About
Lawyers cannot fully understand the American legal landscape without studying the impact of race. UVA Law School founded the Center for the Study of Race and Law in 2003 to provide opportunities for students, scholars, practitioners and community members to examine and exchange ideas related to race and law through lectures, symposia and scholarship. The center also coordinates with the Law School to offer a concentration of courses on race and law, and serves as a resource for faculty whose teaching or scholarship addresses subjects related to race.
April 17, 2024
UVA Law lecturer Tiffany Graves ’06 of Bradley Arant Boult Cummings, Theodore Howard of Wiley Rein, Paul S. Lee of Steptoe & Johnson and Kathleen Wach of Miller & Chevalier Chartered share their experiences of advancing racial justice in their pro bono practice. Professor Kimberly Jenkins Robinson moderates the event, which was sponsored by the Center for the Study of Race and Law.
Supreme Court opinions involving race and the jury invariably open with the Fourteenth Amendment, the Civil Rights Act of 1875, or landmark cases like...
Brandon Charles Osowski
On January 1, 2022, the most radical change to the American jury in at least thirty-five years occurred in Arizona: peremptory strikes, long a feature...
Aurelie Ouss
Courts routinely use low cash bail as a financial incentive to ensure that released defendants appear in court and abstain from crime. This can create...
Jens Frankenreiter
The lawyer-client relationship is pivotal in providing access to courts. This paper presents results from a large-scale field experiment exploring how...
For much of the twentieth century, the U.S. government authorized and invested heavily in segregation and racial inequality. Often it did so through...
Jennifer L. Doleac
We evaluate the impacts of adopting algorithmic risk assessments as an aid to judicial discretion in felony sentencing. We find that judges' decisions...
Faculty Director(s)
Kimberly J. Robinson
White Burkett Miller Professor of Law and Public Affairs
Martha Lubin Karsh and Bruce A. Karsh Bicentennial Professor of Law
Professor of Education, School of Education and Human Development
Professor of Law, Education and Public Policy, Frank Batten School of Leadership and Public Policy
Director, Education Rights Institute
Director, Center for the Study of Race and Law
Research
Supreme Court opinions involving race and the jury invariably open with the Fourteenth Amendment, the Civil Rights Act of 1875, or landmark cases like...
Brandon Charles Osowski
On January 1, 2022, the most radical change to the American jury in at least thirty-five years occurred in Arizona: peremptory strikes, long a feature...
Aurelie Ouss
Courts routinely use low cash bail as a financial incentive to ensure that released defendants appear in court and abstain from crime. This can create...
Jens Frankenreiter
The lawyer-client relationship is pivotal in providing access to courts. This paper presents results from a large-scale field experiment exploring how...
For much of the twentieth century, the U.S. government authorized and invested heavily in segregation and racial inequality. Often it did so through...
Jennifer L. Doleac
We evaluate the impacts of adopting algorithmic risk assessments as an aid to judicial discretion in felony sentencing. We find that judges' decisions...
Many jurisdictions determine real property taxes based on a combination of current market values and the recent history of market values, introducing...
The purpose of the Equal Rights Amendment (ERA) to those who drafted it and those who worked for nearly a century to see it ratified, is women’s...
Peremptory strikes, and criticism of the permissive constitutional framework regulating them, have dominated the scholarship on race and the jury for...
Sandra G. Mayson
Recent scholarship has underlined the importance of criminal misdemeanor law enforcement, including the impact of public-order policing on communities...
This article addresses a significant challenge to federal Indian law currently emerging in the federal courts. In 2013, the Supreme Court suggested...
On August 11 and 12, 2017, Charlottesville, Virginia — the home of the University of Virginia and this law journal — played unwitting host to two days...
Justice Thomas’s dissent in Flowers v. Mississippi has been met with disdain in the popular press. In the New Yorker, Jeffrey Toobin declared Justice...
In my response to reviews by Christopher Agee, Christopher Schmidt, Karen Tani, and Laura Weinrib, I explain some of the challenges of writing Vagrant...
This chapter presents the view that discrimination is wrong when and because it is demeaning. In order to demean, an action must both express...
This chapter resurrects, conceptualizes and defends an old account of why disparate impact discrimination sometimes wrongs its victims. In Local 189...
