Academic

Student Blogger - #13Amend Live Blog: Kamehameha

Professor Aviam Soifer argued against the narrowing of the 1866 Civil Rights Act urged by judges including Judge Bybee of the Ninth Circuit. Judge Bybee wrote the dissent in an 8-7 decision about Kamehameha Schools in Hawaii, which are restricted to native Hawaiians. He quoted Jones v Mayer, a case upholding the Civil Rights Act of 1866 (codified at § 1981), but he replaced the phrase "black man" with "[any person]" and focused solely on the contracts aspect of the Act.

The full text is, "All persons within the jurisdiction of the United States shall have the same right in every State and Territory to make and enforce contracts, to sue, be parties, give evidence, and to the full and equal benefit of all laws and proceedings for the security of persons and property as is enjoyed by white citizens, and shall be subject to like punishment, pains, penalties, taxes, licenses, and exactions of every kind, and to no other." This Act has been neglected, but it is significantly broader than Bybee seems to give it credit for.

Full post as published by The University of Chicago Law School Faculty Blog on April 17, 2009 (boomark / email).