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Civil Rights

  • Professors Ayelet Shachar, Gerald Neuman, and Deborah Anker

    Panel looks at the "shifting borders" of U.S. immigration law

    February 11, 2008

    The distinction between citizen and non-citizen lies at the heart of immigration law, and is often drawn at the border. But where precisely does the “border” lie in U.S. immigration law and practice?

  • Michael Klarman to join HLS faculty

    January 24, 2008

    University of Virginia School of Law Professor Michael J. Klarman has accepted an offer to join the Harvard Law School faculty with tenure this summer.

  • You can fight City Hall

    April 1, 2007

    More than a thousand domestic violence victims who were wrongly denied welfare benefits can thank Elizabeth S. Saylor ’01 for fixing the system.

  • David L. Shapiro '57

    David L. Shapiro ’57

    July 23, 2006

    David Shapiro represents the true Renaissance man of legal academia. He has been a scholar, reformer, advocate, public servant and teacher, and at every turn, he has been a leader and model of excellence. There is much in his brilliant career to celebrate.

  • American Journey

    American Journey

    July 1, 2005

    George Leighton '43 ('46) spent his childhood in Massachusetts summering in Plymouth and wintering in New Bedford. His summer home was a shanty with no running water or electricity near the cranberry bogs, and his winter home was an unheated apartment near the textile mills.

  • Paul Steven Miller '86

    Equal Signs

    July 1, 2004

    A restaurant employee is fired. He didn't violate company policy. In fact, he's a good employee, according to his manager. But he is fired because, as the regional manager put it, he is one of "those people."

  • Terry Lenzner '64

    Corporate Sleuth

    July 1, 2004

    Attorney Terry Lenzner '64 has made investigation his business.

  • Professor Laurence Tribe

    A Marriage Contrast

    July 1, 2004

    The Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court decision in Goodridge v. Department of Public Health last fall has allowed gay marriage in the commonwealth--at least for now.

  • Richard Parker standing in front of an American flag

    Stand for the Flag

    April 1, 2004

    Because of two 5-4 Supreme Court decisions, physical desecration of the American flag is legal. Professor Richard Parker ' 70 supports a constitutional amendment that would change that.

  • Josh Gottheimer

    Spreading the Words

    April 1, 2004

    Thanks to Josh Gottheimer '04, the greatest American civil rights speeches are together for the first time, demonstrating the injustices and progress of a growing nation and ultimately, he says, hope for its future.

  • Professors Charles Fried and Christopher Edley Jr.

    In Debate, Professors Offer Support, Caution on Affirmative Action

    April 1, 2004

    Affirmative action remains contested terrain even among its proponents, as was evident in a debate between two Harvard Law School faculty members in the fall.

  • Carol Rose '96

    The State of Civil Rights

    April 1, 2004

    While writing about human rights in South Asia in the early 1990s, Carol Rose '96 was asked by a Pakistani activist, "And what is happening with human rights in your country?" Rose was stunned.

  • Julieanna L. Richardson '80

    A Different Voice

    April 1, 2004

    Richardson is founder and executive director of the Chicago-based nonprofit organization The HistoryMakers.

  • Ahmed el-Gaili

    Visa Not American Express

    April 1, 2003

    A Harvard Law School student works a few weeks in a London firm over the summer and can’t get back to the United States in time for his fall semester.

  • Patricia Schroeder '64

    Patricia S. Schroeder ’64

    September 24, 2002

    Known for her tart tongue and her tears (when she announced that she wouldn't run for president in 1988), Patricia Schroeder knew how to get things done in Congress, including the passage of the Family and Medical Leave Act.

  • Weldon Rougeau

    The Fire This Time

    September 1, 2002

    It took Weldon Rougeau '72 only 90 seconds to get himself expelled from college.

  • Professor Randall Kennedy

    A Word of Trouble

    July 1, 2002

    A hypothetical: A reporter is going to interview Professor Randall Kennedy. The reporter says to a group of coworkers: "That is one righteous nigger." A colleague complains. The reporter, whose intent was to compliment the professor, is fired for using grossly offensive language.

  • Ed Norton and wife with mountain backdrop

    A Common Good

    April 1, 2002

    Cynics call them do-gooders, hopelessly naïve people disconnected from the real world. These days, the cynical view could easily prevail.

  • Zanita Fenton

    A Bittersweet Track to Tenure

    October 1, 2001

    An Essay by Zanita Fenton

  • Charles Ogeltree stands in front of a brick building

    Breaking the Chain

    July 1, 2001

    Professor Charles Ogletree Jr. '78 and Randall Robinson '70 want to educate Americans about the lasting impact of slavery. A lawsuit will be part of that education.

  • CJI Hosts Two Conferences

    April 27, 2001

    Civil rights activists, law enforcement officials, and legal experts came together at HLS in December for “Race, Police, and the Community,” a three-day conference sponsored…