The phenomenon of implicit bias is much discussed but little understood. This article answers basic conceptual and empirical questions about...
Disputes, disagreement, ambiguity, and ambivalence have marked the law of affirmative action since it came to prominence in the Civil Rights Era...
In August 2017, hundreds of white supremacists came to Charlottesville, Virginia, ostensibly to protest the city council’s decision to remove a...
Since the end of Reconstruction, the criminal jury box has both reflected and reproduced racial hierarchies in the United States. In the Plessy era...
Sandra Mayson
This Article seeks to provide the most comprehensive national-level empirical analysis of misdemeanor criminal justice that is currently feasible...
What drives administrative officials to enforce the Constitution—or not? This Article recovers a forgotten civil rights struggle that sheds light on...
What causes black infants to die at two to three times the rate of white infants and what can be done to address those causes? For decades, every...
A philosophical battle is being waged for the soul of Equal Protection jurisprudence. One side sees discrimination as a comparative wrong occurring...
The Supreme Court’s initial decision in Fisher v. University of Texas, cast great doubt upon affirmative action in higher education. Fisher I required...
Constitutional theorists in the United States once believed courts could protect politically disfavored minorities from the excesses of democracy...
This study compared two forms of accountability that can be used to promote diversity and fairness in personnel selections: identity-conscious...
Philip E. Tetlock
Due to concerns about the willingness and ability of people to report their attitudes accurately in response to direct inquiries, psychologists have...
Greenwald, Banaji and Nosek (2015) present a reanalysis of the meta-analysis by Oswald, Mitchell, Blanton, Jaccard and Tetlock (2013) that examined...
Of the many audiences for Richard Brooks and Carol Rose’s Saving the Neighborhood, the one I will talk about today, perhaps unsurprisingly, is the...
Resident Faculty
Resident Faculty
Disability law, health law and antidiscrimination law
Criminal procedure, civil rights litigation, torts and constitutional law
Federal courts, constitutional law, civil procedure, legal theory
Criminal procedure and criminal defense law
Criminal law, evidence and procedure
Family law, trusts and estates, feminist jurisprudence, reproductive technology, and aging and the law
Civil procedure, conflict of laws, evidence
Law and economics, international relations, international law, immigration and refugee law, judging
Criminal law, feminist jurisprudence and women's issues
Tax policy, retirement policy, executive compensation and federal Indian law
Race and law, constitutional law, employment discrimination
Criminal law, civil rights, race
Post-conviction relief, innocence, death-penalty cases
Civil rights, constitutional history and constitutional law
Criminal law, criminal procedure, policing and civil rights
Affirmative action and equal protection, constitutional law and theory
Contracts, property and real estate; critical race theory
Health policy, LGBTQ rights
Legal aid, civil rights, impact litigation
Civil rights, constitutional law, legal history, law and inequality
Social science in law, mental health law, forensic psychiatry
Education law, Civil rights, Affirmative action, Desegregation and integration, Race, Sexual discrimination and harrassment
Education law, Civil rights, Affirmative action, Desegregation and integration, Race, Sexual discrimination and harrassment
Constitutional law, election law, constitutional theory, legislation and statutory interpretation
Employment discrimination, civil rights and admiralty, civil procedure and international civil litigation
Separation of church and state, property, local government and land use
Domestic relations and family law
International human rights law, Inter-American human rights system, business and human rights, transitional justice
Comparative law and human rights
Federal court system and civil procedure
Other Faculty
Terry Allen
Research Assistant Professor of Law
Race, Place and Equity Fellow
Holly Clement
Lecturer
Franciska A. Coleman
Assistant Professor of Constitutional Law, University of Wisconsin Law School
Scholar in Residence, Karsh Center for Law and Democracy, University of Virginia School of Law
Randi Flaherty
Head of Special Collections and Law School Historian
Akiva Freidlin
Lecturer
Toby J. Heytens
Lecturer
Robin Leiter-White
Lecturer
Maisie B. Osteen
Lecturer
Christopher Williams
Research Assistant Professor of Law
Race, Place and Equity Fellow
Daniel Zemel
Lecturer
Curriculum
Virginia offers courses in civil rights and anti-discrimination law, but equally important is a wide array of courses in constitutional law and history. These offerings reflect the ways in which the struggle for civil rights shaped — and continues to shape — our country and institutions.
