Adoption and the Constitution: are adoptive parents really "strangers without rights"?
Article Abstract:
The rights of adoptive parents should be accorded federal constitutional protection to overcome the bias toward genetic linkage. In cases of disputed custody, the interests of adoptive parents should be balanced with those of the child and the biological parents. Once the biological parents have given up their rights to the child, but before the adoption has been finalized according to state laws, the rights of the adoptive parents begin to accrue. Current case law is inconsistent because of uncertainties in applying Supreme Court decisions concerning the rights of unwed fathers and adoptive parents.
Publication Name: Annual Survey of American Law
Subject: Law
ISSN: 0066-4413
Year: 1995
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A rape in cyberspace or how an evil clown, a Haitian trickster spirit, two wizards, and a cast of dozens turned a database into a society
Article Abstract:
An abusive member of the online virtual community called LambdaMOO, a multi-user dimension, subjected female participants to degrading sexual language and expressions. A violated female participant considered these acts to be a type of rape. Other members of the community took action and banished the offender. The incident raises questions of what type of actions would constitute a rape in cyberspace, as well as illustrating the power of words in such a universe. Free speech in cyberspace is an ambiguous issue that virtual communities may have to address for themselves.
Publication Name: Annual Survey of American Law
Subject: Law
ISSN: 0066-4413
Year: 1994
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The religious right, constitutional values, and the Lemon test
Article Abstract:
Judicial inquiry into the religious purposes of legislation under the test outlined in Lemon v. Kurtzman should be abandoned because it represents an unwarranted intrusion into private conscience. The courts should focus instead on whether a law has the effect of advancement of religion. The suggested test would be effective in preventing the religious right from controverting constitutional values, while maintaining a proper role for religious values in political discourse.
Publication Name: Annual Survey of American Law
Subject: Law
ISSN: 0066-4413
Year: 1995
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