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1. Settler Colonialism, Race, and the Law with Natsu Taylor Saito (Episode 11)

Author:
Sahar Aziz and Natsu Taylor Saito
Publication Date:
07-2024
Content Type:
Video
Institution:
Center for Security, Race and Rights (CSRR), Rutgers University School of Law
Abstract:
Racialized disparities continue to persist in the United States and are unlikely to be effectively alleviated by the Constitution's guarantee of equal protection. A recent book provides a functional analysis linking disparate forms of oppression and makes the case that structural racism will be more effectively dismantled by contesting ongoing settler colonization and supporting the right of all peoples to self-determination. Host Sahar Aziz (https://saharazizlaw.com/) addresses these issues with “Settler Colonialism, Race, and the Law: Why Structural Racism Persists (https://nyupress.org/9780814723944/se...) , “ author and Georgia State College of Law Professor Natsu Taylor Saito (https://law.gsu.edu/profile/natsu-tay...) .
Topic:
Imperialism, Race, Law, Settler Colonialism, Self-Determination, and Critical Race Theory (CRT)
Political Geography:
North America and United States of America

2. The Monroe Doctrine as the Will and Idea of the United States of America

Author:
Boris Martynov
Publication Date:
01-2023
Content Type:
Journal Article
Journal:
International Affairs: A Russian Journal of World Politics, Diplomacy and International Relations
Institution:
East View Information Services
Abstract:
On February 24, 2022, international relations entered a whole new stage of development affecting, albeit to varying degrees, practically all states, with no end in sight. On September 7, 2022, speaking at the Eastern Economic Forum, Russian President Vladimir Putin said that the world was experiencing “fundamental transformations.” Such transformations generally require several years to be completed. By the middle of the third decade of the 21st century, two highly important signs of a new situation have become absolutely clear: a crisis of the old institutions of global governance and the new rising and developing centers of power. At the same time, the opinion that the new is just the “well-forgotten old” is confirmed. This is especially true of the US and its policies.
Topic:
International Relations, Foreign Policy, History, Governance, Law, Psychology, Identity, and Monroe Doctrine
Political Geography:
Russia, Global Focus, and United States of America

3. Muslim Prisoner Litigation with Professor Spearlt

Author:
Spearlt
Publication Date:
11-2023
Content Type:
Video
Institution:
Center for Security, Race and Rights (CSRR), Rutgers University School of Law
Abstract:
Since the early 1960s, incarcerated Muslims have used legal action to establish their rights to religious freedom behind bars and improve the conditions of their incarceration, safeguarding the civil rights not only of imprisoned Muslims but of all those confined to carceral settings. Spearlt will discuss this missing chapter in the history of Islam in America while illuminating new perspectives on the role of religious expression and experience in the courtroom.
Topic:
Religion, History, Law, Incarceration, Litigation, Muslims, and Book Talk
Political Geography:
North America and United States of America

4. Obscure but Powerful: Shaping U.S. Immigration Policy through Attorney General Referral and Review

Author:
Sarah Pierce
Publication Date:
01-2021
Content Type:
Special Report
Institution:
Migration Policy Institute (MPI)
Abstract:
Over the course of four years, the Trump administration used a wide range of executive action tools to make sweeping changes to the U.S. immigration system. Among them is an obscure but powerful bureaucratic authority known as the attorney general’s “referral and review” power. By allowing the attorney general to review and overrule decisions made by the Board of Immigration Appeals (the immigration appellate body within the U.S. Department of Justice), referral and review makes it possible to alter or reinterpret the application of immigration laws—at times with wide-reaching effects. While the frequent and consequential use of this power by Trump-era attorneys general drew increased attention to it, many of the concerns that have been raised about it predate the Trump administration. Among them: that it allows the attorney general—the country’s chief law enforcement officer—to intercede in individual cases, raising questions about the independence of the immigration adjudication system; that referral and review decisions are made with minimal procedural safeguards or transparency; and that the power has remained in the Justice Department, even as most immigration functions were moved to the Department of Homeland Security when that agency was created nearly two decades ago. This report explores how referral and review has evolved over time, including under the Trump administration, whose attorneys general referred more cases to themselves for review than those in any prior administration, Republican or Democrat. The report also looks closely at the two areas of U.S. immigration policy most affected by Trump-era referral and review decisions: the U.S. asylum system and court procedures, including how immigration judges manage their own dockets. Finally, it looks ahead to how the power might be used in the future and recommends ways to improve its use and placement within the immigration bureaucracy.
Topic:
Immigration, Law, Border Control, and Asylum
Political Geography:
North America and United States of America

