Video & Audio

Scholars and UVA Law students discuss the history of race and sex/LGBT equality movements during the symposium “From the Equal Rights Amendment to Black Lives Matter: Reflecting on Intersectional Struggles for Equality.” The panelists are Serena Mayeri of the University of Pennsylvania Carey Law School, UVA Law students Trust Kupupika ’22 and Hayley Hahn ’21, and Julie Suk of the City University of New York. UVA Law professor Naomi Cahn and Paula Monopoli ’83 of the University of Maryland Francis King Carey School of Law served as moderators. The event was part of the University’s 2021 Community MLK Commemoration.

Harvard Law School professor Randall Kennedy discusses past and present visions for a “promised land” on race, and what law can do to shape it.

What role can law play in making society more equitable? "Common Law" hosts Risa Goluboff and Leslie Kendrick will explore how inequities touch our lives, sometimes in unexpected ways. Tune in Jan. 26 for the first episode.

Two panels of scholars discuss issues raised by UVA Law professor Kimberly Jenkins Robinson’s edited book, “A Federal Right to Education: Fundamental Questions for Our Democracy.” Led by the moderators, UVA President James E. Ryan ’92 and Harvard Law’s Martha Minow, the panels feature Kristine L. Bowman, Peggy Cooper Davis, Jason P. Nance, Eloise Pasachoff, Derek W. Black, Carmel Martin, Rachel F. Moran, Robinson and Joshua Weishart.

Darnell Phillips, an Innocence Project Clinic client who was paroled in September 2018, discusses his case and how the clinic helped him. Phillips had been sentenced to 100 years in prison but was released early after the clinic uncovered new evidence.

A panel of advocates and scholars discuss what restorative justice looks like and how it could potentially provide alternatives to the current criminal justice system. The panel featured Liz Porter-Merrill, restorative justice director for the Office of the Colorado State Public Defender; Mikayla Waters-Crittenton, executive assistant/program associate at Restorative Justice Project; and Shannon Sliva, assistant professor at the University of Denver Graduate School of Social Work. Professor Josh Bowers acted as moderator. This panel was part of the 2020 Shaping Justice conference, sponsored by UVA Law’s Mortimer Caplin Public Service Center and Program in Law and Public Service; the Public Interest Law Association; and numerous other student organizations.

A panel of activists and scholars discuss how neighborhood zoning policies, uneven environmental protection rules and “proactive” police enforcement can negatively affect health outcomes in minority communities. The panel featured Vernice Miller-Travis, executive vice president of Metropolitan Group; Marianne Engelman-Lado, a lecturer at Yale and a visiting professor at Vermont Law School; and Jeffrey A. Fagan, a Columbia Law School professor. David Toscano ’86, a former delegate and minority leader of the Virginia House of Delegates, served as moderator. This panel was part of the symposium “Healing Hate: A Public Health Perspective on Civil Rights in America,” hosted by the University of Virginia Schools of Law, Medicine and Nursing.

Angela P. Harris, Distinguished Professor of Law at the University of California, Davis, School of Law, delivered the opening keynote address at a conference hosted by the University of Virginia Schools of Law, Nursing and Medicine: “Healing Hate: A Public Health Perspective on Civil Rights in America.” Harris presented her research on how racial disparities in access to and quality of health care in America have lifelong impacts on communities of color. UVA Law professor Dayna Bowen Matthew ’87 introduced Harris.

UVA Law professor Kimberly Jenkins Robinson discusses her chapter in the recent book, “A Federal Right to Education: Fundamental Questions for Our Democracy,” which she edited for NYU Press. Robinson says Congress could work with states and localities in an incremental fashion to close opportunity gaps. Robinson is the Elizabeth D. and Richard A. Merrill Professor of Law and a senior research fellow at the Learning Policy Institute.

UVA Law professor Kimberly Jenkins Robinson foresees new fights at the Supreme Court as litigants seek fairness in public school funding across the nation. Her new book, “A Federal Right to Education: Fundamental Questions for Our Democracy,” is published by NYU Press. Robinson is the Elizabeth D. and Richard A. Merrill Professor of Law and a senior research fellow at the Learning Policy Institute.

