Tournament: Damien | Round: 1 | Opponent: ab | Judge: cd

My value is equality and my role of the ballot is a vote to confront racism. The role of the judge is to act as an ethical educator, teaching how to best deal with racism.

Racism is a side-constraint on any ethical theory.

Memmi, 2000 - prof of sociology @ U of Paris ~Albert. Racism. Trans. Steve Martinot. Minneapolis: U of Minnesota Press, 2000.
The struggle against racism will be long, difficult, without intermission, without remission
AND
. True, it is a wager, but the stakes are irresistible.

Ethics based on abstraction or universal morality inevitably reinforce existing racist dominance, because color blindness ignores the contingent nature of racism.  We must focus on the Lived Experience of those facing racism.

Bonilla-Silva 2006 - Professor of Sociology at Duke University ~Eduardo,  "Racism without racist: Color-Blind Racism and the Persistence of Racial Inequality in the United States" pp25-8~
If Jim Crow's racial structure has been replaced by a ''new racism,''
AND
practices behind segregation and being unconcerned about these practices' negative consequences for minorities.

Ending racism must take priority over other goals because racism makes all other values impossible – it warps equality, justice and morality.

Lipsitz 2000 - Professor at Department of Ethnic Studies at University of California, (George, October 2000, "The White 2K Problem" (for Cultural Values ISSN 1362-5179 Volume 4 Number 4 pp.518-524)
The persistence of residential segregation, educational inequality, environmental racism, and employment discrimination
AND
At the same time, their unearned disadvantages structure unearned advantages for whites.

Racism must take priority over util – racism is the flaw in utility, because the "greatest good for the majority" will always sacrifice the minority. When this sacrifice takes place in the name of race, it makes war and conflict inevitable.

Foucault '76 ~Michel, Society Must be Defended: Lectures at the College de France, 1975-1976, p. 254-257 Trans. David Macey~
What in fact is racism? It is primarily a way of introducing a break
AND
second half of the nineteenth century), except by activating the theme of racism

Solutions to racism must embrace political advocacy to avoid being trapped in theory. Abstract alternatives undermine any productive discussion

Curry 2014 – prof of philosophy at Texas AandM Univ. ~Dr. Tommy J. The Cost of a Thing: A Kingian Reformulation of a Living Wage Argument in the 21 st Century. http://www.academia.edu/9798210/The_Cost_of_a_Thing_A_Kingian_Reformulation_of_a_Living_Wage_Argument_in_the_21st_Century
This gap between what is actual (in the world), and what is represented
AND
used to currently justify the living wages in under our contemporary moral perspectives. 

Legal reforms within the system are necessary to end racism – there is no alternative, and the system is more flexible for change than kritik authors claim.

West 1988 - Director of the Afro-American Studies Program, Princeton University, ~Cornell, 97 Yale L.J. 757, Lexis
There simply is no intellectually acceptable, morally preferable, and practically realizable left social
AND
struggle for legitimation — with contested interpretations the primary motor in this struggle.

Contention One: Harms - Qualified immunity uniquely oppresses minority groups

Police abuse is the cornerstone of white supremacy – historically, it has progressed from colonialism, through slavery and Jim Crow to current racist violence by police

Smith, 2016 – Dean of Clinical Programs at UDC School of Law ~Jonathan Michigan Journal of Race and Law Spring, 21 Mich. J. Race and L. 315 Closing The Gap Between What Is Lawful And What Is Right In Police Use Of Force Jurisprudence By Making Police Departments More Democratic Institutions Lexis~
II. The Democratizing of Policing Can Help Overcome the Barriers Erected to Civil Litigation
AND
in political power to avoid the reality of the African-American community.

Qualified immunity is structural racism – it contributes to the social factors that make African Americans vulnerable to police violence.

McLeod, 2016 – prof of Law at Georgetown University Law Center ~Allegra Georgetown Law Journal August, 104 Geo. L.J. 1405 Confronting the Carceral State Lexis~
Devon Carbado introduces another explanatory account of the persistence of police abuse of African-
AND
, rather than measures that address only the behavior of errant officers. n41

Police abuse too often goes unpunished. This destroys the trust by minority communities for law enforcement. Until the police are held accountable, no communities are truly safe and secure

Wallis, 2016 - president of Sojourners,~ Jim Sojourners Magazine 05-24-2016 "No Accountability, No Trust" https://sojo.net/articles/no-accountability-no-trust
Freddie Gray died in Baltimore police custody after being arrested last April without any good
AND
children will not be safe. Unaccountable must become unacceptable for the police.