Each year the Center for the Study of Race and Law brings a visiting professor to teach a short course. Past visitors include:
- Richard Banks, Stanford Law School
- Dorothy Brown, Emory Law School
- Devon Carbado, UCLA School of Law
- Mohammad Fadel, University of Toronto Faculty of Law
- Adrienne Davis, Washington University in St. Louis
- Michael Klarman, Harvard Law School
- Mari Matsuda, University of Hawai‘i at Manoa William S. Richardson School of Law
Courses and Seminars
The following is a list of courses offered during 2022-25. Numbers in parentheses indicate which academic year(s) the courses were offered, i.e., 2022-23 is coded (23), 2023-24 is coded (24) and 2024-25 is coded (25). (SC) stands for short course and (YR) stands for yearlong.
American Legal History Seminar (23)
Asian Americans and the Law (23,24,25)
Civil Rights and Antidiscrimination Law (23,25)
Civil Rights Litigation (23,24,25)
Civil War and the Constitution (24)
Constitutional Law II: Poverty (23)
Criminal Adjudication (23,24,25)
Criminal Investigation (23,24,25)
Criminal Procedure Survey (23,24,25)
Critical Race Theory (SC) (23,24)
Critical Race Theory and Criminal Justice (25)
Designing Democracy: Participation (23)
Designing Democracy: Representation (24)
Education Law Survey (23)
Employment Discrimination (23,24,25)
Housing Law and Poverty Seminar (23,24,25)
Immigration Law and Policy (23,24,25)
International Human Rights Law (23,24,25)
Land Use Law (23,25)
Law and Inequality Colloquium (23,24,25)
Law and Inequality Writing Seminar (24)
Law and the Social Determinants of Health (24)
Law of the Police I: Rules, Rights and Regulation (23,25)
Law, Inequality and Education Reform (25)
Monument Litigation (SC) (25)
Native American Law (24)
Parental Choice in K-12 Education (SC) (23)
Perspectives on Sovereignty - Native American Law (23,25)
Poverty Law and the Lawyer's Role (24)
Poverty Law, Advocacy and Policy (23)
Race and Criminal Justice (23,24)
Race and Slavery on UVA’s North Grounds (23,24,25)
Race, Class and Democratic Legitimacy (SC) (24)
Race, Education and Opportunity (23)
Race, Law and School Policing (SC) (23)
Race, Meritocracy and Justice on Campus (SC) (25)
Racial Justice and Law (23,24,25)
Reparations: Identity, Law and Politics (23,25)
Reproductive Rights and Justice (SC) (25)
School Desegregation, School Integration (24)
The Constitution, Democracy and U.S. History (25)
Clinics
Civil Rights Clinic (YR) (22,23,24)
Project for Informed Reform Clinic (YR) (23,24)
Chief Judge Roger L. Gregory of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit discusses the importance of diversity and accountability in the legal profession, then joins a conversation with Mark C. Jefferson, UVA Law’s assistant dean for diversity, equity and belonging. The event was part of the Breaking Grounds Speaker Series, sponsored by the Black Law Students Association as part of Black History Month.
Law School Student Organizations
- Asian Pacific American Law Students Association (APALSA)
- Black Law Students Association (BLSA)
- The Human Rights Study Project (HRSP)
- Jewish Law Students Association (JLSA)
- Korean American Law Student Association
- Latin American Law Organization (LALO)
- Middle Eastern and North African Law Student Association (MENA)
- Muslim Law Students Association (MLSA)
- South Asian Law Student Association
- Women of Color
Diversity, Equity and Belonging at UVA Law
The Diversity, Equity and Belonging website collects and shares resources and information for community members, and presents a history of diversity at the Law School.
University Research Centers
In addition to the Center for the Study of Race and Law, the University offers numerous other research centers, departments and programs that address racial and cultural diversity.
- The Carter G. Woodson Institute for African-American and African Studies
- Department of East Asian Languages, Literatures and Cultures and Department of Middle Eastern and South Asian Languages and Cultures
- East Asia Center
- Institute for Advanced Studies in Culture
- The Lorna Sundberg International Center
The University of Virginia School of Law chapter of the Black Law Students Association has been named 2021-22 Mid-Atlantic chapter of the year.
