Upcoming Events

Part of the University’s 2021 Community MLK Celebration, this symposium will feature an address by Elaine R. Jones ’70, the first woman to serve as director-counsel and president of the NAACP Legal Defense Fund. During the event, the 2021 Gregory H. Swanson Award will be presented. The award is named after UVA and UVA Law’s first black student, and recognizes students who demonstrate a commitment to justice within the community. Additional details TBD.

As its inaugural event, the UVA Family Law Center will host an online symposium examining Fulton v. City of Philadelphia, which will be argued before the U.S. Supreme Court on Nov. 4. In the case, Catholic Social Services is challenging the City of Philadelphia’s refusal to refer foster children to Catholic Social Services because it will not certify same-sex couples as foster parents. “Fulton exposes fundamental conflicts between the states’ authority to prohibit discrimination, the right of religious groups to participate in public life, and our collective obligation to promote child welfare,” Family Law Center Director Naomi Cahn said. UVA Law professor Gregg Strauss, co-director of the center, added, “As the case illustrates, our public and private duty to help needy children has become the latest battleground in the fight between the liberty of religious citizens to participate in public life and the state’s obligation to prohibit discrimination against LGBTQIA citizens.” Conference co-organizers Cahn, Strauss and UVA Law professor Micah Schwartzman ’06 will bring together a multidisciplinary group of scholars with varying perspectives, many of whom have filed amici briefs in the case.