Article
Ensuring a Right of Access to the Courts for Bias Crime Victims: A Section 5 Defense of the Matthew Shepard Act
Chapman Law Review
(2008)
Abstract
Congress recently invoked its power under the Commerce Clause to pass the Local Law Enforcement Hate Crimes Prevention Act of 2007 (The Matthew Shepard Act). On December 6, 2007, Congressional Democrats dropped the Matthew Shepard Act from the U.S. Department of Defense authorization bill. With Democrats now in control of Congress and the election of President Barack Obama, there is renewed hope that the Matthew Shepard Act will be passed and enacted during a subsequent session.
Section 5 of the Fourteenth Amendment gives Congress the authority to enforce the substantive provisions of the Fourteenth Amendment through federal legislation. Although Congress invoked its commerce power to pass the Matthew Shepard Act, it did not invoke its enforcement power under Section 5 of the Fourteenth Amendment. This Article provides the first comprehensive defense of the Matthew Shepard Act under Section 5 of the Fourteenth Amendment. I contend that Congress has the authority to adopt the Matthew Shepard Act by invoking its Section 5 enforcement power and that Section 5 is a stronger constitutional basis to adopt the Act than the Commerce Clause.
In Tennessee v. Lane, the U.S. Supreme Court affirmed Congress' authority to invoke its Section 5 enforcement power in order to ensure that individuals with disabilities have equal access to the courts. Similarly, I argue that the Matthew Shepard Act is a valid enactment of Congress' Section 5 enforcement power in order to ensure a right of access to the courts for bias crime victims targeted because of sexual orientation, gender identity, gender, and disability. I contend that discrimination and resource constraints prevent these groups of bias crime victims from reporting their crimes to the police, influence police officers not to categorize or investigate their crimes as bias crimes, and prevent prosecutors from prosecuting their crimes as bias crimes. The Matthew Shepard Act is a critical piece of legislation because it provides a federal remedy when state and local laws exclude or inadequately address bias crimes on the basis of sexual orientation, gender identity, gender, and disability. The Matthew Shepard Act also allocates federal resources to ensure that resource constraints will not prevent state and local governments from investigating and prosecuting bias crimes.
Keywords
- Constitutional Law,
- Hate Crimes,
- Gay,
- Lesbian,
- Gender Identity,
- Sexual Orientation,
- Criminal Law,
- Legislation
Disciplines
Publication Date
June 21, 2008
Citation Information
Jordan Woods. "Ensuring a Right of Access to the Courts for Bias Crime Victims: A Section 5 Defense of the Matthew Shepard Act" Chapman Law Review (2008) Available at: http://works.bepress.com/jordan-woods/4/