Contention Two: Solvency

Limiting qualified immunity protects individual rights and encourages constitutional development

Williams, 2012 – JD from Vanderbilt ~John Vanderbilt Law Review May, 65 Vand. L. Rev. 1295 Qualifying Qualified Immunity Lexis~
This Note examines how the Court could modify the doctrine of qualified immunity to ensure
AND
constitutional question first will in many cases allow for more robust constitutional jurisprudence.

Limiting Qualified Immunity is the most important reform to hold police accountable. All other reforms will fail without eliminating qualified immunity

Wright, 2015 - a Public Interest Lawyer, ~Sam Above the Law Blog, Nov 3, 2015 "Want to Fight Police Misconduct? Reform Qualified Immunity" http://abovethelaw.com/2015/11/want-to-fight-police-misco…~
Recently, police have been killing and otherwise abusing people of color with what seems
AND
want to see justice done, we should push to make it happen.

Only limiting Qualified Immunity defenses can hold police accountable. Criminal prosecutions of police cannot solve abuse or violence, because juries and judges will not convict police officers of crimes. Congress should change Section 1983 to eliminate Qualified Immunity.

Newman, 2016 - senior judge on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 2nd Circuit ~Jon O. The Washington Post June 24, 2016 "A better way to punish police How to punish police: Sue them for negligence" https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/heres-a-better-way-to-punish-the-police-sue-them-for-money/2016/06/23/c0608ad4-3959-11e6-9ccd-d6005beac8b3_story.html?utm_term=.c67051e854f7~~

The acquittal Thursday of another Baltimore police officer charged in the death of Freddie Gray, like the acquittal 25 years ago of the Los Angeles officers who beat Rodney King, reveals the inadequacy of the criminal-law remedy. Suing the police for money under a strengthened federal civil rights law would be a better response to police misconduct. Right now, however, federal law makes it more difficult to sue a police officer for denying a citizen their constitutional rights than for injuring him by ordinary negligence. If an officer negligently drives his car and injures a citizen, the victim can win money just by proving negligence, and the city that employs the officer pays whatever the jury awards. But when an officer uses excessive force or makes an unlawful arrest or search, proving wrongful conduct is not enough. Under Section 1983 of the federal civil rights statute, the officer can escape liability with the special defense of qualified immunity - showing that he reasonably believed his conduct was lawful, even if it was not. And if the jury finds the officer liable, federal law does not require his employer to pay the award. Juries, and even judges in non-jury trials, are reluctant to convict police officers of a crime, even in the face of ample evidence. With rare exceptions, they simply will not say "guilty" and risk sending an officer to prison. Suing the officer for money damages in a federal civil rights suit is the only realistic way to establish police misconduct and secure at least some vindication for victims and their families. But Congress needs to strengthen Section 1983 in three ways. First, the defense of qualified immunity should be abolished. If an officer violates the Constitution, the victim should win the lawsuit, just as he or she wins when hit by an officer negligently driving his vehicle. Second, the city (or county or state) that employs the officer should pay a damage award, just as a governmental employer pays for injury caused by an officer's negligent driving. A jury would be more willing to rule against a city than to make a police officer pay out of his own pocket. Third, the local U.S. attorney, not just the victim of the unconstitutional conduct, should be authorized to bring the suit. When federal law has been violated, a federal lawyer should act on behalf of the victim. A jury is more likely to take the matter seriously if a U.S. attorney sues than when the victim is the plaintiff, who can sometimes be perceived as a not very respectable member of the community. There is no reason for federal law to make it more difficult to hold a police officer accountable for denying constitutional rights than for injuring by negligent conduct. Congress should act to make a strengthened Section 1983 remedy available for the next episode of police misconduct.

Tournament: HWL | Round: 1 | Opponent: IDK | Judge: IDK

Free Speech - AC

First - My Framework

My Value is personal liberty – each person must be able to make their own decisions and express their own ideas. This autonomy is a precondition for all other values – we must be able to Choose right from wrong in order for us to make moral decisions. We must be able to express those choices in order to communicate them with others.

