Municipal Staff-Council Relations in Theory and Practice: Examining the Hamilton Gore Park Fiasco

This paper examines concerns regarding the roles and responsibilities of councillors and bureaucrats within the policymaking process based on a case study of the Gore Park Rejuvenation Program in Hamilton. The findings reveal that if the expectations of councillors and bureaucrats are not coordinated, problems will eventually occur and, more specifically, if councillors do not prudently assess issues and bureaucrats fail to act responsibly, policies will not be properly formulated or delivered

Separate and Unequal: Promoting Racial Equity in Public Schools in the United States and South Africa

(Excerpt) On January 24, 2022, the Supreme Court of the United States announced that it will hear two cases, against Harvard College and the University of North Carolina, which “rais[e] serious doubts about the future of affirmative action in higher education.” The plaintiff in both cases, Students for Fair Admissions, Inc. (“SFFA”), is a non-profit organization devoted to eradicating affirmative action programs nationwide. Described as the “culmination of a years-long strategy by conservative activists,” these cases represent the first affirmative action challenges to be argued before the Court’s new conservative majority, where they “pose the gravest threats yet” to over forty years of judicial precedent approving the use of race as a non-determinative factor in undergraduate admissions. The United States is divided over how and whether public schools may legally consider race when seeking equity in access to public education. Though the Supreme Court declared de jure racial segregation in public schools unconstitutional under the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment in Brown v. Board of Education, the United States’ public school system today remains “largely separate and unequal.” Students of color “are more racially and socioeconomically isolated today than at any time since data have been available,” and “nonwhite” school districts receive $23 billion less in funding than white school districts that serve the same number of students. Racially concentrated minority schools have lower levels of academic achievement, inferior resources, higher teacher turnover rates, and less rigorous curricular opportunities. Moreover, racially isolated schools severely limit interaction between students from different backgrounds. In attempting to remedy these disparities—which stem from the United States’ slow redress of slavery, segregation, and discrimination—the United States has grappled with whether institutions should explicitly consider students’ race in their integration and diversity policies. In Brown, the Court analyzed racial discrimination and segregation’s social effects on Black students and prohibited state practices that reinforced the inferiority of historically oppressed populations, thereby explicitly addressing remedy in relation to race. In cases immediately subsequent to Brown, the Court upheld race-conscious desegregation efforts, remedies, and public school policies, affirmatively embedding antisubordination principles into the law

President’s Column, Vol. 57, No. 1

Dear American Judges Association Members, We hope this letter finds you well. We were sad to announce the cancellation of the 2021 Spring Midyear Conference in San Antonio. The Executive Committee felt that it was in the best interest of our members to cancel due to the increasing number of Covid-19 cases, travel restrictions, and budgetary issues. However, we look forward to having the 2021 Annual Conference in New Orleans, Louisiana. In the interim AJA is hosting a Webinar Series consisting of four 75-minute educational webinars for American Judges Association (AJA) members, and other interested judges. Recordings of the webinars will be preserved and hosted on the AJA website, making them available to judges, the broader state court community, and the general public

President’s Column Vol. 56, No. 1

In this column, we celebrate the service of Shelley Rockwell who is retiring April 3, 2020. She has 35 Years and 10 months of service as an employee of the National Center for State Courts. Shelley’s initial position was in “Secretariat Services”—now Association Services—in an administrative support position. She was promoted to Staff Associate in 1987; her work was pretty much the same as what she does now—managing associations, and watching over Court Review. Titles have changed along the way but Shelley has been the glue that held the AJA together in good times and bad

President’s Column, Vol. 57, No. 3

Dear AJA Members: Due to the current situation in New Orleans, Louisiana, because of Hurricane Ida and the pandemic, it was determined it was not possible to host the Annual Conference there. Therefore, the Annual Conference will be held virtually on October 4-6, 2021, and be hosted by the National Center for State Courts, as our Secretariat, in Williamsburg, Virginia. The General Assembly will convene on October 6, 2021, at 9 am CDT. The Board of Governors meeting will follow at 10 am CDT and the new Executive Committee meeting at 11 am CDT. All meetings and education sessions will be held virtually by Zoom. Notices with links to register, join the meetings, and the agenda for the conference will be found on the AJA website. Please note all times listed on the agenda are in Central Time. We apologize if this issue did not reach you in a timely manner

