Equal Rights Trust Case Summary which looks at Samantha Elauf, a practicing Muslim, who had been refused a job with clothing store, Abercrombie and Fitch because her headscarf was deemed incompatible with the company's "Look Policy" which prohibits "caps" at work.
London, 22 May 2014
On 8 May, in the wake of the abduction of more than two hundred schoolgirls in Nigeria, a bi-partisan group of Senators reintroduced the International Violence Against Women Act (I-VAWA), which has been rejected twice before, to the US Senate.
London, 9 May 2014
On 22 April 2014, the US Supreme Court in Schuette, Attorney General of Michigan v Coalition to Defend Affirmative Action, Integration and Immigration Rights and Fight for Equality by Any Means Necessary (Bamn) et al, held that an amendment to the Michigan State Constitution which prohibited affirmative action policies that favour people from a minority background was constitutional. The Court, by a six to two majority, held that state voters could choose to prohibit the consideration of race in university admissions policies, amongst other things, without contravening the Equal Protection Clause of the Constitution.
US Supreme Court Decision in Voting Rights Act case
London, 8 July 2013
On 25 June 2013, the US Supreme Court (the Court) in Shelby County v Holder, struck down, by a five to four majority, section 4 of the Voting Rights Act 1965. Section 4 is a tool which, taken with section 5 of the Act, has reportedly prevented thousands of racially discriminatory changes to voter registration procedures from being introduced in the past 25 years.
US Supreme Court decision on Defense of Marriage Act - ERT Summary.
London, 5 July 2013
On 26 June 2013, the US Supreme Court (the Court) in United States v Windsor, Executor of the estate of Spyer, et al., by a five to four majority, struck down as unconstitutional section 3 of the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA), a federal law which defines marriage as excluding same-sex couples. The Court held that this amounted to a breach of the rights of same-sex married couples to equal liberty under the Fifth Amendment to the Constitution. The decision ensures that spouses who have lawfully entered into same-sex marriages are entitled to the same tax and other fiscal benefits as different-sex married couples.
London, 4 July 2013
On 24 June 2013, the US Supreme Court (the Court) in Fisher v University of Texas confirmed that considering an applicant’s race as part of a holistic evaluation process in a University admissions procedure does not necessarily violate the Equal Protection Clause in the Fourteenth Amendment to the US Constitution. However, the Court reiterated that any process which uses race as a factor must be subjected to strict scrutiny. This requires that the University shows clearly that its purpose or intention in using this factor is constitutionally permissible and substantial and that the use of the classification of race is necessary to the accomplishment of its purpose.
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