Mark Noferi

Constitutional Civil Rights and Immigration Seminar

Prerequisite: Immigration Law is recommended but not required.

This seminar class will examine the main civil rights issues involving immigrants today, which are increasingly prominent in the courts, media, and academic literature. Immigration has been described as the civil rights issue of our time, especially as the U.S. Supreme Court considers the constitutionality of Arizonas SB 1070 anti-immigrant legislation. Immigration civil rights issues are extremely legally complex, given the historical relationship between immigration laws, civil rights law, and the Constitution, with its attendant (yet changing) presumptions that Congress can make rules for immigrants it could never make for citizens.

This course will thus address issues such as the recent criminalization of deportation law, and resulting Constitutional arguments for protections such as due process and right-to-counsel; the explosion of immigration detention as a policy and Constitutional matter; federalism concerns, including federal-state enforcement initiatives and federal preemption of Arizona-style laws; immigrant labor exploitation; the interplay between immigration and national security law; the interplay between immigrants' rights and international human rights; and the future of the immigrants' civil rights movement, as increasingly restrictive anti-immigration laws attack the implied social contract for immigrants while America debates comprehensive immigration reform. The course will address all these issues through readings from law review articles, prominent judicial opinions, and media and advocacy reports, with weekly discussion.

Grading and Method of Evaluation

Letter grade with pass/fail option. A paper is required which may be used to satisfy the Upperclass Writing Requirement.

Fundamentals of Law Practice 1: Objective Legal Analysis

In the first semester, students learn objective legal analysis as the foundation of the problem-solving and practical skills so important for graduates in todays rapidly changing legal environment. Classes are small, allowing for extensive written feedback and one-on-one conferences with professors. Classes are typically characterized by frequent experiential simulations and robust peer and self-evaluation, with discussions of professionalism and ethics. Students learn the principles of legal reasoning through four writing assignments, each requiring progressively more complicated factual and legal interpretation. Students also learn the most up-to-date , cost-effective legal research tools and strategies. By the end of the semester, students learn how to professionally and effectively present findings, in writing and orally, as they will as real-world lawyers.

Grading and Method of Evaluation

Letter grade only. Students graded on written and oral assignments.

Fundamentals of Law Practice 2: Advocacy

In the spring semester, students learn the art of advocacy. Students build on the skills they learned in the fall semester by researching a complex and emerging area of law, developing and organizing persuasive arguments, and drafting a brief to the court. Continuing a pioneering tradition at Brooklyn Law School, international law topics, as well as topics based on U.S. law, are included in the persuasive writing curriculum.

Through this experience, students are exposed to the ethical obligations of an attorney representing a client in a litigation context. In two additional highlights of the semester, students present their oral arguments to a panel of three judges and put their persuasive skills to the test in a negotiation exercise.

Grading and Method of Evaluation

Letter grade only. Students are graded on written and oral assignments.