The Takings Clause of Boyle Heights
Introduction
Poor people and people of color are the authors of community legal thought. Today, that jurisprudence shapes the culture of Boyle Heights, an embattled, primarily Latinx neighborhood in Los Angeles. Rapid gentrification of Boyle Heights has led to tenants’ ousters and housing insecurity. Through interviews, inhabitants share their views on what belongs to them, and when that property is taken in violation of human dignity and legal principles. That is, they share their versionof the Takings Clause. Though my work is unfinished, interviewees’ articulate insistences on takings protections were comprehensive enough to essay a first draft of a Boyle Heights Taking Clause. Marshaling the work of popular constitutionalists and progressive property scholars, and drawing parallels between Supreme Court conceptions of takings and those of Boyle Heightsians, I argue that this fledgling draft of community property rights should be further studied and developed so that it may someday inform formal Takings analyses.
Suggested Reading
U.S. Elections 2020: Where and How Do We Draw a Constitutionally Permissible Line to a Candidate's Inflammatory Political Rhetoric?
"It's important to note that scholars have long observed that political discourse and political events can contribute to the frequency of bias incidents. In fact, this phenomenon has a name today. It's called the Trump Effect."
Do We Treat America's Wartime Detainees Better Than Migrant Children?
Migrant children fleeing violence in their native countries have experienced severe psychological trauma before and after entering the country when we separated them from their families and placed them in detention facilities, and some families remain separated.
Mass Violence Motivated by Hate: Are New Domestic Terrorism Laws the Answer?
Do new domestic terrorism laws put Black Lives Matter supporters, anti-war protestors, and/or animal rights activists at risk? Do they presently incorporate sufficient safeguards against such misuse and abuse?
The Muslim Ban Revisited: Trump v. Hawaii Two Years Later
The discriminatory laws, practices, and policies promised and delivered by President Trump have social, political, and economic ramifications. First, they reinforce misconceptions about Islam as an inherently violent religion. Second, they breed intolerance, fear, and hostility among the general population