Current Research
My long-term interest is in integrating human rights standards into domestic law. There are many around the country engaged in this effort, which builds on earlier activism in the civil rights era.
Right now, I'm co-editing a three volume series on the history of human rights activism in the United States. Our hope is that this resource will help define the movement and shape it going forward.
My contribution to the book will be a chapter on local implementation of human rights norms. It's been fascinating to trace the ways in which cities have incorporated these international principles—from anti-Vietnam War statements to anti-apartheid policies to CEDAW, the International Women's Convention—while the federal government has been so resistant to full participation in the international human rights dialogue. I'm convinced that this kind of local activism is a fruitful strategy for moving ahead on progressive issues.
Recent Publications
Much research assistant blood was spilled to complete my article that is coming out next month, "The Spirit of Our Times: State Constitutions and Human Rights." It will be published in an issue of the New York University Review of Law and Social Change devoted to domestic implementation of international human rights. In January, I also published a book chapter on human rights strategies and domestic reproductive rights activism.
A year or so ago, I wrote an article critiquing the legal response to the September 11 disaster and proposing a new approach to disaster legal services. In the wake of Katrina, this issue is getting renewed attention. I argue that the government has a greater obligation to provide disaster legal assistance, and that it is imprudent to allow the entire burden to be shouldered by private pro bono lawyers who, by definition, do not have a long-term commitment to handling the sorts of issues that they deal with in the immediate wake of the disaster.
Most Interesting Case
All of my cases have been interesting! I handled most of them when I was the legal director of the NOW Legal Defense and Education Fund (now, Legal Momentum). My most notorious case was probably the seizure of anti-choice gadfly Randall Terry's frequent flier miles. Who says that feminists don't have a sense of humor? I learned the most from the case that I argued before the Supreme Court, Nguyen v. INS. And the case with the biggest nationwide impact was probably a sexual harassment case that I co-counseled that resulted in new standards of employer liability and a wave of sexual harassment policies and trainings around the country.
I'm currently representing the Massachusetts Women's Bar Association and the ACLU in a case challenging sex-based disciplinary practices in state prisons. In short, men are subjected to harsher penalties for disciplinary infractions than are women. This case poses the classic remedial dilemma for equal protection cases: will we consider it a victory if women get the same harsh discipline that men get?