John Charles Thomas ’75 (Col ’72), the first Black justice on the Supreme Court of Virginia, discusses the legacy of Martin Luther King Jr. and how his struggles reverberate today. Dean Risa Goluboff interviewed Thomas and presented the Gregory H. Swanson Award to Yewande Ford ’23. Professor Kim Forde-Mazrui introduced Thomas. The event was part of the University’s 2023 Community MLK Commemoration.
July 10, 2024
Take a summer road trip through local “landmarks” in case law throughout Virginia and Washington, D.C., selected and summarized by University of Virginia School of Law faculty.
July 5, 2024
University of Virginia School of Law faculty discuss news-making rulings from the U.S. Supreme Court term that ended Monday.
June 13, 2024
In a new book, Professor George Rutherglen of the University of Virginia School of Law looks at three of the most high-profile recent Supreme Court decisions — on abortion, affirmative action and religious accommodations — and attempts to predict how they might play out in future employment litigation.
May 30, 2024
Alice Abrokwa, a U.S. Education Department lawyer with expertise in disability law, health law and antidiscrimination law, will join the University of Virginia School of Law faculty this summer.
May 22, 2024
University of Virginia School of Law professor Cale Jaffe received a UVA Excellence in Public Service award for, among other accomplishments, his efforts to preserve a historic Black schoolhouse in Cumberland County, Virginia.
May 21, 2024
Two professors look at why advocates are using the language of medicine to address civil rights concerns on the new episode of “Common Law,” a podcast of the University of Virginia School of Law.
April 11, 2024
First-year University of Virginia law students Joshua McKinney and Catherine Hu have been elected to leadership roles for the National Black Law Students Association and the National Asian Pacific American Law Student Association.
April 9, 2024
Two professors at the University of Virginia School of Law join the “Common Law” podcast to discuss how their research into the past, from the Civil War era to the 1960s, helps us understand today’s legal landscape.
January 12, 2024
Prominent Milwaukee civil rights advocate James H. Hall Jr., a 1979 graduate of the University of Virginia School of Law, died from cancer Jan. 1 at the age of 69.
December 19, 2023
Professor Josh Bowers of the University of Virginia School of Law was recently elected as a member of the American Law Institute, bringing the number of affiliated UVA Law faculty to 35.
December 1, 2023
New research by Professor Thomas Frampton of the University of Virginia School of Law pieces together the history and evolution of the jury box as a locus for Black Americans’ fight for political and civil rights.
October 18, 2023
Leaders across the education field helped kick off the Education Rights Institute at the University of Virginia School of Law on Monday, launching an effort designed to improve access to high-quality education for disadvantaged students.
October 11, 2023
Thomas Frampton, a University of Virginia School of Law professor, has spent more than two years working pro bono on lawsuits alleging police misconduct at the “Brave Cave” and roadside in Baton Rouge.
August 14, 2023
Christopher Williams, a Ph.D. candidate at the University of Chicago, has been awarded a Race, Place and Equity fellowship at the University of Virginia School of Law.
July 5, 2023
University of Virginia School of Law faculty discuss news-making rulings from the 2022 U.S. Supreme Court term.
June 29, 2023
The U.S. Supreme Court on Thursday effectively struck down the ability of public and private universities to include affirmative action in admissions decisions. The opinion reverses longstanding precedent that allowed universities some leeway to consider an applicant’s race as a way to better
June 22, 2023
Retired Virginia Supreme Court Justice John Charles Thomas, a 1975 graduate of the University of Virginia School of Law, spoke at his alma mater in January, reading from his new memoir and reflecting on his time as a trailblazer for Black students at UVA.
May 3, 2023
On the eve of a pending U.S. Supreme Court decision on the fate of affirmative action in higher education, University of Virginia School of Law professor Joy Milligan set out to unravel the mystery of why programs aimed at repairing past discrimination are failing in federal courts.
April 27, 2023
Kimberly Jenkins Robinson, a nationally acclaimed education law and policy expert, has won an All-University Teaching Award from the University of Virginia.
February 13, 2023
A symposium at the University of Virginia School of Law will explore how a U.S. Supreme Court ruling has shaped clashes over equity in education, both past and present.