Fried 2005 - Professor of Law, Harvard University ~Charles Fried, 2005; Associate Justice, Supreme Judicial Court of Massachusetts; Solicitor General of the United States The Nature and Importance of Liberty, http://www.law.harvard.edu/students/orgs/jlpp/Vol29_No1_Fried.pdf~~
What is liberty, and why is it important? Why do we care about
AND
if the other person has not chosen voluntarily to enlist in that campaign.

My criteria is Free Speech. Free speech is the most important protection for personal liberty. Free speech is necessary to protect all other freedoms and values. It is important as a precondition for effective government decision making. The debate round is a perfect example of this – it is our speech in this round that is our expression of our beliefs and what makes debate an educational activity.

Cooray 1997 - Prof at Macquarie University ~Mark Freedom Of Speech And Expression http://www.ourcivilisation.com/cooray/rights/chap6.htm~~#6.1
6.1 Importance Of Freedom Of Speech And Expression The importance of free speech
AND
The sine qua non of a democratic society is the freedom of speech. 

Free speech is essential because universities are the Key marketplace for ideas – academic freedom is the Purpose of colleges.

Jeltema, 2004 - Senior Staff Member, American University Law Review ~Laura October, 54 Am. U.L. Rev. 215 Legislators In The Classroom: Why State Legislatures Cannot Decide Higher Education Curricula Lexis~
Institutions of higher education are not like other governmental institutions, whose objectives include carrying
AND
strong arguments exist that the normal rules for legislative control do not apply.

Contention One – Colleges are Violating Free Speech.

1. Free speech restriction on campus are widespread – threats of punishments are chilling free speech

Friedersdorf 2016 - staff writer at The Atlantic ~Conor Mar 4, The Glaring Evidence That Free Speech Is Threatened on Campushttp://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2016/03/the-glaring-evidence-that-free-speech-is-threatened-on-campus/471825
To sum up: free speech on campus is threatened from a dozen directions.
AND
this fight. The marginalized college students of the future will thank them.

2. Violating free speech to push a political agenda undermines the educational purpose of colleges.

Kristof, 2015 - columnist for The New York Times ~Nicholas Mizzou, Yale and Free Speech The New York Times, Nov 11, http://www.nytimes.com/2015/11/12/opinion/mizzou-yale-and-free-speech.html~~
We like to caricature great moral debates as right confronting wrong. But often,
AND
set "threatens to undermine or destroy universities as a place of learning."

3. Colleges are allowing police to spy on Muslim students, chilling free speech.

Friedersdorf 2016 - staff writer at The Atlantic ~Conor Mar 4, The Glaring Evidence That Free Speech Is Threatened on Campushttp://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2016/03/the-glaring-evidence-that-free-speech-is-threatened-on-campus/471825
Two years ago, I wrote about the NYPD's efforts to spy on Muslim students
AND
because they are blind to the number and degree of threats to speech.

4. Targeting Muslims for free speech violations is Islamophobic. You must reject that within the school environment – both in college campuses and in our debate.

Housee 2012 - Senior Lecturer in Sociology University of Wolverhampton (Shirin Housee, , Jan. 4, works at the School of Humanities, Languages and Social Sciences, , UK "What's the point? Anti-racism and students' voices against Islamophobia", Volume 15, Issue 1)
Having reflected on the two seminar sessions on Islamophobia and the student comments, I
AND
is to education that our attention should be directed.' (162)

Contention Two: Restricting Free Speech Undermines Liberty.

1. Movements for marginalized groups will only succeed if they respect divergent viewpoints. Calls for campus speech restrictions undermine this.

PEN America, 2016 ~AND CAMPUS FOR ALL Diversity, Inclusion, and Freedom of Speech at U.S. Universities October 17, https://pen.org/on-campus~~
While free speech is alive and well on campus, it is not free from
AND
can bleed into significant levels of self-censorship that suppress dissenting ideas.

2. College restrictions on free speech threaten democracy because they prevent student engagement with controversial opinions

Mahoney, 2016 - Executive Director at Young Americans for Liberty ~Cliff Colleges Have No Right to Limit Students' Free Speech http://time.com/4530197/college-free-speech-zone/ Oct. 13~
America is a free-speech zone, period In grade school, I learned
AND
only a threat to the First Amendment, but also to American democracy.

