I. INTRODUCTION

The brief introduction will recapitulate the major themes and important points raised in the plenary session on cultural pluralism. We will invite the group participants to discuss to what extent, if at all, these issues relate to gender, and to focus on the questions that interest them most.

II. Discussion questions may include, but are not limited to, the following:

A. Thirty years have passed since the Supreme Court began invalidating gender-based discrimination under the equal protection clause of the Fourteenth Amendment. Some commentators have argued that men have been the primary beneficiaries of this doctrinal change. To what extent, if at all, is this conclusion correct? Why might it have happened? We will try to assess the virtues, defects, validity and usefulness of gender-related equal protection law.
B. Efforts to apply gender discrimination law to some women’s issues, such as pornography (American Booksellers v. Hudnut) and domestic violence (Navarro v. Block) have failed. Is this failure due to a poor fit between the doctrine and the situation, or to a narrow, literal understanding of the law?
C. Reproductive rights issues are of obvious importance to women. What kinds of impact does constitutional doctrine in this area have on women’s equality? Does recognizing reproductive choice have dangers as well as benefits for women?
D. Feminist jurisprudence has become an increasingly important subfield in legal scholarship in the last academic generation. What can constitutionalists learn from this work?

IV. Finally, the group will focus on the relevance of constitutional adjudication for gender politics and the possibilities of new constitutional doctrine.