Professor Jane Wettach, Lecturing Fellow Peggy Nicholson, and Zack Kaplan ('21) discuss why the Children's Law Clinic decided to submit an amicus brief in Bruno v. Northside and the importance of protecting children with disabilities who move between states.

Zack Kaplan ('21) describes what it was like to file a brief with the U.S. Supreme Court and how the experience helped prepare him for future legal work.
Also appearing: Prof. Jane Wettach and Lecturing Fellow Peggy Nicholson.

David F. Levi, director of the Bolch Judicial Institute and president of the American Law Institute, talks with top law school deans about how they made the rapid transition to online learning and what the coming months and years might hold for law schools and students. Featuring Kerry Abrams, the James B. Duke and Benjamin N.

The pandemic is, quite literally, pushing people apart. Physical distancing makes traditional forms of organizing and activism—rallies, protests, Know Your Rights trainings; the people power generated by physical proximity—impossible. The pandemic exacerbates preexisting inequities, disproportionately affecting communities and people already marginalized. How are organizations and social movements shifting tactics to continue to build the power of marginalized communities in this new era? What are the greatest challenges?

A panel discussion, launching Duke CSJ’s new report and website on fines and fees in criminal cases, with the NC ACLU’s Kristie Puckett-Williams, Cristina Becker, NC Justice Center’s Daniel Bowes, and Forward Justice’s Whitley Carpenter, Fines and Fees Justice Center’s Joanna Weiss, and Duke CSJ Director Brandon Garrett, Executive Director Tom Maher, and Research Director Will Crozier.

To visit the new site: https://datalab.law.duke.edu/shiny/nccrimfines/

As governments respond to the novel coronavirus, asylum-seekers, migrants, and refugees are increasingly being left behind. Housing in overcrowded camps and informal reception centers undermines access to the adequate health care, sanitation, and water needed to protect against COVID-19. And some governments are taking advantage of the pandemic to enact discriminatory prevention and treatment measures, including by rejecting asylum-seekers.

Bolch Judicial Institute Director David F. Levi talks with leaders from the Legal Services Corporation and legal aid agencies about the challenges they face as they continue to provide critical legal aid to low-income communities during the coronavirus pandemic. Featuring Ronald Flagg and Lynn Jennings of the Legal Services Corporation; Raun Rasmussen of Legal Services NYC; Laura Tuggle of Southeast Louisiana Legal Services; and Yvonne Mariajimenez of Neighborhood Legal Services of Los Angeles County.

In conflict-affected countries, healthcare systems have been neglected or destroyed, basic services such as water are often lacking, and civilians are already living under extreme stress, often in crowded conditions. As the pandemic spreads, the consequences will likely be devastating, and the UN Secretary General has recently called for a global ceasefire.

Join us for a discussion with leading human rights thinkers on how the pandemic spotlights the need for the human rights field to innovate. Kathryn Sikkink (Harvard) will discuss her new book The Hidden Face of Rights: Toward a Politics of Responsibility, in which she argues that more emphasis needs to be on the responsibilities of all to implement rights. César Rodríguez Garavito (NYU/Just Labs) will discuss his new research, scholarship, and advocacy on forward-looking, hope-based strategies for advancing rights. Moderated by Gulika Reddy (Columbia).

Host David F. Levi, director of the Bolch Judicial Institute and president of the American Law Institute, is joined by top state and federal judges to discuss the steps the courts are taking to ensure they can continue to function during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Appearing: Nathan L. Hecht (Texas Supreme Court), Diane P. Wood (8th Cir.), Bridget Mary McCormack (Michigan Supreme Court), Lee H. Rosenthal (S.D. Tex.); David F. Levi, host.

How are justice-seeking movements and organizations adapting to the rapidly-changing environment created by the spread of COVID-19? What tools are proving most effective in their responses? And what role can lawyers and courts play to curb deepened and emerging justice challenges? Join us for conversation with experts and advocates Amna Akbar (Ohio State), Dr. Hassan Jabareen (Adalah Legal Center) and Pamela Spees (Center for Constitutional Rights); moderated by JoAnn Kamuf Ward (Columbia).

Originally recorded on April 14, 2020.

The novel coronavirus has led to millions of people working virtually, and more dependence than ever on access to reliable information and the internet. Some governments have responded to the pandemic by dramatically increasing surveillance on populations, and companies gather and retain huge amounts of our personal data.

The pandemic spotlights and exacerbates socioeconomic inequalities caused by decades of neoliberal policies and failures to invest in social infrastructure. The basic rights to health, housing, and water and sanitation are at risk for millions of people around the world. How can human rights-based approaches ground an effective response to the pandemic now, and build a better world afterwards?

Pandemics affect individuals differently, with policy responses potentially worsening existing inequalities and discrimination for marginalized groups, such as women, children, older persons, those unhoused, people with disabilities, detainees, refugees, and migrants. Join us for a discussion on the risks of deepened inequality within the COVID-19 pandemic, and how governments can use a human rights-based and intersectional approach to ensure the rights of all persons are protected.