3. Free speech restrictions undermine progressive inclusion by demonizing unpopular opinions

O'Brian, 2016 – a writer from Southern California ~G.R. The Right Needs To Get Past Demanding Free Speech On Campus 'Diversity of thought,' 'free speech,' and 'academic freedom' are simply lack of standards by other names. Conservatives need to do better than these to re-take the college campus. http://thefederalist.com/2016/09/19/right-needs-get-past-demanding-free-speech-campus/ September 19~
In their manifestation, safe spaces and free-speech zones at public universities enable
AND
of ideas. Restrictive campus speech codes are, in fact, regressive.

Tournament: Alta | Round: 5 | Opponent: Yeah | Judge: Yeah

Racism AC

My value is equality and my role of the ballot is a vote to confront racism. The role of the judge is to act as an ethical educator, teaching how to best deal with racism.

Racism is a side-constraint on any ethical theory.

Memmi, 2000 - prof of sociology @ U of Paris ~Albert. Racism. Trans. Steve Martinot. Minneapolis: U of Minnesota Press, 2000.
The struggle against racism will be long, difficult, without intermission, without remission
AND
. True, it is a wager, but the stakes are irresistible.

Ethics based on abstraction or universal morality inevitably reinforce existing racist dominance, because color blindness ignores the contingent nature of racism.  We must focus on the Lived Experience of those facing racism.

Bonilla-Silva 2006 - Professor of Sociology at Duke University ~Eduardo,  "Racism without racist: Color-Blind Racism and the Persistence of Racial Inequality in the United States" pp25-8~
If Jim Crow's racial structure has been replaced by a ''new racism,''
AND
practices behind segregation and being unconcerned about these practices' negative consequences for minorities.

Ending racism must take priority over other goals because racism makes all other values impossible – it warps equality, justice and morality.

Lipsitz 2000 - Professor at Department of Ethnic Studies at University of California, (George, October 2000, "The White 2K Problem" (for Cultural Values ISSN 1362-5179 Volume 4 Number 4 pp.518-524)
The persistence of residential segregation, educational inequality, environmental racism, and employment discrimination
AND
At the same time, their unearned disadvantages structure unearned advantages for whites.

Racism must take priority over util – racism is the flaw in utility, because the "greatest good for the majority" will always sacrifice the minority. When this sacrifice takes place in the name of race, it makes war and conflict inevitable.

Foucault '76 ~Michel, Society Must be Defended: Lectures at the College de France, 1975-1976, p. 254-257 Trans. David Macey~
What in fact is racism? It is primarily a way of introducing a break
AND
second half of the nineteenth century), except by activating the theme of racism

Solutions to racism must be obtainable and must embrace political advocacy to avoid being trapped in theory. Perfect alternatives undermine any productive discussion

Curry 2014 – prof of philosophy at Texas AandM Univ. ~Dr. Tommy J. The Cost of a Thing: A Kingian Reformulation of a Living Wage Argument in the 21 st Century. http://www.academia.edu/9798210/The_Cost_of_a_Thing_A_Kingian_Reformulation_of_a_Living_Wage_Argument_in_the_21st_Century
This gap between what is actual (in the world), and what is represented
AND
used to currently justify the living wages in under our contemporary moral perspectives. 

Legal reforms within the system are necessary to end racism – they provide the only obtainable solvency, there is no alternative, and the system is more flexible for change than kritik authors claim.

West 1988 - Director of the Afro-American Studies Program, Princeton University, ~Cornell, 97 Yale L.J. 757, Lexis
There simply is no intellectually acceptable, morally preferable, and practically realizable left social
AND
struggle for legitimation — with contested interpretations the primary motor in this struggle.

Contention One: Harms - Qualified immunity uniquely oppresses minority groups

Police abuse is the cornerstone of white supremacy – historically, it has progressed from colonialism, through slavery and Jim Crow to current racist violence by police

Smith, 2016 – Dean of Clinical Programs at UDC School of Law ~Jonathan Michigan Journal of Race and Law Spring, 21 Mich. J. Race and L. 315 Closing The Gap Between What Is Lawful And What Is Right In Police Use Of Force Jurisprudence By Making Police Departments More Democratic Institutions Lexis~
II. The Democratizing of Policing Can Help Overcome the Barriers Erected to Civil Litigation
AND
in political power to avoid the reality of the African-American community.

Qualified immunity is structural racism – it contributes to the social factors that make African Americans vulnerable to police violence.