First-year University of Virginia law students Joshua McKinney and Catherine Hu have been elected to leadership roles for the National Black Law Students Association and the National Asian Pacific American Law Student Association.
UVA Law lecturer Tiffany Graves ’06 of Bradley Arant Boult Cummings, Theodore Howard of Wiley Rein, Paul S. Lee of Steptoe & Johnson and Kathleen Wach of Miller & Chevalier Chartered share their experiences of advancing racial justice in their pro bono practice. Professor Kimberly Jenkins Robinson moderates the event, which was sponsored by the Center for the Study of Race and Law.
Upcoming Events
Thursday, September 19-Friday, September 20, 2024, All day
This multidisciplinary conference, hosted by UVA’s Sound Justice Lab, will bring together lawyers, students, musicians, activists, journalists, artists and academics to explore the law’s technologies and tactics that try to silence stories, individuals and groups. Nondisclosure agreements, defamation lawsuits, and evidentiary requirements, for instance, prevent survivors of sexual assault from speaking out against perpetrators. Norms of civility and etiquette may disproportionately discipline gendered and racialized others on the witness stand or in the public gallery, while trial transcripts and official records often fail to accurately hear and represent non-normative voices.
At the Law School on Sept. 19, panels include Resisting Reproductive Regulation I: The Road to Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health, from 9-10:30 a.m. in Purcell Reading Room; Amplifying Transgender Identity: The Art and Advocacy of Resilience, from 10:45 a.m.-12:15 p.m. in Purcell Reading Room; and Banned Books, Tabooed Art, Unspeakable Subjects, from 1:15-2:45 p.m. in WB152.
Contact:
Anne Coughlin
UVA Sound Justice Lab
UVA Arts
UVA Department of Music
UVA Department of Women, Gender & Sexuality
UVA Institute of the Humanities & Global Cultures
UVA Vice Provost for the Arts
Law School
Various (Check Schedule)
Batten Hour: Safeguarding the Homeland
Monday, September 30, 2024, 11:30 a.m.-12:30 p.m.
Kenneth L. Wainstein, under secretary for intelligence and analysis for the Department of Homeland Security, will discuss homeland security intelligence. The discussion, moderated by law professor Ashley Deeks, director of UVA’s National Security Law Center and a Miller Center faculty senior fellow, will cover election security as well as provide insights into this lesser known but vital player in the U.S. intelligence community.
National Security Policy Center
National Security Policy Center
UVA Karsh Institute of Democracy
UVA Miller Center of Public Affairs
Great Hall, Garrett Hall, Main Grounds
Monday, October 21, 2024, 9 a.m.-2 p.m.
To celebrate the 60th anniversary of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the Education Rights Institute’s one-year anniversary, legal and education experts will discuss current issues affecting whether students receive a high-quality education, including race and national origin discrimination, the impact of Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, and the intersection between education and civil rights. Catherine E. Lhamon, assistant secretary for civil rights at the U.S. Education Department and former chair of the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights, will deliver the keynote address at 12:30 p.m. Lunch will be available on a first-come, first-served basis beginning at 12:15 p.m.
Contact:
Rebecca Klaff
Education Rights Institute
Center for Civil Rights and Civil Liberties
Center for the Study of Race and Law
Caplin Pavilion
Exploring Race Through Discussion
The Center for the Study of Race and Law coordinates and promotes the substantial array of existing Law School programs on race and law, and enhances these offerings by sponsoring additional programs, often in partnership with interested student organizations. Recent events include:
Pursuing Racial Justice Through Law Firm Pro Bono
Video/Audio | April 17, 2024
UVA Law lecturer Tiffany Graves ’06 of Bradley Arant Boult Cummings, Theodore Howard of Wiley Rein, Paul S. Lee of Steptoe & Johnson and Kathleen Wach of Miller & Chevalier Chartered share their experiences of advancing racial justice in their pro bono practice. Professor Kimberly Jenkins Robinson moderates the event.
“The Poetic Justice,” With John Charles Thomas ’75
Story| Jan. 26, 2023
As part of the University of Virginia’s Community MLK Celebration, John Charles Thomas ’75 (Col ’72), the youngest and first Black justice to serve on the Supreme Court of Virginia, will speak at the Law School about the legacy of Martin Luther King Jr. and how his struggles reverberate today.
