Tournament: Damus Invitational | Round: 1 | Opponent: Harker AkMa | Judge: Charles Wanless

Framework

Our conceptions of morality and value excludes the invisible – this makes listening to the oppressed a prior obligation to anything else

Winter and Leighton 01, D. D., and Leighton, D. C. (2001). Structural violence. In D. J. Christie, R. V. Wagner, and D. D. Winter (Eds.), Peace, conflict, and violence: Peace psychology in the 21st century. New York: Prentice-Hall. 
Finally, to recognize the operation of structural violence forces us to ask questions about
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thinking can be fostered by relationships, communication, and appreciation of diversity.

Discussion cannot focus on ideal moral theories; Focus on feasible policy and the reality of oppression is the only option to address societal disparities.

Dr. Tommy J. Curry 14The Cost of a Thing: A Kingian Reformulation of a Living Wage Argument in the 21st Century. 2014
Despite the pronouncement of debate as an activity and intellectual exercise pointing to the real
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used to currently justify the living wages in under our contemporary moral parameters. 

Thus, my standard is reducing concrete forms of oppression and rectifying structural violence.

Case

Very few laws are "clearly established" due to contradictory decisions – means the QI defense is easily fulfilled.

Jeffries 10. Jeffries, John. C. Jr. (David and Mary Harrison Distinguished Professor, the University of Virginia School of Law). "What's Wrong With Qualified Immunity?" Florida Law Review. Volume 62 September 2010
The second problem in ascertaining established law exacerbates the first. Since "clearly established
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increasingly unlikely to succeed, and "qualified" immunity becomes nearly absolute. 

Qualified immunity is granted in 72 of cases – most of which due to the stringent requirements of the "clearly established" clause. Police officers know cases are likely to be disposed and become willing to violate rights.

Stefan 16. Lindsey D. Stefan. (J.D. Candidate, 2017, Seton Hall University School of Law; B.A., Ramapo College of New Jersey) ""No Man Is Above the Law and No Man Is Below It:" How Qualified Immunity Reform Could Create Accountability and Curb Widespread Police Misconduct" (2017). Law School Student Scholarship. Seton Hall University. Paper 850.
One problem with qualified immunity results from the so-called two-pronged inquiry
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OF THE PRESIDENT'S TASK FORCE ON 21ST CENTURY POLICING 1–4 (2015 

Impact 1: is the creation of a police state and the normalization of violence

Pattis 10. Pattis, Norm. Norm Pattis is a Connecticut based trial lawyer focused on high stakes criminal cases and civil right violations. He is a veteran of more than 100 jury trials, many resulting in acquittals for people charged with serious crimes, multi-million dollar civil rights and discrimination verdicts, and scores of cases favorably settled. "Qualified Immunity and the Police State." October 16, 2010. Web.
I get many calls each week from people who believe they have been abused by
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accomplices in a police state; most of them don't even realize it.

Police reforms will never address the root cause – only pushing for more financial liability will drive real change.

Hansford 14
Justin Hansford (Human rights activist and law professor at St. Louis University School of Law; graduate of Howard University and Georgetown University Law Center). "Why Police Body Cameras Won't Work." Hartford Courant. 5 December 2014.
Lax laws prevent us from holding police accountable, not a lack of evidence.
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. For real change to happen, it has to cost them something.

Impact 2: Lack of clearly established law concerning rights for the LGBT community leads to misapplication and purposeful neglect of the law. Action is key to recognition of equal rights.

Wagner 14 Robin B. Wagner, (J.D. Candidate 2014, DePaul University College of Law.) Are Gay Rights Clearly Established?: The Problems with the Qualified Immunity Doctrine, 63 DePaul L. Rev. 869 (2014) Available at: http://via.library.depaul.edu/law-review/vol63/iss3/7
Several key challenges arise in evaluating the constitutional guarantees associated with sexual orientation. Courts
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provide both parties with the predictability they need and deserve from the law.