McLeod, 2016 – prof of Law at Georgetown University Law Center ~Allegra Georgetown Law Journal August, 104 Geo. L.J. 1405 Confronting the Carceral State Lexis~
Devon Carbado introduces another explanatory account of the persistence of police abuse of African-
AND
, rather than measures that address only the behavior of errant officers. n41

Police abuse too often goes unpunished. This destroys the trust by minority communities for law enforcement. Until the police are held accountable, no communities are truly safe and secure

Wallis, 2016 - president of Sojourners,~ Jim Sojourners Magazine 05-24-2016 "No Accountability, No Trust" https://sojo.net/articles/no-accountability-no-trust
Freddie Gray died in Baltimore police custody after being arrested last April without any good
AND
children will not be safe. Unaccountable must become unacceptable for the police.

Contention Two: Solvency

Limiting Qualified Immunity is the most important reform to hold police accountable. All other reforms will fail without eliminating qualified immunity

Wright, 2015 - a Public Interest Lawyer, ~Sam Above the Law Blog, Nov 3, 2015 "Want to Fight Police Misconduct? Reform Qualified Immunity" http://abovethelaw.com/2015/11/want-to-fight-police-misco…~
Recently, police have been killing and otherwise abusing people of color with what seems
AND
want to see justice done, we should push to make it happen.

Only limiting Qualified Immunity defenses can hold police accountable. Criminal prosecutions of police cannot solve abuse or violence, because juries and judges will not convict police officers of crimes. Congress should change Section 1983 to eliminate Qualified Immunity.

Newman, 2016 - senior judge on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 2nd Circuit ~Jon O. The Washington Post June 24, 2016 "A better way to punish police How to punish police: Sue them for negligence" https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/heres-a-better-way-to-punish-the-police-sue-them-for-money/2016/06/23/c0608ad4-3959-11e6-9ccd-d6005beac8b3_story.html?utm_term=.c67051e854f7~~

The acquittal Thursday of another Baltimore police officer charged in the death of Freddie Gray, like the acquittal 25 years ago of the Los Angeles officers who beat Rodney King, reveals the inadequacy of the criminal-law remedy. Suing the police for money under a strengthened federal civil rights law would be a better response to police misconduct. Right now, however, federal law makes it more difficult to sue a police officer for denying a citizen their constitutional rights than for injuring him by ordinary negligence. If an officer negligently drives his car and injures a citizen, the victim can win money just by proving negligence, and the city that employs the officer pays whatever the jury awards. But when an officer uses excessive force or makes an unlawful arrest or search, proving wrongful conduct is not enough. Under Section 1983 of the federal civil rights statute, the officer can escape liability with the special defense of qualified immunity - showing that he reasonably believed his conduct was lawful, even if it was not. And if the jury finds the officer liable, federal law does not require his employer to pay the award. Juries, and even judges in non-jury trials, are reluctant to convict police officers of a crime, even in the face of ample evidence. With rare exceptions, they simply will not say "guilty" and risk sending an officer to prison. Suing the officer for money damages in a federal civil rights suit is the only realistic way to establish police misconduct and secure at least some vindication for victims and their families. But Congress needs to strengthen Section 1983 in three ways. First, the defense of qualified immunity should be abolished. If an officer violates the Constitution, the victim should win the lawsuit, just as he or she wins when hit by an officer negligently driving his vehicle. Second, the city (or county or state) that employs the officer should pay a damage award, just as a governmental employer pays for injury caused by an officer's negligent driving. A jury would be more willing to rule against a city than to make a police officer pay out of his own pocket. Third, the local U.S. attorney, not just the victim of the unconstitutional conduct, should be authorized to bring the suit. When federal law has been violated, a federal lawyer should act on behalf of the victim. A jury is more likely to take the matter seriously if a U.S. attorney sues than when the victim is the plaintiff, who can sometimes be perceived as a not very respectable member of the community. There is no reason for federal law to make it more difficult to hold a police officer accountable for denying constitutional rights than for injuring by negligent conduct. Congress should act to make a strengthened Section 1983 remedy available for the next episode of police misconduct.

Civil lawsuits provide Information and Public Pressure to encourage police reform, even if plaintiffs don't win their lawsuits

Schwartz 2010 – prof of law at UCLA ~Joanna. "What Police Learn from Lawsuits." Cardozo Law Review, http://law.stanford.edu/wp-content/uploads/sites/default/files/event/265497/media/slspublic/What_Police_Learn_From_Lawsuits.pdf.
Lawsuits are widely recognized to compensate and deter; this Article shows suits can also
AND
to create multiple, new, and even redundant sources of information."253