5. An International Perspective on Observing US Elections

Author:
Rachel Lastinger and Sandra Urquiza
Publication Date:
03-2021
Content Type:
Special Report
Institution:
Georgetown Journal of International Affairs
Abstract:
Election observers are a crucial mechanism for transparency in the electoral process and can play a key role in electoral reform. In the United States, election observers’ findings can be more efficiently utilized to catalyze needed reform. The Carter Center has observed over 113 elections and supported citizen observer efforts in various countries. Drawing from this international experience, we suggest that US election observers can monitor the electoral process beyond election day, from voter registration to election dispute resolution and have a similar impact on electoral reform and integrity.
Topic:
Civil Society, Governance, Law, and Elections
Political Geography:
United States of America and North America

6. Stemming the Flow: The United States Needs a Strategy to Address China’s Strategic Exportation of Digital Authoritarianism

Author:
Joshua Fitt
Publication Date:
02-2021
Content Type:
Special Report
Institution:
Georgetown Journal of International Affairs
Abstract:
Many of China’s technology companies perfect their products in the domestic market by facilitating the party-state’s oppression and data control, and subsequently seek to export the technology to fledgling authoritarian states or nations with fragile democracies. This is part of Beijing’s strategy to enhance its digital instruments of national power, normalize illiberal uses of technology, and equip foreign governments with the tools to replicate aspects of the CCP’s authoritarian governance model. If Washington wants to blunt this strategy, the US government needs to implement a comprehensive strategy of its own to address this.
Topic:
Science and Technology, Governance, Law, Authoritarianism, Grand Strategy, and Multilateralism
Political Geography:
China, Asia, North America, and United States of America

7. Can You Hear Me Now? Attorney Perceptions of Interpretation, Technology, and Power in Immigration Court

Author:
Maya P. Barak
Publication Date:
10-2021
Content Type:
Journal Article
Journal:
Journal on Migration and Human Security
Institution:
Center for Migration Studies of New York
Abstract:
The Executive Office for Immigration Review houses America’s trial-level immigration courts, which adjudicate hundreds of thousands of cases annually, many resulting in deportations. Most proceedings require interpretation and all rely heavily upon technology. Yet, we know little about communication and technology in these hearings, and even less about the views of attorneys who navigate this system daily. I examine the effects courtroom interpretation and technology have on immigrant voices as described in interviews with immigration attorneys representing clients facing deportation. Attorneys overwhelmingly characterize the court as procedurally unjust, pinpointing how flaws in interpretation, telephonic conferencing, and videoconferencing offer the illusion of due process. Drawing upon criminology, legal sociology, and linguistics, this study finds profound improvements are needed to ensure due process in the nation’s immigration courts.
Topic:
Science and Technology, Law, Legal Aid, and Immigration Policy
Political Geography:
North America and United States of America

