moving, the CRA’s, and relevant state civil rights laws’, statutory language has historically been stretched to provide increased anti-discriminatory coverage in order to accommodate the humanitarian interests and progressive trends of modern society. This Article discusses the statutory construction hoops through which\u00a0the\u00a0CRA\u00a0and\u00a0state\u00a0civil rights\u00a0laws\u00a0have\u00a0been\u00a0forced\u00a0in\u00a0order …<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[434],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/journals.law.unc.edu\/ncjolt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8848"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/journals.law.unc.edu\/ncjolt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/journals.law.unc.edu\/ncjolt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/journals.law.unc.edu\/ncjolt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/journals.law.unc.edu\/ncjolt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=8848"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/journals.law.unc.edu\/ncjolt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8848\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":8852,"href":"https:\/\/journals.law.unc.edu\/ncjolt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8848\/revisions\/8852"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/journals.law.unc.edu\/ncjolt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8848"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/journals.law.unc.edu\/ncjolt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=8848"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/journals.law.unc.edu\/ncjolt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=8848"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}