Browse Equal Protection Articles

Embryo Ethics: Does discarding unused embryos constitute murder?

Earlier this year, a Chicago judge allowed Alison Miller to file a wrongful death suit against the fertility clinic that inadvertently destroyed the couple's frozen embryo. Three Rhode Island women have also been awarded compensation for emotional distress and loss of property three years ago. Now Missouri and Louisiana have laws protecting the legal rights of embryos. With laws like these on the books, couples with embryos frozen in fertility clinics face serious legal and ethical dilemmas when trying to decide what to do with remaining embryos. more...

Mariah Wojdacz - Sep 2008 - Equal Protection
Diplomatic immunity: How does it work?

The tabloids have a field day with wayward ambassadors who claim immunity when they get nabbed for reckless driving. These stories hit the headlines and reinforce the public misperception that diplomatic immunity is a "get-out-of-jail-free" card for breaking the law overseas. more...

Amanda Howe - Sep 2008 - Equal Protection
Do you have a right to a jury of your peers?

During jury selection, defense attorney Deborah Poole complained that her 79 year-old client, Lena Sims Driskell, could not receive a fair trial with a jury of her peers because the juror pool lacked enough older people from which to select. Of the 58 jurors in the pool, a scant few were over 60. more...

Beverly Rice - Oct 2007 - Murder
The People's Court: Understanding the 6th Amendment

The framers of the U.S. Constitution knew a thing or two about government abuse through the legal system. When they wrote the Constitution, they made sure it established our system of government, but also protected each citizen from that same government. These protections are guaranteed through amendments to the Constitution known as the Bill of Rights. Protection from the legal system is granted through the 6th Amendment, known as the right to a speedy trial and an impartial jury. more...

Monica Sanders - Oct 2007 - Equal Protection
Who is Hamdan? The case of Hamdan vs. Rumsfeld

In November of 2001, President George Bush, as part of his war on terror, issued an executive order which authorized the trial of those persons considered "enemy combatants" but would not allow them to "invoke rights under any other body of law, U.S. or international" and that "justice was to be dispensed swiftly, close to where our forces may be fighting, without years of pretrial proceedings or post-trial appeals." The commission was first put to use in 2004 when Salim Ahmed Hamdan was captured and sold to the United States. He was sent directly to the Guatanamo Naval Base in Cuba. more...

Ellen Rosner Feig - Equal Protection