Impact 3: Current QI doctrine and the "clearly established" prong means officers are protected when they fail to act in responding to domestic violence cases

Harper 90. Harper, Laura. S. (Cornell Law Review) Battered Women Suing Police For Failure To Intervene: Viable Legal Avenues After Deshaney V. Winnebago County Department Of Social Services 1990
Should a battered woman plaintiff proffer sufficient evidence of an equal protection or due process
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hurdle for battered women seeking redress for the deprivation of their constitutional rights.

Failure to act results in the death of victims

AELE 8. 2008 (7) AELE Monthly Law Journal. 101 Civil Liability Law Section – July, 2008
See also, Staley v. Grady, No. 03CIV.7949, 371
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facilitated the girlfriend's seizure of some of the plaintiff's property from the premises.

Thus the plan: The Supreme Court should eliminate uncertainty about what is "clearly established" by publishing opinions that clarify QI for police officers and also beginning to hear cases challenging immunity granted by lower courts. This is key to increasing accountability and serves as an immediate starting point for future reforms.

Stefan 16. Lindsey D. Stefan. (J.D. Candidate, 2017, Seton Hall University School of Law; B.A., Ramapo College of New Jersey) ""No Man Is Above the Law and No Man Is Below It:" How Qualified Immunity Reform Could Create Accountability and Curb Widespread Police Misconduct" (2017). Law School Student Scholarship. Seton Hall University. Paper 850.
VI. Amending Qualified Immunity Doctrine as a Catalyst for Curbing Police Violence Altering the
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most immediate way to rebuild trust and begin healing the citizen police relationship.

Tournament: Damus Invitational | Round: 4 | Opponent: Immaculate Heart DD | Judge: 

1AC – STRUCTURAL VIOLENCE

Framework

Our conceptions of morality and value excludes the invisible – this makes listening to the oppressed a prior obligation to anything else

Winter and Leighton 01, D. D., and Leighton, D. C. (2001). Structural violence. In D. J. Christie, R. V. Wagner, and D. D. Winter (Eds.), Peace, conflict, and violence: Peace psychology in the 21st century. New York: Prentice-Hall. 
Finally, to recognize the operation of structural violence forces us to ask questions about
AND
thinking can be fostered by relationships, communication, and appreciation of diversity.

Thus, my standard is minimizing concrete forms of oppression.

Case

Qualified immunity is granted in 72 of cases – most of which due to the stringent requirements of the "clearly established" clause. Police officers know cases are likely to be disposed and become willing to violate rights.

Stefan 16. Lindsey D. Stefan. (J.D. Candidate, 2017, Seton Hall University School of Law; B.A., Ramapo College of New Jersey) ""No Man Is Above the Law and No Man Is Below It:" How Qualified Immunity Reform Could Create Accountability and Curb Widespread Police Misconduct" (2017). Law School Student Scholarship. Seton Hall University. Paper 850.
One problem with qualified immunity results from the so-called two-pronged inquiry
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OF THE PRESIDENT'S TASK FORCE ON 21ST CENTURY POLICING 1–4 (2015 

Impact 1: is the creation of a police state and the normalization of violence

Pattis 10. Pattis, Norm. Norm Pattis is a Connecticut based trial lawyer focused on high stakes criminal cases and civil right violations. He is a veteran of more than 100 jury trials, many resulting in acquittals for people charged with serious crimes, multi-million dollar civil rights and discrimination verdicts, and scores of cases favorably settled. "Qualified Immunity and the Police State." October 16, 2010. Web.
I get many calls each week from people who believe they have been abused by
AND
accomplices in a police state; most of them don't even realize it.

Police reforms will never address the root cause – only pushing for more financial liability will drive real change.

Hansford 14
Justin Hansford (Human rights activist and law professor at St. Louis University School of Law; graduate of Howard University and Georgetown University Law Center). "Why Police Body Cameras Won't Work." Hartford Courant. 5 December 2014.
Lax laws prevent us from holding police accountable, not a lack of evidence.
AND
. For real change to happen, it has to cost them something.

