Recent News

An image of Professor Paul Butler from his video "Ten Commandments for Black Men," shown for the first time at Georgetown Law on January 17.

Professor Paul Butler Premieres Video: “Ten Commandments for Black Men”

January 18, 2019 Civil Rights & Antidiscrimination Criminal Law Race & Law

Almost half of all African American men have been arrested by age 23. One in three have a felony conviction. More than 500,000 are currently incarcerated. Professor Paul Butler knows this, because as a former federal prosecutor, it was his job to lock up black men. But Butler, a black man, is well aware that his own resume (which also includes Georgetown Law professor and a J.D. from Harvard) hasn’t insulated him from police bias.

Yale Law School Professor James Forman Jr., who taught at Georgetown Law from 2003 to 2011, delivered the 2018-2019 Philip A. Hart Memorial Lecture on November 15.

Professor James Forman Jr. on "Locking Up Our Own: Race, Class, and the Politics of Mass Incarceration"

November 20, 2018 Civil Rights & Antidiscrimination Criminal Law Juveniles Race & Law

When James Forman Jr., a former Georgetown Law and current Yale Law faculty member, was working as a public defender in Washington, D.C., in the 1990s, he represented a 15-year-old client named Brandon who had pled guilty to gun and marijuana possession. Forman was requesting probation; the prosecutor wanted Brandon sent to Oak Hill, D.C.’s now-notorious juvenile facility. The judge chose Oak Hill — to Forman’s fury. The same racial injustice that motivated him to become a public defender, he realized, was being used to lock his client away.

Professor Jamillah Bowman Williams speaks at "Taking Women, Survivors, & Government Institutions Seriously: An Open Dialogue for the Community in the Aftermath of the Confirmation Hearings" at Georgetown Law on October 10.

Student Groups, O’Neill Institute, Office of Equity & Inclusion Host Events on the #MeToo Movement, Sexual Violence and the Path to Change

October 15, 2018 Civil Rights & Antidiscrimination Feminism & Gender Studies

“The last few weeks have been hard — as individuals, as a community, and as a country…” said Emily Clarke (L’20), president of the Women’s Legal Alliance at Georgetown Law. “We have been forced to grapple with questions of power, gender, credibility and integrity. Some of us have dealt with this in our classes. Watching the [Supreme Court nomination] hearings and discussing their impact. Many of us have huddled with our friends and tried to attach the right words to how we are feeling. But even more of us have sat alone, wondering how this could be happening and where we are supposed to go from here.”

Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg spoke to Georgetown Law students in Hart Auditorium on September 26.

Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg Speaks to Georgetown Law 1L, LL.M. Students

September 28, 2018 Civil Rights & Antidiscrimination Constitutional Law & Theory Feminism & Gender Studies

When Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg was nominated to the Supreme Court in 1993 — and when her colleague Justice Stephen Breyer was nominated in 1994 — there was “a true bipartisan spirit in our Congress…” she said. The late Senators Ted Kennedy and Strom Thurmond, for example, had a very good working relationship, she noted. “I hope that I will live to see that spirit of collegiality restored in our legislature.”

Supreme Court Institute Executive Director Irv Gornstein moderated a lineup of experts: former Solicitor General and Georgetown Law Distinguished Lecturer Paul D. Clement (F’88) of Kirkland & Ellis; Nicole A. Saharsky of Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher; Georgetown Law Professor Martin S. Lederman; former Solicitor General Donald B. Verrilli, Jr., of Munger, Tolles & Olson, and Kannon K. Shanmugam of Williams & Connolly.

Supreme Court Institute Press Preview: A Look Ahead

September 18, 2018 Civil Rights & Antidiscrimination Constitutional Law & Theory Feminism & Gender Studies

“Last term was a term of blockbusters, most of which fizzled out,” said Professor Irv Gornstein, as he introduced Georgetown Law’s annual Supreme Court Institute press preview on September 17. “This term, by contrast, doesn’t have any blockbusters to begin with — but I think a more accurate caption for this term is the calm before the storm. We’re headed for a whole new world, and the only real question, I think, is how far we are going to go and how fast we are going to get there.”