8. Qualified Immunity: A Legal, Practical, and Moral Failure

Author:
Jay Schweikert
Publication Date:
09-2020
Content Type:
Commentary and Analysis
Institution:
The Cato Institute
Abstract:
Qualified immunity is a judicial doctrine that protects public officials from liability, even when they break the law. The doctrine has no valid legal basis, it regularly denies justice to victims whose rights have been violated, and it severely undermines official accountability, especially for members of law enforcement. Accountability is an absolute necessity for meaningful criminal justice reform, and any attempt to provide greater accountability must confront the doctrine of qualified immunity. This judicial doctrine, invented by the Supreme Court in the 1960s, protects state and local officials from liability, even when they act unlawfully, so long as their actions do not violate “clearly established law.” In practice, this legal standard is a huge hurdle for civil rights plaintiffs because it generally requires them to identify not just a clear legal rule but a prior case with functionally identical facts.
Topic:
Law, Reform, Criminal Justice, Accountability, Police, and Qualified Immunity
Political Geography:
North America and United States of America

9. New York City’s Building Emissions Law Shows the Importance of Economywide Climate Policy

Author:
Noah Kaufman and Yu Ann Tan
Publication Date:
10-2020
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Center on Global Energy Policy (CGEP), Columbia University
Abstract:
Regulations of greenhouse gas emissions, which are global pollutants, should ideally be coordinated across broad geographic and economic scopes. That way, climate policies can capture important interactions across sectors and borders. However, the United States has repeatedly failed to implement national and economywide climate legislation. That failure has led to an increasing focus on climate actions that are much narrower in scope: sector-specific regulations from subnational governments. A prominent recent example is New York City’s Local Law 97, which limits carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions from a large segment of the city’s residential and commercial buildings. This law is among the most ambitious building emissions regulations in the world, but this commentary focuses on a concern with the design of Local Law 97. The law does not account for the planned decarbonization of the local electricity grid over the next decade, and thus fails to sufficiently encourage a shift from fossil fuels to electricity (or “electrification”), a critically important strategy for achieving a low-carbon building sector. Such a narrow focus is common for sector-specific climate regulations. The following sections explain the importance of electrification to deep decarbonization and the failure of building regulations to encourage it, focusing on New York City’s Local Law 97. Fortunately, solutions to the overly narrow focus of the New York City buildings law are readily available, including via New York State’s comprehensive climate strategy, which can align climate action across economic sectors within the state.
Topic:
Climate Change, Energy Policy, Environment, Law, Green Technology, and Carbon Emissions
Political Geography:
New York, North America, and United States of America

10. The Patchy Landscape of State English Learner Policies under ESSA

Author:
Leslie Villegas and Delia Pompa
Publication Date:
02-2020
Content Type:
Special Report
Institution:
Migration Policy Institute (MPI)
Abstract:
When the Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA) was signed into law in 2015, it was hailed as a significant step forward for English Learner (EL) students. The law aimed to raise the profile of accountability for ELs, including in terms of their progress towards English proficiency and their performance in academic subjects. More than four years on, all 50 states, the District of Columbia, and Puerto Rico have submitted plans to the U.S. Department of Education describing how they intend to meet their commitments under ESSA. But despite anticipation of a clear vision for the future of EL education policy, these plans offer a rather fractured picture and considerable variation. This report provides a detailed breakdown of key aspects of EL education outlined in these state plans. It examines policies governing how students are identified as ELs, assessed, and eventually exited from EL status once they reach proficiency; how their academic achievement is tracked; and the extent to which they are included in state accountability systems. On the whole, the authors conclude, ESSA has fostered more consistency within (though not between) states on matters such as EL identification and reclassification procedures. However, the law has significant shortcomings in other critical areas. For example, it provides no guidance to states on how to address cases involving ELs who do not reach proficiency within the state-determined timeline. The complexity of ESSA’s state accountability framework—with elements pertaining to ELs scattered across it—can also make it difficult to understand how and how much ELs’ performance counts in school accountability ratings. While it is too soon to understand the full impact of ESSA on EL students' academic outcomes and English acquisition, the report points to a number of key areas that merit careful attention from education policymakers and researchers in the coming years.
Topic:
Education, Immigration, Law, Language, and ESL
Political Geography:
North America and United States of America