Inside Sines v. Kessler: A Case Holding White Supremacists Accountable
Story | Jan. 25, 2022
A panel will explore a successful civil lawsuit against organizers, promoters and participants in the 2017 Unite the Right rally. At the conclusion of the litigation Nov. 23, a jury found the defendants liable under Virginia law, for both civil conspiracy and racial, religious and ethnic harassment. During the event, the 2022 Gregory H. Swanson Award will be presented. Named after UVA’s first Black student, the award recognizes UVA law students who demonstrate courage, perseverance and a commitment to justice.
From the Equal Rights Amendment to Black Lives Matter: Reflecting on Intersectional Struggles for Equality
Story | Jan. 29, 2021
This virtual symposium will explore the intersectional nature of race and sex (including LGBTQ+) equality movements, the contributions of activists with intersectional identities, and the potential role of intersectional theories to inform future efforts to advance race and sex equality. The symposium will culminate in a keynote speech by Elaine R. Jones ’70 at 1:50 p.m. Jones is the first Black woman to graduate from UVA Law School — 50 years ago — and the first woman to serve as director-counsel and president of the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund. During the event, the 2021 Gregory H. Swanson Award will be presented. Named after UVA’s first Black student, the award recognizes UVA law students who demonstrate courage, perseverance and a commitment to justice.
Healing Hate: A Public Health Perspective on Civil Rights in America
Story | Jan. 30-31, 2020
Hosted by the University of Virginia Schools of Law, Nursing and Medicine, this conference focused on the impact of racial and ethnic discrimination in driving public health disparities. The program brought together scholars, clinicians, policymakers and community leaders to take a public health approach in treating and reducing violence, disease and injury due to racism, hate speech, crimes and violence.
At the conclusion of the event, participants announced a civil rights framework to combat health disparities, and generated and disseminated evidenced-based proposals and tools aimed at eliminating health disparities.
“Biased,” With Jennifer Eberhardt
Story | Jan. 21, 2020
Jennifer Eberhardt, a social psychologist at Stanford University, was the featured speaker at the Law School’s Community MLK Celebration event. She discussed her 2019 book “Biased: Uncovering the Hidden Prejudice That Shapes What We See, Think, and Do.” Eberhardt is a 2014 MacArthur Genius Grant recipient, has been elected to the National Academy of Sciences and the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, and was named one of Foreign Policy’s 100 Leading Global Thinkers.
During the event, Dean Risa Goluboff presented the 2020 Gregory H. Swanson Award. Named after UVA and UVA Law’s first black student, the award recognizes students who demonstrate a commitment to justice within the community.
The Hard Work of Social Justice: A Conversation With Women of August 11-12
Jan. 31 2019
This event discussed the work of social justice activism focusing on Aug. 11 and 12, 2017, and on women who countered the terrorism of those days before, then and since. The event features the film, “Charlottesville,” which documents the events leading up to and including Aug.11-12. The second half was a panel discussion with women activists, followed by participation from the audience.
During the event, the Law School presented the annual Gregory H. Swanson Award, given to a law student who exemplifies “courage, perseverance and a commitment to justice.”
One Year After Charlottesville: Replacing the Resurgence of Racism With Reconciliation
Story | Sept. 27-28, 2018
This conference examined the United States' history of racism, racial violence and white supremacy, and where it stands today through the lens of empirical critical race theory. Pulitzer Prize winner James Forman Jr. headlined the conference. It was sponsored by UVA Law, the school’s Center for the Study of Race and Law, the Carter G. Woodson Institute and the Virginia Law Review, and marked the one-year anniversary of the August 2017 “Unite the Right” rally in Charlottesville.
“We’re trying to take back the discourse so it’s no longer about giving a voice to white supremacy and nationalism,” said Professor Dayna Bowen Matthew ’87, an organizer of the event. “We’re trying to speak for and with people who have been harmed and silenced by hate in all its manifestations.”
June 11, 2024
During his Constitutional Law course, UVA Law professor Bertrall Ross discusses the history of the 13th and 14th Amendments, the Dred Scott case and the Slaughter-House cases.