As governments respond to the novel coronavirus, many are declaring states of emergency and giving themselves expansive powers. Some censor information, surveil populations, and detain critics. Are governments overreaching? Will new powers be rolled back when the crisis is over? Join us for a discussion between Fionnuala Ni Aolain (UN Special Rapporteur on Counterterrorism), Isabel Linzer (Freedom House), and Yaqiu Wang (Human Rights Watch); moderated by Ryan Goodman (NYU/Just Security).

Omega and Brenda Wilson of the West End Revitalization Association speak on the intersection of community science and policy in the Environmental Justice Act. They share lessons learned from more than 25 years of fighting for environmental justice in Mebane, NC.

Introduced by Michele Okoh, Senior Lecturing Fellow

Sponsored by the Duke Environmental Law and Policy Clinic, the Environmental Law Society, and the Duke University Environmental Justice Network.

Originally recorded on March 2, 2020.

Session 2: Designing Rules & Adjudicators for the New Landscape

Conference title: Charting the New Landscape of Administrative Adjudication

Presenters: Michael Sant’ambrogio (Michigan State University, College of Law), Adam Zimmerman (Loyola Law School, Los Angeles), Michael D. Frakes (Duke Law School), Melissa Wasserman (Texas Law), and Arti Rai (Duke Law School)

Kent Barnett (University of Georgia, School of Law), moderator.

Session 1: The New Landscape of Administrative Adjudication

Conference title: Charting the New Landscape of Administrative Adjudication

Presenters: Kathryn Kovacs (Rutgers Law School), John F. Duffy (University of Virginia, School of Law), Emily Bremer (Notre Dame Law School), and Matt Wiener (Penn Law).

Christopher J. Walker (Moritz College of Law), moderator.

Cosette Creamer and Beth Simmons speak about their article "The Proof is in the Process: Self-Reporting under International Human Rights Treaties," which is published in the January 2020 issue of the American Journal of International Law.

Sponsored by the American Journal of International Law.

A discussion on gun reform after the Supreme Court’s first hearing on the Second Amendment in 10 years, State Rifle & Pistol Association v. City of New York (NYSRPA). The case represents the first time the Supreme Court has heard arguments in a Second Amendment case in almost 10 years. NYSRPA concerns a challenge to a New York City regulation that restricted individuals who hold “premises licenses”—those that allow individuals to possess a gun at home—from bringing their firearms to shooting ranges or second homes outside the City.

Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) Commissioner, Rostin Behnam, and former Deputy Treasury Secretary, Sarah Bloom Raskin, discuss the risks that climate change poses to the stability of our financial system. Since joining the CFTC, Commissioner Behnam has advocated that the CFTC utilize its authority and expertise to ensure the derivatives markets innovate responsibly within an appropriate oversight framework. He recently led the CFTC's effort to establish the Climate-Related Market Risk Subcommittee.

The law school hosted a discussion about guns and domestic violence for Domestic Violence Awareness Month. Cincinnati Law School Dean Verna L. Williams, Sherry Honeycutt Everett, Legal & Policy Director at the North Carolina Coalition Against Domestic Violence, and Aya Fujimura-Fanselow, Senior Lecturing Fellow and Supervising Attorney, Duke International Human Rights Clinic, discuss issues of domestic abuse and firearms in the United States including what it means to frame and address this issue using a human rights-based approach.

The symposium on Guns Rights and Regulations Outside the Home looks at the issues left open by the Supreme Court in District of Columbia concerning whether and how the Second Amendment right to keep and bear arms extends outside the home. Experts in the legal, historical, and empirical aspects of this question weigh in on the proper approach.

Panel 2: Regulating People, Places, and Products

Moderator: Kate Shaw, Professor of Law and the Co-Director of the Floersheimer Center for Constitutional Democracy, Benjamin N. Cardozo School of Law

The symposium on Guns Rights and Regulations Outside the Home looks at the issues left open by the Supreme Court in District of Columbia concerning whether and how the Second Amendment right to keep and bear arms extends outside the home. Experts in the legal, historical, and empirical aspects of this question weigh in on the proper approach.

Panel 4: Historical Conceptions of Second Amendment Rights Outside the Home

Moderator: Darrell A. H. Miller, Faculty Co-Director, Center for Firearms Law & Melvin G. Shimm Professor of Law, Duke University School of Law

The symposium on Guns Rights and Regulations Outside the Home looks at the issues left open by the Supreme Court in District of Columbia concerning whether and how the Second Amendment right to keep and bear arms extends outside the home. Experts in the legal, historical, and empirical aspects of this question weigh in on the proper approach.

Panel 3: Empirical and Theoretical Aspects of Firearms in Public

Moderator: Philip J. Cook, ITT/Terry Sanford Professor Emeritus of Public Policy Studies, Duke University Sanford School of Public Policy