Race & the Law

3 units

This course explores the intersection of race relations and legal institutions in the United States. It focuses on the transhistorical continuity of some racial meanings and dynamics, and on the evolution of others. In the first half of the course, we consider the theoretical and doctrinal principles that underlie historical issues such as Indian Nation sovereignty and genocide, slavery and Reconstruction, and the long civil rights era. In addition, we will consider early legal definitions of race in American law, and explore the role of race in citizenship, naturalization, and immigration law and policy. For the remainder of the course, we explore competing conceptual models of the American racial legal order, and examine current jurisprudence on racial issues that arise within the context of employment, education, intimate association, the distribution of electoral power, and/or the administration of criminal justice. The course will be graded based on writing an amicus brief, a document analysis, and an exam. 3 units.