Law & Inequality

This course explores the relationship between law and inequality. Our questions include: What role might law play in reinforcing and redressing different forms of inequality, including along lines of race, indigeneity, class, gender, sexuality, and disability? When is legal reform emancipatory and when does it maintain structural inequality? How might political and social movements seek to reorient the law? During the course, we will consider how these questions arise in equal protection doctrine and antidiscrimination law as well as other bodies of law. Readings will include legal cases and classic and cutting-edge scholarship from the fields of law and social sciences. The course will invite legal scholars to discuss a work-in-progress or recent publication, with students providing reflections. Final Exam. Letter Grade with Pass/Fail option.