Impact 2: Lack of clearly established law concerning rights for the LGBT community leads to misapplication and purposeful neglect of the law. Action is key to recognition of equal rights.

Wagner 14 Robin B. Wagner, (J.D. Candidate 2014, DePaul University College of Law.) Are Gay Rights Clearly Established?: The Problems with the Qualified Immunity Doctrine, 63 DePaul L. Rev. 869 (2014) Available at: http://via.library.depaul.edu/law-review/vol63/iss3/7
Several key challenges arise in evaluating the constitutional guarantees associated with sexual orientation. Courts
AND
provide both parties with the predictability they need and deserve from the law.

Impact 3: Current QI doctrine and the "clearly established" prong means officers are protected when they fail to act in responding to domestic violence cases

Harper 90. Harper, Laura. S. (Cornell Law Review) Battered Women Suing Police For Failure To Intervene: Viable Legal Avenues After Deshaney V. Winnebago County Department Of Social Services 1990
Should a battered woman plaintiff proffer sufficient evidence of an equal protection or due process
AND
hurdle for battered women seeking redress for the deprivation of their constitutional rights.

Thus the plan: The Supreme Court should eliminate uncertainty about what is "clearly established" by publishing opinions that clarify QI for police officers and also beginning to hear cases challenging immunity granted by lower courts. This is key to increasing accountability and serves as an immediate starting point for future reforms.

Stefan 16. Lindsey D. Stefan. (J.D. Candidate, 2017, Seton Hall University School of Law; B.A., Ramapo College of New Jersey) ""No Man Is Above the Law and No Man Is Below It:" How Qualified Immunity Reform Could Create Accountability and Curb Widespread Police Misconduct" (2017). Law School Student Scholarship. Seton Hall University. Paper 850.
VI. Amending Qualified Immunity Doctrine as a Catalyst for Curbing Police Violence Altering the
AND
most immediate way to rebuild trust and begin healing the citizen police relationship.

Even if Trump wins (which he probably won't) – the Supreme Court will be liberal.

Hudson Talley. "Why Trump might not be able to save us from a liberal Supreme Court." The Blaze. October 21, 2016. Web.
In the last 100 years, Democratic Senate majorities have confirmed 11 Republican Supreme Court
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Supreme Court, but without that majority all hope crashes into the abyss.

The Supreme Court might have ruled conservative in the past – but changing court scene creates new possibilities for change. Reform right now uniquely solves.

Chemerinsky 16. Erwin Chemerinsky . "What If the Supreme Court Were Liberal?" The Atlantic. Apr 6, 2016. Web.
What might it mean to have five justices on the Supreme Court who were appointed
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much a different Court could do to advance liberty and justice for all.

