Law Faculty

Facts—Sharon Frontiero, a lieutenant in the U.S. Air Force, sought dependency allowances for her husband. Dependency would have been assumed for a man in her position, but women were required to show that men depended upon them for one-half or…

Facts—Sally, a mother, separated from her husband and on the death of her adopted son filed a petition in the Probate Court of Ada County, Idaho. She sought to be named administratrix of her son Richard’s estate. Meanwhile the father,…

Facts—In May 1975, the Texas legislature revised its educational laws to withhold from school districts any state funds for the education of children who were not “legally admitted” into the United States and authorized local school districts to deny enrollment…

Facts—New York State has a law prohibiting aliens from serving as state troopers. Foley, an alien planning to become a naturalized citizen, applied to take the Civil Service examination to become a trooper but was denied the opportunity. A three-judge…

Facts—Takahashi, a Japanese alien ineligible for citizenship, brought suit for mandamus in the California Superior Court to compel issuance to him of a commercial fishing license. The commission denied him the license on the ground that a California law forbade…

Facts—The California Alien Land Law forbade aliens ineligible for citizenship to acquire, own, occupy, lease, or transfer agricultural land. The father, Kajiro Oyama, was a Japanese citizen ineligible for citizenship. He bought six acres of land in 1934, and the…

Facts—In 1943 Girouard filed a petition for naturalization in the District Court of Massachusetts. He stated in his application that he understood the principles of the U.S. government and that he was willing to take the oath of allegiance required…

Facts—Arizona passed a law providing that when any company, corporation, partnership, association, or individual employs more than five workers at any one time, not less than 80 percent must be qualified electors or native-born citizens of the United States or…

Facts—The collector of the port of San Francisco denied admission into the United States to Wong Kim Ark, a Chinese person who had been born in California and was returning from a temporary visit to China. His parents were subjects…

Facts—Grutter, a white Michigan resident who had applied to and been rejected by the law school at the University of Michigan, argued that the school had discriminated against her on the basis of race in violation of the Fourteenth Amendment…

Facts—In 1977 Congress passed the Public Works Employment Act, which provides that “at least 10 percent of federal funds for local public works projects must be used by the state or local grantee to procure services or supplies from businesses…

Facts—In 1974 the United Steel Workers of America (USWA) and Kaiser Aluminum and Chemical Corporation (Kaiser) entered into a master collective bargaining agreement covering terms and conditions of employment. It included an affirmative action plan designed to eliminate racial imbalances…

Facts—Allan Bakke, a white male, twice applied (1973–1974) to the Medical School of the University of California at Davis. Despite strong “bench marks” (interviewers’ summaries, overall grade point average, science courses grade point, MCAT scores, letters of recommendation, extracurricular activities,…

Facts—Both the federal District Court and the Court of Appeals had held that inter-district busing was needed to bring about the desegregation of the Detroit city and adjacent or nearby school districts, specially to Wayne, Oakland, and Macomb Counties. Question—Does…

Facts—The Charlotte-Mecklenburg school system encompasses the city of Charlotte and surrounding Mecklenburg County, North Carolina. Two-thirds of the African American students in the system attended schools that were either totally black or more than 99 percent black. The federal District…

Facts—Jones claimed that the Mayer Company refused to sell him a house in a particular section of St. Louis County solely because he was African American. A federal statute that Congress enacted in 1866 under its power to enforce the…

Facts—Two residents of Virginia, a black woman and a white man, Richard Loving, were married in the District of Columbia. They then returned to Caroline County, Virginia, where they were indicted for violation of Virginia’s ban on interracial marriages. The…

Facts—After the Supreme Court’s historic decision in Brown v. Board of Education (1954), the Court ordered rearguments on how this ruling should be implemented. The U.S. attorney general as well as attorneys general of several states participated in oral arguments.…

Facts—A series of cases went to the Supreme Court from the states of Kansas, South Carolina, Virginia, and Delaware. Since all of the cases involved the same basic problem—African American minors, through their legal representatives, seeking the aid of the…