Rutgers to debate discrimination cases in free public forum
COMPETING DISCRIMINATION CLAIMS OF WHITE AND MINORITY FIREFIGHTERS WILL BE UNDER SCRUTINY SEPT. 16 AS That issue will be the center of the Constitution Day program at The program, “Does race-conscious decision-making by an employer to remedy disparate impact, deny equal protection under the law?” is subtitled, “An Affirmative Action narrative through the lens of Ricci v. DeStefano,” referring to the case in which white New Haven, CT., firefighters sued their city on the grounds they were unfairly denied promotions because of their race. Assistant Chancellor Mark Winston will moderate, and two distinguished members of the faculty of Rutgers Law School-Newark will act as “appellate judges:” Professor of Law and Herbert Hannoch Scholar Bernard Bell, and Professor of Law and Sidney Reitman Scholar James Gray Pope (biographies attached). After Professor Bell presents asummary of the case, he and Professor Pope will hear “arguments” presented by two This year’s annual Constitution Day Program continues the theme, “Conversations on Citizenship,” which in past years has examined issues such as prisoners’ rights and the immigration debate. This is Rutgers-Newark’s fifth annual program marking Constitution Day, an American federal observance that recognizes the completion of the drafting of the United States Constitution in 1787. The document was the work of a distinguished group of delegates, including two future Presidents of the The federal law establishing Constitution Day was created in 2004; previously it was known as "Citizenship Day." Although a federal mandate, “It is important to celebrate the Constitution because many students don’t appreciate the historical importance of the Constitution as the foundation for democratic rights, not only for the past but for the future as well,” states Vice Chancellor Marcia Brown, coordinator of the event. For more information: The Bernard W. Bell, Professor of Law and Herbert Hannoch Scholar Professor Bell teaches Constitutional Law, Legislation, Administrative Law, and several other courses. He received a B.A. cum laude from Harvard and a J.D. from Stanford, where he was notes editor of the Law Review and a member of Order of the Coif. He clerked for Judge Amalya L. Kearse of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit and for U.S. Supreme Court Justice Byron R. White. Before coming to Professor Bell served as Associate Dean for Faculty and then Associate Dean for Academic Affairs and Faculty from June 2004 to July 2008.  Professor Pope received an A.B. and J.D. from Harvard, and a Ph.D. in politics from Professor Pope's articles about constitutional law, workers' rights, and labor history have appeared in a wide variety of publications including the Columbia Law Review, Law & History Review, the Michigan Law Review, the University of Pennsylvania Law Review,the Texas Law Review, the Yale Law Journal, Labor History, New Labor Forum (with Peter Kellman & Ed ##########(Newark, N.J., – Must local officials certify the results of employment and promotional tests, even when use of the results will prevent all or almost all qualified minority applicants from employment or promotion?
Professor Bell has written numerous articles which have appeared in several journals, including the Stanford Law Review, the Texas Law Review, the North Carolina Law Review, the Ohio State Law Review, the George Washington Law Review, the Pittsburgh Law Review, and the Journal of Law and Politics. He has a visiting professor at
James Gray Pope, Professor of Law and Sidney Reitman Scholar
After law school, he clerked for Chief Justice Rose Elizabeth Bird of the California Supreme Court. Prior to joining the Rutgers faculty in 1986, he was associated with the
Bruno), and Working USA (also with Kellman & Bruno).
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