Lee v. Macon County Board of Education: The Possibilities of Federal Enforcement of Equal Educational Opportunity

Lee v. Macon County Board of Education shows the evolution of the role of the three branches in enforcing the equal protection clause in public education in Alabama. All three branches initially acquiesced in the separate but equal doctrine. The executive and the judicial branches rejected the doctrine in Brown, but the legislative branch remained silent until 1964. Despite Congress’ failure to authorize a federal role in desegregation, the Department of Justice was an active participant in Lee beginning in 1963. When Congress finally did act in 1964 to authorize such suits, it encumbered the authorization with severe limitations. Congress also created a parallel enforcement mechanism, in Title VI of the 1964 Act. In later years, Congress and the executive have emphasized general reform of education as the answer, in legislation such as No Child Left Behind. My paper explores the role of the federal government in the statewide desegregation of Alabama’s public schools. Federal court litigation in Lee v. Macon County Board of Education led to an extraordinary remedy and illustrates the potential for the Departments of Justice and Education to play a key role in reviving the quest for equal educational opportunity through desegregation

The United States in Vietnam: A Case Study in the Law of Intervention

Vietnam is presently the site of armed conflict between guerrillas and the Diem government. It is clear that the guerrillas have the support of North Vietnam, and that the United States supports Diem. The East-West controversy over Vietnam has brought forth charges by each side that the other has been breaching promises made at Geneva in 1954 and otherwise violating international law.\u27 Although the charges undoubtedly have been motivated in part by desires to make propaganda gains, they have some foundation in law and fact, and they merit objective analysis. While the facts perhaps cannot be fully known by reading only Western publications, one can try to make a legal analysis of the facts available from Western sources in order to see whether the United States is respecting international law in Vietnam. Find original online here: 10.15779/Z38BB7

Balanced Scholarship and Racial Balance

Professor Landsberg presents a responsive essay to Kirk Kennedy\u27s Race-Exclusive Scholarships: Constitutional Vel Non. Professor Landsberg argues for the preservation of the Supreme Court\u27s balanced approach to assessing the validity of affirmative action programs. Landsberg notes approvingly that the Court has carefully avoided absolutes in deciding affirmative action cases, and criticizes Mr. Kennedy for his support of an absolute, all-or-nothing approach to race-exclusive scholarships. Landsberg argues first, that Regents of the University of California v. Bakke remains good law and that universities should not be enjoined from all race-conscious decisionmaking; second, that race-exclusive scholarships may, in narrow circumstances, be used to overcome the effects of past discrimination; and third, that in a broader range of circumstances, race may be used as a factor in deciding scholarship applications. Landsberg concludes by expressing hope that the Supreme Court will continue to avoid mechanical formulae and blunderbuss rules, and instead retain its careful case-by-case consideration of race-conscious decisionmaking

Walking on two legs in Chinese law schools: A Chinese / U.S. Program in Experiential Legal Education

Dong Jingbo, a young faculty member at the China University of Political Science and Law in Beijing, used to teach using only the traditional lecture technique which she had experienced in her own legal education in China and Korea. Until, that is, Professor Dong attended summer workshops given by Pacific McGeorge, in partnership with American University’s Washington College of Law, and also earned an LL.M. at Pacific McGeorge, in the Teaching of Advocacy. Her classes no longer are limited to lecture. She has developed a simulation to use in Chinese criminal law classes, has demonstrated it to other Chinese law professors and has written a law review article about it.2 The simulation is based on a news story about a man who used his wife’s ATM card to make two successive withdrawals of 10,000 RMB, while the receipts reflected a total withdrawal of only 2 RMB, and even though his wife had only 10,000 RMB in her account. The man was charged with theft. Professor Dong assigns students to play the role of the prosecutor, defense counsel and judge. They are given the definition of theft, and must argue and decide the case. She then provides a series of additional facts, requiring deeper analysis. Introduction of this role play into the class builds on learning theory to provide deeper understanding of the elements of the crime of theft than a student could obtain by listening to a lecture. Moreover, this learning by doing encourages analysis, fact development, understanding of the important role of the theory of the case, and independent thinking. For these reasons, and as our experience in China affirms, role play is a useful learning method in traditional, simulation, and clinical law courses