Strict Construction and Judicial Review of Racial Discrimination Under the Equal Protection Clause: Meeting Raoul Berger on Interpretivist Grounds

In the face of this common understanding of the vagueness of much of the constitutional text, Berger bears the burden of proving that the equal protection clause was intended to enumerate specific, narrow protections against racial discrimination. This Article examines several contemporary sources to determine whether he has accomplished that task. It proceeds in six parts. Part I analyzes the text of the fourteenth amendment and contemporaneous congressional views on judicial review. Contrary to Berger\u27s construction, the equal protection clause is not limited by its terms to the privileges or immunities clause or to the specific rights enumerated in the 1866 Civil Rights Act. Similarly, the Reconstruction Congress repeatedly acted to confirm and to expand the judiciary\u27s power to review state conduct for compliance with the Civil War amendments and their enforcement acts. Part II examines the wide range of racial evils and official neglect that provided the backdrop for action by the framers shortly before and after passage of the fourteenth amendment. Part III then demonstrates that the language used by John Bingham in the key clauses of section 1 was not intended to invoke the narrow code meanings traced by Berger; rather, it referred to broader, albeit not specifically defined, antidiscrimination principles. Part IV shows that the limited debate in Congress on Bingham\u27s final proposal supports rather than rebuts this open-ended interpretation of the equal protection clause. These materials, taken together, suggest that Berger\u27s narrow reading denies the fourteenth amendment\u27s actual role as a general protection against official caste discrimination. This interpretation is supported by the way that the Reconstruction Congress dealt with one intractable aspect of racial discrimination - segregation in the schools. Part V demonstrates that the framers left this issue open for decision under the fourteenth amendment, and Part VI concludes the Article by comparing Plessy v. Ferguson and Brown/em\u3e on interpretivist grounds. Although Berger would argue that Plessy is the strict construction and Brown the result of judicial overreaching, in fact the evidence suggests that Brown\u27s result was within the scope that the framers envisioned for the fourteenth amendment

Of Cultural Determinism and the Limits of Law

A Review of Civil Rights: Rhetoric or Reality? by Thomas Sowel

Toward ending segregation in the 1980s

The conflict concerning desegregation in the 1970s has roots and implications that extend beyond schooling to all aspects of life in metropolitan America. The issue is whether the ghettoization of blacks in areas distinct and separate from protected white enclaves will continue as the vehicle for imposing caste inequality. The challenge for the 1980s is to develop constructive policies and practices in education and training, jobs and housing, and urban development and taxation that will work to end the mutually destructive process of racial segregation across the national landscape. This article explores a number of control, incentive, market, and cooperative approaches to breaching the color line of racial ghettoization.Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/43868/1/11256_2005_Article_BF01956009.pd

A Review of Surgical Informed Consent: Past, Present, and Future. A Quest to Help Patients Make Better Decisions

Contains fulltext : 87422.pdf (publisher's version ) (Closed access)BACKGROUND: Informed consent (IC) is a process requiring a competent doctor, adequate transfer of information, and consent of the patient. It is not just a signature on a piece of paper. Current consent processes in surgery are probably outdated and may require major changes to adjust them to modern day legislation. A literature search may provide an opportunity for enhancing the quality of the surgical IC (SIC) process. METHODS: Relevant English literature obtained from PubMed, Picarta, PsycINFO, and Google between 1993 and 2009 was reviewed. RESULTS: The body of literature with respect to SIC is slim and of moderate quality. The SIC process is an underestimated part of surgery and neither surgeons nor patients sufficiently realize its importance. Surgeons are not specifically trained and lack the competence to guide patients through a legally correct SIC process. Computerized programs can support the SIC process significantly but are rarely used for this purpose. CONCLUSIONS: IC should be integrated into our surgical practice. Unfortunately, a big gap exists between the theoretical/legal best practice and the daily practice of IC. An optimally informed patient will have more realistic expectations regarding a surgical procedure and its associated risks. Well-informed patients will be more satisfied and file fewer legal claims. The use of interactive computer-based programs provides opportunities to improve the SIC process.1 juli 201

Effect of remote ischaemic conditioning on clinical outcomes in patients with acute myocardial infarction (CONDI-2/ERIC-PPCI): a single-blind randomised controlled trial.

BACKGROUND: Remote ischaemic conditioning with transient ischaemia and reperfusion applied to the arm has been shown to reduce myocardial infarct size in patients with ST-elevation myocardial infarction (STEMI) undergoing primary percutaneous coronary intervention (PPCI). We investigated whether remote ischaemic conditioning could reduce the incidence of cardiac death and hospitalisation for heart failure at 12 months. METHODS: We did an international investigator-initiated, prospective, single-blind, randomised controlled trial (CONDI-2/ERIC-PPCI) at 33 centres across the UK, Denmark, Spain, and Serbia. Patients (age >18 years) with suspected STEMI and who were eligible for PPCI were randomly allocated (1:1, stratified by centre with a permuted block method) to receive standard treatment (including a sham simulated remote ischaemic conditioning intervention at UK sites only) or remote ischaemic conditioning treatment (intermittent ischaemia and reperfusion applied to the arm through four cycles of 5-min inflation and 5-min deflation of an automated cuff device) before PPCI. Investigators responsible for data collection and outcome assessment were masked to treatment allocation. The primary combined endpoint was cardiac death or hospitalisation for heart failure at 12 months in the intention-to-treat population. This trial is registered with ClinicalTrials.gov (NCT02342522) and is completed. FINDINGS: Between Nov 6, 2013, and March 31, 2018, 5401 patients were randomly allocated to either the control group (n=2701) or the remote ischaemic conditioning group (n=2700). After exclusion of patients upon hospital arrival or loss to follow-up, 2569 patients in the control group and 2546 in the intervention group were included in the intention-to-treat analysis. At 12 months post-PPCI, the Kaplan-Meier-estimated frequencies of cardiac death or hospitalisation for heart failure (the primary endpoint) were 220 (8·6%) patients in the control group and 239 (9·4%) in the remote ischaemic conditioning group (hazard ratio 1·10 [95% CI 0·91-1·32], p=0·32 for intervention versus control). No important unexpected adverse events or side effects of remote ischaemic conditioning were observed. INTERPRETATION: Remote ischaemic conditioning does not improve clinical outcomes (cardiac death or hospitalisation for heart failure) at 12 months in patients with STEMI undergoing PPCI. FUNDING: British Heart Foundation, University College London Hospitals/University College London Biomedical Research Centre, Danish Innovation Foundation, Novo Nordisk Foundation, TrygFonden