News and Events

Community Reinvestment Act Symposium Law Review Issue Now Available

The New York Law School Law Review’s symposium issue “The Community Reinvestment Act: Still Relevant at 30?” is now available. The Law Review issue collects the scholarly contributions written in conjunction with the October 12, 2008, live event. This issue examines the efficacy of the Community Reinvestment Act in helping to promote economic justice. Articles take a look back at the history of the CRA and its impact on new problems in predatory lending, with a special emphasis on the collapse of the subprime mortgage market. Click here to view a list of articles or to download individual papers. To visit the CRA Symposium page, go to www.nyls.edu/CRAat30.

California Supreme Court Rejects Challenge to Prop 8, But Upholds Existing Same-Sex Marriages

The California Supreme Court ruled that Proposition 8, the measure approved by California voters on November 4, 2008, to amend that state's constitution to provide that only marriages between a man and a woman would be "valid or recognized in California," was not subject to attack as an improper constitutional "revision," and thus was properly enacted through the state's initiative amendment process. Click here to read more about this case and other news in the June issue of Lesbian/Gay Law Notes.

A new issue of Lesbian/Gay Law Notes is published each month. You can sign up to receive email notification of new issues (click here and then scroll to the bottom of the page) or you can access the archive by clicking the "Publications" tab on the left side bar.

Conference Video Now Available

Video from our Challenging the School-to-Prison Pipeline Symposium is now available. The School-to-Prison Pipeline refers to systemic policies and practices that push our nation's schoolchildren, especially at-risk children, out of classrooms and into the juvenile and criminal justice systems. It reflects a prioritization of incarceration over education, particularly for children of color. To read more about the conference or to view the videos, please click here. 

Video from our Sixth Annual Adoption Policy Conference: International Adoption, the United States and the Reality of the Hague System is also available. This conference addressed all aspects of international adoption to and from the United States, one year after the Hague Convention on Intercountry Adoption became effective in the United States. Click here for more information or to view the videos. 

JAC Professor Tapped for Key Post in Obama Administration

Congratulations to Professor Seth Harris, who the White House announced will be President Obama's nominee for Deputy Secretary of the Department of Labor under Secretary Hilda Solis. Professor Harris was recently the Obama Transition Project's Agency Review Working Group Leader for the labor, education, and transportation agencies. Click here to read the press release.

The Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions hearing on President Obama's nomination of Professor Harris took place on May 7. Click here to watch the video stream.

JAC Professor Elected to the ACLU Board of Directors

Professor Deborah Archer was elected to the Board of Directors of the American Civil Liberties Union. Professor Archer is joining a long line of distinguished members who have served on the ACLU’s governing Board, including Felix Frankfurter, Thurgood Marshall, and Ruth Bader Ginsburg. Congratulations Professor Archer.

Professor Archer has also published her article, Failing Students or Failing Schools?: Holding States Accountable for the High School Dropout Crisis, 12 Lewis & Clark L. Rev. 1253 (2008). To view an electronic copy of the article, click here.

Exploring the Subprime Mortgage Collapse

Faculty and students working with the Center’s Economic Justice Project have undertaken a series of reports exploring the rise and fall of the subprime mortgage market. To learn more, click on each report:

• The Subprime Mortgage Market Collapse: Causes and Solutions
• Subprime Home Mortgage Lending in New York City and Westchester County, 2005–2006
• The Higher Cost of Being African American or Latino: Subprime Home Mortgage Lending in New York City, 2004–2005

To view the report, click here.

Racial Justice Project Publishes Student Work

The Racial Justice Project has launched Diverse Opinions, a new forum for student writing on issues of race, justice, and the law. W. Demia Wilburn's note Redefining the Ideal Debtor explores the effects of the housing market decline on Black and Hispanic communities. Zachary Kerner, JAC class of '09, reports on the constitutionality of teacher assignment plans after Parents Involved in Community Schools v. Seattle School District No. 1.

For more information or to download copies of these reports, please click here.

Center Alum Helps Author Habeas Corpus Report

The New York State Bar Association ("NYSBA") Committee on Civil Rights has issued a report on executive detention, habeas corpus, and the Military Commissions Act of 2006. The report began as a Justice Action Center Capstone project, initially drafted and researched by Patrick Campbell, then a third year student at the Center. Patrick worked under the guidance of Fernando Bohorquez (NYLS, '99), a partner at Baker Hostetler and Chair of the NYSBA Committee on Civil Rights. The initial draft of the report was presented by Patrick to the students and faculty of the Center in April of 2007.

After graduating from law school, Patrick joined the law firm of Baker Hostetler as an associate in the fall of 2007 and continued working on the report with Fernando. The final report, submitted to the NYSBA in May 2008, was primarily authored by Fernando and Patrick, with the assistance of other members of the Committee and other Baker colleagues. The Report was formally presented and accepted by the NYSBA at its June 20–21, 2008, summer meetings in Cooperstown, New York. A copy is available by clicking here.

At the request of the NYSBA, the report is now being revised to address Boumediene v. Bush, the recent Supreme Court decision that struck down the habeas-stripping provisions of the Military Commissins Act and extended the habeas privilege to aliens detained at Guantanamo as "enemy combatants." The revised report is expected this coming winter.

Global Human Rights Bulletin
For neutral and global coverage of human rights, check out the Global Human Rights Bulletin, a monthly publication created by the NYLS student division of Lawyers Without Borders.