This course examines urgent current issues related to immigrants constitutional and civil rights, including the constitutional framework governing the rights of non-citizens, the degree of protection afforded by federal civil rights laws, and the impact of the dramatic statutory changes enacted by Congress in 1996. This seminar allows students to explore at an advanced level some of the central debates in critical race theory regarding, for example, the intractability of racism, the failure of civil rights laws, and the relationship between race, gender and law. This course teaches disability rights, an emerging area of civil rights law, exploring the substantive areas of employment, housing, education and access rights, as well as teaching practical skills for litigating these civil rights cases. Domestic Violence Law Clinic Students work in one of several different civil or criminal domestic violence legal agencies in the Bay Area or with the instructor on state legislation. This seminar examines the legal system s response to domestic violence and is a prerequisite to the Domestic Violence Law Clinic.
Primary focus is on the United States, though there is some discussion of international issues.
Using an interdisciplinary approach, the course covers historical and psychological materials as well as topics in criminal, family, tort, immigration, welfare, employment, and constitutional law. Ethical and policy issues are included throughout. This seminar unpacks those aspirations, looking both at the ideas that lie behind them and at how these themes have influenced life for children inside schools. School vouchers and charter schools, racial isolation in schools, school finance reform and educational accountability strategies are among the topics explored. This general survey course explores various state and federal laws prohibiting employment discrimination based on race, sex, national origin, age, sexual orientation and disability.