SALT Blog

U.S. Supreme Court Sides with University (and SALT!) in Fisher v. Texas Decision Upholding Race-Conscious Admissions Policy

US Sup Ct Fisher Decision 6-23-16 SALT’s Amicus Brief in Fisher v. Texas The Society of American Law Teachers (SALT) has a deep and longstanding commitment to racial diversity and equity in higher education.  In one of its most recent efforts, SALT filed an amicus brief to the U.S. Supreme Court in Fisher v. University of Texas at Austin II, defending the University’s race-conscious admissions policy.  Fisher II was decided on June 23, 2016, and the High Court upheld the policy as a means to achieve diversity in higher education. SALT’s amicus effort involved a number of scholars and advocates, all of whom brought different perspectives that shaped the amicus brief.  Lawyers from Morrison & Foerster LLP–Marc Hearron, David Cross, and... Continue »

The Fishing Expedition is Over: Victory for Affirmative Action in Fisher v. Texas!

Vinay Harpalani, J.D., Ph.D. Associate Professor of Law Savannah Law School Thursday’s decision in Fisher v. Texas II came down exactly 13 years to the day after the U.S. Supreme Court’s 2003 ruling in Grutter v. Bollinger—which created the basic legal framework for affirmative action in university admissions.  And more than eight years after Abigail Fisher filed her lawsuit against the University of Texas at Austin (UT), alleging that its race-conscious admissions policy was unconstitutional, the case is finally over—she lost.  Fisher was truly a fishing expedition: a weak case that went to the Supreme Court once before, only to be remanded to the Fifth Circuit and then reargued before the Court.  The one issue that Justice Anthony Kennedy’s majority opinion and Justice Samuel Alito’s dissent agreed upon was that… Continue »

SALT Urges ABA Council to Address Unanswered Questions Before Revising Bar Passage Standard

SALT Comments on Proposed Standard 316 Revisions While the proposed standard’s simplicity has appeal, unanswered questions remain about how the standard will work, especially in view of the recent worrying declines in the rate of bar passage in many states and for many schools. We urge the Council to consider the questions we raise below before adopting the standard to ensure it works fairly and appropriately. As we also note, we continue to have fundamental concerns about the limitations of the current system of licensing lawyers through the bar exam and the unfortunate ways in which Standard 316 affects law school admissions and pedagogy. Removing the flexibility in the current standard may well exacerbate those problems. We urge the... Continue »

LWI Best Practices for Security of Position for 405(c) Faculty

SALT has repeatedly expressed its commitment to a policy of full citizenship for all law faculty. No justification exists for subordinating one group of law faculty to another based on the nature of the course, the subject matter, or the teaching matter. To the contrary, all full-time law faculty should have the opportunity to achieve academic freedom, security of position and governance rights. Making artificial distinctions between doctrinal, clinical and legal writing faculty undermines the legal education mission; removing faculty hierarchies is important to ensuring adequate curricular attention to doctrine, skills, and values. Moreover, security of position is a commitment of a law school to allow a critical range of inquiry and experimentation to full-time faculty who have dedicated... Continue »

SALT Co-Sponsors B.A. to J.D. Pipeline Event with Elon Law

SALT promotes social justice in the teaching and practice of law, including pipeline work to support and encourage people of color and others from marginalized communities to enter law school, law practice and law teaching.  On April 9, 2016, SALT collaborated with students, faculty and staff at Elon University School of Law in Greensboro, North Carolina, to host a B.A. to J.D. Pipeline Event focusing on intercultural competence and education.  Students from local high schools and community colleges were among those invited to attend.  The event included panels on The Law School Journey, Professionalism and Intercultural Engagement, and Tips and Strategies for Applying to Law School.  Former SALT Co-President Olympia Duhart (Nova Southeastern University Shepard Broad College of Law)... Continue »

SALT Breaking-In Event For New Law Teachers at 2016 Annual SE/SW People of Color Legal Scholarship Conference

A SALT-sponsored pipeline (“breaking-in”) workshop for new law teachers was held on February 25, 2016, in conjunction with the 2016 Annual Southeast-Southwest People of Color Legal Scholarship Conference at Florida Agricultural and Mechanical University College of Law in Orlando, Florida from February 26 -27, 2016. The theme of this year’s conference was “Power and Authority in Promoting Justice for All.” There were sixty-five attendees to the conference, which included twenty-five students.  Topics ranged from “Conceptualizing Islamophobia, Extremism, Radicalism and Terrorism” to “Teaching Social Justice in the Law Curriculum.” The panels at the SALT breaking in event were entitled “So You Think You Want to Be an Administrator,” “How to Navigate the World with Your Law Degree,” and “Shark Tank:... Continue »

PARC Faculty Development Seminar

PARC is pleased to announce its seventh annual Faculty Development Seminar (FDS). This 12-day intensive travel seminar is for U.S. faculty members with a demonstrated interest in, but little travel experience to, Palestine. Professor from all fields of study are encouraged to apply. Applications are due January 11, 2016. For more details about the FDS, please see our website: http://parc-us-pal.org/facultyDevSem.htm.

Teaching Opportunity at Port Au Prince, Haiti

Daly Quigley letter to American Law Professors (1) To: Law Professors Interested in International Social Justice From: Erin Daly, Widener University Delaware Law School, Bill Quigley, Loyola University New Orleans College of Law Dear Colleagues: We write to invite you to participate in an exciting experience — to share some of your knowledge with Haitian law students at the Université de la Fondation Dr Aristide (UNIFA) in Port au Prince, Haiti. Both of us have had the privilege of working here at UNIFA. Erin Daly is responsible for Institutional Development during this academic year; Bill Quigley taught a short seminar on Social Justice Law. Other faculty members from American law schools have also taught at UNIFA in the past few years. Courses can range from one-day seminars to multi-week or… Continue »

Unwarranted Warrants in Baltimore

In this holy day season of Light, Hope, and “good will toward all humanity,” we join together to trumpet our support for the proposal put forth by Professor Doug Colbert’s University of Maryland Francis King Carey School of Law students in their op-ed piece in the Baltimore Sun (“Unwarranted Warrants in Baltimore,” Thursday, December 10, 2015).   The idea of a “Warrant Forgiveness Program,” that allows for the one-time re-scheduling of court appearances for failure to appear may not solve all the problems of our criminal justice system, but can serve as a spark of light and hope for some who must navigate the system.  This program will serve the guiding principle of “harm reduction,” rooted in our values of justice and forgiveness, and will allow offenders to meet their… Continue »