Topics
Civil Rights
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Faculty Viewpoints: A No Vote on ID Laws
October 1, 2012
Harvard Law School Professor D. James Greiner is co-author of a recent study on the experience of Boston voters in the election of 2008. As another election approaches, we ask Greiner a few questions about his study and the current efforts to pass tougher voter ID laws.
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An array of legal scholars, judges, practitioners and community leaders gathered at Harvard Law School on June 14 to discuss implicit racial bias, its presence in society and the law and new ideas about reducing its negative impact on disadvantaged groups.
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Atticus Finch with a Laptop
July 1, 2012
Robert McDuff ’80 remembers clearly what first got him thinking about civil rights and the profession of law. In 1968, when he was 12, he read a newspaper account of a murder trial in his hometown of Hattiesburg, Miss. The victim was an African-American shopkeeper and civil rights leader killed by the Klan after he let other other African-Americans use his store as a place to pay their poll taxes.
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The Balancing Act
May 10, 2012
In 1932, in a Philadelphia courtroom, a defense attorney representing a man accused of murder cross-examined a police officer. There was nothing unusual about this scene, except that the defense attorney, Raymond Pace Alexander ’23, was black, and the officer he was aggressively questioning was white. This scene is one of many dramatic moments in the new book by HLS Professor Kenneth Mack ’91, “Representing the Race: The Creation of the Civil Rights Lawyer.”
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Mack in The Root: The Burden of Clarence Thomas
April 13, 2012
"The Roots of Clarence Thomas' Black Burden," an op-ed by Harvard Law School Professor Kenneth Mack ’91, appeared in The Root on April 6. In it, Mack examines Thomas' role as an African American justice who, according to Mack, has "embraced the role of representative of his race"—50 years after William H. Hastie bore a similar "burden" as the first African American federal judge.
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John Payton ’77, lawyer and civil rights leader (1946-2012)
March 26, 2012
John Payton ’77, a leading civil rights lawyer who defended the University of Michigan's affirmative action policy before the Supreme Court and led the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund, died March 22, 2012. He was 65.
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Tomiko Brown-Nagin receives the 2012 Bancroft Prize
March 16, 2012
Columbia University announced on Mar. 14 that a recent book by Tomiko Brown-Nagin will be awarded the 2012 Bancroft Prize. Her award-winning book “Courage to Dissent: Atlanta and the Long History of the Civil Rights Movement” (Oxford University Press, 2011) offers a startling new perspective on the Civil Rights movement.
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Redistricting and voters rights
March 6, 2012
On Tuesday, Feb. 14, the Harvard Federalist Society and the Harvard Black Law Students Association co-sponsored a discussion about race and redistricting with Dr. Abigail Thernstrom of the Manhattan Institute and Professor Randall Kennedy, the Michael R. Klein Professor of Law at Harvard Law School.
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At Women’s Law conference, Attorney General of California tells students, ‘Part of breaking barriers is about innovation’
February 7, 2012
On February 3, the Harvard Women’s Law Association held its 6th annual conference. This year’s conference, entitled “Mind the Gap: Achieving Actual Parity,” was an open forum about achieving equality in the courtroom, workplace, and community. Kamala Harris, Attorney General of California, delivered the keynote address.
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There are two things former U.S. Solicitor General Paul Clement ’92 won’t do: Tell you where he stands on same-sex marriage, and grouse about the controversy that enveloped him last spring when he resigned from his law firm in order to continue defending U.S. House of Representatives Republicans in litigation over the Defense of Marriage Act.
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Harvard Law celebrates Martin Luther King Jr. Day
January 26, 2012
The celebration of Martin Luther King, Jr. Day at Harvard Law School on Monday, Jan. 23 included a panel moderated by Harvard Law School Clinical Professor Ronald Sullivan ’94, and featuring Harvard Medical School Professor Allen Counter and Preston Williams, a theology professor at Harvard Divinity School. Students from across the University, including students from the Medical School, the Divinity School, the Kennedy School, the Business School, and Harvard College attended the celebration.
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Robert Anderson, Harvard Law Oneida Indian Nation Visiting Professor of Law, was named to serve on a national commission that will evaluate the management and administration of nearly $4 billion in Native American trust funds and associated assets by the U.S. Department of the Interior. Anderson is a member of the Minnesota Chippewa Tribe.
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HLS Clinical Professor Ron Sullivan ’94, who serves as director of the Harvard Criminal Justice Institute, was recently appointed to the Massachusetts Committee for Public Counsel Services. Sullivan joins Professor Carol Steiker ’86, who is also a member of the committee.
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Voice of America: Feldman speaks on Sharia Law
December 20, 2011
Harvard Law School Professor Noah Feldman was recently a guest on Voice of America’s “Press Conference” radio program, speaking with host Carol Casteil about the meaning of Sharia Law and the role that it could play in the burgeoning democracies of Middle Eastern countries such as Egypt and Libya.
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Metropolitan Area Planning Council’s ‘State of Equity’ report to be released at HLS
December 13, 2011
The Metropolitan Area Planning Council (MAPC) has released a summary of “The State of Equity in Metro Boston,” a report studying the ways that inequity affects the residents of greater Boston. The full report was released on Tuesday, Dec. 13 at an event co-hosted by Harvard Law School’s Charles Hamilton Houston Institute for Race and Justice.
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Six from Harvard Law School win Skadden Fellowships
December 9, 2011
Six Harvard Law School students and recent graduates have been chosen to receive Skadden Fellowships to support their work in public service.
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Students working in the Harvard Law School Center for Health Law and Policy Innovation launched a new training series at the United States Conference on AIDS in Chicago last month.
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Recent Faculty Books – Winter 2011
December 6, 2011
“Prospects for the Professions in China” (Routledge, 2010) edited by William P. Alford ’77, William Kirby and Kenneth Winston. Through its meditations on Chinese professional…
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A Life’s Project and a Project’s Life
December 6, 2011
Dean Martha Minow answers seven questions about her new book, “In Brown’s Wake: Legacies of America’s Educational Landmark” (Oxford University Press, 2010).
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Tomiko Brown-Nagin appointed Professor of Law
December 5, 2011
Tomiko Brown-Nagin, a leading expert on legal history, education law, and civil rights, will join the Harvard Law School faculty as a tenured Professor of Law this summer. She will also serve as an affiliate of the History Department in Harvard University’s Faculty of Arts and Sciences.
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Dean Martha Minow’s most recent book, “In Brown’s Wake: Legacies of America’s Educational Landmark,” recently received The Steven S. Goldberg Award for Distinguished Scholarship in Education Law. The award is given annually by the Education Law Association “in recognition of an outstanding article, book, book chapter, or other form of scholarly legal writing in the field of education law.”