Tournament: Voices | Round: 1 | Opponent: Brentwood KM | Judge: Nithin Alexander
Any discussion of nuclear power production must recognize the traditionally excluded voices of Indigenous Populations
Endres 09Associate Professor, Communication, University of Utah, Director, Communication Institute, University of Utah Affiliated Faculty, Environmental Humanities Grad, University of UtahAffiliated Faculty, Global Change and Sustainability Center, University of Utah Assistant Professor, Communication, University of Utah The rhetoric of nuclear colonialism: Rhetorical exclusion of American Indian arguments in the Yucca Mountain nuclear waste siting decision. Communication and Critical/Cultural Studies
Although there is sufficient evidence that nuclear colonialism is an empirically verifiable phenomenon, previous
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actually participated nor acknowledges the American Indian public comments which criticized the process.
We must reaffirm indigenous culture before it's too late – key to revitalizing education and global change
Barsh 93 Professor of Native American Studies at the University of Lethbridge– (Russel Lawrence, , University of Michigan Journal of Law . Reform, Winter, 1993, 25 U. MICH. J. L. REF. 671)
There no longer seems to be much difference in the Westernization of the Third World
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so.  There is no alternative for Indian survival or for global survival.
Educational discourse about indigenous populations precludes any discussion of ethics
Grande4. Sandy Grande is associate professor and Chair of the Education Department at Connecticut College. Her research interfaces critical Indigenous theories with the concerns of education. "Red Pedagogy: Native American Social and Political Thought." Rowman and Littlefield Publishers. 2004.  
This lack of interchange has additionally raised a series of important questions: How has
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transforms "the Native American experience" into a multifarious, polyvocal space.
A re-envisioning of Native Sovereignty deconstructs contemporary unequal power relations in a way that will spill over into all aspects of life and translate into meaningful change for other oppressed groups
Whitt9. Laurelyn Whitt is a professor of Native Studies at Brandon University. B.A. (William and Mary), M.A. (Queens), Ph.D. (Western) "Science, Colonialism, and Indigenous Peoples: The Cultural Politics of Law and Knowledge." Cambridge University Press, Aug 24, 2009.
Williams considers at one point, from the nonindigenous perspective, the usefulness of the
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world," including presumably the contemporary and pressing need to respond to biocolonialism.
Thus the Role of the Ballot is to vote for the best liberation strategy for oppressed Indigenous populations.
Indigenous populations around the world are harmed by nuclear power
Ryser et al 16. Rudolph C. Rÿser, Yvonne Sherwood and Janna Lafferty. "Fourth World Under the Nuclear Cloud." Centerfor the World Indigenous Studies.  March 23, 2016.  
Millions of indigenous peoples living in Fourth World territories around the world have been and
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for scrutiny outside the AEC or its successor the US Department of Energy.
Most mining occurs on Native lands and has drastic health consequences
Kline13. Curtis Kline. "URANIUM MINING AND NATIVE RESISTANCE: THE URANIUM EXPLORATION AND MINING ACCOUNTABILITY ACT." Center for World Indigenous Studies. July 2, 2013.
Native Americans in the northern great plains have the highest cancer rates in the United
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land, and three fourths of uranium mining worldwide is on Indigenous land.
Nuclear power production exploits people at all stages – includes miners and workers
Alldred 9 - Mary Alldred and Kristin Shrader-Frechette.  "Environmental Injustice in Siting Nuclear Plants." Mary Ann Liebert, Inc. ENVIRONMENTAL JUSTICE Volume 2, Number 2, 2009
Nuclear generation of electricity involves a complex fuel cycle of at least nine stages:
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be allowed to receive higher, even fatal, doses.8,2
The nuclear industry's destructive greed smothers Native American culture – tearing apart tribes and making nuclear power uniquely worse than any other form of energy
Kamps 1. Kamps, Kevin. Feb 15, 2001. "Environmental Racism, Tribal Sovereignty and Nuclear Waste." Nuclear Information and Resource Center. (http://www.nirs.org/factsheets/pfsejfactsheet.htm)
Nevadans and Utahans living downwind and downstream from nuclear weapons testing, uranium mining,
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that struggle for Native American environmental justice against corporate greed and environmental racism.
The "hard path" of nuclear directly contrasts with the "soft path" of renewables in that Nuclear inevitably terminates in systems of control
Lovins76. Amory B. Lovins. "Energy Strategy: The Road Not Taken?" Foreign Affairs. October 1976.
Perhaps the most profound difference between the soft and hard paths is their domestic sociopolitical
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social, and energy priorities in a lasting way that resists political remedy.
Thus is the plan: Countries should pass a moratorium on all things nuclear - nuclear power plants, waste depositories, mining facilities that lasts until the technology for the permanent and safe disposal of high-level nuclear waste has been identified
Norwel13. Norwell, Brenda. "Bolivia Climate Conference: Indigenous Peoples Design Roadmap to New World." The Americas Program, 12 June 2013. Web. 06 Oct. 2016.
Indigenous Peoples from around the world, including Maori from New Zealand and Gwich'in from
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United States is still the only country to use nuclear weapons.