Individuo e comunità nel pensiero di Franz Rosenzweig

Scopo di questo lavoro è quello di intercettare attraverso le tappe della vita di Rosenzweig e attraverso l’analisi delle sue opere principali, quali Hegel e lo Stato e La Stella della Redenzione, ma anche attraverso gli altri suoi scritti, tra cui il Globus, l’umana storia dialogica come risposta all’inquietudine dell’uomo risvegliato all’esistenza e al suo bisogno dell’altro, mirando alla costituzione di una comunità in cui l’individuale non si disperda mai nell’universale e in cui il macrocosmo sia il prodotto costante e rinnovato dalla messa in relazione dei microcosmi, cioè gli individui, che nell’incontro e nella relazione con l’altro generano la comunità. Nel primo capitolo cercheremo di tracciare, attraverso la storia dell’unificazione della Germania e della politica tedesca nei confronti degli ebrei, il modo in cui si sviluppa il pensiero di Rosenzweig, cercando di comprendere le sofferenze e le insofferenze che influenzano la sua ricerca. Nel secondo capitolo attraverso lo studio di Hegel e lo Stato cercheremo di focalizzare quali siano le problematiche filosofiche già in germe nel pensiero di Rosenzweig sin dagli anni giovanili. In Hegel e lo Stato attraverso la critica ad Hegel Rosenzweig fa la critica all’idea di Storia universale del XIX secolo ovvero a quell’idea di storia in cui l’individuo, il singolo, gioca un ruolo fondamentale soltanto in quanto contribuisce, con le proprie azioni, allo sviluppo dell’Autocoscienza dello Spirito Assoluto. All’idea dello Spirito Assoluto di Hegel, Rosenzweig, in Globus, oppone una nuova idea di storia universale, che è la storia dei conflitti e delle violenze generate dalla modulazione e rimodulazione dei terreni a causa dell’appropriazione della terra da parte dell’uomo. Nel terzo capitolo ci addentreremo nell’analisi del capolavoro di Rosenzweig, La Stella della redenzione. Qui il filosofo opera una decostruzione dei sistemi filosofici che a partire dalla domanda originaria circa l’essenza hanno, secondo il nostro autore, smarrito la via e teorizzato una realtà che tutto ingloba a scapito dell’individuo che viene considerato solamente come personalità, ovvero per mezzo di un concetto generico che non si cura delle peculiarità del singolo. Rosenzweig, attraverso il dialogo con la teologia, oppone alla filosofia dell’essenza la filosofia narrante, ovvero la filosofia dell’accadere nel tempo storico. Egli, partendo da questo nuovo metodo del filosofare, apre la via alla ricostruzione di un universo di un universo di relazione, ovvero di un universo in cui diversità irriducibili ad identità entrano in relazione attraverso l’apertura verso l’altro e attraverso il dialogo. In tal modo Rosenzweig vede la generazione spontanea della comunità non determinata da un atto violento, come accade nel caso dell’appropriazione della terra, bensì generata da uomini che entrano umanamente in relazione attraverso un atto di amore. Nel quarto capitolo, infine, cercheremo di comprendere, attraverso le pubblicazioni posteriori alla Stella della redenzione, i risvolti pratici del sistema di Rosenzweig. Nella consapevolezza che l’azione del nostro filosofo s’inserisce all’interno di un mondo specifico, ovvero all’interno della realtà ebraica, cercheremo di estrapolare i caratteri a partire dai quali dal suo pensiero è possibile ricominciare a pensare; in questo tentativo cercheremo di comprendere come il pensiero di Rosenzweig può essere utile nella riflessione concernente l’attualissima problematica relativa alla costituzione dell’identità dell’Europa

President’s Column, Vol. 55, No. 4

Treatment courts have become an important part of our judicial system. I have presided over a DUI court in Reno, Nevada for the past two years. In the beginning of November, I had the good fortune with my team to attend the National Center for DWI Courts training in El Paso, Texas. We had excellent presentations on the 10 guiding principles of DWI courts. Julie Seitz and Shane Wolf were the project directors from the National Center for DWI courts. Other presenters included Judge Diane Bull, Mary Jane Knisely, Maggie Morales-Aina, and Mark Pickle

President\u27s Column, Vol. 56, No. 2

Dear AJA members and colleagues. My condolences to anyone who has lost a family member or friend to the Coronavirus. For 36 years, Shelley Rockwell served as the administrative support person for the AJA managing our association. She retired at the end of April this year. Shelley has been the glue that held the AJA together in good times and bad