Darnell Phillips, a client of the Innocence Project Clinic at the University of Virginia School of Law, spoke at the Law School to show his gratitude to those at the clinic who helped free him, and continue to work on getting his record cleared. Innocence Project Directors Dierdre Enright and Jennifer Givens facilitated the discussion.

The Supreme Court said the Constitution didn’t guarantee a right to education in the 1973 case San Antonio Independent School District v. Rodriguez, but litigation aiming for equity continues, as UVA Law professor Kimberly Robinson explains.

A Union effort to redistribute land to former slaves during the Civil War unraveled because of the efforts of Southern lawyers, UVA Law professor Cynthia Nicoletti explains.

As World War II made clear, the United States needed to step up on civil liberties and civil rights to take on the Soviet Union, UVA Law professor G. Edward White explains.

A panel of scholars discuss UVA Law professor G. Edward White’s final volume in his “Law in American History” series. The panel included professors Jack Landman Goldsmith, Harvard Law School; Laura Kalman, University of California, Santa Barbara; and Victoria Nourse, Georgetown University Law Center. UVA Law professor Charles Barzun served as moderator, and Dean Risa Goluboff introduced the panel.

Victor Madrigal-Borloz discusses his work as U.N. independent expert on protection against violence and discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity. The talk marked the Human Rights Program kickoff for the year.

UVA Law professors Richard Schragger and Micah Schwartzman join Cornell’s Nelson Tebbe to discuss the evolution of the Supreme Court’s jurisprudence on religion.

The Human Rights Program at the University of Virginia School of Law allows students to explore the range of opportunities available in the human rights field, at home and abroad, through hands-on experiences. The program is the hub for human rights activities at the Law School, and cooperates with student groups, faculty members, the Public Service Center and Career Services, and human rights organizations to coordinate speakers, events, summer and postgraduate employment, and pro bono opportunities.

Graduating UVA Law student Jah Akande ’19 discusses growing up, coming out and standing up for his beliefs en route to pursuing a law degree.

From mass hunger strikes and work stoppages behind bars, to wider reform movements, a discussion centered on the politics of punishment in the United States. The panel includes Bernard E. Harcourt of Columbia Law School; Heather Ann Thompson of the University of Michigan; and Vesla Mae Weaver of Johns Hopkins University. Christopher Berk, a post-doctoral fellow at the University of Virginia, served as moderator.

Public health policy expert and UVA Law professor Dayna Bowen Matthew ’87 explores social and legal factors — such as where you live and your race — that affect health outcomes, and how lawyers and doctors are teaming up to confront these challenges.

Judge Carlton W. Reeves ’89, U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Mississippi, delivered a defense of the role federal courts play in ensuring justice and truth for marginalized groups throughout the United States. He also argued for the importance of ensuring diversity of backgrounds and perspectives on the federal bench. Reeves gave this lecture after receiving the 2019 Thomas Jefferson Foundation Medal in Law.

Allan Hall, a Holocaust survivor and retired attorney, told the story of living through the Nazi invasion and occupation of Poland as a child and his later reunification with some of his family after the Holocaust. He was joined by his wife, Lori Gold.

A panel of major legal scholars discuss the Due Process Clause. The panelists examine the original meaning as understood by its drafters, as well as potential future applications to upcoming legal controversies. The panel includes Scott Ballenger ’96, partner at Latham & Watkins; professor Randy Barnett, Georgetown University Law Center; professor John Harrison, UVA Law; and professor Julia Mahoney, UVA Law. Judge Diane S. Sykes, Seventh U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, serves as moderator. The panel was part of a symposium on “The Future of Originalism: Conflicts and Controversies,” sponsored by UVA Law’s Federalist Society chapter.

UVA Law hosted a re-argument of the Slaughter-House Cases, a Reconstruction-era Supreme Court ruling that narrowed citizenship rights in the privileges or immunities clause of the Constitution. The opposing counsel positions were taken by Dominic Draye, solicitor general of Arizona, and Elbert Lin, partner at Hunton Andrews Kurth. Federal appeals court judges Thomas B. Griffith ’85 of the D.C. Circuit, Diane S. Sykes of the Seventh Circuit and John K. Bush of the Sixth Circuit decided the case. The re-argument was the concluding event of the UVA Law Federalist Society conference “The Future of Originalism: Conflicts and Controversies.”