Viewing entries tagged
Civil Rights

The Right to Bear Facial Hair: Is the Mustache Constitutionally Protected in Indiana?

The Right to Bear Facial Hair: Is the Mustache Constitutionally Protected in Indiana?

"Liberty is a basic civil right," Indiana Supreme Court Justice Roger DeBruler wrote in 1972,  ". . . It even provides constitutional protection for such personal choices as the style of one’s hair, whether to wear a beard or mustache." Indeed, the right to determine one's personal appearance—whether related to dress or grooming habits—is constitutionally protected from arbitrary government action. But to what extent? Is such a right absolute? Specifically, is the male prerogative to the bristly appendage limited only by his level of testosterone? This essay, in observance of Movember, seeks to answer these questions. 

"THIRST FOR JUSTICE": INDIANA'S PIONEERING BLACK LAWYERS

"THIRST FOR JUSTICE": INDIANA'S PIONEERING BLACK LAWYERS

In celebration of Black History Month, the ILA presents a series of biographies examining the lives of prominent black attorneys in Indiana history. Their accomplishments are remarkable not only because of the adversity they faced in life and in practice, but also because of the contributions they made jurisprudentially; as shapers of the law, their legacy defines the normative framework that guides us today.