On the Court: The ’10th justice’ becomes the 9th

Winter 2011
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White House

Stories from the West Wing

Three faculty who served in the Obama administration, and recently returned to HLS, talk to writer Elaine McArdle about gridlock, being part of history, living life at warp speed and the day the Easter Bunny blacked out the White House.

Bandwidth

Regulating digital communications is like trying to control an explosion. FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski ’91 brings a full spectrum of skills to the job.
Laurent Cohen-Tanug

The Shape of the World to Come

Thirty years ago, Laurent Cohen-Tanugi embraced internationalism by leaving France to attend HLS. Today, as a leading international lawyer and public intellectual, he is an architect of a European strategy for globalization.
Student's in Harvard's Immigration and Refugee Clinic

Safe harbor: Winning asylum for refugees from persecution

After countless hours of interviewing their client, digging through documents and working with experts to prepare for two court hearings, students in the Harvard Immigration and Refugee Clinic got what they were after: a grant of asylum.
Aerial view of sand and rivers

Alumni Focus

1,000 words

“Through the Eyes of the Vikings: An Aerial Vision of Arctic Lands” (National Geographic Press, 2010) is the glimmering result and Haas’ third book of aerial photography.

Recognizing Jefferson’s ‘Genius’

Annette Gordon-Reed wins a MacArthur and talks to the Bulletin about investigative history, redefining idols and inviting Jefferson to the Tea Party.

A Life’s Project and a Project’s Life

Dean Martha Minow answers seven questions about her new book, “In Brown’s Wake: Legacies of America’s Educational Landmark” (Oxford University Press, 2010).

Human Dignity, Democracy and the Loaded Gun

“Because It Is Wrong: Torture, Privacy and Presidential Power in the Age of Terror” (Norton, 2010) by father-and-son authors Charles Fried and Gregory Fried, explores three issues presented by Bush administration policies, primarily from ethical but also from historical and legal perspectives: torture; eavesdropping, surveillance and the right to privacy; and executive prerogative.
Laws, Outlaws, and Terrorists

Looking for the Third Paradigm

Assistant Professor Gabriella Blum LL.M. ’01 S.J.D. ’03 is a specialist in the laws of war. Professor Philip Heymann ’60 is an expert in domestic law enforcement. With these different backgrounds, they decided to teach a course together on counterterrorism.

Great minds that did not think alike

In “Scorpions: The Battles and Triumphs of FDR’s Great Supreme Court Justices,” Feldman focuses on four men with remarkably diverse resumes, who, despite shared links to Roosevelt, often found themselves at odds once they joined the Court.

Exceptional Derivatives

Although the sweeping financial reform package that President Obama ’91 signed into law in July contained hundreds of provisions in its 848-page final version, Professor Mark Roe ’75 says it’s still not long enough.

Ramping Up New Ramps to Justice

How can technology help people gain better and easier access to the judicial system? Are there new technologies—or more efficient ways of using existing ones—that can assist low-income, pro se and other litigants to navigate the legal system while easing the burden on underresourced courts?
Hand illustration of a building and trees

Teaching & Learning

HLS History Quiz

Daniel Coquillette ’71, the Charles Warren Visiting Professor of American Legal History at Harvard Law School and the J. Donald Monan, S.J. University Professor at Boston College Law School, is writing a new history of HLS, to be published in time for the school’s bicentennial—2017. This fall, he gave students an…

Making Money

In her study of money in law, Professor Christine Desan has found herself looking back as far as medieval times. But in the wake of the financial crisis of 2008, in large part caused by liquidity problems—money oversupplied and then frozen in credit markets—her historical scholarship has led her to insights into today’s economic predicaments.
Justice Brennan Liberal Champion

Marshaling Brennan

The reaction from Harvard Law School was decidedly cool 54 years ago when President Eisenhower appointed its alumnus William J. Brennan Jr. ’31 to serve on the Supreme Court.

Making A Case Against Warrantless Surveillance

Standing on principles shaped at HLS, Steven Goldberg ’72 wins a landmark ruling in a case involving one of the most controversial initiatives surrounding the War on Terror. For Goldberg the case exemplifies overreach at the highest level of government.
Daron Roberts ’07

How Daron Roberts ’07 went from HLS to the NFL

In the spring of 2007, HLS Professor David Wilkins ’80 asked the members of his seminar to envision their futures. One student foresaw a federal judicial appointment. Another wanted to make partner at a prominent law firm. Also in the class was Daron Roberts ’07, who had a different sort of answer. He wanted to be head coach at a national football powerhouse.