Author: Alan Jenkins

Yesterday the U.S. Supreme Court issued its much-anticipated decision in Ricci v. DeStefano, the New Haven firefighters case. While the Court’s decision was disappointing in many respects, it preserved employers’ ability, and obligation, to ensure freedom from discrimination in the workplace. Ricci involved the city of New Haven’s attempts to ensure the fair and accurate […]

I learned last week that my friend and law school classmate Luke Cole had died in a car accident while vacationing with his wife in Uganda. Luke was an incredible guy with an infectious positive energy about him and the belief that he could change the world for the better. In a number of big […]

This week, thousands of community leaders and hundreds of local organizations are holding events in 40 cities to kick off the Campaign to Reform Immigration for America. In a national campaign launch event at the National Press Club and Campaign Summit on Wednesday in Washington, DC, they will call for commonsense immigration reform that offers […]

During the presidential campaign, candidate Barack Obama spoke eloquently about race in America and its continuing relevance to our national progress. But at the press conference marking his first 100 days, President Obama got it wrong. Black Entertainment Television reporter Andre Showell asked the President: “As the entire nation tries to climb out of this […]

Article 1 of the International Convention Against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment provides, in simple terms, that “torture means any act by which severe pain or suffering, whether physical or mental, is intentionally inflicted on a person for such purposes as obtaining from him or a third person information or […]

As Obama’s first 100 days draw to a close, new research shows that addressing today’s economic crisis will require reinvesting in a bedrock American principle: Opportunity. The State of Opportunity, released last week by The Opportunity Agenda, measures our nation’s progress in ensuring that all Americans, and our nation as a whole, have a fair […]

Earlier this year, I visited my father, who lives in the Bay Area. As we drove from the Oakland airport, the conversation quickly turned to the Obama presidency. Born in 1923, my dad survived the Great Depression, fought in World War II, endured vicious Jim Crow segregation and violence, participated in the Civil Rights Movement, […]

Two weeks ago in this column I called for equal opportunity guarantees in the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act. Ensuring equal and expanded opportunity for all, I argued, will be crucial to a broad and lasting economic recovery that upholds our nation’s values. I’m happy to report that, while the legislation did not include these […]