Legal Commentary

Joseph asked how the incoming Obama Administration, and its change of policies and politics, will affect the courses we teach. Doug Kmiec has a FindLaw column on this week's oral argument in Fitzgerald v. Barnstable School Committee, which considers whether Equal Protection claims under § 1983 are precluded by Title IX. Kmiec frames his discussion around the Solicitor General's failure to get involved in the case, quite unusual in a case involving the interpretation of two major federal statutes. He attributes this to the Bush Justice Department's lack of interest in the "demands of constitutional justice--not to mention the practical importance of assisting the Justices" in favor of ideology, which he suggests will not continue to be a problem under the Obama Justice Department.

This is consistent with my thought, in a comment to Joseph's post, that a major difference will be the expected commitment of the Obama Administration to Equal Protection and discrimination issues. The oral argument final project for my Civil Rights class is this Friday and Fitzgerald is one of the cases we will be arguing.