Almost a year ago, following the lifting of “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” and the combat ban against women, the United States military ended its ban on transgender soldiers. Then-Defense Secretary Ash Carter argued at the time that “we don’t want barriers unrelated to a person’s
"This is not just a Standing Rock issue . . . This is a human rights issue." Those were the words of Cheyenne River Sioux tribal member Joye Braun last fall, when hopes of defeating the Dakota Access Pipeline ran high. In the waning days
The Trump travel ban executive orders, issued in January and March 2017, each called for a 120-day suspension of the U.S. Refugee Admissions Program (“USRAP”) in order to allow for a review of the security measures necessary by executive agencies.[1] Both orders were stayed nationwide
In March 2015, federal prosecutors in the course of a corruption investigation revealed a series of shockingly racist and homophobic text messages sent between several San Francisco Police Department (SFPD) officers. In the wake of the scandal, San Francisco District Attorney George Gascón commissioned a
A first-hand account of efforts to dismantle the school-to-prison pipeline by Greater Boston Legal Services attorney Elizabeth McIntyre.
Guest post by Harmann Singh. Harmann is a first-year student at Harvard Law School and is interested in civil rights and criminal justice reform. He received a B.A. in Math and Economics from Columbia University. “I think he did it because he’s Mexican, and Mexican men take
By Nino Monea This is a guest post by Nino Monea. Nino is a third-year student at Harvard Law School and is the 2016-2017 President of Student Government. He is also one of two Presidents of the Harvard Journal on Legislation. Many of the most cherished rights in
In this article, based on remarks given at the Spring 2016 meeting of the American Philosophical Society in Philadelphia, Professor Laurence H. Tribe considers the Constitution’s Natural Born Citizen Clause. Debate over the meaning of the clause’s explicit language – i.e., whether it means what the words
Guest Post by Jacob Alderdice, HLS '14 Harvard PLAP Panel on Solitary Confinement Solitary confinement, a practice that has been under scrutiny for hundreds of years, continues to be widespread within United States prisons. Despite abundant medical literature detailing the severe and disastrous effects such isolation can
The thousands of evictions since the collapse of the housing bubble are one of the most tragic consequences of' Spain’s private debt crisis. Although the crisis hit hard in both the U.S. and many European countries, the case of Spain is particularly striking.
