The Future Civil Rights Agenda: Speculation on Litigation, Legislation, and Organization
Abstract
This Article focuses on the current law regarding civil rights in education, employment, immigration, and voting with regard to blacks and Hispanics. Discrimination against other groups (for example, females, the elderly, the handicapped) is not explored except to the extent necessary to illuminate discrimination against black and Hispanic minorities. The magnitude of the subjects under discussion imposes this limitation, and any omission is not a comment on the importance of other forms of discrimination. Housing discrimination is not addressed because Congress enacted a new federal statute as this Article developed. The statute has broader coverage and a vastly improved remedial structure as written, but no body of litigation and research exists yet to measure its actual impact and effectiveness. The Article briefly summarizes the state of the law in each area identified above, but primarily attempts to delineate new or unresolved problems of minorities, and to suggest new ideas for litigation, legislation, or advocacy group reorganization.
This Article also attempts to gather together the ideas of other commentators on the civil rights scene and critique those warranting some qualifying commentary. This latter purpose entails some discussion of the law as a vehicle for ameliorating poverty.